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 Monday, saying they will meet next week to decide their next steps. The Heathrow Express is a key route for visitors to London.

Workers from the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union had planned a 24-hour industrial action in a dispute over pay and conditions.

The employees, who act as train drivers and station staff, already had staged a one-day strike on Thursday.

The train service runs from London's Paddington Station to Heathrow Airport.

Posted on 08:24 AM | Permalink

The Times: September 23, 2006
From David Crossland in Berlin

TWENTY-THREE people died in Germany yesterday when a futuristic high-speed hovertrain crashed into a maintenance vehicle at 120mph (193km/h).

The Transrapid train had been travelling at more than 120mph (Photo: Nigel Trebin/ AFP/ Getty images)

The accident happened on a 20-mile test track in northwestern Germany. More than 30 people were on board, including 23 visitors to the facility, which regularly offers rides.

As the monorail Transrapid train began to accelerate, the passengers would have been able to see the stationary maintenance vehicle coming ever closer through the panoramic front windows. It was the first crash to take place on the track, which is in the Emsland district near the Dutch border, and is a severe blow to Germany’s world-leading magnetic rail technology. Ten people were injured.

“The maintenance car runs along the track each morning and the train doesn’t depart until the car has gone. Why that didn’t happen today I don’t yet know,” said Manfred Manke, of the prosecutors’ office in Osnabrück. The maintenance car had two people on board.

IABG, the train operator, said that it was deeply upset by the accident. “At this time, the accident was not caused by technical failure. It is the result of human error,” Rudolf Schwarz, the managing director of IABG, said.

Rescue workers struggled to free more bodies from the wreckage last night, but the raised track, which is 4m (13ft) above ground, made the job difficult. They had to use cranes, helicopters and fire ladders to reach the train. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, visited the site to offer her support.

The train is propelled at high speeds by a frictionless electromagnetic system. It was developed by Transrapid International, a joint venture between Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp, shares in which dipped after the news.

Travelling at up to 270mph, the “maglev” Transrapid in Germany floats on a magnetic cushion 1cm (1⁄2in) above the track. It has no fuel source on board and its makers said that it could not derail.

German engineers have been testing the sleek white train since the late 1960s. Attempts to build a commercial maglev line in Germany have repeatedly been blocked by environmentalists and lack of finance. The city of Munich is considering using the technology in a link to its airport.

Despite numerous proposals for its use across the world, the only train of its kind in commercial use is as a shuttle from the centre of Shanghai, in China, to the city’s airport.

On August 11 a fire broke out in an electrical compartment of the Shanghai train, also built by Transrapid, as it headed towards the airport. The prototypes have logged hundreds of thousands of kilometres in trials on the track.

See also:

Experts examine human error as possible cause of German maglev train crash that killed 23

The Associated Press: September 23, 2006

LATHEN, Germany German investigators are seeking to find out why safety rules didn't prevent a high-speed magnetic train from powering up and rolling toward a maintenance vehicle still on the elevated test track. The resulting crash killed 23 people.

Alexander Retemeyer, a prosecutor speaking for investigators, said Saturday they were focussing on what happened in the 32-kilometer (20-mile) track's control center, where the required two employees were on duty.

"What we are looking into is why the train was given the go-ahead even though the maintenance vehicle was on the track," Ratemeyer said.

Friday's crash near Lathen in northwestern Germany was the first involving a train using magnetic levitation, or maglev, technology, in which the train rides on a magnetic field without touching rails. The lack of friction helps make possible speeds as high as 450 kilometers per hour (270 miles per hour).

The controllers, Ratemeyer said, were supposed to make sure the maintenance vehicle was off the track through several layers of checks. Only then were they to turn on the electricity enabling the train driver to start, he said.

Investigators examined the control room log book and discovered that the maintenance truck was where it was supposed to be.

It headed out at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and was logged at a spot called point 120 on the rack at 9:53 a.m. (0753 GMT) when the train started its high-speed run. Fifty-eight seconds later, the train hit the truck at 170 kilometers per hour (105 miles per hour.)

The controllers had several ways to determine whether the vehicle was on the track: the log book, a check of its shed, and a GPS satellite navigational device on the vehicle, which showed it as a green dot on one of the computer systems - but not the main security system showing the location of the train.

They were also supposed to get a radio call from other workers confirming that the vehicle was out of the way.

Further interviews will determine whether anyone had told it to return before the train came down the track, Retemeyer said. The two control center employees have not been interviewed because they were in shock and undergoing care, he said.

More information was expected from injured survivors: Two workers on the service wagon as well as a train driver and a technician on the train.

"At this point, we believe the main reason is that the maintenance vehicle was not integrated into the train security system," said Retemeyer. "Safety for the maintenance vehicle is the responsibility of people, and so far we have not been able to determine any individual suspects because only now do we know the timeline of what happened."

Video cameras would not have alerted the controllers, since the crash occurred in a gap between camera coverage, he said.

The maintenance car was hit by the low nose of the speeding train and was flung upwards, ripping open the top of the first car of the train and strewing mangled seats, shards of glass and twisted metal parts below the 4-meter (12-foot) high track.

Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee promised a "swift but thorough investigation."

"The question that we have to ask will be, was the security concept sufficient and was it followed step by step," he told reporters at the scene. "And then when we know what the reasons were, we will be able to draw conclusions."

Among the dead were two young people who had completed an apprenticeship at company working on the maglev train and were taking the ride as a reward, officials said. Officials said others included workers for Transrapid International, the company that makes the train, and one person from IABG, which operates the track. Transrapid International, a joint company of Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp AG.

The track is mainly used to show off maglev technology, but tourists are allowed to ride the train as well.

The technology has been around for years but has not caught on as conventional high-speed service has expanded. Shanghai, China, and Nagoya, Japan have commercially operating maglev trains.

Wu Xiangming, the head of China's maglev project, visited the crash site on Saturday, officials said.
All 23 of the dead had been positively identified, officials said.

Some of the 10 injured had already been able to leave the hospital and those remaining had injuries that were not life threatening, said local councilor Harmann Broering.
___
On the Net:
www.transrapid.de


See also:

German monorail test train kills 23 out of 29 passengers

BBC News: 22 September 2006

At least 23 people died according to latest reports when an elevated magnetic train crashed on a test track in north-western Germany.

Rescuers had to use ladders and cranes to reach the train
Train wreckage hanging from an elevated section of track Prosecutor Alexander Retemeyer said 15 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage. Another 10 people were injured, officials said.

The train, which floats on a monorail via a magnetic levitation system called maglev, was going at nearly 200km/h (120 mph) when it crashed near Lathen.

The driverless train hit a maintenance vehicle on the track, officials said.

Some carriages were left balancing on a section of track about 5m (16.5ft) in the air after the accident.

The train was carrying 29 people at the time.

Footage of a Maglev

The accident happened at about 1000 (0800 GMT).

The test track from Lathen to Doerpen is 31.8km (20 miles) long and tourists regularly go on trips along it.

The Transrapid system, run by Siemens, is capable of speeds of up to 450km/h (280mph).

