Railway Newsletter

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union of Australia has renewed its challenge for rail transport options to be included in the climate change debate. Greg Harvey, RTBU General Secretary comments in a contribution to the ABC News that rail offers the least polluting option for land based long distance freight transport. Solutions to reduce the excessive polluting habits associated with our modern lifestyles will not be cheap. The RTBU correctly makes the case for rail investment as part of the national and global solution.

Read Greg Harvey's article at http://www.abc.net.au/news/sto...2008/11/12/2417209.htm

Twenty-five people were killed and 135 injured following a head-on collision between a Metrolink double-deck commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train, both travelling at about 60 mph. This is America's worst rail disaster in 15 years. The crash occurred on 12 September 2008, at Chatsworth, northwest of Los Angeles.

Times Online revealed that a preliminary investigation by Metrolink, confirmed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), found that the Metrolink's driver had run a red signal. NTSB, in charge with the investigation, is looking into the phone records after it emerged that the commuter train's driver may have been distracted by sending text messages as he drove through a red light. However, many factors could have caused the crash and NTSB did not rule out any possible causes, according to spokeswoman Kitty Higgins, quoted by Times Online.

(Source: Times Online)

The Romanian Ministry of Transport has set aside €97.95 million and called for tenders to build the road and rail access infrastructure to the bridge over Danube between Romania and Bulgaria. Companies interested in taking part in the process should make a €1 million deposit and prove access to reliable credit lines, the Financiarul newspaper reports. The winner of the bid will be required to complete the job by December 2010.

Romania and Bulgaria signed an agreement in 2000 to build the second bridge over Danube, between Calafat and Vidin, as part of Pan-European Corridor IV.

(Source: Financiarul)

The Slovenian government approved €131.9 million as investment and maintenance funds for 28 projects, 18 international and 10 domestic, in public railway infrastructure. The Finance newspaper writes that Slovenian Railways will use €66.1 million for maintenance of tracks and stations.

The Slovenian railway freight market has reportedly become the target of the Austrian companies Rail Cargo Austria and Graz-Koflach Railway (GKB), which are expected to sign access contracts.

(Source: Finance)

The Jamaican Transport & Works Minister Michael Henry has announced plans for reviving the country's national rail network. Foreign investors are expected to contribute 15 per cent of the total US$354 million required, according to Railway Gazette International.

Several attempts have been made to re-start public rail services that were provided by the Jamaica Railway Corporation (JRC) until 1992. The Chinese government is reportedly interested in the three-year upgrade project for infrastructure and rolling stock.

(Source: Railway Gazette International)

Estonia's national railway, Eesti Raudtee (EVR), is to have two subsidiaries from January 2009 - EVR Infra, in charge of railway infrastructure, and EVR Cargo for freight traffic. The Estonian minister of economic affairs Juhan Parts said that EEK710 million (€45.4 million) would be invested into Tallinn-Tartu railway during the next three years.

EVR was re-nationalized in January 2007, after five years of private management.

(Source: Baltic Business News)

Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), Italy's first private passenger railway company operating on the high-speed network, has revealed its plans to start passenger services in 2011, with a fleet of 25 new Alstom AGV trains. NTV is a €230 million joint-stock company founded in December of 2006 by the entrepreneurs Luca di Montezemolo, Diego Della Valle, Gianni Punzo and Giuseppe Sciarrone, who were joined as shareholders in 2008 by Intesa Sanpaolo, Generali Financial Holdings FCP-FIS and Alberto Bombassei.

NTV has a framework agreement with Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Italian Railway Network) for use of the railway infrastructure, and signed a €650 million contract with the French company Alstom for provision of 25 AGV trains. NTV forecasts reaching a market share of 20 per cent by the year 2015.

(Source: NTV)

The US-based Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) has sold its stake in Nacala Corridor to the Mozambican investment group INSITEC. The RDC-led consortium Corredor de Desenvolvimento do Norte (CDN), which included ERL (Bermuda), MANICA (Mozambique), Mozambican private investors and CFM (Mozambique's Port and Railway Administration), formed the concessionaire company Central East African Railways (CEAR) which began operations in December 1999. The Nacala Corridor, consisting of the Port of Nacala in Mozambique, the Northern Railway network of Mozambique, and the 797 km railway system of Malawi (CEAR), will continue to be operated by CDN as an entirely Mozambican company.

The private rail management and investment company RDC operates and owns Iowa Interstate Railroad Ltd. in the USA and other four railway companies in Latin America (All Central and All Mesopotámica in Argentina, Ferrocarril Central Andino in Peru, and Ferrovias Guatemala).

(Source: Railroad Development Corporation)

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) could invest between 250 and 280 million euros annually in Serbia's economy, according to EBRD President Thomas Mirow, cited by Tanjug agency. Some of the funds are to support key infrastructure projects along Pan-European Corridor VII and Corridor X. EBRD is considering a €100 million loan to Serbian Railways for the financing of both rolling stock and infrastructure. The European Investment Bank (EIB) is expected to provide a complementary investment focussing on a programme of track renewal on the core network, including Corridor X and the Belgrade-Bar line.

The Serbian deputy prime minister and economy minister Mladjan Dinkic was quoted by Tanjug as saying that the German government could be interested in the modernisation of the railway Corridor X in Serbia

(Sources: EBRD; Tanjug)

Train services through the Channel Tunnel were suspended on 11 September 2008, after a fire broke out on board a Eurotunnel Shuttle carrying trucks in the North Running Tunnel. The train was approximately 11 km from the French tunnel exit at the moment of the incident that damaged the tracks and equipment. Sky News reported no fatalities, but six people were injured, and 32 truck drivers on the shuttle who smashed windows to escape were evacuated.

Eurotunnel resumed traffic a day later, however it is operating a limited passenger service as it will take weeks to rebuild the stricken section of tunnel.

(Sources: Eurotunnel; Sky News)