Railway Gazette International articles from February 2007

Railway Gazette International archives from February 2007

Third Railway Package goes to the vote.(COMMENT)
February 1, 2007... INTERNATIONAL passenger services in Europe are on course to be opened up to competition from 2010 following a vote in the European Parliament on January 18 after the second reading of the Third Railway Package. But a proposal supported by the...

Toll split could keep PN intact.(COMMENT)
February 1, 2007... THE AUSTRALIAN Consumer & Competition Commission holds the key to plans announced in December by Toll Holdings for a 'strategic restructure' that would divide the group into separate infrastructure and operating businesses. If the ACCC rules in...

EVR's private interlude is over.(COMMENT)
February 1, 2007... BALTIC Rail Services announced on January 9 that the sale of its 66% holding in Eesti Raudtee had been completed, ending five years of private-sector operation of the Estonian rail network. The move was followed by the appointment as Chief...

Powder River ruling.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... PROPOSALS by Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad to build a 420 km line into Wyoming's Powder River Basin coalfields are back on course. A court ruling on December 28 upheld a decision by the US Surface Transportation Board granting final...

Sena reopening.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... MOZAMBIQUE state railway authority CFM announced last month that it expected services to resume on the southern part of the Sena line 'before March'. After a 20-year hiatus caused by civil war, trains will start to carry limestone over the...

Cautious expansion.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... IARNROD EIREANN is making a major effort to expand its freight business in 2007, after several significant flows were lost in 2006. The company is to expand its business with logistics firm Norfolk Line, increasing the frequency of its...

First passengers ride Taiwan high speed line.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... TAIWAN High Speed Rail Corp began carrying fare-paying passengers on January 5, with the first train leaving Panchiao station near Taipei at 07.00 for the 345 km trip to Zuoying in the southern city of Kaohsiung. Tickets for the 90 min...

Makkah-Madinah tenders sought.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... DOMESTIC AND international companies have been invited to submit tenders for construction of Saudi Arabia's planned Western Railway linking Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah. The call for tenders by Saudi Railways Organisation marks a further...

Israeli expansion continues.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... ON JANUARY 2 Israel Railways marked the start of construction of Ofakim station on the new direct line between Ashkelon and Beer-Sheva. Participating in the stone-laying ceremony were Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, ISR General Manager Ofer...

FRA approves PTC overlay.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... ON JANUARY 8 the US Federal Railroad Administration formally approved the implementation of Positive Train Control on BNSF, the first such application to receive full clearance. Developed by Wabtec, the Electronic Train Management System is 'an...

Chinese Railways.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... The first eight-car CA250 EMU for Chinese Railways was due to reach Changchun by the end of January after dispatch from Alstom's Savigliano works in northern Italy on December 11. It will be followed by two more complete trains and six in kit...

Swiss order low-floor centre cars.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... SBB has placed an order worth SFr262m with Bombardier for 140 low-floor centre cars to upgrade its NPZ EMU fleet. The vehicles will replace older coaches that were refurbished as intermediate cars to lengthen the two-car EMU sets after they...

PPP projects garner interest.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... PLANS TO finance French infrastructure projects through public-private partnerships are attracting attention, confirmed Transport Minister Dominique Perben on December 20, six days after RFF formally invited expressions of interest for its...

Seco-Rail.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... A third open-access operator began running freight trains in France on January 8. Track maintenance contractor Seco-Rail, which is a subsidiary of Bouygues, is moving aggregate on behalf of the group's road business Colas. The first train from...

High speed tenders.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... ON DECEMBER 26 Spanish infrastructure authority ADIF announced the award of two contracts to undertake civil works between Legutiano and Escoriatza on the Vitoria branch of the high speed network connecting it with Bilbao and San Sebastian. ...

Closer to the border.(NEWS)
February 1, 2007... ADIF has awarded contracts worth a total of [euro]224.3m for civil works on three sections between Girona and Figueres of the high speed line from Madrid to the French border. The 3.3 km from Sant Julia de Ramis to Cornella del Terri is to be...

The government of Georgia was expected to approve on January 17 the construction of the long-planned Kars-Tbilisi rail link.(News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... The government of Georgia was expected to approve on January 17 the construction of the long-planned Kars-Tbilisi rail link, following an agreement between the transport ministers of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey at a meeting in Tbilisi on...