Fire engines are now at the scene and ladders are being used to reach the damaged coaches. Some debris fell from the train to the ground.

The only commercial example of a Transrapid system in operation is the high-speed shuttle to China's Shanghai airport from the city centre.

It was developed by Transrapid International, a joint venture between Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp.

German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, who is in China, has cancelled his trip and is now on his way back to Germany.

In August, a fire broke out on a Transrapid train in Shanghai, adding to concerns about the safety of the technology.

The German companies are keen to make Transrapid an export hit and negotiations are under way about building another link in China, and also in Munich, the BBC's Tristana Moore reports from Berlin.

HOW MAGLEV TRAINS WORK


Opposite poles on magnets keep train above track
Train is propelled by electro-magnetic system in the sides of the "guideway" instead of onboard engine
Top speed (with passengers) - 450km/h (280mph)
Developed by Transrapid Int in Germany
Operating commercially in Shanghai
Test facility in Emsland, northern Germany, is longest of its kind at 31.5km (19.5 miles)

Source: Transrapid International

See also:

FACTBOX-Transrapid -- one of world's fastest trains

Reuters: 22 Sep 2006

Following are some facts about the Transrapid high tech train that crashed on a test run in Germany on Friday:

- The Transrapid rides on magnetic levitation at speeds of up to 420 kph (260 mph) on its 32-km (20 mile) long test track in Emsland, a remote area of Germany near the Dutch border.

- It long held the record as the world's fastest train, hitting 450 kph in a 1993 test.

- Travelling at three times the speeds of conventional steel-wheel trains, the "mag-lev" Transrapid floats on a magnetic cushion one cm (half an inch) above a track that is elevated five to eight metres above the ground.

- The Transrapid uses a tongue-and-groove construction that keeps the 110-tonne vehicle from leaving the track. Powerful electromagnets in the bracket-shaped undercarriage wrap around the sides of the guideway and hold the train in place.

- The prototypes have logged hundreds of thousands of kilometres in trials on the track near Lathen. Because there are no wheels and no friction on the track, the train uses 33 percent less energy than Germany's high speed ICE trains.

- Hundreds of thousands of tourists have paid to take rides on the train since such service began in 1995.

- Attempts to build a commercial "mag-lev" line in Germany have repeatedly been blocked by environmentalists and other opponents, leaving projects on drawing boards.

- There are proposals to build a Transrapid from Munich's airport to the city centre and a decision is due in the fall. Another plan to link Hamburg and Berlin was scrapped.

- China was the first country in the world to get the high-speed train. It takes less than eight minutes to travel the 30 km between Shanghai and its airport at a top speed of 430 kph, making it the world's fastest commercial train.

- An experimental Japanese mag-lev train set the current speed record of 581 kph on a test track near Tokyo in 2003.

- On Aug 11, a fire broke out in an electrical compartment of the Shanghai mag-lev train as it headed towards the airport. It caused a lot of smoke but no one was injured.

- It has been developed over the years by Siemens and Thyssen . National airline Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn have also worked on the project.

See also:

Many Feared Dead After Transrapid Train Crash in Germany

Deutsche Welle: 22.09.2006
 
An as yet unknown number of people have died and many were injured after a Transrapid high-speed train traveling a test route in Emsland crashed Friday morning.

As many as 19 people might have died in the accident

County officials in Emsland, where the test route is located, said Friday afternoon that 10 people had been rescued alive while one passenger was found dead. Another 19 are still missing.
 
"We have to brace for the possibility that we will not be able to rescue them alive," said Emsland County President Hermann Bröring.
 
Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee has interrupted a trip in China to return to Germany.
 
At the time of the accident, up to 30 people were believed to be on board. Commercial passengers are only allowed on board the train four days a week.
 
According to reports, the magnetic-levitation train was moving at 200 kilometers (124 miles) per hour when it hit an object, possibly a repair train.
 
"The rescue operation is underway," said a police spokesperson, who added that recovering bodies is likely to be difficult as the tracks are located on a railway line some four meters above the ground.  
 
World's largest
 
Shanghai's Maglev is the world's only commercial magnetic-levitation train

The Transrapid route in Emsland, Lower Saxony, is the world's largest test track for magnetic-levitation trains. 31.8 kilometers long, it runs between Dörpen and Lathen close to the Dutch border.

The only existing commercial route is the 30-kilometer track in Shanghai linking the airport and the financial district. Traveling at a maximum of 430 kilometers per hour, it can cover the 30-kilometer distance in just eight minutes.
 
A 160-kilometer extension to Hangzhou is already in the pipeline.
 
The Transrapid was built by a Siemens and ThyssenKrupp consortium between 1980 and 1984. ThyseenKrupp just this week threatened to sell the technology to China should Germany not build its own Transrapid line in Munich in the near future.

Posted on 05:55 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 22 2006

A HUGE majority of people across Britain want to see their railways run by the public sector, according to an Ipsos MORI poll commissioned by RMT, Britain’s biggest rail union.

In a nationwide poll, some 68 per cent of those interviewed said that passenger rail services, including overground and Tube networks, should be run by the public sector.

"Today's announcement that Stagecoach will retain the South West Trains franchise runs counter to what the public wants to see happen to their railways," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"After the debacle of the GNER franchise it is also deeply worrying that Stagecoach has agreed to stump up a premium of £1.2 billion over the ten years of the SWT franchise.

"We warned that the GNER franchise would result in massive fares hikes, service cuts and attacks on jobs and working conditions, and that is exactly what is happening.

"Poll after poll has reported consistently massive majorities in favour of returning rail operations to the public sector, and there is a £500 million annual rail rebate waiting to be reaped by ridding the railways of the privateers.

"Bringing franchises back in-house as they come up for renewal or are unable to operate without jeoparidising services and jobs is the zero-cost way of achieving what the public, the unions and the Labour Party all want.

"Increases in capacity and staffing and new rolling stock are all to be welcomed, but just think how much more could be done without the fat-cat controllers taking their shareholders' cut.

"Private-sector investment is a myth because ultimately every penny invested in our railways comes from fares or taxes, but private profit is a reality that has drained well over £8 billion from the industry since 1996.

"The bottom line is that private operators are now getting nearly four times the subsidy that British Rail got, yet we still have a less efficient railway," Bob Crow said.

 ends

Notes to editors: Ipsos MORI interviewed 972 adults aged 15+ across Great Britain face-to-face between August 31 and  September 7, 2006. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. Where percentages do not sum to 100, this may be due to computer rounding, the exclusion of "don't know" categories, or multiple answers
 
Do you believe that passenger rail services, such as overground trains and the Tube network, should be run by the public or private sector?

BASE:   972 British adults

Public sector
68%
 
Private sector
15%
 
Don't know
17%
 
A recent Parliamentary report found that between 1990 and 2004 Greenhouse gas emissions from road transport rose by 10%. Environmental groups believe that improving public transport will help to reduce traffic and thus reduce Greenhouse emissions. Do you believe that the Government is currently spending too little, too much, or about the right amount on improving public transport?

