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September 30, 2014

International & UK Railway News Tuesday 30th September 2014

..Total Railway News

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Differences emerge during party conference season, but George Osborne says that HS2 is "the future", and we "decide or decline", apparently. And now the Government make an announcement as to where the new high speed college will be......


Transport for London upload a video showing work preparation etc for track renewal on the Underground.... Bam Nuttall's fine for breach of safety rules............
Moving wheat in Canada ..or not moving it fast enough..could result in big fines for the railroads..
China is about to open another high speed line...1,776km line, actually..and built in 5 years...
Irish Railways has a ticket sale on......


Click on the links....






Headlines
UK
GOV.UK


New high speed rail college to be in Birmingham and Doncaster
The home of the new National College for High Speed Rail will be located in Birmingham and Doncaster.


The home of the new National College for High Speed Rail will be located in Birmingham and Doncaster, the government announced today (30 September 2014). The headquarters will be based in Birmingham and the college will also have a site in Doncaster. It will provide specialist vocational training to the next generation of engineers working on the High Speed 2 (HS2) project and beyond.
As many as 2,000 apprenticeship opportunities will be created by HS2, and there will be around 25,000 people employed during construction. HS2 will support growth in the wider economy and it is predicted that this could lead to an additional 400,000 jobs.
Prime Minister David Cameron said:
As a crucial part of our long term economic plan, this government is backing business with better infrastructure so that more jobs and opportunities are created for hardworking people.
The benefits of high-speed rail will not just be seen by those commuting between London and the North, but through the thousands of local jobs and apprenticeships created because of HS2.
The opening of this National College will also ensure that we have a pool of locally-trained workers with the right skills to draw upon for future projects.
The college will be located in Birmingham’s city centre Science Park and Doncaster’s Lakeside Campus. The governing board will be chaired by Terry Morgan, who is also the chair of Crossrail, and will include representatives from Birmingham and Doncaster, alongside HS2 Ltd and leading industry employers.
Secretary of State for Business Vince Cable said:
The opening of this college demonstrates that the UK is advancing as a global leader in rail manufacturing - in line with the government’s Industrial Strategy. This is the next step in building the highly skilled specialist workforce needed to develop the biggest infrastructure project this country has ever seen, and to enable our rail industry to compete in future global markets.
This process has demonstrated a real commitment from all parts of the country to the development of a cutting edge training facility and a rail workforce which is the best in the world.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said:
Creating jobs by delivering better infrastructure is a key part of the government’s long term economic plan. And they do not come any bigger than HS2, which will be the largest infrastructure project in Europe, creating tens of thousands of jobs.
HS2 is vital to rebalance the economy and help secure the country’s future prosperity, and construction will start in just 3 years. We have brilliant engineers in this country, but there are not enough of them. With the creation of a National College we can make sure we give young people the skills they need to build HS2 and other projects right across the country.
The college will benefit from Birmingham’s location at the heart of the high speed rail network. HS2 Ltd also recently announced its construction headquarters will be based in the city and the new HS2 network control centre is planned to be Washwood Heath in Birmingham. Doncaster was also chosen as it has excellent links to established rail industry businesses.
The sites were selected following a consultation process which attracted a number of very strong proposals from across the country. All bids were assessed against a range of criteria including the size and availability of a suitable site, accessibility, and the potential to develop strong links with employers and providers already operating in the sector.
The new college will be led by employers from the sector and will set industry standards for training based on emerging technology and the use of cutting-edge facilities, with trainers who are expert in their field. The specialist training at the college will be level 4 and over.
Work will now begin on building the college sites and developing the courses which will help to train the next generation of engineers and address concerns of potential future skills shortages. In due course, the college will also develop strong links to other institutions around the country.
Before it opens in 2017, it will have identified a network of other providers who will also be part of the National College in a ‘hub and spoke’ model – which will be crucial in delivering the leading edge provision that is needed for this important sector.
The High Speed Rail College is the first specialist National College to be developed and is in line with the government’s Industrial Strategy. This will help the UK economy and businesses to compete and grow as well as secure jobs and increase skills for future generations.
The government has also committed to working hand in hand with local areas to help them realise their visions for how HS2 will boost wider economic growth across their regions, creating more jobs and attracting inward investment. As part of this, the government has provided new funding to help local areas develop their HS2 Growth Strategies and is working closely with them to take this work forward.
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Osborne: high-speed rail and new runway are "the future," and you "decide or decline."(TransportXtra)


