National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers (RMT)

The Guardian: November 2, 2005
Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow

Exhibition in memory of project built on prison labour opens in Moscow.

It was one of the most ambitious projects of the Stalin era, known as the "railway of bones". At least 10 people a day died during the four years of its construction, but unlike most of Uncle Joe's grand designs it was never completed and now sits unfinished in the tundra, an icy road to nowhere.

Yet today officials are considering restarting work on the vast railway that Stalin hoped would run inside the Arctic Circle, initially from the north Siberian town of Salekhard to the port of Igarka. Work was abandoned in 1953, shortly after the dictator's death, yet its usefulness appeals to Moscow today.

The Kremlin, which sees its global influence resting on its abundance of natural resources, may have the railway finished to link the bountiful gas fields and metal mines of Arctic Siberia with Europe. Sergei Ivanov, deputy head of Russia's massive state rail company, said recently they were considering extending the railway to the nickel-rich town of Norilsk, responsible for 2% of Russia's GDP. A local engineer told the Guardian last week that he has been instructed to revisit the plans for the railway, considered to be technically excellent.

Renewed interest in the project comes as an exhibition in its memory opens in Moscow, at the Sakharov Museum, named after the Soviet-era dissident. Ludmila Vesilovskaya, curator of the exhibition, said it was designed to show that prison labour was a vital part of the Soviet economy and that its purpose was often not as "senseless as the many myths about the Stalin era try to show".

The decision to begin work on "Projects 503 and 501" was announced in January 1949. Stalin wanted to improve access to the Bering Strait, then the easiest route to the Soviet Union's new main adversary, the US. "We must take the north in hand", he is reported to have said, adding that "labour power and resources will be no problem".

In fact, work on the 750-mile railway had already begun in April 1947, heading in two directions, project 503 west from Igarka, and project 501 east from the town of Salekhard. "At the peak of activity in 1951, 85,000 prisoners were working on it," said Oleg Prikhodko, a researcher in Salekhard. "The climate was awful, the winters terribly severe." The walls of the barracks in which the prisoners lived were "very thin" and it was "difficult to understand how they survived in 50 below zero".

Ms Vesilovskaya said there were no exact figures available for the number of prisoners who died making the 435 miles of railway that was completed. A report from one of the directorates for January 1951 showed they lost about 1% of their prisoners, she said. "Each had 30,000 to 50,000 workers, so that's at least 300 dead a month."

Among the survivors was Lazar Shereshevsky, 79, arrested in the army in 1944. He was part of a troupe of 200 entertainers who travelled along the railway construction site, staging operas for the labourers. "The main causes of death were working accidents, disease and illness," he said, adding that scurvy was a major killer, as were disputes between criminal groups in the camps that the guards did little to prevent.

"The main thing was to build quickly and effectively," he said, adding that work was impossible during winter.

Actual labour was confined to the six warmer months of the year. "The work was hard, but the hardest thing were the mosquitoes - myriads of them that covered everything", he said. He added that in the 24-hour daylight of the polar zone they "ate us all day long".

Ms Vesilovskaya said she hopes her Moscow exhibition will explain to the younger generation that a vital part of Russian history is disappearing. "There is a danger we will lose, with these last buildings and camps, part of our historical memory," she said.

Posted on 08:00 PM | Permalink

Associated Press: October 31, 2005

Five thousand members of Local 234 of the Transport Workers Union went on strike at midnight, shutting down Philadelphia's subway, light rail and bus system. The dispute is over health care costs and benefits, an issue which has become the lightning rod for employee/employer relations throughout the U.S. economy.

Robin Merriweather, an employee of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), pickets in front of SEPTA's Midvale depot in Philadelphia Monday, Oct. 31, 2005. Thousands of city transit workers went on strike Monday, idling buses, trolleys and subways operated by SEPTA. Wages, work rules and the health care plan are the main issues in dispute. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) admitted that the union's action had led to a complete shutdown of their services, advising the public in a statement that: "Due to a service interruption by Union employees, buses, subways, and trolleys are not operating. Regional Rail is the primary service available."

TWU Local 234 President Jeff Brooks stated: "It is unfortunate that SEPTA has forced this strike. Neither our members nor the riding public desired this outcome".

"Local 234 members don’t argue that health care is an inalienable Right; we correctly argue that members have already fully paid for health care through a Covenant we made with SEPTA decades ago," the Local said in a statement. "Union members have accepted less in wages and benefits in a deal made with SEPTA for health care."

You can watch Local 234's video explaining what their strike is about here.

The Associated Press reports ('In Philadelphia, Thousands of Transit Workers Strike' October 31, 2005) that 920,000 riders use the city's mass transit system on a typical weekday.

PHILADELPHIA — Thousands of city transit workers went on strike today just after midnight, leaving nearly half a million commuters in need of alternate transportation.

Buses, trolleys and subways operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will be idle. Commuter rails are expected to remain in service because their employees have a different union contract.

City preparations for the strike include setting up extra bicycle racks and allowing more parking. City schools, which don't provide bus service for high school students, plan to remain open but might reconsider if the strike is prolonged.

The last Philadelphia transit strike, in 1998, lasted 40 days.

Although negotiations went on most of the weekend, they broke off about midnight. Wages, work rules and healthcare have been the main issues in dispute.

No new talks were scheduled between the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Transport Workers Union Local 234, which represents about 5,000 employees, union spokesman Bob Bedard said.

The shutdown of the mass transit system poses a major mobility issue in a city where one in three households has no car.

On a typical weekday, 920,000 trips are taken on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority lines shut down by the strike.

Posted on 07:57 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 31 October 2005

South West Trains is cutting ticket prices on some services between London and the south coast of England to just £1 in a bid to attract new passengers. South West Trains says the tickets will be the cheapest in decades.

Customers who book in advance will be able to buy £1 tickets for single off-peak journeys on routes between London, Portsmouth and Southampton.

The budget rail project, being piloted by parent company Stagecoach, could be extended if it proves successful.

High fares were deterring many people from taking the train, the firm said.

Big discounts

More than 3,000 substantially discounted tickets will be available every week on services starting from November 14.

The cheapest tickets will be sold for £1, while the majority of single fares will be available for less than £10.

"If you can offer prices starting from a pound, it is within the budget of absolutely everyone" - South West Trains spokesman

Customers booking well in advance and using certain services will be able to buy a return ticket for just £2.

The offer - which began on Monday - is only available to people booking via a special website or by phone.

No discounted tickets will be sold at stations and the offer will not be valid on Sundays.

Untapped market

"If you can offer prices starting from a pound, it is within the budget of absolutely everyone," a South West Trains spokesman said.

"We feel that there is an untapped market with which we can fill the capacity of the rail market at these times."

The megatrain.com scheme is modelled on a successful budget bus service launched by Stagecoach in 2003.

More than 1.5 million passengers travelled on cheap megabus.com services last year, which operate between 35 cities.

Posted on 06:55 PM | Permalink

Botswana Press Agency (BOPA): 25 October, 2005

MAHALAPYE - After 18 months of intense collective bargaining between Botswana Railways management and its Amalgamated Manual Workers Unions (BRAWU), the two parties have finally agreed that the former should go ahead with its intended staff retrenchment exercise intervention of the Industrial Court.

However, the union later withdrew its decision of taking the management to the Industrial Court after the parastatals new chief executive officer, Andrew Lunga, admitted that a bridge between the union and the management has been unnecessarily created.

He admitted that the two parties have a recognition agreement, which points out that prior to the implementation of any policy that affects workers, there should be communication and consultation with the union.

Lunga told BOPA in an interview that when he realised that the situation had gone out of hand, he decided to build a better relationship with the union and the organization.

He did this by seeking the services of an independent arbitrator, Lisindi and Career Diversity.

According to Lunga, arbitrator talked to management and the union members about why it was necessary that organizations should retrench and the rationale behind the Botswana Railways retrenchment exercise.

"All parties agreed that the arbitrator was objective and he was then able to break the barrier that delayed the implementation of the exercise." Lunga said.

Following these preliminary meetings, the two parties struck a deal and even formed a joint committee that identified steps to be followed and areas of negotiation, which they were to focus on in order to strike a fair deal.

Lunga said one of the things that the two parties agreed on was that the exercise should be voluntary and attractive to the volunteers.

He said the two parties came up with a fixed figure of P454 000 and a relocation allowance of P5 000.

There were other allowances like pension benefits and those who have served the organizations for more than 15 years are to walk away with additional P10 000. There is also a pension and leave benefit.

Lunga said because of the attractive package, more employees than expected decided to volunteer for retrenchment.

Though initially it was agreed that only 150 employees could be retrenched, the management ended up receiving 400 applications that compelled the parties to agree that only between 200 and 250 employees could be allowed to go.

Botswana Railways would spend P24.4 million in the retrenchment process. Lunga has however, made it clear that the organisation has refused to allow staff whose skills are needed most to leave.

"We have technicians, IT officers and signaling branch officers who wanted to go, but we said, "no" to them. We want Botswana Railways to be a logistic company. We therefore changed positions to fit the company to be a logistic company," he said.

The unions chairperson, Lotlampona Mokgalajwe who has previously worked hard to break the impasse that existed between the management and the union hailed Lunga for being transparent to them.

He said Lungas openness to the union and his disclosure of information to the union members made it possible for the two parties to reach an agreement quickly.

"We are happy that ultimately the Minister of Works and Transport appointed a chief executive who is understanding," Mokgalajwe said.

He said the union is also pleased with the approach that was taken and the proposals that were made to them.

What pleases the union most is that some of their members who are being retrenched are being empowered on how they can live a better life afterwards.

Lunga stressed that the management has encouraged those who will be leaving to form companies that if they so wish could sub-contract themselves to be Botswana Railways. Once it has retrenched some of its employees, the Botswana Railways, which has a workforce of between 1 200 and 1 300 employees will be left with 760 employees.

Both Lunga and Mokgalajwe agreed that the retrenchment exercise is necessary for the organization that has accumulated a loss of P62 million simply because their volume of traffic has been reduced. Besides decline in revenue, their costs have been increased. BOPA

Posted on 12:12 PM | Permalink

Swiss Railworkers' Union (SEV): 1 November 2005

SBB Cargo
On Friday the SBB Cargo Corporation presented its redevelopment plan for goods traffic: under the plan 300 delivery points would be closed and the Cargo-administration subjected to a starvation cure.

Altogether 60 further locations are indirectly threatened amounting to 590 jobs in the Cargo division and the SBB infrastructure division. The reason given for the dismantling is simple: after the business numbers published in August this year were bad, unprofitable services are supposed to be closed. In fact, the agreement achievement between the union and SBB in such a case means that Cargo must propose any such measures to the parliament (Bundesrat). At the Bundesrat, it is to be decided now whether it wants to preserve the status quo of a all over operation of goods trains throughout the country or whether it is ready to slim down the operation and so fail to uphold the policies clearly desired by the population of shifting the transport of goods from the road onto rail.

«Foresight is the name of the game» – this well known saying should be taken to heart by the middle class Bundesrat majority in this case. It concerns not only the maintenance of jobs, but also the issues around railway politics with such noble goals such as the protection of the environment, well-being of the population and meaningful planning. To close the 300 Cargo delivery points means to send 100,000 trucks onto Swiss streets. We hope that our ministers look at this case not only through the lenses of short-sighted accountants, but rather given its momentous importance to take into account also the health costs, security problems and the environmental stress, that such a truck avalanche would bring. For the Swiss Railworkers' Union (SEV), no doubt exists that goods traffic must be part of the public service requirement of the SBB and must therefore be supported.

François Gatabin, vice president SEV

Posted on 12:05 PM | Permalink

AFP: October 30, 2005

TAIPEI: Taiwan's bullet train for the first time passed its targeted speed of 300 kmph in a test run, which investors said was a significant step forward in the delayed construction project.

The train was put through its paces on Saturday on a 25-kilometer section of rail in southern Tainan county, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said in a statement.

The 345-kilometer (215-mile) bullet train service will link the capital Taipei with the island's second city of Kaohsiung in the south.

Test runs began earlier this year, and the system, with trains running at an average speed of 300 kilometers an hour, is expected to transport 100 million passengers a year.

The railway system will be managed by the THSRC for 35 years before it is turned over to state control under the terms of the build-operate-transfer project, the largest of its kind in the world.

The deal is also important for Japan as it marks the first export of the "bullet train" outside Japan.

THSRC announced earlier this month that commercial operations of the 13.5 billion US dollar bullet train system, originally slated to begin operation on October 31, 2005, would be delayed for a year largely due to the lower-than-expected progress on the core system.

Posted on 11:16 AM | Permalink

The Guardian: October 31, 2005
Vikram Dodd

Plans for airport-style security scanners at railway stations with armed police scrutinising passengers are being drawn up to try to stop terrorist attacks on the rail network, the Guardian has learned.

Ministers are expected to announce a trial of the scheme at London's Paddington station next month. If it is successful, body scanners and x-ray machines could be installed at other main stations.

Senior sources said all long-distance train journeys could be covered by the scheme, which is a response to the attacks in London on July 7 and 21. The July 7 suicide bombers used the rail network to move their devices from Leeds to London.

The trial follows work by the Department for Transport's security arm, Transec, which submitted plans to the secretary of state for transport, Alistair Darling. The pilot scheme at Paddington will only cover the Heathrow Express line, and will allow officials to find out how much disruption it would cause.
A senior source with close knowledge of the scheme told the Guardian: "The assumption at the moment is that it would be impractical. The aim of the scheme is to see the impact of it."

For the trial, those operating the checks would be told to minimise delays. The source said passengers would walk through an arch: "It's quick if we don't find something, if we do find something, you're going to miss your train."

Police would be told to stop the checks or make them less strict if queues got too long: "It may be a random sample are scanned or everybody, depending on the number of scanners available and passenger flow. If suspicions are raised then the search of a person will be very thorough," the source said.

Checks could be made more rigorous if the terrorist threat level, currently at "raised", was increased. Armed police are expected to be present in the area in case a terror suspect is identified. As well as reassuring the public, the screening would make it just that bit harder for terrorists to stage an attack.

If successful, the scheme would first be extended to the Gatwick Express. The next stations to receive the equipment would be London's Kings Cross and Euston, with outlying stations also being considered.

The senior source said:"If it's disruptive and full of false alarms and complications, the trial may end at Paddington. If it goes smoothly you could see it gaining momentum and see more scanners at more stations."

Experts have examined using security scanners for commuter journeys or routes with multiple stops, but most believe it would be impractical. They feel that the public may be prepared to tolerate a short delay for a journey of two hours, but a delay of several minutes for a 15-minute journey would be seen as disproportionately inconvenient.

Posted on 11:11 AM | Permalink

The Irish Times: Oct 31, 05
Martin Wall

A private sector operator is planning to enter the rail freight business to provide competition to Irish Rail on the country's railways for the first time.

A spokesman for Minister for Transport Martin Cullen confirmed last night that "an international freight operator" had recently informed the Department of Transport of its intention to seek to enter the Irish market.

Under the terms of an EU directive, the cross-border rail freight market will be opened up to competition from January next.

Competition will be allowed in the domestic rail freight market from January 2007.

Under the plan to open up the market, CIÉ, which owns the rail network, will be entitled to charge new operators for costs associated with allowing access to the lines and other facilities.

The Department of Transport yesterday did not identify the rail freight company involved in the plan but there is speculation it could be a large UK operator.

Irish exporters have recently criticised what they maintained was a policy by Irish Rail to disengage from parts of the rail freight business. The Irish Exporters Association has urged the Government to introduce measures to encourage private sector interest in the rail freight business.

An Irish Rail spokesman said last night the company was committed to the rail freight business where this could generate a commercial return. He said Irish Rail had expanded its sugar beet business and would continue to expand its pulp wood transport operations.

He said Irish Rail had earlier this year discontinued its "unit load" container business where customers could purchase space on part of a train to carry their goods. He said that this had represented 10 per cent of Irish Rail's overall freight operation but accounted for 70 per cent of its losses.

Posted on 11:00 AM | Permalink

New Zurich Times online: 28. October 2005

Railway unions condemned the "unprecedented wholesale cuts" to freight transport.

The freight division of Swiss Federal Railways is to axe 590 jobs as part of a cost-cutting programme, with another 60 jobs set to go in the infrastructure sector.

Federal Railways, which doubled its first-half loss to SFr36.6 million ($29 million) mainly because of problems in the freight division, said no one would be fired.

In a statement on Friday, the railways said it expected this and other measures to result in savings of SFr85 million a year and the cargo sector breaking even in 2007.

The transport workers union and the Transfair union reacted angrily, saying the cargo division bosses should not be allowed to make unilateral changes to transport policy. It called for a public debate on the issue.

For its part, the transport ministry said it believed the cutbacks were justifiable and it would not provide a subsidy to maintain the cargo operation at its present level. However, it insisted that redundancies should be handled in a socially responsible way.

The job cuts had been signalled in August, when Federal Railways announced that despite carrying more passengers and goods it had doubled its loss in the first half - to SFr36.6 million from SFr18.2 million in 2004.

A total of 650 jobs will be lost between now and June 2006 as a result of structural changes. Most of the 60 positions to go in the infrastructure division will be at the centre in Biel.

Higher costs, lower revenue
The freight sector will scale back its operation by reducing the number of its centres from 650 to 323, the railway operator said in a statement.

"The cargo division is faced with a negative development in terms of revenue, owing to sustained price erosion and a simultaneous fall in demand," the company added.

"The causes of the fall in demand and the associated loss in revenue are on the one hand the result of structural changes and changing customer requirements," the statement said.

"On the other hand the competition between road and rail has increased more quickly than anticipated."

The Federal Railways said that given the drop in revenue, the freight division's costs were too high and it was expected to make a multi-million-franc loss this year.

Every year the company transports over 253 million passengers and around 58 million tons of goods.

Posted on 12:25 PM | Permalink

RMT: 28 October 2005

BACK-DOOR relaxation of rules that require independently led inquiries into serious rail accidents will open the way to a cover-up culture, Britain’s biggest rail union warns today.

The union has learned that independently led formal inquiries into serious incidents, required under Railway Group Standards, will be waived by the Rail Safety and Standards Board if the employers directly involved agree that one should not be held.

“This is a huge leap in the wrong direction for railway safety,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“Only two days ago one private-sector track worker was killed and another was injured in an incident at Trafford Park. Now we are being told that the employers have agreed that there is no need to hold a formal inquiry and can expect the RSSB to issue them a certificate of non-compliance on the nod.

“It is unacceptable that employers directly involved in serious incidents can put their heads together and request an automatic exemption from the duty to hold an independently led inquiry.

“The RSSB is effectively an employers’ organisation and there are very clear and obvious reasons why it should not have the right to overrule that obligation.

“Inquiries held under Group Standards are chaired independently, the relevant unions are entitled to observe them and they usually report within four or five months.

“Those reports usually provide crucial pointers to action needed to avoid similar accidents and the fact that the vast majority of their recommendations relate to shortcomings in management processes suggests why employers are so keen to avoid them.

“Investigations by the new Rail Accident Investigation Branch will be held behind closed doors with no oversight, union reps will be excluded, and they will be expected to report only within a year – and in any case they are no substitute for formal inquiries.

“RMT has made it clear to the RSSB that we object to this abuse of its right to issue non-compliance certificates, imposed without any consultation with us, and expect them to comply with the requirements of the Group Standard,” Bob Crow said.

Posted on 12:08 PM | Permalink

The Sunday Times: October 30, 2005
Dipesh Gadher, Transport Correspondent

RAIL chiefs are expected to escape manslaughter charges for the Ladbroke Grove train crash, which killed 31 passengers and injured hundreds in 1999.

Despite a second police investigation, prosecutors believe it would be too difficult to prove that Railtrack managers were “grossly negligent”, according to sources close to the case.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is likely to announce its decision next month to drop criminal proceedings. This would mean that no company or manager will have been convicted of manslaughter for any rail crash in Britain.

The crash at Ladbroke Grove, west London, in October 1999 happened when the driver of a Thames Trains commuter service went through a red signal numbered SN109 outside Paddington station and collided head-on with a Great Western inter-city express.

A public inquiry into the crash, headed by Lord Cullen, found that Railtrack, now Network Rail, had been repeatedly warned about the difficulty of reading signals in the area, including signal SN109.

Two years after the disaster — the worst involving a train since 35 people were killed at Clapham, south London, in 1988 — the CPS advised British transport police to wind down its investigation. In May 2002, following pressure from bereaved relatives, officers were asked to re-open the inquiry, focusing on track management and signal layout at Paddington.

Detectives are thought to have uncovered fresh evidence, but prosecutors believe this would be insufficient to secure a manslaughter conviction. “We are expecting a decision imminently and they (the CPS) are probably going the same way as Potters Bar,” said a source.

The CPS will not bring criminal charges in relation to the crash in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, in May 2002, in which seven passengers died.

The acquittal this year of rail managers charged with manslaughter over the Hatfield train crash is thought to be pivotal in the CPS’s reluctance to pursue criminal proceedings over Ladbroke Grove. The Hatfield case, following the death of four passengers in October 2000, collapsed after the judge ruled there was insufficient evidence for proving “gross negligence” on the part of an individual.

The Ladbroke Grove inquiry is now likely to be passed to the Health and Safety Executive.

A CPS spokesman said: “No decision has been made yet. The evidence is still under review.”

Posted on 12:02 PM | Permalink

Yorkshire Post: 28 October 2005
William Green - Political Correspondent

NEW trains built to improve services between Yorkshire's biggest cities and London have been sitting in sidings for months despite overcrowding on the route.

Meridian nine-coach trains, estimated to cost £12m each, should have begun operating an extended Midland Mainline service linking Leeds with Sheffield and London last December.

But the proposed service was axed months earlier by the now-defunct Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), a decision which sparked outrage in the region.

And it is understood that the Department for Transport (DfT), which has taken on SRA responsibilities, has not given any clear direction on the issue – although rail operator Midland Mainline has managed to introduce four of the seven units into passenger service despite the setbacks, including between South Yorkshire and London. It means three of the nine-coach trains are still sitting in railway sidings – although Midland Mainline is set to introduce one of these into service on Monday.

In a further twist, Midland Mainline is still obliged to attempt to introduce the hourly Leeds-Sheffield-London service under the terms of its franchise – despite it being axed by the Government through the SRA last year.

It leaves the future of the trains unclear, despite the last unit being delivered by the manufacturer at the beginning of the year and an industry chief saying they could ease overcrowding between Leeds and Sheffield.

Virgin CrossCountry managing director Chris Gibb told the Yorkshire Post that he was not opposed to Midland Mainline running an extended service as it would ease overcrowding.

But Mr Gibb said he could introduce them on to the network within three weeks if he could get hold of the new trains – although any deal would be subject to the DfT's approval under the terms of the company's franchise.

"All the peak hour trains into Leeds in the morning and back out of Leeds in the afternoon are full in both standard and first class on weekdays and that is the key growth corridor for me which is a mixture of local business and people travelling further south of Sheffield," said Mr Gibb.

Last night, Sheffield Attercliffe MP Clive Betts said he was "staggered" and waiting for a reply after writing to the relevant Minister to ask about the future of the trains.

"Whoever is responsible, it is an absolute disgrace," said the Labour MP, who is planning to table Parliamentary Questions about the issue. "In the end the people who aren't responsible are the passengers who are faced with overcrowding and a poor service which could be rectified at a stroke."

Mr Betts also revealed a Parliamentary group is being launched next month to campaign for more investment in the Midland Mainline route which stretches from Sheffield through the East Midlands and into London.

Midland Mainline managing director Paul Bunting said the firm was making "the best fist" of the situation as it could, and was committed to providing punctual and high-quality services.

"We are trying to get these trains into service on the Midland Mainline so our customers get as many new trains as we possibly can.

"But we are conscious that is not fulfilling the original requirement for the vehicles," he said.

Mr Bunting also said investment in the Midland Mainline route would be needed in the future to ensure it stayed competitive against the motorway and East Coast services to London.

It was important the line "punched its weight" and a prospectus of improvements was being drawn up, he added.

The DfT said it was committed to improving rail links between Sheffield and Leeds, either through Midland Mainline or alternative services.

But a spokesman added there were already four trains an hour, off peak, operating between the two cities including two stopping, two semi-fast and one express service.

He also said the new trains were being introduced, although this process took time.

The revelation that new trains are sitting in sidings comes after the launch of a Yorkshire Post campaign to get a fairer transport deal for the region and amid fears that the economy is being threatened by roads and railways grinding towards "gridlock" with underfunding running into billions of pounds compared to London's transport network.
william.green@ypn.co.uk

Posted on 06:47 PM | Permalink

Blyth and Wansbeck Today: 27 October 2005

RAIL activists are formulating a hard-hitting campaign to save threatened train services at Morpeth and north of the town.

The South East Northumberland Rail User Group (SENRUG) issued a rallying call to members, the public, commuters and local transport bosses at a crunch meeting in Morpeth.

In August, the recently disbanded Strategic Rail Authority revealed plans to ditch uneconomic services in the north east in its last report.

Its proposals include discontinuing services from Newcastle to Morpeth and north to Chathill, between Alnwick and Berwick, presently operated by Northern Rail.

SENRUG – an action group battling for better trains services, facilities and value for money on county lines – has described the planned cuts as 'disastrous' for local tourism, investment and commuters.

Group members are now urging townspeople to write in protest to MPs, councillors and the Secretary of State for Transport.

Leaflet drops are being planned to stoke up support for the campaign and talks are being sought with Network Rail, who will make the final decision on proposed cuts.

Chairman Ken Allott said: "It would be a disaster for south east Northumberland commuters, shoppers and students from Cramlington and Morpeth.

"Every station up to Chathill would close, that's Manors, Cramlington, Pegswood, Widdrington, and Acklington. Only Morpeth and Alnmouth would remain.

"Widdrington Station and Pegswood villages are also expanding, with new housing estates and potential rail passengers.

"What we need is an extension of the local service, not closure.

"Tourism is growing in Northumberland, but at present it is held back by a very poor local rail service.

"Tourism is vital to rural Northumberland, and these cuts would be disastrous."

SENRUG members are also hoping to gain regional and national coverage for its campaigns – which include a plan to reopen the Ashington-Blyth-Tyne line to passengers — by approaching TV stations.

The BBC's regional affairs programme Inside Out and the Politics Show will be asked to run features in their Monday and Sunday slots.

Posted on 06:34 PM | Permalink

Edinburgh Evening News: Fri 28 Oct 2005
ALAN RODEN - TRANSPORT REPORTER

CAMPAIGNERS battling plans to build a new bypass in Midlothian claim the benefits of a proposed rail link between Edinburgh and the Borders have been ignored. Protesters say the Waverley Line will take up to 750,000 cars off the roads each year.

The Scottish Executive was today criticised for pushing through proposals for a road around Dalkeith, even though the reopening of the railway is estimated to take up to 750,000 cars off surrounding roads each year.

The Borders link, also known as the Waverley Line, has received approval in principle from MSPs and is set to be up and running by 2008.

The single-carriageway A68 Northern Bypass has also been given the go-ahead by the Executive after a decade of delays.

But the proposed route through Dalkeith Park - part of Edinburgh's green belt - has sparked anger.

Campaigners from the Save Dalkeith Park group believe a "multi-modal" transport study should be carried out first, to see if schemes such as the Waverley Line do away with the need for a new road. The Executive today insisted that all other transport systems have been considered.

Jade Allison, a spokeswoman for the campaigners, said: "Transport policy has changed significantly since the road was originally authorised.

"There is now an emphasis on trying to reduce reliance on the car.

"With a strong likelihood of the Borders Railway being rebuilt, how can the traffic assessments for the road still be accurate?"

The three-mile bypass is set to run the north-east of Dalkeith, linking the A720 to the A68, and was given planning permission in 1993 after a public inquiry.

The campaigners battling to save Dalkeith Park have won the backing of the Green Party and transport lobby group TRANSform Scotland.

Director Colin Howden said: "The traffic modelling [for the bypass] dates from the early 1990s, while the framework dates from the late 1980s. This boils down to the absence of a multi-modal study, which means the whole basis for the project is out of date."

Mark Ballard, Green Lothians MSP, added: "It's crucial that the full impact of changes in the transport network - in particular the A7 bypass and the proposed Waverley Line - is taken into account as part of a complete re-assessment of the A68 Dalkeith bypass.

"The new rail link has the potential to take hundreds if not thousands of cars off the roads. The minister should urgently reconsider the plans to ensure that both value for public money and the environment are prioritised."

An Executive spokeswoman said: "Traffic studies are being carried out and full assessments were also carried out at the time [of the decision].

"These were over and above the requirements. The bypass will compliment other transport systems, including public transport."