BASE:   972 British adults
 
Too much
4%
 
Too little
64%
 
About right
18%
 
Don't know
15%
 
Asked in London and the South East Only (A sample of 528 British adults)
 
Currently the Tube is run by Transport for London, a public sector organisation. Transport for London is proposing to expand the Tube's East London Line, which currently runs from Shoreditch to New Cross, further into North and South London. If it were to be expanded, do you believe that this expanded passenger service on the East London Line should continue to be operated by the public sector, or by a private rail company?

BASE:   528 British adults in London and the South East
 
Public sector
74%
 
Private rail company
10%
 
Don't know
16%

Posted on 01:16 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 22 September 2006

Stagecoach has been awarded a fresh contract to run services on its South West Trains franchise.

Stagecoach will run the routes for 10 years

The government said the group would pay £1.19bn for the right to run the routes for 10 years from February 2007.

The South Western Network will be made up of two existing franchises, South West Trains and Island Line, both of which are currently run by Stagecoach.

South West Trains runs services from London to destinations including Southampton, Bournemouth and Salisbury.

The South Western rail franchise, which is the UK's biggest commuter rail franchise, runs more than 1,600 trains a day.

Stagecoach said it expected the deal to generate annual profits of £15m to £20m during its early years.

"We submitted a high-quality, innovative and value-for-money bid, and the new franchise is an excellent result for passengers, taxpayers and our shareholders," said chief executive Brian Souter.

The group added it planned to boost capacity on rail routes by running longer trains and more services during peak times.

See also:

Stagecoach: SW Rail Franchise Worth £530 Million In Revenue

Easy Bourse: September 22nd, 2006

LONDON - (Dow Jones)- Stagecoach Group said Friday that the new 10-year South Western rail franchise is worth more than GBP530 million in annual revenues and will run from Feb. 4, 2007.

The francise is expected to deliver good value for shareholders and to generate annual operating profit (profit before finance income/charges, amortisation of intangible assets and taxation) in the early years of the franchise of GBP15 million to GBP20 million, as well as annual finance income of GBP3 million to GBP4 million.

South Western combines the existing South West Trains and Island Line franchises, both of which are currently operated by the group.

The new franchise incorporates a multi-million-pound investment programme and will generate GBP1,191 million (net present value) in premium payments to the DfT over the 10-year period, the company said.

The key highlights of the new franchise - developed following extensive consultation with more than 100 local, regional and national stakeholder groups - include significant increase in capacity, with 21% more mainline peak seats and a 20% increase in peak suburban seating; and deployment of 17 additional Class 450 units ordered by DfT, as well as a rolling stock refurbishment programme, to deliver extra capacity.

Stagecoach Group said that maximum length trains will be used on almost all peak services, with additional morning peak service from Basingstoke to Waterloo, and plans to introduce 10-car trains on Windsor to Waterloo services in 2010.

The company will be investing GBP19 million in Smartcard technology to make ticket purchasing easier.

See also:

Stagecoach secures South West franchise

The Times: September 23, 2006
By Angela Jameson

STAGECOACH may be afflicted with the winner’s curse after pledging to pay £1.2 billion to run the ten-year South West Trains franchise, the capital’s most important commuter network.

The Scottish-based group has acknowledged that its profits will fall 70 per cent in the first few years of the contract and that margins will be cut to the bone, leaving it vulnerable if the economy slides or there are more terrorist attacks in London.

Stagecoach said that it expected the new franchise to deliver operating profits of £15 million to £20 million, on revenues of £530 million in the first few years — a margin of only 2.8 per cent to 3.8 per cent. Last year its retained profits from the South West Trains franchise amounted to £59 million, after a £66 million payment to the Treasury.

The rail operator, which has been running South West Trains for ten years, saw off stiff competition from FirstGroup, Arriva and National Express Group. Stagecoach’s eye-watering bid comes as another rail franchise, the GNER operation on the East Coast Main Line, is on the verge of announcing many redundancies. GNER is paying £1.3 billion for its franchise but, in the second year, is having difficulty generating adequate income.

There are concerns that rail operators are paying too much and jeopardising their future. “When we saw how much [Stagecoach] had bid, there was a sharp intake of breath,” an industry source said yesterday. Stagecoach has pledged to deliver 21 per cent more peak-time seats and spend £40 million improving stations, including Waterloo, its base.

Posted on 09:21 AM | Permalink

Independent Online: 21 September 2006
By John Lichfield in Paris

One hundred and seventy-six years ago, Britain invented the passenger railway. Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, the French reinvented it.

The inaugural Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) or high-speed train - like a terrestrial space rocket with a Gallic nose - left the Gare de Lyon in Paris on 22 September 1981. Since then, 1.2 billion passengers have been carried by TGVs within France, at speeds of up to 186mph, without a single, serious injury.

Within the next year, the TGV, mocked by some as a typically French, state-driven economic folly, over-hyped by others as the future of all inter-city transport in the 21st century, will come of age. New sections of high-speed line will open between central London and the Kent suburbs; between Paris and Metz; between Brussels and Amsterdam; and between Brussels and the German border.

The high-speed rail network for north-west Europe, which has been gradually taking shape in the past decade, will become a reality. London will be two hours 20 minutes from Paris by train. Amsterdam to Paris by rail will take three hours and five minutes. Paris to Cologne will be three hours, Paris to Frankfurt, four hours. There are already high-speed lines in Italy and Spain and lengthy new sections under construction in both countries.

By 2020, Europe's high-speed track mileage should triple. There are confirmed projects for lines within, and linking, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Portugal and Sweden. High-speed trains from Amsterdam to Madrid - via Paris, Lyons and Barcelona - are "a certainty" within 15 years, says Guillaume Pepy, the chairman of Eurostar and chief executive officer of the French railways, the SNCF.

Changes in European Union law on transport competition will also mean that, 10 years from now, new train operators, even airlines, could begin to offer services on this network. The state-owned SNCF, a leading partner in the London-Paris-Brussels trains, is already planning for the day when Eurostar becomes a separate train-operating company in its own right, competing for rail passengers between London and Paris with, say, Air France or Virgin or perhaps, some new, cut-price niche operator.

In the meantime, says M. Pepy, railway companies and train operators will streamline the cross-border "alliances" (such as Eurostar) to lower their prices and improve services, connections and comfort. There are no immediate plans for daily through trains from London via the Channel Tunnel to cities such as Amsterdam or Cologne or Lyons. Swift rail journeys from Britain to the Netherlands and Germany will be available through changes at Lille or Brussels. The odd country out in this 21st-century railway revival is the country where the railway began.

After the second part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link is completed from Folkestone to London St Pancras next year, Britain has no further plans to build high-speed railway lines.

The Government included the "study" of a high-speed line from London to the north of England and Scotland in its manifesto for the last election. In the spring, the Government indicated that all available money would be spent instead on motorways and upgrading the 19th century railway network. Hopes of a British TGV system - bringing Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds within one hour and 25 minutes of London by rail and Glasgow within three hours - have been shunted into a siding.

Is this a sensible choice in a country drowning in road traffic and facing awkward questions about the environmental impact of the explosion in air travel?

