All Policy articles – Page 40
-
NewsCN and CP exceed grain revenue entitlements
CANADA: The Canadian Transportation Agency has ruled that Canadian National and Canadian Pacific exceeded their maximum grain revenue entitlements for the crop year running from August 2017 to July 2018. The Canada Transportation Act requires the CTA to set an annual limit to the average revenue per tonne which the ...
-
NewsCroatia awards 10-year passenger train operating contract
CROATIA: The government has formally awarded incumbent national operator HŽPP a public service obligation contract covering the operation of all passenger services for 10 years from January 1 2019. Awarded to meet the requirement of the European Union’s Fourth Railway Package, the contract was signed by Minister of Maritime Affairs, ...
-
NewsWagon noise reduction scheme approved
ITALY: A scheme designed to encourage wagon owners to fit low-noise composite brake blocks to older wagons has been approved by European Commission under EU State aid rules. Open to all European Economic Area owners and operators of wagons on the Italian network, the scheme will make €20m available to ...
-
NewsState aid for road to rail freight shift approved
GERMANY: A German state aid programme designed to promote a shift of freight from road to rail has been given the go-ahead by the European Commission. A total of €350m is being made available in 2018-23 to cover up to 45% of the track access charges paid by freight operators, ...
-
NewsFerlemann demands ‘fundamental reform’ of DB
GERMANY: State Secretary for Transport Enak Ferlemann has instructed Deutsche Bahn to come up with a proposal for a revised business structure that would deliver a higher level of performance. Calling for initial proposals to be made available in January, he told Welt am Sonntag that he expected the DB ...
-
NewsAcciona backs open access high speed project
SPAIN: Prospects for on-rail competition in the high speed market have increased, with Madrid-based international construction group Acciona expected to take a majority stake in open-access promoter Intermodalidad de Levante SA. Founded by Valencia-based regional airline Air Nostrum, ILSA has applied to launch a twice-daily Madrid – Montpellier service, calling ...
-
NewsRail Freight Forward alliance to fight climate change
EUROPE: During the UN climate conference in Katowice, the Rail Freight Forward alliance of 14 European rail freight operators and four associations announced on December 14 a target of boosting rail’s market share from 18% to 30% by 2030. It suggests that this could save up to 290 million tonnes ...
-
Rail Business UKRail Sector Deal aims to boost supply chain
UK: The government has announced details of its Rail Sector Deal, which is intended to improve engagement with the supply chain so that companies better understand future demand and can invest with more confidence. Plans include ‘significantly’ reducing digital signalling costs by 2025, doubling rail exports by 2025, supporting apprenticeships, ...
-
NewsSiemens and Alstom submit proposal to address merger concerns
SIEMENS-ALSTOM: A package of proposals intended to address the European Commission’s competition concerns regarding the proposed merger of Siemens Mobility and Alstom were submitted by the two companies on December 12. Having opened an in-depth investigation under the EU Merger Regulation in July, on October 29 the Commission issued its ...
-
NewsSNCF to run fuel cell train in 2022
FRANCE: National operator SNCF expects to start testing hydrogen technology during 2021, and to run its first fuel cell powered train in the first quarter of the following year, according to Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Rail Systems & Technology, Pierre Izard. Addressing a meeting of regional government representatives on December ...
-
NewsConnection concerns raised as Ouigo expands
FRANCE: The European timetable change on December 9 marks a further expansion of SNCF’s low-cost high speed operation Ouigo. Routes to be added to the network include three daily return services between Paris-Lyon and Marseille, and three between Lille-Flandres and Marseille. When Ouigo was launched in April 2013, it operated ...
-
Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
The parliamentary Transport Select Committee issued its formal report on December 4 examining the widespread disruption experienced across the network after the May 2018 timetable change. The committee makes a series of recommendations, including the ‘immediate priority’ of establishing national oversight for upcoming timetable changes with independent oversight of the ...
-
NewsKorail-Supreme Railways merger plan back on
SOUTH KOREA: The government has revived plans to combine national passenger operator Korail with new entrant Supreme Railways, Korail’s Vice-President for Passenger Transport Hyungik Cho has told Railway Gazette. The Ministry of Land & Infrastructure has commissioned a feasibility study into the effects of the possible merger, and its conclusions ...
-
NewsMore EU funding to enhance the Kosovan network
KOSOVO: A second tranche of EU funding worth €17·2m has been awarded to Kosovo to support rehabilitation of the railway between Fushë Kosovë and Mitrovicë, which is on the main line running south towards the border with FYR Macedonia and is part of pan-European Corridor X. The EU funding is ...
-
NewsTrains return to Churchill
CANADA: The first VIA Rail passenger service for 18 months arrived at Churchill in northern Manitoba on December 4, having left Winnipeg two days earlier. Following the arrival of a freight train on November 25, the occasion marked the reopening of the Hudson Bay Railway, which provides the only land ...
-
NewsNSW to study regional high speed rail options
AUSTRALIA: The New South Wales state government has commissioned a study of four preferred corridors for high speed rail services, which it believes could transform travel patterns on regional routes radiating up to 300 km from Sydney. Announcing the study on December 3, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said ‘we know ...
-
NewsHopes rise for trans-Korean rail traffic
ASIA: The first train in a decade to cross the border between the two Koreas passed through the Demilitarised Zone on November 30 as negotiations begin to restore international rail traffic between the two countries. Staffed by 28 South Korean specialists, the test train is due to spend 18 days ...
-
NewsBaden-Württemberg backs ETCS in Stuttgart
GERMANY: The Land of Baden-Württemberg agreed in principle on November 27 to support proposals for the roll-out of the European Train Control System and digital interlockings in the Stuttgart region by 2030. The Baden-Württemberg cabinet has authorised the Land transport ministry to enter into financing negotiations with the federal government, ...
-
NewsFreight association calls for English to be the second railway language
EUROPE: The conditions which are needed to make rail freight’s quality, reliability and cost of more attractive to customers were the main themes of the annual strategy day held by the European Rail Freight Association in Brussels on November 21. Bringing together organisations which want to promote ‘attractive, fair and ...
-
NewsAlbania southern rail link proposed
EUROPE: Proposals to develop a 130 km rail link between southern Albania and northern Greece have been unveiled as part of the EU-funded Interreg IPA Cross-Border Co-operation Programme ‘Greece-Albania 2014-2020’. Under the CB Railway project launched in the Greek town of Kastoria on November 19, funding is ...