Railway policy news – Page 39
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NewsNew ERFA President calls for a ‘truly European and competitive’ freight market
EUROPE: BLS Cargo CEO Dirk Stahl was elected as President of the European Rail Freight Association at its board meeting on November 20. Maciej Gladyga, director of Poland’s Land Transport Chamber of Commerce, was elected as Vice-President of the organisation which represents new entrants to the freight ...
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NewsFederal funds to boost Queensland projects
AUSTRALIA: The federal government has committed to increase funding for several railway projects in Queensland, as part of an A$3·8bn package of infrastructure spending announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on November 21. Described by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk as a ‘huge win’, the announcement followed lengthy ...
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NewsDoll to leave DB as Arriva sale falters
Photo: Deutsche Bahn AG/Pablo Castagnola GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has announced that Alexander Doll, Board Member for Finance, Freight Traffic & Logistics, will leave the business on December 31. Doll’s departure was agreed on November 18 at an extraordinary meeting of the Supervisory Board. A new chief financial ...
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NewsRail’s priorities for a European Green Deal
EUROPE: Measures to achieve full transport decarbonisation by 2050, encourage modal shift and implement ‘polluter pays’ principles are amongst the measures which the Community of European Railway & Infrastructure Companies believes should be included in the European Green Deal that incoming European Commission President Ursula von der ...
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NewsTurkey publishes 2020 rail plan
TURKEY: Tenders for the design of new lines as well as the rehabilitation, electrification and resignalling of existing routes, proposals for rail-served logistics centres and the further development of the domestic supply chain are included in a 2020 strategic programme published by the president’s office on November ...
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Rail Business UKNetwork Rail regions take over project delivery
UK: The next phase of Network Rail’s devolution strategy came into force on November 11, when responsibility for capital projects was transferred from the former centralised Infrastructure Projects business to the five geographical regions that were established in June to provide support for the 14 routes responsible ...
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NewsSwiss vote to adopt technical pillar
Photo: SBB SWITZERLAND: Changes to the Eisenbahnverordnung national railway regulations to embed the requirements of the technical pillar of the EU’s Fourth Railway Package were formally approved by the Federal Council on November 6. Emphasising that ‘Switzerland has a great interest in ensuring that cross-border railway traffic ...
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NewsBulgarian Railways to create stand-alone passenger and freight divisions
BULGARIA: A restructuring of national train operator BDZ EAD which will see its passenger and freight divisions become stand-alone joint stock companies has been agreed with the Ministry of Transport, IT & Communications. Bulgarian freight train. This follows the government’s introduction of a ...
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NewsPolicies needed to maintain EU rail suppliers’ global leadership
EUROPE: A report setting out policy measures which are needed to maintain the European supply sector’s ‘global leadership’ and competitiveness has been published by an EU expert group drawn from across the rail industry. Established a result of a European Parliament resolution in 2016, the group includes ...
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NewsFour bidders seek Spanish train paths
SPAIN: Infrastructure manager ADIF has received four requests for capacity to operate passenger services on the ‘general interest’ national network including the main high speed corridors. Applications for train paths from December 14 2020 were submitted by national incumbent RENFE, the Rielsfera subsidiary of France’s SNCF, Motion ...
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NewsFreight to be focus of Shift2Rail successor
EUROPE: Freight is likely to be a core focus of the successor to the Shift2Rail joint technology initiative, S2R Executive Director Carlo Borghini told Railway Gazette on October 30 on the sidelines of the World Congress on Railway Research in Tokyo. While the so-called Shift2Rail II programme ...
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Rail Business UKNorthern rail crisis is a ‘collective system inability’, says Arriva UK Trains MD
Arriva UK Trains Managing Director Chris Burchell talks to Rail Business UK about ongoing problems at the Northern franchise, where performance has been hit by the late delivery of new trains, a series of industrial disputes and the inability of the infrastructure to handle the timetable.
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NewsRailway development opportunities highlighted at Russia-Africa Summit
AFRICA: A number of agreements for Russian co-operation in railway development were signed at the inaugural Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi on October 23-24, where 54 African countries were represented with 43 heads of state or government attending. Africa ‘provides unique opportunities for railway development’, First Deputy CEO ...
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Metro Report InternationalBus drivers to be retrained for an autonomous vehicle future
SINGAPORE: A memorandum of understanding was signed on October 24 to retrain bus drivers in preparation for the expected deployment of autonomous buses in the city. The signatories are the Land Transport Authority, the National Transport Workers’ Union, ST Engineering, SBS Transit, SMRT Buses, Tower Transit Singapore, ...
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Metro Report InternationalSustainable mobility roadmap set out
INTERNATIONAL: The Sustainable Mobility for All group of 55 organisations published its Global Roadmap of Action toward Sustainable Mobility report on October 23. The launch event took place at the headquarters of the World Bank, a SuM4All member, in Washington DC. The report aims to help national ...
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NewsLegal challenge halts Gateway Basel Nord
SWITZERLAND: The planned start of construction of the Gateway Basel Nord project for a trimodal container terminal has been delayed following a successful legal challenge by container and logistics company Swissterminal AG. Gateway Basel Nord is the brainchild of a joint venture formed of SBB Cargo, intermodal ...
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Metro Report InternationalSarajevo transport funding approved
BOSNIA: The Sarajevo Canton government approved €69·5m of transport funding for the capital on October 17. The largest project by value is the purchase of 20 trams, which has been allocated €41m. A further €23·5m is being put towards a 6·4 km tramway extension from the current ...
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NewsEmployers and unions aim to increase the number of women in the rail sector
EUROPE: Negotiations for an EU-level agreement aimed at promoting the employment of women in the rail sector have been launched by the Community of European Railway & Infrastructure Companies, representing more than 70 employers, and the European Transport Workers’ Federation which represents 5 million transport workers from ...
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NewsRichard Hope, OBE
It is with great sadness that we have to report the death on October 14 of Richard Hope, at the age of 85, following several years of ill health. He worked for the Railway Gazette Group for 50 years, serving as Editor of Railway Gazette International between ...
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NewsNightJet expands to Amsterdam and Brussels
INTERNATIONAL: Regular overnight trains will return to the Netherlands with effect from the December 2020 timetable change, with the launch of a daily service between Amsterdam, München and Wien, State Secretary of Infrastructure & Water Management Stientje Van Veldhoven announced on October 10. Citing an increase in ...