Given the exorbitant cost of the Channel Link (seven times higher per mile than any other high-speed line in Europe) and the extraordinary cost of rebuilding the 19th-century west coast main line to north-west England and Scotland, anyone would tremble at the likely cost of a new high-speed line through the spine of England.

But Britain may ask whether it is getting value for money by standing aside from Europe's railway revolution. The French eastern high-speed line from Paris, opening to Metz next June (eventually continuing to Strasbourg and Germany) will cost €3.5bn (£2.35bn) for 300km. It is forecast that Britain's west coast upgrade will cost at least £7.6bn (or €11.2bn) for 1,000km, including loops and branches to Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

So the cost per route kilometre is about the same. The French are getting a brand-new railway for €11.6m per kilometre. We are getting an upgraded old railway for €11.2m per kilometre.

Britain's west coast main line will have been promoted from a 100mph railway to a 125mph railway, compared to the 140mph originally promised.

The new French line, or TGV-Est, will have a line speed of 200mph, somewhat higher than France's three, existing highspeed lines to south, to the north and to the west. The French railways began tests this week on the possibility of bringing all their high-speed lines up to 360kph (225mph).

On which side of the Channel is the state-driven economic folly?

Posted on 09:11 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 21 September 2006

Employers and trade unions in the rail industry have agreed to set up an independent commission to resolve its pension problems.

RMT leader Bob Crow threatened a national strike over pensions in May

The idea arose after rail unions voted earlier this year to strike in protest over plans to make large increases in their members' pension contributions.

The commission will look at other ways of dealing with rising pension costs.

Since privatisation the industry's pension scheme has become fragmented, with more than 100 separate sections.

Last year a regular valuation of the scheme revealed that two-thirds of the sections had deficits.

As a result, plans were put forward that in many cases would have forced members to make higher contributions or have a slower build up of pension entitlement.

In some cases, pension contributions would have gone up to more than 10%, and in one case 18.5%, of staff salaries.

No strike

The unions received a "yes" vote in an industry-wide ballot for industrial action in May that would have led to the first national railway strike since the General Strike of 1926.

At the time, the unions - the RMT, ASLEF, TSSA and CSEU - said the industry's pension arrangements were in crisis and demanded that contribution increases scheduled for July should be halted.

But after further talks with the employers the idea of a commission was developed.

Michele Lewis, pensions officer of the TUC, said: "They have been asked to come up with some solutions that are a long term, sustainable, arrangement."

John Armitt, chief executive of Network Rail, welcomed the idea on behalf of railway employers.

"This commission provides a real opportunity to make progress in tackling the issues involved in providing affordable, good value pensions across the rail industry," he said.

"We look forward to considering the Commission's findings, and to working with the trade unions, as we seek ways of securing long-term pension provision for people in the industry," Mr Armitt added.

The commission

The chair of the commission will be Jeannie Drake, a full-time official with the Communication Workers Union.

She sat for nearly three years on the government's own Pensions Commission, led by Lord Turner, which published its final report earlier this year.

Her nomination was agreed by both sides.

The two other members are Bryn Davies, an actuary nominated by the unions, and Peter Thompson, an actuary nominated by the employers.

They will start work this month and publish an interim report early next year.

Posted on 01:14 AM | Permalink

RMT: September 21 2006

BRITAIN’S BIGGEST rail union today welcomed the setting up of the rail pensions commission and said it would participate actively with the aim of safeguarding rail workers’ pension rights.

"This commission has come into being thanks to the resolve of TSSA and RMT members who balloted for industrial action to defend their pension rights," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Until then the employers had refused to speak to us collectively because there was no industry-wide forum through which to do so.

"Our remit remains as it has been throughout, to keep pension contributions affordable, maintain benefit levels, keep the railway pension scheme open to all and to streamline it in a sensible industry-wide structure, and on that basis we will be making our submission," Bob Crow said.

See also:

UK rail unions, employers form pensions commission to look at industry scheme

AFX: 21st September 2006

LONDON - An independent Railway Pensions Commission has been set up by the rail unions and employers to review the current railways scheme.

To be chaired by former Turner Commission member Jeannie Drake, the new body will consider if any alternative means of long-term pension provision might be available that would be fair and affordable for both employees and employers.

The move comes after the unions threatened major strikes earlier this year over the schemes.

Unions want employers to keep their schemes open to new staff, cap employee contributions and keep benefits at their current level.

Joining Drake on the commission will be Bryn Davies, an independent actuary, nominated by the trade unions ASLEF, RMT, TSSA and the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, and Peter Thompson, a consulting actuary, nominated by the employers including Network Rail and the train operating companies.

The commission starts work this month and aims to complete its report next summer. An interim report is expected early in 2007.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber welcomed the appointment of the commission, calling the agreement a 'sensible and constructive approach to a complex problem'.

Network Rail chief executive John Armitt said he looked forward to 'working with the trade unions, as we seek ways of securing long-term pension provision for people in the industry'.

Before rail privatisation, there was one salary scheme for British Rail workers, but post-privatisation, there are now more than 100 pension arrangements, involving at least 60 companies, including all the train operating companies and engineering firms which maintain the railways.

Posted on 12:40 AM | Permalink

The Huddersfield Daily Examiner: Sep 21 2006

A NEW rail company has announced plans to run direct services between Huddersfield and London.

York-based Grand Central Railway wants to run a 140mph service linking Huddersfield and Bradford with Euston in London via the West Coast main line.

The company has pencilled in a start date of 2009-2010 for the proposed service - if rail regulators approve the plan.

Operations director Sean English said the plan was "very much in its infancy" but that "economic testing" to decide the viability of the proposals was under way.

This included calculating likely passenger demand and the cost of securing use of the rail network.

Mr English said the service would provide an alternative to the existing GNER service, which involves passengers from Huddersfield changing at Wakefield or the heavily-used Leeds station.

Grand Central is proposing a direct link from Huddersfield and Bradford which would go via Standedge Tunnel and join the West Coast line at Stockport.

Said Mr English: "We think there is a huge market for this service in the Huddersfield area and that an opportunity exists to develop an alternative direct service to London via the West Coast main line."

Grand Central said it planned to run six trains a day in each direction with a likely journey time of two hours and 20 minutes.

The firm said: "Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees have very limited capital links, partly because of their geography, in the middle of the two fast main line routes between London and Scotland."

Grand Central also wants to run an hourly service between Bradford and Doncaster calling at Halifax, Brighouse, Wakefield Kirkgate and Pontefract.

The proposals are part of a "wish list" drawn up by the company for the Office of Rail Regulation.

The company is due to start running thrice-daily services between London and Sunderland from December 10.

It now wants to add a fourth daily service on that route, which operates on the East Coast main line.

Grand Central also wants to run four trains a day between Bradford and King's Cross in London, independently of the Sunderland service.

Grand Central managing director Ian Yeowart said today: "Our focus at present is on launching the Sunderland-London service on December 10. But like any growing business we must also look to the future.

"We have made it clear we are committed to improving links to the capital from West Yorkshire.

"Those aspirations are reflected in these plans for new services, which we are submitting to the regulators."

The regulators' decision to allow Grand Central to operate the Sunderland-London services was bitterly opposed by GNER, the East Coast main line operator.