Posted on 06:24 PM | Permalink

Newindpress: 29 October, 2005

NAAGARAM: Over 200 people died and around 100 injured on Saturday when seven coaches of a Delta fast passenger train - which ran into a washed-away portion of a railway track - fell into the rain-fed rivulet below.

The accident occurred at Naagaran minutes after the train left Ramannapet railway station at 4.12 am. Officials said a small culvert caved in due to surge of water from a breached tank and washed away the 120-metre length of rail track. The Repalle-Secunderabad train, with about 2,000 passengers on board, ran straight on to the hanging track, about 15 feet from the ground.

Over 100 bodies have been recovered even as personnel from the Army and the Rapid Action Force as well as locals continued the rescue effort. The driver of the train was among the dead.

Locals said a tank in Yellanki village breached around midnight due to heavy rain. Fearing inundation, villagers of the adjoining Gollepalli village dug another bund, letting water into the small rivulet, which was dry for three decades.

The six-metre stone culvert could not withstand the water pressure. Once the stone structure gave way, the track bed too was washed away.

Officials said this happened between 2 am and 4 am as a special train on its way to Bitragunta had crossed the culvert at 1.15 p.m., adding that casualties were high as the passengers were sleeping and had closed all windows and doors due to rain and chilly winds,

Water entered two general compartments converting them into virtual death traps. The general compartment 1, which turned into a mangled iron heap, is yet to be reached by the rescue teams. By the time the locals reached the spot, an hour after the accident, over 100 people had climbed the capsized bogies and were waiting for help. By the time railway, police and Army officials arrived, those in the capsized compartments were already dead.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Saturday spoke to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and assured help. Home Secretary V.K. Duggal also spoke to Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police Swaranjit Sen.

An Army column was mobilised immediately after the mishap. Eight boats have also been sent to rescue the trapped passengers. The Air Force was ready to make sorties while Naval divers have been moved from Visakhapatnam for the rescue effort.

Posted on 06:12 PM | Permalink

Globe and Mail: October 27, 2005
By MARK HUME

VANCOUVER -- After two derailments just a few kilometres apart in the Cheakamus Canyon, near Squamish, Transport Canada has been asked to ensure that CN Rail is operating safely on lines it recently acquired by purchasing BC Rail.

Dan Holbrook of the Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that he has written to Transport Canada asking the federal department "to evaluate CN's operational review and assess their equipment handling, train length and tonnage instructions to ensure they are adequate for safe train operation over the sharp curvature and heavy grades of this territory."

There have been two derailments in Cheakamus Canyon in the past three months, the first on Aug. 5 and the second a few days ago, when 10 empty cars left the track. In the August derailment, train cars spilled sodium hydroxide into the Cheakamus River, killing an estimated 4,000 salmon and trout.

"The impact was significant on most fish species in the river . . . steelhead were hit the hardest," said Corino Salomi, a Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesman.

There have been 19 accidents on the former BC Rail lines since CN Rail acquired the railway from the B.C. government in 2003.

"So what we're looking at is, how closely did Canadian National look at the operating practices that were established by BC Rail?" Mr. Holbrook said. "And we're suggesting that the safety regulator, Transport Canada, may want to take a good, long, hard look at the train handling instructions and the operating procedure for operating over this territory. It's rather unique. I mean, there is other mountain territory across the country, but it has particularly tight curvature and steep grades in the railway world and it warrants special attention."

Mr. Holbrook said a Transportation Safety Board investigation is under way into both derailments.

Graham Dallas, a spokesman for CN Rail, said the railway has not yet heard from Transport Canada but is aware of the correspondence between the two federal bodies.

"We expect to be in communication with Transport Canada about safety issues in the near future," he said.

But Mr. Dallas said he didn't think a review of CN Rail's operating procedures would turn up any problems, because CN is using the procedures established by BC Rail -- and is doing a better job on safety.

"The operating instructions on the former BC Rail [lines] have been in place for many years and have not changed [since CN Rail purchased the operation].

"And CN Rail's safety record indicates CN's safety record has been significantly better than BC Rail's."

Mr. Dallas said that in its last year of operation BC Rail had 25 accidents on its rail lines in the province. In 2004, operating on the same lines, CN Rail had only 12 accidents. CN has had seven accidents on former BC Rail lines so far this year.

"Certainly CN has had derailments, but we've had far fewer than any other railroad in North America," he said.

There have been two other recent derailments in B.C. In one a CP Rail train left the tracks in Kamloops, while moving slowly into the rail yard. In the other a mudslide caused a CN Rail train to derail near Yale, in the Fraser Canyon, injuring two rail employees.

Posted on 06:04 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 29 October 2005

The latest train accident in India has raised a host of old questions about safety on the country's famous rail network. Critics say frequent accidents are no surprise.

State-owned Indian Railways carries more than 11 million people daily over more than 100,000km of track.

The overwhelming majority of passengers travel in lower class carriages that are overcrowded and in many cases out of date.

Much of the rail network still depends on an outdated signalling system that is manually operated.

It is no surprise, critics say, that accidents happen with depressing frequency.

The government is under increasing pressure to invest heavily in improving and modernising safety measures.

Officials acknowledge that routine inspection and maintenance work has been hampered because of a lack of funds.

But they say investment in safety-related work has been stepped up.

'Fewer accidents'

Critics say the Railways Ministry has not implemented the findings of an inquiry commission into a train crash in 1998, at Khanna in Punjab state, in which 200 people were killed.

The railway minister's policies have left many less than happy

Following the crash, a committee set up by the Railways Ministry called for the immediate replacement of "over-aged safety-related assets".

A special fund of $3bn was announced by the authorities to help renew track, rebuild bridges and enhance safety systems.

But many of the report's measures have still to be introduced.

The government rejects claims it is foot dragging, however, and says the railway authorities have never compromised on safety.

Railways Spokesman MY Siddiqui told the BBC safety levels were improving - and there had been fewer accidents as a result.

He dismissed as a "freak incident" a train crash in Maharashtra state in June 2004.

Other officials argue that with 14,000 trains running every day, the number of accidents cannot be described as high.

Flawed inquiries

Statistically the number of fatalities in train accidents remains low when compared to the number of people killed on Indian roads.

The Matsyagandha Express crashed near Bombay in June 2004

Yet there have been a series of major rail accidents in recent years, with collisions the main cause of rail accident deaths.

Many of them have been due to signalling faults.

India's worst rail disaster was in 1981 when a cyclone blew a train off the tracks into a river in Bihar, killing over 800 people.

Every accident is followed by an official inquiry.

But lack of investment in infrastructure means action is seldom taken to enhance passenger safety even though most inquiries raise serious questions about railway management.

Over the years different probes have concluded that accidents are due to signal failures - both mechanical and human - as well as derailments, collapsing bridges, poor safety procedures at level crossings and even bomb explosions.

Officials say many accidents could be prevented by adopting modern technology and reducing human involvement, particularly in signalling and switching of tracks.

Steps have been taken to develop optical fibre-based and digital communication signals at selected routes.

Steam locomotives have been phased out and replaced with diesel and electric engines.

But observers point out that a full conversion of mechanical systems into state-of-the-art technology needs money and will take time.

Posted on 05:59 PM | Permalink

Network Rail's new Bargaining Procedures as agreed by RMT's General Grades Committee can be downloaded here:
NR_Bargaining_06-10-05.doc (148k file).

NOTE: these Procedures remain to be agreed with Network Rail's other recognised trade unions, but may be used for collective bargaining matters affecting RMT members employed by Network Rail. RMT is in the process of drawing up proposed constituencies for new Area Councils. The Company Council/Zonal representatives and local representatives remain in situ until elections and appointment dates have been put in place.

Circular No. IR434/05
20 October 2005

Dear Colleague

BARGAINING PROCEDURES - NETWORK RAIL (BR5/0005)

Further to my circular to Branches (IR417/05) dated 6 October 2005, following a meeting with our full time Maintenance Co-ordinators the General Grades Committee has noted and adopted the following report of the National Sub-Committee:-

"That the General Secretary is instructed to sign off the Network Rail Bargaining Procedures.

Further, he is to inform the company in no uncertain terms that the full time convenors remain an integral part of the Bargaining Procedures and any unilateral change to this or other aspects of the Machinery of Negotiation will be met with a ballot for industrial action.

Further, the General Secretary is to draw up proposed constituencies for Area Councils to be placed back in front of the General Grades Committee. The Company Council/Zonal representatives and local representatives to remain in situ until elections and appointment dates have been put in place.

Finally, the method of election for the full time convenors is subject to further deliberations by the General Grades Committee.

All Branches, Regional Organisers and representatives to be notified of this decision."

I shall write to you again as soon as there are developments to report.

Yours sincerely

B. Crow,
General Secretary

Posted on 11:15 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 27 October 2005

Thousands of train commuters in the Thames Valley suffered severe disruptions to their journeys on Thursday because of a signal failure.

The problem occurred between Reading and Twyford, causing cancellation and delays to London Paddington services.

First Great Western cancelled several trains and others were delayed for more than an hour after a cable was cut.

The company's managing director later took the unusual step of publishing an open letter of apology to customers.

'Lessons learnt'

In the letter published on the company's website, Alison Forster said: "I am writing to apologise on behalf of ourselves and Network Rail for the severe disruption to this morning's services into London Paddington.

"We are already discussing with Network Rail how the fault occurred and what they can do to minimise future failures of this nature.

"We will ensure that lessons are learnt and acted upon.

"Customers had a truly awful service this morning and we will, of course, pay compensation."

The loss of signalling in the area was blamed on a cable that was cut during overnight engineering work.

Network Rail said officials had worked through the night to repair the cables.

The problem was fixed shortly before lunchtime on Thursday, but disruptions to the London train service remained.

Posted on 10:29 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 27 October 2005

More storms caused by global warming could lead to a loss of the South West's main rail link at Dawlish, according to a maritime forum chief. Weather caused problems on the line twice in three years.

Prof Laurence Mee says those who rely on the line, which runs along a sea wall, need to think of its replacement.

Network Rail said it had no plans to move the line at the moment.

It added that the Dawlish area was part of a 12-month pilot study into global warming effects and that it spent about £400,000 a year maintaining the track.

"The more worrying concern is if it is catastrophically washed away" - Prof Laurence Mee

In two out the past three Octobers, bad storm surges caused serious damage to the line, which eventually finishes in Penzance.

Prof Mee, of the Devon Maritime Forum, and also director of the University of Plymouth's Marine Institute, said the line suffered from two problems.

He said: "One is that it gets overtopped [with seawater running over it] when we get winter storms, which is quite often.

"But the more worrying concern is if it is catastrophically washed away, which would really cut off a major part of the South West and affect the South West economy.

Met Office forecasters suggest this problem will not go away.

Bob Owens of Met Office said: "If you add together higher seas with storm surges, naturally there would be a tendency towards more damage along exposed coasts during the next 20 to 50 years."

Network Rail said it took the issue seriously which was why it spent so much maintaining the track.

Posted on 10:26 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 26 October 2005
By Bill Wilson

A pair of entrepreneurial telecoms experts look set to profit from the next generation of rail travel, after cracking what they say is the secret of providing fast internet connections for passengers on the move.

Rail companies across the world are keen to develop wireless broadband connections for their carriages, as it encourages business travellers to use the train rather than other forms of transport.

If passengers are able to plug into their company networks, surf the net, and send and receive emails, then they can utilise what otherwise might be 'dead' travelling time.

Train operator GNER already provides internet connections, using mobile phone and satellite links to provide connections for laptops - most of which are wireless enabled these days - when the train is moving.

And Virgin Trains offers wi-fi access in its first class lounges in stations.

However, Graeme Lowdon and Nigel Wallbridge, founding partners of Nomad Digital, say they can provide faster speeds on the move by using a wireless system called Wimax - touted by many as the successor to wi-fi.

'High-speed connections'

The challenge until now has been to provide broader bandwidth - so that all those on board a train who want to use it as an "office on the move" are able to remain connected at all times, and able to send and receive large data packets, at speed.

As well as boosting passenger numbers, having wireless connections providing fast broadband access brings other advantages to train operators, such as providing streaming CCTV security pictures and allowing onboard systems to be checked in 'real time'.

"With things that have a big market but are difficult to do, if you crack it then it opens real opportunities" - Graeme Lowdon, Nomad

Mr Lowdon and Mr Wallbridge believe they provide a "genuine broadband experience" for vehicles on the move, even trains travelling at speeds of more than 100 miles an hour.

Mr Lowdon put his mind to communications on railways back in 2001, after realising it was one of the last potential workplaces not speedily connected to the internet.

"We saw an opportunity to provide high-speed data connectivity to moving vehicles such as trains," Mr Lowdon, 40, whose firm is based in Corbridge, Northumberland, recalls.

"There are thousands of trains around the world, but few, if any, had a data connection to the outside world.

"We saw this as one of the last areas that was devoid of any real useful data connection."

'Real opportunities'

The pair set out to provide constant data sessions for the entire length of a train journey, at high broadband speeds.

"What attracted us to it is that it is difficult to do," he says.

"With things that have a big market but are difficult to do, if you crack it then it opens real opportunities."

This year the company was approached by train operator Southern to provide broadband on its Brighton to London express, which Nomad now says makes it the world's "fastest" railway for onboard internet access.

The service works by the installation of wi-fi access points within the train's carriages, which are in turn connected to 37 Wimax (another type of wireless 'protocol' or language) base stations at train stations and locations along the 60 mile route.

"It is like a corridor of radio coverage running alongside the track," says Mr Lowdon.

This allows information to be sent and received at speeds of up to 36 mega bits per second (18 times faster than standard domestic broadband internet access), and means signals are not lost in tunnels, under bridges or in sidings.

"It is more capital intensive than a satellite operation" - Ian Fogg, Jupiter Research

"The base stations are not yet rolled out completely along the route, we are currently filling in the gaps," says Mr Lowdon.

"For the 10-15 second gaps in coverage the system reverts to using 3G, but users should not notice any great difference."

The service is provided through T-Mobile, who offer wireless services to their customers.

Underground operators

Nomad says it has had inquiries from other rail operators in the UK and Europe, including Holland and Poland, and approaches from firms in Australia and US.

The fact it does not lose signals in tunnels or under bridges has also led to inquiries from underground rail operators.

As well as bigger bandwidth, Mr Lowdon says his firm's system is faster - has a lower latency in tech-speak - than one which uses a satellite system.

"Our system allows people to run newer applications on data networks, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) where people use internet connections to make phone calls.

"That lets train customers use their laptops to ring up people across the world and talk to them for nothing."

The system can deliver real-time security CCTV and also allow operators to see where all their trains are at any one time.

'Slow roll-out'

Analyst Ian Fogg, at new technology research firm Jupiter, says: "The standard system is to use wi-fi within the train, which is built into most laptops as standard.

"The tricky thing is providing a fast and continuous access and connection. Someone sitting with a laptop can access some types of data across a mobile phone network, but they don't usually have continuous access.

"Satellite can't work in tunnels, it also has a poor latency."

Mr Fogg says Wimax is an evolving technology that is "very fast, has a lower latency, higher capacity, and more people in the train can use it at one time".

"However, with Wimax you need to have base stations - in that sense it is akin to a mobile network, you have to depend on these base stations.

"You also have to have a number of relays in tunnels. That makes it more capital intensive than a satellite arrangement."

And Peter Kingsland, an expert at wireless consultancy BWCS, adds: "Using the Wimax system you have a very slow trackside roll-out."

Posted on 10:23 AM | Permalink

Siemens: Oct 14, 2005

Project worth 43 million euros: Siemens-led consortium to convert ICE 3 trains for service in France.

The Transportation Systems Group (TS) of Siemens AG is to convert five ICE 3 units for service in France in cooperation with Bombardier Transportation. The Siemens-led consortium and German Railways reached an agreement today on a corresponding project that has an order volume of approximately 43 million euros. This conversion work will be carried out at Bombardier and at the Siemens rolling stock test center in Wegberg-Wildenrath near Mönchengladbach. The ICE 3 trainsets are due to go into service from 2007 in the German-French railway network on a direct Paris–Eastern France–Frankfurt link.
 
“We are pleased to continue our successful cooperation with Deutsche Bahn,” said Hans M. Schabert, president of Siemens TS. “It confirms our role as technology driver for the development of high-speed transportation.”

The agreement was signed after a four-year trial phase during which two specially equipped multi-system ICE 3 trainsets covered over 100,000 kilometers in the network of the French railway company, SNCF. Top speeds of over 350 kph were reached during those runs.

These test runs were successfully completed in September 2005. They showed that the ICE 3 can be used in the French railway system and also revealed what concrete measures need to be taken to obtain certification in France.

The main points here concern adjustments in the area of the high-voltage system and door and brake control, which are necessary to meet the operating requirements in France, as well as aerodynamic modifications in the underfloor area to prevent the occurrence of any damage due to the different types of ballasted track used on French railway lines. Furthermore, French train protection systems are to be installed in the trainsets and integrated with those systems necessary for operation in other countries.
 
The trains to be converted are multi-system ICE 3s that were designed for cross-border traffic and are already in service in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium.
 
In its role at the leading edge of technology, Siemens has given decisive impulses to the worldwide development of high speed trains. The Transrapid maglev system and all three generations of the ICE train were developed with Siemens playing a major or even the leading role. Siemens is currently building 16 Velaro E (customer name AVE S 103) high speed trains for the Spanish National Railway RENFE and has already received an order to deliver another 10 vehicles.
 
TS is also the world’s leading supplier of electronic interlockings, signaling, communication and automatic train control systems. TS is currently fitting out 32 Spanish high speed trains (16 trains from Siemens and 16 trains from Talgo-Bombardier) with the European train control system, ETCS, and with GSM-R for data and voice radio. Work is in progress on equipping a number of routes with ETCS including the 183-kilometer stretch from Lerida to Barcelona on the high speed line between Madrid and Barcelona, the 26 kilometers of track between La Sagra and Toledo, and the 110-kilometer section between Segovia and Valladolid. In Germany, Siemens has installed ETCS on the 140-kilometer Jüterbog–Halle/Leipzig line and fitted out 6 locomotives with ETCS onboard equipment. In addition, Siemens is currently installing ETCS onboard equipment on 19 ICE 1 (Class 401) units that are due to enter service on routes between Germany and Switzerland.

Posted on 07:01 PM | Permalink

Lincolnshire Echo: 11 October 2005

Railwayman Jason Squire died after suffering horrific injuries when he was crushed between a digger and a track machine, an inquest heard.

Father of four Mr Squire was working on the track at Ancaster, near Sleaford, when the accident happened.

He was taken to hospital with a cracked rib, punctured lung and ruptured liver, but died in Grantham and District Hospital later on March 5, 2004.

A jury at the coroner's court in Sleaford heard that Mr Squire (34) had been replacing sleepers on the line as part of a £5 million upgrade programme of the link between Grantham and Skegness.

He and his crew had been working through the night to minimise disruption on the line and the job was lit by large arc lamps when the accident happened, at 7.45pm.

Lincoln and District coroner Roger Atkinson told the jury that Mr Squire appeared to have been behind a large yellow machine called an LFT, which is used to pack in the new sleepers.

He was either standing behind it or getting something from the back of it.

"A digger behind on the track appears to have run into the back of the LFT machine, catching Mr Squire between the two," said Mr Atkinson.

Pathologist Professor Guy Rutty, who performed the post-mortem examination, said: "There were serious crush injuries to the chest and the abdomen, either of which could have proved fatal.

"The ninth rib was broken on the right side of the body and that had punctured the lung.

"In the abdominal cavity I found that the liver had sustained a substantial crush injury and there was almost a pint of blood.

"Both injuries were consistent with a severe localised compression to the right hand side of the body, which is consistent with the scenario presented of him being trapped between two vehicles.

"In my opinion his injuries were so severe that regardless of the treatment he received I would have expected him to die."

A sharp implement had penetrated Mr Squire's right thigh, coming out the other side. Fragments of yellow paint had been found inside the injury.

Mr Squire was working for engineering company Mowlem, which had been subcontracted by Network Rail to carry out the maintenance of the track.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive is still ongoing and prosecutions against Network Rail, Mowlem or any of their employees have not been ruled out.

Earlier this year Mr Squire's family unveiled a memorial plaque to him at Ancaster station.

His four children, mother, sister and extended family held a quiet dedication ceremony before unveiling the plaque, which is inscribed with a poem written by his children for his funeral.

Mr Squire grew up in London and had just moved to Lincolnshire six months before the accident.
The inquest was expected to continue today.

Posted on 06:27 PM | Permalink

Lynn News: 21 October 2005

Neighbours have paid tribute to very friendly and "genuine guy" killed on Wednesday on a crossing when his tractor was hit by a train travelling at 90 miles an hour.

David Muffett, a crop-sprayer from Ten Mile Bank, died after the collision on the Black Horse Drove crossing between Littleport and Ely.

The collision happened at around midday when the WAGN train, carrying 32 passengers, was travelling from London's King's Cross station to Lynn.

The line remained closed between Lynn and Ely from noon until 6am yesterday morning when peak time services ran.

The line was then closed again until the later peak services from 4pm to allow staff of the newly- formed Rail Accident Investigation Branch to begin looking into the causes of the crash.

Neighbours Jamie Preston and Lisa Bradley said they had not known Mr Muffett well, but said he was one of the friendliest men around.

Miss Bradley said: "When we first moved in the village it seemed to be really close knit and he really made an effort to say hello. He used to wave to the children from his tractor.

"It's fairly choked us up really. There are hazards with jobs, but this is not the sort of thing you would expect to happen."

Another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said she had known Mr Muffett since she moved into the village four-and-a-half years ago and had socialised with him, his wife and best friend.

"He was always smiling," she said. "Every time he went past he would toot his horn and wave. He was just a genuine guy. Nobody had a bad word to say about him."

Mr Robert Loxton, managing director of Waldersey Farms, confirmed Mr Muffett had been employed by the company for several years and described him as a "valued employee and good friend to us all".

Laura Dobson, spokesman for Network Rail, the company in charge of the railway infastructure, confirmed an investigation into the crash had already started.

Ms Dobson said yesterday the line had been open only at peak times and hoped investigators would have completed their work by this morning.

She said so far as Network Rail was aware the lights on the crossing had been in good working order.
"We've no reason to believe they weren't working and no information to say that."

She said the crossing was on private land and was classified as an occupational crossing with a limited number of users who were mainly farm workers.

The barriers were gates on either side of the lane and the crossing also had red and green lights and audible warnings.

And a spokesman for train company WAGN confirmed the lights and barriers at the crossing were in "perfect" working order.

After the impact the train managed to stay on the rails and only one passenger was taken to hospital for a shoulder injury. The train driver is understood to have been treated for shock.

Posted on 06:21 PM | Permalink

Health and Safety Executive: 26 October 2005

The Health and Safety Commission's (HSC) Railway Industry Advisory Committee (RIAC) is hosting a public meeting at HSC's London headquarters on 2 November 2005 that will debate crowding, trespass and vandalism on the mainline and underground railways.

The event, which will be chaired by HSC Commissioner Margaret Burns, is useful for RIAC in hearing views and opinions from members of the public. It also provides a unique opportunity for people to hear about topical railway issues and the actions being taken by government and the rail industry to address them.

James King from the Rail Passengers Council will be the facilitator at the meeting. Michael Woods from the Rail Safety and Standards Board will speak on research into crowding on the mainline and underground railways, and Aidan Nelson from the National Route Crime Group will speak on community safety and the rail industry's response to trespass and vandalism.

HSC commissioner Margaret Burns commenting on the forthcoming event said:

"I, and members of RIAC, are keen to discuss with the public important aspects of safety on the railways. We know that crowding, trespass and vandalism are matters of concern to many people. We want to hear people's views and experiences. We can then use that to inform future health and safety strategy on the railways."

The event is free and commences at 6.30pm (doors open 6pm). Venue - HSE/C Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS. Refreshments will be available. Due to limited spaces, prior registration is required. For registration and further information contact Sandra Walters on 020 7717 6939 or by email: sandra.walters@hse.gsi.gov.uk

Notes To Editors

1. RIAC provides advice to the HSC on railway safety, exchanges information, comments on proposed new regulations and guidance and works to progress health and safety issues and other related developments within the industry. Further information on the work of RIAC can be found on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/hsc/iacs/riac/index.htm.

2. The health and safety risks that arise to passengers because of overcrowding are normally very low, but there are some areas where HSE has concerns and is involved. These include overcrowding in emergency evacuation; on platforms and stations; design of new rolling stock; on underground routes in hot weather; and incidents where luggage blocks aisles and doors. Further information on HSE's position on overcrowding can be found on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/railways/liveissues/overcrowding.htm

3. The National Route Crime Group (NRCG) is the cross-industry body set up to steer the industry's efforts to reduce the risks posed by route crime. The Commission's Executive (HSE) has, through its membership of the NRCG, continued to work closely with the industry and British Transport Police (BTP) in tackling trespass and vandalism.

4. The Railway Safety Annual Report 2004 shows that 479 (48%) of the 1000 reportable train incidents in 2004 were due to acts of vandalism. It also reports that two 12-year-old children died while trespassing on the railway during the reporting period. One was electrocuted by the conductor rail; the other was struck by a train while crossing the railway line. There were also 54 adult railway deaths caused by trespass (excluding cases of suicides) in the reporting period. Due to European regulations on the reporting of rail transport statistics the annual report should now cover calendar years rather than the financial year. To align with this new reporting requirement, exceptionally this report covered nine months 1 April to 31 December 2004.

PUBLIC ENQUIRIES: HSE InfoLine, Tel: 0845 345 0055, visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact or write to: HSE InfoLine, Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG.

HSE information and press releases can be accessed on the Internet: http://www.hse.gov.uk/

Posted on 06:16 PM | Permalink

Circular No IR442/05: 27 October 2005

Dear Colleague,
I recently received a request from the South East Regional Council for the following resolution to be placed before the General Grades Committee:-

"This Regional Council calls on the General Grades Committee to instruct the Regional Organisers to negotiate with the TOCs so that our members and their spouses who retire (age or ill health) or die in service with at least 10 years service keep their company pass for life. This would be of great benefit to our members who will be retiring."

The General Grades Committee has considered the resolution and taken the following decision:-

"That the General Secretary is instructed to take up this matter in line with the resolution. Responses to be placed on file for review in December 2005.

The General Secretary is further instructed to ensure that Regional Organisers submit responses in good time for the review."

I shall keep you advised of developments.

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow,
General Secretary

Posted on 06:05 PM | Permalink

Circular No. IR. 440/05: 27th October 2005

Dear Colleagues,
I regret to report that EWS(I) have once again moved the goalposts and are provoking the dispute situation even further.

The company made it abundantly clear that they wished to have talks with RMT. I understand every employee has been made aware of this in writing. We therefore agreed to meet with them and as you know they were offered dates from my diary for Monday and Tuesday this week.

I was therefore appalled when the Human Resources Director called my office on Friday stating that EWS were now putting unacceptable conditions on us meeting, the condition being that RMT suspends the ballot that commenced on Friday. At no time prior to this had such a condition been mooted. All that was said was that they wanted talks which we agreed to.

EWS has put a lot of paperwork around the job which, they hope, portrays them as being the good guys in all this, desperately trying to get an inflexible trade union around the negotiating table. Well their latest action epitomises what they are really about.

I have also had sight of an internal company communication which states that EWS are calling in something called the "Versatile Working Agreement" which is a component of the 2005 pay settlement they reached with TSSA this year. As a result of this all Technical & Specialist (TS) grades are being summonsed to medicals, presumably to see if their fit enough to be used as part of a strike breaking force.

I’ll be honest and say I have no idea exactly what the "Versatile Working Agreement" contains but I notice that in advising staff of their intention to use it, even EWS are saying that they are "disappointed to take such action". What a way to talk about a collective agreement reached with a recognised trade union.

This again shows what happens when RMT is frozen out of negotiations. However I would point out that if TS or any other grade of staff is being asked to work beyond their profile, they can join RMT and legitimately participate in any industrial action that takes place rather than be used as strike breaking fodder.

As you will know, ballot papers were released to members’ homes last Friday. Anyone who hasn’t received a ballot paper by next Wednesday 2nd November, should contact RMT Headquarters immediately or phone our Helpline on 0800 376 3706.

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow
GENERAL SECRETARY

Posted on 05:55 PM | Permalink

Circular No: IR/439/05: 27 October 2005

The companies directly affected by this circular are:
SOUTH EASTERN TRAINS, FIRST GREAT WESTERN, FIRST GREAT WESTERN LINK, WESSEX TRAINS, THAMESLINK, GREAT NORTHERN RAIL, SOUTH WEST TRAINS, ISLAND LINE, CENTRAL TRAINS , MIDLAND MAINLINE, SILVERLINK, VIRGIN CROSS COUNTRY

The dispute on South Eastern Trains continues and the company have offered talks which we of course have accepted, although no date has yet been set.