Trinidad & Tobago Transport Minister Colm Imbert.(News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... Trinidad & Tobago Transport Minister Colm Imbert announced last month that two consortia had been shortlisted for design and construction of the Trinidad Rapid Rail network, out of six bids received last August (RG 10.06 p647). One is led by...

Rift Valley Railways.(News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... Rift Valley Railways confirmed on December 15 that it had finally paid the US$5m concession entry fees to operate the railways in Kenya and Uganda which it had taken over on November 1 (RG 12.06 p759). Australia's Babcock & Brown has joined the...

Siemens Transportation Systems.(News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... Siemens Transportation Systems announced on January 18 that it had won a [euro]211m order to supply 60 multi-system electric locos to Belgian National Railways, with an option for a further 60. Due for delivery between January 2009 and June...

FCC.(News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... Spanish civil engineering group FCC has been awarded a [euro]116m contract by the Bulgarian Transport Ministry to build the 1971 m long rail and road bridge across the River Danube linking Vidin in Bulgaria with Calafat in Romania (RG 3.05 p...

Bombardier.(News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... Bombardier is to supply another 50 VIRM double-deck EMU sets to Netherlands Railways in a deal valued at [euro]434m. The order will take the total number of VIRM cars in traffic by 2008 to more than 570. The units will be built at Bombardier's...

Hanoi tram revival underway.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... CHAIRMAN of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Quoc Trieu officially launched the construction of the first modern light rail line in the Vietnamese capital at a groundbreaking ceremony on December 27. Work began at the site of the...

TRAX expands.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... UTAH Transit Authority began work on January 8 to build a 1.6 km extension of Salt Lake City's TRAX light rail network from the existing city-centre terminus to a new intermodal interchange where it will connect with the FrontRunner commuter...

DLR contract.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... TRANSPORT for London has awarded the first of three contacts covering construction of the 5 km extension of the Docklands Light Railway to Stratford International, which is scheduled to open in 2010. The Skanska-GrantRail joint venture is...

RandstadRail repairs.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... FOLLOWING the two derailments which disrupted RandstadRail services in November (RG 1.07 p14), operator HTM commissioned Delta Rail to track down the causes. The consultant has identified weaknesses in key components of the 60 turnouts on...

Tube Lines.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... London Underground PPP contractor Tube Lines has invited expressions of interest to supply new trains to replace the Piccadilly Line fleet of 88 six-car sets, with a view to awarding a contract by the end of 2008. Under the PPP, Tube Lines is...

Madrid expansion plan nears completion.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... THE EXTENSION of Madrid Metro Line 11 from Pan Bendito to La Peseta in the southwestern suburb of Carabanchel opened to traffic on December 18. With intermediate stations at San Francisco and Carabanchel Alto, the 2.7 km extension has cost...

MTS wins Tel-Aviv metro.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... IN A CEREMONY on December 31, Israeli Finance Minister Abraham Hirschson, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz and representatives from the project manager NTA announced that the MTS consortium had been selected as concessionaire to develop the...

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert joined the ceremonies at Mount Herzl to mark the start of tracklaying on Jerusalem light rail Line 1.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... Prime Minister Ehud Olmert joined the ceremonies at Mount Herzl to mark the start of tracklaying on Jerusalem light rail Line 1. Concessionaire City Pass is using Alstom's automated Appitrack system to lay 120m a day, and hopes to have the 13.8...

Leslys concession.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... INTERURBAN tram-train services linking Lyon with the airport and TGV station at Saint-Exupery are expected to start running in the autumn of 2009, following the signing of a 30-year concession to develop and operate the [euro]100m Leslys...

Riedberg light rail.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... PLANS FOR a light rail route to the northern suburb of Riedberg were announced by the head of Frankurt-am-Main's Transport Department Lutz Sikorski on December 21. He said 70% of the funding for the [euro]60m project had been secured. ...

Egypt's National Authority for Tunnels.(City News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... Two contracts have been awarded by Egypt's National Authority for Tunnels for work on the 4.5 km first phase of Cairo metro Line 3 (MR 02 p33). A [euro]115m contract for E & M equipment has been awarded to a Spie-led consortium including...

