All Policy articles – Page 87
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NewsAdonis builds momentum at UK’s High Speed Rail Summit
UK: Fresh from visits to China and South Korea where he had been looking at high speed rail developments, Secretary of State for Transport Lord Andrew Adonis told an audience of around 250 delegates at the HSR Summit in London on September 9 that the issue of high speed rail ...
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NewsTasmanian rail sale deal agreed
AUSTRALIA: The Tasmanian government and Pacific National announced on September 7 that they had successfully concluded the 'lengthy and highly complex negotiations' for the state to buy the island's railways for A$32m. Subject to approval from the state parliament the transfer will be completed on December 1, with a ...
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NewsNo go on DB’s IPO
GERMANY: Despite recent suggestions by some political commentators that the postponed partial flotation of DB Mobility Logistics could be reactivated after the country’s federal elections this month, DB Chairman Rüdiger Grube has ruled out any sale for the foreseeable future. Last month he told Der Spiegel that ‘there will probably ...
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NewsStruggling concessions under review
EAST AFRICA: Frustrated by a lack of progress in revitalising the region’s railways, politicians are increasingly questioning the ability of the concessionaires and withdrawing their support in favour of ambitious proposals to develop new standard-gauge lines.
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NewsA long way to go
ASIA: Almost since the dawn of railways, far-sighted engineers and politicians have been talking about linking Europe and India by rail. The second half of the 19th century was an era of economic expansion and power politics, as evidenced by the construction of transcontinental railways across the USA, Canada and ...
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NewsRZD takes stake in Ulaanbaatar Railway
MONGOLIA: Russian Railways took control of 50% of the shares of Ulaanbaatar Railway (UBTZ) on August 25, when President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree transferring the Russian government's stake in UBTZ for five years. This follows a May 13 agreement that the Mongolian rail network will be managed by ...
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NewsVR Group restructures in the face of market changes
FINLAND: National railway operating company VR Group announced a major corporate restructuring on August 20, as a response to the economic recession and 'sudden and partially permanent changes' in the markets it serves, particularly in the forest products sector. Freight traffic in the first six months of 2009 was 30% ...
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NewsAbuja backs concessioning strategy
NIGERIA: After more than two decades of abortive attempts to patch up or reconstruct NRC’s ailing 1 067 mm gauge rail network, the government is now looking to hand the whole lot to the private sector. According to Transport Minister Alhaji Ibrahim Bio, legislation is being prepared that will pave ...
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NewsAmbitious investment plans face cash shortfall
UK: The announcement on July 23 by Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis that the Great Western Main Line linking London, Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea is to be electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz comes almost exactly 25 years after the go-ahead for the UK’s last main line electrification. ...
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NewsBanerjee warns of tighter times
INDIA: Internally-generated funding is likely to fall sharply this year, according to the Indian Railways budget for 2009-10 presented on July 3 by recently-appointed Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee. Noting the ‘continuing trend of recession’, she announced ‘more realistic’ projections than those set by her predecessor Lalu Prasad in his interim ...
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NewsPlanning for growth
SOUTH AFRICA: Putting forward his budget in July, Minister of Transport S’bu Ndebele said the government is spending R25bn over the medium term to stabilise and upgrade passenger rail services. R14bn is allocated for infrastructure and rolling stock, the rest for operations. Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa CEO ...
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NewsEC sets out ERTMS deployment deadlines
EUROPE: The European Commission adopted an ERTMS deployment plan on July 22, setting out legally-binding deadlines for the implementation of ETCS and GSM-R on key corridors. Coming into force on September 1, it amends the Technical Specifications for Interoperability for Control-Command and Signalling (TSI CCS) and is intended to co-ordinate ...
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NewsCzech passenger tendering plan
CZECH REPUBLIC:Plans to let 10 to 15-year franchises covering up to three-quarters of the country’s long-distance passenger rail services were unveiled by Transport Minister Gustav Slamecka on July 3. The first contracts could be placed by October. The franchises would be awarded gradually over the next decade, with ...
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NewsBuilding on growth
ISRAEL: According to current projections, Israel Railways expects to carry more than 37 million passengers this year, a 5% increase on the 35·1 million handled in 2008, and more than eight times the 4·3 million recorded in 1994. Whilst the economic downturn has slowed the rate of ...
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NewsMerger of Veolia Transport and Transdev under discussion
FRANCE: State-owned investment body Caisse des Dépôts announced on July 22 that it had decided to enter into exclusive negotiations with Veolia Environnement with a view to merging their Transdev and Veolia Transport subsidiaries. The new company would be owned equally by Caisse des Dépôts and Veolia Environnement, have ...
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NewsInter-city electrification planning to start immediately
UK: An immediate start of detailed planning for electrification of the Great Western Main Line and Manchester Victoria - Liverpool route were announced by Secretary of State for Transport Lord Andrew Adonis on July 23. The Great Western route will be electrified from London to Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea ...
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NewsTrack access reforms approved
SLOVENIA: The National Assembly approved changes to legislation which were necessary to transpose two European directives into Slovenian law on July 15. Responsibility for the collection of track access charges has been transferred from national operator Slovenske Zeleznice to the Rail Transport Agency. The second change opens up the ...
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NewsEBRD funds Russian rail reform
RUSSIA: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is to provide Russian Railways with a US$500m long-term loan to enable the state-owned railway to restructure its balance sheet and continue with an institutional reform programme despite the current economic crisis. The 10-year unsecured loan will be the largest which EBRD ...
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NewsAnother attempt at restructuring Eurostar
EUROPE: The UK government, SNCF and SNCB are negotiating the transformation of Eurostar's tri-national structure into a single company, Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis told the upper house of the UK parliament on June 25. An agreement is expected later this year. There have been several previous ...
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NewsEurotunnel looking at High Speed 1 bid
EUROPE: Eurotunnel Chairman & Chief Executive Jacques Gounon has revealed that the company is 'looking carefully' at submitting a bid for High Speed 1 when the UK government puts it on the market following the break-up of London & Continental Railways. Eurotunnel believes it will be in a strong ...