The campaign has now been extended to cover all our members in TOCs which are now involved in the current programme to restructure the rail franchises.

We are seeking from all of the companies listed above guarantees in respect of all existing staff variation of the contract of employment of each so as to guarantee to each the following:

1. He or she will never be made redundant compulsorily;
2. He or she will continue to enjoy full 1997 PT&R entitlements;
3. His or her pension rights and obligations will never be worsened;
4. No changes will be made to any term or condition of employment without the prior agreement of this union;
5. No changes will be made to staffing levels or numbers without the prior agreement of this union.

It is the view of this union’s members that remaining employed by the above employers is the best assurance that these guarantees will apply for the future. That is why we also seek from them an undertaking that these employers will not permit their current workforce to be transferred to another employer and that those listed above retain the existing workforce in their employ.

One factor in requiring these employers to amend the members’ contracts of employment in accordance with the first five demands above is that if at some point in the future we fail to prevent transfer of our members to a new employer the effect of TUPE should be to transfer the contracts with the benefits of those amendments so making it harder for any new employer to worsen terms and conditions or to cut staff. That consideration does not diminish our members’ desire to enjoy the benefits of those amendments to their contracts whilst they remain employed by their current employer.

We hope that these companies will concede the five points plus the demand that they retain the existing workforce in their employment. However, unless they do not formally and unequivocally concede the five points and the demand to retain the existing workforce in their employ by Tuesday 6 December 2005 this union will be in dispute with them.

I will of course keep branches informed of all developments.

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow
General Secretary

Posted on 05:52 PM | Permalink

Circular No. NP/002/05: 13 October 2005

Dear Colleague,

I am writing to draw attention to the fact that some new recruits have not continued contributing to the Network Rail Defined Contribution Pension Scheme (NRDCPS) and also that the majority of members who do contribute, are not paying at a high enough rate to provide for an adequate pension.

You will be aware that the new money purchase scheme commenced in April 2004. New joiners who are ineligible for the Railways Pension scheme are automatically enrolled on the basis that an enrolment form, which confirms the contribution rate and investment choice, will be completed within three months. Members are offered the opportunity of paying between 0% and 4% basic pay. The company matches employee contributions, adds an additional 3% and provides life assurance cover at four times salary, at no extra cost. In addition members have an opportunity to pay voluntary contributions up to a maximum of 15% of pay.

However, there is concern that very few employees are taking full advantage of the opportunity provided by the scheme to maximise retirement income. In fact:

* At the end of the first year over 260 employees failed to complete a membership form in spite of repeated reminders and have ultimately been removed form the scheme.

* 2/3 of Scheme members are not making personal contributions which means only management’s 3% payments are going towards the pension.

* Approximately 1/3 are only contributing at 4%, with some members contributing between 1% and 3%.

While there is no doubt the money purchase scheme is not as attractive as the RPS, members should be encouraged to join and pay a minimum contribution of 4% in order to obtain the maximum employer contribution. Member contributions at 4% attract employer payments of 7%; giving a total of 11%, to build up a reasonable pension pot which may then be transferred to the RPS after five years service.

Obviously RMT will continue to argue for the RPS to be open to all employees regardless of service, but in the meantime the NRDCPS offers the prospect of providing for a pension. Members should therefore not ignore the value of the employer’s contributions, as those who pay nothing are effectively losing the opportunity of getting up to 3% extra from their employer. Put another way; Network Rail’s employment costs are reduced every day of every week for every member who doesn’t contribute the maximum 4%. I am sure members would not knowingly subsidise their employer in this way! Everyone hopes to be able to retire on a reasonable pension and the earlier contributions start the greater likelihood there is of achieving that goal.

Ill health insurance
When the NRDCPS was established, one of the issues raised by RMT was the lack of ill-health cover for employees unable to continue in employment. I am please to report that Network Rail has now agreed to provide ill health insurance cover which would pay a lump sum of twice basic pay. Full details of the arrangement are currently being determined and will be provided as soon as possible. Obviously this is not as attractive as the RPS’s ill health benefit; however, it provides an additional incentive for members with less than five years service to join the Scheme.

Please draw this circular to the attention of all Network Rail members who are not in the RPS.

Yours sincerely,

B. Crow,
General Secretary

Posted on 05:47 PM | Permalink

RMT: 27 October 2005

BRITAIN’S BIGGEST rail union is seeking contractual changes guaranteeing the jobs, pay, pensions and conditions of nearly 8,500 members as twelve of Britain’s train-operating companies are put through a massive programme of re-privatisation. RMT is also demanding that the TOCs continue to employ staff as the best way of achieving these aims.

RMT is already in dispute with South Eastern Trains over the company’s refusal to agree to contractual changes that would provide such safeguards and to retain staff in its employment.

The union has now written to eleven further operators – Great Western, Great Western Link, Wessex Trains, Thameslink, WAGN, South West Trains, Island Line, Central Trains, Midland Mainline, Silverlink and Virgin Cross Country, which the government intends to re-privatise between April 2006 and 2007 – seeking similar changes, and demanding that members continue to be employed by these companies.

“We are seeking changes to our members’ contracts to guarantee that there will be no compulsory redundancies, that there will be no worsening of pensions rights, that existing promotion and transfer entitlements will continue, and that there will be no changes in terms and conditions or changes in staffing levels without agreement,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today. 

“We are also demanding that members remain employed by the existing companies as the best way of securing those guarantees. 

“We are already in dispute with South Eastern Trains, and although we have not yet begun a strike ballot to allow for talks to take place, we have made it clear that we expect the company to insert clauses in our members’ contracts that safeguard their jobs, pensions, pay and conditions.

“We are also seeking an undertaking from South Eastern Trains that it will not permit its current workforce to be transferred to another employer, as we believe that remaining employed by SET is the best assurance that these guarantees will apply for the future.

“We have now also told each of the eleven other companies that if by December 6 they have not agreed to insert similar clauses in our members’ contracts and undertaken not to permit their current workforce to be transferred to another employer, then we will be in dispute.

“We have already won commitments for our members in both London Underground and Scottish ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne, and there is no reason why our members in these rail franchises should not have similar guarantees

“We would prefer that these rail franchises were brought back in-house, but the government has so far not seen fit to do so, and as a trade union our first duty is to do all we can to protect our members’ jobs, pay, pension rights and conditions.

“If that means balloting our members for strike action to win the guarantees we are seeking and secure our demands, then so be it,” Bob Crow said.

Posted on 02:34 PM | Permalink

Associated Press: October 26, 2005

LONDO - A rush hour train packed with 119 commuters derailed in Liverpool Wednesday as it went through an underground tunnel, but nobody was injured, police said.

The train came off the track about 6 p.m. as it traveled toward the Central Station in this northwest English city, police said.

Emergency services were dispatched to the accident and assisted passengers off the train and out through the underground tunnel.

Merseyside Police said there were no injuries but a couple of people suffered panic attacks.

Assistant chief constable Helen King said the accident appeared to have been caused by a mechanical fault.

"All the indications suggest this was caused by some kind of mechanical failure, there is nothing to indicate any type of criminal attack, we want to reassure people of that," King said.

British Transport Police said the train derailed at a low speed.

Merseyrail, the company which operates Liverpool's underground train service, said they would launch a full investigation into the derailment.

There have been several fatal train accidents in Britain in recent years.

Last November, a passenger train slammed into a car at a railroad crossing west of London, killing six people and injuring 36 others. Seven people were killed and 11 seriously injured in May 2002 when an express train derailed at Potters Bar, north of London. In October 2000, four people died and 102 others were injured when a train derailed at Hatfield, north of London.

Posted on 05:39 AM | Permalink

A busy commuter train has derailed tonight (26 Oct) trapping about 90 passengers underground.

Rush-hour commuter train derailed

A busy commuter train has derailed trapping about 90 passengers underground.

The Wirral line train has come off the tracks in a tunnel outside Liverpool Central Station.

British Transport Police said it was being treated as a major incident but there were no reports of any injuries.

Emergency services were at the scene at 1900 BST and a search and rescue team were attempting to reach the stranded commuters.

Police also shut off several streets above Central Station.

Posted on 07:26 PM | Permalink

Are You a Local Rep working for First Great Western, Wessex or Link? Notice of Meeeting on Wednesday 2nd November.

The RMT full time official Brian Curtis has arranged a meeting for all local reps working for Companies affected by the Greater Western Franchise.
The meeting will take place on Wednesday 2nd November 2005 at the RMT Regional Office in Bristol.
We will be discussing any possible implications surrounding the ammalgamation of the three companies.

If you are a local rep you should have been contacted by Regional Office and have been released by your company for the day to attend.

If you have not recieved notice it is essential that you contact Regional Office on 0117 925 5018 to arrange release and attendance.

There is a request to provide information over the number of members you represent again the form is available from RO.

We are expecting Assistant General Secretary Pat Sikorski, the Regional Organisers, and a Representative from the National Organising Unit to lead the meeting.

IF YOU ARE A REP MAKE SURE YOU ARE THERE.

Posted on 02:47 PM | Permalink

Circular No. IR/424/05: 10th October 2005

Dear Colleagues,
Rates of Pay and Conditions of Service 2005 – First Great Western (Excluding Drivers)

Further to meetings held between the negotiating team and management, the following deal was placed on the table:-

* Basic rates of pay increased by 4% or £650.00, whichever is greater
* London Weighting Allowance increases to £1940.00 per annum
* Outer London Weighting Allowance increases to £873.00 per annum
* South East Allowance increases to £416.00 per annum
* Fleet Grades On- Call Allowance increases to £1350.00 per annum
* Platform Grades Night Allowance increases to £731.00 per annum

Having read reports from the Lead Officer and scrutinised the company’s offer, the GGC have accepted the offer. The increases will be effective from anniversary dates of April for drivers and May for all other grades and will be reflected in the first available pay packet.

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow,
General Secretary

Posted on 06:45 PM | Permalink

Centre for International Public Health Policy:
School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh

A new report by Prof Allyson Pollock, David Price, and Stewart Player shows that Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes do not out-perform public sector projects by coming in on time and on budget, as the government claims. You can read the full report here
THE PRIVATE FINANCE INITIATIVE: A POLICY BUILT ON SAND

The private finance initiative: a policy built on sand, published by UNISON, nails the claim that the extra costs of PFI are offset by increased efficiency and it knocks out another of the government's arguments for its continued use to build hospitals, schools, and other major public sector projects.

677 PFI projects have been approved since 1992, but the treasury has not fulfilled its objective of a "sound evidence base" for a "rigorous investigation" of PFI.

The treasury claims evaluations show that 88% of PFI schemes are delivered on time, whereas 70% of non-PFI projects are delivered late and 73% over budget. This report shows that five research studies, cited as the source of the cost and overrun data, are fatally flawed and therefore not credible.

The UK treasury cites five research studies as the source of the cost and overrun data. Of the five reports:

Two were conducted by the National Audit Office and were surveys and consultations with project managers. They do not have any data on time and cost over runs.

A third study, cited by the NAO, was conducted by a private sector body, Agile Construction Initiative. It was not designed to evaluate cost and time performance and has no data on cost and time overrun performance

The treasury‚s own report contains no data to assess the cost and time overrun claim and its methodology is not in the public domain.

The fifth study was conducted by Mott MacDonald, a company which acts as a technical adviser on PFI deals. The report has no data to support treasury guidance. Numerous flaws in study design and methodology lead to a sample and measurement bias that renders the study uninterpretable. At the time of the study 500 PFI deals had already been signed at a value of £28bn. Mott MacDonald's sample, however, is based on just 11 PFI schemes and 39 non-PFI schemes - too few cases to make meaningful comparisons.

Dr James Lancaster
Centre for International Public Health Policy
School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh
Medical Quad, Teviot Place
Edinburgh
EH8 9AG

44 (0)131 651 3963
james.lancaster@ed.ac.uk

Posted on 06:16 PM | Permalink

AFX News Limited: 10.25.2005

LONDON - Eurostar said it plans to team up with continental European rail operator Thalys to improve rail links between the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.

Eurostar said it has formed a partnership with Thalys to offer through-ticketing and common fares for journeys between London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne.

The two groups also plan to improve connections and co-ordinate timetable information at rail hubs such as Brussels-Midi.

Eurostar said the alliance with Thalys, which runs 186mph trains between Paris, Brussels and Cologne, may be extended to other high speed operators.

It is the first phase of the so-called RailTeam initiative, under which the European railways plan to work together to beat off competition from airlines.

Chief executive of Thalys International, Jean-Michel Dancoisne, said: 'This partnership can be extended progressively in Europe with other high-speed rail operators, bringing greater benefits for our customers.'

The agreement follows the success of an initiative launched in April to offer a ticket for London-Cologne via Brussels in partnership with German state railway Deutsche Bahn (DB).

Traffic increased by 75 pct in August owing to 'the use of aggressive pricing compared with the leisure ticket price from airlines', said Dancoisne.

After Paris, Amsterdam is the second most popular destination for Eurostar passengers from London and Eurostar believes it could take a 20 pct share of the market within two years.

Eurostar eventually plans to launch a direct London-Amsterdam service, although it is unlikely to happen for at least three to four years due to technical issues, a Eurostar spokesman said.

French state railway SNCF, Belgian state rail operator SNCB and the Eurostar UK Ltd consortium run Eurostar, which runs services between London, Paris and Brussels. Eurostar UK Ltd consists of National Express Group PLC, SNCF, SNCB and British Airways PLC. Thalys is run by SNCF, SNCB, Dutch state railway NS and DB.

Posted on 04:56 PM | Permalink

The Australian: October 26, 2005
Matthew Stevens

THE national rail regulator has warned against the $8 billion merger of Australia's two biggest freight companies, saying they have already abused a near-monopoly to lift the cost of carrying goods across the country.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation, which owns and regulates the 6000km rail network stretching from Brisbane to Perth, accuses the dominant rail freight carrier, Pacific National, of boosting its own profits by not passing on savings to customers.

And to prevent any further reduction of competition in the $54 billion freight market, it insists that Pacific National parent Toll Holdings must be forced to sell the Melbourne port - the biggest container terminal in the country - if it successfully buys fellow Pacific National owner Patrick Corp.

Pacific National, owned equally by Toll and Patrick, controls 75 per cent of Australia's rail market and more than 80 per cent of traffic on the east-west rail link through Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

The $2.8billion company is at the centre of a fierce dispute between its owners as Patrick attempts to fight off a hostile takeover bid from Toll.

A merged Toll and Patrick, worth more than $8billion, would dominate the national freight market. Smaller operators are concerned about the power of the merged business but the ARTC submission is the first indication of entrenched regulatory suspicion of the deal.

At a time when the commonwealth-owned ARTC is investing billions to improve the standard of tracks to lure freight transport off the nation's roads, the regulator believes Pacific National's near-monopoly and "commercial motivations" are reducing use of the rail network.

In a damning submission on the merger to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the ARTC says Pacific National's attitude since its creation in 2002 appears to have "resulted from a decline in contestability of the rail market". It says Pacific National's prices on the east-west link have risen despite an eight-year investment program by ARTC that has cut the cost ofaccess to the rail tracks by 23per cent.

While not calling on the ACCC to block the bid, the submission says: "ARTC considers that the acquisition of Patrick by Toll will increase Toll's ability and desire to use its control of Pacific National, and its market power, to constrain competition." The ARTC has called on Toll to sell the Melbourne port, worth about $1.4 billion, in an attempt to ensure that competition in the freight industry is not undermined by a successful bid for Patrick.

Toll should also be required to sell Melbourne's vital Dynon rail terminal, trains and access to strategic rail track around Australia and be subjected to a range of regulated "third-party access" orders.

The ACCC is conducting a formal review of the competition implications of Toll's plan to buy Patrick. It is widely believed that the ACCC will block the merger because of the power it will deliver to Toll in the freight business.

But orders to divest Patrick's key Melbourne assets would also have the potential to kill Toll's bid.

Together, the Melbourne assets are the jewels in Patrick's business because they are central to its national coverage of the container business.

In November, ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel accused Patrick of being engaged in a "cosy duopoly" on the waterfront with rival P&O.

Mr Samuel said the benefits of the hard-won, union-busting waterfront reforms in the late 1990s, led by Patrick chief executive Chris Corrigan, had stalled as Patrick and P&O dominated the industry. He said stevedoring profit margins in Australia remained "well above" international rates, with Patrick and P&O not investing enough to increase port capacity.

But Mr Corrigan angrily denied the claims, saying he had never argued for a duopoly, "cosy or otherwise", and was investing hundreds of millions of dollars in new port facilities.

The rail regulator's caution about a Toll-Patrick merger appears to be inspired by what it describes as Pacific National's "incomprehensible behaviour" on the east-west rail link.

ARTC says Pacific National's conduct since its formation has put an end to the growth in rail's share of the east-west freight market and threatens to undermine investment on the east-west and north-south service.

"ARTC estimates that market share on the east-west corridor has stabilised at around 81per cent since 2002, following consistent growth of 3 per cent in market share over the previous seven years," the submission says. "While ARTC accepts that there may be other reasons for deteriorating performance on these corridors over recent times, ARTC considers a primary cause to be the reduction in rail competition in 2002, and how this seems to have manifested in Pacific National's commercial motivations."

Posted on 04:52 PM | Permalink

MarketWatch: Oct. 25, 2005
By Padraic Cassidy

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe said Tuesday its third-quarter earnings jumped as demand rose for shipping consumer goods, autos, commodities and coal.

BNSF based in Fort Worth, Texas, said net income rose to $414 million, or $1.09 a share, compared with $2 million, or 1 cents a share in the year-earlier period, when the company recorded a $288 million tax charge.

The company said revenue in the three months ended Sept. 30 rose 19% to $3.32 billion from $2.79 billion.

The average estimate from analysts polled by Thomson First Call was for earnings of $1 share and $3.2 billion in revenue.

"Demand for rail transportation continues to outpace the rest of the economy," according to a statement from Matthew K. Rose, BNSF chairman, president and chief executive.

Shares of Burlington Northern rose 4.7% early Tuesday to $61.74.

Fuel surcharges increased revenue in the quarter by $296 million compared with $95 million in the third-quarter of 2004.

Revenues from shipping consumer products increased $234 million, or 21%; industrial products revenue rose $109 million, or 17%; and agricultural products revenue gained $104 million, or 25%, largely because of strong exports through the Gulf and Pacific Northwest ports. Coal revenues rose by $33 million, or 6%.

Posted on 04:49 PM | Permalink

Reuters: Tue Oct 25, 2005

TORONTO - Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. said on Tuesday third-quarter profit grew 15 percent because of higher demand for its services.

The Calgary, Alberta-headquartered railroad that operates in Canada and United States, said its net profit rose to C$203.6 million, or C$1.27 per share, in the quarter ended September 30.

That's up from C$176.5 million, or C$1.11 per share, in the same period a year earlier, and compares with the average estimate of analysts polled by Reuters of 82.7 Canadian cents per share.

Revenue during the quarter was C$1.1 billion, up from C$990 million in the third quarter of 2004.

The company said operating expenses were C$855 million, up from C$771 million, while its operating ratio improved to 77.4 percent from 77.9 percent.

CP Rail said it expects its revenue to grow by 12 percent to 14 percent in 2005.

It said diluted earnings per share, excluding foreign exchange gains and losses on long-term debt and other items, should be between C$3.15 and C$3.25, if oil prices and currency fluctuations meet its estimates.

Posted on 04:46 PM | Permalink

Legal Week: 25 October 2005
By Georgina Stanley

Network Rail has launched a review of its external law firm panel as the transport company attempts to drive down its legal spend.

The company, which owns and operates UK rail infrastructure including tracks, signals and stations, has confirmed it is conducting a closed list tender process to handle litigation, property and commercial matters.

Fifteen firms have been invited to submit a tender, including all of its existing legal panel members, with the process expected to finish early next year.

Although Network Rail would not comment about the firms on its existing panel, City giants Linklaters and Simmons & Simmons have both acted for Network Rail in the past. Linklaters advised the company on its acquisition of Railtrack and a £20bn long-term finance platform.

Company secretary Hazel Walker said: "Over the past three years we have restructured Network Rail’s legal services function and now is a good time to reassess our external support needs."

She added that, as the company is attempting to meet cost efficiency targets set by the UK rail regulator, it is asking tendering firms to submit ideas on how to improve cost efficiency.

Network Rail, which recently hit the headlines over its controversial succession to Railtrack, earlier this month announced a £4bn modernisation plan for several London stations, notably Euston, Victoria and Waterloo.

Posted on 04:42 PM | Permalink

Financial Express
Oct 24 2005
Animesh Singh

Iranian railway officials have said that the $600 million rail linkage project being undertaken by India is very much on.

The project involves development of Iran’s Chabahar port and connecting it to the city of Bam with a rail line. The distance between the port and city is 600 km. Iran’s communication ministry and a consortium of Indian companies consisting of Rites, Ircon and Alps had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect a couple of years back. Both nations are to bear the cost of the project equally.

FE had earlier reported that even though the Iranian side was proceeding with the project and conducting surveys, the Indian government, when asked, seemed to have no idea about it. Also, as Ircon had backed out from the project, saying that port development was not its expertise, the completion of the project seemed to have come under a cloud.

However the director general (international affairs) of Iranian railways, A Nazari, told FE that the project is very significant for Iran and the Iranian government has already completed and submitted the feasibility report on the project to the Indian government. “Currently, the technical aspects of the project are being ironed out, and after that the financial details would be worked out. However, as it is a long-term project, it would take some time to get completed, but it is very much on, as it holds a lot of significance for us,” Mr Nazari said.

The project, sources say, would open up possibilities for India to establish rail links with other Central Asian nations.

Posted on 04:38 PM | Permalink

Centre for a Social Europe: September 2005

The trade union case for EU reform - download it here.

Posted on 06:02 AM | Permalink

The Guardian: October 21, 2005

Our action last week to insist on double-crewing and the daily testing of the failsafe braking system on London Underground's Northern Line was about safety, and had nothing to do with political point scoring: Bob Crow responds to The Guardian newspaper's lies.

Your leader accused the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers' Union (RMT) of "making political points at commuters' expense" (No one in charge, October 18), while giving credence to Tubelines' and Alstom's insistence that London Underground's Northern line trains were safe to operate - despite five failures of the emergency braking system in as many weeks.

Yet on the same day Polly Toynbee eloquently described the shameful waste and contractual mess of the PPP - and why the vested interests of Tubelines, Alstom and other contractors with their snouts stuck in the lucrative trough add up to an inbuilt tendency to put profits ahead of safety.

The spate of brake failures began on September 9, after which our reps insisted upon double crewing. This was conceded reluctantly by the management, and then withdrawn with indecent haste on the assertion that the problem had been sorted. As the failures continued, we insisted on the return of double-crewing and the daily testing of the failsafe braking system as each train came into service - a move opposed by contractors as that meant delays and, therefore, penalties.

The fifth brake failure followed a further assurance that the fault had been fixed, and only then did RMT reps insist that the only safe option was to withdraw rolling stock until the problem was identified, under LU direction, and demonstrably put right. Tim O'Toole, the tube's managing director, yesterday acknowledged that our response was "reasonable and understandable" and that our safety reps' role was "a model of what they are supposed to do".

Far from creating chaos for commuters, RMT's concern for our members' safety makes us the last line of defence for tube users. What would the Guardian have said had we accepted those empty assurances before a sixth brake failure resulted in a rush-hour collision?

Toynbee accurately shows how the only winners from the PPP contracts are the privateers, extracting guaranteed risk-free profits of £2 million a week from tube-users' and taxpayers' pockets while failing to deliver promised improvements on time, if at all. While it is welcome that Alistair Darling, the transport secretary, will not stand in the way of Alstom being sacked, that alone will not solve the problems.

Even as the Northern line farce was unfolding, Metronet, the other major tube privateer - responsible for infrastructure on six lines - was preparing to subcontract the maintenance of its trains to Bombardier, while trying to make front-line engineering staff redundant. That would leave one company running the trains, another responsible for overall maintenance, and another for train maintenance - unthinkable, surely, after the events of the past week.

The mayor of London should have the power to put an immediate stop to that, or any suggestion of further subcontracting. No amount of fine-tuning can transform the PPP from a vehicle for profit without responsibility into one that delivers improvements safely and at reasonable cost. The sensible solution is to follow Network Rail's example and bring all maintenance back in-house.

· Bob Crow is general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers' Union - generalsecretary@rmt.org.uk

Posted on 11:49 PM | Permalink

BRIDGWATER PEACE GROUP (affiliated to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) is organising two events in November, in Bridgwater.

“THE NUCLEAR STATE WE’RE IN”
PUBLIC MEETING
MONDAY 14TH NOVEMBER
7pm
FRIENDS’ MEETING HOUSE, FRIARN STREET, BRIDGWATER
Speaker: Bruce Kent, Vice-Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

"HIROSHIMA & THE ATOMIC BOMB"
A photographic exhibition in memory of 300,000 Atomic bomb victims
Friday 11th - Thursday 17th November

It is now public that the government is contemplating a replacement for Trident. A replacement would contravene our commitment to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and send out the worst possible signal to the rest of the world. The move would cost an estimated £15bn: money which would be better spent on defeating poverty, and providing for employment, education and health.

The way to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again is to get rid of them. The nuclear powers must disarm, to secure a future for humanity. Come and join the debate

The Exhibition: “HIROSHIMA & THE ATOMIC BOMB” will open from Friday 11th November until Thursday 17th November, at the Friends Meeting House, Friarn Street, Bridgwater

Times: Weekdays 7-9pm; Saturday 11-4pm; Daytime visits by appointment ( please ring 01278 457742)

60 years after the Allied destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August 1945, we present a photographic reminder of the horrors which the development and use of atomic weapons leashed upon the world. The photographs are from the collection of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, and the exhibition is on loan from Bradford Peace Museum

*Please note that many of these images are not suitable for young children

Admission to both events is free. Refreshments will be available

Bridgwater Peace Group: details contact 01278 450562 or glen@glenburrows.wanadoo.co.uk

Posted on 03:28 PM | Permalink

Bridgwater firms overload local health services by refusing sick pay to their workers

Bridgwater Trades Union Council has decided that something must be done to publicise and shame the scandalous number of Bridgwater firms that do not have sick-pay schemes, and who thus encourage workers to spread infection and illness among colleagues and the general public.

The Council at its October meeting heard reports from delegates that staff in many local firms are being forced to attend work when they are often suffering from transmissible illnesses such as flu.

These ailments are then passed onto the public, with the result that local GP surgeries and Bridgwater hospital are dealing with many more cases than would happen if these workers could afford to stay at home to recover.

Glen Burrows, Trades Union Council delegate from the RMT (Bristol Rail) said:

The most immediate problem is the first three days of sickness. I believe that in Bridgwater now only a minority of employers pay sick pay for these crucial first three days' absence. While managers might be pleased that costs to their firms are therefore cut, our hard-pressed NHS services, and public health as a whole, suffer for some firms� greed and obsession with maximising profit. It means also that firms which do have a decent sick-pay scheme are subsidising those who don't, when their own workers go sick- so everybody loses out.

The Trades Union Council is to undertake a survey of local firms' attitudes to sick pay, and it is expected that large or profitable firms that fail to pay their staff for those first three days, will be �Named and Shamed.�

For further details contact Secretary Dave Chapple: Telephone, 01278 450562 E-mail: dave@davechapple3.wanadoo.co.uk

Affiliations welcomed from all Trades Union Branches in the Bridgwater, Highbridge, West Somerset and Central Somerset areas,@ 10p per member

Posted on 03:02 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 20 October 2005

Investigators have spent Wednesday night at the scene of a crash involving tractor and train near Ely. Tractor driver died in the accident.

The tractor driver was killed but none of the 32 train passengers on the London to King's Lynn train was seriously injured.

Trains were running again on Thursday morning but there will be a reduced service outside of peak times.

The accident happened in an area called Black Horse Drove between Littleport and Downham Market in Cambridgeshire.

The collision took place shortly after noon on a stretch of single track and involved WAGN's 1045 BST service from London's King's Cross.

The driver of the train suffered shock in the crash

A WAGN spokeswoman said the train had been travelling at 90mph, which is standard speed, at the time of the accident. Despite the collision the train remained on the tracks.

The crossing had barriers on both sides, warning lights and an audible alarm, he added.

One of the 32 passengers on board was taken to hospital with a shoulder injury. The train driver was treated for shock.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) are carrying out an investigation.

Posted on 11:59 AM | Permalink

Daily Nation: 10/23/2005
by GAKUU MATHENGE

The Kenya-Uganda Railway has undergone yet another milestone.

The 2,350km line, which a famed Gikuyu sage and seer, Mugo wa Kibiru, and Nandi orkoiyot and resistance leader, Koitalel arap Samoei, are said to have separately prophesied about long before the white man set foot in Kenya, will be managed by a South Africa-led group, the Rift Valley Railways Consortium for the next 25 years.

