International & UK Railway News Wednesday 5th March 2014

 Total Railway News

 

   

 




HS2 and high speed rail projects are at the forefront of today's news.
In the UK, The High Speed Rail Industry Leaders’ Group - a coalition of industry experts committed to supporting the successful delivery of a world-class high speed rail network in Britain... published a report enthusing on the benefits of high speed rail... And respected Rail editor Nigel Harris added his positive contribution to the discussion.


In Russia, a high speed project linking Moscow and Kazan (around 450 miles), with an estimated cost of 1 trillion rubles ($27.5 billion). ..still cheaper than most international analogues. The railroad will cost about $40 million per kilometer, while according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the global average is $49 million..


And USHSR continues to enthuse on the benefits of high speed rail to the national economy etc...


The UK regulator (ORR) found that Network Rail had done well throughout the most difficult winter months in living memory...and beyond!..and Dawlish can expect to see resumption of services on 4th April 2014...although residents in the affected area of the collapse are not back home yet.....


Crossrail progresses beyond halfway, and the project has its benefits in filling the skills gap..with many apprentices engaged..... 


Read On.....

 

Headlines..

 

High Speed Rail 2 advocate to address meeting of Cumbria Railways Association.(The Westmoreland Gazette)
THE managing editor of RAIL magazine is to address members of the Cumbrian Railways Association at their Spring Conference.
Nigel Harris, a committed advocate of the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail route, will be speaking at Newton Rigg College, near Penrith, on Saturday March 15.

 

 

Click HERE to view and download the HSR Industry Leaders Group’s new report Great Britain: Connected or Not?

 

 

 

The High Speed Rail Industry Leaders’ Group is a coalition of industry experts committed to supporting the successful delivery of a world-class high speed rail network in Britain.

 

 

We believe high speed rail is crucially important to Britain’s future economic and social health and prosperity. Economically it will help rejuvenate towns and cities, interlinking businesses and markets and helping to rebalance our country. Socially it will create jobs across Britain, fostering innovation and skills amongst our current and future workforce whilst reaffirming our leading position in delivering cutting edge infrastructure projects on the world stage.

 

 

Our members have helped deliver major infrastructure projects in the UK and around the world, ranging from creating entirely new high speed networks through to maintaining and improving the UK’s existing rail network. We aim to use this experience and expertise to ensure the extension of the high speed rail network leaves a lasting legacy for growth, jobs and skills that will be the envy of the world.

 

Potential Investors Get Preview of Moscow-Kazan High-Speed Rail Project.(The Moscow Times)
...."the rail trip from Moscow to Kazan, which today can take close to 13 hours, will be reduced to 3.5 hours."

 

Eurostar lifts capacity to enter new markets.(FT.com)

 

Dawlish storm residents unable to go home.(BBC News)

 

 

 

 

Collectaholics. - 12th March 2014.(BBC2)

This follows Stuart, whose love of all things railway has led to him building a life-size 1950s railway station in his back garden to house his 1,000 piece collection of signs.

 

 

 

 

Railways Africa.

UMGENI STEAM RAILWAY

MAGALIESBURG EXPRESS

GAUTRAIN’S CONTRIBUTION

NEW LOCOS FOR DRC

 

 

 

 

UK Office of Rail Regulation (ORR)

 

 

 

Regulator publishes assessment of Network Rail performance over winter months

5 March 2014


The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has today published its assessment of Network Rail’s performance between October 2013 and January 2014. ORR’s analysis found that Network Rail, working with the rest of the industry, coped well with the wettest winter in almost 250 years.


Train punctuality was severely impacted by the weather, and the report highlights that rather than focussing on performance targets during this exceptional period, Network Rail rightly concentrated on working with train operators to keep passengers informed and get them to their destinations safely. ORR has asked Passenger Focus to research individual passengers’ views on how well information was provided during the storms of January and February 2014.


At the same time, Network Rail successfully delivered a record number of complex engineering projects over the Christmas and New Year period, completing more than 300 projects aimed at improving and expanding the network for the benefit of passengers and customers. The report also identifies longer-term issues affecting rail performance, including timetable planning, elements of Network Rail’s performance improvement plans which need to be delivered to turn around the recent decline in performance.


ORR’s director of railway performance Alan Price said:

Network Rail and the train operators worked well together to keep rail services running safely during the wettest winter in almost 250 years. Keeping passengers informed and operating a safe network are the top priorities for the whole industry during severe weather conditions.

The rail industry is focussed on responding to the challenge of severe weather conditions and climate change. Network Rail has committed to provide plans for all routes by September 2014 which list specific and critical works required to improve network resilience, and to identify any improvements urgently needed before then. ORR has approved more than £21bn of funding over the next five years to improve the day-to-day running of the rail network, and will be closely monitoring the company’s efforts to ensure disruption to services are minimised.

