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

Dow Jones: September 26th, 2006

LONDON -- UK North Sea Divers At Total Impasse With Employers - Union

U.K. North Sea diving personnel employed in the oil and gas industry have reached a "complete stalemate and impasse" with employers over pay, and are resolute about striking from midnight Oct. 31 a spokesman from divers' union RMT said Tuesday.

"There was no improvement on the offer tabled" by employers at a recent meeting between the RMT and employers to discuss a new pay-deal after divers rejected an offer made in early September by 640 to two, said RMT spokesman Stan Herschel.

"We'll be going ahead with the withdrawal of staff. From midnight on Oct.31, all staff will cease work," Herschel said.

"My members are all out indefinitely. Until there's an offer on the table that we're happy with, they will strike," he said.

Herschel added that no new meetings have been scheduled between the RMT and employers to attempt to avert a strike.

The 820 divers and diving personnel set to strike from Oct. 31 are employed by North Sea service supply companies including Halliburton Co. (HAL), Acergy SA(ACY.OS) and Stolt Nielsen SA (SNI.OS), which provide a wide range of sub-sea services for North Sea oil and gas producers, Herschal said.

"There is a high level of maintenance currently being carried out" in the North Sea, he said.

"A lot of work currently is associated with opening up old wells due to the high oil price," Herschal said. Divers also work to prevent or stem oil leakages and pollution, and there is a safety and emergency response aspect, he added.

The RMT has said divers' wages have slipped nearly 20% behind average U.K. earnings since 1984, and union members are claiming a 50% increase in pay, against employers' offers of 15% over three years.

Herschal said employers are currently carrying out a communications exercise, explaining to all the divers why they can't give the requested pay increase.

The negotiations will be watched closely by the diving communities worldwide, Herschal said because, current pay dissatisfaction aside, "the agreement in the North Sea is one of the best in the world" Herschal said.

"It sets the standard," he added. The RMT has received messages of support from Norwegian, Australian and Dutch unions amongst others, Herschal said.

Posted on 06:19 AM | Permalink

Peoples Daily Online: September 30, 2006

Construction of a new train station in the central China city of Wuhan began Friday in a scheme to establish a new national railway hub.

The station, covering 370,000 square meters, will include 20 tracks and 11 platforms at a cost of 4.1 billion yuan (512.5 million U.S. dollars).

It is expected to be completed in 2008 and will eventually be able to handle 31 million passengers a year, according to the Railways Ministry.

The station is designed to deal with high-speed trains linking Wuhan with major Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Guangzhou.

After completion, travel times between Wuhan and Beijing in the country's north, and Wuhan and Guangzhou in the south will be cut by more than half to only four or five hours.

The government will invest 10 billion yuan (1.25 billion U.S. dollars) to build support infrastructure and improve the surrounding environment.

Wuhan has two other stations in its Wuchang and Hankou districts.

The new station will help Wuhan to become one of the four railway hubs in China, the others being Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The government will input another 35 billion yuan (4.4 billion U.S. dollars) into supporting railway construction in the next five years.

Analysts said this would help ease China's heavy railway traffic, especially in peak periods such as week-long holidays of May Day, National Day and Spring Festival.

Railways Ministry figures show the government invested more than 80 billion yuan (10 billion U.S. dollars) into railway projects in the first eight months, 40 percent more than last year.

In the next 15 years, the investment in railway construction is expected to reach two trillion yuan (250 billion U.S. dollars).

Posted on 06:17 AM | Permalink

Bloomberg: Sept. 29
By Patricia Cheng and Jianguo Jiang

NWS Holdings to Form $1.5 Billion China Rail Venture
NWS Holdings Ltd., the public works and transport arm of Hong Kong property developer New World Development Co., will form a 12 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) rail terminal venture to tap China's rising demand for moving freight.

China United International Rail Containers Co. will develop and operate 18 rail container terminals in the country, NWS said in a statement today. NWS will own 22 percent of the venture, with China Railway Container Transport Corp. holding 58 percent and China International Marine Containers Co. and Promisky Investment Ltd. owning 10 percent each.

China is seeking private investment in the nation's railways, as it seeks to expand the network 35 percent by 2020. Daqin Railway Co., China's largest rail carrier of coal, raised 15 billion yuan in a share sale in July, while Luoding Railway was sold to a closely held company in August.

The total investment in China United is expected to be 12 billion yuan including registered capital of 4.2 billion yuan contributed by the partners, NWS said. NWS's maximum contribution to the venture will be 2.64 billion yuan, it added.

Shares of NWS rose 2.6 percent to HK$15.90 at 10:51 a.m. in Hong Kong. The stock has gained 41 percent this year, compared with a 17 percent rise in the city's benchmark Hang Seng Index.

See also:

Hong Kong's NWS In CNY12 Billion China Rail Terminal JV

Easy Bourse: September 28th, 2006

HONG KONG - (Dow Jones) - Hong Kong-listed NWS Holdings Ltd. (0659.HK) Thursday said it has formed a 12-billion yuan ($1.52 billion) joint venture with state railways to develop and operate container-terminal networks in 18 Chinese cities.

NWS, the services and infrastructure arm of Hong Kong property developer New World Development Co. (0017.HK), will have a 22% stake in the venture.

China Railway Container Transport Corp., a unit of China's Ministry of Railways, will have a controlling 58% interest in the company.

The company will be known as China United International Rail Containers Co. and will have a timeframe of 50 years, NWS said.

China International Marine Containers (Group) Co. (000039.SZ), the world's largest container-maker by revenue, will have a 10% stake, while Promisky Investment Ltd. will have the remaining 10%.

The venture will have a registered capital of CNY4.2 billion ($1=CNY7.89), or 35% of the total planned investment of CNY12 billion. NWS said earlier that the remaining 65% of the investment will be raised through project financing or commercial loans.

The announcement comes a year after NWS and state-owned China Railway Container Transport signed a letter of intent to set up the joint venture.

The venture plans to build large-scale rail container terminals in the 18 cities over two phases, with completion of all terminals expected by 2010.

The 11 cities included in the first phase are: Shanghai, Kunming, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xian, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Dalian, Harbin and Tianjin.

The cities in the second phase are: Zhengzhou, Lanzhou, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Urumqi, Beijing and Ningbo.
The joint venture will also be involved in container-handling, storage, repair, customs declarations, logistics and other related businesses.

NWS said the construction of the rail container terminals is in line with China's rail transport development plan, as the Chinese government plans to develop 17,000 kilometers of rail networks over the next five years.

NWS Holdings has businesses ranging from transportation to cleaning services in Hong Kong. It also operates ports, power plants and toll roads in China.

Posted on 06:04 AM | Permalink

The Messenger: September 29, 2006
By M. Alkhazashvili (Translated by Diana Dundua)

The construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway will probably be the most significant project in the entire Caucasus, and could bring tremendous economic dividends to the region-if it ever gets off the ground that is.

There have been several unexpected difficulties along the way for this 826 kilometre project. Most recently, an unnamed Turkish official alleged that the "Georgia is deliberately delaying the start of work on the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway…Tbilisi is creating all kinds of bureaucratic obstacles to delay the railway's construction. This is absolutely incomprehensible" reported the Baku daily Zerkalo.

