All Policy articles – Page 64
-
NewsHigh speed project cancelled as economy worsens
MEXICO: The federal government has decided to suspend ‘indefinitely’ the project to build a high speed line between Mexico City and Querétaro, Secretary of the Treasury & Public Finance Dr Luis Videgaray announced on January 30. The separate project to build a new railway for passenger and freight traffic between ...
-
NewsUK plans world-class railway supply industry
UK: On January 21 the Rail Supply Group published ‘Fast Track for Growth’, a ‘vision statement’ for the development over the coming months of a long-term rail industrial strategy including ‘a clear implementation plan’. Bringing together government and the supply industry as well as train operators, Network Rail and HS2 ...
-
NewsFinland to drop GSM-R in favour of domestic radio system
FINLAND: The Cabinet Committee for Economic Policy has backed plans for the Finnish rail industry to stop using the current GSM-R network and switch over to VIRVE, a TETRA encrypted communications system launched in 2002 and used by the government, emergency services and military. According to the Ministry of ...
-
NewsStandard gauge line construction to start ‘in September’
THAILAND: A series of meetings between Thai and Chinese government officials on January 20-21 is expected to pave the way for construction of Thailand’s planned 1 435 mm gauge main lines to begin by September. Speaking in Bangkok on January 18, Thai Transport Minister Prajin Juntong set out a provisional ...
-
NewsJernbaneverket takes over freight terminals to promote competition
NORWAY: Infrastructure manager Jernbaneverket has acquired the freight terminals previously owned by the RailCombi subsidiary of NSB’s CargoNet business, and is to make them available for use by any operator. The purchase covers terminals in Narvik, Bodø, Fauske, Mo i Rana, Trondheim, Bergen, Kristiansand, Drammen and Alnabru (Oslo). ‘Whereas terminals ...
-
NewsThree bids for southern Bohemia passenger contract
CZECH REPUBLIC: State-owned ČD, DB subsidiary Arriva and ČSAD Jihotrans company GW Train Regio have submitted bids for a contract to operate regional services in the Šumava region of southern Bohemia. The contract runs from for 15 years from December 2016 and is potentially worth KC2·25bn. It covers the ...
-
NewsIR financial review completed
INDIA: A report into the restructuring of Indian Railways’ finances was submitted to the Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu on December 30. Compiled by a high-level committee headed by D K Mittal, the recently-retired Secretary of Financial Services, the report had been commissioned by the minister at the beginning of ...
-
NewsHigh speed studies funded
RUSSIA: The government has allocated 6bn roubles in the federal budget for 2015 to finance further development of the proposed Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod – Kazan high speed line, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced on December 23. Noting that ‘foreign investors have shown great interest in the project, including our ...
-
NewsBeograd - Budapest railway upgrade agreement signed
EUROPE: Co-operation agreements for an upgrade of the 350 km Beograd – Budapest corridor to cut journey times from around 8 h to 2 h 40 min were signed by representatives of the Serbian and Hungarian railway authorities on December 17. The agreements were signed in the presence of the ...
-
NewsToll Group divests Cambodian railway stake
CAMBODIA: Australian logistics group Toll has divested its 55% stake in the Toll Royal Railway joint venture to its local partner Royal Group with effect from December 19. Toll Royal Railway took over the dilapidated metre-gauge network in 2009 under a 30-year concession. The Asian Development Bank and Australian development ...
-
NewsDB announces €28bn five-year infrastructure spending plan
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn announced a €28bn five-year spending plan for 2015-19 on December 8. Dr Volker Kefer, Managing Director responsible for the Infrastructure & Services division, said it formed the biggest modernisation programme in the history of the network. The announcement follows federal government approval of the LuFV II agreement, ...
-
NewsChinese-backed standard gauge project edges forward
THAILAND: The National Legislative Assembly voted on December 4 by a majority of 187 in favour of approving a memorandum of understanding between the Thai and Chinese governments over the construction of a north-south standard gauge main line corridor. According to the 2015-22 Thai infrastructure development plan, the corridor would ...
-
NewsEBRD to fund CFM modernisation
MOLDOVA: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is to provide €52·5m to support the reform and modernisation of state railway Calea Ferată din Moldova, under an agreement signed in Chișinău on November 14 by Prime Minister Iurie Leancă and EBRD’s Director for Transport, Sue Barrett. Faced with an ageing ...
-
NewsSlovakia funds free rail travel
SLOVAKIA: With effect from November 17, around 46% of the population will be eligible for free travel on subsidised train services, under a proposal endorsed by the government of Prime Minister Robert Fico on October 22. The provision is part of a €250m national economic stimulus package approved by the ...
-
NewsQueensland port and rail lease
AUSTRALIA: The Queensland government has announced plans to award a long-term lease to operate state-owned assets including the 1000 km Mount Isa line and the associated port of Port Townsville. The 1067 mm gauge single track line is a critical link between inland mining areas and the coast. The ...
-
NewsItalian government to assess FS Group privatisation options
ITALY: The Ministry of Economics & Finance is to ‘consider the various feasible options’ for the privatisation of some or all of the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group, its Managing Director Michele Mario Elia said in Brussels on November 5. Speaking on the fringes of the European Rail Summit, Elia ...
-
NewsFourth Railway Package debated at the European Rail Summit
The urgency for rapid implementation of the Technical Pillar of the Fourth Railway Package was underlined by several speakers at the European Rail Summit, which was hosted by Railway Gazette at the Representation of the Free State of Bayern in Brussels on November 4-5. Bringing together senior representatives from the ...
-
NewsAfghan railway tendering begins
AFGHANISTAN: The Afghanistan Railway Authority has invited expressions of interest in three performance-based contracts to operate, maintain and manage the 75 km railway from Hairatan on the Uzbek border to a freight terminal near Mazar-i-Sharif. Responses from ‘experienced, high calibre and competent national and international’ companies should be submitted to ...
-
NewsRhein-Ruhr-Express procurement objection rejected
GERMANY: The Münster procurement tribunal has rejected DB Regio’s objections to the decision to call separate passenger service operating and rolling stock provision contracts for the Rhine-Ruhr Express project. A group of four transport authorities led by Rhein-Ruhr body VRR is seeking to award three contracts for the operation ...
-
NewsMongolian parliament backs rail expansion
MONGOLIA: Parliament approved the government’s national rail policy on October 24. This sets out plans for the expansion of the network, and grants the government powers to call tenders and negotiate a build-operate-transfer concession for the planned Northern Rail Line. The 1 520 mm gauge multi-user mixed traffic Northern ...