GNER, which runs services from Scotland to King's Cross via Wakefield and Leeds, failed in a High Court challenge to reverse the regulators' decision.

The prospect of a new Huddersfield-London link was welcomed by the Slaithwaite-based Association of Community Rail Partnerships.

General manager Neil Buxton said: "Although we are concerned with rural railways, anything that encourages people to use public transport is to be welcomed."

The Aspley-based Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce also welcomed the move.

Siobhan Barton, head of policy and planning, said: "We consider this an important development in transport for the business community of Huddersfield.

"It will provide invaluable links with the capital.

"It will also afford many opportunities for growth in our economy and should go some way to closing the North-South divide."

See also:

Train bosses unveil vision of the future

This is Bradford:  21st September 2006
By Will Kilner

A raft of proposals to im-prove rail connections bet-ween Bradford and the mainline network were submitted to rail regulators today.

The "wish list" of Grand Central Railway includes 140mph services between Lon-don and Bradford and an hourly stopper' service bet-ween Bradford and Doncaster.

The proposals were unveiled after the Office of Rail Regulation asked train operating companies for a list of new services they want to introduce in the coming years.

By encouraging rail companies to be more transparent about their aspirations, railway chiefs aim to draw up a long-term vision for the network in full knowledge of possible developments.

Grand Central, supported by 20 MPs, has continued its fight to introduce more trains between Bradford and London despite having plans knocked back by the ORR in January.

The York-based company has now told the regulator it would like to provide a four-trains-a-day service between Bradford and London King's Cross.

The service would run independently of the London to Sunderland trains instead of splitting at Doncaster, as originally proposed.

Grand Central also wants to bring in an hourly service between Bradford and Doncaster calling at Halifax, Brighouse, Wakefield Kirkgate and Pontefract. This service would provide a vital connection with trains running up and down the flagship East Coast Main Line.

In the longer term, the company aims to introduce a service from London Euston to Huddersfield and Bradford with operations beginning around 2009/10. The introduction of this new route would coincide with a new fleet of trains to operate the services.

Grand Central operations director Sean English said "joined-up" planning from rail bosses could prevent a repeat of the 16-month dispute which saw train operator GNER unsuccessfully challenge Grand Central's plan to use part of the East Coast Main Line between London and Sunderland.

Bradford North MP Terry Rooney said it would be "fantastic" if the plans came off.

But he said he would like to see more substance from Grand Central, including evidence the company had the financial wherewithal to run such a service.

Mr Rooney said: "If they are seeking support from the Bradford people, they should give the people something to believe in. When they came to meet the Yorkshire Labour MPs, they didn't seem able to provide details of where the money was coming from."

Chris Glen, policy chief for the Federation of Small Busin-esses in Yorkshire, said: "More services from Bradford to London would be good for Bradford and the whole region.

"Fewer people would have to go to Leeds from Bradford to get trains to London."

Mike Cartwright, of Brad-ford Chamber, welcomed the extension of rail services. He said: "While we applaud what GNER have done over the last few years with their franchise, we also think there should be more competition introduced and Grand Central are willing to step up to the mark."

Posted on 12:01 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 21 September 2006

Rail bosses have been criticised for using managers to drive trains during a strike over pay and conditions.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said lives were being put at risk by using "inadequately-trained managers" to operate the trains.

Heathrow Express said a normal service was running and fully-qualified driver managers were driving trains "as part of their normal duties".

Up to 80 workers voted 12-1 to walk out on Thursday and Monday.

24-hour walkouts

Heathrow Express, which runs the Paddington to Heathrow Airport service, said only a few of the 275 workforce had failed to report for duties.

Station staff and other staff, including a few drivers, are taking part in two 24-hour periods of industrial action.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow, said: "Our members are out solidly today and if the company keeps their head buried in the sand they will be out solidly on Monday.

"Using inadequately-trained managers to run the trains will not solve this dispute but it will put lives at risk."

See also:

Heathrow Express strike steams on

This is local London: 21 Septembe, 2006
By Ruth Holmes

Strikes which threaten to disrupt the Heathrow Express have gone ahead today and are set to continue on Monday.

The Heathrow Express runs from Paddington to Heathrow every 15 minutes

Nearly 80 members of the rail union RMT are refusing to work after voting 12 to 1 against a three-year pay and conditions offer.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "RMT members at Heathrow Express are out solidly today and if the company keeps its head buried in the sand they will be out solidly again on Monday.

"Using inadequately trained managers to run trains will not settle this dispute but it will put people's lives at risk."

Heathrow Express managing director Brian Raven said he was confident the service, which runs every 15 minutes from Paddington to Heathrow, would continue as normal.

The company said they were "disappointed" that workers were pressing ahead with the strikes.

Earlier this month, members of another transport union, ASLEF, accepted the pay offer and called off their planned strikes.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said the latest offer was little more than a "rehashed" version of the three-year offer the union had already rejected.

RMT has also announced that London's transport workers could go on strike in a row over pensions.

The union is pressuring Transport for London to oppose changes which they said would see people who leave work through ill health deprived of a pension.

Posted on 12:15 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 21 2006

NEARLY 80 members of Britain’s biggest rail union at Heathrow Express are solidly on strike today after rejecting a rehashed three-year pay and conditions offer by a 12-to-one margin.

From the picket line at Paddington, RMT general secretary Bob Crow said this morning:
"RMT members at Heathrow Express are out solidly today and if the company keeps its head buried in the sand they will be out solidly again on Monday.

"Using inadequately trained managers to run trains will not settle this dispute but it will put people's lives at risk.

"Our membership has grown steadily throughout this dispute and they have twice rejected the three-year offer on the table by a 12-to-one margin

"The company should now recognise that strength and depth of feeeling and negotiate a sensible solution."

ends

Posted on 12:10 PM | Permalink

York Press: 21 September 2006
By Matthew Woodcock

GIVE York rail engineers more work. That was the call today from union bosses to Network Rail.

Bill Rawcliffe

They believe the company holds the key to the future of York's dwindling number of skilled rail workers.

The Press recently reported that Fastline, part of Jarvis plc, which carries out maintenance contracts for Network Rail, is shedding up to a dozen skilled engineering jobs - leaving fewer than 30 blue collar staff at its two large workshops, off Leeman Road, York.

The depots, now used to maintain and service trackside wagons, once employed hundreds of workers.

Bill Rawcliffe, the Rail Maritime and Transport Union's (RMT) branch chairman, said company bosses told them during negotiations on Tuesday that their largest carriage and wagon depot was being kept open thanks to a new temporary contract agreed with Network Rail. It is believed to be a six-month deal to modify 550 "falcon" wagons.

But Mr Rawcliffe said it was not permanent enough and claimed Network Rail was responsible for the dwindling number of engineering jobs in York because the company continued to award contracts elsewhere.

"Network Rail is still the villain of the piece," the union leader said.

"We are extremely angry about the situation because they keep taking jobs away from us."

Mr Rawcliffe said there was an "entire fleet" of Network Rail wagons requiring maintenance and repair that "should be done in York".