Surprisingly, the biggest stumbling block has come from the other side of the Atlantic: the Senate's Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee just passed a bill that forbids US government assiastance to the project, after strong lobbying from the US Armenian lobby, who argue that the railway is designed to further isolate Armenia from the region. There is a shorter, disused route running through Armenia, it has been closed since Turkey and Azerbaijan closed their borders to Armenia in response to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Nevertheless, construction is due to begin in middle of 2007 and could be completed as early as 2010. The project requires 98 kilometres of new track be laid between Kars in Turkey and Akhalkalaki in Georgia, 30 kilometres in Georgia, 68 in Turkey. Also, the Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi section of track must be repaired. This is estimated to cost over USD 400, Turkey and Azerbaijan say they are more than capable of meeting the cost without US backing. The Georgian section is to be financed with a loan from the Azeri government of USD 200 million.

This may sound like big money, but when you consider the significance of this east west transport link-which connects railways from Britain to china-it begins to seem like quite a small investment. Minister of Economic Development Irakli Chogovadze says when working at full capacity, Georgia can expect to receive USD 150 million annually from transport fees.

Kazakhsatn and china are both excited about the project, which gives them access to Europe much quicker than via the existing Trans-Siberian route. The Kazakh Caspian port of Aktau is connected to the chines border and beyond. The project also has the backing of the EU in the form of the TRACEcA [Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia] programme it sponsors.

The railway line has huge potential to deepen integration of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and in turn link them more closely with Europe and Asia. As such, it could provide a significant boost both to the regions economy, and its international importance.

Posted on 01:11 AM | Permalink

The Times of India: 29 Sep, 2006

PATNA: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has denied Finance Minister P Chidambaram's reported suggestion that the country's railways be privatised.

Chidambaram had reportedly said that Lalu Prasad could initiate the privatisation of railways by handing over charge of goods trains and small distance passenger trains to private parties.

"There is no question of privatisation of railways. Chidambaram's statement was misquoted by a section of the media," the railway minister told reporters late Thursday.

He reiterated that there was no chance of privatising the railways as long as he remained railway minister. He added that there was no need to hand over profit-making public sector units to private hands.

The minister said Indian Railways was doing very well with a target of netting a profit of Rs.200 billion during the current fiscal. He claimed the railways would soon leave the country's top public sector unit Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) behind in profits.

Lalu Prasad is credited with turning around the fortunes of Indian Railways, one of the largest transport systems in the world, which ended fiscal 2005-06 with a healthy cash reserve of Rs 110 billion.

He, however, said the turnaround was made possible with the help of thousands of people employed in the railways across the country.

See also:

Maverick politician becomes India's top railway reformer

The Financial Times: 09/30/2006
By Jo Johnson
 
New Delhi: Lalu Prasad Yadav, India's most notorious politician, is undergoing an unexpected transformation. A man blamed for bringing "jungle raj" to the impoverished and lawless north Indian state of Bihar (Pakistan can have Kashmir so long as it takes Bihar too, one joke goes), has suddenly become the toast of reformers for his surprising success in overhauling the Indian railway system.

"The same network that an expert group declared in July 2001 to be on the edge of 'fatal bankruptcy' and stuck in a 'terminal debt trap' is now the second largest cash generator in the public sector," Yadav says in an interview.

Lalu as India's best-known low-caste politician is invariably known has traditionally been a figure of fun for the urban elite. though he leads the second largest party in the United Progressive Alliance (IPA) coalition, the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Just shy of his 60th birthday, he hams up his origins as a son of the soil, allows black hair to sprout in bushy clumps from his ears and always wears a dhoti, the tunic worn by villagers. Cartoonists oblige by depicting the farmer-politician as a rural buffoon.

"As long as there's aloo [potato] in your samosa, there'll be Lalu in Bihar", was long his catchphrase. But his 15-year rule came to an abrupt end in 2005 amid accusations he had turned Bihar, one of the most efficiently administered states when India gained independence, into a byword for official corruption and economic despair. His extraordinary 30-year political career seemed all but over.

When Lalu took over the railways in 2004, India, with its massive infrastructure deficit, seemed to be blowing its chance of integrating with global supply chains. Today, it is a different story. He is ranked the government's second best minister by India Today.

New persona

Lalu last week took on a new public persona as a management guru and turnaround artist, wowing students in a televised seminar at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

"This is just the trailer," says Sudhir Kumar, Lalu's right-hand man in the ministry. "The film is about to start." This year, Kumar says, the ratio of operating expenses to revenues will fall to 78 per cent from 84 per cent last year and 107 per cent in 2001, thanks to straightforward measures that have radically improved utilisation of existing resources.

Students at the elite IIM-A, which has included a case study on the "turnaround story" in its postgraduate curriculum, said they were dazzled by Lalu's charm and dhoti management approach.

Reforming a network that employs 1.4m people, and whose trains travel seven times the distance from earth to the moon every day, was more a function of "common sense" than management "miracle", he told them.

The Lalu recipe is a bold play on volumes. Lalu has avoided the political suicide of raising passenger fares, opting instead to reduce them to achieve better occupancy rates, while lowering marginal unit costs by lengthening trains.

Exit, too, Bradshaw, the legendary timetable laid down by the British: Lalu wants his trains soon to run at an exhilarating 100km/h, twice today's stately chunter.

On the freight side of the business, which accounts for 70 per cent of the network's revenues and all its profits, Lalu has introduced round-the-clock loading that has reduced train turnaround times from seven to five days and increased the network's loading capacity by 25 per cent.

Doubters too

Some still have their doubts, pointing out that under his rule Bihar's police, for example, had been so neglected they even lacked the ink and paper to register cases.

"This man was master of Bihar for 15 years, a state begging for basic governance, and he let it down badly. Now, we are told, he's turned around something as complex as Indian Railways in barely two years?" sniffed an editorial in the Financial Express.

Sceptics point to his irrepressible populism, evident in his decision to introduce earthenware cups instead of plastic ones on trains.

Plain talk

By and large, though, a department with a massive procurement budget has so far been free from the corruption scandals that blighted his record in Bihar.

Mahesh Rangarajan, a political analyst, says the urban elites underestimate Lalu at their peril: "The buffoon act in Bihar was Lalu speaking in the idiom of rural lower castes: it was political theatre from a sharp politician with a master's in political science. Lalu wants to be prime minister one day and is showing the business community he's a man they can do business with. Railways are a logical place to start."

Posted on 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Reuters: 29 Sep 2006

BERLIN - Tens of thousands of German commuters faced delays on Friday when 1,700 rail workers staged token strikes to back union demands for greater job security, and the union threatened a nationwide walkout on Monday.

The first wave of strikes lasting up to three hours began at 3 a.m. and forced the cancellation of at least 15 trains in Cologne and Saarbruecken while many regional trains had lesser delays of an hour, according to the Transnet rail workers union.

Transnet leader Karl-Heinz Zimmermann said the union was protesting against plans by the government, which owns Deutsche Bahn (German Railways), to separate the 34,000-km track infrastructure when it privatises the national rail operator.

"We only wanted to cause brief delays with our strike today," said Zimmermann. "We don't want to anger the customers because we want to attack those who deserve it -- the employer, that is to say the Deutsche Bahn management and the owner."

Deutsche Bahn executives have also spoken out against splitting off the track infrastructure from the company. Deutsche Bahn Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn has said that could delay its stock market listing by up to five years.

Deutsche Bahn has an annual turnover of some 25 billion euros ($32 billion). Some members of the ruling coalition want to separate the track from the railway company to promote competition and prevent discrimination against rival firms.

The union is worried that job guarantees included in a contract that runs to 2010 would be lost if the track infrastructure was separated from Deutsche Bahn, and that this could lead to the loss of up to 10,000 jobs by 2010.