US Transportation.(City News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... A Full Funding Grant Agreement providing $2.6bn in federal financing towards New York MTA's East Side Access project (RG 8.04 p474) was formally signed on December 18 by US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Governor George Pataki. Due to...

Delhi Metro Rail Corp.(City News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... Delhi Metro Rail Corp invited prequalification bids in January for NATM tunnelling work on the proposed Airport Express rail link between New Delhi station and Indira Gandhi International Airport (RG 1.07 p28). Expressions of interest have also...

Faiveley Transport.(City News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... Faiveley Transport's Chinese subsidiary SFRT has signed a framework agreement to supply air-conditioning equipment for the fleet of 51 six-car trains being built by Changchung Bombardier Railway Vehicles for Shanghai metro Line 9. The 35 km...

MBTA.(City News in Brief)
February 1, 2007... MBTA invited proposals on January 10 for 38 new diesel locos and 75 bi-level coaches to expand the Boston commuter rail fleet, which will have little spare capacity following the opening of the Greenbush Line extension this summer. MBTA General...

Kinki Sharyo.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... The first of 35 LRVs being built for Seattle by Kinki Sharyo was officially unveiled by Sound Transit on December 18, and was due to begin commissioning in January; one car has been sent to Pueblo for tests of the 1.5 kV DC traction equipment....

Mumbai SPV.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... THE SPECIAL Purpose Vehicle company to build and operate Line 1 of the planned Mumbai metro network under a 35-year BOT concession was officially incorporated on December 22. Under the PPP agreement signed earlier this year (RG 7.06 p378),...

Jakarta projects.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... DETAILED design for a 14.5 km metro line in Jakarta is expected to get underway shortly, following the announcement of a loan agreement in December. JBIC is providing [yen]1.87bn to finance engineering services for the Jakarta MRT System...

Muni opens T-Third at last.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... LIMITED OPERATION of San Francisco's T-Third light rail line began on January 13, with Muni Metro offering free rides on weekends and public holidays until April 7, when full revenue services are scheduled to start. T-Third services start...

Valencia's T2 makes progress.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... ON JANUARY 11 Mayor of Valencia, Rita Barbera, joined Jose Ramon Garcia Anton, Minister for Transport & Infrastructure in the Valencia regional government, to mark the start of work on the 5.1 km southern section of Line T2 from Alicante to...

Loop resignalling.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... CHICAGO TRANSIT Authority awarded a $48.2m contract on January 10 for resignalling the downtown Loop at the heart of the city's elevated metro network over the next three years. Divane Brothers Electric Co is to replace the signalling and...

Mendoza tram-train.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... ON MARCH 2 the provincial government of Mendoza in Argentina is due to open bids for a contract worth up to 28.6m pesos for work on the first phase of a tram-train network (RG 9.06 p493). The 11.5 km route from Mendoza to Gutierrez with 15...

TTC car contract.(CITY NEWS)
February 1, 2007... TORONTO TRANSIT Commission and Bombardier Transportation formally signed a C$548m sole-source contract on December 21 for the supply of 234 new subway cars for delivery in 2009-11. The 39 six-car sets are intended to replace around 200 cars...

Argentina.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Argentina: A consortium of Nestor Otero, Emepa and Ferrovias has won a 30-year concession to build and operate a transport interchange in Mar del Plata. Completion is expected to take 24 months at a cost of 23.5m pesos, including a station...

Austria.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Austria: In December the Land of Salzburg began negotiating to take over OBB's 760 mm gauge Pinzgaubahn during 2008. It would be renamed Nationalparkbahn and operated by Salzburg AG. Flood damage which had brought plans for closure will be...

Czech Republic.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Czech Republic: A KC750m project to revitalise Praha Hlavni station was formally launched on December 14. To be completed by November 2011, the work is being part-funded by the EBRD and undertaken by Czech firm Metrostav as subcontractor to...

Canada.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Canada: VIA Rail has introduced Interac Online payment, allowing customers of three banks to use internet banking to make payments when booking tickets.

Europe.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Europe: On January 9 SNCB and SNCF signed an agreement to create the Sideros joint venture to provide transport and logistics services to the iron and steel industry. This will involve the creation of a pool of specialised wagons, freeing-up...

