Railway Gazette International articles from May 2005

Railway Gazette International archives from May 2005

Bahn 2000 is working.(COMMENT)
May 1, 2005... EARLY REPORTS suggest that Switzerland's ambitious Bahn 2000 programme with its nationwide interconnecting timetable has led to a 10% increase in passenger traffic on main line services. While this still awaits formal confirmation, it is clear...

No duty to promote the use of rail.(COMMENT)
May 1, 2005... ONCE AGAIN the exigencies of politics have dictated railway policy in the UK. Once again, the policy is ill-conceived, with the state taking more direct control over what is nominally a private industry (RG 3.05 p115). And once again the stage...

Third Railway Package creeps forward.(COMMENT)
May 1, 2005... APRIL 19 saw the European Parliament's Committee on Transport & Tourism vote on the four-part Third Railway Package. The proposed regulation on the quality of freight services was overwhelmingly rejected, prompting CER Executive Director...

Fret spirals down.(COMMENT)
May 1, 2005... WITH the European Commission watching closely following its approval of the French government's [euro]1.5bn aid package (RG 4.05 p181), SNCF Freight Director Marc Veron is anxious to make progress in turning round his business. Also looking...

10 000 km in next master plan.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... A FURTHER 10 000 km of new railway is to be built in China, according to the first draft of Chinese Railways 2006-10 master plan which was unveiled by the Ministry of Railways on March 25. The plan would bring the total length of the CR...

Diabolo makes progress.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... THE BELGIAN government has reached agreement with infrastructure manager Infrabel to push ahead with the Diabolo project to improve rail links to Zaventem Airport, in line with SNCB's 2012 investment strategy. The number of airline...

NAFTA takeover.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... THE AMBITIOUS plan to create a north-south 'NAFTA Railway' serving the North American Free Trade Area reached fruition on April 1, when Kansas City Southern formally took over Mexican rail concessionaire TFM SA de CV. KCS has purchased a...

Kashmir through train launched.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... THE FIRST section of India's rail link to Kashmir was officially inaugurated on April 13, when Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh flagged off the first Uttar Sampark Kranti Express from Delhi. The 54.8 km broad gauge line from Jammu Tawi to...

Saudi Landbridge project.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... Prequalification documents for the Saudi Landbridge project (RG 3.05 p134) were issued by Saudi Railways Organisation and its advisor UBS Investment Bank on April 17. Initial applications must be returned by August 15, and SRO expects to notify...

Freight for sale.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... TENDERS are due to be invited this month for the sale of Slovak Railways' freight operations, which have been valued at between KS 15bn and KS20bn. The transport ministry's proposal to sell the business was formally approved by the...

Turkish State Railways.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... Turkish State Railways has called bids by June 17 for a contract to supply 10 electric high speed trainsets. The six-car trains are intended to operate at 250 km/h or more, and must have IGBT controls and three-phase traction motors.

Trains return to Jerusalem.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... ISRAEL RAILWAYS reopened its line to Jerusalem with the introduction of a new timetable on April 9, which also saw the launch of passenger services to Ashkelon. Transport Minister Meir Shitrit and IR General Manager Yossi Mor joined the...

Lotschberg base tunnel.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger was expected to join the celebrations on April 28 to mark the holing through of the Lotschberg base tunnel. Boring from Ferden has been completed, leaving the Mitholz team to make the breakthrough....

GNER wins second franchise term.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... MAY 1 marks the start of a new 10-year contract to operate the UK's Inter-City East Coast franchise. The deal was signed on March 18 by Sea Containers' subsidiary Great North Eastern Railway, which has run the route from London to Leeds, York,...

Austrian Federal Railways.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... The first of 50 three-voltage Class 1216 locos being built for Austrian Federal Railways was rolled out by Siemens in Munchen on March 31. The Eurosprinter dervative is equipped to run in Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech...

Grasse reopens.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... ON MARCH 21 French Transport Secretary Francois Goulard and RFF President Jean-Pierre Duport marked the reopening of the Cannes--Grasse line after 60 years. Although passenger services were suspended in spring 1944, the branch continued to...

