International Railway Journal - May 2008 - (Page 8)

News Britain starts Thameslink procurement In brief Argentina The contract for construction of the planned signing of the Buenos Aires – Rosario – Córdoba TGV line has been delayed. Officially this is because writing of the contracts was not finished in time. However, there is speculation that financial and legal issues are the real reasons for the delay. B BLS Cargo sustained its profitable status in 2007, thanks largely to buoyant transalpine freight volumes. Photo: Philip Wormald Mixed year for Swiss operators L AST year was a mixed year for Switzerland’s two biggest operators, with Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) seeing an increase in passenger and freight traffic but incurring massive financial losses in its freight subsidiary. BLS Cargo meanwhile has achieved an increase in profits for the seventh successive year. SBB closed 2007 with a 5.6% increase in revenue to SFr 7.7 billion ($US 7.66 billion), but was forced to accept a 69% drop in group profit to SFr 80.4 million. This was mainly due to massive losses sustained by the railfreight sector, which were offset by good results in the passenger and property divisions. Performance however reached record levels, with the passenger sector up by 6.1% to 15.1 billion passenger-km and railfreight up by 8.3% to 13.37 tonne-km. The loss-making railfreight sector SBB Cargo posted an operating loss of SFr 180 million compared with a loss of SFr 29.2 million in 2006, despite a 5.6% increase in revenue to SFr 1.06 billion. Controversial plans have already been announced for restructuring (IRJ April p8), but discussions are still ongoing with unions. SBB Cargo anticipates another loss this year but expects restructuring to bring improvements in 2009. By contrast, BLS Cargo continued the profitable run it has sustained since it began operating in 2001. Performance improved by 3% to 3.34 billion tonne-km, most of which was international transit traffic. Revenues rose by 3.2% to SFr 191.7 million and profits increased by 36.8% to SFr 14.9 million. BLS Cargo says it carries around 40% of all transalpine railfreight passing through Switzerland. There have been suggestions from politicians that SBB Cargo should merge with Switzerland’s BLS Cargo, although this looks unlikely because of BLS Cargo’s association with German Rail (DB), SBB Cargo’s main rival. RITAIN’S Department for Transport has started procurement of 1100 dualvoltage emu vehicles as part of the £5.5 billion project to upgrade London’s north-south Thameslink commuter network. The £1.14 billion order will allow replacement of the existing fleet of 720 vehicles, and the introduction of 12-car trains by 2012. The contract for the new trains will be awarded in mid2009 and a train must be ready for mainline testing by late2011. The first train will enter service in February 2012 and the remainder will be delivered by December 2015. The winning bidder will be responsible for financing the fleet, and will maintain the trains for up to 10 years. Australia The federal government has commissioned a $A 15 million ($US 14.1 million) study into options for a proposed new inland freight line between Melbourne and Brisbane. The line, if built, would cut journey times between the cities from 36 to 21 hours, and would bypass Sydney. Britain Passenger numbers on Britain’s railways are at the highest level ever recorded in peacetime, according to the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). It says 1.2 billion passengers used the railway last year – a 7.8% increase over 2006, and higher than the previous record, which was set in 1946, when the network was 33% bigger than it is today. The Office of Rail Regulation has recently decided against awarding a 30-year track access contract for almost all train paths requested in conjunction with the London Crossrail project. It is now studying how modifications to train paths will be effected. The first aluminium bogie cement wagons in Britain entered service at the end of March with Castle Cement. They are owned by leasing company VTG. Lucchini boosts wheel production I TALIAN wheelset manufacturer, Lucchini Sidermeccanica, is investing ƒ80 million to install a new wheel production facility by the end of next year. When the new unit is in full production in 2010 it will be able to produce 240,000 wheels a year compared with 150,000 today. The new facility will be devoted to the production of solid wheels. “The new mill will have 5000-tonne and 9000tonne presses which will enable us to increase the diameter of the wheels we produce,” says Dr-Ing Eder Mingoli, CEO of Lucchini Sidermeccanica. “We will run the old and new mills in parallel for about six months to ensure that the new mill is working well.” UTI-SYSTEM locomotives owned by Mitsui Rail Capital Europe have become the first type to be granted an unconditional operating license to work on the Betuwe dedicated freight corridor in the Netherlands. The Siemens locomotives are equipped with European Train Control System (ETCS) Version 2.3.0, supplied by Alstom. This will allow capacity to be increased from one train every 90 minutes to 4-10 trains per hour. M China The Ministry of Railways has invited foreign companies to participate in financing of the Shanghai-Beijing high-speed line. The announcement was made at the ground-breaking ceremony for the main Tianjin – Xuzhou – Shanghai section. Public securities will be used to raise finance for the line, which will open in 2013. 8 IRJ May 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of International Railway Journal - May 2008

International Railway Journal - May 2008 Contents This Month News Transit News Market News Technology News News Analysis Italian Railways on the Road to Recovery High-Speed: On the Home Straight Korea Develops High-Speed Ambitions Setting New Standards for New Rolling Stock India Solves Traction Motor Conundrum Weathering the Storm with Climatic Testing Technology Drives US Train Inspections Rendezvous Full Contact List Advertisers Index The Last Word

International Railway Journal - May 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.