Talks among government ministers and party leaders on the track issue ended on Thursday with no agreement. Deutsche Bahn talks with the union on job guarantees also had no result. Deutsche Bahn does not want to negotiate with unions until the track question is settled.

"We didn't get any clear offer on Thursday and if that doesn't change, we'll have a big rail strike in Germany for the first time," said Zimmermann.

The union will expand the strike to the whole country on Monday to increase pressure on the government and management if no progress is made towards meeting its demands, he said.

See also:

German Rail Workers' Warning Strike Causing Delays

Deutsche Welle: 29.09.2006

Rail workers unions could not agree with Deutsche Bahn about job cuts
 
In the midst of a privatization dispute with the government, German rail workers walked off their jobs on Friday morning, causing transportation delays in three states.

According to the Transnet and GDBA labor union officials, around 1,700 rail workers in Germany joined the warning strike on Friday morning more than two weeks after negotiations with the state-owned railway company Deutsche Bahn over job security ended without compromise.
 
"We hoped until the last moment for a negotiable offer from the employer," said Transnet chief Norbert Hansen and GDBA president Klaus-Dieter Hommel in a statement.
 
Three German states -- North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate -- were affected with commuter and regional train service delayed or interrupted in several large cities, including Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund.
 
Job security
 
Deutsche Bahn is one of Germany's last major state assets. The Transnet and GDBA was in negotiations with Deutsche Bahn about safeguarding workers' jobs after the German government sells off up to half of the railway company for billions of euros in 2008.
 
But the unions broke off the negotiations on Sept. 13 after Deutsche Bahn said it couldn't guarantee the jobs through 2010 if the government decided to sell only transport operations and keep the rail network, including tracks and stations, in public hands.
 
Chancellor Anglea Merkel's cabinet is expected to make a decision on whether it will be selling the tracks next month.
 
The planned initial public offering of Deutsche Bahn will be Germany's last big privatization project.

Posted on 03:22 PM | Permalink

The Age: September 29, 2006

The federal government has signed off on the long-awaited Tasmanian rail rescue package, securing the future of the state's freight rail network for the next decade.

Transport Minister Warren Truss finalised the agreement, a year after rail operator Pacific National threatened to walk away from its lease.

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Pacific National will sell back its track, yards and terminals to the state government for $1.

It also will invest $38 million over eight years in rolling stock and equipment.

The state and federal government will contribute a combined $118 million over 10 years to upgrade and maintain the track.

Mr Truss said the federal government's $78 million contribution delivered vital infrastructure to Tasmania.

"It is now up to the Tasmanian government and Pacific National to keep to their side of the arrangement to ensure the flow of Australian government funding through AusLink, the national land transport plan," he said in a statement.

"I also encourage the Tasmanian government to move swiftly to develop the scope of the package of works for the Tasmanian rail system which will need to be agreed by the Tasmanian and Australian governments."

Pacific National angered both the federal and state governments last year when it threatened to abandon its Tasrail lease unless public money was used to improve the infrastructure.

State Infrastructure Minister Jim Cox last month signed a memorandum of understanding which paved the way for the handback of rail assets to the state.

Mr Cox said draft contracts were now being prepared for the next stage of negotiations with Pacific National.

"It is hoped that these negotiations can be finalised in the near future," he said in a statement.

Posted on 03:20 PM | Permalink

Guardian Unlimited: September 28, 2006
Matthew Tempest and agencies

The Labour leadership suffered its third and final defeat of its Manchester conference today, as delegates and unions demanded that company directors be made liable for the deaths of employees.

Delegates cheered as a rebel union motion sought to amend the legislation currently going through parliament as the corporate homicide bill.

Labour's leadership had also lost votes this week on council housing and NHS privatisation, although none are binding on the government.

The Transport and General Workers union called for legislation before parliament to be amended to ensure directors and senior managers were held to account.

But Labour chiefs defended the bill, which will be debated in the Commons next month.

They insisted that further union concerns could be addressed in an ongoing health and safety review.

The bill allows companies to be prosecuted rather than individuals and proposes a penalty of an unlimited fine rather than jail for individual bosses.

Moving the successful motion, Tony Woodley, the T&G's general secretary, said: "The bill completely and deliberately excludes from its scope the prosecution of negligent directors, guilty directors who will be handed a 'get out of jail free' card."

The government was "plain wrong", he angrily told delegates.

"They are pandering to the pressure from the CBI and the bosses.

"Organisations don't kill people. Incompetent, negligent, greedy bosses do. And they are quite literally getting away with murder," he added to applause.

Mr Woodley continued: "Where individuals are shown to be culpable, they should face prosecution for manslaughter.

"If death by dangerous driving deserves 14 years in jail, then the loss of a worker's life through the bosses' mismanagement deserves no less."

Mr Woodley said 10,000 people had been killed in workplace accidents in the last 30 years - including 212 fatalities last year.

Over the same period, just 11 company directors were convicted of manslaughter with five jailed, he added.

However, Labour's national executive committee said in a statement that directors would still be liable for manslaughter on an individual basis if they had been grossly negligent.

Posted on 05:08 PM | Permalink

RMT Circular No. IR/0216/06: September 27, 2006

Dear Colleagues,
Please be advised that all successful resolutions from the above conference have been considered by the General Grades Committee.

All such resolutions are now given below together with the General Grades Committee's decision on each one. Please note that in all cases, I have already taken the necessary steps to expedite the General Grades Committee decisions.

1. Driver Sickness Reporting - First Great Western

"This conference expresses its concern over the agreement between ASLE&F and First Great Western to outsource its sickness management for Drivers.

"Any attempt to discipline any of our driver members will be regarded as a very serious act."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That, in line with the Conference resolution, we instruct the General Secretary to inform the Company that this Union opposes this procedure and that no agreement exists between us. Further, the General Secretary is instructed to write to relevant Branches seeking reports of any problems or disciplines emanating from this policy and to place this back before the General Grades Committee by second week in October."

2. Harmonisation of Pay and Conditions

"This Conference notes that with the fragmentation of the railway, terms and conditions of traincrew and shunting grade members have altered to such an extent that there are large differences in pay and conditions between companies, meaning that when franchises are merged or altered, there is a difference in pay and conditions between members of the same grade within the same company.

"This Conference remains committed to a national pay structure and national collective bargaining."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That we endorse the sentiments of the Conference resolution and accordingly we instruct the General Secretary to take this matter up ensuring that any harmonisation process protects existing terms and conditions."

4. Evacuation of Underground Lines

"This Conference deplores the terrorist attacks on London on the 7 and 21st of July 2005. We applaud our members and the emergency services role in saving lives and evacuating the network.

"This Conference demands that LUL negotiate robust safety procedures with this union which allows the safe evacuation of the whole network at the first sign of a terrorist attack. And that the system remains shut down until the entire combine has been swept and given the all clear by relevant personnel."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That this General Grades Committee fully endorses the contents and sentiments of this resolution. Additionally, we link this to file 'Terrorist Attacks, LUL', P20/1."

5. OTMR - First Great Western

"This conference is extremely concerned that our driver members are open to potential bullying and harassment by managers who are using the OTMR as a weapon to intimidate drivers.

"We call on the General Secretary to open up talks with First Great Western to put our concerns and also ensure that the company is aware that the RMT will vigorously defend any member found to be on the wrong side of this potentially serious problem."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That we instruct the General Secretary to write to the Company seeking a meeting to discuss its policy on the use of OTMR and to seek assurances that any downloads are always disclosed to the employee and that use in disciplinary procedures is strictly limited to 'for cause' post incident purposes. Further, we seek clarification on exactly what is recordable through the apparatus in an attempt to eradicate or alleviate the growing "harassment and potential bullying" of our members.

