Railway policy news – Page 96
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NewsEuropean Railway Agency headquarters inaugurated
FRANCE: The new headquarters for the European Railway Agency was officially inaugurated by Valenciennes Métropole on June 22. By the end of July the building will be occupied by around 120 ERA staff drawn from 20 countries. Following the December 2003 decision to base the ERA in Valenciennes and Lille, ...
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NewsGovernment agrees to take over Tasmanian railways
AUSTRALIA: Agreement has been reached for Tasmania's state government to acquire Pacific National Tasmania's operations from Asciano 'as a going concern'. The transfer will be completed by November 30, subject to agreement by the Asciano board and the state cabinet which is expected by June 30. Financial details have not ...
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NewsPPP possibility for Auckland electric trains
NEW ZEALAND: The government is study the possibility of using a public-private partnership model for the acquisition of electric multiple-units for the Auckland electrification project. 'The use of public private partnerships can be a sensible way to procure this kind of expensive, long-life asset' said Transport Minister Steven Joyce ...
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NewsCambodian rail concession signed
CAMBODIA: The government and a joint venture led by Toll Group signed a 30-year concession agreement covering Royal Cambodian Railways on June 12. The metre gauge rail network is to be operated by a joint venture in which the Australian group has a 55% stake, with the ...
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NewsTrans-Asian Railway Network Agreement comes into force
ASIA: A ceremony in Bangkok on June 11 marked the entry into force of the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network. Drawn up under the auspices of the United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia & the Pacific, the agreement aims to facilitate a co-ordinated regional approach to ...
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NewsTrioTRAIN interoperability project launched
EUROPE: The TrioTRAIN cluster of interoperability development projects was officially launched in Brussels on June 4. Three 'Total Regulatory Acceptance for the Interoperable Network' projects will develop methods for the virtual certification of new vehicles, aiming to reduce certification costs and time-to-market. TrioTRAIN brings together 30 partners co-ordinated ...
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NewsGovernment takes control of London & Continental Railways
UK: The government has taken direct ownership of London & Continental Railways Ltd for a nominal price, Secretary of State for Transport Andrew Adonis announced on June 8, and LCR's financial subsidiaries have also been transferred to the government. This follows last month's clearance by the European Commission of state ...
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NewsBusiest network sees costs rise
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways’ 3 011 route-km network is the busiest in the world, with each km of track carrying an average of 92·7 trains a day during 2008, up from 90·8 in 2007. Total train-path km sold by SBB’s infrastructure division reached 158·7 million, up by 2·5% on the ...
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NewsAll change in Ulaanbataar
MONGOLIA: With German and Chinese interests already promoting new railways to tap Mongolia’s extensive mineral reserves, the Russians are now moving to strengthen their influence over the national rail network. Russia’s Ministry of Transport has held a 50% stake in the Ulaanbaatar Railway (UBTZ) since the restructuring of the ...
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NewsPremier announces QR privatisation plan
AUSTRALIA: Queensland Rail's freight businesses are among the assets included in a A$15bn privatisation plan announced by state Premier Anna Bligh on June 2. QR's coal business will be sold, and the government is to examine the potential to sell the bulk and regional freight, retail and intermodal businesses. Regional ...
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NewsMamata Banerjee returns as Minister of Railways
INDIA: Following the recent general election, Mamata Banerjee took over as Minister of Railways on May 26. She succeeds Lalu Prasad. Re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the Kolkata south constituency in West Bengal, Banerjee is President of the All India Trinamool Congress, which she founded in 1997. She ...
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NewsEuropean Commission allows aid for London & Continental reform
UK: On May 13 the European Commission approved £5·169bn of 'one time last time' state aid for London & Continental Railways, which will result in the unbundling of High Speed 1 infrastructure and Eurostar's transport operations. Debt cancellation and a sustainable financial structure will lead to a significant reduction ...
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NewsGrube announces new start at DB
GERMANY: In a bid to draw a line under the data abuse saga at Deutsche Bahn, the railway has decided to implement sweeping changes to the organisational structure. Four members of the Executive Board will be leaving with effect from May 31. Following an extraordinary meeting of the Supervisory ...
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NewsNetwork to be opened to private operators
PAKISTAN: The Ministry of Railways has invited private companies to express interest in operating passenger and freight services. It is hoping to reach 20-year access agreements with private firms, which would be able to use the Pakistan Railways network, yards and other facilities but would be required to source their ...
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NewsGrand presidential designs for a greater Paris
FRANCE: President Nicolas Sarkozy's vision for a revitalised Greater Paris region which was unveiled on April 29 includes €35bn of transport projects, designed to improve mobility in order to stimulate the economy and promote sustainable development in the suburbs. The main proposal is the construction of 130 km of ...
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NewsUIC assembly endorses ‘a new start’
INTERNATIONAL: Meeting in Paris on March 31, the General Assembly of the International Union of Railways unanimously approved a package of new statutes and governance rules which had been agreed by the Executive Board on the previous day. Based on the principles established last December (RG 1.09 p21), the ...
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NewsNS may lose its stations
NETHERLANDS: Further reforms are needed to open up the rail market, according to a review commissioned by Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings. A committee chaired by former minister Winnie Sorgdrager was asked to consider the relationship between NS, ProRail and the state. Its report, Over 't Spor, was published on April ...
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NewsObama announces inter-city rail funding programme
USA: An ambitious strategic programme to spend $13bn on 10 'high speed' rail corridors over five years was unveiled by President Barack Obama on April 16, as part of an initiative to reduce fuel consumption, pollution, traffic congestion and airport overcrowding. The federal $787bn economic stimulus plan includes ...
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NewsCompetition through the Channel Tunnel
EUROPE: Presenting the FaberMaunsell/Aecom lecture on the future of rail freight in the UK at the Institution of Civil Engineers on March 12, Rail Freight Group Chairman Lord Berkeley announced that the first ‘open access’ freight train through the Channel Tunnel would be running that night. It transpires that the ...