"We want a commitment from them to stop removing work that can be done here," he said.

"We've got the facilities and the workforce, but Network Rail will not give us the work.

"This temporary Fastline contract gives us a platform to fight for more permanent jobs."

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "While we have every sympathy with individuals who are facing an uncertain future, Network Rail must award contracts on the basis for money ensuring that the company stays on target to meet the stringent efficiency targets imposed on us by the independent rail regulator and that taxpayers, who ultimately fund the railway, get value for money."

Fastline spokeswoman Diane Mangan said: "We said last week that there was a small number of jobs at risk at the Leeman Road engineering works, but we had not confirmed anything.

"Following discussions with the union we believe we've reached a solution acceptable to the unions and our employees."

Posted on 11:36 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 19 September 2006

Straight-to-mobile ticket plan

Virgin Trains has already begun a trial of print-at-home tickets

Rail travellers could soon be able to use "ticket-to-mobile" technology to buy train tickets, rail company chiefs have announced.

The Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) has asked technology firms to develop the means to allow tickets to be sold straight to phones.

The ticket could then be read straight from a passenger's mobile phone.

Atoc is also keen to explore self-printable tickets. Virgin Trains has already begun such a trial scheme.

Atoc director general George Muir said the initiatives were part of a drive to make buying train tickets more convenient for passengers.

"We are looking to exploit the technology as rapidly and effectively as possible" - George Muir, Atoc

"Technology can go a long way to remove the need for passengers to queue at ticket offices or wait for tickets to arrive in the post," he said.

"We are looking to exploit the technology as rapidly and effectively as possible."

Ticket-to-mobile would be a "great advance" for passengers, he said.

Atoc also hopes that, after initial trials, a national standard for home-printed tickets could be rolled out.

On Monday, Virgin Trains launched a trial of print-at-home tickets on two of its busiest routes.

The tickets are now available between London and Birmingham and between London and Manchester.

The advance single tickets are available on trains with spare capacity and the cheapest fares cost £7 for Birmingham and £9 for Manchester.

Posted on 07:16 PM | Permalink

RMT Circular No. IR205/06: September 20, 2006
(LUL/15/4)

Dear Colleague,
I am delighted to report that at the TUC Conference the entire British trade union movement has united behind an RMT resolution to support the campaign to halt the Mayor of London and TfL's intention to privatise the East London line.

This is a significant boost to our ever growing campaign and I shall write shortly with further details on new campaign activities.

I would like to personally thank all those members who came to Brighton for the rally and demonstration outside the Mayor of London's reception. I believe that even the Mayor will now be supporting the campaign as he was blowing kisses at us from the window of his reception!

Members are reminded that postcards and petitions against the privatisation continue to be available from Head Office.

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow
GENERAL SECRETARY

Posted on 11:04 AM | Permalink

TUC: 19 Sep 2006

The TUC is organising a demonstration in front of the Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe at 1pm on Friday 22 September 2006 to protest against the repression of trade union and human rights by the Zimbabwean authorities and to express solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe.

On 13 September 2006, the Zimbabwean Police arrested and assaulted hundreds of trades unionists, following peaceful protests by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trades Unions (ZCTU) over the state of the economy and food shortages.

This is what happens when you defy the Zimbabwe Government

THE beating stopped as the sun began to go down. After two-and-a-half hours, the fourteen men and one woman held at Matapi police station in Mbare township, Harare, had suffered five fractured arms, seven hand fractures, two sets of ruptured eardrums, fifteen cases of severe buttock injuries, deep soft-tissue bruising all over, and open lacerations. “As a case of police brutality on a group, it is the worst I’ve ever seen,” a doctor who helped to attend to them said.

Read the full article at The Times

The arrested union activists and officials were held in detention for days without access to medical attention or legal representatives. They were also subject to brutal assaults by the police. Wellington Chibebe (ZCTU General Secretary) and several other union leaders sustained such serious injuries that have been hospitalised after the beating they received.

Last week's brutal crackdown is the latest in a series of attacks on trade unionists and human rights activists by the police, who routinely disrupt trade union activities. The ZCTU, which plays a pivotal role in organising civic opposition to President Mugabe's mismanagement of the economy and repression of human rights, has become the prime target of the Government's onslaught.

The arrested trades unionists released on bail last week must appear in court on 3 October 2006, facing criminal charges. The TUC demands that all charges against them be dropped and that trades unionists in Zimbabwe should be allowed to exercise their democratic rights without interference from the state.

Please help us raise the profile of these abuses of workers' human rights by joining us in a protest at 1pm on Friday 22 September 2006 in front of the Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe, 429, The Strand, London WC2R 0JR (you can print out a map here).

Let 's stand in solidarity with the ZCTU and the people of Zimbabwe in their hour of need.

Also, if you would like to make a financial contribution, you can do so through TUC Aid's Zimbabwe Appeal.

Posted on 10:54 AM | Permalink

The Times: September 20, 2006
From Charles Bremner in Paris

THE final joint will be welded in a new high-speed rail line between Paris and Germany today as France celebrates the 25th anniversary of a train that has shrunk the map and transformed the life of the country.

Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, is officiating at the ceremony at Chauconin-Neufmontiers, which finishes the £2 billion route of the TGV-Est, the eastern train à grande vitesse. Trains running at up to 200mph (320km/h) will put Rheims within a 45-minute commute from Paris and bring Strasbourg within 2 hours 20 minutes instead of 4 hours.

The imminent arrival of the link has boosted property prices along its stops. It is likely to knock out airline services between Paris and Strasbourg and Metz, in the same way as it has taken most of the traffic between Marseilles, London and Brussels. The completion of the eastern line, which crosses the vineyards of Champagne, has been timed to coincide with festivities for the quarter century since the late President Mitterrand opened the first TGV, between Paris and Lyons, on September 22, 1981. A show with two full-scale mock-ups of the sleek blue and white trains opens by the Eiffel Tower at the weekend.

While France is beset by gloom and economic uncertainty, the TGV is being celebrated as a triumph of Gallic vision, with no match except for Japan’s older and less flexible network of Shinkansen.

“The legend goes on,” said Guillaume Pepy, the deputy chief of SNCF, the state railway, as politicians crowded in to share the credit. In another anniversary act, SNCF tested TGV trains at 225mph on the Mediterranean line on Monday with a view to raising their cruising speed. (The fastest British trains do not exceed 125mph). The 1,250-mile (2,010km) TGV network, a product of the French tradition of centralised power and state engineering, has transformed life, bringing cities such as Tours, 230 miles from Paris, within commuting range. A daily season ticket on that TGV route costs £390 a month. Between Paris and Lille (127 miles each way), daily commuting costs £415 a month. Vendôme, 260 miles to the southwest of the capital, has become a dormitory town. About 400,000 people use the TGV for daily work.

The TGV project, which was launched by the late President Pompidou in 1974, has brought northern prosperity to the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions as well as opening them to weekend tourism from Paris. The opening of the service to Avignon and Aix-en-Provence in 2001 brought a flood of second-homebuyers into Provence, now under three hours from the capital.