Freight accord.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... A CO-OPERATION agreement was signed at the Hannover Fair on April 11 by DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn and RZD President Gennady Fadeyev, paving the way for the setting up of a joint venture freight company by RZD and Railion. The accord...

UP to invest $2bn.(NEWS)
May 1, 2005... ON MARCH 30 Union Pacific announced that it expected to spend over US$2bn on capital investment during 2005. More than $1.3bn will be spent on infrastructure maintenance and upgrading, with 1 700 km of rail to be replaced and another 12 500...

Madrid-Barcelona AVE line.(News in Brief)
May 1, 2005... On April 11 Spanish infrastructure authority ADIF awarded the last three civil engineering contracts for the Madrid--Barcelona AVE line. Necso, a subsidiary of Acciona, took a [euro]76.5m contract for the 4.1 km section from Sant Joan Despi to...

Bangladesh Railways.(News in Brief)
May 1, 2005... Bangladesh Railways signed a contract on April 18 to buy 50 broad-gauge inter-city coaches from PT Inka of Madiun at a cost of 869m taka. Including air-conditioned seats cars and sleeping cars, the vehicles are intended to operate through...

Chinese Railways.(News in Brief)
May 1, 2005... China's Ministry of Railways announced on March 18 that it had decided to simplify the Chinese Railways management structure with the abolition of 41 sub-administrations which formerly reported to 10 of CR's 15 regional railway administrations....

Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail.(News in Brief)
May 1, 2005... Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail announced on April 14 that it had successfully completed cross-exchange trials using ERTMS Level 2 equipment from different suppliers. In a four-week programme, trains fitted with Siemens and Alstom...

Rail India Technical & Economic Services.(News in Brief)
May 1, 2005... Rail India Technical & Economic Services announced on April 7 that it had been awarded five contracts totalling US$40m for rehabilitation work on the Mocamedes Railway in Angola. RITES will provide project management and technical assistance...

The Spanish government published regulations governing capacity allocation and access charges on the national rail network on April 18.(News in Brief)
May 1, 2005... The Spanish government published regulations governing capacity allocation and access charges on the national rail network on April 18. Details published in the Official Bulletin include a network statement as well as access conditions,...

PATH starts fleet renewal.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... COMPLETE replacement of the EMU fleet operating the Port Authority Trans-Hudson metro network linking Newark, Jersey City and Manhattan was approved by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey board of directors on March 31. In a 3 min...

WM De Lijn.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... On April 15 WM De Lijn opened an extension of Gent tram Route 1 from Maalte to Flanders Expo, completing the second stage of a 2.4 km extension from St Peter's station built at a total cost of [euro]32.5m. The operator has also started taking...

Beijing starts metro upgrading.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... BEIJING METRO Corp announced in March that it was starting work on a network-wide upgrading and renovation programme ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games. Costed at 4.3bn yuan, the package includes replacement of track, trains, signalling and...

Barajas Express.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... SPAIN'S Ministry of Development published plans on March 18 for construction of a fast suburban link to Madrid Barajas airport that would allow airline passengers to reach the city centre in just 11 min. The project requires additional...

The government of Thailand.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... The government of Thailand has appointed MFC Asset Management to advise on financing options for a planned transport investment programme which would see seven more metro lines built in Bangkok over the next five years at an estimated cost of...

Chennai launches metro plan.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... PLANS to develop a three-line metro network in the Indian city of Chennai were unveiled on April 12 by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Ms J Jayalalithaa. She told the state assembly that Delhi Metro Rail Corp had completed an initial...

Merseytram ready to start.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... ON APRIL 7 Merseyside PTE announced that it had selected the M-PACT joint venture of GrantRail and Laing O'Rourke Civil Engineering as prime contractor for the UK's next light rail project: Merseytram Line 1 between Liverpool and Kirkby (MR 03...

Tehran Urban & Suburban Railway Co.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... Tehran Urban & Suburban Railway Co has started taking delivery of a further batch of 12 Class SS5 electric locomotives from China's Zhuzhou Electric Loco Works for its recently-extended suburban Line 5, (RG 4.05 p185). The new locos are fitted...

