International Railway Journal - August 2007 - (Page 9)

In brief T AIWAN’S Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) says the opening of the 345km Taipei - Kaohsiung high-speed line has caused a rapid decline in the number of air passengers on domestic routes. According to the CAA, passenger numbers on Taipei - Kaohsiung flights fell 24% year-on-year in February and 58.8% year-on-year in June. Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) began operating the line with 19 return services per day, but was due to increase this to 37 train pairs at the end of July. Photo: THSRC continued from page 7 RZD is to invest Roubles 60 billion ($US 2.36 billion) in upgrading its part of the St Petersburg - Helsinki, Finland, route. A 64km line will be built to increase capacity, and is due to be completed in 2009-10. Passenger journeys between Finland and Russia rose 30% to 153,000 for the January-May period compared with the same period in 2006, thanks partly to the introduction of new rolling stock. Israel GE and Indian Railways to set up joint locomotives unit Surat Basin line moves forward I NDIAN Railways and General Electric (GE) are reportedly planning to invest $US 100-200 million in a joint venture to build diesel locomotives in India. IRJ understands GE will be the majority shareholder, with Indian Railways taking the remaining stake. Mr Pratyush Kumar, president and chief executive officer of GE Infrastructure India, says the plant will produce 100-120 locomotives per year for the domestic market and may later expand its scope to cover overseas markets. Indian Railways currently manufactures all of its locomotives and rolling stock in-house, but is keen to make more use of recent technology. C Stuttgart 21 project approved A FTER years of discussion, German Rail’s (DB) ambitious Stuttgart 21 project has been approved together with a high-speed line from Stuttgart to Ulm at a cost of €4.8 billion. A memorandum of understanding was signed in Berlin on July 19 by the federal transport minister, Mr Wolfgang Tiefensee, the first minister of BadenWürtemberg, Mr Günther Oettinger, Stuttgart’s mayor, Mr Wolfgang Schuster, and the CEO of DB, Mr Hartmut Mehdorn. Stuttgart 21 involves reconstruction of the city’s main station to convert it from a terminus surface station to a through underground one. The station will be connected to a new 30km line, running via the exhibition centre and airport to Wendlingen, and a 58km 250km/h line from Wendlingen to Ulm. Construction will start in 2010, and the project should be completed in 2019-20 allowing the 2h 22m Stuttgart - Ulm Munich journey time to be cut by 28 minutes. ONSTRUCTION of a 207km railway linking Wandoan in southern inland Queensland to Banana in central Queensland has moved a step closer after the Queensland government granted exclusive mandate status to the consortium planning to build the Surat Basin Railway. The line will provide a direct link between Surat Basin coal mines and the port of Gladstone. Mr Peter Beattie, premier of Queensland, said his government was satisfied that the proposed railway met public-private partnership (PPP) value-for-money criteria. The decision means the consortium, comprising Australian Transport and Energy Corridor, Dawson Valley Railway, Industry Funds Management, Queensland Rail and mining companies Xstrata Coal and Anglo Coal, can now develop the project through to its financial close. The consortium is required to finalise the preferred route by November and complete construction of the railway by 2010. The existing Toowoomba - Wandoan and Banana Gladstone lines will be upgraded in conjunction with construction of the new railway. It is expected the new line will be laid with dual-gauge sleepers to accommodate a future standard-gauge link to the proposed Melbourne Brisbane inland railway at Toowoomba. Israel Railways has given the green light for replacement of 11 level crossings by bridges or underpasses at a cost of $US 41 million. Level crossings are a major source of accidents in Israel, and a lengthy programme is underway to eliminate them wherever possible. More than half the country’s 149 level crossings have been, or are in the process of, being replaced. Libya China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is to build a 190km railway in western Libya at a cost of $US 477 million. Philippines Philippine National Railways has secured a $US 246 million loan from China to fund the Calamba - Lucena segment of the South Rail project. Poland The transport minister, Mr Miroslaw Chaberek, says upgrading Poland’s rail network will cost €500 million more than the previous estimate of €6.2 billion due to increases in the costs of construction materials, commodities, and machinery. Uganda Uganda plans to build a new railway around Lake Victoria to improve its international transport links. The country needs cheaper transport to ocean ports, as it currently only has one route to the Indian Ocean, through Kenya. The East African Community has started a $US 350,000 study of rail development in the region. IRJ IRJ August 2007 9

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

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