International Railway Journal - January 2008 - (Page 4) News Lyon - Turin gets public utility status C Photo: DBAG/Piekarsky DB draws up new privatisation plan G ERMAN Rail (DB) has dropped its original plan to privatise DB as a single entity in the face of strong opposition from both politicians and financial institutions. It now proposes a new model involving partial privatisation of only the operating side of the railway, which it believes will be more acceptable. Under the new model, which does not require legislation, DB will set up a 100% state-owned holding company, with two subsidiaries: infrastructure and operations. Infrastructure will be owned entirely by DB, and therefore the state, while a maximum of 49% of the shares in the operating company will be sold in stages. The operating company will consist of the railfreight, logistics and passenger divisions. An aggressive campaign to privatise DB as a whole waged by DB’s CEO, Mr Hartmut Mehdorn, failed to win over politicians who feared DB would become a private monopoly while still receiving state funding to maintain the infrastructure. Financial analysts found the mixture of voting and non-voting shares too complicated. DB will still face opposition from Social Democrats who are opposed to privatising public services such as rail transport. DB expects earnings before interest and tax for 2007 to be ƒ400 million more than the ƒ2.14 billion recorded in 2006. The infrastructure division, DB Network, is expected to make a profit for the first time despite investing a record ƒ3.5 billion in improving the existing network. DB Network expects a similar amount of work to be undertaken this year. Railfreight restored across Korean border R EGULAR railfreight services started running across the border between South and North Korea on December 11, when a 12wagon train carrying building materials became the first commercial freight to cross the demilitarised zone since 1950. The train ran from Seoul to Dorasan, where it crossed the border, before heading to Kaesong, where an industrial centre has been set up by the two countries. This line was rebuilt in 2004, although it remained unused until the first test trains ran last May. “Though we start with a cargo train, it will lead to a passenger train service,” says Mr Lee Chul, president of Korail, which operates train services in South Korea. North Korea has agreed to allow through passenger services between South Korea and China later this year in connection with the Olympic Games in Beijing. A key longer-term objective is to start freight operations between South Korean ports and China, Russia and the Trans-Siberian Railway. ONSTRUCTION of a ƒ20 billion railway from Lyon to Turin has moved a step closer after France granted public utility status to its section of the line. French Rail Network (RFF) will be responsible for the construction of a 79km highspeed line between Lyon and Chambéry, and a freight line from Lyon to a junction at Combe de Savoie. From here a mixed-traffic line will be built to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, where trains will enter the 51km Mount Cenis Base Tunnel. The line will emerge in Italy at Condove in the lower Susa valley, where it will continue on a new 40km alignment to Turin. Italian Infrastructure Network (RFI) will be responsible for the construction of this section. Exploratory tunnels have already been excavated and construction will begin in 2011 with completion expected in 2020. Journey times for passenger services between Lyon and Turin will be cut from four hours to just 1h 45min and the line is expected to carry 40 million tonnes of freight per year by 2030, double the capacity of the existing line. Last month the European Commission allocated ƒ672 million towards the project as part of the Trans European Network - Transport (TEN-T) programme. An intergovernmental commission will meet in Rome next week to discuss the plans further. Saudis plan HS extensions UST as Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO) is putting the finishing touches to tender documents to be issued to pre-qualified bidders for the project to build high-speed lines from Jeddah to Mecca and Medina, plans have been unveilced for extensions. The extensions would cost an estimated Riyals 20 billion ($US 5.4 billion) and would J Photo: Reuters serve the holy sites of Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifa. The new lines will reduce pilgrim bus traffic by 35%. SRO expects to announce the winning bidder next month for the 950km Land Bridge project connecting Jeddah to Riyadh. “We hope by 2012, we will have a very wide network on the ground,” says Mr Ali Saad Al-Karni of SRO. 4 IRJ January 2008
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