Cadiz branch opens.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... SPANISH MINISTER of Development Magdalena Alvarez opened a 2.4 km branch in the Cadiz suburbs on April 4, serving the city's university. The line diverges from RENFE's existing main line into Cadiz at Las Aletas, where a new station has...

Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo signed legislation in March to permit the Lima municipal authorities to guarantee up to US$120m in private financing to build the 12 km second phase of the capital's metro between Puente Atocongo and Avenida...

Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe has started work on the development of a new generation of small-profile U-Bahn trainsets for lines U1 to U4. BVG will take delivery next year of 20 more six-car trains of HK stock from Bombardier. The new design,...

NYCT to start ATO.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... NEW YORK City Transit expected to introduce automatic train operation last month on its L Canarsie line, which has been re-equipped with communications-based train control by Siemens as a pilot for resignalling the subway network. The...

Mallorca railway operator SFM.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... Mallorca railway operator SFM has been awarded a contract by the island's Department of Public Works to study proposals for three more metro routes in Palma. Tenders have already been called for the 7.2 km Line 1 linking the city centre and...

Ring line funded.(CITY NEWS)
May 1, 2005... ON APRIL 4 Kobenhavn City Council announced a [euro]600m funding boost for the Danish capital's planned metro ring line. The money will come from the recently-completed sale of the municipal power company Kobenhavn Energi to Dansk Olje &...

Austria.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Austria: OBB is planning to purchase new 250 km/h trainsets for services between Wien and Salzburg from 2008. A spokesman confirmed to local media that the operator is no longer considering buying DB's ICE-TD tilting diesel trains (RG 4.05...

Canada.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Canada: On June 3 Tshiuetin Rail Transportation Inc will take over the Menihek Subdivision of the Quebec North Shore & Labrador Railway between Schefferville and Emeril Junction, and will also operate on the Acouna and Northernland subdivisions...

China.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... China: Work began on March 21 to upgrade and electrify the 392 km Jinan--Qingdao line, which is due to be completed in July 2007 at a cost of 70m yuan. Freight trains have started running on the 290 km coastal line between Ganzhou in...

Czech Republic.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Czech Republic: Boring has begun of two 2.7 km double-track tunnels under the Vitkov hill as part of a KC7.9bn programme to remodel lines in Praha (RG9.04 p514).

Europe.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Europe: A [euro]3m European Intereg grant has completed the [euro]14m of financing needed to reopen a mothballed 5 km line between Maastricht in the Netherlands and Lanaken in Belgium. SNCB will operate paper and container trains, and hopes to...

France.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... France: SNCF is to outsource storage and supply of rolling stock spares under a [euro]80m six-year contract with TNT Logistics France. In March the Ministry of Transport ruled that the controversial TGV Est station to be known as Lorraine...

Germany.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Germany: Following a promise by Chancellor Gerhard Schroder on March 17, the Federal Transport Ministry confirmed on April 20 that it would contribute [euro]750m over the next four years to rail investment projects. These include...

Russia.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Russia: The Russian Troika joint venture of RZD and Far Eastern Shipping Co dispatched its first train from Nakhodka on March 28. The 53-wagon container train with an armed guard carried car parts from South Korea to the Taganrog Hyundai...

Slovakia.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Slovakia: On March 6 ZSR marked the start of a [euro]150m upgrading of the 35 km Trnava--Piestany section of the Bratislava--Zilina route for 160 km/h operation. It will receive 85% funding from the EU Cohesion Fund.

Spain.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Spain: On April 5 RENFE Operador introduced Series 598 tilting DMUs on the route linking Sevilla with Granada and Almeria, cutting journey times by 5 to 10 min. Series 598 sets are also running from Madrid to Badajoz and Caceres. The...

Sri Lanka.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Sri Lanka: The Pinwatte bridge on SLR's Colombo--Kalutara line was reopened by Transport Minister Felix Perera on April 11, following a Rs56m project to repair tsunami damage funded by Austrian aid.