The consortium, that has one local firm � Primefuels (Kenya Ltd) � with a 15 per cent stake, emerged the winning bidder in the first-ever concessioning experiment in Kenya. It will sign an agreement with the two governments on November 21 and take over the management and assets of the entire line on March 30 next year.

"The transaction represents the first privatisation deal where the concessioning structure has been used. Both Kenya and Uganda have involved several cross-border initiatives, including the extension of the oil pipeline to Uganda. The joint concession has set the stage for further regional co-operation," said Investment Secretary Esther Koimett in a joint statement during the official announcement of the winning bidder.

The Kenya-Uganda Railways, billed the Lunatic Express, will change management for the third time since it was started in the 19th century.

It is the third time the Kenya-Uganda Railways, billed the Lunatic Express by pessimists who scoffed at its conception, is changing management since it was started at the end of the 19th century. It became the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation, that was split up and assets taken by the respective governments in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya following the collapse of the East African Community in 1977.

Since 1978, Kenya Railways Corporation (KR) has been on a steady decline. Between 1978 and 2005, the KR cargo freight market share dropped from 70 per cent to under 20 per cent. Cargo haulage fell from 4.3 tonnes in 1983 to just 2.8 tonnes in 2005. It has also accumulated debts totaling Sh20.5 billion.

However, the new move come with painful reforms, including the retrenchment of thousands of workers. The firm has a workforce of 7,000.�

Primefuels Group, headquartered at Longonot Place, Kijabe Street, Nairobi, is a liquid fuel logistics provider in East Africa. It consists of two operating companies � Primefuels (Tanzania) and Primefuels (Kenya). Primefuels was also part of the Great Lakes Railway Company consortium, which also has Sheltam and Comazar as partners, that bid for the concessioning of Tanzania Railways. Efforts by the Sunday Nation to get a comment from Primefuel's chief executive officer, Mr Asif Abdulla, were unsuccessful as he was said to have travelled to South Africa.�

The Rift Valley Railways Consortium is led by Sheltam Rail Company (Pty) Limited, a South African firm with experience in rail services in several African countries. Sheltam, with 61 per cent, is the leading shareholder followed by Primefuels of Kenya with 15 per cent. Others are Comazar (Pty) Ltd, South Africa (10 per cent); Mirambo Holdings Limited, Tanzania (10 per cent); and CDIO Institute for Africa Development Trust, South Africa (4 per cent).�

Sheltam was incorporated in 1999 and is involved in management services, locomotive maintenance, track maintenance, mining and railway operations. Among countries it is operating in are Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.

Sheltam also operates mine tracks in South Africa, similar to those operated by the Magadi Soda, the only private firm in Kenya that has its own rail tracks.

The Comazar Group, who are the technical partners, bring expertise in private rail management to the consortium. Founded in 1995, it has been active in 15 African countries. The Sheltam Group of Companies, which owns Sheltam Rail, has 46 per cent shareholding in the Comazar Group.

Comazar is currently is the lead investor in operating the rail systems in Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire and Madagascar. Camrail of Cameroon was granted a 20-year concession to operate the country's national railway.�

Sitarail was given a 15-year concession to operate the national railways in Cote d'Ivoire and that of Burkina Faso.�

In Madagascar, Madarail got a 25-year concession deal in 2003 to operate the Northern Railway network.�

Comazar is also part of a consortium that has been pre-qualified to operate railways in Senegal, Algeria, Congo, Ethiopia/Djibouti, Uganda and Tanzania.�

Mirambo Holdings, an investment company registered in Tanzania, was set up to take part in the concessioning in Kenya. It is part of a group that also has interests in contract mining, agricultural infrastructure, cellular telephony and leather businesses.�

CDIO Institute for Africa is an engineering and technology firm. It was established in 2004 to develop bilateral relations in engineering and technology between South Africa and Sweden.

Posted on 02:58 AM | Permalink

The Sunday Times: October 23, 2005
By Dominic O'Connell

Transport tycoons have been brought down to earth but may still be needed by the government.

IT was called the London Diagonal, an enormous £1.5 billion tunnel that would whisk commuters under south London from Clapham to Oxford Street, solving at a stroke the chronic congestion on the capital's commuter lines.

The plan was put forward four years ago by Sea Containers, the Bermuda-quoted transport group, as part of a bid to take over South West trains, Britain's biggest rail franchise.

The turn of the century - and the one before it - was a time for swashbuckling rail entrepreneurs and ambitious grand projects.

A tunnel from Clapham wasn't enough for First Group, Sea Containers' rival bidder. It wanted one starting at Wimbledon. At the same time Sir Richard Branson was punting a plan to build a £3 billion high-speed line that would carry TGV-style trains up the east coast, drastically shortening journey times from London to Scotland.

Those days now seem far off. The collapse of Railtrack, the disastrous, multi-billion-pound cost overruns on the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line and the rapidly rising cost of running the existing network have put paid to the wilder flights of fancy that flourished in the early years of rail privatisation.

The industry is now firmly back under government control. The Treasury underwrites the borrowings of Network Rail, Railtrack's successor, while the Department for Transport has abolished the Strategic Rail Authority, and taken in-house the monitoring and control of train-operating companies. The Tory ideal of 'open access' with trains from different companies running on the same route and competing for passengers, has quietly been dropped on all but a few token routes.

Whitehall's influence is pervasive. Tender documents for rail franchises stipulate everything from timetables to train-cleaning regimes. Incumbent operators have been shown little respect, having in some cases been booted out for not paying enough attention to the detail of bids.

These days train companies do not even have the freedom to choose their own train; the specification for new rolling stock to replace the venerable High Speed Train, workhorse of British intercity lines, is being drawn up not by the companies who will buy or use them, but by a Department for Transport-led committee. Last week Whitehall flexed its muscles again, saying it would take away Branson's Cross Country franchise as it redrew the railway map.

Train bosses agree the swashbuckling days are gone, but say the government will shortly need rail entrepreneurs more than ever.

Rapidly rising passenger numbers, up 40% in the past decade and now at their highest level since the late 1950s, will require innovative thinking to cope with congestion and overcrowding, they say.

Branson said his appetite for the industry had not dimmed. "We will be bidding for the new franchise that will replace Cross Country, and we have some fairly interesting ideas to bring to the party. The last few years have not been easy, but we want to finish what we started. We are certainly not making much money out of railways at the moment � we see it as more of a public service."

Tony Collins, Virgin Trains' chief executive, said the government's intervention was a natural reaction to an industry that had swung out of control.

"It has swung like a pendulum. We had too little control after privatisation, some big problems, and now we have swung the other way. It will settle back down again."

On Virgin West Coast, (Virgin's other franchise, which it will have until 2012) passenger numbers are up 40% year-on-year, thanks to higher-frequency services. Collins said: "The government will eventually need private-sector investment in rolling stock and station enhancements to deal with this."

David Franks, chief executive of National Express's rail division, said the industry was now in a "back to basics" phase. "The government and the secretary of state are focused on recovery of the industry from the dreadful days post-Hatfield [the fatal derailment at Hatfield, which brought the network close to paralysis] and on cost control. Performance and cost are driving train companies at the moment."

Transport bosses have abandoned hopes of winning franchises with big-spending plans for new lines or tunnels.

Chris Moyes, chief executive of Go-Ahead, the quoted transport group, said mounting a bid was now a big exercise. "The average bid is a very elaborate and complex document. All bidders are now employing an army of advisers and devoting substantial resources to each franchise tender," he said.

Franks said that in the first round of bidding for rail franchises when British Rail was broken up in 1996, bidding costs were minimal. "The specifications and requirements in the bids now are far too great. I think the department realises this and is working with us to try to make some changes."

Bidders have to ensure that they are compliant with the department's tender documents, and then have the chance to show their entrepreneurial skills by coming up with ideas to make more money.

Go-Ahead is bidding for the Integrated Kent Franchise, which will combine commuter lines to the southeast of London with a new high-speed service on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link from Ashford to St Pancras. The winner will play a key role in providing transport to the Olympic Games in 2012.

Moyes said that while franchise bids were now prescriptive, innovative thinking on the part of bidders would play a part in the final decision. "We do not have a blank canvas, but we are able to show what we can do to make more money for the government," he said.

Rail-industry leaders believe the rapid growth in passenger numbers means that the government will at some stage have to return to the private sector for investment in infrastructure.

Despite all the bold plans four years ago only one major example of private investment in infrastructure was successful. Chiltern Trains, which runs trains from Marylebone, was able to set up a special-purpose funding company to channel private money into infrastructure improvement.

"The growth forecasts we are looking at are phenomenal," said Franks. "Motorway congestion and high fuel prices are driving people onto trains, and in some places the network is already operating at absolute capacity," he said.

Rail entrepreneurs could help by coming up with innovative schemes to squeeze more capacity out of the existing network, Franks said. "There are things you can do with longer trains, creative pricing mechanisms, and changes to signalling. But that will only take you so far."

Posted on 02:46 AM | Permalink

The Business online: October 23, 2005��

Contract wins fail to offset Hatfield effect.

Balfour Beatty has recorded a number of contract wins this year. In July, Mansell (its subsidiary) secured a £14.5m project to redevelop accommodation for United States Air Force staff at RAF Lakenheath. During August, Gammon Construction, the Hong Kong-based construction group in which Balfour Beatty has a 50% interest, was awarded three new contracts with a total value of £185m. Then earlier this month it announced that GTBB, its joint venture with Carillion, had been awarded a £110m contract by Network Rail and that it had won three new building contracts worth another £110m.

However the international engineering, construction and services group, which trades at about 296p a share, is at the moment probably most commonly associated with the Hatfield rail disaster in 2000.

On 14 July the Criminal Court threw out a corporate manslaughter charge against the company, which has a market cap of £1.2bn. However, this was not a full reprieve: on 7 October Balfour Beatty issued a statement saying Balfour Beatty Rail Infrastructure Services had been fined and ordered to pay costs following its guilty plea to charges brought under the Health and Safety at Work Act. The company had been fined £10m for what a judge had described as "one of the worst examples of industrial negligence" he had seen.

Arbuthnot Securities responded by maintaining a buy rating, as it believed the outcome was already expected. On 7 October the same analyst declared the fine didn't "look too bad for a company with its market capitalisation". The analyst said considering the level of concern that had hung over the shares the announcement had removed some uncertainty. The news also prompted the stock, which has been trading in a range of 268.75p-362.00p (52 weeks), to climb 16.5p on the day to 312.5p.

The company's first-half results, which were announced mid-August and showed pre-tax profits from continuing operations had risen by 18%, were deemed positive but in line with Numis Securities' expectations. The broker took heart from the dividend, which was up about 23% to 3.5p, and maintained its hold rating with a target price of 322p, but was tempted to take profits on any further strength. In October Numis Securities retained its hold rating on the company with a 340p target price after Balfour Beatty announced three contract wins, which the broker believed to be of good quality. However CAI Cheuvreux undermined these gains by saying it thought that these were unlikely to impact the share price and therefore maintained an outperform rating.

On 14 October Bridgewell Securities stated that the company's recent underperformance, prompted mainly by the complexity of its transition to new IFRS accounting standards, provided a buying opportunity. It stated that with upside of 20% on the sum-of-the-parts, "investors should be buying the shares".

Posted on 02:32 AM | Permalink

European Rail Outlook: September 2004

Belgium is playing a major part in the expansion of the European high-speed network. STEVE BENNETT looks at progress being made on the projects currently underway.

BELGIUM is developing a pivotal 314km high-speed network, which will link with those in France, Germany, and the Netherlands when all of the new line construction and upgrading projects are completed by the end of 2007.

The vital components of this network are the 87km northern branch from Brussels to the border with the Netherlands, the 139km eastern branch from Brussels to the border with Germany, and the existing 88km western branch from Brussels to the French border which opened seven years ago.

Altogether it will cost about £4.7 billion to complete the entire high-speed construction programme.

TUC Rail, a subsidiary of Belgian National Railways (SNCB), is responsible for designing and building the high-speed network, as well as distributing funds for the projects. It has been carrying out this role since it was created 12 years ago and is confident that its mission is now back on course after delays caused by budgetary and political problems.

The western branch comprises 71km of line designed for 300km/h operation and a 17km section between Lembeek and Brussels which was upgraded from two to four tracks, with 220km/h operation on two of them. The only work still to be finished is the renovation of Brussels South station, where a 452m fly-over section is being built to enable the high-speed line to cross existing tracks and marshalling areas, and allow high-speed services to be served by six dedicated platforms.

The main role of the western branch at present is to provide a high-speed route for Thalys passenger services operating between Amsterdam, Cologne, Brussels and Paris, and for Eurostar passenger services between Brussels and London.

Thalys' international services in particular will benefit hugely from the future connections which will be established with the northern and eastern branches in Brussels.

The northern branch, costing an estimated £1.43 billion, is due to open by the end of 2006, just ahead of the planned opening of the Netherlands' High Speed Line South (HSL South) in April 2007 (see previous story). The new Belgian high-speed line will provide a through-route, via HSL South, for highspeed services linking Brussels - Antwerp - Rotterdam - Amsterdam. The Netherlands' government is contributing £483 million towards the cost of the Belgian link as part of a political compromise which was reached when the route was agreed. Tracklaying on both the Belgian line and HSL South is scheduled to begin this month, and should be finished by the end of 2005.

Upgrading
The Belgian project includes upgrading the existing line between Brussels and Antwerp, which has been completed, and building a new 40km line alongside the E19 motorway from Antwerp to the Netherlands border. A 3.8km tunnel is also being built beneath Antwerp to provide a through-route for high-speed services.

Trains running north from Brussels towards Antwerp as well as east towards Liege will operate from Brussels South, via the upgraded north-south line to Brussels North. Between Brussels North and Schaerbeek, trains operating on both the northern branch towards the Netherlands and on the eastern branch towards Germany will continue to use the same track.

The junction for the northern and eastern branches, which will divert highspeed services either north to Antwerp or east to Liege, is being built at Schaerbeek. This is being constructed over the existing main lines and marshalling areas. At Buda, the northern branch will join the existing line from Brussels to Antwerp, while at Haren, the eastern branch will join the existing line towards Leuven and Liege.

High-speed trains on the northern branch will stop at Antwerp Central, where work is underway to solve the severe rail capacity problems which Antwerp has suffered during recent years. The construction of the tunnel beneath the city will not only ease traffic congestion. More importantly, it will allow high-speed trains to run directly through the city instead of being forced to enter and reverse out of Antwerp as existing conventional services must do today. The maximum speed in the two single-bore tunnels beneath Antwerp will be 90km/h.

In order to provide access to the tunnel, the existing track from Berchem to Antwerp is being lowered by about 20m. This has required the construction of a new 20m-deep rail tunnel. Two underground levels for track will then be constructed within Antwerp Central, providing a total of three levels for track as well as a separate level for passengers.

Created
Antwerp's reconstructed Central station will comprise:
* Six platforms at Level +1, divided into two sets of three, with an open space in the middle giving a view down to the lower levels.
* Retail space and other facilities for pedestrians at street level.
* Four platforms at Level -1, divided into two sets of two.
* Four platforms at Level -2, 18m below street level, with the central two tracks continuing along the new direct north-south route beneath the city.
* Two underground car parks, one designed for 400 cars at the northern end beneath Queen Astrid Square, and another for 850 cars at the new southern end beneath Kievit Square.

Work on the station in Antwerp is overseen by Eurostation, a subsidiary of SNCB which was created especially to develop the new stations in Brussels and Antwerp.

The eastern branch, costing £1.97 billion, is due to be completed by mid-2007, but the opening of the final section between Liege and the German border may be delayed until the end of 2007 because there is considerable doubt over whether the necessary upgrading will be carried out on the connecting German line via Aachen to Cologne.

The Leuven - Liege section opened in 2002. It was built alongside the E40 highway from Leuven to Bierset, west of Liege. This section is being operated at 300km/h by Thalys trains and at 200km/h by fast domestic services.

German Rail (DB) has yet to be granted permission to operate its 300km/h ICE trains on the new line. This could be construed as a response to DB�s refusal to allow Thalys to operate competitive services on its Cologne - Frankfurt highspeed line.

Meanwhile, the existing Brussels North - Leuven section is being upgraded from two to four tracks, with the new tracks enabling Thalys and SNCB's inter-city services to operate at 200km/h. Currently services are limited to 160km/h. The upgraded section should be completed in December 2006.

The Liege - German border section will use upgraded track through Liege, where a new nine-track station is being built by Euro Liege TGV, another subsidiary of SNCB. The station, which replaces the existing Liege Guillemins, and has been designed by the Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava, includes a shopping mall and car parking facilities.

High-speed trains will use existing track for a short distance from Liege to Chenee station, where a new junction is being built to divert them on to a new double-track high-speed section which incorporates the new 6.5km Soumagne tunnel.

The Soumagne tunnel is described by SNCB as the country's largest railway construction project. It represents £157 million of the estimated £700 million cost of developing the Liege - German border section. Trains will operate at 200km/h inside the tunnel and at 250km/h elsewhere on the remainder of the section.

The tunnel is being constructed using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM). Work is being undertaken simultaneously from each end and a significant stage should be reached in November when a breakthrough at the centre is anticipated. Tunnelling should be finished in mid-2005.

The completed Belgian high-speed network will link up with those in France, Germany and the Netherlands, and play a central role in international passenger traffic.

Posted on 12:28 PM | Permalink

Ipswich Evening Star: October 21, 2005

RECORD amounts of freight are being taken off the region's roads and onto the railways, the Port of Felixstowe announced today.

Bosses at Europe's largest container port said the port transported 32,386 containers last month by rail, beating all previous records.

The announcement comes after the opening of a new rail link between the coastal town and Daventry in the Midlands.

Richard Pearson, managing director of Hutchison Ports (UK) Limited, said: "We thoroughly welcome this new rail service through the Port of Felixstowe, and are keen to encourage initiatives that will help to reduce further the number of lorries on the UK's busy road network.

"As can be seen by the record-breaking volumes at the Port of Felixstowe in recent months, rail is becoming increasingly attractive to customers, as it is able to offer a reliable and cost effective means of transportation for freight to the important markets of the UK."

The new route is currently served by a 20-wagon train with a capacity of 60 standard sized containers, but this is expected to increase in the near future to a 22-wagon train with a capacity of 66 standard sized containers, operating on a six-day schedule, port bosses announced.

A boost for The Evening Star's Danger on the A14 campaign, which has highlighted the dangers of increasing freight transport, the news has delighted campaigners keen to see freight taken off the roads.

Peter Lawrence, president of national independent campaigning organization Railfuture , said: "The more freight we can get off the roads and onto railways the better. This will ease pressure on the A14 and the railway is a much safer way to transport freight."

Railfuture has been campaigning to increase rail infrastructure and increased rail use since the 1950s.
Mr Lawrence said: "We welcome this announcement. It is better for the profits of the railways and better for the environment."

There are 24 inbound and 23 outbound trains per day from the Port of Felixstowe's North and South Rail terminals.

Posted on 10:56 AM | Permalink

The Times: October 21, 2005
By Angela Jameson, Industrial Correspondent

EUROTUNNEL is to make more than a quarter of its staff redundant as the Channel Tunnel operator struggles to put itself on a profitable footing.

The job cuts will reduce the company's workforce to 2,300, a level not seen since the Channel Tunnel opened in 1994.

After more than a year's negotiation with unions, the company said last night that 900 French and British employees would leave on voluntary terms. The redundancies will be split equally between Britain and France.

In a statement last night the company said that the staff reduction would have no impact on safety or quality of service.

Most of the 900 departures will have been completed by Christmas, a spokeswoman for the company said, with the remainder leaving by next June.

Jacques Gounon, chairman and chief executive of Eurotunnel, said: "We need a company that is more flexible, more reactive to our markets, and more in tune to the needs of our clients."

Lower staffing levels are possible because of the company's shift to a new business model, copied from the budget airline industry. The earlier passengers book space on Eurotunnel's shuttles, the less they pay.

The new model has allowed the company to remove unprofitable services and run shuttles that are closer to full. A Eurotunnel spokesman said that it was now running its Channel Tunnel shuttle service with a smaller fleet of trains.

However, the company has also had to agree to pay those workers who are not leaving a £2,000 bonus to avert industrial action. Maintenance and operations staff walked out in France last week.

On Wednesday Eurotunnel announced falls in traffic in a number of key markets as the company prepared to update shareholders on progress on restructuring its £6.1 billion debt.

The number of lorries carried on the company's cross-Channel freight shuttles fell by 2 per cent in the three months to September 30, according to a trading update. The number of cars carried on the car shuttles rose only 1 per cent to 609,357, although coach traffic rose 24 per cent to 19,443.

Shuttle service revenues rose to £77.9 million, compared with £77.4 million for the same period last year.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?
* Eurotunnel is planning to cut its £6.1 billion of debt
* In September it said it was not ready to convert into shares £526 million of debt, but added that debt talks were on track
* It has said bankruptcy is certain if it has no outline debt deal with creditors by next month

Posted on 10:43 AM | Permalink

FGW Train Drivers' Productivity Issues referendum: 93% of RMT Drivers vote 'No' to FGW offer.

FGW Train Drivers' referendum: No vote.

Following consultation with RMT Driver members employed by First Great Western (FGW), RMT's General Grades Committee (GGC) were requested to conduct a referendum ballot amongst our members in the Driving grade at FGW with a recommendation to reject the company's offer and remain in dispute to acheive an acceptable outcome to our members' claim for a minimum of 104 rest days per year.

The ballot closed yesterday, Thursday 20th October. The result of the referendum ballot is that FGW RMT Drivers have rejected the offer from FGW by a vote of 93%. The GGC will now discuss the way forward.

The union remains available for talks with FGW to resolve the dispute. The result of the referendum called by the ASLE&F (who have made a reccomendation to accept the offer, which in any case they have already signed off) is not expected until next week.

Posted on 03:11 PM | Permalink

RMT: 20 October 2005

LONDON UNDERGROUND'S biggest union today called on the government to give London Mayor Ken Livingstone the power to prevent Metronet subcontracting Tube train maintenance to Bombardier.

RMT, which today gave evidence to the Greater London Authority's transport committee, expressed alarm that, despite the debacle in recent days over the failure of Northern Line trains' emergency braking system, Metronet intends to sub-contract train maintenance to Bombardier.

"Anyone would have thought that the 'don't-blame-me-blame-him' nonsense between Tubelines and Alstom over Northern Line trains would have been enough to show that fragmentation of Tube maintenance is dangerous, and potentially disastrous," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"It is simply staggering that Metronet, which controls two-thirds of London Underground's infrastructure, is planning even more fragmentation, by farming out train maintenance to Bombardier.

"That means the same crazy set-up on the Northern Line would be imposed on the Barkerloo, Central, Victoria, District, Circle and Hammersmith and City Lines, with one company running trains, another responsible for overall maintenance and yet another maintaining the trains.

"The government should give the Mayor the power to prevent that happening, but the complex, expensive and underperforming PPP itself is at the heart of the problem, and it is time to return all maintenance and engineering work to London Underground," Bob Crow said.

ends

Notes to editors: RMT general secretary Bob Crow gave evidence at City Hall to the GLA transport Committee, together with Tubelines and LU, from 10:15 this morning (Thusday 20 October). His introductory remarks follow

An Early Day Motion, tabled in the House of Commons by London Labour MPs John McDonnell, Harry Cohen, Rudi Vis, Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and John Austin and calling for LU maintenance to be brought back in-house, also follows.

Introductory remarks made by RMT general secretary Bob Crow on Northern Line to GLA transport committee

Drivers on the Northern Line refused to take trains into service due to a problem with the train emergency braking system.

Although passengers were inconvenienced by the withdrawal of services we believe that the drivers were correct to take the action that they did in order to protect the safety of both the travelling public and the London Underground workforce. The consequences of trains colliding as a result of a braking system failure do not bear thinking about.

Even the Evening Standard supported the actions of RMT and Aslef members.

Identifying and fixing the fault has proved to be more a difficult process than should have been the case. RMT believes that this is a direct result of the complex contractual relationships created both by the PFI maintenance contract held by Alstom and the PPP itself.

In our submission to the Committee we raised our concern about the outsourcing of train maintenance staff currently employed by Metronet to Bombardier. The disastrous situation on the Northern Line will be replicated from 2007 on the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria, District, Circle and Hammersmith and City Lines.

This will mean that for all these lines there will be one company running the trains, one company responsible for overall maintenance and another for maintaining the trains. After the events we have seen last week this would be sheer lunacy and the government should give the Mayor the necessary powers to stop this madness.

It is quite frankly unbelievable that we have a situation that London Underground privatisation is even worse than on the mainline where, even after the disastrous Tory privatisation, nearly all train operating companies have in-house train maintenance.

RMT believes that the best course of action for the safety of the travelling public and the London Underground workforce is to scrap the overly complex, expensive and underperforming PFI and PPP contracts and to return all maintenance and engineering functions to unified management control under London Underground.

Text of Early Day Motion tabled in the House of Commons�by John McDonnell, Harry Cohen, Rudi Vis, Jeremy Corbyn, Dianne Abbot and John Austin

LondonUnderground PPP and Train Maintenance

"That this house expresses its concern at the severe delays on London Underground Northern Lines services caused by faulty train design; congratulates London Underground drivers for protecting the travelling public by refusing to work for safety reasons; believes that identifying and fixing the fault has been made more difficult by the fragmentation of train maintenance resulting from the ill conceived part privatisation of the tube; is therefore alarmed that the largest PPP Infraco, Metronet, is pressing ahead with proposals to out source its train maintenance from 2007; calls on the Government to ensure that the necessary powers are made available to allow all London Underground maintenance be bought back in house."

Posted on 01:13 PM | Permalink

This is Hertfordshire: 20th October 2005
By Peter Stebbings

A woman who lost her husband and suffered serious injury in the Potters Bar rail crash has called the decision not to charge rail bosses with manslaughter a disgrace'.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided on Monday not to start proceedings against management chiefs at Network Rail (formerly Railtrack) and Jarvis the company responsible for track maintenance at Potters Bar drawing an angry response from Nina Bawden, a novelist whose husband, BBC executive Austin Kark, 75, died in the crash.

"I'm horrified, though I can't say I'm surprised," said Mrs Bawden, who was knocked unconscious in the derailment, which claimed seven lives and left dozens injured in 2002.

"It's a disgrace much like the decision not to have a public inquiry.

"You have an accident that kills seven people and nothing is done about it we should all be ashamed, the whole of society.

"People have been killed and the bosses are getting bonuses. It was quite obvious this crash happened because of bad maintenance.

"They kill my husband and bash me up and yet nothing happens; no proper compensation.

"All we get is a few words of sympathy. I blame Railtrack, I blame the Government for privatising the railways."

Mrs Bawden is going to the High Court next May four years after the accident to claim damages from Network Rail and Jarvis.

Jarvis, which was responsible for maintaining the faulty points which caused the accident, claimed after the derailment that the points could have been sabotaged. No conclusive evidence for this has every been provided.

After Monday's decision, the CPS said it would refer the case to the Health and Safety Executive to see if proceedings could be brought instead under the Health and Safety Act 1974.

A CPS statement said: "No individual was identified as having committed a breach of duty of care, in the first instance because it was impossible to pinpoint when the faults occurred which caused the points failure.

"Without an individual being identified, no prosecution could proceed against a corporation."

Louise Christian, representing survivors and families of the bereaved, also said she was not surprised about the decision. "We've known this has been coming for a long time," she said. "From the outset we've said there should be a public inquiry and this decision reinforces that fact.

"If there had been a public inquiry there would have been more chance of the truth coming out and the CPS making an informed decision."

Posted on 12:57 PM | Permalink

The Cornishman: October 18, 2005

A former British Rail manager now working as a professional railway consultant, has said that people in Cornwall and Devon must make the loudest possible protest over plans to axe the Penzance to Paddington sleeper service.

Fred Marsh, of Burton Upon Trent, Staffordshire, has been employed over the past eight years by most train operating companies and Network Rail.

He has told The Cornishman: "This train is a commuter train from Plymouth in the morning, and the people of Cornwall and Devon must protest strongly because if the Department for Transport does manage to do away with this train, others will also go.

He claims that there are members of the DfT who consider that the Plymouth-Penzance line should be a connecting branch line with no through London trains.

And he adds: "Other members of the DfT would close all railway lines west of Plymouth."

"Wessex Trains is far too top heavy on management, yet all this management seems unwilling or unable to solve a simple problem" - Fred Marsh

Mr Marsh, who is urging as many people as possible to sign the on-line petition at www.saveoursleeper.com says:

"I wonder how many people realise that through the inefficiency of the way the railway was privatised, the railway receives three times the government support it did before privatisation. Indeed, I regularly find whilst working for Network Rail, my work has already been done by consultants working for the Training Operating Company - be that C2C, First, GNER, Virgin, Wessex or any other train operating company, and, of course, vice-versa when I'm employed by the TOC."