6. Harassment of Guards re fraud investigation

"This Conference notes that a significant number of guards on South West Trains were subject to harassment and uncalled for disciplinary action on the basis of a fraud investigation. Whilst the real failure was with SWT's fraud audit systems, guard members were used as scapegoats in this case, with members suspended from duty for long periods, some on the basis of little more than vague rumours that they may have had "suspicions" about the behaviour of others.

"This Conference calls on the General Grades Committee to endorse action to ensure that members are fully protected throughout the disciplinary process."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That we instruct the General Secretary to take this matter up in line with the Conference decision and to write to SWT management seeking its assurances that it will allow representation at any investigatory/fact-finding interviews in line with leglisation. SWT's response to be placed back before this General Grades Committee by second week in October."

7. Reduction in staff trains

"This Conference notes that since privatisation there has been a gradual withdrawal of night-time staff trains by operating companies only replacing them where necessary with occasional taxis for their own members of staff. Particularly in the London area this has worked to the disadvantage of train crew who live in one TOC area but work in another and have thereby been deprived of travel to work facilities that used to be provided as of right by British Rail.

"This Conference believes that when TOCs expect train crew to book on to work early turns before the start of normal transport services the TOCs have a duty to provide some form of free (and tax free) transport, in line with the former conditions and calls on the General Grades Committee to support campaigns at company level, including by industrial action where necessary, to achieve this aim."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That we instruct the General Secretary to take this matter up with all Train Operating Companies with a view to achieving the aims of the Conference resolution or at the very least reinstating the old Blue Book conditions of service appertaining to the withdrawal of train service. This matter to be place back before this General Grades Committee by second week of October."

E1. TSSA Single Union Deal - EWS

"This Conference notes with grave concern that EWS(I) Management informed our Groundstaff Representatives in Bristol on 20 March 2006 that a new groundstaff grade of "Operations Supervisor" had been negotiated with the TSSA.

"If such an undertaking is not received, the General Secretary to seek a recall of the TUC joint rail unions meeting to examine the EWS industrial relations crisis."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That, in line with the Conference decision, we instruct the General Secretary to take this matter up with the TSSA and place a report back before this General Grades Committee by the second week in October

E2. RMT driver members

"The Traincrew Grades Conference recognises that there is a need to raise the RMT profile at all locations where there are driver members. More information needs to be sent to these members directly from Unity House, Company councils and organisers and some system of local contact with activists is necessary. All RMT drivers should be involved directly when there are major negotiations at Company council level and their views should be sought so that the Union can have its own policy and agenda at these meetings."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That we note and endorse the sentiments of the Conference resolution and note that there has been a recent publication of the 'RMT Train Drivers' Charter'.

E3. Preparation of Units Prior To Service

"This Conference condemns Northern Rail's blatant disregard of safety procedures and the Rule Book when ordering a unit out into service from a maintenance depot with a failed door locked out of use because there was a shortage of units. Such actions are a clear case of profit being put before safety by the largest train operating company in the land and endangers the travelling public as well as the traincrew grades working the train. This Conference can only imagine the pressure put on the depot-based train preparers to let the unit go, and condemns Northern Rail for placing train preparers in an untenable situation.

"This Conference urges the Council of Executives to join this Conference in condemnation of this incident and to instruct the General Secretary to inform Northern Rail and all other Train Operating Companies that this Union will not tolerate corporate violations of thee Rule Book, and future violations of operating procedures will result in a dispute situation with a ballot of all traincrew and train preparing grades for strike action."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That we fully endorse the sentiment of the Conference resolution and accordingly we instruct the General Secretary to write to all Train Operating Companies outlining this Union's concerns and warning them that any recurrence of this nature will result in the strongest actions being taken by this Union."

E4. Dispatch of 377 Electrostar Units, Southern Trains

"Despite an agreement with this Union, Southern have enforced a revised dispatch procedure of trains upon our members germane to this conference. The revised procedure leaves the Guard with no method of being able to keep a safe lookout whilst the train is moving away from a platform. Added to this the Driver also has no view.

"We call upon the Council of Executives to immediately enter into a dispute with Southern over this issue. We demand a ballot of our Traincrew members for industrial action to defend their role and also to protest at the complete disregard and obligations that they have to this Union in relation to the implementation of new working procedures."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That we endorse the strength of feeling portrayed in the Conference decision and instruct the General Secretary to seek an update report from the Lead Officer and Company Council which must address the issue of the feeling within our membership to take industrial action over this issue. This matter to be placed back before the General Grades Committee by second week in October."

E5. Dismissal - C Downs, Guard, Southern

"Six years ago the biggest Parliament of this Union decided that any company that persisted with the MFA procedures would be in dispute with this Union.

"We further insist that they carry out the same campaign against any company who persist in dismissing our members under MFA or any other attendance procedure not acceptable to this Union."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That we note the resolution and the strength of feeling therein. We understand that Sis Downs has been reinstated and instruct the General Secretary to seek an updated report from the Lead Officer on this matter and the views portrayed in the Conference resolution. This matter to be placed back before the General Grades Committee by second week in October."

E6. Gagging of RMT reps

"This Conference of Train Crews and Shunter Grades notes that a recent Bakerloo Train Grades News has led to the Queens Park Train Operations Manager banning the distribution of all RMT information to drivers in their pigeon holes. We also note that that the local reps have been instructed that any information or propaganda for the official union notice case has to be cleared with him before hand.

"This Conference condemns this act of censorship. This union will fight for the human right of freedom of speech and will not accept the gagging of any RMT publications by the bosses. Furthermore if any attempt is made by LUL to victimise any member for distributing RMT material then this union will do everything in its power, including organizing strike action, to defend our right as an independent workers organisation to freely communicate with our members."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That this General Grades Committee notes and endorses the contents of this resolution. Any attempt by Management to victimise any member for distributing RMT material will not be tolerated and will be resisted using strike action if needs be."

E7. Threat of dismissal following abuse and assaults

"Members of this Branch have been threatened with removal from their posts should they suffer the misfortune of being repeated victims of assault and abuse.

"We further call upon the Council of Executives to ballot for industrial action against any company who victimise our members fro daring to report incidents of assaults and abuse."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That we note this item was referred to the 2006 Annual General Meeting."

C1. Cuts in services and line closures

"This Conference notes with alarm that rural lines are being threatened with closure and the substitution with bus services in order to cut government subsidies. Instead of responding to overwhelming public demand and renationalising the railway, saving billions of pounds each year, the Government chooses to reduce the subsidy to the privateers by proposing closures of stations in the West of England at the weekend, consulting for line closures under the 2005 Railways Act where retention of existing services is subject to the same cost-benefit-analyses as new builds, and the criteria for "minor changes" being anything but. Such changes will have detrimental effects on all traincrew grades providing the service.

"We reiterate our view that, rather than close lines the best way to save government subsidy is to return the railways to public ownership under democratic control by rail workers and users. This Conference therefore calls upon the Council of Executives to continue the Union's campaign to defend all existing lines from cuts or closure and for no less than complete re-nationalisation of the railway."

General Grades Committee Decision:

"That we note this item was referred to the 2006 Annual General Meeting."