“The TGV is the Concorde plus commercial success,” Clive Lamming, a railway historian who wrote the Larousse des trains et des chemins de fer encyclopaedia, told The Times. “The TGV has virtually reduced France to one big suburb. This has increased the independence of businesses from Paris. Workers are more mobile and their costs are less.”

The TGV runs on separate high-speed lines that keep it away from the mixed traffic on which fast trains in Britain and elsewhere operate.

Posted on 09:00 AM | Permalink

Financial Times: September 19 2006
By Robert Wright, Transport Correspondent

The financial viability of the country's beleaguered rural railway lines could be transformed if the government agreed to introduce lighter, faster trains, a senior figure at Network Rail has said.

Iain Coucher, deputy chief executive, said the company, which owns and operates the rail infrastructure, was speaking to ministers and safety authorities about the potential move, which would require an easing of rules on trains' ability to withstand head-on collisions. Protective structures are heavy, slow trains down and increase energy consumption and wear on track.

Posted on 12:42 AM | Permalink

RMT: September 19 2006

MORE THAN 70 members of Britain’s biggest rail union at Heathrow Express will strike on Thursday (September 21) after rejecting the company’s “rehashed” pay and conditions offer by a margin of more than 12 to one.

RMT members will not book on for shifts that commence between a minute after midnight and 23:59 on Thursday. Similar action is also scheduled for the following Monday, September 25

"Our members have again decisively rejected the company's rehashed three-year offer," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"We have made it clear to Heathrow Express that we are available for talks to resolve this dispute, but our referendum result should tell the company exactly where our members stand.

"The problem remains that Heathrow Express is still expecting our members to pay for a shorter working week with shorter breaks and a squeeze on other conditions.

"They have also been angered by the company's attempt to to dress up the non-consolidated lump sum they are offering instead of the back-pay we are entitled to as some sort of concession, and that will not wash.

"We remain available to negotiate, but the company will not resolve this dispute by burying their heads in the sand," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 12:26 AM | Permalink

Peter Skelly, Bristol Rail's nomination for the post of Relief Regional Organiser (South) will address the next meeting of Bristol Rail Branch on 27th September.

Peter currently works as a full-time RMT convenor with Network Rail, and is Secretary of Bridgend, Llantrisant & District Branch. He has represented RMT members at local, regional and national level for more than 25 years

The Branch meeting begins at 19.15 and is held in the Lounge of the GWRSA Staff Club, Temple Meads.

Details from Branch Secretary Glen Burrows: bristolrail@rmt.org.uk. Tel. 07764 994 541

Posted on 06:07 PM | Permalink

Daily Telegraph: 19/09/2006

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Rail will face tough competition in its battle to carry on running the Cross Country train franchise.

Virgin Rail is one of four qualifying bidders

The Department for Transport (DfT) announced that Virgin is one of four companies to have qualified as bidders for the new franchise, which will start operating in November 2007.

Virgin is up against three companies, all with experience of running passenger services - Arriva, FirstGroup and National Express.

Cross Country services, which take in nearly the whole of Britain, have been run by Virgin since 1997.

The new Cross Country franchise takes in services on the current Cross Country franchise as well as Stansted to Birmingham and Cardiff to Nottingham services transferred from the current Central Trains franchise.

It is planned that the franchise will run until March 2016, the last two years and four months of which will be conditional upon achieving pre-set performance targets.

The DfT also announced today the qualifying bidders for two more franchises, both of which will also start to be operated from November 2007.

Arriva, FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach will compete for the East Midlands franchise, which will run until March 31, with a similar two years, four months proviso to that for Cross Country.

The East Midlands franchise will be formed from the current Midland Mainline franchise (currently operated by National Express) as well as the Liverpool to Norwich service and local services in the East Midlands area transferred from the current Central Trains franchise.

Govia and MTR Corporation of Hong Kong will compete with a joint venture between Serco and NedRailways for the West Midlands franchise, which will run until September 2015, with the last year and 10 months being conditional on achieving pre-set performance targets.

The West Midlands franchise will be made up of the remaining services of the current Central Trains franchise (operated by National Express) and the current Silverlink County services (also operated by National Express).

However, the Snow Hill services may become part of either the West Midlands franchise or the Chiltern franchise, depending on a proposal from Chiltern Railways.

Posted on 10:20 AM | Permalink

Independent Online: 18 September 2006
By Michael Harrison, Business Editor

Brian Souter, the co-founder and chief executive of the bus and rail group Stagecoach, is clearing the decks in readiness for being handed a new 10-year franchise to run South West Trains.

Mr Souter and his sister Ann Gloag sold their entire shareholding in the Scottish airline ScotAirways yesterday in order, it was said, for Mr Souter to focus fully on his role at Stagecoach. Mr Souter also stood down as chairman of ScotAirways with immediate effect.

The pair acquired a majority stake in the airline seven years ago. They have been bought out for an undisclosed amount by the two founders of ScotAirways, Merlyn and Roy Suckling.

The move came as the Department for Transport prepares to name the winner of the South West Trains franchise, the biggest commuter network in the country. Stagecoach is favourite to retain the franchise, which it won originally in 1996. It faces competition from three other bidders, the strongest of which is thought to be First Group, now the country's biggest train operator.

The investment bank Merrill Lynch said in a report last week that it expected Stagecoach to retain the franchise, calculating it would be worth £130m to the group over a 10-year period. South West Trains accounts for about £500m of Stagecoach's turnover of £1.4bn a year and last year contributed £59m in profits.

In June, Mr Souter said he would be "surprised and disappointed" if Stagecoach were to lose the franchise. Although First Group is a strong contender, it already has 23 per cent of the UK rail market and winning South West Trains would increase that share to more than 30 per cent. The other two bidders are Arriva and a partnership between National Express and MTR, the operator of Hong Kong's mass transit railway.

There had been speculation that the DfT would announce the winner of the contest today. That is wide of the mark. But the DfT will announce today the shortlists of bidders for two new Midlands franchises and a cross-country franchise.

Posted on 12:58 AM | Permalink

African News Dimension: September 18, 2006,

A delegation of 30 Korean railway executives and engineers have begun a 12-day visit to Ghana to conduct a feasibility study on the re-development of the Ghana Eastern Railway.

Led by Jamila Kwen and BK Asamoah, the president and CEO respectively of GK Holding Company, the developer of the railway project, the delegation includes high-ranking officials from KORAIL, Moody's affiliate Korea Investors Service Inc, Yooshin Engineering Corporation, and Moon Engineering.

The delegation opened their visit with a courtesy call on the Korean ambassador to Ghana, Lee San-pal, followed by a meeting with Ghana's minister of harbours and railways, Christopher Ameyaw-Akufumi.

He admitted companies from several countries and has already been to Ghana to conduct studies, but he was confident the Korean team led by GK Holding would offer the best possible option for a successful completion of the project.

"The government of Ghana is ready to offer the project to any company that demonstrates the proper financial prowess and commitment to the project," he said.

The delegation also met with Vice-President Alu Mahama, himself a trained civil engineer. He said the government is offering every possible support to the project as part of its efforts to develop the country's economy. "We want to see the real action now," he told the delegation and other guests.