To read the Network Rail Monitor in full, visit: http://orr.gov.uk/what-and-how-we-regulate/regulation-of-network-rail/monitoring-performance/network-rail-monitor

                                                


Alstom

In this tenth and last episode of our CSR series, we review every aspect of our Corporate social responsibility policy which is central to Alstom's strategy.

How can companies continue to promote progress around the globe while rising to the challenge of achieving sustainable development? The video shows solutions proposed by Alstom.

Learn more about sustainability at Alstom: http://www.alstom.com/Sustainability/

 

transportgovuk
Rail Minister celebrates National Apprenticeship Week

 

 

www.railway-technology.com Updates..

 

GMR consortium secures rail line construction project in India

GMR Infrastructure-led consortium has won an INR2.67bn ($43.05m) contract for the construction of a new rail line between Jhansi and Bhimsen stations in Uttar Pradesh, India. 

       
EIB funds EUR150m for Dublin's new LUAS connection

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has decided to provide a loan of EUR150m to the Irish Government to construct a new connection between the Red and Green lines on Dublin's LUAS light rail tram system. 

       
Dawlish railway to reopen by 4 April

The UK's Network Rail has confirmed that the South West's main Dawlish rail link will be reopened by 4 April, two weeks ahead of previous estimates. 

       
Deploy UK forms new rail division

Deploy UK has formed a new rail division to better cater to the needs of the rail infrastructure sector.

 

www.progressiverailroading.com US News

 

Obama's FY2015 budget would expand transit rail, address crude-by-rail safety

New Orleans railroad, port to serve perlite processing facility

Nation needs to develop more large-scale uses for natural gas, Gov. Dalrymple says

SunRail: Station opens in Winter Park; Obama budget includes phase two funding

Hampton Roads Transit OKs fare hike

In memoriam: Connie Sumara, longtime Chicago Freight Car Leasing executive and former LRIW president

Washington state port lets contract for new rail lines

Davison to head Sound Transit's communications, external affairs

Providence and Worcester installs solar array in Massachusetts yard



Amtrak and CHSRA seek job-creation strategy from high-speed train manufacturers..

"A great conference!"  "Wonderful"  "Excellent!"