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow
GENERAL SECRETARY

Posted on 04:45 PM | Permalink

AFX: 28th September 2006

LONDON - Bus and train operator National Express Group PLC said it remains focused on bidding for new rail franchises despite falling rail profits and imminent cost hikes.

National Express, which runs the One, C2C, Central Trains, Gatwick Express, Silverlink and Midland Mainline franchises, said its efforts to win new contracts are well advanced.

The group said half year operating profits from its UK rail operations fell 26 pct to 20 mln stg in the six months to June 30 following its loss of the Great Northern and Wessex Trains franchises to rival FirstGroup PLC.

It also said growth in its One franchise in East Anglia had been below the industry norm and that it was facing a potential 50-60 percent rise in electricity costs for running trains in 2007/8.

New chief executive Richard Bowker said the group was 'very excited' about being shortlisted for the new East Midlands and Cross Country franchises and would submit a bid for the new North London Railway concession next month.

'There's nothing that's going to put us off bidding for new franchises,' Bowker told journalists in a conference call.

Bowker, the former head of the Strategic Rail Authority, took over as chief executive of National Express earlier this month, replacing Phil White who retired from the board in May.

He said he would review the group's operations and would be open to further acquisitions overseas if they enhance shareholder value.

'The key priority for me will be to look around the group to see what's doing well and what isn't,' he said.

'There are possibilities emerging in Europe and that market is opening up, but I don't want to prejudge what our position on that will be at the moment.'

The former head of rival train operator Great North Eastern Railway, Chris Garnett, said earlier this week that the government's policy of demanding large premium payments from new franchisees was squeezing their margins to unsustainable levels and preventing greater investment in the industry.

Bowker said he believed the industry was getting 'very significant investment', but warned that it needs to increase capacity to deal with growing passenger numbers.

National Express said group pretax profit in the six months to June 30 rose to £67.2 million sterling from £58.1 million sterling last time on a 16.2 percent rise in revenues to £1.25 billion sterling.

It said the rise, above one analyst's expectations of £65 million sterling, was due in large part to a particularly good outcome from its overseas operations in the US.

The UK train division increased overall passenger numbers by 4 percent and its Midland Mainline unit, which has introduced a simplified system for selling advance-booked tickets, grew passenger numbers by 7 percent.

However, the group said One, which runs regional trains in eastern England and intercity services from London to Norwich, experienced some revenue weakness on certain routes including the Stansted Express, which took longer than expected to recover from last year's London terrorist attacks.

Finance director Adam Walker said One had grown at about 6.5 -7 percent during the first half, compared to growth of about 8 percent experienced by other operators in London and the south east.

Walker also said rail infrastructure provider Network Rail had forecast substantial increases in power charges and there had been industry speculation that they could be as high as 50-60 pct.

National Express, which faced a £15 -16 million sterling bill for rail electricity in the first half, was leading industry efforts to find ways to reduce the impact on operators and to avoid increasing fares, he said.

'We're desperately trying to avoid putting fares up because that would deter demand for the railways,' he said.
'We're confident we can find ways of mitigating the cost increases.'

National Express said it was fully hedged against rises in oil costs for the remainder of this year and 2007. It said the year-on-year impact on its UK divisions of fuel price rises would be 7.6 million sterling.

The group said its UK bus division, which runs buses in London, Birmingham and Dundee, had won extra contracts in London and had achieved improved passenger satisfaction levels in the West Midlands.

Divisional revenue for the period was £147.5 million sterling against £127 million sterling beforehand with operating profit of £19 million sterling against £18.2 million sterling previously.

The coach division, which runs National Express in the UK and Eurolines on the continent, lifted operating profits by 29.3 percent to £5.3 million sterling from 4.1 mln previously, with good growth on city-to-city routes including services between London and Bristol, Cardiff and Brighton.

National Express said its overseas operations had performed particularly well, with North American operating profits rising to £26.6 million sterling from £22.6 million sterling previously.

The group said it had also seen a good first six months in its recently acquired Spanish division Alsa, where operating profits were £18.1 million sterling on revenues of £117.1 million sterling.

It said pretax profits fell to £5.5 million sterling against £39.5 million as a result of increased intangible amortisation charges and an onerous contract provision relating to its interest in high speed train operator Eurostar.

It increased the interim dividend by 7.5 pct to 10.75 pence.

The market consensus provided by the company for full year profits is 143-144 mln stg.

Broker Dresdner Kleinwort said the results were 3.5 pct above its expectations at the earnings per share level, driven by better than expected performance in the US and Spain.

It said the UK rail performance was in line with expectations and the key issue was now the renewal of the Central, Silverlink and MML franchises next year.

See also:

National Express chief rejects fears over franchise premiums

Richard Bowker, the new chief executive of National Express, dismissed fears yesterday that rail operators could find themselves in financial difficulties by overpaying for passenger train franchises.

Mr Bowker, who took over at the bus, coach and rail group this month, rejected the claims made by the former chief executive of GNER, Christopher Garnett, that the premiums being paid for franchises threatened to make them unsustainable.

"I rather discount comments from people who have not done terribly well," Mr Bowker said. "Christopher's views are for him. I am quite confident in the business and the market generally."

He said National Express, which is in the running for the new East Midlands, Cross Country and London Rail franchises, would put forward "good competitive bids".

Mr Bowker was speaking as the group reported an 86 per cent decline in first-half pre-tax profits to £5.5m after taking a one-off charge of £25.7m to cover National Express's share of losses on Eurostar, the London-Paris-Brussels rail service, over the next four years. National Express has a 40 per cent stake in Eurostar.

However, underlying operating profits for the period rose 25 per cent to £84m, boosted by an £18m contribution from Alsa, the Spanish long-distance coach operator which National Express bought last year, and improved profits from its US bus and coach business.

These more than offset a £7m decline in profits from the group's train division, which lost the Wessex and Great Northern franchises during the period. National Express's biggest rail franchise One, which includes the Stansted Express, also reported weak revenues after taking longer than expected to recover from the London bombings in July last year.

Mr Bowker said there were opportunities for further growth in Spain and the US, either through acquisitions or winning new contracts. Adam Walker, the finance director, said the group had the headroom to borrow a hundreds of millions of pounds to fund takeovers but said any deals in the US were most likely to be small "bolt-on" acquisitions.

Fuel costs were £7.6m higher in the first half and the group expects a similar increase in the second six months. Its rail businesses are also facing significant increases in electricity charges.

National Express is leading an industry group looking at ways of reducing costs, for instance by harnessing the heat generated when trains brake and turning it back into electricity.

Posted on 04:41 PM | Permalink

Financial Times: September 28 2006
By Peter Smith and Helen Thomas

3i has sold back to SNCF, the French state rail group, its 45 per cent stake in transport group Keolis, in a deal that is thought to value the bus and transport operator at £700m, including debt.

SNCF already owns a 44.5 per cent in Keolis and has agreed to acquire 3i’s stake of 52.5 per cent stake barely two years after it sold that holding to the FTSE 100 private equity group.

Posted on 04:40 PM | Permalink

International Transport Workers' Federation: 28 September 2006

Protestors outside the Zimbabwean embassy in London.

Demonstrators in the UK last week voiced their outrage over a violent clampdown on trade unions in Zimbabwe as part of an international day of action. The protest, held outside the Zimbabwean embassy in London, UK, was backed by a strong ITF presence.

Organised by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the World Confederation of Labour and the European Trade Union Confederation, the day of action was in protest against the police brutality meted out to members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Police targeted members of the ZCTU after they attended a demonstration on 13 September; 15 leaders and activists were subsequently tortured at Harare’s Matapi police station.

