International Railway Journal - January 2008 - (Page 8) News airline Swiss, allowing passengers travelling between Switzerland and Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and the Czech Republic, to make the outward leg of their journey by sleeper and return by plane or vice-versa. New routes include improved services from Switzerland with direct links to Prague, with a through couchette to Warsaw and a sleeper to Moscow. Direct links to Frankfurt, the RhineRuhr area and Amsterdam are offered from Switzerland. Moreover, a new Comfortline sleeper has been introduced on the Basle Prague route with shower and toilet en suite. The pricing structure has been simplified on all routes and on-line booking is possible in all cases. In brief first half of the year which saw growth of 5.2%. The slow growth is blamed on the poor performance of PKP Cargo. Russia Russian Railways is to spend more than Roubles 103 billion ($US 4 billion) this year on reconstruction and upgrading its network. Almost 16,000km of track will be affected - up from last year’s figure of 11,700km. CityNightLine relaunched I NTERNATIONAL night train operator CityNightLine (CNL) has been relaunched with a new unified concept of overnight train travel in Europe. Based in Switzerland and wholly owned by German Rail (DB), it now includes the DB AutoZug car-on-train service. The network comprises 29 services covering nine countries; in 2006 it carried just over 800,000 passengers, up 6% from 2005. The fleet comprises 100 sleeping cars, 185 couchette coaches, 25 restaurant cars and 45 coaches for carrying bicycles. A new service called Night&Flight has been developed jointly by CNL and South Africa Transnet reported profits of Rand 6.4 billion ($US 941 million) in the six months to the end of September 2007, an increase of 8%. Revenue rose 10% to Rand 15.7 billion. Rail reversed the two-decade long downturn in traffic volume with a 3% increase to 40.4 million tonnes. Porterbrook orders dmus L EASING company Porterbrook has awarded Bombardier a ƒ129 million contract to supply 27 class 172 Turbostar dmus for Britain’s London Midland franchise. The 12 two-car and 15 threecar trains will be a lightweight, low-emissions variant of the existing class 170 dmu, and will be used on commuter services around Birmingham. The trains will be equipped with end gangway doors to allow multiple working. They will be assembled in Derby and will enter service in 2010. Transmashholding and Alstom to form Russian joint ventures Switzerland SBB Cargo’s new chief executive is Mr Nicolas Perrin, who has been in the role on an interim basis since the middle of last year. Among his main tasks is restructuring the operation to return it to profit. R USSIA’s leading rolling stock builder, Transmashholding, has signed an agreement with Alstom to form joint venture companies to produce railway equipment ranging from components to entire vehicles. Transmashholding is the main domestic supplier of railway equipment to Russian Railways (RZD), which plans major investment in motive power and rolling stock up to 2030. Alstom already has a contract to supply four Pendolino 220km/h tilting trains to Karelian Railways, a joint venture of RZD and VR, Finland. Bombardier, which already has an agreement with Transmashholding to create two joint ventures to develop propulsion technology and manufacture traction converters, is also discussing closer cooperation with Transmashholding. United States Hedge fund Atticus Capital appeared before the Surface Transportation Board to argue against plans to revise the way railways’ cost of capital is calculated. It says US railways have enjoyed profit levels of only about half that of other companies and that increasing apparent profitability could see customers claim rail charges are excessive - which could, in turn, lead to caps being imposed on operators. Construction starts on Caspian link C HELTAM Grindrod, South Africa, has taken delivery of its first 1067mm-gauge GE C30-EMP locomotives, which have been built in Brazil. The company has ordered 20 locomotives for leasing to various operators in South Africa. The 12-cylinder locomotives feature electronic fuel injection, dynamic braking and GE’s Brightstar microprocessor control system. S ONSTRUCTION of a 900km international railway along the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea began on December 1, when a groundbreaking ceremony was held at Bereket in Turkmenistan. The line will run north from the Iranian city of Gorgan, 250km east of Tehran, to Bereket and Uzen, where it will connect with the Kazakh network. The line is expected to carry up to 5 million tonnes of freight per year, and the 698km Turkmen section will open in December 2011. Uruguay After bids for the reconstruction of 960km of line came in at $US 42 million or more above Uruguaryan State Railway’s (AFE) budget, it is now seeking to create a publicprivate partnership to operate freight trains. Four groups have pre-qualified: Genesee & Wyoming/Weyerhaeuser, United States, with Forestal Oriental and Schandy, Uruguay; Christophersen and Plañir, Uruguay; Rites, India; and Benito Roggio Transporte, Argentina. IRJ 8 IRJ January 2008
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