Brazil's policy of awarding concessions for the operation of defined networks or individual lines is set to change as the government plans to allow several operators to access four new lines that will be built..
BRITISH passenger operator London Midland (LM) is preparing to launch 177km/h regional services on the southern section of the West Coast Main Line, with final testing taking place this summer
IN an effort to address conflicting proposals put forward by coal mining companies for new railways to serve the coalfields of the Galilee and Bowen Basins, the state government of Queensland has announced its preferred options for two new lines in the region.
www.progressiverailroading.com US Railroad News....
Virginia Railway Express names Dalton acting CEO
BNSF outlines maintenance work in Colorado, Wyoming
Keyera Corp. to build Calgary terminal
Sen. Boxer releases statement on Conference Committee's work
Cincinnati Metro appoints Grether streetcar project manager
CN partners with Ducks Unlimited Canada to support wetland conservation, restoration
Rail supplier updates from Boatright, Racine Railroad and Lat-Lon (June 20)
www.railway-technology.com Latest News
BNSF to improve rail capacity in Colorado and Wyoming in the US
BNSF Railway (BNSF) is planning to invest $80m in Colorado and $60m in Wyoming in 2012 for railway maintenance, capacity improvements and expansion projects.
Vilant to install RFID system on Finnish rail network
Finnish Transport Agency Liikennevirasto has selected Vilant to install a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system on the whole of Finland state's rail network.
Siemens to install electronic interlocking systems on Germany's Hannover- Uelzen rail line
Siemens has won a contract from DB's railway infrastructure provider, DB Netz, to install the latest control and safety systems as part of the upgrade of the Hannover-Uelzen line in Germany.
Skanska to build a rail test track for Washington Metro Area Transit Authority
The Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has awarded a $66m contract to Skanska for the construction of a rail test track and commissioning facility in Prince George's County, US.
www.progressiverailroading.com
You are invited to a FREE WEBCAST ...
Fuel Management
June 29, 2012 - 11:00 a.m. Eastern
Register today at http://link.argifocus.com/2TX-061830
In this exclusive webcast, you'll learn fuel management strategies that incorporate, technology and staff education to conserve fuel while optimizing railroad operations.
Join Jeremy Robinson for an exploration of Iowa Northern Railway’s work with hotstarts, smartstarts and idle reduction processes — the railway's main technologies designed to deal with rising fuel costs. In addition, learn about the plans underway for an Iowa Northern education program aimed at making crew members more aware of the effects of their train handling, and how the use of GPS is being used to track fuel performance by engineer for improved fuel efficiency.
In this webcast, you will ...
* Learn about the role of technology in combating rising fuel costs
* Review Iowa Northern’s goal of educating its crews regarding the effects of train handling
* Analyze the impact of tracking fuel performance for increased efficiency
* Discuss potential ways to incentivize crews to be more fuel conscious
Progressive Railroading Magazine is authorized by IACET to offer 0.1 CEUs for this program. Interactive question & answer session and IACET-certification eligibility only available to participants of live webcast.
PRESENTED BY
Jeremy Robinson
Manager, Operations Planning & IT
Iowa Northern Railway Company
MODERATED BY
Angela Cotey
Associate Editor
Progressive Railroading Magazine
Christian Wolmar June 2012 Newsletter
Dear subscriber
It’s the quiet before the storm, as much will happen over the next month with the announcement of the government’s plans for the next five years on the railway, preparations for the Olympics and dire warnings of chaosand, I suspect, the HS2 debate intensifying. There have been rumours about the imminent demise of HS2. I think these are coming from right wing Tory sources and are exaggerated, but nevertheless reflect a widespread antagonism towards the scheme which certainly echoed what I found when I went to last year’s Tory party conference. I have written about this in the next Rail magazine, which will reach subscribers this weekend and be in the bookshops on Wednesday.
Now that I have broadband back again – and a hotline numberto Orange – I have put all my recent columns and articles on the site. So there’s many new entries with no fewer than six Rail columns and various others, though it has been a bit quiet on the journalistic front recently.
So the new Railcolumns cover the government’s CommandPaper (yes there has been a bit of a delay updating the site), the railways’bad press, the myths around HS1 , the amazing renaissanceof London’s railways , and in Rail 696, the potential clash between the regulator and the train companies .
This, incidentally, brought the total posts on my site up to 999 and so the next one, Rail697 – on rail safety – was the 1,000th article on the site – say at a very conservative estimate, three quarters of a million words. Lots of ‘the’ and ‘and’but other words, too!
My most recent column for Surveyor magazine covered the podson linking the car park with Terminal 5, and as I mentioned before, I think this is a great innovation, fun to travel in and much better than a bus link.Odd that the system has not attracted more imitators. In TSSA magazine, I alsocovered the Command Paper here.
On the books front, Engines of War is now available inpaperback and there have been several excellent review of The Great RailwayRevolution, the epic tale of the American railroads which are on the site.Signed copies of either are available from me at a discount if you email me via the site.
I have started researching my next book, a history of the Transsiberian. While I have found considerable material on its construction and events during the First World War, and even some on its present day use, thereis a gap during much of the Soviet period – not surprising, perhaps, but it will make the chapter on that time rather difficult to write. If you have come across accounts of people travelling on the line during the 20s to 60s, or know of any books on the subject, do please email me via the website.
I am off to Italy on the last weekend of the month to aliterary festival at Verbania to talk about Blood, Iron & Gold which has been published there under the much more romantic sounding title, Sangue, FerroI Oro. Love it. The book has also been recently published in Turkish where,apparently, it has attracted considerable interest and in Japanese (I have afew copies of all these editions if anyone is keen to have one).
With Down the Tube now available on Kindle and selling well –it had its best month May – and available here, by the end of next month my book on rail privatisation, On the WrongLine, will also be available. I will tweet details and put them on this newsletter soonest.
Last but by no means least, I have been asked by a few people whether I would like to try to get the Labour nomination for London mayor next time. Although initially I thought that was plain daft, I have begunto think seriously about it. There are lots of transport ideas that should be discussed and certainly the focus last time on fares and the previous time on bendy buses showed a distinct paucity of imagination. I have a vision for London that is somewhat more radical than those scant offerings and it would certainly be interesting to debate these issues in a wider forum. Therefore I will be talking to a wide variety of people about the idea over the summer. It could be a very exciting prospect and I welcome your thoughts and ideas.
Follow me on twitter @christianwolmar
Books
The Great Railway Revolution (Atlantic Books 2012)
The growth of the US railroads was much more than just a revolution in mode, speed and convenience. They united the far-flung components of a vast and disparate country and supercharged the economic development that fuelled its rise to world-power status. America was created by its railroads and the massive expansion of trade, industry and freedom of communication that they engendered came to be an integral part of the American dream itself. Read more>>
Engines of War (Atlantic Books 2010)
The nature of warfare changed radically in the 19th century. Contrast the Napoleonic Wars, with battles such as Waterloo that were decided in a day, with the prolonged and entrenched conflict that characterised the First World War a century later. What brought about this remarkable change? The Napoleonic Wars were the last major battles fought before the crucial invention that transformed the very nature of how wars were conducted: the railways. Yet, this aspect of military history has been widely ignored. There has been much focus on how the development of weaponry increased the efficiency of armies as killing machines but little attention has been paid to how the weapons got to the front. And it was the railways which changed the logistics of war. Read more>>Christian Wolmar
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