Germany.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Germany: Regional transport authority ZVON has selected Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn to take over passenger services from Cottbus to Zittau and Forst and from Gorlitz to Hoyerswerda and Bischofswerda in 2008. They are currently operated by Veolia...

Philippines.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Philippines: On January 16 Finance Secretary Margarito Teves signed an agreement with Export-Import Bank of China for a US$500m Preferential Buyer's Credit Loan for the 45 km Northrail Project Phase 1, Section 2, from Malolos to Clark. An...

Russia.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Russia: Rosneft-Sakhalinmorneftegaz has put up for sale the 230 km Okha-Nogliki 1 067 mm gauge railway in northern Sakhalin, with all buildings and stock.

Dopravoprojekt and Infraprojekt.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Slovakia: Civil engineering firms Dopravoprojekt and Infraprojekt have established Dl Koridor to undertake the development of a rail link to Bratislava airport. ZSR has put the cost at KS940m, with half of the funding to come from the EU and...

EU.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Slovenia: Work began in December on a two-year upgrade of the Pragersko-Ormoz section of Pan-European Corridor V. The EU is contributing [euro]14.6m towards the [euro]36.3m cost of the work.

South Africa.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... South Africa: Work is expected to begin next month on the construction of a 69 km rail link to Majuba power station from Ermelo on the Richards Bay coal line. Utility company Eskom has allocated R1.8bn for the project, which it expects to...

Spain.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Spain: Acciona Rail Services has become the second private freight operator to be awarded a safety certificate by ADIF. Under a five-year contract with Union Fenosa starting at the end of January, it expects to haul 600000 tonnes of coal a year...

Sweden.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Sweden: Following the deregulation of night trains in Sweden in January, from January 31 to March 4 Connex is operating an overnight service between Goteborg and the Jamtland winter sports resorts of Are, Duved and Storlien, using Class 142...

Switzerland.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Switzerland: On the weekend of December 16 a train undertaking a series of over-speed test runs in the Lotschberg base tunnel reached 280 km/h, setting a new Swiss speed record.

Alstom ETR600 trainset.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Last month an Alstom ETR600 trainset was tested using the 25 kV electrification on the Roma-Napoli high speed line for the first time. Previous tests had been undertaken at the Velim test track in the Czech Republic Photo: David Campione

Taiwan Railway Administration.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... Taiwan Railway Administration has begun testing the first of six eight-car tilting trainsets ordered from Japanese supplier Marubeni Corp at a cost of NT$2.8bn. They will initially be used on Taipei-Hualien services, at speeds of up to 130 km/h...

Africa.(Finance)
February 1, 2007... Africa: The Northern Corridor Transit Transport Co-ordination Authority based in Mombasa is to receive US$3m from the African Development Bank and World Bank to prepare an infrastructure master plan for trade and transport in east Africa. A...

Bulgaria.(Finance)
February 1, 2007... Bulgaria: The Transport Ministry has put forward plans for BDZ and National Railway Infrastructure Co to sell off 30 surplus areas of land in 2007, raising around 100m leva.

Croatia.(Finance)
February 1, 2007... Croatia: On December 19 Eurofima signed a [euro]10m loan agreement with HZ to fund the modernisation of 11 carriages.

Iran.(Finance)
February 1, 2007... Iran: The government has approved a US$1.3bn investment programme for the Tehran metro, including the development of the proposed Line 6 between Haft-e Tir Square and Chamran Highway, and Line 7 between Saadatabad and Navab Highway.

Turkey.(Finance)
February 1, 2007... Turkey: On December 14 EIB announced a [euro]850 loan for TCDD to fund work on the Ankara-Istanbul fast line project (p72).

Vietnam.(Finance)
February 1, 2007... Vietnam: Following the agreement of a US$60m loan with Asian Development Bank, upgrading of the 285 km route between Yen Vien and the Chinese border at Lao Cai is to be undertaken at a cost of US$160m. Agence Francaise de Developpement is...

Australia.(Market)
February 1, 2007... Australia: The Western Australia government has exercised an A$157m option with Bombardier and EDI Rail for a further 15 B-series three car EMUs (p111). The 130 km/h 25 kV units will enter service on Perth's 1 067 mm gauge network in 2009-11.

