A rare interlude in the weather has enabled Network Rail to put in a 20 hour shift on the Dawlish sea wall repair...compared with only 3 hours the previous day... and the expected completion date, due to the most recent storm, has been put back,and set for mid- April 2014.
It is not only a case of uncertain weather interrupting proceedings... the proposed German ICE trains on the Frankfurt - London route have been put on hold; the Californian high speed rail project is in limbo; HS2 again comes under fire... and a feature article speaks of a fight for the future of London Underground.... Uncertainty abounds....
And read .. and listen to.. Rich Sampson's interview with Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman.
They discussed not only the arrival of the ACS-64 fleet, but also forthcoming equipment orders, how the railroad has attracted record ridership while reducing operating costs and the railroad's future in moving Americans from coast-to-coast.
Read on.....
Headlines..
Network Rail
Dawlish railway restoration update
Following the latest severe storms last weekend, Network Rail has updated its estimate of the time it will take to restore the railway at Dawlish. It has now advised that the railway will be repaired by mid-April and that it will be working night and day with dedicated resources to accelerate this programme.
Last weekend's storm caused extensive, further damage, increasing the scope of the repairs. However, the first defences installed reduced the potential impact and helped prevent further damage to the houses.
Patrick Hallgate, route managing director, Network Rail Western said: “We are all conscious of the importance of this railway to the South West, its economy and the people of Dawlish. They have been tremendous in supporting our team and understanding of the challenges we face. We are confident that we will have the railway back by mid-April and if we can we will beat that date."
Mark Hopwood, managing director First Great Western welcomes Network Rail's commitment to reopen the line through Dawlish by mid April, he said: “This will allow us to restore through train services linking London and Exeter with Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall. We appreciate Network Rail's efforts to work round the clock to get the line reopen so we can resume services for customers as soon as possible.
"Until the line reopens we are running train services between Exeter and London and between Newton Abbot and Penzance with bus services linking these to keep our passengers moving.
"We will be ready to run services once Network Rail completes the work and until then we will do everything we can to minimise disruption to our customers' journeys." To allow the public to witness the progress of the restoration live, Network Rail has set up a video feed of its restoration work on http://www.networkrail.co.uk/Dawlish/
Network Rail webcam photos.
Notes:
Significant additional damage on the evening of the 14th February has meant that the hole in the seawall is 30% larger and also meant on that day we only achieved three hours work. Yesterday, because weather conditions were more moderate we achieved 20 hours production. This illustrates how dependent we are on the weather.Work resumed immediately after the storm of the 14th and engineers have since laid concrete foundation into the main breach and the secondary breach at Dawlish Warren. They have also started work on repairing the station platform and clearing more debris throughout the coastal route. To protect the site, 15 steel containers - weighing around 70tonnes each - have been installed as temporary breakwater and a scaffold bridge was also built to reconnect services and signalling equipment.
Germany's Frankfurt-London high-speed rail link put on ice. (Reuters)
Eurostar at St Pancras International, London.
Railway landmarks to be sold at auction (York Press)
'HS2 would slash London service' say campaigners (Nottingham Post)
All aboard as popular railway centre steams into action again.(Oxford Times)
Potomac Express
RAIL Magazine Editor Rich Sampson shares his perspective on the latest news, trends and ideas in passenger rail. Includes discussion on all forms of passenger rail: high-speed and intercity, commuter rail, heavy rail metros and subways, light rail, regional rail, streetcars, trolleys, monorails, people movers and airport rail systems, along with important topics such as rail-oriented development, intermodalism, station facilities, infrastructure and investment.
RAIL Magazine's Exclusive Interview with Amtrak President & CEO Joseph Boardman
Last week, Amtrak unveiled the first of its Cities Sprinter (ACS-64) electric locomotive fleet for use on the Northeast Corridor (NEC). On Thursday, February 6th, Vice President Joe Biden joined federal, state, local and Amtrak officials in welcoming ACS-64 #600 in Philadelphia. The following day, #600 hauled its first revenue trip on the NEC from Boston to Washington ..
As part of the debut run, RAIL Magazine Editor Rich Sampson interviewed Amtrak President & CEO Joseph Boardman onboard the train (Northeast Regional #171) between the Baltimore Penn Station and BWI Airport stations. They discussed not only the arrival of the ACS-64 fleet, but also forthcoming equipment orders, how the railroad has attracted record ridership while reducing operating costs and the railroad's future in moving Americans from coast-to-coast. While discussing Amtrak's relatively steady position in comparison to discouraging news recently out of Canada of pending service cuts, Boardman explained that "you can't cut your way to prosperity." We couldn't agree more. (Rich Sampson)
Click here to listen to the full discussion.
Click here to listen to the full discussion.
Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
We've had this poster printed in readiness for tomorrow nights presentation with Engineering
Heritage Victoria as well as to display at the Steamrail Victoria open day weekend in March.