The protestors demanded that the government of Zimbabwe respect the internationally recognised labour standards it claims to uphold and refrain from harassing ZCTU members and leaders. They also called for all criminal charges against 30 ZCTU activists to be dropped – they are due to go on trial on 3 October – and for further legal action against the ZCTU as a result of the 13 September demonstration to be suspended.

Guy Ryder, ICFTU General Secretary commented: “The government of Zimbabwe has consistently violated the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) protecting trade union rights that it freely signed up to. These most recent incidents, including the serious injuries sustained by ZCTU leaders while in police custody, are developed in a detailed and very serious complaint against Zimbabwe that was submitted to the ILO last week.”

The international trade union movement is considering additional steps to increase the pressure on Zimbabwe to respect internationally recognised workers’ rights.

-----------------

The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), founded in 1896, is an international trade union federation of transport workers' unions. Any independent trade union with members in the transport industry is eligible for membership of the ITF.

681 unions representing 4,500,000 transport workers in 148 countries are members of the ITF. It is one of several Global Federation Unions allied with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).
Organising Globally Fighting for our Rights

ITF House, 49-60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DR  |  +44 20 7403 2733  |  mail@itf.org.uk

Posted on 04:33 AM | Permalink

Register now for this important Conference on grass-roots organisation, to be held on 28th October, 11.30 - 15.30, Camden Centre, Bidborough Street, London WC1H 9JE.

To register, please email j.croy@rmt.org.uk with your name and contact details and union branch, or write to RMT, Unity House, 39 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD

The depth and breadth of grass roots organisation of workplace representatives has always been a crucial barometer of the general health of the trade union movement, The measure of this Conference's success will be the active and vocal participation of trades unionists from the broadest possible range of backgrounds.

The following speakers are confirmed to date:

Bob Crow (RMT);
Tony Woodley ( TGWU);
Tony Kearns(CWU);
Mark Serwotka ( PCS);
Jeremy Dear (NUJ);
Steve Kemp (NUM);
Dave Proctor (CYWU);
Matt Wrack (FBU);
Joe Marino (BFAWU)

Posted on 04:07 PM | Permalink

The Herald: September 27 2006
MARK SMITH, Deputy Business Editor

FirstGroup, the bus and rail giant, yesterday said it was running well in the first half with new franchises and a strong performance across its trains division.

The country's largest bus company and one of the biggest operators of yellow school buses in the US also said in its trading update to the City ahead of interim results that it had seen good trading at its UK bus unit and strong contract retention in North America.

However, FirstGroup said it was particularly pleased with the start up of the new franchises First Great Western and First Capital Connect during the period, both of which it said were "trading ahead of initial projections".

The board of FirstGroup said it remained confident of the prospects for the group and its continued strong cash flows.

FirstGroup is also on recently announced shortlists for the Cross Country and East Midlands rail franchises which will be awarded in mid-2007.

Shares in FirstGroup, which have outperformed the travel and leisure sector over the past year, yesterday climbed 1%, or 5.25p, to 491.25p.

The Aberdeen-based company is scheduled to announce its half-year results for the six months to the end of September on November 8.

In May, the group cautioned that it expects rising oil prices to cut profits this year.

Adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to March 31 came in at £176.4m, up from £166.5m in 2005. Growth was driven by strong passenger volumes at the UK rail business, after a rise in fuel costs had cut group operating profits by £31m.

Earlier this year, at the company's annual meeting, FirstGroup pledged to stamp out management anti-union activities in its North American operation, amid claims that its staff there are toiling under poor working conditions.

See also:

FirstGroup running well

Hemscott: 26/09/06

The bus and rail group has put out a bullish trading statement covering its first half to the end of September, justifying hopes of a double digit lift in the interim dividend.

The bus and rail group has put out a bullish trading statement covering its first half to the end of September, justifying hopes of a double digit lift in the interim dividend.

FirstGroup is meeting analysts this week and will tell them that the group has traded well and made a good start to its financial year to March.

Finance director Dean Finch will point to a strong performance across the UK rail division and say he is particularly pleased with the excellent start up of FirstGroup’s two new franchises, First Great Western and First Capital Connect, both of which are trading ahead of initial projections.

First ScotRail and First TransPennine Express continue to deliver profitable growth together with excellent operational performance, he will add.

FirstGroup has been shortlisted to bid for the East Midlands and New Cross Country franchises.

Trading for first six months in the UK bus division has been good, with revenue growing through increased passenger journeys, more routes and higher prices.

Costs have been closely managed to help to offset rising fuel costs.

In North America, all three divisions were successful in retaining contracts. First Student continued to expand, with new contracts to operate yellow school buses delivering further profitable growth. The start up of the new school year went well, according to Finch.

FirstGroup is committed to increasing the dividend by 10% a year and that aim looks likely to be fulfilled for the foreseeable future with the company expressing its confidence in prospects and in continuing to generate strong cash flow.

Interim results will be released on 8 November.

FirstGroup shares have risen strongly from 200p at the bottom of the market in 2003 to just short of 500p this month.

Posted on 02:57 PM | Permalink

The Guardian: September 26, 2006
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent

Former GNER chief warns franchise system will 'self-destruct'

The former chief executive of GNER, the struggling British train operation, has warned that the market for rail franchises will "self-destruct" because bids are getting too high.

Christopher Garnett, who surprised the rail industry by stepping down last month, said the government would be forced to decide the future of the east coast mainline. GNER agreed to pay the government £1.3bn over 10 years but it is struggling to meet the payments, with revenue growth only a third of what it had expected.

"If you ask me where GNER is going to be in a year's time, I really don't know. The only people who will actually decide that will be the government," he said.

Mr Garnett said the franchise market was unsustainable because the winning bids have low margins, reflecting the pressure to win highly competitive franchise contests. Last week Stagecoach renewed the south-west franchise, which includes the UK's busiest commuter routes, with a £1.2bn bid. It came 10 months after FirstGroup won the Great Western network for £1bn.

"Franchise bidding has got too tight. The margins are too slender, but the trouble is every train company says, 'You've got to win it' - and bids accordingly. We had to win GNER," said Mr Garnett.

"It's going to take some pretty spectacular failures, I think, before people move the margins. The market will self-destruct as bidders bid to win on ever-tighter margins. When it goes wrong, it's going to come right back to the Department for Transport."

GNER's parent company, Sea Containers, is also in financial difficulties having breached its banking covenants. GNER has blamed its own financial shortfall on the effect of the July 7 bombings on travel to London, increased electricity costs and slow GDP growth. It also faces a new competitor in Grand Central, which will run London-bound services on the east coast line.

A spokesperson for GNER said the company was not seeking to renegotiate the franchise, but was in talks with the government over its revenue shortfall: "It is no secret that we are below our revenue growth forecasts and that we are discussing the shortfall with the government. Christopher Garnett was expressing personal views and they do not reflect the view of GNER."

See also:

GNER is no longer sustainable, says man who ran it

The Times: September 26, 2006
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

THE Government will be forced to step in and dictate the future of Britain’s flagship rail franchise, according to its former chief executive, who resigned suddenly last month.

Christopher Garnett, who ran GNER after its inception a decade ago, said that financial problems on the London-to- Edinburgh franchise were so severe that it was no longer sustainable under the terms agreed last year.

GNER, owned by Sea Containers, the shipping and rail group that is in breach of its banking covenants, began a new ten-year contract in April last year. It agreed to pay the Government £1.3 billion over the course of the franchise, which is believed to have been at least £300 million more than the next-highest bidder was prepared to pay.