Keeping east coast mainline in state hands ‘like letting RMT call the shots’.(The Guardian)


Transport Secretary defies calls for publicly owned East Coast Main Line.(Yorkshire Post)


Conservative Party defend East Coast Main Line privatisation.(Newcastle Journal)


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Driverless Tube trains on London Underground 'won't run until 2030' .(London Evening Standard)


Man races the tube in a wheelchair to bring attention to accessibility problems.(The Telegraph)


Bakerloo Line extension consultation launched - Railway Gazette


Who was the world's first trainspotter?(BBC News)


Liverpool Mayor bangs the drum for HS2 at Conservative party conference in Birmingham (Liverpool Post)


Train firms get £167m for delays ... but give commuters just £50m in compensation.(London Evening Standard)


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Watch: New video shows driver's eye view of Metrolink route to Wythenshawe and Manchester Airport.(Manchester Evening News)


St Paul’s Logistic Hub – innovation to help keep London moving
Transport for London on YouTube

Published on 30 Sep 2014
Replacing track is the biggest rebuilding programme the Underground has ever undertaken. In order to do this safely and cost effective as possible we created an innovative engineering solution , the St Paul’s Logistic hub. It is an industrial lift system giving direct access from the street to disused passenger walkways underground where equipment, materials and spoil are moved quickly, safely to the tracks without risk of injury, damage or disruption.
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ORR - Office of Rail Regulation



Bam Nuttall fined £140,000 for crushing construction worker under six tonne concrete and steel beam

BAM Nuttall Ltd has been fined £140,000 and ordered to pay costs of £42,700 following a prosecution by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). The company pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety law in December 2010, during the replacement of a South London railway bridge, and causing a construction worker to suffer life changing injuries.
BAM Nuttall was the principal contractor employed by Network Rail to demolish and replace Pouparts Bridge, located between Clapham Junction and Battersea Park in South London. The company had sub-contracted the lifting elements of the work to Balfour Beatty Rail Ltd. On 27 December 2010, Balfour Beatty construction workers were preparing to lift a steel and concrete 'L' shaped beam, weighing approximately six tonnes, by crane from a railway wagon into its new position on the bridge. The beam toppled over as it was being unsecured from the wagon, crushing the legs of a worker just above the ankle on the floor of the rail wagon. He suffered severe injuries which led to one leg being amputated.
Today's sentencing at Southwark Crown Court follows an extensive ORR investigation which found BAM Nuttall had failed to assess the risks associated with loading and unloading the beams, and had not planned the activity appropriately. The company also did not provide information about the potential instability of the concrete beam to the workers carrying out the loading and unloading activities.
Tom Wake, ORR's principal inspector of railways – South East said:

"BAM Nuttall has a duty of care to protect its employees and sub-contractors from being harmed while working on their construction sites. In December 2010, the company failed to adequately plan the loading and securing of a steel and concrete beam for a bridge, weighing over six tonnes, on a railway wagon. This failing led to one of the beams toppling over, trapping a construction worker's legs just above the ankle when he was preparing it for lifting. As a result he suffered severe, life changing injuries, which led to one leg being amputated."

"ORR's investigation found that BAM Nuttall had not adequately planned, managed or monitored the loading, securing and unloading of these large and heavy beams. The company also failed to communicate the potential dangers to construction workers responsible for handling the beams. These serious failings are not acceptable conduct from a company in charge of high risk construction sites across Britain's railways."
"The safety of workers at rail construction sites is a top priority for the regulator. ORR inspectors are out on the railway network, monitoring rail and construction companies such as BAM Nuttall, to ensure safety is not compromised."
To view the press notice in full, please visit: http://orr.gov.uk/news-and-media/press-releases/2014/bam-nuttall-fined-for-crushing-construction-worker-under-six-tonne-concrete-and-steel-beam

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Network Rail on YouTube.
Transparency - open, honest and accessible
Published on 30 Sep 2014
We know that being more transparent will help us become a more efficient and responsive organisation, and more accountable to our stakeholders. More at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/transpar...
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Eurostar opens a brave new world of design.(The Independent)


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Professor Andrew McNaughton examines the future of rail at the Institute of Engineering and Technology’s Sir Henry Royce Memorial Lecture, 2014.(European Railway Review)


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International
CER - The Voice of European Railways
Press Release

Brussels, 30 September

 

 




 
Today’s hearing of the Commissioner-Designate for Transport by the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee will be closely followed by the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER).
 
