International Railway Journal - October 2008 - (Page 6) News Air France and Veolia plan HS partnership IR FRANCE has confirmed it is in talks with Veolia about setting up a strategic partnership to begin international high-speed rail operations after the market is liberalised in January 2010. Air France has been hit hard in recent years by competition from TGV, Thalys and Eurostar high-speed services, which have forced the airline to suspend its flights from Paris to Brussels, Lyon, Rennes, and Avignon, and reduce flights to Strasbourg. Rail now has 90% of the market on the Paris - Lyon route, and 70% of the Paris Bordeaux market. A spokesman for Air France told IRJ that no decision had yet been made on the routes the new operator would serve. He also rebuffed media reports that the airline is in talks with Alstom about the possibility of buying or leasing AGV trains. “We are still at the early stages A of talks with Veolia, and this is the only rail operator we are considering working with at present,” he said, adding that no date has been set for signing an agreement. While the rhetoric is cautious, CEO Mr JeanCyril Spinetta (pictured) has made no secret of his interest in adding highspeed rail to the Air France portfolio. “It is essential for any airline to stay ahead of the market: not doing so constitutes a very serious risk,” he told the Air France Shareholders General Assembly in July. “If we do not maintain this contact, basically because the highspeed train succeeds in attracting and winning over business customers, we are paving the way for a fragile future for Air France. Limiting our activity to air operations Fire damages Channel Tunnel SECTION of the Channel Tunnel has been damaged after fire broke out on board a lorry Shuttle train travelling from Britain to France. The blaze occurred on September 11 in the North Tunnel approximately 11km from the French portal. All 32 lorry drivers and train crew onboard the train were safely evacuated to the service tunnel and six were treated for the effects of smoke inhalation. Three other trains using the North Tunnel at the time of the fire returned to Folkstone. Temperatures in the North Tunnel reportedly reached more than 1000oC at the height of the 16-hour blaze, sufficient to cause extensive damage to lineside equipment, catenary and track. Freight, lorry Shuttles, and Eurostar services from London to Paris and Brussels resumed two days after the fire, followed by car shuttles a day later. Eurostar and Shuttle services are running at reduced frequency because of the need for single line working at the French end of the tunnel. The section of the North Tunnel between the French crossover and the French portal is likely to remain closed for several months. The fire is the third on a lorry Shuttle since the tunnel opened in 1994. A small fire in August 2006 was quickly extinguished, although a more serious blaze in November 1996 in the South Tunnel melted signalling cables, electrification and the tunnel’s concrete lining, severely damaging a 46m section and forcing the closure of the South Tunnel for seven months. “It is not yet possible to quantify the cost and length of time required to restore the damaged part of the North Tunnel,” Eurotunnel chairman Mr Jaques Gounon said in a letter to Eurotunnel shareholders. “However, the financial impact will largely be covered by our insurance: Eurotunnel is insured up to ƒ900 million in respect of damages and business interruption.” A and ignoring market trends constitutes a serious risk. We need to seriously examine the possibility for Air France to operate trains under the Air France brand, serving several destinations in partnership with a rail operator.” Air France will initially only be able to operate international and cabotage routes such as Brussels - Paris - Bordeaux from 2010 because the domestic high-speed market will not be liberalised until 2017. Air France also says it will not compete with its air services. Balfour Beatty wins NZ electrification contract B ALFOUR Beatty Rail Projects (BBRP), Britain, has won a $NZ 10 million ($US 7 million) contract for design, technical support and procurement of electrification equipment for the Auckland suburban network. The project of which this forms part also includes support structures, high- voltage power supply cables, sub-stations and feeder stations. Signalling systems and lineside equipment, as well as enabling works also fall within the contract. BBRP will manage the overall design process and will lead the design of the overhead electrification, which includes system, basic, and installation design processes. The routes being electrified run from Britomart to Papakura, and from Newmarket to Swanson. New Zealand track authority Ontrack is spending around $NZ 1 billion on rail infrastructure, and the electrification projects are due to be completed in 2013. LA crash claims 25 lives T RZD to hive-off inter-city routes R USSIAN Railways (RZD) is to separate longdistance passenger services into a new subsidiary called Federal Passenger Company (FPC). It follows the earlier split of intermodal traffic into TransContainer, timber into Transles, and automotive into RailTransAuto. HE United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has begun an investigation into a head-on collision between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train at Chatsworth, northwest of Los Angeles, that left 25 dead and 135 injured. The two trains were travelling at around 65km/h on a single-track section when the accident occurred on September 12. NTSB says that safety systems at the site, including signalling appear to have functioned correctly, and reenactment of the crash suggests that the Metrolink driver did not apply the brakes after passing a red signal. NTSB says the Metrolink driver was using his mobile telephone while on duty, and is currently investigating whether he was sending text messages while driving. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) spokesman Mr Walter Flatau said he was “90-95% certain” that Positive Train Control (PTC) could have prevented the collision. Two Californian senators have tabled legislation that will require the installation of PTC on mixed traffic lines by 2012, and on all US railways by 2014. The FRA says it will cost around $US 2.3 billion to equip the entire network. 6 IRJ October 2008
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