Sea Containers admitted last month that revenue growth in the first year of the new GNER franchise, at 3.3 per cent, had been only a third of what it had expected. It blamed the July 7 bombings for deterring travellers to London, a big increase in electricity costs for running trains, lower-than-predicted growth in GDP and competition from its rival operator Grand Central.

Mr Garnett told Rail magazine: “If you ask me where GNER is going to be in a year’s time, I really don’t know. The only people who will actually decide that will be the Government.” Other train companies were also making bids with very low margins that could prove unsustainable, he said. Bidding teams were under pressure to win franchises.

“Franchise bidding has got too tight. The margins are too slender, but the trouble is every train company says ‘You’ve got to win it’ — and bid accordingly. We had to win GNER.

“It’s going to take some pretty spectacular failures, I think, before people move the margins. The market will selfdestruct, as bidders bid to win on ever-tighter margins. When it goes wrong, it’s going to come right back to the Department for Transport.”

GNER distanced itself from Mr Garnett’s comments. It said: “That’s Christopher’s view, not the company’s view.” However, it said that GNER needed to discuss its lower-than-expected revenue growth with the department.

See also:

Ex-GNER boss warns rail market will self-destruct

Edinburgh Evening News: 26 Sep 2006

TRAIN companies vying to win contracts are working to margins that are virtually unsustainable, GNER's former chief executive has warned.

Christopher Garnett, who quit as head of the London-Edinburgh main line operator suddenly after a decade at the helm, also suggested the agreement GNER made with the Government last year for its latest ten-year franchise made the operator no longer financially viable.

He claimed that if action was not taken, the train franchise market would "self-destruct" as train companies were being forced to make bids that gave them very low margins to work with.

GNER, which is owned by shipping and rail group Sea Containers, paid £1.3 billion for the London-Edinburgh contract last year - thought to be around £300 million more than the next highest bidder was prepared to pay.

Mr Garnett said in an interview with Rail magazine: "Franchise bidding has got too tight. The margins are too slender, but the trouble is every train company says 'You've got to win it' - and bid accordingly. We had to win GNER.

"It's going to take some pretty spectacular failures, I think, before people move the margins. The market will self-destruct, as bidders bid to win on ever-tighter margins. When it goes wrong, it's going to come right back to the Department for Transport."

Sea Containers admitted last month that revenue growth in the first year of the new GNER franchise was three times lower than expected, at 3.3 per cent.

Comments

1. Chris / 12:34pm 26 Sep 2006

Seems they have gone from one extreme to another. The first franchises paid out huge amounts in subsidy while now the government expects lots of revenue coming in. Guess who will get to pick up the tab for all this when it all goes wrong - yes the good old taxpayer with the lawyers, accountants and con-sultants (sic) making a fortune no matter what happens

2. PD, Glasgow / 4:50pm 26 Sep 2006

Over greedy when in charge - over critical when not!!

3. Andrew, Cumbernauld / 4:52pm 26 Sep 2006

We already have a "Network Rail" 'owning' and maintaining the track - how about a "Britain's Railways" actually running the services???

Posted on 09:14 PM | Permalink

Railway Market Magazine: 26 September 2006

Estonian Government took a decision to renationalize Eesti Raudtee (Estonian Railways).

The agreement of privatization of AS Eesti Raudtee is to be revoked, all the sold shares are to be bought back. The costs of the revoking will be covered by the special budget. Andrus Ansip, Estonian prime-minister said.

The Suprema investement bank will be represent the BRS company (the present owner of the railway). The Ministry of Economy and communications will represent the State during the negotiations.

"We are sure, that the offer, we have made for Suprema is very noteworthy. We hope, the negotiations will be successful”, E. Savisaar, minister of Economy and Communications of Estonia, said.

Posted on 08:58 PM | Permalink

Associated Press: Sept. 26, 2006
By JOSH FUNK

NORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA. - Something is almost always moving on the tightly packed 315 miles of railroad track that the Guinness Book of Records says is the world's largest rail yard.

Four tracks lead into Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard from the west and four tracks leave the yard’s east side. In the eight miles between, the rails fan out to more than 150 tracks.

At night, lights bright enough to be noticed by astronauts in space illuminate the yard, so the work can continue.

“We don’t shut down for anything,” said David Thalken, who runs the locomotive repair shop.

WYOMING COAL BOOM

Thalken’s attitude reflects pressure the yard faces to keep trains moving to satisfy increasing demand, fueled in part by Wyoming’s coal boom.

Rail yard workers use two hills, called “humps,” and some of those tracks to break apart some of the roughly 150 trains that pass through every 24 hours. Using the slopes’ gravity, crews sort cars into new groups bound for the same destinations, and hook the cars together to form new trains.

Other tracks are reserved for trains passing straight through the yard, such as those teeming with Wyoming coal, yet those trains and locomotives need to be serviced and repaired.

But every minute that a train spends sitting in the North Platte rail yard — which the industry calls dwell time — costs Omaha-based Union Pacific Corp. money and limits how much cargo the nation’s largest railroad can transport.

That’s why Cameron Scott, who oversees the North Platte rail yard and Union Pacific’s operations from Marysville, Kan., to eastern Wyoming, spends so much time trying to speed up the train traffic through the rail yard.

Union Pacific’s average dwell time this year has been about 28.3 hours systemwide, which the railroad has reduced in recent years. But Union Pacific’s dwell time remains three to four hours higher on average than the nation’s second-largest railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, according to industry analyst Donald Broughton of A.G. Edwards & Sons.

“There is a direct relationship between dwell time and operating margin,” Broughton said. “It’s a measure of how efficient you are.”

Even the trains passing straight through the North Platte rail yard spend about three hours there while the locomotives receive full tanks of diesel fuel and routine maintenance is performed.

Union Pacific is trying to shave more time off that process.

NASCAR-LIKE TEAMS

About a year ago, the rail yard developed five-man teams, inspired by NASCAR pit crews, to handle the maintenance tasks on trains passing straight through the yard.

Now two teams of five rotate between the eight run-through tracks providing what Scott calls express lube type service to locomotives by providing fuel, oil, sand and ice and checking the electrical system.

For empty coal trains returning to the mines, the North Platte rail yard started a program last year to identify and repair the trains with the most problem cars. Scott said sensors along the tracks can determine when wheels are bad and bearings are failing by the sounds they make.

Those trains with the most problems are pulled out of circulation for two days of intensive repair and maintenance work.

Union Pacific is also trying to make sure enough empty coal trains reach the Wyoming mines every day, so deliveries can continue as promised.

“It’s all about staying ahead of these coal guys, and all the business they’re trying to bring in,” Scott said.

Union Pacific is investing about $25 million in North Platte to add a third main line through the heart of the rail yard that should be ready by November.

Keeping up with record rail demand is a challenge for Scott and his rail yard staff, especially when a large portion of Union Pacific’s work force is approaching retirement age.

So many of Union Pacific’s workers are nearing that point that the railroad is hiring aggressively throughout its 23-state network. In North Platte, Scott says he’s trying to hire about 40 new employees a month every month through 2010.

“We are hiring generation number five,” Scott said.

Posted on 08:31 PM | Permalink

Peoples Daily Online: September 26, 2006

China is to build the 1,400-km-long Lagos-Kano Railway, the first standard railway in Nigeria, a spokesman for the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) said here on Monday.

