Railway policy news – Page 75
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NewsFunding constrains ambitions in 2014 Indian Railways budget
INDIA: The parlous state of Indian Railways' finances was flagged up by Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge when he presented an interim budget to the lower house of parliament on February 12. With elections expected in May, the interim budget is intended to keep IR operational until the new government takes ...
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NewsHigh speed line planning continues
THAILAND: Work on the first of four planned high speed lines is continuing amid the ongoing political instability, the Office of Transport & Traffic Policy & Planning has confirmed. OTTPP Director Chula Sukmanop said that efforts to finalise the route alignment and consult with local people for a 750 km ...
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NewsPenalty regime in new Buenos Aires commuter operating agreements
ARGENTINA: Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo announced on February 12 that he had approved new operating agreements for the Mitre, San Martín, Belgrano Sur and Roca commuter routes in Buenos Aires. The emergency operating consortia UGOFE and UGOMS have been dissolved, with the Roggio group ...
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NewsEuropean railways unveil joint technical strategy
EUROPE: An outline of the technical requirements needed to support 'a successful railway of the future' was published on February 11 by the 'Railway Operating Community', which brings together those European train operators and infrastructure managers who are members of CER, EIM and UIC. Co-ordinated by UIC, the Rail Technical ...
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NewsSwiss voters back long-term rail funding plan
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has welcomed the result of a referendum on February 9 which saw voters approve a long-term strategy to finance and upgrade rail infrastructure. SBB said the Finanzierung und Ausbau der Bahninfrastruktur strategy which was supported 62:38 on a 55% turnout would provide a solid foundation ...
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NewsColombian railway revival gets underway
COLOMBIA: As part of a strategy to remove damaging heavy freight traffic from the roads, the government has awarded contracts for rehabilitation of two sections of the 914 mm gauge rail network which have been out of use since the 1980s. Work by local contractors to return the lines to ...
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NewsKTMB concession plan rejected
MALAYSIA: A plan to contract out national railway KTMB’s train operating activities to a consortium of local firms MMC and Gamuda has been cancelled by the government. The two groups, which have interests in engineering, logistics and shipping, are understood to have been in discussions with the government for more ...
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NewsDfT agrees Rail North devolution partnership
UK: The Department for Transport has agreed a partnership to begin the process of devolving more responsibility for specifying and managing passenger services to local authorities in the north of England. The agreement, announced by the Rail North group of 33 local authorities following a meeting with Transport Secretary Patrick ...
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NewsMining companies could share Liberian railway
LIBERIA: The government of Liberia is to convene discussions this year which could lead to Sable Mining exporting iron ore from neighbouring Guinea using the 273 km Yekepa - Buchanan line. The former Lamco railway was rehabilitated by ArcelorMittal and operations restarted in 2011 under a 2006 mineral development agreement ...
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NewsGreat prospects in sight at Tazara
AFRICA: Private finance from customers and stakeholders is to be sought to meet at least 15% of the cost of a five-year strategic investment plan which was approved by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority board in December. Spending of US$211m is proposed in 2013-18, including US$177m targeted at increasing capacity. ...
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NewsStrategic analysis targets high speed rail decision-makers
EUROPE: An economic study published on January 21 aims to help determine how best to expand the current European high speed network. Commissioned by Alstom and SNCF from German management consultants Civity, the study formed the basis for a debate entitled ‘The Relevance of High Speed’ held at the European ...
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NewsSNCF to expand Eurostar terminal in Lille
FRANCE: SNCF’s Gares et Connexions business unit has announced plans to double the capacity of the Eurostar terminal at Lille Europe station in a seven-month project valued at €3m. Work to expand both the waiting areas and security zone of the ‘Transmanche terminal’ will begin in March for completion by ...
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NewsPolish regional train operator decentralised
POLAND: The local divisions of country-wide regional train operator Przewozy Regionalne gained autonomy with effect from January 1, giving them greater management freedom accompanied by decentralised accounting, cost allocation and debts. PR was originally formed by transferring the regional passenger activities of national railway PKP to the collective ownership of ...
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NewsHŽ Cargo privatisation collapses
CROATIA: The planned sale of a 75% stake in HŽ Cargo has been abandoned following the collapse of negotiations with Grampet Group, the Ministry of Transport announced on January 13. A call for expressions of interest in the privatisation of the national railway’s freight business had initially ...
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NewsRail-specific export credit rules introduced to encourage sustainable development
INTERNATIONAL: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development has introduced sector-specific rules to govern government-backed export credits, loan guarantees and risk insurance in the rail market. The rail sector understanding which came into effect on January 1 provides tailored amendments to the credit rules followed by the 34 OECD member ...
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NewsLocomotive completes reformed vehicle approval process in just 11 weeks
GERMANY: Bombardier Transportation announced on December 14 that its Traxx P160 multi-engine diesel locomotive had become the first vehicle type to be approved under national railway authority EBA's reformed authorisation programme. A memorandum of understanding to reform the approvals process was signed in June by the Ministry of Transport, EBA ...
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NewsRENFE agrees public service contract
SPAIN: The government has approved a contract with state operator RENFE covering the provision in 2013-15 of services that are deemed to meet a public service obligation. The contract covers suburban and medium-distance passenger services (including Avant high speed) on the national network that are funded by central government, as ...
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NewsADIF to split into high speed and conventional businesses
SPAIN: Meeting on December 13, the Spanish cabinet approved legislation to split infrastructure manager ADIF into two companies, one responsible for the 1 435 mm gauge high speed network and the other for the 1 668 mm and 1 000 mm gauge routes used by conventional services. As well as ...
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NewsTransport Committee votes on Fourth Railway Package
EUROPE: Meeting in Brussels on December 17, the Transport & Tourism Committee of the European Parliament voted on a series of amendments to the six legislative proposals in the European Commission’s Fourth Railway Package. This paves the way for the amended package to be put to a plenary session of ...
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NewsShift2Rail proposal published
EUROPE: The Shift2Rail joint technology initiative which is intended to form the backbone of European railway research over the next decade took a major step forward on December 16, when the European Commission published its formal proposal for the Council Regulation needed to establish the JTI as a Joint Undertaking. ...