Railway policy news – Page 63
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NewsRevised ERTMS Deployment Plan adopted
EUROPE: A new timetable for the roll-out of the European Rail Traffic Management System has been put in place by the European Commission, with the adoption on January 5 of an implementing regulation. The revised ERTMS European Deployment Plan has been drawn up over the past two years by ERTMS ...
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NewsDSB seeks smoother border checks to halt slump in Øresund traffic
EUROPE: Identity checks for rail passengers travelling across the Øresund fixed link between Denmark and Sweden are to be simplified with effect from January 30, Danish national operator DSB has announced. In response to the European migrant crisis, with effect from January 4 2016 the Swedish government brought in a ...
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NewsBane NOR launched to manage Norwegian network
NORWAY: Celebrations at Oslo Sentral station on January 2 marked the launch of Bane NOR as the country’s railway infrastructure manager, replacing Jernbaneverket.The move is part of a wider railway reform programme that has seen the creation by the government of a Railway Directorate to specify and manage the provision ...
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NewsSNCF Réseau approves €46bn spending plan
FRANCE: Meeting on December 20, the board of infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau formally approved the first multi-year performance contract with the national government, as required under railway reform legislation enacted in 2014. Welcoming the government’s long-term commitment to the rail network as a ‘very important step’, SNCF Réseau said the ...
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NewsDB Regio wins latest round of Nürnberg S-Bahn tendering
GERMANY: The protracted tendering of the operation of Nürnberg S-Bahn services came closer to reaching a conclusion on December 19, when Bayern transport authority BEG announced that DB Regio had submitted the best offers for the two parallel contracts running for 12 years from December 2018. Subject to any further ...
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NewsFRA recommends $120bn investment in Northeast Corridor
USA: A 30-year programme of route modernisation, including four-tracking and some new alignment, has been recommended by the Federal Railroad Administration under its proposal to develop the Northeast Corridor linking Boston, New York and Washington DC. A four-year consultation and market testing exercise known as NEC Future was launched ...
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NewsFourth Railway Package market pillar adopted by European Parliament
EUROPE: The European Parliament voted on December 14 to adopt the final wording for the market pillar of the Fourth Railway Package, concluding ‘almost five years of intense negotiations’ over the European Commission’s proposals. The market pillar will come into force once the texts have been published in the Official ...
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NewsKuala Lumpur – Singapore high speed rail agreement signed
ASIA: A bilateral agreement for the development of the 350 km Kuala Lumpur – Singapore high speed rail project was signed on December 13, when the two countries’ Prime Ministers took part in their annual retreat, which was this year was held at Putrajaya in Malaysia. The agreement was signed ...
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NewsMarket pillar criticised as final adoption nears
EUROPE: On December 5 the Transport & Tourism Committee of the European Parliament endorsed the consolidated wording of the market pillar of the Fourth Railway Package ahead of a debate in the full Parliament on December 12 and its expected formal adoption the following day. The technical pillar of the ...
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NewsEast West Rail heads move to vertical reintegration
UK: On December 6 Transport Secretary Chris Grayling announced a series of measures that aim to provide ‘a better service for the passenger’ through closer working between train operators and infrastructure manager Network Rail. ‘We want to see closer working across the industry to resolve problems more quickly’, said Grayling. ...
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NewsAlstom update on Belfort rescue package
FRANCE: Timescales for the government-backed rescue package for Alstom's Belfort plant which had been announced on October 4 were given by Secretary of State for Industry Christophe Sirugue and Alstom Chairman & CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge on November 28. This followed the first meeting of a monitoring committee which was formed ...
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News‘Uneven progress’ with PTC roll-out
USA: Third quarter 2016 data on the implementation of Positive Train Control shows ‘uneven progress across the country and across railroads’, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. Releasing data on November 28 which covers the three months to September 30, FRA said PTC was now active on 12% of freight ...
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NewsRailways in the UK Autumn Statement
UK: Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announced ‘significant additional funding’ for transport in his Autumn Statement to Parliament on November 23. Saying he had ‘deliberately avoided making this statement into a long list of individual projects being supported’, Hammond announced that a new National Productivity Investment Fund would spend ...
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NewsGrand Est agrees TET transfer
FRANCE: Meeting in plenary session on November 18, the Grand Est regional council approved an agreement that will see it become responsible for three routes within the loss-making Trains d’Equilibre du Territoire network of conventional passenger services operated by SNCF. Grand Est, formerly the Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine regions, is ...
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NewsSouth Bohemia operating contract award approved
CZECH REPUBLIC: GW Train Regio subsidiary GW Jihotrans expects to take over the operation of subsidised regional passenger services on three lines in the Šumava mountains in December 2017, after the Brno supreme court ruled on November 4 that the regional authority can proceed with signing the contract. The Jihočeský ...
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NewsGermany asked to change rolling stock inspection rules
GERMANY: The European Commission has submitted a reasoned opinion formally asking Germany to bring all its national railway safety rules into line with Directive 2004/49/EC, which EU member states were required to transpose by December 2010. If Germany does not ‘react satisfactorily’ within two months of the November 17 ...
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NewsHigh speed rail forum addresses challenges of a changing society
INTERNATIONAL: The ability of high speed railways to generate economic benefits and transform society was one of the themes underpinning the International High Speed Rail Association Forum, which brought together 286 participants from more than 20 countries in Kyoto on November 17. Describing high speed rail as 'a game changer', ...
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NewsHS2 contracts let as government confirms northern routes
UK: The government announced on November 15 that it had awarded contracts worth £900m for enabling work on the first phase of the High Speed 2 project linking London with the West Midlands. In addition, the government also confirmed its preferred route for Phase 2b of the scheme, taking the ...
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Metro Report InternationalComparing suburban rail best practice
INTERNATIONAL: Catalunya regional operator FGC hosted the annual meeting of the International Suburban Rail Benchmarking Group on November 9-11. The event in Barcelona brought together 15 rail operators as part of an international project which aims to identify synergies and drive continuous improvement by providing a confidential ...
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NewsIndependent transport regulator to be established
CZECH REPUBLIC: The government has approved an act paving the way for the creation of an independent transport infrastructure access regulator Úřad pro přístup k dopravní infrastruktuře with effect from April 1 2017. ÚPDI is to have 20 to 30 staff, and will be led by a chairman appointed by ...