The construction of the double-track line would involve a total investment of 8.3 billion U.S. dollars, NRC Spokesman David Ndakotsu told reporters in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos.

To pave way for the new line, he said, "the NRC management has set up monitoring units in its seven districts to identify and demolish structures in areas proposed for the new standard rail."

Ndakotsu said masts erected by public utility companies and private organizations on the corridors of the proposed standard gauge would be demolished.

He added that such organizations had been served a month's notice to relocate such facilities.

"The NRC is hopeful that companies such as the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, the Nigerian Telecommunication Corporation ( NITEL) and private telephone operators who have erected masts, cables and pylons on the rail lines will comply with the directive, " he said.

Ndakotsu expressed satisfaction with the level of support the corporation had received from the governments of Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Kaduna and Kano states on the Lagos-Kano railway project that will traverse these states.

The spokesman said these states had initiated moves to reclaim for the NRC its abused properties and also set up task forces to dislodge illegal structures and trespassers within the proposed rail corridors.

Posted on 04:16 AM | Permalink

AFX: 25th September 2006

LONDON - The former chief of the UK rail arm of troubled transport group Sea Containers has warned that the UK's rail franchising system is heading for collapse.

Chris Garnett in happier times

Chris Garnett, who resigned as chief executive of Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) last month, said franchises will 'self-destruct' under the weight of agreements to make huge premium payments to the British government.

Garnett also accused the Department for Transport (DfT) of abandoning investment in rail in order to meet Treasury cost-cutting targets.

'The one thing this lot won't do is spend any money on the railways,' Garnett said in an interview with industry magazine Rail.

GNER, which has run intercity trains from London King's Cross to Scotland since 1997, has struggled to meet payments totaling around 1.3 bln stg that it agreed when it won the right to run the franchise for a further ten years.

The franchise is facing lower-than-expected passenger revenues due to disruption from the London bombings in 2005, increased power charges and a prospective challenge from rival Grand Central, which controversially has been allowed to start competing services on the UK's East Coast Main Line (ECML).

GNER has also been hit by the financial problems plaguing parent group Sea Containers, which is struggling with 610 mln usd of debt.

GNER and SeaCo have reportedly threatened to abandon the franchise unless the UK's Department for Transport (DfT) reduces the premium payments.

Garnett told Rail that the franchising market would face growing pressure as franchise bidders put in offers for contracts on over-tight margins.

'It's going to take some pretty spectacular failures, I think, before people move the margins, because we're all bidding against each other,' the magazine quoted Garnett as saying.

'The market will self-destruct as bidders bid to win on ever-tighter margins.

'It's not sustainable and that's where it's tied straight into government, because when it goes wrong, it's going to come right back to the DfT.'

Garnett said the DfT and the Treasury now have too much control of the rail industry and are putting cost before investment and strategic vision.

'The department puts out a specification and that is going to be the minimum it thinks it can get away with and cost the least,' Garnett said.

'And so anything that might add capacity or anything that might take the railways forward, has to be absolutely dragged out of the DfT. So no bidder puts anything in a bid that enhances the railway if it isn't self-funding because they'll lose.

'If we were running a decent railway, that's what we would be doing.'

Garnett also said franchisees were now having to run trains slower to meet government punctuality targets and that plans to invest in the ECML had fallen apart.

Bus and rail group Stagecoach Group PLC emerged last week as the latest victor in the franchising process when it beat rivals FirstGroup PLC, Arriva PLC and a joint venture between National Express Group PLC and Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation to run South West Trains services from London Waterloo for a further 10 years.

The contract involved an agreement to pay 1.2 bln stg in premium payments to the Treasury.

Posted on 05:16 PM | Permalink

Birmingham Post: 2006-09-25
Birmingham (UK)

A transport union has hit out at the fall in private investment in the railways.

Official Government figures have shown that private sector investment in rail dipped from £3.79 billion in 2004-05 to £4.59 billion in 2005-06. At the same time, government investment in rail increased from £3.79 billion in 2004-05 to £4.59 billion in 2005-06.

Transport union TSSA said the private sector figure was a cause of concern, particularly at a time when the future of East Coast Main Line operator GNER was in doubt because of the financial problems of its Bermuda-based parent company, Sea Containers.

TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty said: "It should be a great concern to Government that the private sector appears unwilling to deliver stable investment flows for building the 21st century rail network that our economy needs."

See also:

Capitalising On Private Investment

International Railway Journal: September 2006
David Briginshaw, Editor-In-Chief
 
THE news this month that French Rail Network (RFF) is considering public-private partnerships for future rail investment projects and the British government’s decision to approve only half of Manchester’s plans to expand its light rail network, are indicators of the increasing difficulty that governments face in trying to fund capital projects. It is timely, therefore, to consider the roles that governments and the private sector should play in railway investment schemes.

Investment in the construction of new lines is rarely made to enhance the profitability or financial performance of the railway or transit operator concerned because of the sheer scale of the project and because it is often a means to an end.

Most of Europe’s high-speed rail network is being funded publicly because the cost is so high that there is little chance of earning sufficient revenue to pay back the investment, and because most governments realise that such schemes have much wider economic benefits.

The same is true of other major projects such as the huge new tunnels being driven under the Alps in Switzerland. The Channel Tunnel should be a dire warning to any government that believes a major railway infrastructure project can be funded entirely by the private sector. Eurotunnel has now been granted protection from its creditors while it tries to find a way to pay off its crippling debt burden, but the prospects for this look bleak.

There are certainly opportunities for the private sector to fund projects, such as the construction or redevelopment of a station if the work can be linked to be a commercial property development.

The big challenge comes when a government or railway tries to get the private sector to fund a project that is unlikely to make a profit. Experience so far paints a stark conclusion: transferring risk to the private sector will increase the cost of the project. The British government fell foul of this. The cities of Leeds, Liverpool, and Portsmouth spent many years and several million pounds planning light rail networks, while Manchester had its big-bang expansion scheme.

Britain’s Department for Transport played a long “cat-and-mouse game” with the cities trying to get them to secure financial contributions from contractors while keeping the overall cost within a set budget. Unsurprisingly, costs increased as risk was transferred to the private sector which had already had its figures burnt with earlier light rail projects in Britain, such as Croydon Tramlink. The schemes became unaffordable in the government’s eyes, and only Manchester was allowed to proceed with a cut-down version of its original plan. Frustratingly, the money wasted on planning the aborted projects would have been sufficient to build several kilometres of new line.

The question has to be asked: what is the purpose of a new light rail line? Is it to reduce traffic congestion and pollution, and regenerate the city, or is to make money? Dublin’s Luas light rail network has been so successful that the subsidy set aside by the Irish government to cover expected operating losses will not be needed. But the operating profit is far too small to make a dent in the capital cost. Nevertheless property developers near planned extensions are now willing to contribute towards the cost of building them. But this is after the first two lines have demonstrated their success in attracting passengers, and the developers will not shoulder any of the risk.

France is Europe’s largest investor in light rail as more and more cities recognise the ability of light rail to get people out of their cars—something which buses rarely achieve. The French also use the opportunity to revitalise their cities, often to striking effect.

Unfortunately, too many politicians are happy to waste large amounts of money and time trying to put together financing packages that are so convoluted and expensive they make the project unaffordable, or doomed to failure. Politicians must not lose sight of the real long-term benefits of investing in rail. They must learn how to use the resources of the private sector to best effect.

Posted on 04:38 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 24 September 2006

Railway workers have called off a planned strike on the Heathrow Express on Mond