United Kingdom.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... United Kingdom: On April 4 the first train arrived at a [pounds sterling]400 000 wagonload terminal opened in Bristol by freight operator EWS.

USA.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... USA: Watco subsidiary Appalachian & Ohio Railroad has been formed to operate freight trains between Grafton and Cowen in West Virginia. Leased from CSX, the main route and five branches total 188 km, and coal forms 80% of the traffic. On...

Africa.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Africa: Corus is to supply 4 500 tonnes of 18 m rails and 32 500 type 202 sleepers to Transrail SA for the upgrading of the Mali--Senegal line.

Australia.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Australia: NSW RailCorp has placed a A$262m order with United Group for a further 81 Oscar double-deck EMU cars for use on outer suburban services in Sydney from late 2006. United Goninan now expects to deliver 41 vehicles ordered under a...

Bangladesh.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Bangladesh: BR has awarded Ircon International a 885m taka contract to install computerised signalling at 12 stations on the Dhaka--Sylhet route.

Canada.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Canada: CP has agreed to purchase seven Green Goat shunters from RailPower Technologies for use in Calgary. A further 28 will follow over three years if the initial seven meet performance specifications. On April 6 Canadian National...

China.(Market)
May 1, 2005... China: On March 15 the Ministry of Railways signed a contract with CSEE Transport, Zelri and CARS for the supply of 120 sets of Eurocab-based on-board ATP equipment for use on Alstom and Kawasaki trains operating at up to 200 km/h.

Czech Republic.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Czech Republic: CD has bought a 38% stake in catering and sleeping car company JLV, which has around 400 staff and turnover of KC300m.

Germany.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Germany: Bombardier is to supply EBllock 500 computer-based interlockings to DB Netz for use on the Appenweier--Bad Griesbach line.

Hungary.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Hungary: MAV has awarded a consortium of Alcatel and Mavepcell contracts worth [euro]42m to supply Altrac train controls at Komarom station and LockTrac interlocking and signalling equipment for the 85 km line between Zalalovo and Boba.

Italy.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Italy: Trenitalia has ordered a further 100 Bombardier E464 3 kV DC electric locos worth [euro]250m. Deliveries will start in September and be completed by November 2007. Trenitalia had previously ordered 288 of the 3.5 MW locos, entering...

Poland.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Poland: Alcatel and KZAiT have been awarded a [euro]30m contract to provide LockTrac interlockings, FieldTrac axle counters and NetTrac CTC at six stations in Poznan.

Uruguayan railway operator AFE.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... On March 23 Uruguayan railway operator AFE took delivery of 27 second-hand container flat wagons from Loko Trans of the Czech Republic Photo: Marcelo Benoit

Lombardia region.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... In March, Lombardia region tested a Stadler GTW railcar on the Brescia--Darfo Boario Terme line, with a view to ordering new trains to replace Ferrovie Nord Milano's ageing Aln668 diesel railcars. The unit is scheduled to enter service on the...

Alstom's Savigliano plant.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Taking shape in Alstom's Savigliano plant are the first 'third generation' Pendolino tilting trains, which are due to enter service from October 2006. Alstom is supplying 14 seven-car 'CIS-2' sets to Cisalpino and 12 to Trenitalia under...

Trenitalia.(INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2005... Trenitalia has rolled out the first of 300 double-deck coaches being built by the Corifer consortium for delivery by October 2006. Fitted with Siemens SF400 bogies, they will form five-car 160 km/h push-pull 'Vivalto' sets to work local...

Australia.(Finance)
May 1, 2005... Australia: The federal government is to provide A$42m for Telstra Code Division Multiple Access communications to replace the nine communications systems on ARTC's inter-state network. A further A$20.3m will go towards developing Advance Train...

Canada.(Finance)
May 1, 2005... Canada: CN announced on March 29 that it had refinanced for five years its US$1bn revolving credit facility with a banking syndicate lead by BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.

