World Railway News 12th July 2012

International Railway Journal

Following the successful introduction of a scheduled intermodal shuttle between Zürich Dietikon and Lausanne Renen at the beginning of this year, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) railfreight subsidiary SBB Cargo has announced plans to develop a national network of intermodal shuttles.


BOMBARDIER has today signed cooperation agreements with Russian rolling stock supplier Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) to jointly develop and market metro and light rail vehicles for customers in Russia, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.

SLOVENIAN Railways (SZ) has relaunched its train maintenance and overhaul activities under the brand SZ Traction and Technical (SZ-VIT) with the aim of expanding its business internationally.



www.progressiverailroading.com US Railroad News

LaHood addresses high-speed rail at Philadelphia event

NJ Transit's board adopts FY2013 budget, capital program

May's Transportation Services Index slipped slightly vs. April, BTS says

CSX Transportation completes track maintenance 'Jamboree'

Amtrak among U.S. railroads seeking to recruit more military veterans

Metrolink adds service in Orange County

Railway Tie Association: Production up, purchases down in May

Coralville lets contract for Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway flood protection work

Grand Central Terminal's 'whispering gallery' to get makeover


www.railway-technology.com Latest Headlines

Translink awards Londonderry and Coleraine line upgrade contractIreland-based companies McLaughlin & Harvey and McCann BAM Rail JV have received a £17m contract from Translink to upgrade the railway line between Londonderry and Coleraine in Northern Ireland, UK.       
                   
ADB funds Indian rail infrastructure improvement programme
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed an agreement with the Government of India to provide a loan worth $150m to enhance rail freight services and passenger transport routes.       
                   
Charlotte light rail project in US enters final design phase
The US Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has given approval to the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) to enter into the final design phase for the 9.3-mile light rail LYNX Blue Line Extension (BLE), in Charlotte, North Carolina, US.       
                   
Amtrak unveils $151bn upgrade plan for the Northeast Corridor
Amtrak has announced a $151bn redevelopment plan to expand capacity on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail network in the US.       





CER- The Voice of European Railways


Railway vehicle authorisation – sector welcomes new report



On 12 July 2012, the task force on railway vehicles authorization published the final report of its work undertaken over the past 10 months. The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), the Association of the European Rail Industry (UNIFE), the International Union of Wagon Keepers (UIP) and the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) welcome the main outcomes of the task force, which is an improved common understanding of the problems and possible solutions across the sector, including the European Commission.

The task force was founded as a follow up of meetings being held in 2010 between European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas and the main stakeholders of the railway sector in order to discuss the progress in building a Single Railway Area. The aim of this ad-hoc short-term task force, consisting of Member States, National Safety authorities, Notified Bodies and rail sector associations (CER, EIM, ERFA, UNIFE, UIP and others), was mainly to discuss the difficulties mentioned/experienced by the stakeholders. This was done through the presentation and analysis of concrete recent cases.

The task force report which was published today summarises the conclusions of the work of the task force between September 2011 and June 2012. The document will be submitted to DG MOVE for consideration in view of possible further actions in this field.

31 recommendations have been elaborated around the following issues:
Implementation of EU law
Roles and responsibilities
Rules
Processes

The recommendations range from: requests for implementation of the European framework by the stakeholders, enforcement of European legislation by the European Commission, need for changes of the EU legal framework by the EU institutions, provision of common understanding and dissemination by the European Railway Agency (ERA), to provision of transparency by Member States as well as harmonization and rationalisation of rules and processes by ERA and the Member States.

However, the sector associations regret that no responsibilities and deadlines are yet attributed to the individual recommendations. The sector associations, assisted by the ERA, will propose such an action plan during the summer 2012.

The vision of CER and UNIFE, recently joined by UIP and ERFA, for the future role of the ERA in European vehicle authorization is included in the recommendations.

CER Executive Director Libor Lochman added:“We welcome the task force’s recommendation that ERA acting as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for vehicles should be tested as soon as possible in voluntary pilot projects, in particular for cases of parallel authorisations and corridors. Heading for a single railway authority in Europe will finally lead to a competitive and transparent European railway market supported and supervised by a lean, competent and effective European administration.”

UNIFE Director General Philippe Citroën highlighted: “UNIFE welcomes the task force results and wants to congratulate the European Commission for the good achievement. The report shows how heavily a non harmonised authorisation is impacting the railway industry on a financial basis. UNIFE strongly believes that, while the implementation of current legislation must speed up, the 4th Railway Package, with its amendments of the current regulatory framework, will bring the basis for a truly European Authorisation process in the very near future.”

UIP Secretary General Holger Segererstated: “The recommendations of the task force confirm the sectors point of view, that in the future, a special focus must be put on the seamless and fully harmonized implementation of European regulations on rail in all European member states, without different interpretations or additional national rules. The future ERA must play a key role in this effort!”

ERFA Secretary General Pierre Tononconcluded: “CER, UNIFE, UIP and ERFA have several common interest in the European railways development. At least they strongly worked together with the Viareggio accident immediately looking for improvement and solutions through the JSG (the Joint Sector Group) approach face the European Commission, National Safety Authorities and Member States representatives. We got successes and we developed this joint approach in several other fields. An empowerment of ERA does not only mean more safety but above all more interoperability within an economic reality. ERA works could also benefit of an institutionalized relation with the clients (railway undertakings, wagon keepers, industry, infrastructure managers etc.) through a representing committee where feedback and return of experience would be exchanged and communicated.”

The joint CER/UNIFE/UIP/ERFA position paper is available at:http://www.cer.be/publications/position-papers/2274-cer-a-unife-position-paper-on-the-future-role-of-era




For further information, please contact:
CER
Eva Böckle
Press and Communications Manager
phone +32 2 213 08 90
mobile +32 473 32 20 94
e-mail eva.boeckle@cer.be



The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) brings together more than 70 European railway undertakings and infrastructure companies. CER represents the interests of its members towards the European institutions as well as other policy makers and transport actors. CER’s main focus is promoting the strengthening of rail as essential to the creation of a sustainable transport system which is efficient, effective and environmentally sound. For more information, seewww.cer.be