Railway policy news – Page 76
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NewsTaskforce to study electrification in northern England
UK: The Department for Transport is to establish a joint taskforce with infrastructure manager Network Rail to study options for further electrification in northern England. Announcing the plan on December 13, DfT said the taskforce would work with train operators, local authorities including the Rail North consortium, the supply industry ...
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NewsSpanish passenger market to open up in 2014
SPAIN: High speed and other long-distance passenger services on the national network are to be opened up to competition during the first half of 2014, Development Minister Ana Pastor announced on December 3. 'It cannot be done overnight because it would be inefficient for the new entrant and for ...
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NewsFull settlement for Railroad Development Corp in Guatemala dispute
GUATEMALA: US-based railway investment and management group Railroad Development Corp announced on December 4 that it had received the full US$14·6m awarded following a six-year arbitration case brought against the Republic of Guatemala under the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement. In 1997 RDC affiliate Ferrovías Guatemala was awarded a ...
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NewsUK government contemplates sale of LCR assets and Eurostar stake
UK: The possibility of the UK government selling London & Continental Railways' property assets and its stake in Eurostar International Ltd is raised in the National Infrastructure Plan 2013 published by the Treasury on December 4. Currently wholly-owned by the Department for Transport, LCR is included in the assets which ...
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NewsFrance creates rail industry investment fund
FRANCE: On November 26 the government announced the creation of Croissance Rail, a €40m investment fund that is to take minority stakes in smaller companies that have a ‘significant presence’ in the French railway supply industry, and the potential to grow in both domestic and export markets. Formed by state ...
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NewsEBRD publishes new transport strategy
INTERNATIONAL: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development has published a new strategy for investment in the transport sector. This ‘focuses on the need to promote market-based transport in our region of operations’, according to Director for Transport, Sue Barrett. ‘Another priority is the creation of sustainable transport systems, ...
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NewsSpanish rail spend continues
SPAIN: Presenting her department's 2014 budget to the lower house of parliament on November 12, Development Minister Ana Pastor said rail would account for €8·54bn of the €17·31bn to be spent next year. Total investment by the Ministry of Development would be €8·98bn, of which rail would receive €4·57bn or ...
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NewsEuropean Commission takes Germany to court over accounting separation
GERMANY: The European Commission announced on November 20 that it is to take Germany to the Court of Justice of the European Union, accusing it of failing to comply with rules on financial transparency in the rail sector. The Commission claims that Germany’s current arrangements do not exclude the possibility ...
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NewsRussian Railways' 1·2tr rouble three-year investment plan
RUSSIA: The government met on November 14 to consider the draft three-year investment and financial plan for Russian Railways. This envisages spending 396bn roubles in 2014, 415bn roubles in 2015 and 438bn roubles in 2016. 'This is a lot, but then, the company's tasks are challenging too', said Prime Minister ...
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NewsInternational bodies sign pivotal railway law agreement
EUROPE: A renewable five-year co-ordination agreement which the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail describes as 'pivotal for the development of international railway law' has been signed by OTIF, the European Railway Agency and DG Move, the European Commission's transport directorate. OTIF said the agreement signed in Brussels on ...
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NewsRail regulator sets out Network Rail funding and outputs for 2014-19
UK: On October 31 the Office of Rail Regulation published its final determination of infrastructure manager Network Rail's funding and what it must deliver in Control Period 5, which runs for five years from April 1 2014. ORR said the £38·293bn plan is designed to deliver 'better performance, more capacity, ...
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NewsInterCity East Coast tendering launched
UK: The Department for Transport formally launched the competition for the next InterCity East Coast franchise on October 25, publishing documents setting out what potential bidders will need to consider when developing proposals for the operation of passenger services from London King's Cross to Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh. 'We want ...
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NewsEurope's railways are getting even safer
EUROPE: The number of people killed in railway-related accidents in the EU during 2012 was the lowest since data collection to common standards began in 2006, according to figures published by the European Railway Agency on October 21. The member states' national safety authorities recorded 36 passenger and 46 employee ...
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NewsFuture EU transport infrastructure policy to focus on TEN-T corridors
EUROPE: The European Commission has announced details of ‘the most radical overhaul of EU infrastructure policy since its inception in the 1980s’, setting out plans to shift the focus of future transport infrastructure investment from individual projects to nine defined trans-European corridors. This focus on major corridors announced on October ...
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NewsCzech passenger market opening in sight
CZECH REPUBLIC The government has backed the Ministry of Transport's plans to call tenders by the end of the year for the operation of subsidised long-distance passenger services on five routes from December 2016: Praha - Ústí nad Labem - Cheb Praha - Ústí nad Labem - D??ín ...
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NewsCuvillier presents SNCF reform proposals
FRANCE: SNCF is to be reinstated as the overall managing entity for rail infrastructure and operations under draft legislation presented to the Conseil des Ministres by Transport Minister Frédéric Cuvillier on October 16. The bill is expected to go to parliament following municipal elections in March 2014. The ministry said ...
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NewsPKP Cargo privatisation details announced
POLAND: National freight operator PKP Cargo has announced details of its forthcoming floatation. An initial public offering on the Warszawa Stock Exchange is planned, with book building to end on October 22 and trading to start on October 31. An IPO has been chosen to enable the state to retain ...
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NewsGovernment approves RENFE restructuring
SPAIN: Plans to restructure RENFE as four companies responsible for passenger operations, freight, rolling stock maintenance and train leasing were approved by the Spanish cabinet on September 27, having previously been approved by the RENFE board. The four new companies will be structured as 100%-owned subsidiaries of holding company RENFE ...
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NewsForce majeure does not exempt train operators from compensating delayed passengers
EUROPE: The Community of European Railway & Infrastructure Companies and the International Rail Transport Committee have called for the European Commission to harmonise consumer protection laws between transport modes, after the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that railway undertakings are not exempt from refunding passengers for delays ...
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News€510m package to renew inter-city fleet
FRANCE: Meeting on September 26, the SNCF board approved a draft financing agreement which paves the way for replacement of the ageing fleet used to operate longer-distance passenger trains on the conventional network, known as trains d’équilibre du territoire. Loss-making services on 38 designated routes, used by around 100 000 ...