He goes on: "However, I do find that Wessex Trains is far too top heavy on management, yet all this management seems unwilling or unable to solve a simple problem.

"Recently, the 7.20am Plymouth to Penzance Wessex train service has been overcrowded between Bodmin and Truro with would-be passengers left behind at St Austell.

"Let me make it clear, a crowded train is not deemed unsafe by the Railway Inspectorate on three counts -
* A safety zone is created in front and behind a train by the signalling system
* A crowded platform poses more danger to the public than a crowded train
* Less injuries occur on a crowded train in a minor collision than a half empty train.

"However, the TOC should take steps to increase train lengths by adding more carriages when services run seriously overfull as in the case of this 7.20am recently. Wessex Trains employ a two-car class 158 unit on this train but they have three-car, 158 trains on the Bristol-Portsmouth line.

" It doesn't take a genius to realise all is needed is a unit swap."

Posted on 11:53 AM | Permalink

icBirmingham: Oct 19 2005

The Government has announced its plans for the break-up of the Central Trains franchise.

It is no coincidence that the break-up of the Central Trains franchise was announced yesterday.

It is a year - almost to the day - since Transport Secretary Alistair Darling served notice on the Birmingham based operator.

No coincidence because the Department for Transport knew this anniversary would see more and more people asking difficult questions about their progress since.

According to a rail industry source, none of the train operators involved had " meaningful" discussions with the DfT on the way forward until March this year and, even after that, the process was hampered by the shutting down of the Strategic Rail Authority and subsequent transfer of power to the new DfT Rail group.

With that in mind, it is no surprise the Central Trains franchise has been given a 18-month extension - as revealed by The Birmingham Post in March - while a number of loose ends left dangling by yesterday's announcement are tied up.

Crucially, more work must be done on whether Central Trains services from Birmingham Snow Hill will transfer to Chiltern Railways, which would become the exclusive train operator at the city's second major station.

Everyone, uncertain staff included, felt this was perhaps the easiest part of the break-up to predict.

But it has transpired it might end up costing the taxpayer more money for Chiltern to takeover these services. The logistical upheaval for a firm based in Banbury and largely focused on the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire commuter belt would be significant and costly.

Nationally-speaking, yesterday's announcement is just one part of streamlining the management of the railways - from 25 franchises to 19.

But from a West Midlands point of view, the prospect of streamlining services and routes is the biggest issue.

Regional rail bosses tell us in the last ten years rail travel in the West Midlands has grown by 44 per cent, compared to a national average of 34 per cent, and this could increase by as much again by 2011.

Yet, most acutely since the financial chaos brought about by the Hatfield disaster in 2000 - but ever since privatisation actually - the threat has been to our own, successful commuter services in favour of intercity services (largely Virgin Trains) that run through our region.

Depressingly, the DfT has made it clear that the new West Midlands franchise will be in keeping with the recent Route Utilisation Strategy.

This bitterly-received document, a kiss-off to the West Midlands from the SRA, axed the Wolverhampton to Walsall, Stoke to Stafford and Stafford to Nuneaton line.

It also plans to deal with overcrowding on the most popular lines by increasing costs. Fees at station car parks will go up at peak times to encourage commuters to leave before rush hour.

Cheaper rail fares in periods when trains are less used was also proposed.

In general, the document attempts to manage limited resources, without considering increasing those resources. In this way, we get lesser used lines axed to bolster busy Birmingham- bound trains.

Harsh and short-sighted perhaps but probably practical in the current climate.

But how then do we square this with the news that the DfT has asked Central Trains to calculate the savings that would be made by reducing services on the Cross City Line from six an hour to four?

No only is this overwhelmingly the busiest West Midland commuter line, it is the busiest outside London.

If the franchise specifications, when they are finally worked out so a company can bid for it, include less services on the line, expect regional transport bosses to hit the roof.

Centro, the region's passenger transport executive, has already lost the right to co-sign the new franchise.

Director general Rob Donald is reasonably relaxed about this - unlike his opposite numbers in other conurbations preferring to concentrate on lobbying the DfT to maintain such services and keep whatever operate takes over based in Birmingham and, as such, locally accountable.

But it is very hard to be confident that the new West Midland franchise will include the same frequency of services that exist now, if it takes the RUS as its primary text.

Posted on 04:17 PM | Permalink

Reuters:Tue Oct 18, 2005

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canadian National Railway Co. posted a 19 percent increase in quarterly profit on Tuesday, saying higher revenue and a tax adjustment helped offset the impact of derailments and hurricanes.

Canada's biggest railway reported net income of C$411 million, or C$1.47 a diluted share, for the third quarter ended September 30. That compared with a net profit of C$346 million, or C$1.19 a share, in the same three-month period of 2004.

Montreal-based Canadian National, which also has large operations in the United States, was the first of the major North American railroads to report its third-quarter results.

Chief Financial Officer Claude Mongeau said CN remained confident it can achieve the high end of previous guidance of earnings-per-share growth of 20 to 25 percent for the full year.

But Mongeau sounded a note of caution about repeating 2005's high growth rate in 2006 because of worries about rising fuel costs and noncash pension expenses.

"These are two potential headwinds, but having said that we remain quite bullish on our business," he said.

CN said revenue in the quarter climbed 6 percent to just over C$1.8 billion due to higher freight rates, including surcharges billed to most customers to pay for higher fuel prices.

Revenue was up for all the major product groups except petrochemicals, and CN's operating ratio, a measure of efficiency in hauling freight, was 63.3 percent, a 2.1 percentage point improvement.

Mongeau said CN also had a lower than expected tax rate in the quarter, due in part to a tax benefit provision in its deal to purchase of BC Rail last year that allows CN to shield some of its income from taxation.

ALBERTA DERAILMENT COSTLY

CN's operating expenses climbed by 2 percent to just over C$1.1 billion, due to higher fuel costs and accidents. It paid an average of C$1.79 per gallon for diesel in the quarter, up from C$1.31 in the third quarter of 2004.

An August derailment caused by a broken rail in Wabamun, Alberta, that resulted in an oil and toxic-liquid spill that contaminated a popular recreational lake, left CN with C$28 million in costs that were not covered by insurance.

It also suffered a fatal wreck in Mississippi, and hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced it to curtail operations in the Gulf Coast and put some customers there temporally out of business.

"Despite being proud that we had the financial where-with-all to deal with those incidents... I can tell you those incidents put a chilling impact on this organization," Chief Executive Hunter Harrison told analysts.

CN said it could end up getting a boost next year from the hurricanes if repairing storm damage requires increased lumber shipments, but did not offer any specific estimates.

Shares of CN Rail slid along with the rest of the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday, closing down C$1.91 at C$82.

Posted on 04:10 PM | Permalink

International Herald Tribune: October 19, 2005
By Don Phillips

BRUSSELS -- For more than three decades, Eckhard Kuhla was a top railroad official in Germany with Deutsche Bahn. Today he is a consultant who is also working with a European Union project to overcome persistent obstacles to hauling freight by rail across European borders.

Chatting with a reporter at a rail freight planning conference in Brussels last week, Kuhla said something had hit him: Twenty years ago, European railroads were clearly superior to their U.S. counterparts in hauling freight. In fact, he and other European rail officials traveled to the United States to advise then-troubled U.S. railroads on how to win back at least part of the freight business that was quickly being lost to trucks.

What a difference 20 years can make. U.S. railroads are in the midst of a traffic boom that is straining their ability to haul the loads, are more profitable than at any time since the boom years of World War II and for the first time in decades are gaining market share against trucks. After three years of major growth, stunned U.S. railroad officials are beginning to believe that the rail industry is in its first truly significant high-growth period in 65 years.

Europe? Well, that's a different story. In the industrial core of the EU, only France and Germany handle any significant amount of freight. But their haulage pales in comparison with that of trucks - only about 15 percent of the total.

In the United States, railroads hauled 25 percent of the freight tonnage in 2001, the last year for which statistics are available. The two figures are not directly comparable, however, because the U.S. statistics also include pipelines and barges.

There seems to be little hope that the European situation will improve soon despite the EU's push to shift freight off Europe's overcrowded highways and onto rail.

The reasons for the U.S. success and the European malaise are many, and some make a fascinating study of contrasting government attitudes that go beyond the obvious: that Europe loves and nurtures intercity passenger trains, while the United States has few of them outside the Washington-Boston corridor.

Years ago, the EU forced state-owned railroads to split their management in two - setting up operating groups to run the trains and infrastructure groups to handle access to rail lines, allowing private companies fair access to the tracks to compete for freight.

European railroad main lines are almost all run with electric traction rather than expensive, polluting fossil fuels, so railroads are the darlings of the "green" movements throughout Europe. All the stars seem to be in alignment for a massive shift of freight to rail. The political climate could not be better.

But this shift just isn't happening. There are some success stories among the fledgling private freight haulers and state-owned companies but not enough to make the slightest impact on highway congestion.

Robert Watson, a British rail consultant, said the EU may well have had an adverse effect on the rail system while trying to help it.

"Open access has destabilized the European railroad environment," Watson said.

"This is going to be a tough time to get through," he said.

Conference participants seemed to agree that European railroads are not handling the forced change well. There seems to be a lot of confusion among managers and a tendency in many ways to resist. Railroads are large, ponderous organizations that do not react well to sudden change.

On the other hand, the U.S. government is largely ignoring all freight transportation, particularly freight railroads. That was not true in the 1960s and 1970s, when railroads were tightly regulated. But the government's attitude changed in 1969 when the huge Penn Central Railroad went bankrupt and Congress saw the frightening possibility that the government might have to nationalize the railroads.

A decade later, after the Penn Central was reorganized into a leaner and more competitive Conrail, and almost all railroad regulation was junked, the industry began to grow healthier and more competitive. Today, the freight rail system is almost too successful to fit its infrastructure, which is almost entirely owned by the railroads.

Meanwhile, despite flowing political speeches on highway spending, the U.S. road system is sinking toward gridlock in many populated areas. The U.S. government does spend billions of dollars on highways, but much of that is for maintenance and some small expansion of the current system.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta is also spending a lot of time trying to reorganize the passenger rail system, Amtrak, which is insignificant as a means of moving people outside the Washington-NewYork-Boston corridor. It is almost as if the U.S. government is staging a version of the burning of Rome, playing a fiddle while the road system burns.

This attitude has been a great help to the U.S. railroad system. With highways growing more crowded, the cost of trucking rising rapidly and the government leaving the system alone, the freight rail system is thriving.

The U.S. railroad system was bogged down for decades under government controls, so badly that a government bailout was necessary. But then the government pulled out, and it thrived. There are many differences between U.S. and European systems - EU railroads operate masses of passenger trains and U.S. railroads do not, and hauls are longer in the United States, among others - that do not facilitate neat either-or solutions. But there may be at least a lesson in the U.S. government's laissez-faire attitude worth considering for Europe as it moves forward.

Don Phillips can be reached at freeflow@iht.com

Posted on 04:04 PM | Permalink

The Hindu: Oct 19, 2005
Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam
Staff Reporter

The All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) has been contemplating to go on strike in protest against the attitude of the Central Government in addressing the problems of railway employees, AIRF assistant general secretary and a member of Joint Consultative Machinery, Chalasani Gandhi has said.

Though the Railway Minister had recommended a 61-day productivity-linked bonus, the Finance Minister announced only for 59 days, he said.

In protest, the JCM meeting scheduled for October 3 and 4 was boycotted.

Further decision on the strike would be taken at the AIRF convention to be held from November 16 to 18 at Mumbai, he added.

Posted on 02:50 PM | Permalink

The East African: October 17 - 23, 2005
By KIMATHI NJOKA - Special Correspondent

A South African Company will run the "lunatic express" in one of the most ambitious privatisation transactions in East Africa.

Sheltam Trade Close Corporation (STCC), is part of a larger group that includes the Comazar Group, the biggest private railway operators in Africa with links with the Transnet group � South Africa's largest transport and logistics company.

With its headquarters in Port Elizabeth, Sheltam runs well-eqipped workshops for rail facilities and locomotives.

It was named the concessionaire for the joint concessioning of Kenya and Uganda Railways last week.

The company will pay both a fixed and variable fee to the government for the right to use make use of the track infrastructure and manage and operate trains on the network which remain in the ownership of the government.�

Through its local consortium, Rift Valley Railways, Sheltam edged out the Magadi Soda Corsortium, led by Rail India Technical and Economical Services Ltd (Rites) of India, at the technical evaluation stage, in a hotly contested bid that initially drew nine applicants.�

In its financial bid opened last Friday, Sheltam offered to pay the two countries $1 million annually out of its earnings from the passenger business. The firm will also remit 11. 1 per cent of its gross revenues every year, to be shared by the two countries.�

Rites had offered to pay -$6 million � a negative bid, meaning it would have sought subsidies from the governments to the tune of $6 million a year. Rites was also to remit 6. 01 per cent of its gross revenues to the two countries.�

Both Sheltam and Rites had bid to pay an upfront fees of $3 million and $2 million for Kenya Railways Corporation and Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) respectively.�

The concessioning process was set in motion by a memorandum of understanding signed by Kenya and Uganda binding them to put their railway networks in the hands of a private firm for the next 25 years.�

Sheltam managing director Roy Puffett told The EastAfrican that his firm would turn around the economically reeling Railways Corporations within a couple of years. "We have what it takes to put the corporations back on track. Our experience, expertise and track record is well showcased in our operations in South Africa," Mr Puffet said.�

As the concessionaire, Rift Val-ley Railways will now manage Kenya Railways Corporation (KR) and Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) for 25 years, after which the ownership will revert back to the governments. The Rites and Sheltam consortiums were the only two serious applicants who presented their bids last month after five others opted out of the race for undisclosed reasons. The bidding for a concession is usually designed to lock out less serious prospective bidders.�

It is estimated that Rites and Sheltam have each spent $1 million - $1.5 million in preparing their bids alone.�

According to a timetable given during the presentation of bids last month, Sheltam will now sign a concessioning agreement with the KRC and URC on November 20 and official handing over of assets will be done on March 31 next year.�

The concessionaire is expected to take over the two railways corporations from April next year, should the transition process go as per the schedule. Kenya and Uganda will retain 40 per cent of the shares of the ceded assets.�

Even as the transition gets to its home stretch, anxiety is building up over the fate of the KRC's 9,000 employees. Last month, it emerged that only 30 of the firm's 9,000 employees will be retained once the concessioning is concluded.�

However, KRC managing director Vitalis Ong'ong'a was last month quoted as saying that between 3,000 and 4,000 of the 6,200 permanent employees would be absorbed.

Finance Minister David Mwiraria is optimistic that the concessionaire will redeem the debt-ridden KRC.

As at June last year, KR had accumulated a total of Ksh20.5 billion ($277m) in debts. This year, KR expenditure has so far outstripped its income, resulting in a monthly cash deficit of about Ksh240 million ($3.2m).�

By the end of the fiscal year, it is estimated that the annual loss will be about Ksh2.9 billion ($39.1m), and the accumulated loss for the past six years will have risen to Ksh8 billion ($1,08.1m).�

Posted on 09:31 AM | Permalink

The Independent: 18 October 2005
By Barrie Clement, Transport Editor

Sir Richard Branson's hopes of keeping his nationwide rail franchise until 2012 were dashed yesterday as the Government announced it would be up for grabs in two years.

As part of a reorganisation of the industry, the Virgin Rail Cross Country network will be expanded but re-let.

The Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling, also revealed he was considering the transfer of some inner London suburban services run by Silverlink to the London Mayor Ken Livingstone's Transport for London.

Under the new franchise boundaries, the Central Trains network will be scrapped and redistributed to Cross Country and two new franchises covering the East and West Midlands. The expiry dates of the present Central Trains and Silverlink franchises - both run by the transport group National Express - will be extended to autumn 2007 to allow the details of the new franchise map to be worked out.

The new boundaries are aimed at aligning franchises with Network Rail's regional structure, as set out in the Future of Rail White Paper published in 2004.

The decision to curtail the Cross Country franchise - which is 51 per cent owned by Sir Richard and 49 per cent by Stagecoach - came after the failure of talks between the train company and the Department for Transport. The heavily subsidised network has been run on a "cost-plus" basis for the past two years.
Virgin had sought to change the arrangement back to an orthodox profit-making franchise to last until 2012 as envisaged at privatisation. But the Treasury said it was unable to come up with a sufficiently attractive package.

Mr Darling said the Cross Country cost-plus arrangement was "always temporary" and the Government wanted to put the franchise on a proper footing.

Virgin Trains has operated the sprawling Cross Country business, which covers the entire network including Aberdeen, Brighton and Penzance, since 1997. The company said it intended to bid for the new franchise - which will incorporate some Central Trains routes - pointing out that its punctuality figures had just hit a seven-year high. "We are confident of taking on all bidders," a spokesman said.

Chris Gibb, Virgin Cross Country's managing director, said the announcement confirmed a "remapping" process that had been discussed widely. "We have achieved so many improvements over recent years and will strive even harder to bring further benefits to customers," Mr Gibb said.

A Virgin Trains spokesman said the company had government assurances that its west coast main line franchise, which operates on a cost-plus basis, would not be put up for tender until it expired in 2012.
Mr Darling said yesterday's announcement was about the "sensible reorganisation of the railways" and not about making cuts to the network. "Cost control is essential and I think there will be changes," he said. "But we should have the confidence of making changes against the background of a growing railway, not a shrinking one."

Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT rail union, warned Mr Darling against using the changes to mask service cuts and station closures. Keith Norman, the leader of the train drivers' union Aslef, said the initiative was an indication that the Government accepted the inevitability of monopolies developing in the industry. "This underlines our contention that the railways are a natural monopoly and if you accept this, the logical conclusion is that it should be under public ownership," he said.

New look for railways

* The Central Trains network, which is operated by the transport group National Express, will be abolished and three new franchises will replace the present four across central England.

* An East Midlands franchise will be created.

A new West Midlands franchise will operate the west coast main line outer suburban services to and from London Euston, currently operated by Silverlink, together with regional and local services in the West Midlands.

* A new Cross Country franchise will be let in autumn 2007.

* The expiry dates of the current Central Trains and Silverlink franchises will be extended to autumn 2007.

* There will be an option to transfer the Liverpool to Nottingham service to the TransPennine Express franchise if this demonstrates "better value for money".

* Discussions are taking place on the possible transfer to Transport for London of the inner London suburban services, which are operated by Silverlink Metro.

Posted on 09:18 AM | Permalink

The Times: October 19, 2005
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

VIRGIN is to lose its CrossCountry train franchise amid increasing signs that Sir Richard Branson has abandoned his vision of transforming Britain's railways.

The billionaire entrepreneur had promised to turn the franchise "from a Cinderella into a princess". But one in five CrossCountry services continues to arrive late and the new fleet of tilting trains operates on much of the network at well below the top speed of 125mph.

The franchise, which stretches from Penzance to Aberdeen and covers 5,300 miles of track, consumes more than £2 million a week in subsidy. It shows no signs of fulfilling Virgin's promise to pay a premium to the Government.

Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, yesterday announced that the CrossCountry franchise would expire in autumn 2007, five years earlier than planned under Virgin's contract. Mr Darling also announced changes to train operations across the Midlands, including axeing the poorly-performing and unwieldy Central Trains franchise.

Some of the Central services, including Nottingham to Cardiff and Birmingham to Stansted airport, will be taken into the new CrossCountry franchise. Others will become part of two new franchises covering the East and West Midlands. Silverlink County services will become part of the West Midlands franchise.

Virgin announced its intention to bid for the new CrossCountry franchise but it is expected to face fierce competition. The Department for Transport, which will award the new franchise, was infuriated last month by Virgin's attempt to make its trains appear more punctual by adding 15 minutes of 'recovery time' to the timetable. Virgin has also failed to train enough drivers to operate the tilt mechanism fully on its CrossCountry fleet.

In the past three years, the Government has been forced to bale out the CrossCountry franchise with an extra £420 million of taxpayers' money.

A senior industry source said Sir Richard had become disillusioned and believed his association with the rail industry was tarnishing his Virgin brand: �Richard wanted to be the white knight for the industry, using his marketing expertise to transform its image and free it from its dependence on the Government for subsidy.

�But he has struggled to deliver on his promises, partly by being too ambitious and partly because he was let down by the poor quality of the track.�

Sir Richard will retain control of the West Coast franchise, from London to Glasgow, though this will remain on a tightly controlled management contract. Rather than having the freedom to profit from expanding the business, Virgin receives a fixed fee of 1 per cent of revenue plus its costs.

Roger Ford, Editor of Rail Business Intelligence, said: "The railways are no longer an attractive business for entrepreneurs like Branson. Train companies have too little freedom to be innovative."

Sir Richard denied that he had lost interest in the railways but said he did not expect to make much money from the industry. He told The Times: "We set out to create a train network we could be proud of and that would do good to the Virgin brand."

Asked why he now rarely appeared at events to publicise his train franchises, Sir Richard said: "When we have something new to do I will do it. But the goals we set out on both CrossCountry and West Coast we have by and large delivered on now."

BROKEN PROMISES
* The gap between what Virgin CrossCountry promised in 2001 and what it delivers today: Birmingham-Gatwick 2hr 30min (today 3 hr) Birmingham-Glasgow 3hr40 (4hr6) Birmingham-Manchester 1hr25 (1hr35)

* It promised to double the number of CrossCountry passengers to 30 million by 2010. Numbers have grown to just 20 million in four years

* It promised 140mph tilting trains on West Coast franchise. Trains run at 125mph only

* It promised to pay premium of £1.25 billion to Government by 2012, but has had subsidy of more than £2 billion since 1996

Posted on 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

BBC News: 17 October 2005

Trains are now stopping at all stations on the Northern Line, after the entire fleet was withdrawn for emergency maintenance work. Passengers are advised to check before they travel.

London Underground (LU) has advised passengers to check before they travel as there are still significant delays.

Trains were suspended last Wednesday night after drivers walked out in a row over emergency brakes.

LU said 68 out of 91 trains were now running, but a full service was not expected to resume until Wednesday.

Replacement bus services remain in place and additional services will also run where possible on Monday.

Busiest line

Drivers refused to work on the Northern Line because of a series of failures on the emergency brakes, which stop the train if it runs through a red signal.

A spokesman for LU said: "We have been working 24 hours a day to get services restored on the Northern line and were determined to do so as quickly as we could.

"Tube Lines were able to make the modifications to all.... trains quicker than they had originally expected."

He also said sufficient numbers of drivers had been briefed on modification procedures to allow services to operate on the entire line - the busiest on the network.

LU used emergency powers to oversee modifications of the trains by Tube Lines and its sub contractor Alstom.

Posted on 02:17 PM | Permalink

The Guardian: October 18, 2005
Terry Macalister

Transport chief attacks layers of bureaucracy - Northern Line troubles require 'rebalancing'

Bob Kiley, the commissioner of Transport for London, plans to use a maintenance and safety crisis on a key part of the capital's underground rail system as a trigger to wrestle more control from the private sector.

Ken Livingstone's top transport official wants to renegotiate a public private partnership (PPP) with the Tube Lines consortium after problems on the Northern Line caused chaos for travellers. He also called for Tube Lines to scrap a maintenance contract with the French firm Alstom. Speaking on another day of reduced underground services, Mr Kiley said he would not try to end the controversial PPP with Tube Lines, but he did want it to be rebalanced towards greater public control.

"I think the lines of authority have to be clean and clear and they are not at the moment," he said. He had been able to send inspectors in to oversee maintenance work on the Northern Line, but only after taking four legal and emergency steps.

An army of lawyers had had to read the 2m words of the PPP agreement to ensure that TfL's actions through its London Underground arm were appropriate, and check a separate private finance initiative (PFI) deal between Tube Lines and Alstom contained in another 18 volumes and 358 different documents, he pointed out.

Mr Kiley would like Tube Lines to pull the plug on this 30 year PFI deal, which it inherited with Alstom when it took control of the maintenance and renewal of trains, tracks and signals on the Northern Line. "When you have two layers of bureaucracy staring you in the face in addition to your own, then you have a real problem," Mr Kiley said. "I'm saying it should be changed sufficiently to give London Underground what it desperately needs - control over its own plant."

The Northern Line hit trouble when a train braking system failed on September 9. Eight days later a special trial produced another failure of its "tripcock" system. After further failures on September 25 and October 5, London Underground moved in to oversee maintenance directly. The RMT drivers' union supported members' refusal to work until the problem was solved. A solution appeared to have been found and trains began to get back to normal but on October 12 there was a fifth braking failure. By 11am yesterday only half of operations were back to normal.

TfL said it was hopeful today would be 100% normal, but relations remain fraught. Tube Lines, which is a consortium involving US engineering group Bechtel and the Spanish-owned Amey, refused to comment on Mr Kiley's suggestions. But a spokeswoman did say that the consortium itself wanted to renegotiate the PFI arrangement, and was talking to Alstom.

French-owned Alstom has been robustly defending itself against attacks.

FAQ Train woes

What has caused a crisis on the London Underground? An emergency braking safety system on Northern Line trains has malfunctioned on five occasions. Drivers refused to work and the private firms overseeing safety and maintenance on the tube have argued about who is to blame.

What has it got to do with politicians and the public sector? The Northern Line operates under a public private partnership between publicly owned London Underground - essentially run out of the mayoral office - and the private consortium Tube Lines. Tube Lines also has a separate private finance initiative maintenance contract with the Alstom company.

What's wrong with that? The agreements are so multi-tiered and complicated that they make it difficult to establish a clear structure for command and accountability.

Can Bob Kiley wrestle more control from Tube Lines or sack Alstom? He can try to renegotiate with Tube Lines but he can only hope that Tube Lines will sack Alstom.

Posted on 01:40 PM | Permalink

RMT: October 18, 2005

THE RE-MAPPING of the midlands and cross-country rail franchises announced today by the government offers an opportunity to bring threatened rail services back under the protection of the public sector, Britain's biggest rail union said today.

Responding to news that the government is to re-structure the present Central, Silverlink, Midlands Mainline and Cross-Country franchises into three new groupings, RMT warned against using the changes to mask service cuts and station closures.

"If the government wants to make more sense of these franchises and promote rail use, the right move, the most popular move and the most efficient move would be to re-unite them in the public sector," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said.

"The experience of South Eastern Trains, which is doing better for £1 million a month less subsidy in public hands, shows that bringing them back in-house will allow the nearly £300 million subsidies these four franchises get to be used more efficiently.

"Re-privatising these services will give the green light to the private sector to continue draining huge sums out of the industry, at the cost of more service cuts and station closures.

"There are scores of stations and whole rural lines around the country put under threat by policies that encourage car use, and stations in the midlands regions covered by these franchises have already fallen under the axe.

"Britain's economy and environment are crying out for a change of direction that will encourage people out of cars and onto trains and will get freight onto rail, and the government can give a lead by announcing a moratorium on any further rail closures.

"As the biggest union for rail workers, we shall also be making it quite clear that our members will not pay for re-privatisation with their jobs, pay or conditions," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 01:02 PM | Permalink

Department of Transport: 18 October 2005

THE DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT has today announced a new structure of rail franchises, to be implemented following the expiry of the current Central Trains franchise.

The new franchise map will see:

* Three new franchises replacing four existing franchises.

* An East Midlands franchise being created. This will operate services to and from London St Pancras together with regional and local services in the East Midlands.

* A West Midlands franchise being created. This will operate the West Coast Main Line outer suburban services to and from London Euston (currently operated by Silverlink County) together with regional and local services in the West Midlands.

* A new Cross Country franchise being created. The existing franchise, operated by Virgin Rail Group under a "letter agreement" with the Department for Transport, will be re-let in Autumn 2007.

* The expiry dates of the current Central Trains and Silverlink franchises will be extended to Autumn 2007. This allows time for the development of detailed specifications for the new franchises and for full competitive procurement to take place.

There will be an option to transfer the Liverpool to Nottingham service to the TransPennine Express franchise if this demonstrates better value for money. There will also be an option to transfer the services to and from Birmingham Snow Hill to Chiltern Railways, if this, too, can demonstrate better value for money.

Discussions are still taking place on the possible transfer to Transport for London of the London inner-suburban services operated by Silverlink Metro and no final decision has been made.

The new franchise map is designed to increase the efficiency and performance of the railways, improving services for passengers. Working from these aims, in consultation with the rail industry, a wide range of options was considered before the final decision was made.

