All Policy articles – Page 49
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NewsPrivate operator to haul iron ore in Turkey
TURKEY: Omsan Logistics is set to become the country’s first private train operator under the 2016 legislation liberalising the rail market. It is a subsidiary of investment group Oyak, the pension fund of the Turkish armed forces, and will be hauling traffic for other group companies. The company announced on ...
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NewsCross-border link to be reinstated
LITHUANIA: State railway Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai expects to start work shortly on reinstating the 19 km cross-border railway from Mazeikiai to Renge in Latvia, Managing Director Mantas Bartuska announced on October 18. Earlier this month the European Commission fined LG €27·9m for dismantling the line in 2008, on the grounds that ...
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NewsFormer Air France CEO Spinetta to assess future of French rail sector
FRANCE: Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has appointed the former head of Air France-KLM Jean-Cyril Spinetta to draw up a fresh strategy for the rail sector. Announced by Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne on October 16, the Spinetta study is intended to inform transport legislation due to be published in the first ...
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NewsUK training hubs open
UK: Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening officially opened the Doncaster campus of the National College for High Speed Rail on October 9, with its partner facility in Birmingham opening on October 16. The largest of five new national colleges being created by the government ‘to ensure British workers ...
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NewsPolish service approved as LEO Express aims to develop a central European network
EUROPE: Czech open access operator LEO Express expects to announce the launch date for its planned Praha – Ostrava – Katowice – Kraków open access service in the near future, after Polish regulator UTK completed the certification process and granted train paths on October 13. Daily services would leave ...
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NewsFocus on renewals in £47·9bn Network Rail funding plan for 2019-24
UK: The Statement of Funds Available for Network Rail’s infrastructure operations, maintenance and renewals in England and Wales during Control Period 6 from April 1 2019 to March 31 2024 was announced by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling on October 12. Scotland is covered under a separate process. The SoFA would ...
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NewsNorwegian passenger service tendering underway
NORWAY: Invitations to tender for the Lot 1 Sør passenger train operating contract were issued to prequalified bidders by Jernbanedirektoratet on October 12, when the national railway agency also announced plans for further competitive tendering. The Lot 1 Sør contract covers inter-city services on the Sørlandet line to Stavanger, Jær ...
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NewsRail Baltica agreement ratified by all three parliaments
EUROPE: The intergovernmental agreement for the development of the Rail Baltica 1 435 mm gauge route has now been ratified by all three of the Baltic States, after the Lithuanian parliament voted 96 in favour and 0 against with one abstention on October 10. The agreement sets out principles including ...
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NewsVoters back second line to Slovenian port
SLOVENIA: A government proposal to build a second track on a new alignment to increase speeds and capacity on the route from the port of Koper to the main line at Divača has been backed by voters in a referendum. The existing single-track line is 44·3 km long, but the ...
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NewsAir Nostrum applies to operate Madrid — Montpellier open access service
EUROPE: Via its subsidiary Intermodalidad de Levante SA, airline Air Nostrum has applied to Spanish competition authority CNMC to operate a high speed open access service between Madrid and Montpellier in France from October 5 2018. Departures from Madrid would be at 07.45 and 15.30, with services leaving Montpellier at ...
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NewsWales & Borders franchise invitations to tender issued
UK: The Welsh Government invited shortlisted bidders Abellio Rail Cymru, Arriva Rail Wales, KeolisAmey and MTR Corp (Cymru) Ltd to submit final tenders for the next Wales & Borders passenger franchise on September 28. The franchise is scheduled to start in October 2018. The current franchise held by Arriva Trains ...
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NewsLonger freight trains to go ahead
GERMANY: Planning for the introduction of 740 m long freight trains across the core national network is to be stepped up, following a favourable evaluation by the Federal Transport Ministry. Secretary of State for Transport Enak Ferlemann said on September 22 that efficient railway infrastructure was needed across the country, ...
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NewsMorogoro – Makutupora standard gauge line contract awarded
TANZANIA: State railway infrastructure authority Reli Assets Holding Co has awarded Turkish company Yapı Merkezi a US$1·92bn contract to build the 336 km Morogoro – Makutupora 1 435 mm gauge line. This is the second phase of a proposed 2 200 km standard gauge network which would connect Dar es ...
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NewsLithuanian Railways fined €28m for closing line to obstruct competition
LITHUANIA: The European Commission had fined national railway Lietuvos Geležinkeliai €27·9m for hindering competition in the rail freight market by dismantling a cross-border line connecting Lithuania and Latvia. ‘LG used its control over the national rail infrastructure to penalise competitors’, said Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner in charge of competition policy, ...
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NewsChanges to EU rail passenger rights regulation proposed
EUROPE: A proposal to revise Regulation 1371/2007 on rail passengers’ rights was published by the European Commission on September 28. This must now be examined and adopted by the European Parliament and Council before entering into force. The Commission said its aim was to update the rules to better protect ...
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NewsSpain publishes international open access criteria
SPAIN: National competition authority CNMC has published the criteria that will be used to asses applications to operate international open access passenger services to and from Spain, which would also be permitted to carry domestic passengers in competition with state operator RENFE. Pending the transposition of the European Union’s Fourth ...
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NewsSwiss long-distance concession bids go in
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways and regional operator BLS have submitted separate bids to the Federal Transport Office to run long-distance passenger services under the concession which is due to come into effect from December. The SBB bid includes joint operations with SOB to be managed under a long-term co-operation agreement. ...
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NewsFS completes acquisition of Greek national operator Trainose
GREECE: Italian state railway group Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane completed its acquisition of Greek national train operator Trainose on September 14, when the €45m transaction was officially closed during an Italy-Greece bilateral summit. Privatisation agency Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund had named FS as preferred bidder on July 14 2016. ...
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NewsArriva secures open access paths in Poland
POLAND: Regulator UTK has granted Arriva’s Polish subsidiary train paths for the operation of open access passenger services on several routes. Arriva RP has secured paths until December 11 2021 for the operation of its existing summer-only seasonal service from Bydgoszcz Główna to Hel and a shuttle service along the ...
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NewsContracts signed as Thai high speed project progresses
THAILAND: Officials from Thailand and China signed two co-operation contracts for the planned Bangkok – Nakhon Ratchasima high speed railway project on the sidelines of the three-day BRICS Summit in Xiamen, which ended on September 5. The contracts are worth 5·2bn baht and cover ‘design and supervision’ tasks for the ...