Global debate as projects forge ahead

More than 1 300 people from 44 countries participated in the UIC Highspeed 2008 congress in Amsterdam on March 16-19, debating the technical, social and political issues surrounding the global development of high speed rail

Order bonanza in prospect

TRAINS: With DB about to go out to tender for 100 or more trains to replace its IC-EC fleet (RG 4.08 p205), manufacturers can look forward to booking major contracts for high speed trains during the coming months.

Much of the interest centres on China, where the Ministry of Railways is expected to place orders for 200 high speed trains a year for the next five years. Different suppliers are likely to be chosen, as the Chinese are anxious to have competition, not least on the terms of technology transfer agreed with Chinese suppliers.

Ernst Reuss of Siemens, Vice-President responsible for High Speed and Intercity Trains in China, expects around two-thirds of the trains to be needed for services running at up to 250 km/h and one-third to be for routes where speeds of 300 km/h or more are envisaged.

In Europe, SNCF is preparing to call tenders for a large fleet of high speed trains, possibly as many as 300 over the next four years. Intended to replace the TGV Sud-Est fleet and for use on the growing LGV network, they may be ordered in batches, as with the TGV Duplex fleet. An initial tender is expected later this year.

In Italy, the long-planned tender from Trenitalia for high speed trains is also likely to be issued during 2008, and this could be for 30 or 50 trains. With the election on April 14 returning a Berlusconi government to power, private operator NTV may now be able to give Alstom a Notice to Proceed with its contract for 25 AGV trainsets. Meanwhile Bombardier has signed an agreement with AnsaldoBreda (p285) to develop another design of high speed train to rival the AGV and Velaro.

In Portugal, plans for high speed lines have been revived (p328), and a call for tender for an initial fleet is expected.

Bidding for the Makkah - Madinah line in Saudi Arabia (RG 3.08 p124) is well advanced, and here around 25 to 30 trainsets will be needed. One problem for bidders is the need to provide very high capacity at times of peak demand such as the Hajj pilgrimage while at other periods the level of demand will be significantly lower.

Siemens is hopeful that more orders for its Velaro fleet could follow the initial batch of eight trains that it is currently building for Russia, with the first set due to be shipped by the end of this year. Only when Russian Railways is satisfied that the first Velaros can cope with the exceptional winter conditions with temperatures of -40°C are more sets likely to be ordered.

• CAPTION: UIC Chief Executive Luc Aliadière was joined by local hosts Aad Veenman of NS and Bert Klerk of ProRail to open the supporting exhibition at UIC Highspeed 2008 ?on March 17. The event took place at the NS-ProRail stand, where the VIPs were surrounded by colourful butterflies promoting the NS Hispeed services due to be launched on HSL-Zuid later this year.