Tenders for Cargo Slovakia were due to be submitted by July 29 (RG 5.05 p241). Amongst the expected bidders is ÖBB subsidiary Rail Cargo Austria, which would become the third biggest carrier in Europe by volume after Railion and PKP Cargo if it added the Slovak company’s 50 million tonnes a year to its own 92 million.
At a meeting in June to inaugurate the Northern Corridor Transit Co-ordination Authority, the governments of Uganda and Burundi backed the proposed Northern Corridor Railway from Kasese into the Democratic Republic of Congo, which would create a landbridge linking the Indian Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean.
RZD’s Sverdlovskaya Railway announced in July that it was planning to convert its entire diesel loco fleet to gas fuel by 2007, at an estimated cost of 2·38m roubles. The first gas-fuelled locos are expected to start running in the northern division during 2006.
A working group looking at Israel-Palestine economic development has recommended construction of a 1·5 km rail link between Erez and Zikim to connect the Gaza Strip with ISR’s network. This could form the start of a rail link from Gaza to the West Bank, with a new 25 km line between Kiryat Gat and Tarqumieh.
Bids are to be invited in September for a 30-year concession to rebuild and operate the 1000mm gauge route across the Andes between Mendoza in Argentina and Los Andes in Chile. The scheme developed by Tecnicagua and approved by both governments has a total cost of US$300m, including 23 km of new alignment over the 225 km route, 54 2200hp diesel locos and 1250 wagons.
Officials from Laos and Thailand signed a Memorandum of Understanding in mid-June paving the way for work to start in September on the long-planned rail link from Nong Kai to Vientiane, which is now expected to be completed by March 2007.
New York’s state senate has commissioned a $5m study into the introduction of high speed trains, starting with the New York - Albany corridor, followed by routes to Buffalo and Montréal.
Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates unveiled in early July a €25bn national infrastructure improvement programme which includes €1·5bn for high speed rail projects, notably the Lisboa - Madrid route expected to be built in 2012-15.
Latvian Transport Minister Ainars Slesers expects to complete the restructuring of Latvijas Dzelzcels by the end of this year, following approval of his proposal by the government in mid-May. LG will become a holding company, with three subsidiaries to manage infrastructure, passenger and freight operations (RG 3.05 p116).