Notes to editors

1. The DfT's Future of Rail White Paper, published in July 2004, announced our intention to consider how rail passenger franchises could be best aligned with NR's regional and route structure. http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_railways/documents/divisionhomepage/031104.hcsp

2. On October 19, 2004, the Secretary of State announced that following expiry of the current Central Trains franchise, existing services would be distributed among other train operators in the region.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_railways/documents/page/dft_railways_032240.hcsp

3. For further details about this announcement, please go to http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_railways/documents/page/dft_railways_610020.hcsp

Background

The Future of Rail White Paper (Command Paper 6233), published in July 2004, announced Government's intention to consider how rail passenger franchises could be better aligned with Network Rail's regional and route structure in order to deliver better performance and improved service to passengers.

In October 2004, the Secretary of State announced that following expiry of the current Central Trains franchise, the existing services would be distributed amongst other train operators in the region. Central Trains currently provides local services throughout the East and West Midlands and long distance services from the Midlands to South Wales, the North West, East Anglia and the East Coast. The objective was to create a franchise structure better aligned to Network Rail's routes, encouraging joint working between track and train. This will see the efficiency and performance of the railways improve, meaning better services for passengers. Details of the current franchises affected by Central Trains remapping are shown in annex A.

Working from these policy aims, in consultation with rail industry stakeholders including Network Rail, ATOC, PTEs, Train Operators, franchise owning groups and the Rail Freight Operator's Association, a wide range of options were considered before the final decision on the future franchise map was made.

Future Franchise Structure

The new franchise map incorporates market-based groups of services with an operational focus, which are better aligned to Network Rail's routes in order to encourage joint working between track and train and to deliver an improved service to customers. The new franchises will also have closer regional identities than the old Central Trains franchise.

Three new franchises will replace four existing franchises. New franchises will be created to serve the East Midlands and the West Midlands. The East Midlands franchise will operate�intercity services to and from London St. Pancras and regional and local services in the East Midlands. The West Midlands franchise will operate local and regional services in the West Midlands and the West Coast Main Line outer suburban services to and from London Euston currently operated by Silverlink County.

A new Cross Country franchise will be created incorporating the current Central Trains inter-regional Nottingham to Cardiff, Nottingham to Hereford and Birmingham to Stansted Airport services into the existing Cross Country network.

Details of the service groups to be included in each franchise are shown in annex B.

It is considered that there could be further potential improvements in customer and operational focus through the transfer of two service groups to adjacent existing franchises. Liverpool - Nottingham services could be operated by TransPennine Express and services to and from Birmingham Snow Hill could be operated by Chiltern Railways. In order to confirm that these changes represent better value for money, they will be included as options within the new East and West Midlands franchises respectively. Discussions are still taking place on the possible transfer to Transport for London of the London inner-suburban services operated by Silverlink Metro and no final decision has been madeSpecification and procurement of the new franchises

Specification and procurement of the new franchises

In order to allow time for the detailed development of the specification for the three new franchises and time for full procurement competitions to take place, there will be interim Central Trains and Silverlink franchises extending from their current expiry dates in 2006 to Autumn 2007. These interim franchises will operate services broadly comparable to those operating today. Further arrangements will be put in place for the timing of the new East Midlands franchise to match the expiry of the current Midland Mainline franchise. The existing Cross Country franchise is operated by Virgin Rail Group under a temporary arrangement ("letter agreement"*) with the Department for Transport. This franchise will be re-let in Autumn 2007.

The Department for Transport will now commence development of the detailed specifications for the new franchises. As set out in the White Paper, consultation will be undertaken with relevant transport authorities and regional and local authority stakeholders during the development of the specifications.

* The "Letter Agreement" is a side letter to the franchise agreement and�varies some of the key terms of the franchise agreement. The letter agreement provided emergency financial assistance to the train operators.�Under the letter agreement, annual budgets need to be either agreed with Virgin each year or determined by DfT.�

The letter agreement is an interim arrangement pending re- franchising of Cross Country.�

The�letter agreement�gave the SRA/DfT the option to terminate the CrossCountry franchise by giving a minimum of 1 year's notice.� This option has to be exercised before 28 February 2006.

Annex A - Details of current franchises affected by Central Trains remapping

Annex B - New Franchise service group allocations

Map of new Central Trains franchises (PDF 178�Kb)

Map of current Central Trains and Silverlink franchises (PDF 152�Kb)

Map of proposed Cross Country franchise (PDF 219�Kb)

Posted on 12:56 PM | Permalink

The Independent: 18 October 2005
By Peter Woodman, PA

The Government today announced a shake-up of the rail network that will see Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains lose its CrossCountry franchise.

The Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said three new franchises will replace four existing franchises, with CrossCountry's franchise being re-let in autumn 2007.

As part of the end of the Central Trains franchise, new franchises will be created to serve the East Midlands and the West Midlands.

Meanwhile there will be interim Central Trains and Silverlink franchises extending from their current expiry dates in 2006 to a new expiry date of autumn 2007.

The East Midlands franchise will operate intercity services to and from St Pancras station in London and regional and local services in the East Midlands.

The West Midlands franchise will operate local and regional services in the West Midlands and the West Coast Main Line outer suburban services to and from Euston station in London currently operated by Silverlink County.

A new CrossCountry franchise will be created incorporating the current Central Trains inter-regional Nottingham to Cardiff, Nottingham to Hereford and Birmingham to Stansted Airport services into the existing CrossCountry network.

It is considered that there could be further potential improvements in customer and operational focus through the transfer of two service groups to adjacent existing franchises.

Liverpool to Nottingham services could be operated by TransPennine Express and services to and from Birmingham Snow Hill could be operated by Chiltern Railways.

In order to confirm that these changes represent better value for money, they will be included as options within the new East and West Midlands franchises respectively.

Discussions are still taking place on the possible transfer to Transport for London of the London inner-suburban services operated by Silverlink Metro and no final decision has been made.

Virgin, which also runs the West Coast Main Line, has been operating the serpentine CrossCountry franchise, which covers the entire network, since 1997.

But of late the CrossCountry franchise - originally due to last until 2012 - has been run under a temporary arrangement with the Department for Transport, with the department having the right to terminate the franchise early.

Today's news follows the announcement by Mr Darling in October last year that existing Central Trains services would be distributed among other operators when the Central franchise expired.

A Virgin Trains spokesman said today: "This is what we expected and there is no surprise in this. We shall continue to improve the CrossCountry franchise and grow the passenger numbers.

"This is not a reflection of the operator of CrossCountry so much as a remapping of franchises."

This is how the new franchises will look:

EAST MIDLANDS FRANCHISE
St Pancras to Derby/Nottingham/Sheffield/Leeds
Liverpool to Norwich (Liverpool to Nottingham may be operated by TransPennine if this demonstrates better value for money)
Matlock to Derby
Crewe-Skegness
Leicester-Loughborough-Lincoln
Worksop-Nottingham
Cleethorpes-Lincoln-Newark/Nottingham
Doncaster-Lincoln-Peterborough

WEST MIDLANDS FRANCHISE
Euston-Northampton
Bedford-Bletchley
Watford Junction-St Albans Abbey
Birmingham-Liverpool/Preston
Birmingham-Coventry/Northampton
Birmingham-Leicester
Birmingham-Wolverhampton
Birmingham-Shrewsbury
Coventry-Nuneaton
Walsall-Wolverhampton-Wellington
Lichfield-Redditch
Stafford-Rugeley-Walsall-Birmingham
Stafford-Stoke-on-Trent
Stafford-Nuneaton
Stratford/Shirley/Leamington/Dorridge-Birmingham Snow Hill-Stourbridge Junction/ Kidderminster/Worcester/Great Malvern (May be operated by Chiltern Railways if this offers better value for money)
Stourbridge Junction-Stourbridge Town (May be operated by Chiltern Railways if this offers better value for money)

CROSSCOUNTRY FRANCHISE
Birmingham-Reading/the South
Birmingham-Bristol-South West
Birmingham-North East-Scotland
Birmingham-North West-Scotland
Birmingham-Manchester
Manchester-Scotland
Cardiff-Nottingham
Hereford-Nottingham
Birmingham-Stansted

Posted on 11:57 AM | Permalink

ePolitix.com: 18 Oct 2005
Daniel Forman

The Department for Transport has unveiled a radical shake-up of the country's rail franchises.

The move will mean that Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains will lose its CrossCountry franchise from autumn 2007.

Three new franchises will replace four existing operations with new East and West Midlands services being created.

The huge CrossCountry network, which runs the length and breadth of the country, could be both expanded and broken up under the plan in an attempt to deliver better value-for-money for passengers and taxpayers.

Transport secretary Alistair Darling announced the changes on Tuesday, one year on from his railways white paper on the future of the network.

Virgin said it had expected the announcement and that it was not a reflection on its customer services. It will keep its key West Coast Main Line operation between London and the North West.

The franchise had already been cut short from its original 2012 end date, under a temporary deal whereby it was jointly managed by Virgin and the Department.

Ministers believe that CrossCountry, based around services in and out of Birmingham, could better serve passengers by taking on additional lines such as Nottingham to Cardiff and Hereford and from the second city to Stansted Airport.

However the operation of the new franchise could be split into two service groups run by adjacent existing franchises.

Darling said no decision had yet been made on transferring London inner-suburban services to mayor Ken Livingstone's control.

The minister said the move was: "Not about removing routes - it is a sensible reorganisation of the railways."

He argued that attempts to save money were not designed to reduce the size of the railway network
"Cost control is absolutely essential and I think there will be changes. But we should have the confidence of making changes against the background of a growing railway, not a shrinking railway.

"I am an incurable pessimist but I am very optimistic about the future of the railways."

Posted on 11:49 AM | Permalink

The Scotsman: 18 Oct 2005
ALASTAIR DALTON - TRANSPORT CORRESPONDENT

RAIL fares could be cut on off-peak services to ease overcrowding on Scotland's busiest commuter lines.

Ministers said the move might reduce congestion and encourage more passengers to travel by rail.

The idea is part of a new Scottish Executive consultation on the future of the country's railways, which comes as it takes control of spending on the network, in the biggest transfer of powers since devolution.

The consultation also suggests improving the performance of the existing network could become more important than building new lines once the current round of projects is completed, such as links to Edinburgh and Glasgow airports.

Fares are already higher at peak hours, but the proposal could increase the gap with off-peak tickets.

The Executive has the power to alter the level of "regulated" fares, such as standard singles and returns, and season tickets.

The document stated that on commuter services which suffered capacity problems, "differential fares for earlier or later services may be a very effective way of spreading the load across a greater period without the need of additional services."

Tavish Scott, the transport minister, said: "This is an eminently sensible suggestion. I want to make trains as attractive as possible to passengers."

James King, the Scottish member of the Rail Passengers Council, welcomed the proposal.

He said: "Fares are always on the list of things passengers want addressed."

Meanwhile, Mr Scott said Network Rail should shoulder more of the blame for faults on the network it caused, such as the recent major signal failures in Edinburgh and Glasgow, which led to major disruption.

Posted on 11:11 AM | Permalink

The Times: October 18, 2005
By Ben Webster

Government is failing to invest despite a predicted 60% rise in train usage by 2024.

RAIL passengers face a bleak future of overcrowding and rising fares unless the Government tackles bottlenecks across the network, according to a Manifesto for Rail Growth published yesterday.

Britain has the fastest-growing railways in Europe, with the number of journeys rising by 38 per cent in the past decade to more than a billion last year. The Association of Train Operating Companies estimates that the total distance travelled by train will grow by another 60 per cent by 2024.

The rail industry joined forces yesterday with passenger groups, local authorities and trade unions to call for investment to create sufficient capacity to cope with the growth.

The twenty-one organisations published a joint manifesto that identified ten bottlenecks requiring immediate attention. These include sections of the East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh where trains are funnelled from four tracks to two.

The manifesto also called for longer platforms on commuter lines to allow an extra two carriages to be added to trains serving Waterloo, London Bridge and Victoria stations in London. In the North, the manifesto proposed extra tracks and improved signalling around Manchester to relieve peak time overcrowding.

The industry believes that the only alternative is to raise fares well above inflation every year to choke off demand.

The manifesto was signed on behalf of the industry by the Railway Forum and endorsed by the TUC, Transport 2000, local authorities in seven major cities and several charities, including Help the Aged.

Stephen Joseph, director of Transport 2000, said that the Government claimed to be in favour of people switching from private cars to public transport but was doing little to encourage them. �Despite the obvious demand for rail travel, there are no plans to expand the railways; indeed closures and cuts are on the agenda. They are expanding roads and airports despite the Government�s prediction that road congestion will grow by 37 per cent by 2010.�

Mr Joseph said that ministers were failing to match their plans for building a million new homes over the next 20 years with proposals for improving rail services.

Cambridge has been earmarked for 60 per cent more homes, but there are no plans to expand rail capacity.

The Government�s �Northern Way� strategy proposes to regenerate run-down urban areas in the North of England but ministers are currently considering deep cuts in rail services in the region.

The paucity of rail investment in England contrasts with the situation in Scotland, where the Scottish Executive has approved the reopening of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine line and is considering reopening the Waverley line between Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders.

The manifesto accused the Government of undermining the case for investing in rail by using appraisal methods which underestimated the benefits of expansion.

The only new rail line in England supported by the Government is Crossrail, the �16 billion scheme to build twin train tunnels under London. But ministers have refused to say how much public money the project will receive, raising doubts that it will be completed.

Posted on 11:07 AM | Permalink

CPS statement: 17th October 2005

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has advised British Transport Police (BTP) on whether criminal charges should be brought in relation to the Potters Bar derailment in May 2002.

CPS Principal Legal Adviser Chris Newell said:

"After giving careful consideration to the large volume of evidence provided, the CPS has advised that it does not provide a realistic prospect of conviction for an offence of gross negligence manslaughter against any individual or corporation. The rail crash at Potters Bar resulted in the deaths of seven passengers. Around seventy more were injured, several of them seriously. Our thoughts are with those victims and the relatives of the deceased."

The case will now be referred to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to consider whether or not proceedings under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 are appropriate.

To bring a prosecution for gross negligence manslaughter, the CPS needed to have identified a specific individual as committing a breach of duty of care, which was so serious or gross as to be criminal to the level of manslaughter, as well as being a substantial cause of the deaths of the deceased.

No individual was identified as having committed that breach of care, in the first instance because it was impossible to pinpoint when the faults occurred which caused the points failure. Without an individual being identified, no prosecution could proceed against a corporation.

The CPS's decision comes four months after receiving the final evidence from BTP. The investigation began in July 2002 and was led by BTP under the Work-Related Deaths Protocol, on the basis that a serious criminal offence could have caused the accident. HSE took over the lead in March 2004 because the emphasis of the investigation had turned to systems and procedures, which fall within the specialist skills and experience of HSE investigators.

Posted on 10:59 AM | Permalink

RMT: 17 Oct 2005

RESPONDING TO the announcement by the Crown Prosecution Service that there will be no manslaughter charges brought over the 2002 Potters Bar rail crash in which seven people died, RMT general secretary Bob Crow today said: "This is another sad chapter in the sorry story of rail privatisation."

"Once again justice has failed to be done because there is no proper corporate manslaughter law in place.

"Once again big business has been let off the hook to laugh up its sleeve at the heartache of the victims, their families and our members."

Posted on 06:34 PM | Permalink

icBirmingham: Oct 17 2005
By Jonathan Walker, Political Editor

Plans to axe rural rail services have been condemned by MPs from across the Midlands.

The Strategic Rail Authority was under fire after it warned services would be cut because trains were running almost empty.

The issue was one of the first to be raised by MPs on their return to the House of Commons following the long summer break.

Earlier this year the SRA unveiled plans to axe the Wolverhampton to Walsall, Stoke to Stafford and Stafford to Nuneaton services.

A coach service will replace the Wolverhampton to Walsall line, but it is thought this will be only temporary.

Wolverhampton MP Rob Marris (Lab Wolverhampton South West) criticised the proposals in an official Commons motion.

He was "deeply concerned" by the changes. "The Wolverhampton to Walsall rail journey time is 13 minutes, which it is only possible safely to match by road when going non-stop and offpeak," he said.

The service was also growing in popularity, he said. "This rail route carried 16 per cent more passengers in 2004 than in 2003," he added.

MPs Mark Fisher (Lab Stoke Central) and Robert Flello (Stoke South) also attacked the changes in a separate Commons motion.

They said: " This will increase traffic congestion and noise", and called on the SRA to reverse the decision.

The proposals are part of the West Midlands Route Utilisation Strategy, published by the Strategic Rail Authority and approved by Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling. This sets out the future of the region's rail network up to 2011.

As well as measures to cut under-used services, the SRA also plans to deal with overcrowding on the most popular lines by increasing costs. Fees at station car parks will go up at peak times to encourage commuters to leave before rush hour. But there could be cheaper rail fares in periods when trains are less used, and trains could also gain extra carriages, with platforms lengthened at a number of stations to accommodate them.

The strategy warns that rail usage in the West Midlands has grown by 44 per cent over the past ten years and demand is set to rise further, partly as a result of developments in Birmingham including the Bullring, and the planned renovation of Arena Central and Paradise Circus.

Posted on 04:30 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 17 October 2005

An independent team has been launched to investigate rail accidents across the UK. The Rail Accident and Investigation Branch (RAIB) will operate from Derby and Woking in Surrey.

Investigators will look at how crashes are caused and work to improve safety and reduce the number of accidents.

The body has been set up following an inquiry into the cause of the Ladbroke Grove crash which killed 31 people in October 1999.

All systems

It will investigate accidents on mainline, metro, light rail, heritage and some cable rail systems.

Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Transport, said: "The launch of RAIB puts the investigation of rail accidents on a new footing.

"The RAIB has the important responsibility of ensuring the causes of accidents are identified as quickly as possible, shared publicly and effective recommendations are made to prevent similar occurrences."

Any investigations will be independent and will be carried out alongside those conducted by industry regulators, the police and the Health and Safety Executive.

The RAIB will report its findings directly to the Secretary of State for Transport.

Posted on 04:26 PM | Permalink

East Anglia Daily Times: October 17, 2005

THE rail network in East Anglia is 'bursting at the seams' and needs drastic improvements to commuter and freight services, a damning new report claims.

Pressure group Transport 2000 publishes its manifesto today and has drawn up a list of 'pinch points' in the East of England, which it believes must be tackled as part of the Government's new rail strategy.

It says the bottlenecks constrain growth, lead to overcrowding, choke demand and debilitate train travel - and can only be solved by having more stations, extra services and longer trains.

Importantly for commuters in Suffolk and Essex, the 21-strong coalition of trade, voluntary and public sector organisations says infrastructure improvements are needed on the Ipswich to London line.

A spokesman for Transport 2000 said: "In stark contrast to the situation in Scotland and Wales, where bottlenecks are being addressed and lines reopened, parts of the East of England's railways are already bursting at the seams and desperately need expanding."

Among the 12 areas it says need tackling in the region, is the need for an east to west project.

This would see improvements to links from East Anglia to destinations on the opposite side of London and connection to all radial routes north of the Thames.

It says the scheme would be essential for freight and rail travel within and outside the region, which is only possible via London at present.

The group identifies the East Suffolk Junction, where two freight tracks from the north and two passenger and freight tracks from the East Suffolk/Felixstowe branch converge into one line, was a 'serious' bottleneck and needs upgrading, along with the Felixstowe to Nuneaton cross-country freight route.

It called for solutions to the �major pinch point� at Ely's north junction and outlined the need for re-signalling in Ely to restore capacity and flexibility.

The line between Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon should also be reinstated in stages, it claims, to take traffic off the A14 and there should be an extra platform at Cambridge.

The four-page manifesto says that a growing railway is critical to meeting Government economic and environmental objectives, as well as being integral to tackling road congestion, serving new developments, supporting regeneration and social inclusion.

John Brodribb, from the Sustainable Transport and Environment for Eastern Region (STEER), said: "An efficient railway isn't just about travelling long distances to get from one side of the country to another. It's about ensuring that people can get to work, shops and other local amenities within their towns and cities.

"Local rail connections in the East of England urgently require attention and upgrade, and we urge the Government not to forget the local perspective when growing the railways."

Peter Meades, spokesman for East Anglian passenger train operator One, said Transport 2000's points were an 'interesting shopping list' and explained its role in any changes to the network.

He said: "Because of the way the rail industry is structured now all these issues that relate to infrastructure enhancement and investment come under the remit of Network Rail and the Department for Transport.

"Our role is to run the train services in line with the specifications in the franchise agreement.

"Having said that, we want to work with the Government and stakeholders wherever we can to try to make improvements to the rail network where that will provide key passenger benefits."

However, he said a lot had work had already been done in some of the areas Transport 2000 pinpoints.

These include the east to west project and the 'significant investment' on the Ipswich to London line, which has seen track improvements at Ipswich tunnel and Manningtree.

He said the East Suffolk junction could cope with the level of service at the moment, but more investment might be needed should Felixstowe port be expanded.

And there were already major proposals for a new station at Chesterton, near Cambridge, which Cambridgeshire County Council was taking forward, Mr Meades added.

A spokeswoman for Network Rail said: "We will certainly look at the Transport 2000 manifesto with interest. Transport 2000 will have the opportunity to take part in the consultation process for the Route Utilisation Strategy."

The strategy will look at routes across the country and their capacity, identifying any possible schemes and future growth areas. As part of the process, Network Rail is finding out what interested parties, such as passenger groups, local authorities, freight and train operators, would like to see.

Posted on 04:22 PM | Permalink

The Scotsman: 17 Oct 2005

Scottish ministers have taken control of the rail network north of the border.

The move, which is the most significant extension of devolution since the Scottish Parliament's creation in 1999, will see the Executive receiving around £360 million to fund its new responsibilities.

Ministers have now gained wide-ranging powers over the rail franchise, the rail network, tracks, stations and depots.

They will manage the seven-year First ScotRail franchise and have taken responsibility to set fares and fund railway improvements.

Transport minister Tavish Scott said the new powers would enable key rail industry players to provide a modern, reliable service for Scotland.

"Passengers want a train service which meets their needs and expectations - whether business or social," he said.

"Transfer of powers increases the level of accountability Scottish ministers have to the Scottish Parliament in ensuring our rail network meets the needs of all rail users, passengers and businesses.

"Rail devolution is good news because it provides us with the opportunity to ensure we consider the needs of the Scottish network as a whole."

The cash will allow improvements at Edinburgh's Waverley Station to move forward, among other projects.

Under the new powers, the Executive has taken sole control of spending by Network Rail, which has responsibility for tracks and signals. A new transport agency for Scotland will be tasked with taking on the additional powers.

Posted on 04:18 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 17 October 2005

Manslaughter charges will not be brought over the Potters Bar rail crash in which seven died and 76 were hurt, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. Health and safety charges could now be brought.

The CPS said there was not a "realistic prospect of conviction" of any individual or company for an offence of manslaughter by gross negligence.

The 2002 Hertfordshire crash was caused by a faulty set of points.

Relatives said they were angry but not surprised. The case will be referred to the Health and Safety Executive.

The points at the time were operated by Railtrack - whose responsibilities were taken over by Network Rail - and maintained by engineering firm Jarvis.

Inquest

Crucial nuts that should have been holding the tracks together were found lying unscrewed alongside the rails.

"Once again, justice has failed to be done because there is no proper corporate manslaughter law in place" - Bob Crow, RMT union

In depth: Potters Bar crash

The British Transport Police have not been able to discover when the bolts came loose - and who might have been responsible for ensuring they were tightened.

In the most recent report into the crash, the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) said the cause may have been maintenance practices dating back to before privatisation.

The second report by the Health and Safety Executive in May 2003 found no evidence of sabotage or deliberate unauthorised interference with the points.

HSE investigators have now taken over to examine whether health and safety laws were broken.

The HSE said it would be awaiting the result of a coroner's inquest before deciding whether to bring any charges.

The practice is normal HSE policy and recognises the fact that additional information may come to light as a result of the inquest or the coroner may decide to refer the case back to the CPS.

Corporate killing laws

A relative of one of the victims said she was "angry and bitter but not surprised" at the announcement.

"It was quite obvious that this crash was due to bad maintenance," said Perdita Kark, whose father Austen Kark, 75, died.

"I don't want to see the chap who wielded the spanner take all the blame."

Police have not been able to discover how track bolts came loose

Ms Kark said the existing corporate manslaughter laws were "very problematical".

Her sentiments were echoed by Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT union and Keith Norman, general secretary of the train drivers' union Aslef.

Mr Crow was among those calling for the proposed government overhaul of corporate manslaughter legislation to be brought in quickly after the Hatfield rail crash trial ended at the Old Bailey with convictions over health and safety breaches.

"Once again, justice has failed to be done because there is no proper corporate manslaughter law in place," he said.

Under existing law, a company can be convicted of corporate manslaughter only if a senior individual in that company is guilty of "gross negligence manslaughter".

Network Rail said it would continue to co-operate with the HSE.

"Over the last three years there have been many changes on the railways.

"Network Rail - a not-for-dividend company - took over from Railtrack in 2002.

"Maintenance has been taken in-house, restoring the link between ownership and upkeep of the rail infrastructure."

Posted on 04:13 PM | Permalink

RMT: 17 October 2005

BRITAIN'S BIGGEST rail union will today call for a moratorium on rail closures as a broad coalition of 21 organisations launches a manifesto for 'Growing the Railways'.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow will be among the speakers at today's launch. (see note below).

"Britain's economy and environment are crying out for policies that encourage people out of cars and onto trains and get freight onto rail," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Now is certainly not the time to be closing railway lines, and if ever there was a time for joined-up government, this is it.

"The government's own environmental commitments and plans for sustainable communities and road-pricing can only be undermined by closing railway lines.

"The time has come for ministers to stand up to the roads lobby and make a commitment to developing public transport, and a good start would be an immediate moratorium on all railway closures," Bob Crow said.

Note for editors. The launch of the 'Growing the Railways' manifesto is at 09:30 today (Monday October 17, at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, 12 Great George Street, Parliament Square, London SW1P 3AD. For further information on the Manifesto contact Transport 2000 on 020 7613 7716.

Posted on 09:04 AM | Permalink

The Yomiuri Shimbun: Oct. 17, 2005

Some railway companies provide only short breaks between shifts for their train drivers and the methods used to test drivers for sleep apnea syndrome vary widely, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey of 37 major railway companies conducted ahead of the six-month anniversary of a fatal derailment on the JR Fukuchiyama Line.

Although the railway operators conduct almost the same number of health checks each year on train drivers, the times given for sleep breaks and the number of sleep rooms provided drivers on overnight shifts vary considerably between the firms.

The survey was conducted in August and September through written questionnaires supplemented by telephone interviews.

Based on the labor laws, all 37 companies provide health checks once or twice a year for train drivers. They also conduct aptitude tests when drivers obtain their license and every three years after that. But the companies use different methods to check for sleep apnea because there is no legal stipulation about testing for the syndrome.

Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu) and Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co., both based in Fukuoka, check their drivers for sleep apnea by testing blood oxygen levels.

Ten other companies use doctor consultations to check for the syndrome.

Twenty-three firms, or 60 percent, test for sleep apnea simply by asking drivers to fill out a self-assessment questionnaire, then refer the drivers for simple medical tests by specialist doctors if the questionnaire reveals the possibility of the syndrome.

The train driver who died in the Fukuchiyama Line accident he caused passed an aptitude test in April 2003. He was judged to have no problem with sleep apnea based on his self-assessment.

The survey found drivers work on average between seven and eight hours a day, but there is no legal regulation stipulating the break they receive between finishing a late night shift and beginning an early morning shift.

Nagoya Railroad Co., based in Nagoya, provides a seven hour break--the longest time among the surveyed companies. The shortest was a minimum of three hours at Tokyo-based Japan Freight Railway Co. (JR Freight).

"The length of time [between shifts] is decided depending on the distances drivers will be driving the following day. Our train drivers can get the necessary sleeping time," a JR Freight representative said.

West Japan Railway Co. and 10 other companies provide separate rooms in which drivers can sleep. At Tokyo-based Odakyu Electric Railway Co., 60 percent of train drivers working night shifts are provided access to separate rooms where they can take naps.

Posted on 01:11 AM | Permalink

EuroNews: 15 October 2005

The French and Italian transport ministers were joined by various European dignitaries for a ceremony marking the start of final preparations for the construction of the high-speed rail connection between France and Italy.

They were celebrating the start of work on the third and last access tunnel and survey gallery at La Praz on the French side of the Alps. The access tunnels have to be completed before the main work can start.

The line will run, in two tunnels, through the Alps between Lyon in south east France and Turin in north west Italy.

Currently the journey over the Alps takes four hours. When the new tunnel is completed, the travel time will be cut by two and a half hours, to one hour and 45 minutes.

Jacques Ricard, who is in charge of the project for the LTF Group, said: "It is certainly an enormous project, 53 kilometres under the Alps. The geological complexity of the area required huge research. To give you some idea, we have around 3,500people working on that." It is estimated the project will cost somewhere around 12.5 billion euros and be completed in about 15 years time.

