International Railway Journal - January 2008 - (Page 5) In brief CD Cargo goes it alone Africa Rift Valley Railways (RVR) will have invested $US 29 million in its business - more than four times the investment required in its concession to operate Kenya and Uganda’s railways. Transit times for freight between Mombasa and Kampala have fallen by twothirds to seven days, while freight traffic is rising too. C ZECH Railways’ freight arm CD Cargo celebrated its new status as an independent operator at the start of December by unveiling its new corporate image. The split is intended to make the company more transparent and compliant with EU legislation on crosssubsidisation of passenger services, which previously cost CD Cargo around Koruna 600 million ($US 32.7 million) per year. The new company will be the fifth-largest railfreight operator in the European Union with annual volumes of around 80 million tonnes and share capital of Koruna 8.8 billion. CD Cargo will remain 100% state-owned, although privatisation has not been ruled out in the longer term. Czech transport minister Mr Ales Rebícek says his ministry is negotiating with the Slovak government regarding the possibility of a joint venture with Slovak Railways’ freight arm ZSSK Cargo. CD Cargo director of strategy Mr Jaroslav Richter says the company has around Koruna 2 billion to spend on rolling stock, and says the capacity of manufacturers is the only limiting factor in the modernisation of the wagon fleet. Argentina Plans to restructure Argentina’s railways along European lines with separate track and operating authorities have failed to win the approval of the country’s House of Representatives as half its members were reelected in December. The plans must now be resubmitted. GE lands first British locomotive order G E Transportation has won its first ever contract to supply diesel locomotives to Britain. Freightliner has ordered 30 JS37ACi Co-Co diesel locomotives, which will feature ac traction motors and dynamic brakes. This is the largest single locomotive order ever placed by Freightliner and marks a significant shift in motive power policy for the operator, which has more than 100 EMD class 66 locomotives. The 2750kW locomotives are designed to offer a 7% increase in fuel efficiency over existing diesel locomotives in the fleet, achieving 197g/kWh. By using energy dissipated by the dynamic brakes to drive the auxiliaries, and controlling auxiliaries separately from engine speed, a further 3% improvement in efficiency will be possible. The ac traction motors are individually controlled by separate inverters, which gives improved power distribution, while the better torque-speed curve of the ac motors offers higher starting torque and therefore higher starting tractive effort than existing dc designs. “Certification is a big risk because nothing has been done like this in Britain before,” says Freightliner’s engineering director Tim Shakerley. “We’re looking to make a technological leap and these new locomotives will give us a significant improvement in adhesion and allow us to speed up our trains to make the best use of available capacity.” The first of the locomotives will be delivered in mid-2009. Australia Fortescue Metals Group plans to spend an extra $A 100 million ($US 78.7 million) to speed construction of its 260km railway and port facilities in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It plans to ship its first iron-ore in May. A record 9.37 million journeys were made on V/Line train and buses in 2006-07 - the highest figure for 60 years. Trains carried 8.85 million passengers. Brazil Brazil may seek concessionaires for railways which have yet to be built. One idea is to extend the Transnortheastern Railway to reach the under-construction North-South Railway via Balsas. The Brazilian government is providing Valec, the authority charged with building the North-South railway, with a further Reais 706 million ($US 371 million) to extend the line from Aguiarnópolis to Palmas. Bridgepoint buys CTL Logistics O ATIONAL Express East Coast (NEEC) started operation of the British Intercity East Coast passenger franchise in December last year. The franchise runs until 2015, and will see NEEC pay the British government £1.4 billion in premium payments over its course. This figure is higher than the £1.3 billion which the previous incumbent, GNER, was unable to pay - it was later forced to hand back the franchise. N NE of Europe’s largest privately-owned railfreight operators has been sold to a private equity group for an undisclosed sum. CTL Logistics, Poland, has been sold by its founder Mr Jaroslaw Pawluk to Bridgepoint, which focuses investment in companies valued up to ƒ1 billion. Pawluk will remain as a minority shareholder and will join CTL’s supervisory board. CTL was established in 1992 and operates mainly in Poland, although its German operation has been expanding rapidly since it was established in 2003. The company has 2500 employees, and had revenues of ƒ285 million in 2006. Britain Open-access passenger operator Grand Central started passenger operation last December from Sunderland to London King’s Cross, many months after it was due to begin. Problems in refurbishing the 200km/h diesel trains are being blamed for the service’s late start. continued on page 7 IRJ January 2008 5
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