China.(Market)
February 1, 2007... China: ABB is to supply Beijing Line 4 with 600 low voltage switchgear sets in an order worth 38m yuan. Delivery will be from September to November 2007, and the 28.7 km metro line between Ma Jia Lu and Long Bei Cun is expected to open in 2009....

Lithuania.(Market)
February 1, 2007... Lithuania: On December 15 LG signed a [euro]18m contract with Skoda subsidiary CKD Vagonka for the supply of two three-car double-deck EMUs which will enter service on the Vilnius-Kaunas route in the second half of 2008. The 160 km/h units will...

Netherlands.(Market)
February 1, 2007... Netherlands: Strukton Railinfra has been awarded a contract for major track renewals in the lJsselstreek region around Deventer. ProRail took into account the number of hours for which the tracks will be out of use when awarding the contract,...

Norway.(Market)
February 1, 2007... Norway: At a cost of [euro]62m, Oslo Airport express train operator Flytoget has ordered an additional 16 carriages from Bombardier to lengthen its three-car EMUs to four cars by August 2009.

Poland.(Market)
February 1, 2007... Poland: The CBRail joint venture of Babcock & Brown and Bank of Scotland Corporate Group has signed a contract with GE Transportation for the modernisation of 20 ST44 (M62) diesel locos which will be available to private operators. They will...

Russia.(Market)
February 1, 2007... Russia: In May JSC Aeroexpress will take delivery of an eight-car EMU being built by Transmash Holding's Demikhovsky Engineering Plant for use between Moscow's Savelovsky station and Sheremetyevo airport. Based on the ED4MKM design, the 120...

Spain.(Market)
February 1, 2007... Spain: As part of the project to build a high speed line between Madrid and Jaen (RG 9.06 p490), Sacyr and Neopul have been awarded a [euro]93.8m contract to upgrade the 46.7 km Alcazar de San Juan-Manzanares section of the Madrid-Cordoba main...

UK.(Market)
February 1, 2007... UK: On December 19 Network Rail announced it had awarded Ansaldo the contract for design of a [pounds sterling]60m project to implement an ERTMS Level 2 cab-signalling system to replace Radio Electronic Token Block on the largely self-contained...

USA.(Market)
February 1, 2007... USA: TrinityRail is to construct 920 covered hoppers and 1 050 tank wagons which it will then lease to Ethanex, which is developing three ethanol plants with a capacity of 1.5 billion litres/year. Bombardier has placed a $14m order for 406...

Venezuela.(Market)
February 1, 2007... Venezuela: China South's Qishuyan Locomotive Works has supplied the first two of a batch of 12 DF8Bven 3680 kW diesel-electric locomotives, customised to work in high temperatures and humidity.

SNCF.(INTELLIGENCE)
February 1, 2007... SNCF and Alstom are preparing this specially-configured TGV trainset for the forthcoming speed record attempt. AGV traction equipment fitted in the intermediate cars will power two bogies, reportedly boosting the power rating of the five-car...

BNSF Railway.(Pointers)
February 1, 2007... BNSF Railway is studying locations for a plant which would produce liquid diesel-replacement fuel from coal, using a version of the Fischer-Tropsch process which has been developed by Tenaska Inc. BNSF's 6300 locos consumed 5.3bn litres of...

Komi Aluminium.(Pointers)
February 1, 2007... Komi Aluminium has announced plans to invest US$87m during 2007-08 in the construction of a railway to serve a bauxite complex planned for Kerki in the Komi republic in northwest Russia.

Marta.(Pointers)
February 1, 2007... On January 8 the board of Atlanta transport authority Marta voted to adopt rail-based technology rather than a busway for the proposed Beltline project, which will use assorted active and disused railway rights-of-way forming a teardrop-shaped...

Pakistan and China.(Pointers)
February 1, 2007... Last month Pakistan and China held bilateral talks to discuss a study which is underway into the feasibility of constructing a railway parallel to the Karakoram Highway from Havelian into China.

New Railroad Development.(Pointers)
February 1, 2007... Sri Lanka's Ministry of New Railroad Development has announced plans to construct four lines by 2014. The routes proposed under the Rs95-3bn plan are Matara-Kataragama (113 km), Padukka-Hambantota-Ratnapura (210 km),...