Czech Republic.(Finance)
May 1, 2005... Czech Republic: Transport Minister Milan Simonovsky said last month that plans for a privately-financed rail link to Ruzyne airport are ready for implementation. The KC12bn project includes upgrading the line from Praha's Masarykovo station to...

Denmark.(Finance)
May 1, 2005... Denmark: DSB has announced pre-tax profits of DKr947m for 2004, down from DKr997m in 2003. Turnover of DKr8.95bn was down from DKr8.97bn.

Europe.(Finance)
May 1, 2005... Europe: Last month Eurotunnel's senior debt holders voted 87% in favour of a credit waiver required for talks to begin on restructuring the company's [pounds sterling]6.2bn debt.

Germany.(Finance)
May 1, 2005... Germany: Shareholders BASF, Bertschi, Hoyer and VTG have increased the share capital of rail4chem from [euro]1m to [euro]5m to fund expansion.

India.(Finance)
May 1, 2005... India: On March 29 Japan Bank for International Co-operation signed an Official Development Assistance loan of Rs8bn towards the Delhi metro project.

Japan.(Finance)
May 1, 2005... Japan: The government has appointed Nomura and UBS to sell shares in JR Central worth up to US$7.3bn. After previous sales, the government currently retains a 40% stake in the railway (RG 10.04 p677).

Russia.(Finance)
May 1, 2005... Russia: JP Morgan Chase has agreed to provide a US$10.4m credit to TransCreditBank for 6 1/2 years. It will be used to purchase railway supplies including two wheelset assembly machines from Simmons Machine Tool Corp.

Taiwan.(Finance)
May 1, 2005... Taiwan: On April 21 China Steel Corp bought NT$3.2bn of four-year preferred shares in Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp, increasing its stake to 6.24%. The partially-state-owned company bought the holding after THSRC had missed a planned deadline of...

Spain.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Spain: On March 1 maintenance of the Madrid--Lleida high speed line was taken over by a consortium of CSEE Transport and Cobra under a four-year contract with ADIF worth [euro]59.9m.

Sweden.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Sweden: Banverket has awarded contracts totalling [euro]31m to Peab Group and Balfour Beatty Rail AB for electrification of the 120 km Blekinge coast line between Kristianstad and Karlskrona. The project includes resignalling, bridge...

Tunisia.(Market)
May 1, 2005... Tunisia: SNCFT has placed an order with Corus for 1 350 tonnes of 36 m rail for delivery to Sfax later this year.

United Kingdom.(Market)
May 1, 2005... United Kingdom: Under a joint order First Swietelsky is to buy three Kirow KRC 250 general purpose renewals cranes and GrantPlant is to purchase two, for delivery from summer 2006. The five cranes will have a maximum capacity of 25 tonnes and...

USA.(Market)
May 1, 2005... USA: Norfolk Southern is to purchase an additional 50 GE ES40DC six-axle 4 000 hp locos this year, in addition to 52 EMD SD70M-2 locos previously announced in the railway's 2005 capital spending budget. RailPower Technologies is to supply...

Australia.(Metros)
May 1, 2005... Australia: The A$215m South Australia Strategic Infrastructure Plan for 2005-15 includes A$21m to extend Adelaide's Glenelg tramway from Victoria Square to North Terrace. Construction would begin in 2006 for completion in September 2007, when...

Chile.(Metros)
May 1, 2005... Chile: Santiago Metro has ordered 42 metro cars from Alstom for [euro]52m, including a two-year maintenance package, and exercised a [euro]44m option for an additional 43 cars. They will be delivered from mid-2007 for use on the extension of...

France.(Metros)
May 1, 2005... France: Cegelec has won contracts worth [euro]10m for E & M installation work on the Lea tramway in Lyon (RG 2.05 p63). It will work with Ineo on power supplies, with TSO on overhead line equipment and with Alstom on signalling.

Germany.(Metros)
May 1, 2005... Germany: Stadtwerke Munchen is to begin work in the third quarter of the year on a 4 km tram line linking Munchner Freiheit station on metro lines U3 and U6 to Funkkaserne West in the Schwabing development area. Opening in mid-2007, Route 23...