"The best value for the money!" USHSR IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE    5 TEAMS SELECTED FOR CA HSR PHASE 2 - $2 BILLION   Companies from across the U.S. and around the world are expected to compete for a contract worth between $1.5 billion and $2 billion to design and build a 60-mile section of California's proposed high-speed rail line in the San Joaquin Valley.   The California High-Speed Rail Authority announced Tuesday that it has approved five teams of contracting companies to bid on the second construction segment, from south of Fresno to near the Tulare-Kern county line. A contract for the first 29-mile portion from Madera through Fresno was awarded last summer.   The Valley segments will form part of a 520-mile line between San Francisco and Los Angeles for electric trains capable of hauling passengers at up to 220 mph. The cost of that statewide line is projected at about $68 billion.  More info Find out all about the project at our upcoming  West Coast Rail Conference in San Francisco, June 2-4.  PRESIDENT CONTINUES SUPPORT FOR HIGH SPEED RAIL  $302 Billion Transportation Budget    Continuing his great vision for the future of America, President Obama has put forward a $302-billion, four-year surface transportation reauthorization budget. Calling the plan an "opportunity agenda," the president said the proposal will promote job growth while repairing and modernizing the nation's transportation infrastructure.   The President pointed to other countries, such as China and Germany, which spend twice the percentage of GDP on infrastructure as the United States. "Other countries are not waiting to rebuild their infrastructure. They're trying to out-build us today so they can out-compete us tomorrow...because they know that if they have the fastest trains on the planet or the highest-rated airports or the busiest, most efficient ports that businesses will go there," said Obama.   "We commend President Obama for his continued vision and leadership on high speed rail," said Andy Kunz, USHSR President.  "The President clearly sees how important rail is for the future of America, and how everyone stands to benefit."  More info     USHSR SUMMIT CREATES OPEN DIALOG ON HSR FUNDING  By Daniel Krause, (USHSR) USHSR's High Speed Rail Summit last week in Washington DC brought together leaders in industry and government for high level conversations on advancing high speed rail in America. We want to thank all our speakers, and in particular U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration Karen Hedlund, and high ranking members of Congress for contributing so deeply to our Summit.   At the heart of the debate is federal funding for the nation's high speed rail program. President Obama provided the first round of starter funding to get high speed rail started in America. Congress has failed to provide the second round of funding for high speed rail. Conference attendees got to participate directly in the debate with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle about funding.   Out of the debate emerged strong support for high speed rail and visionary planning from the Democrats, while the Republican members who spoke were primarily focused on problems, deficits, and privatization. Despite the differences, both parties agree we need true high speed rail in America, and there should be private investment in the mix... exactly the things USHSR has been advocating for since the beginning of the national program.   Transportation has always been bipartisan, and it wasn't so long ago that Republicans were strong supporters of high speed rail - some dating back decades. As recently as 2004, the Republican platform stated "Republicans support, where economically viable, the development of a high speed passenger railroad system as an instrument of economic development and enhanced mobility."   Four years later, Newt Gingrich, endorsed high speed rail for California, Florida, and the Northeast Corridor in his 2008 book, Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works. According to a 2012 New York Times article, even libertarian Paul Rand had "signed a letter that several members of Texas' Congressional delegation sent to federal officials in 2009 urging them to give the state money for rail studies to help it build 'a truly ambitious and world-class high-speed rail network.'"   The US High Speed Rail Association will continue to work across party lines for this truly ambitious and world class high speed rail network. USHSR views increased investment in high speed rail as both visionary and pragmatic. It's visionary for thinking big and working for something better. It's pragmatic and fiscally conservative because it's a smart investment in the nation's future. High speed rail creates millions of jobs, revives our manufacturing sector, stimulates real estate development, and sets up America to save energy, money, and time - year after year. It delivers fast and reliable mobility, it protects the nation from energy price spikes, and increases national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil.   Join our next exciting event in San Francisco June 2-4.  CALIFORNIA HIGH SPEED RAIL SHOULD STAY THE COURSE  SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER By Thea Selby  As the radio and newspapers chronicle Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom's reversal of support for the California high-speed rail project, my dismay about his change of heart on a major and visionary infrastructure project is tempered by a book I am reading, "Golden Gate: The Life and Times of America's Greatest Bridge," by Kevin Starr. The parallels between these two great infrastructure projects are striking. Opposition the Golden Gate Bridgewas fierce and came from all sides. For the Golden Gate, everyone from Ansel Adams to Gertrude Atherton cried that the bridge would despoil the view. Money flowed to the opposition from the ferries that would lose their booming business carting cars back and forth across the strait.    Once the voters approved a bond, financing was neither clear nor easy to come by. Ferry companies and others launched lawsuits to stop the bonds from being issued. There were no companies willing to take on the issuance of the bond until Bank of America stepped up. Cost estimates went up from conception to design to construction, to the consternation of politicians. The original cost estimate was $17 million. That amount almost doubled to $32 million, and the final cost ended up coming in at $35 million. Legal challenges were continuous. More than 2,000 suits were filed against the Golden Gate Bridge. And, finally, politicians wavered in their support. And yet, with Strauss' perseverance and San Francisco's need to be connected to the north - the bridge was built. Last year, we celebrated its 75th birthday - the anniversary of an engineering wonder, one of the Seven Wonders of the modern world.   So here we are in 2014, an election year. The design for high-speed rail is still being drawn up. Opposition, which includes landowners and Republican-led politicians such as U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Modesto, is fierce. Cost estimates have doubled. Legal objections continue to come up and be parried.    And I say to Newsom, my former mayor who is a visionary in so many other ways, stay the course. High-speed rail is about the future of California. Will California be divided between the clean air, public-transit-rich, good-wage jobs of coastal California and the polluted, car-centric, and low-wage jobs of inland California? Or will we bridge the divide and spread the wealth more evenly? Is planning to slow climate change by reducing carbon emissions on the roads of California a must have or a nice to have?   The California voters decided and passed a bond to be spent on high-speed rail in 2008. That train has left the station, and that money can't be spent on anything else. And we decide as well which politicians we want to vote for. There are the ones like Gov. Jerry Brown who steadfastly and unwaveringly support California high-speed rail and work to make the vision a reality. And there are those who look for an opening and think they found it in the wind currently blowing on this latest visionary infrastructure project.  More International Railway Journal BANGALORE welcomed its second metro line on February 28, with the inauguration of the northern section of the Green Line between Sampige Road in Malleshwaram and Peenya Industry. RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) subsidiary Central Suburban Passenger Company has awarded a contract to Demikhovsky Machine Building Plant (DMZ), part of the Transmashholding (TMH) group, to supply 26 class ED4M emus for suburban services.. CREA, the public transport authority in Rouen, France, has sold 28 Alstom trams to the Turkish city of Gaziantep in a deal worth €5.2m.. ŠKODA Transportation announced on March 5 that it has completed testing and certification of its new Catfree catenary-free propulsion system for light rail vehicles, which has been undergoing trials at the company's facility in Plzen, Czech Republic.