For CER the essential policy priorities for the 2014-2019 mandate should be to:
 
·        Stabilise the legislative framework for the railway market, while moving forward in the area of technical regulation and standardisation;
·        Support rail business development and growth in both passenger and freight through light-touch facilitation measures and through greater support for sound infrastructure financing;
·        Establish fair and constructive conditions between transport modes, by removing distortions to competition while also facilitating win-win cooperation between the modes.
 
CER looks forward to fruitful discussions at the hearing.
 
CER Executive Director Libor Lochman said: “A well-designed transport policy is an essential element to help build a sustainable and prosperous future for Europe. It will take competence on the matter as well as political courage to give the EU transport policy the turn it needs. Today’s event will be a good opportunity for dialogue between the Commissioner-Designate and the European Parliament. I am sure that he will be submitted to tough scrutiny by the TRAN Committee headed by Chairman Michael Cramer (Greens/EFA, DE), but Maroš Šefčovič is certainly a competent candidate: all the best to him for his hearing!
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Josef Doppelbauer, formerly Bomardier’s Chief Technical Officer, was elected the new Executive Director of the European Railway Agency (ERA) in Valenciennes at the meeting of the ERA Administrative Board on 30 September 2014. The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) welcomes the appointment and is looking forward to a fruitful cooperation with Mr Doppelbauer.
 
From his previous experience in the railway manufacturing domain, Mr Doppelbauer has gathered vast knowledge about the development and supply of rolling stock and the railway system’s components. Furthermore he has been the Chairman of ERRAC, the European rail research advisory council. Now Josef Doppelbauer has to transform the European Railway Agency from an agency drafting rail interoperability and safety specifications into the one-stop-shop for vehicle authorisation and safety certification it is now called to be. In addition the Agency shall be further developed as the system authority for ERTMS. It will work closely with the National Safety Authorities in order to carry out the new tasks of vehicle authorisation and safety certification. Huge challenges lie ahead of the new Executive Director and the annual 2015 work programme most probably only gives a glimpse of the upcoming efforts to be made.
 
CER Executive Director Libor Lochman on behalf of CER welcomes the new Director of the European Railway Agency, adding that “I expect Josef Doppelbauer to fully acknowledge the needs of the whole railway sector in all the fields of the Agency’s future activities – from vehicle authorisation processes to safety certification or operation, safety and maintenance – which should all lead to the cost reductions crucial to railway undertakings and infrastructure managers. The vitality and competitiveness of the European railway sector as a whole are essential and the European Railway Agency should be the major contributor to this target.”

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Canada
Wheat growers call again for higher railway fines, up to $1M per violation.(ipoliticscanada)





Canadian Pacific Looks Appealing But Does Canadian National Have More Potential?
(Seeking Alpha)






China
Building started 2009..1,776km of track, longest high-speed railway line in the world, cost 143.5 billion yuan (HK$181 billion)..31 stations. Connects three capitals – Urumqi; Xining, Qinghai; and Lanzhou, Gansu. Crosses three major plateaus – Qinghai-Tibet, Loess and Pamirs.






India

Ireland







THE AUTUMN SALE



Our Autumn Sale continues with relaxed fares on Intercity seats, so why not book your break away to any of the following destination today: -

Dublin to or from Cork, Galway, Sligo, Westport, Limerick from just €14.99
 or Dublin to or from Waterford, Rosslare, Belfast from just €9.99


 No booking fees or hidden extras, just laid-back fares 



Japan


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Other Railway Press

Stadler to deliver additional 34 FLIRT trains for Helsinki Regional Transport
Finland-based Junakalusto Oy has placed an additional order worth €200m for 34 FLIRT trains from Stadler Rail.
Network Rail starts renovation work on Brighton Main Line in UK
UK's railway infrastructure operator Network rail has started construction work on the Brighton Main Line as part of a multi-million pound project to deliver better and reliable passenger services.
Hyundai selects Siemens' automation and signalling equipment for Sosa-Wonsi Line
Siemens has been awarded a €20m order from Hyundai Information Technology to deliver automation and signalling equipment for the 23km-long Sosa-Wonsi line, South Korea.
Nomad completes first installation phase of CBM solution for NSB Norway
Nomad Tech, a joint venture between Nomad Digital and EMEF, has completed installation of the first phase of a remote condition-based monitoring (CBM) solution for NSB Norway trains.


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