Today's news includes East Coast returning to privatisation despite earning £1bn for the taxpayer..
Opening date for Birmingham New Street..
Metro systems, the North..... and HS2..
The Great War and the railways...... Michael Portillo, and Christian Wolmar....
Safety, delivery, and Canada's railways....
Russian Railways, Transmashholding and a new locomotive...
..and Peter's Railway......
Click on the links....
Headlines
UK
East coast mainline pays taxpayers £1bn sparking fresh reprivatisation fury.(The Guardian)
Bombardier Inc’s rail boss looks to boost profit by clamping down on costs(railwaygazette)
Birmingham New Street Station opening date announced.(BBC News)
See Birmingham New Street redevelopment.(Network Rail)
Top urban studies professor: HS2 will close growing gap between the North and South (Liverpool Echo)
Five northern cities set to outline £15bn transport plan.(BBC News)
Economic Value of Rail in the North of England.(pteg - the voice of urban transport)
July, 2014
This report shows how the North's booming railways are integral to its economic prospects; and shows why future plans for the North's railways should be based on expansion and growth'.
Railways of the Great War with Michael Portillo (BBC iPlayer)
(Photo: Courtesy Boundless Productions)
1. A Railway War Begins
World War I was a railway war. Michael Portillo finds out how the railways helped to precipitate a mechanised war, shaped how it was fought, conveyed millions to the trenches and bore witness to its end. He takes to historic tracks to rediscover the locomotives and wagons of the war that was supposed to end all war and hears the stories of the gallant men and women who used them in life and in death.
Michael travels through Britain and northern Europe uncovering railway stories from the Great War. He begins his quest in the French city of Metz on European tracks built with war in mind, charts the birth of the railway war at a small station in Luxembourg and discovers how Britain's railways coped with the challenge of sending thousands of troops to join the conflict from Southampton. Finally, he returns to France to learn how the early war of movement gave way to the stalemate of the trenches.
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In his comprehensive 2012 book "Engines of War", Christian Wolmar traces the role of the railways in winning..and losing wars since the early 19th century...
This 15 minute excerpt from the 56 minute original presentation focusses on the role of the railways in World War 1.....
Michael travels through Britain and northern Europe uncovering railway stories from the Great War. He begins his quest in the French city of Metz on European tracks built with war in mind, charts the birth of the railway war at a small station in Luxembourg and discovers how Britain's railways coped with the challenge of sending thousands of troops to join the conflict from Southampton. Finally, he returns to France to learn how the early war of movement gave way to the stalemate of the trenches.
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In his comprehensive 2012 book "Engines of War", Christian Wolmar traces the role of the railways in winning..and losing wars since the early 19th century...
This 15 minute excerpt from the 56 minute original presentation focusses on the role of the railways in World War 1.....
"A must read book"Get your copy HERE
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Rebuilt Swanage Railway marks 35th anniversary.(BBC News)
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Canada
Safeguarding a nation's rail safety—and its trust(Transportation Safety Board)
By Wendy A. Tadros,
Chair, Transportation Safety Board of Canada
This article was published in the April 7, 2014, edition of the Hill Times.
Last July, a train carrying crude oil derailed in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, where forty-seven people were killed. The subsequent public outcry has been nothing less than seismic: "We don't want another Mégantic," people have said as they flooded call-in shows and OpEd pages across the country. "We want to know what's being shipped through our towns, too, and we want proof that it's being done safely."
Their anxiety is understandable, and unfortunately it has only grown with each new accident that hits the front page: In November, when a train derailed in rural Alabama, spilling crude oil and resulting in a huge fireball. A month later, when fires from derailed tank cars forced residents from their homes in North Dakota. And then in January, when more than a dozen tank cars derailed and caught fire near Plaster Rock, New Brunswick.
It's no exaggeration to say that the safety of our rail network has emerged as one of the biggest issues facing Canada's transportation industry, nor is it inaccurate to point out that there has been an erosion of public trust.
