Main line rail industry news – Page 1269
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Spain's high speed construction strategy forges ahead
As an agency of the Ministry of Development responsible for the construction and management of high speed lines, GIF is playing a key role in delivering the objectives set down in the 2000-07 Infrastructure Plan. This aims to increase the rail share of the passenger market to 30% by ensuring ...
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Engineering sale
SCOTTISH-based rail infrastructure maintenance contractor First Engineering Holdings Ltd is to be acquired by Peterhouse Group for £65·3m, subject to approval by Peterhouse shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting on October 4. The only remaining independent rail infrastructure maintenance contractor in the UK, First Engineering was formed in February 1996 ...
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Sidetrack
Cake time in CaliforniaMid-September was a good time to be in California, especially if you like the sweeter things in life. Birthday cakes were evident in both San Francisco and Sacramento, as two local transport operators celebrated notable anniversaries. During a board meeting on September 12, past and present BART ...
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JR Central opens Komaki research centre
CENTRAL JAPAN Railway has opened its own research centre at Komaki in Aichi prefecture, about 20 km north of Nagoya. Japan’s Railway Technical Research Institute already operates a major research facility with a wind tunnel at Maibara, but JR Central says that the RTRI wind tunnel is in great demand ...
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Flood repairs may siphon away investment funds
’WATER IS THE enemy of the track’ remarked Isabela Mila, a senior Polish Railways manager responsible for investment on the Warszawa - Berlin corridor to us some time ago. She had good reason for concern, for severe flooding in Silesia in 1997 had absorbed funds that were badly needed for ...
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Roma restores Line G
ON SEPTEMBER 23 Roma metro operator Met.Ro. restored passenger services on interurban Line G between Torrenova and Grotte Celoni. The 7·7 km Torrenova - Pantano section has been closed for several years to allow double-tracking and upgrading. Met.Ro. began test running on the completed section to Grotte Celoni on September ...
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Koreans resume border link
SEPTEMBER 18 saw a ceremony at Dorasan to mark the formal resumption of work on reconnecting the Gyeongi line across the Demilitarised Zone from Seoul to North Korea. Bilateral talks at the end of August were followed by the signing of a technical agreement on September 12 at Panmunjom between ...
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Airport contracts
ON AUGUST 29 Alstom Transport confirmed that it had won a €134m contract from Hellenic Railways’ construction arm Ergose, for project management and engineering design on the 30 km link to Spata international airport near Athens. Due to be completed for the 2004 Olympic Games, the route uses 10 km ...
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Govia gets seven years
BRITAIN’s Strategic Rail Authority announced on August 29 that it had decided not to award a 20-year franchise for Govia to operate the South Central suburban network. Instead, the consortium of The Go-Ahead Group and Keolis will get a franchise running for up to seven years from January 1 2003. ...
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Coal contract
CONSTRUCTION of the 46·5 km North Bowen Basin rail link serving the Hail Creek coal mine in Queensland is expected to be completed by October 2003. An A$70m contract for the project was awarded on August 27 to civil engineering company Abigroup in partnership with Queensland Rail.The Hail Creek branch ...
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Nürnberg - Leipzig restarts
GERMAN Transport Minister Kurt Bodewig launched work on the Erfurt West section of the Nürnberg - Leipzig high speed route on September 11. One of several major investment schemes designated as a national reunification project, the line ran into funding difficulties that led to work being halted in 1999 (RG ...
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NRC rehabilitation approved
A 25-YEAR ’strategic vision’ for the rehabilitation and development of Nigeria’s ailing national rail network at a cost of US$40bn was approved at the beginning of September (RG 4.02 p174). No funding has been identified, but the government hopes to raise 80% from external sources. Speaking on September 10, at ...
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IR goes alone
LASTMONTH an inter-ministerial committee headed by the Ministry of Finance agreed to push ahead with the planned separation of Israel Railways from the country’s ports authority, despite objections from the Transport Minister Dr Ephrayim Sne. IR will be set up as a stand-alone limited company with the possibility of privatisation ...
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CTRL awards
UNION Railways (North) Ltd has awarded the ACT joint venture a contract to design, install and commission track and overhead line equipment on Section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. ACT is formed of Alstom Transportation Projects, Carillion Construction and French infrastructure maintenance company Travaux du Sud-Ouest. Valued ...
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KRC advisors
THEGOVERMENT of Kenya has appointed the private-sector financing arm of the World Bank, the International Finance Corp, as lead advisor for the privatisation of Kenya Railways Corp. Over the next 18 months IFC will examine the potential for passenger and freight services, design and implement a concession structure to attract ...
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Open access rejected
CANADIAN open access operator Ferroequus has lost its application for rights to run over Canadian National tracks. The Edmonton-based firm had applied in October 2001 to operate grain trains from Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, and Camrose, Alberta, to the port of Prince Rupert (RG 9.02 p451).The Canadian Transportation Agency rejected the application ...
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Tranz Rail still in the soup
MANAGING Director of Tranz Rail Michael Beard promised on September 12 that the company’s ’change programme’ would deliver benefits in the 2003 financial year. Announcing results for the 12 months to June 30, Beard said ’the company’s historical business model was not sustainable’. He was responding to concerns about the ...
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Belgrano bail-out
THE ARGENTINIAN government has agreed to provide Belgrano Cargas with 24m pesos to secure operations and fund an emergency repairs programme. In return, the consortium which holds the Belgrano concession will be required to find a private-sector partner who might acquire up to 50% of the company.The consortium is currently ...
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Line H slips
THE ECONOMIC crisis in Argentina may have delayed the project, but the city government is confident that the latest addition to the Buenos Aires metro network will be completed. Touring worksites on the first 3·34 km section of Line H between Incl
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Swazi downsizing
TROUBLE is brewing on Swaziland Railway, which operates 301 km of 1067mm gauge line between Golela and Goba, providing a key link between South Africa and Mozambique. Our correspondent reports that SR wants to halve its 600-strong workforce to improve its financial performance. Early retirement is being offered to employees ...