Many of the techniques being used were pioneered in the rail tunnel under the Channel between Britain and France.

Posted on 06:52 PM | Permalink

The Australian:: October 15, 2005
By Blair Speedy

THE chief executive of Pacific National, the rail freight company owned jointly by Patrick Corp and hostile takeover suitor Toll Holdings, has quit amid claims he was threatened and intimidated by Toll directors.
Stephen O'Donnell tendered his resignation to the PN board yesterday, saying his position had become untenable.

"I have found recent threats and intimidatory behaviour by one of the Toll directors to be completely unacceptable to me both personally and as a professional manager," he wrote in a letter seen by The Australian.

It is understood Mr O'Donnell first became concerned about harassment by an unnamed Toll director after receiving 20 emails demanding information about the performance of PN within three hours of the launch of Toll's takeover bid for Patrick in August.

A Toll spokesman said the company regretted Mr O'Donnell's decision to resign, but would not comment on his reasons for leaving.

"We thank him for his contribution as part of an outstanding Toll and Patrick team that has built a thriving business in Pacific National," he said.

But Mr O'Donnell's letter paints a different picture of PN, saying the relationship between Toll and Patrick had been destroyed by a dispute over a controversial contract between PN and Toll's Queensland subsidiary Toll North.

"Contributing to my decision to resign is that it is now clear to me that the Pacific National Queensland dispute has led to an irreparable breakdown in the relationship between shareholders," he said.

Patrick is seeking to have PN broken up over the contract, which it claims is uneconomic and would cost the rail freight business $510 million in revenue over 20 years while giving Toll complete control over PN's Queensland rail network.

Mr O'Donnell's letter also appears to support Patrick's allegation that the Pacific National executives who negotiated the contract with Toll had a clear conflict of interest because they were still on the Toll payroll at the time.

"The aberrant behaviour by one of the Toll employees accountable for the PN Queensland contract, who now refuses to accept my termination of his secondment to Pacific National, confirms in my mind the need to resign as CEO," he wrote.

His resignation follows the standing-down of PN commercial general manager Robert Jeremy and chief operating officer Mal Grimmond, on secondment from Toll and put on extended leave last month pending outcome of the dispute.

Mr O'Donnell, who joined PN in 2002, said he was prepared to serve out the two-month notice period specified in his contract.

The news came as Toll and Patrick argue over the appointment of an arbitrator to assess if the contract dispute was significant enough to PN to warrant dissolving the joint venture.

Posted on 05:50 PM | Permalink

Tasmanian Mercury: 15 Oct' 2005
By PHIL BECK

TASMANIA'S railway system must not be allowed to wither and die. This was the unanimous sentiment expressed by speakers at a forum on the future of rail in Tasmania held in Hobart yesterday.

With owner Pacific National saying the railway is no longer an economically viable proposition, it is in danger of closing without substantial State and Federal Government assistance.

Department of Infrastructure Energy and Resources secretary Mark Addis said the claim presented by Pacific National amounted to $120 million over 10 years, but it had not been supported by a business case.

"From a government perspective, we can't do business that way," Mr Addis said.

Mr Addis said the State and Federal Governments had agreed to jointly fund an independent assessment into whether a case for public money being put into a private company could be justified.

If it was, then the Government needed to consider all the options. He said the assessment was being fast-tracked and should be completed by the end of next month.

Transport economist Bob Cotgrove said railways had a legitimate case for seeking assistance for the public benefits they provided.

Both State and Federal Government had an obligation to compensate Pacific National for diverting container freights from the road network, and for infrastructure investment just as governments did for roads.

Pacific National's Tasmanian chief executive officer, Neil MacKinnon, said there was no guarantee the company could maintain all services during the duration of the study if there were more locomotive breakdowns but it was keeping its customers informed.

Opposition Leader Rene Hidding released a draft plan for discussion which proposed title of the rail lines, ballast and sleepers, which Pacific National bought for $22 million, should be bought for $1 and be vested in the Tasmanian Ports Corporation.

He said the Federal Government should provide $78 million over 10 years for infrastructure funding and the State Government $40 million over 12 years.

Infrastructure, Energy and Resources Minister Bryan Green said Mr Hidding was shooting from the hip.

"Federal Minister Warren Truss must be livid that his state colleague would commit the Commonwealth to spend $78 million on a private operation without even a phone call to Canberra," Mr Green said.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union organiser Greg Harvey said it was a sad indictment on the Federal Government that it had not sent a representative to the forum.

Posted on 05:41 PM | Permalink

The Australian: October 15, 2005
By Ean Higgins and Glenda Korporaal

AUSTRALIA'S ports, railways and water systems have been starved of funds because State Governments have been lured into dubious private sector toll-road deals that often swallow hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies.

Leading economists and transport consultants yesterday said pressure from private investors for toll-road projects, which proved enormously profitable, had skewed national investment in infrastructure.

The big profits made by individual investors who put money into infrastructure investment bonds in earlier years had further fuelled private-sector appetite for such projects.

Debate over private funding of public infrastructure projects was triggered when details emerged of sweeteners in the NSW Government's contracts with two consortiums building road tunnels in Sydney, in turn forcing a critical examination of similar projects around the country.

Business Council of Australia member Rod Pearse, who chaired a BCA taskforce on infrastructure, said it was fair to ask whether the money devoted to toll roads and tunnels could have been better spent elsewhere.

"It is essential for governments to decide exactly what they can reasonably afford, and weigh up the public and private benefits and costs," he said.

His taskforce had identified a $300billion list of roads, rail, energy generation and water infrastructure in need of "debottlenecking" to allow the economy to continue to grow.

All states and territories, and the commonwealth, should adopt a co-ordinated stocktake of the nation's real infrastructure needs, said Mr Pearse, chief executive of building materials group Boral. "We have had growing pains, and responsibility for these matters is fragmented."

In February, Reserve Bank governor Ian Macfarlane urged the Howard Government to encourage a new wave of investment around the country to remove a suite of bottlenecks in the economy, from ports to electricity production. His comments came after a year-long campaign by The Australian.

John Howard followed up in March, appointing Sydney Airports chief Max Moore-Wilton, economist Henry Ergas and resources bureaucrat Brian Fisher to conduct a review of bottlenecks. The panel reported in June, finding that without significant reform to the nation's infrastructure, Australia's export potential over the next five to 10 yaers risked being compromised.

The NSW Government is facing the public blowtorch over the $1.1billion Lane Cove tunnel on Sydney's north shore, which will have a $2.50 toll when it opens in 2007, and the recently completed $680million Cross City Tunnel, which has perilously few customers paying its $3.56 toll.

The contracts contain a series of clauses in which the state Government ensures the profitability of the project, including closing or restricting competing roads to drive traffic on to the toll roads.

Former NSW auditor-general and economist Tony Harris said NSW could have afforded to fund all the private tollways in Sydney by imposing its own, modest 50c fee for usage, had it been willing to halve its $13billion debt over the past 10 years rather than eliminating it altogether.

"Road networks are a public asset and we shouldn't be parcelling them off to the private sector," he said. "Because the state is not paying for these roads - the motorist is - and the Government is in a position to make them profitable by closing roads, there may be less scrutiny of their value compared to traditional infrastructure projects such as rail and ports."

He said states that relied on the private sector to build and operate toll roads faced huge disadvantages, including legal contract costs that could take up to 7 per cent of the total value of the deal. He said that by committing to contracts spanning up to 50 years, governments were locking themselves into planning decisions they might otherwise want to adjust over time.

The toll roads were often inordinately profitable for the operator, he said, with one enjoying a 20-fold profit.

Rod Sims, director of Port Jackson Partners and a commissioner on the National Competition Council, said there were, in principle, "clear advantages in public/private sector partnerships". "But the question is whether governments are getting too greedy. You should not be closing off a lot of streets to sweeten the deal and get more money out of it."

The winning consortium for the Cross City tunnel, headed by Asia's richest man Li Kashing, is understood to have offered the NSW Roads and Transport Authority as much as $40million more than its rivals as an upfront fee. With the full details of the contract still to be released, how much this bumped up the price for travelling through the tunnel is unclear.

The upfront fee the consortium paid - $105million - is to be investigated by NSW Auditor-General Bob Sendt as part of his review of the Cross City Tunnel project contract.

Mr Sendt told The Weekend Australian the review would examine whether the fee was a genuine compensation for works needed to be done by the NSW RTA or "whether it was part of the bargaining process".

Paul Mees, transport lecturer at Melbourne University, said there might not be enough justification for the Cross City tunnel in terms of traffic wanting to go through the city.

Posted on 05:35 PM | Permalink

Nyteknik: 15 October, 2005

Bombardier is developing a next-generation bogie where axles are actively pivoted radially by an electric motor.

Current radial bogies also have pivoting axles, but they pivot passively. Controlling the pivot would mean the bogies retain stiffness on straight track, allowing higher speed on straights while retaining the curve benefits of today's radial bogies.

The active bogie is part of the "Green Train" project, where Bombardier is working with the Royal Swedish Insitute of Technology (KTH) and Swedish Rail Administration Banverket on a next-generation X�2000 train for 250 km/h. A modified Regina train is being tested with private operator T�gkompaniet next summer.

The aim of the proposed program Green Train is to strengthen the Swedish competence in developing and procuring the future generation of high-speed trains, according to Swedish requirements and special conditions. The aim is also to strengthen possibilities to participate in and influence the all-European program of railway research and standardisation.

This is to be achieved by a joint R&D program between The Swedish National Rail Administration, Banverket, and the Swedish rail industry on one hand and Swedish universities, research institutes and consultants on the other.

Work package 1 aims at developing track-friendly bogies with a high ride and acoustic comfort for speeds of at least 250 km/h, train-borne noise barriers and active lateral suspension. Also behaviour under winter conditions should be tested.

Posted on 05:21 PM | Permalink

Mumbai Newsline: October 15

OVER 1,000 General Council members of the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen will attend a three-day meet at Bangalore from October 21 to October 24 for the 28th preliminary session of the Indian National Trade Union Congress.

The main agenda of the General Council meeting will be the consideration of draft resolutions as recommended by the Working Committee and a review of the labour situation and organisation methods. It will also push a number of long-standing demands, including:

* the appointment of the sixth Central pay commission
* a halt on the downsizing of the workforce and a lift on the ban on recruitment
* Legislative measures to ensure the right to strike for all workers and employees
* a halt on perennial outsourcing
* Reduction of duty hours of running staff, ie drivers and guards
* Provisions for the creation of posts in Safety categories and for manning and maintaining of new assets and services.

Posted on 01:57 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 15 October 2005

China has announced the completion of the first railway line to Tibet - one of the world's highest train routes.

Construction has involved several engineering feats

The pan-Himalayan line climbs 5,072m (16,640ft) above sea level and runs across Tibet's snow-covered plateau - dubbed the roof of the world.

Trains travelling on the line will have to have carriages that are sealed like aircraft to protect passengers from altitude sickness.

The line is expected to take its first passengers next year.

The official Xinhua news agency said $3bn had been spent on the challenging 1,142km (710-mile) final section, after four years in construction.

The workers who built the line had to breathe bottled oxygen in order to cope with the high altitudes.

China says the line will promote the development of impoverished Tibet.

The line links the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, with the north-western province of Qinghai.

But even before the railway line opens there are concerns about its future. The National Climate Centre said in June that rising temperatures would affect operation of the railway by 2050.

Posted on 01:44 PM | Permalink

BBC: 14 October 2005
By Tom Symonds - transport correspondent

Railtrack shareholders have lost their battle for compensation from the government. Tom Symonds examines how the case came to court.

On the night of Friday 8 October 2001 the lights were burning brightly in two London offices. At Railtrack's headquarters, dubbed "the black tower" by the rail industry, executives were digesting some devastating news.

It had been delivered to them by the occupants of the other office. Across town at the Department of Transport, ministers had decided to shut Railtrack down.

Within 48 hours, a court had put the owner of Britain's railway network into administration. Railtrack was later to be replaced by the company we have now - Network Rail, which has no shareholders.

The demise of Railtrack was a dramatic and pivotal moment in the short history of the privatised railways.

Earlier in the year, the company had hit the financial buffers because of the spiralling cost of repairs following the Hatfield disaster and the huge bill for modernising the London to Glasgow main line.

Secret letters

Rail regulator Tom Winsor had criticised Railtrack for holding out a begging bowl for more public money and, in the summer of 2001, officials at the Department of Transport began planning what to do next.

Four years later, all has been revealed by the High Court case against the government brought by nearly 50,000 shareholders. In an open court, the usually private workings of the civil service have been laid bare.

In secret letters, e-mails and memos, officials discussed whether the collapse of Railtrack could be triggered by the government withdrawing its financial support. They argued over what the alternatives would be and whether private shareholders, sometimes referred to as "grannies", should be compensated.

The shareholders said this amounted to a malicious plot to destroy the company and reverse privatisation by replacing Railtrack with a not-for-profit alternative.

The government insisted it was simply considering all the options and working up a contingency plan for the possibility it might decide to withdraw support for Railtrack.

No-one disputes the fact that the plan, codenamed Project Ariel, was highly secret. Shareholders were kept in the dark - and many were still buying shares the night before the company collapsed.

Personal statement

During the court case the transport secretary at the time, Stephen Byers, was closely cross-examined and admitted that in the months following the Railtrack administration he was not entirely truthful when questioned by a committee of MPs. Stephen Byers may be censured by MPs for his untruth.

He was asked if he began discussing the demise of Railtrack before a crucial meeting in July 2001, at which the company's chairman warned Mr Byers of the financial difficulties.

His answer at the time was "no". But during the court case he admitted "it is true to say there was work going on so yes that was untrue".

Mr Byers plans to make a personal statement to the House of Commons and may be censured by MPs for his untruth.

The Railtrack shareholders count this as a big victory, an admission that has made the case worth bringing.

They also say that they now have a much clearer understanding of how and why in a single weekend in 2001, their company met its fate.

Posted on 06:31 AM | Permalink

The Guardian: October 15, 2005
Stephen Byers

The Railtrack judgment places the public interest over narrow shareholder concerns.

When I decided that no more taxpayers' money should be used to prop up the private monopoly that was Railtrack, I knew that all hell would break loose. The political stakes were high. It would after all lead to the demise of a Tory privatisation and its subsequent replacement by a company with no shareholders and therefore able to put the public interest first.

What I hadn't expected was that nearly four years later I would have to spend three days under cross-examination in the high court and that much of my political life, at least the public part of it, would be put on hold for the best part of this year.

Despite these difficulties I have no doubt that it was the right decision to take. Just before the 2001 general election the government gave an extra �1.5bn to Railtrack to help it deal with chronic underinvestment in the network that was revealed by the Hatfield derailment. A few weeks after receiving the money the company paid out a dividend of �134m to its shareholders. In my view this state of affairs couldn't be allowed to continue, with the interests of shareholders taking priority over the public interest.

Once it was denied access to further taxpayers' money the precarious and unsustainable financial position of Railtrack became clear. Without extra public money it went into administration, to be replaced by Network Rail.

Under the latter's stewardship train delays are down; track maintenance has been taken away from the Balfour Beattys of this world and brought in-house; broken rails are at their lowest level; and perhaps most importantly the ethos of public service now runs through the very core of Network Rail.

But all of this was unacceptable to a group of former Railtrack shareholders. They have used our legal system to launch a political attack on me for the decision that I took. Their action was for "misfeasance in public office". Essentially, this is a claim that a public official has intentionally abused his powers with the aim of damaging others.

The central allegation made against me was that I had "targeted malice" towards the shareholders in Railtrack and that as a result I had committed a "deliberate and dishonest abuse of my powers" as secretary of state for transport by impairing the value of their shares in Railtrack without paying compensation and without the approval of parliament.

It is obviously a relief at a personal level to see these claims rejected and for my actions to be vindicated by yesterday's high court judgment. It was particularly pleasing to hear the judge say that my demeanour throughout was of a witness confident in the rightness of his case and that in giving my evidence I had not sought to deceive or mislead the court on any issue.

But the nature of this type of claim against the decisions of cabinet ministers has far-reaching consequences above and beyond my own position.

The principle at stake here is the extent to which restrictions should be placed on the power of government ministers to act in the public interest. Is it the case that, for example, the sectional interests of shareholders in a monopoly public service should limit the ability of a minister to act in order to benefit the population at large?

This raises serious questions about accountability in a democracy. On this occasion the high court has taken the right decision. But there is no guarantee that this will always be the case. My concern is the impact that the threat of an action for misfeasance in public office will have on decision-making in government. Ministers will be acutely aware that the legal process can be used to pursue political objectives. The danger must be that in the future, when a cabinet minister comes to weigh up the arguments for and against taking a major public policy decision that they know will be politically controversial, the threat of being subject to an action for misfeasance will tilt the balance in favour of simply leaving things as they are.

Many commentators already say we have a risk-averse government as far as action on the domestic policy front is concerned; that as time has gone on in office it has become more of an administration running the existing state of affairs than a government with the political edge and the motivation to take those difficult decisions that will change our country for the good.

History teaches us that those who have control and influence do not give them up easily. They now have a new weapon in their armoury - the bringing of an action for misfeasance in public office.

Yesterday the high court upheld the primacy of our democratic system and the accountability of ministers to the population at large. I just hope that in the future this remains the case.

� Stephen Byers was transport secretary from 2001 to 2002

stephenbyersmp@parliament.uk

Posted on 06:01 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 14 October 2005

A South African-led consortium has won the right to run Kenya's and Uganda's railways for the next 25 years.

Rift Valley Railways, owned by South African parent company Sheltam Trade Close Corp, beat a rival bid from a group led by an Indian company.

Rift Valley won by offering to share 11.1% of freight revenues with the two governments - more than the other bid.

The firm is allowed to buy new equipment, but the two governments retain ownership of the infrastructure.

Rift Valley is expected to sign a final agreement with both governments next month and take over management of the railway companies by the end of March 2006.

Sheltam has majority stake of 61% of Rift Valley's shares - the rest is held by Comzar of South Africa (10%), Kenya's Primefuels (15%), Mirambo Holdings of Tanzania (10%) and CDIO Institute for Africa Development Trust, South Africa (4%).

Rift Valley and its rival - a consortium led by Rail India Technical and Economical Services - were the only two bidders to reach the final stage of the process from an initial seven offers.

The decision to offer joint management of Kenya Railways Corporation and Uganda Railways Corporation was taken by the heads of state of the two countries in July 2003, as part of efforts to integrate their economies within the revived East African Community.

Posted on 11:09 PM | Permalink

East African Standard: October 15, 2005
By Benson Kathuri

A consortium led by Sheltam Railways of South Africa yesterday won the bid to operate Kenya and Uganda Railways for 25 years.

The announcement was made at an anxiety-filled Treasury boardroom at 4 pm.

Treasury Permanent Secretary Joseph Kinyua said the winning consortium had offered the Government the best window to restructure the debt-ridden corporation.

Once the group signs the take over agreement, the century-old railway will be known as Rift Valley Railways.

The Sheltam-led consortium won the bid after it defeated another group led by the RITES Company of India.

RITES had partnered with Magadi Soda Company of the United Kingdom, a locally based mining firm that operates the Magadi-Konza railway line.

Transport assistant minister Andrew Ligale said the Government was pleased to hand over the railway to a private operator as it would relieve it of the burden of subsidising the corporation�s operations. "From next year, the Government will be receiving money from railways instead of subsidising it," he said.

The minister said the Government had subsidised Kenya Railways Corporation to the tune of Sh3 billion in the past three years.

The consortium takes control of 2,351-kilometre rail line stretching from Mombasa to Kampala. The operator is expected to commence operations in April next year.

Apart from running a regular wagon train schedule, the operator will be expected to offer commuter services in Kenya for at least five years.

The Ugandan government that was represented by Public Works minister John Nasasira has however excluded commuter services from the contract to be on November 21.

"The Rift Valley consortium's winning proposal includes a turnaround and development programme for the two railway systems," said Esther Koimett, the Investment Secretary, who chaired the joint steering committee that picked the winner.

She said the operator was expected to improve the services and increase cargo volumes within the first five years.

The winners have pledged to abide by the terms of the concession included a down payment of US$3 million (Sh220 million) and US$ 2 million (Sh140 million) to Kenya and Uganda governments respectively.

Besides, the operator will pay an annual concession fees equivalent to 11.1 per cent of its gross revenues in each country. The Kenya Government will get an additional US$1 million (Sh74 million) annually for the passenger service operations.

Restructuring of the corporation is however expected to see thousands of workers lose their jobs.

"All the 1,200 workers of the Uganda Railways will be laid off once the concessionaire comes on board," Nasasira said.

The minister said privatisation of the railway system would lead to sustainable investment in Kenya and Uganda and contribute to economic development in the East African region.

In Kenya, over 6,000 workers will lose their jobs with the Kenya Railways Holding Company that will take over the remaining assets and facilities as well as the financial burden that includes an Sh20 billion debt.

Also to be affected by the new development is the Magadi Soda Company that runs a private railway line between Magadi and Konza under a special arrangement with the Kenya Railways.

The company's managing director James Mathenge expressed disappointment at the results but admitted that the process was transparent.

He expressed hope that the new operator would allow the company to continue operating the private line.

In their bids, RITES group had demanded that the Kenya Government subside commuter services.

Posted on 11:06 PM | Permalink

RailwayPeople: October 13th 2005

Waterloo International Terminal is to be retained for rail use after Eurostar services move to St Pancras in two years� time, the government has confirmed.

A report says that Waterloo International's five platforms should be redeveloped for domestic use, with several options highlighted for accommodating local and regional passenger services.

The cross-channel service's depot at North Pole International is also to be replaced, by a new facility at Temple Mills. This site is also anticipated to be retained for rail maintenance or freight terminal purposes.
Other benefits will result from the relocation, such as improved journey times, track access, new train pathways, and increased capacity in the busy south London area.

Paul Charles of Eurostar said: "Waterloo has been our home over a decade and, though our move represents a transformation for international rail travel, we are delighted to be giving something back to rail users into and out of London."

Brian Cooke, Chair of the London Transport Users Committee, added: "This is a vital rail asset, and depriving passengers of this would be a backward step. We look forward to working with the industry to determine how this new capacity should be used."

The new St Pancras terminal, which will enable faster journey times to the continent via the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link, is due to open in 2007.

Posted on 09:14 PM | Permalink

RMT: 13 October 2005

LONDON UNDERGROUND'S biggest union has welcomed the fact that LUL management has finally listened to RMT and will not discipline or stop the pay of Northern Line staff who refuse to undertake duties that endanger the safety of passengers and staff.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow also welcomed the fact that LUL has agreed that trains will not run until union reps are satisfied that the service will be safe for staff and the travelling public.

"It should not be left to RMT to ballot for industrial action in order to cease unsafe practices.

"We will not tolerate our staff being caught between a web of contractors and sub-contractors that undermines safety.

"It is now clear to the public that all Tube maintenance must be brought back in-house as has been done on the mainline rail network in the interests of safety," he said.

Posted on 06:04 PM | Permalink

RMT: 13 October 2005

LONDON UNDERGROUND'S biggest union will ballot all Tube driver members for industrial action unless LUL management give an undertaking by noon today not to victimise or dock pay of Northern Line staff who refuse to undertake duties that endanger the safety of passengers and staff.

"Our members have the legal right to refuse to undertake duties that would put themselves or the travelling public in danger and RMT has a duty to give complete support to any driver who refuses to move a Northern Line train on safety grounds," said RMT general secretary Bob Crow.

The union has called for the withdrawal of all Northern Line stock following continuing failures of the emergency braking system.

"What questions would be asked if staff deliberately took out faulty or unsafe trains and there was an accident on the Tube" he asked.

Bob Crow said that the shortcomings in private contractor's maintenance regime on the Northern Line meant that London mayor Ken Livingstone should intervene and bring all Tube maintenance back in-house.

Posted on 02:31 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 12 October 2005

An entire London Underground line has been shut down amid safety concerns. The closure could affect more than 660,000 passengers.

Services on the Northern Line, which carries 660,400 people every weekday, have been suspended and may remain closed on Thursday.

Union bosses called for trains to be withdrawn on Wednesday, after one ran through a red light at Mill Hill East, and its emergency brakes failed.

It was the fifth incident on the line, and dozens of drivers are refusing to work on safety grounds.

Commuters using the Northern Line, one of the busiest on the Tube network, have suffered delays all week, because of concerns over the brakes.

Legal rights

Last Friday almost half the line's fleet did not run as a result of brake safety checks and an extra driver being put on each train.

The full fleet was running again by Saturday, but the line has been hit with further delays throughout the week.

"We are working with our trade unions and staff to reassure them that it is safe to continue to run Northern Line trains" - London Underground spokesman

Both rail unions, Aslef and the RMT, said they would support any members who refuse to work on safety grounds.

BBC London's transport correspondent Andrew Winstanley said up to 60 drivers have so far refused to work.

Of those, four were sent home without pay. Aslef has since said it will ballot members over industrial action on Thursday unless the drivers are paid.

RMT secretary Bob Crow said: "Our members have the legal right to refuse to undertake duties that would put themselves or the travelling public in danger and RMT will give complete support to any driver who refused to move a Northern Line train on safety grounds."

Steve Grant, Aslef representative, said: "We are not satisfied that the modifications have got to the root of the problem."

Both unions were due to meet London Underground representatives on Thursday.

A spokesman for London Underground said: "We are working with our trade unions and staff to reassure them that it is safe to continue to run Northern Line trains."

He said the company was working with the private sector firms which maintain the Tube to resolve the issue.

London Underground (LU) has used emergency powers to oversee remedial work by Tube Lines and its subcontractor Alstom.

Posted on 09:23 PM | Permalink

Thursday 13th October, 6pm,

The Magic Box,
Cheltenham Road, Bristol

Contact: Hannah Packham,
Joint Union Committee Chair,
Bristol North PCT

Mobile: 07904 011 693
e-mail: Hannah.Packham@bristolnorth-pct.nhs.uk

Posted on 08:17 PM | Permalink

RMT: 12 October 2005

LONDON UNDERGROUND'S biggest union called for the withdrawal of all Northern Line rolling stock following another failure of the emergency braking system today despite the fact that modifications had been carried out.

The latest failure at Mill Hill East this morning of the 'trip-cock' emergency braking system, designed to prevent trains passing signals at danger, follows four other incidents in as many weeks.

RMT secretary Bob Crow said that the situation now demanded the withdrawal of Northern Line stock in order to secure the safety of passengers and staff.

"We have a situation where the private contractors are blaming each other for this growing crisis while desperately trying to keep the service running to avoid penalty fines introduced under PPP.

"The private sector is making millions each week out of its contracts on the Tube yet it is not only failing to deliver promised improvements but has also demonstrably failed to maintain a crucial safety system to acceptable standards.

"Our members have the legal right to refuse to undertake duties that would put themselves or the travelling public in danger and RMT will give complete support any driver who refuses to move a Northern Line train on safety grounds," he said.

Bob Crow also said that the shortcomings in private contractor's maintenance regime on the Northern Line meant that London mayor Ken Livingstone should intervene and bring all Tube maintenance back in-house.

"Do we need a Hatfield disaster on the Tube before decisive action is taken? The continuing failure of the trip-cock emergency braking system is just what we know about: what else is going wrong?" he said.

Posted on 04:11 PM | Permalink

The Times: October 12, 2005

RAIL staff are working in fear of being shot after they were targeted by yobs with air rifles at a trespassing blackspot.

The Network Rail workers in Aberdeen have come under fire while carrying out repairs and investigations on tracks.

The attacks came to light when residents demanded to know why a protective fence near their homes had not been repaired. John Armitt, Network Rail's chief executive, admitted the problem in a letter of explanation to Richard Lochhead, the local MSP.

"This section of railway is subject to continual trespass, vandalism and fly-tipping," he wrote. "Our personnel, when on site to investigate or carry out repairs, have on occasion been victims of stone-throwing attacks and - more seriously - air rifle fire. The British Transport Police are aware of the problem and have enhanced patrols in the area to try to catch these offenders."

Sergeant Jim Wands of the British Transport Police said that no incidents had been reported to the force locally, but he promised to keep the city�s tracks safe for workers and passengers. "It's just the height of stupidity; trespassing puts not only the trespassers, but also rail passengers, at risk," he said. "It's obviously a priority for us that passengers and staff can go about their business without fear of attack."

Mr Lochhead gave warning that passengers could be in danger if nothing was done about the problem. He is calling for a national safety campaign to educate people about the risks of trespassing and the problems that rail staff face.

"It's horrific that we have workers going about their job trying to make the railway safe and finding their safety is jeopardised," he said. "I'm particularly horrified at the anecdotal evidence of air rifle fire - this strengthens the case for clamping down on the use of such weapons."