At the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, we work hard to earn the public's trust—and to be worthy of it. When tragedy strikes we seek to find out what happened, and why, so that steps can be taken to prevent it from happening again. And when what we learn needs to be shared right away, we don't wait for the release of a final report.
Such was the case for Lac-Mégantic. Very early on, TSB investigators identified important safety issues and communicated them to regulators. Later, in January, we released a trio of recommendations aimed not just at strengthening the tank cars that carry so many flammable liquids, but at making sure railway companies conduct route planning and analysis, and follow up with risk assessments, so that the lines along which dangerous goods travel are as safe as they can be. Moreover, we also urged the creation of emergency response plans, so that communities will be prepared for the worst.
All of these actions are aimed at a single goal—to advance transportation safety. We're an independent agency, objective and impartial, so when concrete steps have been taken to improve safety, we're more than happy to say so. But if not enough has been done, we'll say that, too.
Later this month we will receive the Minister of Transport's response to our three Lac-Mégantic recommendations, and we are hopeful that measures can soon be put in place to reduce the risks we have found so far. What happens after that is uncertain, but one thing is sure: this issue is by no means limited to Canada. All across North America, the numbers are rising, from just over 10,000 carloads of crude oil five years ago, to roughly half a million in 2013. Our networks, moreover, are intertwined with the United States—which is why, when we issued our recommendations in January, we did so in coordination with the NTSB. This unprecedented move helped us send a clear and unified message: if companies plan to continue shipping oil by rail, and if they plan to do so in ever-increasing volumes between our two countries, then this must be done safely.
Tragedy has a way of putting things in focus, often painfully so. The people of Lac- Mégantic know all too well what the stakes are—and now, in the wake of this and other derailments across the continent, so do other communities. That means the rules for responding have changed. Today, the public is demanding more than promises; they want action.
To their credit, Canada's railways and the Minister of Transport seem very aware of this, and they have started taking action to begin addressing some of the risks. Let's hope that trend continues, because a nation's safety, like its trust, is no small thing. It must be developed, it must be nurtured, and it must be protected—day by day, and year by year. It's what we at the TSB have always done, and it's what we'll always do. Our investigation is still far from complete—we still have months to go before we release our final report—but we have a team of experts dedicated solely to this investigation, and they will continue until the job is done. You have my word on that."
Canada to force CN Rail, CP Rail to boost grain shipments through November (seekingalpha)
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- The Canadian government will require the country's two big railways to raise grain shipments above the current minimum of 1M metric tons/week until November in an attempt to prevent a repeat of last season's backlog.
- The new regulations require Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) and Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE:CP) to each move 536,250 metric tons each week through the end of November or face penalties of C$100K per violation.
- CNI CEO Claude Mongeau says he is disappointed in the government action "in reaction to a 100-year grain crop that has been handled reasonably well in the normal course of business"
China
Malaysia-Singapore HSR money well spent?(The China Post)
Mexico
CAF
2014/08/05
CONTRACT AWARD OF THE METRORREY PORJECT
The CAF-lead consortium was yesterday, 30 July, awarded the concession for Line 3 of the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metrorrey, for the supply of 22 units and the provision of related services over the 20 year term of the concession.
Metrorrey, officially known as Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metrorrey, is a light train system in the city of Monterrey in the state of Nuevo León (Mexico) with the third most densely populated metropolitan area in the country, after the Valley of Mexico and Guadalajara.
The Metrorrey system currently consists of 2 lines with a total of 32 operational stations. Line 3 is currently under construction, spanning 7.5 km along eight stations which will connect the municipalities of Monterrey, San Nicolás and Apodaca, with a population in excess of 280,000.
84 vehicles are currently serving the Metrorrey system, 22 of which were supplied by CAF in a previous contract.
The 20 year term concession operation is pending financial closure, which is expected to be forthcoming. This contract marks CAF's consolidation on the Mexican market as one of the country's leading train suppliers, positioning them as one of the major suppliers on the entire American Continent.
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