IRJ - April 2011 - (Page 8)
News In brief be suspended. The MPF says the government has not yet established the High-Speed Rail Transport Company (Etav), which will be used to channel state funds worth up to Reais 3.4 billion ($US 2 billion) to help finance the Reais 33.1 billion project. The MPF also wants the tender to be suspended until new licences are granted to inter-state and international bus operators in Brazil. “Without proper granting of road passenger licences, we cannot guarantee the adequacy of the high-speed train feasibility studies which were based on the current prices and conditions for the bus operators between Campinas and Rio de Janeiro, and which could change significantly,” says the MPF. The MPF also calls for measures to correct what it describes as “irregular use of arbitration in the concession contracts” and to ensure the competitiveness of the tender. The invitation to tender was originally issued in December 2010, but was postponed until April 29 to allow more bidders to enter the process. At the end of last year, only a KoreanBrazilian consortium had declared its intention to bid. western connection to BBI will be completed by November ready for the opening of the airport in June 2012. German Rail has halved the interval for ultrasonic testing of ICE1 and ICE2 axles to 144,000km. The move follows similar reductions for the newer ICE3 and ICE-T fleets. Lawsuits disrupt Brazil high-speed tendering T HE Brazilian federal government was due to vote at the end of March on plans to restructure the country’s first high-speed rail project after tendering was halted by legal action. Two lawsuits were filed last month by Brazil's Federal Prosecution Office (MPF) seeking correction of irregularities which it claims to have found in the tender process for the Rio de Janeiro São Paulo - Campinas highspeed project. While some of these issues can be addressed immediately, others must await action and therefore require the tender process to Ireland The Department of Transport says passenger numbers on the first phase of the Western Rail Corridor have fallen far short of projections. Monthly ridership averaged 4800 between May and September last year, against a forecast of around 8300, while Irish Rail notes the average between October and the end of December fell to 4330. Škoda and Pesa to supply Czech regional trains Italy The first ƒ700 million phase of a ƒ2 billion project to fourtrack the 58km Treviglio Brescia line began last month. The scheme is part of the Milan - Venice high-speed line. Open-access high-speed operator NTV has delayed its launch from September until December. The company says certification of its Alstom AGV trains will be completed by September. C ZECH Railways (CD) has signed three contracts worth more than CKr 4 billion ($US 223 million) with two manufacturers as part of a major renewal of its regional train fleet. Škoda secured orders to supply 15 threecar emus worth a total of CKr 2.06 billion for the regions of Usti, Pardubice, Hradec, Kralove, Olomouc, and Southern Bohemia, and four two-car emus worth CKr 448 million for Southern Bohemia. The 160km/h trains will be delivered between the second half of next year and mid-2014. Meanwhile Pesa, Poland, has received a CKr 2 billion contract for 31 twocar Link dmus, which will be used around Karlovy Vary and Decin in the west of the country, and in the southeastern Zlín region. Each train will seat 120 passengers and will be equipped with two 390kW powerpacks, which are compliant with EU Stage IIIa emissions standards. The first train will be delivered in September 2012. The European Union regional operational programme has funded 40% of the total cost of both fleets. Netherlands NS Hispeed will this month launch Fyra services from Amsterdam to Breda via HSL South. The service will be operated using locomotivehauled trains pending the delivery of dedicated AnsaldoBreda V250 emus, which is now expected to begin around August. Nigeria Local press reports suggest the government is planning to concession Nigerian Railway Corporation’s (NRC) 1067mmgauge network when rehabilitation is completed. Transport minister Mr Yusuf Suleiman told the Vanguard newspaper the upgrades cover the lines from Kaduna to Port Harcourt and Lagos, as well as the lines east to Maiduguri and north to Kano. India’s dedicated freight corridors on schedule NDIAN Railways’ project to construct dedicated western and eastern freight corridors will be completed on schedule by December 2016, according to railways minister Mrs Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee says the main loan agreement for phase 1 of the Western Corridor has been signed with the Japan International Cooperation I Agency, with the bidding process for civil and track work is now underway. On the 1256km Ludhiana - Kolkata Eastern Corridor, an appraisal by the World Bank for the Khurja - Bhaupur section at the western end of the line will be carried out next month, while work from Dankuni, near Kolkata, has already begun. In order to reduce the number of people displaced by construction of the new corridors, Banerjee says that efforts have been made to make the alignment parallel the existing network thereby using 4856 hectares from the railway’s land bank. This has reduced land acquisition by 1100 hectares resulting in a saving of approximately Rs 3 billion ($US 66.4 million). Poland Open-access operator Freightliner PL is forecasting 8 IRJ April 2011
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