International Railway Journal - August 2007 - (Page 10)

Market news Australia Australian wagon builder Bradken has delivered its 4000th iron-ore wagon for Rio Tinto’s iron-ore railways division in Western Australia. The $A 500 million ($US 440.13 million) project has been formed of 12 successive contracts. The latest wagons have a tare weight of just 20.9 tonnes, and an 11% increase in capacity to 50m3. Estonia Estonian Railways (ER) is investing EKr 292 million ($US 23.9 million) in freight wagons. EKr 80 million is being spent on flat wagons from Russian-Estonian company UVZ & AVR, while Skinest Rail, Estonia, will supply wagons to a value of EKr 212 million. new wagons at a cost of Rs 83 million ($US 2.06 million). Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam, India, will build the vehicles, which are due to be delivered from December 2008. Morocco Moroccan National Railways has awarded a €14 million contract to Thales for design, supply, installation, and deployment of signalling systems on the 117km Taourirt - Nador line. RZD will sell 22 coach repair businesses by the end of the year as part of a continuing programme to reform the railway. The plans stipulate that 30% of RZD’s repair capacity should be sold. Saudi Arabia Six companies have submitted bids for the $US 5.33 billion Mecca - Medina line. The bidders - Al-Rajhi Consortium, Binladen Group, Saudi Oger, the Saudi Japanese Consortium, Al-Shola Consortium and OHL International - are now waiting for project specifications from Saudi Railways Organisation. France French National Railways (SNCF) has placed an €82 million order for 19 AGC regional trains with Bombardier. The contract follows an initial order for 500 AGC vehicles in 2001, with a follow-on order for another 200 placed in November last year and 67 earlier this year. Austria Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) has taken delivery of the first of seven maintenance and shunting machines from Robel, Germany. The vehicles can operate with up to four working in multiple, and can be equipped with cranes and lifting platforms. Netherlands Netherlands Railways (NS) is buying four driver training simulators from Corys Tess, France. The simulators will be used to train staff on Virm and SLT trains, and they have a database which covers 300km of track. Serbia Kraljevo wagon factory is to build 915 freight wagons for operation in Germany at a cost of around €45 million. They are due to be delivered by the end of 2009. Britain Passenger franchisee One has issued a tender calling for the supply of up to 120 emu vehicles with a top speed of 160km/h. The four-car trains will have first and second class accommodation, and must enter service by June 2009. Jarvis subsidiary Fastline has won a five-year coal haulage contract from energy company E.ON. The deal will start in April 2008. Fastline has ordered 5 EMD class 66 locomotives for the contract. Henderson, the new parent company of passenger franchise Chiltern, is to sell its rail business in order to concentrate on its core operation. The franchise, which runs until 2020, is expected to attract widespread interest and is said to be worth around £80 million. FirstGBRf is buying 50 coal hoppers from IRS, Romania, and delivery will coincide with a batch of class 66 locomotives from EMD. Germany Wagon leasing company VTG has been listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange, raising €160 million in a bid to reduce debts. VTG owns around 47,000 rail vehicles. Voith Turbo plans to acquire gear manufacturer BHS Getreibe, Germany. BHS achieved sales of around €69 million last year. Road-rail logistics provider Kombiverkehr says its loads on its rail operations grew by 14.6% to 930,980 truckloads last year. Turnover rose 14.3% to €372.2 million for its combined operations, and profits increased by 10% to €1.96 million. Poland A joint venture of Arriva, Britain, and PCC Rail, Poland, has won a three-year contract to operate passenger services in northwest Poland. The contract is expected to generate revenues of around £20 million over the period, and operations are due to start in December. Open-access freight operator PKP is seeking bids for the supply of 10 electric locomotives with an estimated value of €10 million. Spain Spanish train builder CAF has ordered transmissions and cardan shafts, for a new 107vehicle fleet of regional trains, from Voith Turbo, Germany. The components will be used in 50 160km/h dmu cars, and in 57 160km/h emu vehicles. Sweden Kockums Industrier is buying freight wagon maintenance company Swemaint. Kockums is paying SKr 88.3 million ($US 12.9 million) for the shares in the company, but is also taking on its SKr 78.3 million debts. Russia Russian Railways’ (RZD) investment report for the first six months of 2007 shows that it has acquired 468 passenger coaches, 11 locomotives, and more than 8000 freight wagons. India National Aluminium Company is to acquire 241 Switzerland Stadler Rail says increasing business outside its main markets of Germany and Switzerland has boosted turnover by more than 30% for the first half of the year. While in 2006 its turnover was SFr 787 million ($US 642.5 million), it already has orders worth about SFr 800 million on its books. Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) is ordering 22 catenary service vehicles from Windhoff, Germany. The order is worth SFr 33.9 million, and the machines will be delivered in 2008 and 2009. IRJ Ukraine Ukraine Railways (UZ) has bought two switch and crossing tracklayers from Desec, Finland. The deal includes supply of spare parts and a training package. Deliveries are due next year, and the contract follows the delivery of two TL 70UZ tracklayers in 2003. Canada Canadian National (CN) is to acquire 65 new diesel locomotives from EMD and GE Transportation this year and next. GE will supply 40 ES44DC locomotives between December 2007 and February 2008; EMD will build 25 SD70M-2 locomotives for delivery in August next year. 10 IRJ August 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of International Railway Journal - August 2007

Contents This month News Market News Transit News News Analysis Voith Goes For Maxima Impact First Gauge-Changeable Loco Under Test Power Surge China Feels the Need For Speed A Firm Foundation For Chinese High-Speed Testing Times on the Betuwe Route Tough Tests For Mass Transit Software A Measure of Success Rendezvous Full Contact List Advertisers Index The Last Word

International Railway Journal - August 2007

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.