2014 International Rail Safety Seminar & EXPO
Rail Safety Seminars brings together international rail safety experts, researchers, suppliers, and industry professionals in a comfortable educational environment. We are on a mission to provide the kind of real-world, thought-provoking rail safety information that is simply not available anywhere else. We are proud to have hosted over 350 attendees from 20 countries*, and presented 75 international speakers to rail safety professionals from around the world!*United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia S.A., France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mauritania, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Switzerland,Taiwan, United Kingdom
What will be presented?
The seminar will focus on the critical area of Rail Safety and will cover a broad range of related topics. Preliminary subjects include:
• Safety and Risk Assessment
• Derailment Prevention and Analysis
• Train Control Systems and Methods
• Detection and Warning Systems
• Vehicle and Track Interaction
• New Technologies and More
Information resources, prepared by Project Helix for the Russian Railways, NK Rosneft and Sberbank, were shown at London Olympics 2012.
Ankara Metro's M3 line opens
The 15.5km-long M3 Line of the Ankara Metro communications-based train control (CBTC) project in Turkey has been opened.
PLK selects NSN's GSM-Railway solution to update communications
Poland-based PKP Group's rail track maintenance firm PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe (PLK) has chosen Nokia Solutions and Networks' (NSN) GSM-Railway (GSM-R) communications solution to modernise mobile network on a 440km stretch of the country's E-20 railway corridor.
FirstGroup receives extension for FCC rail franchise
British transport operator FirstGroup has reached an agreement with the Department for Transport (DfT) to operate the First Capital Connect (FCC) rail franchise for a further six months.
Philippines' DOTC anticipates lifting of LRVs addition order
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) of Philippines is anticipating the removal of a court order that blocks it from adding 48 new light rail vehicles (LRVs) to the Metro Rail Transit III (MRT-3) system.
Irving Oil to convert tank-car fleet to newer-model cars
NTSB calls on Metro-North to take action on recorders, speed signs
Three U.S. ports posted volume gains, one registered drop in January
North Carolina DOT marks milestone for rail corridor program
Hickey, Jungwirth join VRE
Genesis Energy to construct Class I-served crude terminal in Louisiana
Rail supplier news from Bombardier, Wabtec, Siemens, Ansaldo, Veolia, HNTB and J.L. Patterson (Feb. 19)
Rail finance and leasing: What are the key issues in 2014?
International Railway Journal
SPAIN's Ministry of Transport this week confirmed a 20% increase in ridership on Renfe's AVE high-speed services during 2013, which saw passenger numbers swell to 14.5 million passengers, fuelled by the introduction of a flexible fares fare policy and the opening of two new high-speed lines during the fiscal year.
THE council of the Dutch city of Maastricht granted planning approval on February 18 for the city centre section of the cross-border regional light rail line to Hasselt, Belgium, allowing tendering to begin for construction of the Dutch part of the route.
THE governor of Florida Mr Rick Scott announced on February 17 that the state government will provide up to $US 215m towards the construction of a new station at Orlando International Airport.
OSLO airport express operator Flytoget has launched a tender for new trains after passenger numbers on its services from Gardemoen Airport to Oslo Central and Drammen reached record levels in 2013.
RailStaff
This month's magazine highlights...
In the near future, Londoners travelling on Crossrail will have the satisfaction of knowing their train was conceived, designed and built in Great Britain.
A little bit of Jessica
Tunnel Boring Machines Jessica, Ada and Sophia delivered an unprecedented month of burrowing progress in January.
More safe working in 2014
The need to consider safety in every aspect of building, maintaining and operating Britain's railway is clear and at the start of 2014, this focus on safe working began in earnest at the Derby Conference Centre.
Heathrow and the West
A new rail junction between Langley and Iver on the Great Western Main Line will link Heathrow Airport directly with the West Country.
From headset to hard hat
The RailStaff Awards is expanding year-on-year, attracting more nominations, more interest and an ever-growing stream of railway staff, friends and families to the event itself, all eager to celebrate the good fortune of being involved in this unique and dynamic industry.
Read the whole magazine online
Other News
Alstom Transport will showcase a number of mock-up trains, notably its Pendolino high speed train.
Pendolino is Alstom Transport’s solution for reliable and competitive high-speed operations on conventional tracks and high speed lines. It can be delivered with or without its unique active tilting system, depending on profile mission requested by the operators.
The Citadis tramway, currently in commercial service on Istanbul’s Kabatas-Bagcilar line, will also be displayed. Thanks to the high performance of its engine, Citadis consumes less energy. Alstom will also showcase its Metropolis metro range, characterized by its flexibility in terms of design, capacity and driving mode (automatic or driver mode).
Alstom Transport’s Metropolis sets are currently operating on metro lines Taksim-4 Levent and Bagcilar-Ikitelli-Olimpiyat Koyu. During these three days, the visitors will be able to learn about Alstom’s comprehensive range of products, systems and equipment.
Alstom Transport will be at booth n°10C3 in Hall 10 at the Istanbul Expo Centre.
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