Posted on 04:09 PM | Permalink

RMT: 12 October 2005

OCTOBER 12: TODAY'S TYNE and Wear Metro power failure underlines the 'short-sighted nonsense' of the planned axing of Northern Rail's Sunderland-Newcastle shuttle service from December, Britain's biggest rail union said today.

As passengers crowded onto the Northern Rail trains, RMT called on Nexus - the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive - to support the retention of the service, which also provides a vital link for shoppers to the Metro Centre.

"The planned cuts to this service are due on December 12 - just in time for Christmas," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"These cuts will effectively halve the faster heavy-rail services between the Northeast's two key cities, leaving just the hourly service that runs on to Middlesbrough.

"Trams and heavy rail should be planned to complement each other, not compete, and today's Metro problems highlight the short-sighted nonsense of this decision.

"Sunderland has already lost its Trans-Pennine Express services to Manchester, York, Leeds and Liverpool, and simply cannot afford to lose even more rail links.

"Passengers and rail workers are united in opposing these cuts, and Nexus should now be urging the Department of Transport to ensure that these vital links are retained," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 04:05 PM | Permalink

The Times: October 07, 2005
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

TRACKS on branch railway lines are to be torn up and replaced with concrete channels, under plans to attract people out of cars by replacing trains with buses.

Guided busways will be installed on several sections of 150-year-old railway that ministers believe no longer carry enough people to justify their subsidy. Small guidewheels are fitted to the front of ordinary buses, which can travel at up to 60mph along the busways without the need for the driver to steer.

The buses can switch to roads at the end of the busway and take passengers to their destinations. But rail enthusiasts argue that buses are no substitute for trains and that people prefer to glide through the countryside on steel wheels running on rails rather than on tyres humming on concrete.

The Government has already approved a busway in Leigh, near Manchester, which will run on disused railway line. Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, is also considering a busway from Cambridge to St Ives along a 12-mile (19 km) railway line that last carried passenger trains in 1990. Another busway is planned for the disused Luton to Dunstable line in Bedfordshire.

A Department for Transport study last month proposed converting to a busway the 13-mile Severn Beach line, one of the most scenic railways in Britain, which runs from Bristol to the Severn. If the first schemes prove successful, ministers are expected to press for dozens of little-used branch lines to be converted. More than 50 branch lines covering 1,300 miles are being redesignated as 'community railways' in an attempt to cut costs by adopting lower standards of maintenance. The Government made it clear last year that it would be unwilling to continue subsidising these lines beyond 2009 unless they attracted many more passengers.

Mr Darling said: "If a line is not working, not carrying people and its costs are not coming down, then, of course, you've got to look at that."

Closing dozens of lines is deemed to be politically unacceptable, but the Government hopes to assuage rail enthusiasts by converting them to busways.

Cast Iron, the campaign to restore train services between Cambridge and St Ives, said that buses had an irredeemable image problem. Jerry Alderson, a spokesman, said: "People don't want to catch buses because, unlike trains, they are seen as cheap and demeaning. Outside London, you tend to see only women with children, pensioners and students catching buses."

He said that restoring the tracks to carry passenger trains would cost £30 million, compared with at least £86 million to construct the busway. But he acknowledged that the busway would be far cheaper to operate. The concrete guideways require little maintenance and the buses would attract more passengers with their 'door-to-door' service. Buses would run every ten minutes, compared with an hourly service on most branch lines.

Unlike bus lanes, which are frequently blocked by illegal parking, busways would be used exclusively by buses. Car traps, or pits between the concrete channels, would be dug at each end.

Bob Menzies, the head of the Cambridge busway project, said that the busway would not need any operating subsidy. "We believe that we can attract people who have two cars outside their homes but don't want to sit in congestion on the A14."

But Railfuture, which campaigns for an expanding railway, said: "This is a misguided attempt to save money which will set a dangerous precedent for rural lines. Once the bus hits the road in Cambridge it will still have to contend with all the other traffic, and delays will be inevitable. Trains have a far superior ambience."

Posted on 04:01 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 11 October 2005

The inquest into last year's Berkshire train crash has been postponed after legal aid was refused for one of the families caught up in the tragedy. Seven people - including the driver of the car - died in the crash.

The hearing was to be held into the crash at Ufton Nervet, which killed seven people, next week.

But ministers have overruled a recommendation that David Main, whose partner and child died, should have legal representation at the inquest.

The inquest is on hold while that decision is being challenged.

Judicial review

The families of those killed were intending to make the case for extra safety measures to be introduced on trains at the inquest.

They had requested legal aid to pay for barristers on the grounds the case had a "wider public interest".

But the legal aid minister, Bridget Prentice, has refused an application from Mr Main.

His partner, Anjanette Rossi, and nine-year-old daughter Louella were among those killed when the high-speed train hit a car on a level crossing on 6 November, 2004.

Other families expect to have their request turned down as well.

Lawyers for Mr Main are planning to apply for a judicial review.

Posted on 06:09 AM | Permalink

TUC: 8 October, 2005

The TUC has published the epic, must-have, one-stop guide for safety reps and anyone else who knows the difference between seeing a safety problem and solving it.

'Hazards at work: Organising for safe and healthy workplaces' is an A4 sized, 334-page information-packed volume and 'is essential reading for safety representatives and anyone with an interest in organising for health and safety,' says TUC.

Its 52 chapters deal not only with all the major hazards, but also show how to organise to make your workplace safe. Practical resources include regular checklists and advice on where to go for help. There's stacks of information on the law and on good practice.

According to TUC: 'Safety reps will find this book invaluable. But it is also a great resource for managers and safety professionals who want to work in partnership with their workforce. Voluntary organisations and enforcement officers will also find it an essential addition to their desktop library.'

* Hazards at work: Organising for safe and healthy workplaces. £18 TUC member organisations; £30 educational/voluntary not-for-profit organisations; £45 others. Discounts for bulk orders. TUC publication notice and print-off-and-post order form [pdf]. Order online from TUC Publications.

Posted on 12:16 AM | Permalink

Haaretz: 10/10/2005
By David Ratner, Haaretz Correspondent

The police want the state to charge two Israel Railways officials and the owners of a truck company with causing death by negligence over the fatal train-truck collision near Kibbutz Revadim in June. The collision left eight people dead and 180 injured.

The police are seeking indictments against Ilia Volkov and SurinSoivitch, two senior officials from Israel Railways' engineering division, and the owners of the Ahim Eliyahu truck company.

The police have also advised charging additional Israel Railways officials with negligence.

The state prosecution does not have to adopt the police recommendations and is currently reviewing the evidence accumulated by investigators.

The police's recommendation, which was submitted to the state prosecution's southern district office a few weeks ago, contradicts the conclusions of the committee of inquiry set up by Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit immediately after the accident. The committee pointed an accusatory finger solely at the truck driver, who was killed in the collision, commenting that he had probably been behind the wheel for more than 12 hours on the day of the accident and had failed to heed the stop sign posted at the site.

The committee also noted that in December 2003, a decision had been made to install an automatic barrier at the crossing. The Trans-Israel Highway company was instructed to install the barrier within a year. To date, no barrier has been built at the crossing.

Immediately after the committee "absolved" Israel Railways officials of any responsibility for the fatal accident, the company adopted a number of measures to improve safety at rail crossings, deciding to do away with crossings marked only with signs as was the case with the crossing near Kibbutz Revadim. In addition, Israel Railways determined that at existing crossings, trains would be restricted to a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

Sources at Israel Railways say the company has yet to receive any notification of the police recommendations. When such information is received, the Israel Railways management will review the material, the sources said.

Posted on 11:55 PM | Permalink

Business Day: 10 October 2005
Khulu Phasiwe, Public Policy Correspondent

RAIL safety standards and the strengthening of the roles of rail regulators will be on the agenda at the 15th International Railway Safety conference starting in Cape Town today.

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe and Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin are expected to address the conference.

Delegates from major rail operators in Japan, the UK, Hong Kong and India are expected to share their experiences.

The conference, hosted by rail utility Spoornet, comes at a time when rail operators across the world face an increasing number of accidents and derailments.

Spoornet said on Friday that the five-day event sought to find “innovative safety solutions” for the railway industry.

The parastatal has experienced a number of accidents involving its freight trains.

In May this year the dedicated coal export line running between the Richards Bay coal terminal and Mpumalanga coal mines was closed for a week following a derailment.

A train carrying an estimated 18000 tons of coal in 150 wagons overturned.

A Spoornet inquiry found that “the accident could have been avoided had the driver stuck to the prescribed safety measures”.

Driver negligence was also the cause of the biggest train crash in SA’s railway history in May, Spoornet admitted. It said human error was likely to have been the cause of the accident in June on the Pretoria-Polokwane line.

Industry analysts said that the causes of derailments included ageing rolling stock, poor signalling systems and driver fatigue.

The Rail Safety Regulator said that in “99% of the occurrences” in SA, pedestrians were struck by trains.

The regulator said 455 (2003: 582) train accidents involving pedestrians were reported last year. An additional 171 accidents took place at level crossings.

“A number are suicide cases,” the Rail Safety Regulator said in its 2004-05 annual report.

“A number of contributing factors lead to the high number of occurrences, including the mushrooming of informal settlements along the railway reserve, the removal of fencing, general ignorance of the dangers inherent in railway operations, and the flagrant ignoring of the law.”

Last year Spoornet launched a R30m public safety awareness campaign to educate people about the dangers of loitering near railways or building shacks near them.

The rail industry, like all other modes of transport in SA, faces mounting challenges, especially around safety, technology and the growing number of accidents.

In the UK there were 1001 train accidents in the nine-month period between April and December last year, according to the Health and Safety Executive, an independent health and safety regulator for a range of activities and industries.

The executive said fines to rail operators rose to £3,4m from £552000 previously.

A maximum fine of £2m was imposed on Thames Trains for offences that contributed to a collision in west London in 1999.

In Canada offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $200000 for companies, or $10000 for individuals.

In SA the Railway Safety Regulator can revoke an operating licence or give offenders a 15-year prison sentence.

But the regulator has not been functioning properly since its CEO Mpho Litha was suspended following the “breakdown” of her relationship with its board.

The regulator said in its 2004-05 annual report that not much had been done to recruit new staff since Litha’s suspension. The vacancies were mostly for safety inspectors.

Posted on 11:38 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 11 October 2005

The role of the British Transport Police (BTP) is to be reviewed by the government, it has been announced. The BTP played a major role after the London bombings.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said he would look at whether the BTP's work would be better carried out by other bodies, such as local police.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow welcomed the review, saying the BTP had failed to protect vulnerable staff.

But the BTP Federation said it was worried that breaking up the force would harm the public.

Mr Darling said the review aimed to ensure policing of the railways is fit for the 21st century.

It follows Home Secretary Charles Clarke's review of the 43 English and Welsh police forces.

Staff assaults

Mr Darling said: "My review will examine the functions of the British Transport Police and whether some or all of these are best carried out by a national force, regional forces or, indeed, by the industry itself.

"This review is aimed at ensuring that policing of the railways is fit for the 21st century.

"The Government remains committed to the principle that the costs of policing the railway should remain largely funded by the industry itself."

RMT general secretary Bob Crow described the review as an opportunity to find new ways to tackle violent behaviour on the rail network.

"The fact of the matter is that the BTP have failed to protect vulnerable staff from assaults and it is about time this issue was taken seriously and dealt with," he said.

But Roger Randall, general secretary of the British Transport Police Federation, said: "We are concerned that it would be broken up and I think [if this happened] the general public would lose out because of the loss of expertise," he said.

Industry funded

He added he was hopeful for a positive review that would see the force continue in greater numbers.

"We've had several reviews in the past few years that have recommended the BTP continues.

"We hope this review will keep BTP unified and hopefully expanded," Mr Randall said.

The BTP is the national police force for the railways throughout England, Scotland and Wales, and employs around 2,500 officers.

It also polices the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, Croydon Tramlink and Midland Metro.

It played a major role in policing the London Underground following the July 7 bombings.

It is funded by the rail industry - primarily Network Rail, Transport for London and the train operating companies.

The British Transport Police Authority oversees the BTP and sets its budget.

Posted on 11:28 PM | Permalink

Contract Journal: 11 Oct 2005

Balfour Beatty's MD, Alistair Wivell is to retire after 40 years at the end of December, aged 60.

He is currently one of four group managing directors and is responsible for Balfour's activities in three areas: UK building construction; electrical and mechanical engineering; and services.

Wivell joined Balfour in 1964 and as a result of a series of promotions, he became its managing director in 1994.

He won the CBE in 1998 and four years later moved onto the group's main board.

The man taking over his responsibilities will be Mike Peasland who has been MD of Mansell, the building services business, since it was acquired by Balfour in 2003. Previously, Peasland was MD of Balfour Kilpatrick.

Posted on 10:29 PM | Permalink

International Railway Journal:�October 2005
Jeff Baker/John Clennan - GE Transportation

General Electric (GE) Transportation's Incremental Train Control System offers a new approach to increasing line capacity without costly infrastructure work.

DEMAND for innovative rail solutions that improve safety, capacity, and cost efficiency is increasing around the world. It is not growing just in the traditionally hi-tech European, Japanese, and North American markets, but in areas as diverse as India, Africa, and China.

Many systems are limited by traditional methods of train control, and in markets where train control systems do not exist, a solution is needed that does not require costly infrastructure. General Electric's GE Transportation Rail (GE) division is currently deploying its Incremental Train Control System (ITCS) as a stand-alone signalling system on more than 1000km of track in western China to run more trains closer together, and to dramatically reduce the need for maintenance of wayside equipment. Although the needs are different around the world, the flexibility of GE's ITCS technology is providing a cost effective solution.

ITCS is a transmission-based train control system for all rail markets, and uses satellite positioning and wireless networking as its basis. It can be overlaid on existing track circuits or installed on a stand-alone basis where no track circuits are present. The primary functions of ITCS include speed limit enforcement, management of train location, level crossings and other wayside control systems, and communication of up-to-date instructions and messages. The technology allows customers safely to space trains more closely, increasing capacity. ITCS increases both freight and passenger-carrying capacity making rail more economical to use and maintain and getting the most use out of existing track.

ITCS is modular both in the features implemented, and the amount of territory equipped. Railways install systems like ITCS only where it is needed, and purchase the operational level of technology their budget can support. Trains not fitted with ITCS can travel on ITCS-enabled track and vice-versa, provided the original control system is still operational.

Besides being modular in design, the system�s biggest advance is that it accurately and reliably pinpoints a train's location in relation to switches, signals, crossings and other features along a route. The fail-safe location system is the biggest change in ITCS when compared with traditional train control systems. This is accomplished using satellite-based positioning, eliminating the need for wayside or on-track infrastructure such as balises.

This flexibility enabled GE to provide an ITCS solution to China's Ministry of Railways (MOR). The system will operate in harsh conditions at elevations exceeding 5000m above sea level. The wireless train-to-wayside communication is established using a GSM-R network, as is being deployed in Europe. ITCS can also operate with other, lower-cost communication networks. Using ITCS, MOR drastically reduced the requirements for trackside equipment which in turn will allow it to reduce the initial investment, as well as maintenance costs. In addition, because of its flexible nature, the system can be adapted to increase capacity and speed as requirements change and traffic along the line increases.

This positioning and wireless technology is the foundation for the two major purposes of ITCS: to improve safety, and to increase performance. Safety is improved by monitoring a train's operation, providing warnings to the driver when conditions change, and applying a full service brake application if needed. It provides communication between train and wayside or station-based control for interlocking, switch positioning, level crossing activation and health monitoring. The ability to monitor points and passing loops as well as sections of main line is integrated, while upgrades and status of temporary restrictions are conveyed in real-time, providing an extra margin of safety for track workers.

Allowing faster train operation than would otherwise be permitted by a conventional signalling and level crossing warning system also increases performance. This is possible because the wireless data network provides signal information to the driver, often before the driver can see the signals, and because ITCS links into level crossing warning systems to initiate their operation earlier than would otherwise be possible by traditional train detection methods.

GE estimates train speeds can increase between 10 and 40%, in some cases adding enough capacity that a railway can avoid the cost of adding more track. As a result of ITCS implementation, Amtrak, United States, has safely increased the speed of its passenger trains along a 72km route from 126 to 144km/h, with plans in the near future to increase to 176km/h. Most importantly, the entire ITCS system was completely installed and implemented without interrupting existing operations.

The complete article can be read in the October issue of IRJ

Posted on 07:25 PM | Permalink

RMT Credit Union: October 10, 2005

Regional Open Days - see below for details of where your Credit Union Manager will be on hand to answer all your questions and verify your documentation.

BRISTOL
20 OCTOBER 2005
from 1000 hrs
Training Room, RMT South West Regional Office, Transport House, Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6AY

CARDIFF
21 OCTOBER 2005
from 1000hrs
Network Rail, St Davids House, Wood Street, Cardiff

WHY MAKE THE BIG BANKS RICHER???

YOUR OWN RMT CREDIT UNION IS CREATED AND RUN BY THE MEMBERS FOR THE MEMBERS

If you can�t make it e-mail c.union@rmt.org.uk, Fax (0207 3874123), or phone (0207 529 8835) your query to the Credit Union manager and get your reply.

Posted on 06:40 PM | Permalink

ABC - The World Today: Thursday, 29 September, 2005
Reporter, Tim Jeanes

This is a transcript from The World Today. The program is broadcast around Australia at 12:10pm on ABC Local Radio.

TANYA NOLAN: There's anger from Australia's rail union over a situation in Tasmania, it says represents a significant failure of privatisation.

Private rail operator Pacific National wants $100-million of Government money over 10 years to upgrade infrastructure such as tracks and wagons.

The company says without it, it will have to close Tasmania's container freight operation.

The Rail Union says it's a case of big business taking over public assets, then crying poor when things go wrong.

Tim Jeanes reports from Hobart.

TIM JEANES: Rail Union National Secretary Bob Hayden says it's a case of a private company wanting to have its cake and eat it too.

BOB HAYDEN: Private companies, doesn't matter what state they're in, can't continue to say Government has no role, then at the drop of a hat, as soon as their profits start to drop, they say the Government's got to bail us out. Either the Government's in from day one or they're not.

TIM JEANES: Pacific National provides container freight from Hobart in the south to Burnie in the north-west.

It's threatening to shut down the train service, because it says local infrastructure is not up to scratch. Local businesses fear the economic impact will be severe.

For example, the company which supplies most of Australia's newsprint, Norske Skog, says it faces supply problems for coal, logs and chemicals.

Local Government representatives worry that if the rail operator pulls out, an extra 2,000 trucks will hit local roads each week, congesting key tourist routes.

The rail freight service was privatised by the Liberal Government in 1997, with Pacific National taking over in 2004.

The Rail Union is also concerned that 150 jobs could go.

Bob Hayden again.

BOB HAYDEN: They take as much profit out of the place as they can in the short-term, and then they seek either state governments or federal governments to help them bail them out, knowing that full well when they purchase something like this that it was run down from day one and they were going to have to spend money on it anyway.

So I think it does show that certainly in this instance, privatisation has been a failure.

TIM JEANES: What's wrong with a private company asking for Government funds for something that is a critical infrastructure?

BOB HAYDEN: Well there's nothing wrong with it at all, except big business runs around saying that the governments should not be involved in, they shouldn't own this, it should be left up to the free market to decide. Yet, at a time when they start to lose profits, they run to the Government to bail them out. I mean, they can't have it both ways.

TIM JEANES: Pacific National, which is jointly owned by transport giants Toll and Patrick Corp, is not commenting at this stage.

The Australasian Railway Association, which represents players like Pacific National, says governments Australia wide need to put more money into flagging infrastructure, particularly given the cost advantages road freight has over rail.

Association Chief Executive Brian Nye.

BRIAN NYE: You cannot expect a private sector company to continue to operate if it can't get a return on its investment, and part of the return on the investment is that you have to have certainty in the future. So the private sector will not continue to operate in areas where they can't make a reasonable return.

TIM JEANES: Now the unions say this is a failure of privatisation, I mean presumably you wouldn't say this is a success story?

BRIAN NYE: Well you can't say it's a success story, but to say it's a failure is also wrong. You've got to look at the whole land transport scenario in Australia, and you can't continue to keep railways open if nobody's willing to invest in them, and state governments have to make that decision.

TIM JEANES: Meanwhile state and federal governments are arguing over who'll pay for any possible upgrades.

Tasmania's Infrastructure Minister, Bryan Green, is in talks with Federal Transport Minister Warren Truss, to try to resolve the issue.

Tasmanian Liberal Senator Richard Colebeck says there is some accord.

RICHARD COLEBECK: One thing I think that Bryan Green and the Federal Government and I agree on is the way that Pacific National's approached this, in just plonking a complete disaster on our laps without any notice. And both Minister Truss and Bryan Green understandably are quite concerned about the approach that Pacific National have taken.

TANYA NOLAN: Tasmanian Liberal Senator Richard Colebeck.

Posted on 04:28 PM | Permalink

Green Left Weekly: October 12, 2005
Alex Bainbridge, Hobart

Commercial media, politicians and business commentators are describing as a "rail crisis" the September 27 announcement by Pacific National Tasmania that it will cease freight rail services between Hobart and Burnie unless the federal and state governments pledge a $100 million subsidy over 10 years. An October 5 meeting between state and federal ministers projected a two-month study of the issue.

The Tasmanian rail network was privatised by the federal government in 1997 and made profitable for the first time in 100 years after being in private hands for less than six months. At the time, this was trumpeted as proof of the viability of 'private enterprise' versus the alleged inefficiencies of public ownership.

However, this capitalist success story has turned out to be only part of the picture. The main reason the publicly owned Tasrail was not profitable was the chronic lack of investment by the federal government.

Despite some initial investment by the private owners, Tasrail has suffered the same lack of investment since privatisation. Not surprisingly, the current owners claim the Tasmanian operation is now unprofitable.

Socialist Alliance spokesperson Kamala Emanuel told Green Left Weekly: "There is one word for threatening to close down freight services if the government doesn't cough up $100 million: blackmail. The owners must have calculated that they had a pretty good chance of success with this scam given the corporate interests involved."

Emanuel pointed out that, even if the government doesn't come to the party, the owners can't lose. "One of the two major owners of Pacific National is Toll Holdings - a road freight company - and it has just launched a takeover bid against the other major owner. Toll would stand to make big gains if the containers now shipped by rail were moved over to road freight instead."

Rail union national secretary Bob Hayden has also accused the owners of profiteering. "They take as much profit out of the place as they can in the short-term", he told ABC Radio National's September 29 The World Today program. "And then they seek either state governments or federal governments to bail them out, knowing full well when they purchase something like this that it was run down from day one and they were going to have to spend money on it anyway."

"There is a solution", Emanuel said. "The government should renationalise the company without compensation.

"An extra 2000 trucks on the road - which is what they reckon an end to freight would mean - would be an environmental nightmare that we shouldn't have to contemplate, without even thinking about the effect on roads, traffic and accidents.

"We should be moving in the opposite direction - expanding freight rail and reopening passenger train services. And the community would get the most out of a publicly owned service - not a private company that is making profits with the help of government subsidies."

Posted on 04:21 PM | Permalink

East African Standard: October 11, 2005
Standard Team

On Friday October 14, the hammer comes down crashing on tables at Treasury to announce the winner of the tender for the concessioning of the 2,350 km Kenya-Uganda Railways.

This will mark the end of a rigorous three-year process to identify a private sector operator for what has been billed as the biggest turn-around project ever in East Africa.

Ten days ago when bids for the project were opened, there was an element of surprise in the number and size of bid documents that were presented. Out of the initial seven pre-qualified bidders, only two tabled showed up.

Treasury officials were quick to explain that some of the pre-qualified bidders, including Canac Incorporated of Canada, China Railway First Group and the New Limpompo Bridge Projects of Mauritius had thrown in the towel while others had teamed up to form the two consortia that presented bids for the concessioning contract.

Bidder population aside, the opening of the tenders on September 30 was not without drama. Psychological warfare appeared to have become part of the game with the protagonists rolling out presentation schemes that were clearly aimed at dimming their opponent�s morale.

On the one hand there was the RITES Group-led consortium consisting of the Rail India Technical and Economic Services, Magadi Soda Company of the United Kingdom and Maersk Sealand Group � a private international shipping company. This group was keen on showcasing Rail India�s vast experience in the management of similar contracts in Africa.

Sheltam Railways Group of South Africa leads the second consortium of contenders that includes Comazar Limited, a private Pan Africa railway operator, Primefuels Group, a liquid fuels logistics provider in East Africa, Mirambo Holding, an investment company registered in Tanzania and CDIO Institute for Africa, an engineering and technology firm with an interest in transfer of industrial knowledge and capacity building.

This consortium -- which has hired accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as financial advisors and Protekon, a Pan-African railway consulting group as technical and operations advisors -- was dramatic in its bid presentation.

It arrived at Treasury Building in a convoy of cars, including an armoured security van with armed escort, carrying nearly 10 boxes of bid documents.

Mr Vishal Agrawal, the lead advisor of the group says the elaborate presentation of the bid documents was meant to convey the seriousness with which the consortium takes the assignment.

The railway concessioning project is also unique in the fact that it is yet another privatisation process where the World Bank, through its private sector arm the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is acting as the lead advisor to the Government.

Sources indicate that despite the smoothness of the bids opening session, IFC had been under immense pressure by one of the bidding consortia to suspend the bid opening date.

The pressure is understood to have been coming from the RITES-led consortium, which was thrown into disarray two weeks to the D-day after Maersk failed to get the approval of its board to become part of the group. "The Maersk board thought that despite the immense interest the company has in a well-functioning railway transport system, it falls outside the boundaries of the company�s core business," our source said.

This development meant that the remaining members of the RITES-led consortium, Rail India Technical and Economical Services Limited and Magadi Soda had to divide between them whatever shareholding had been reserved for Maersk.

Mr Roy Puffett, the Managing Director of the Sheltam Group, who was in Nairobi for the bid opening, expressed confidence that his consortium had taken the pole position in the race for control of East Africa's longest rail line. "We have presented a watertight bid, thanks to the efforts that the PricewaterhouseCoopers team put into the process," he said. "Our bid is complete to the extent that should we be declared the winners, we will embark on the work immediately."

A timetable of the tender process indicates that the winning group should start selecting the employees it will take over from Kenya Railways as well as the resources he needs for the business in one and half months before beginning operations in December. The official handing over of the railway system to the concessionaire will take place in March 2006.

It is estimated that out of the 6,300 permanent Kenya Railway employees, the concessionaire will retain between 2,800 and 3,600.

Stringent financial and operational conditions have been set for the 25-year contract. The bid winner is expected to pay an upfront fee of not less than US$3 million (Sh220 million) in Kenya and US$2 million (Sh150 million) in Uganda.

The operator is also expected to pay a variable annual fee equivalent to five per cent of the gross revenue and a fixed annual concession fee for five years for passenger services.

The concessionaire is also expected to make a minimum investment of US$5 million per annum for the first five years, upgrade the line with a 100 pound track on the main line as well as grow the business volume by 175 per cent by year five and 60 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product thereafter. He will be required to take out a Performance Bond to guarantee compliance with the requirements.

In return, the bid winner will be free to set freight rates within the Monopolies and Price Control Act. The concessionaire and the Government will take partial Risk Guarantee of US$30 million (Sh2.4 billion).

The concession covers the provision of freight over the entire railway network and passenger services at a specified frequency in specified sections of the network. The freight concession will last 25 years while the passenger concession is for five years.

Privatisation of the railway system is seen as key to the success of the economic recovery project that the governments of Kenya and Uganda have embarked on.

After years of mismanagement and pilferage, the regional railway system is in bad shape. Kenya Railways, which constitutes the biggest fraction of the total concession is, for example, technically insolvent.

As at June 2004, the corporation held a negative working capital position of Sh20.5 billion, illiquid and unable to settle its liabilities in the short term.

Besides, the company is running a gloomy performance outlook with operating losses estimated at Sh1.7 billion in the current financial year.

Over the years as the railway infrastructure deteriorated, so has been the freight traffic. From a peak performance of more than 4.3 million tonnes of freight recorded in 1983, the system handled a paltry 1.89 million tonnes of freight in the fiscal year 2004/5.

After numerous unsuccessful attempts to use public funds to bring back life into the corporation, the government decided to change course in 1998 with the commissioning of a consultant to undertake a study for the privatisation of the corporation.

It was then that the consultant, CPCS Transcom, recommended unitary concession as the preferred option for the transaction.

In July 2002, the Government engaged the IFC to design a transaction structure and prepare tender documents for the concessioning of the railway.

One year later, the governments of Kenya and Uganda, in the spirit of regional cooperation, decided to undertake a joint concession of the two railway lines. The project is expected to lead to a seamless flow of freight across the common borders with the goal of increasing the market share for railways in the freight traffic.

Under the proposed ownership structure, a holding company will be formed to manage both the Kenyan and Ugandan sections of the