Korean engineers began conducting field studies along the proposed route from Accra to Nsawam and Tema. After the first day's survey, Bae Seong-yil, who is leading the team from Korea's Yooshin Engineering, told The Korea Herald that the infrastructure of the current railway system was very poor.

The cost of the development would be more than the estimated $700 million, including related projects. Nevertheless, Bae remained optimistic, "if the Ghanaian people have the confidence, they will be able to achieve everything. The new railway system will bring more opportunities especially to Tema port."

The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology will also provide the necessary data and information to the Korean expert to complete the feasibility study.

GK's Asamoah said his company decided to work with Korean rail experts and engineers because their technology is probably the most advanced in the world.

"We are confident that this trip will achieve a major technological transfer between Ghana and Korea which has already been recognised by the Ghana government during the recent visit of Sophia Horner-Sam, Ghana's deputy minister for Railways to Korea, and also build confidence in our investors," he said.

The original 304 kilometre Eastern Railway was built in 1923 by the British purposely for the hauling of minerals and cocoa. It has a narrow gauge with a maximum speed of 40 km/h and is now virtually unusable in many locations.

The government of Ghana has launched a far-reaching program of trade and investment promotion designed to make Ghana a gateway into the Western African sub-region. Ghana's railway sector is expected to play an important role in this initiative.

Bae Seong-yil has raised a business model for the project to balance costs and profits through related projects, such as the development of the railway stations, freight terminals, and residential areas.

The feasibility study will be completed about six weeks after the delegation returns to Korea.

Posted on 12:49 AM | Permalink

CaboodleNews: 2006-09-18

HUNGARY - A unit of the Free Trade Union of Railway Workers (VDSZSZ) will start a strike and hold a protest rally in front of the headquarters of the Hungarian state railway company MÁV Zrt tomorrow, hvg.hu reports.

István Gaskó, chairman of the organization said that the railway infrastructure management unit of the trade union will remain on strike until they can reach an agreement with MÁV. The cause of the conflict is that the working conditions of railway maintenance workers employed by two subsidiary companies of MÁV since last year have "largely" deteriorated, Gaskó said.
 
The annual food allowance of Ft 160,000 (€590) has been replaced with a Ft 54,000 (€199) handout, said István Feledy, leader of the infrastructure management unit. In addition, employees often have to work 16 hours without extra pay, while washing and eating facilities are not available. Many of them have not received work and safety clothing and cleaning materials are sparsely provided.
 
The strike will not directly affect the railway transport service, Feledy added.

Posted on 02:16 PM | Permalink

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: September 18, 2006
BY PETE DONOHUE

The Transit Union has another fight brewing - but this one shouldn't bring subways and buses to a halt.

A group of union activists set on ousting Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint plans to kick off its campaign today by launching a slate of candidates, the Daily News has learned.

Toussaint took the 33,700 transit workers out on strike for three days last December and then summoned them back to work. The union still doesn't have a contract.

"He made a grave error," said Barry Roberts, the presidential candidate on the Rail & Bus United slate. "We were willing to stay out. He destroyed the workers' morale."

Roberts, a bus driver and the chairman of the local's Manhattan and Bronx division, is joined on the slate by track division chairman John Samuelsen and Nat Cummings, a conductor who has held several union posts in a third major union department, rapid transit operations.

The three said they wanted to bring democracy back to the local - accusing Toussaint of being an autocrat who undermines other union officials he sees as potential threats.

Several, including Samuelsen, have been fired from union staff positions for voicing opposition to Toussaint on union matters, they charged.

With the contract now in arbitration, Toussaint said he's committed to getting his members a fair pact and is planning a series of protests.

"We need to show strength on the ground," said Toussaint, who spent three days in jail for leading the illegal strike.

The union vote is set for December.

Posted on 02:02 PM | Permalink

The Sunday Times: September 17, 2006
Dominic O’Connell

STAGECOACH, the transport group run by Scottish entrepreneur Brian Souter, is tipped to win a 10-year, multi-billion-pound contract to run Britain’s busiest rail franchise.

An announcement on who will run South West Trains, which operates services in and out of London’s Waterloo station, is expected this week.

Rail industry sources said that while Stagecoach, the incumbent on the franchise, was favourite, there was still a possibility that the deal could go to one of its rivals. Stagecoach is bidding against First Group, Arriva, and a joint-venture between MTR, the Hong Kong transport company, and National Express.

“I think Stagecoach is favourite because it is the incumbent and will have a much stronger inside knowledge of the business than the other bidders,” said one rail industry executive.

South West runs more than 11,000 trains a week and carries 400,000 people a day, many of them City workers. It was one of the first passenger franchises to be created in the break-up of British Rail, being awarded to Stagecoach in 1996.

The bidding battle for South West has been closely followed by the rail industry. The franchise has in the past been regarded as one of the most lucrative, and contributed £58.9m of Stagecoach’s £159m operating profits last year.

But bids for franchises have become much more competitive in recent years. Transport companies are also mindful of the recent cautionary tale of GNER, which made an ambitious bid to retain its franchise only to run into financial trouble when its revenue projections proved faulty.

Stagecoach’s shares rose 6.3% last week to close at 126Åp. Analysts said this was in part caused by hopes of a win in the South West contest, but also by the expectation of a major return of cash to shareholders. The company has in the past year offloaded several overseas assets, and recently sold its London bus operations to Australian bank Macquarie. Merrill Lynch thinks the firm could return as much as £235m.

Meanwhile, Virgin Rail, a joint venture between Stagecoach and Virgin, is in the final stages of negotiations with the government over a rejigging of its West Coast franchise.

Posted on 01:21 PM | Permalink

Reuters: Sep 17, 2006

CAIRO - Egypt's public prosecutor on Sunday charged 14 employees of the state's railway authority with negligence which led to the deaths of 56 people in a rail crash last month, a judicial source said.

A report into the crash on August 21 has already blamed a series of human, technical and administrative failures, including a breakdown in the railway's signalling mechanism.

One train ploughed into the back of another, injuring around 150 other people.

Seven of the charged had worked on the railway's signalling systems.

Following the crash in Qalyoub, the authorities fired the head of the state rail authority. The government has said it will allocate $1.5 billion for an overhaul of the antiquated rail system.

Posted on 01:13 PM | Permalink

The Sunday Times: September 17, 2006

The famously anti-union haulage firm is using the railways to create an environmentally friendly service for Tesco.

IT may not be everybody’s idea of fun, but thousands of people consider watching Ana Louise or Rebecca Caron rattling along the motorway to be an enjoyable pastime.

The pair attracting the attention are no ladies, of course; they are two of the iconic Eddie Stobart lorries that are individually christened and have spawned an official fan club.

Eddie Stobart’s green livery is recognisable across the country but the company is getting greener still as it moves in a new eco-friendly direction.

From this week there will be a new name for transport geeks to record in their Stobart logbooks — Eddie the Engine — and you won’t see him stuck in a traffic jam on the M6.

On Tuesday, the Cumbrian company famed for road haulage will launch its first foray into rail freight after investing £5.5m in a service that will shift goods for Tesco. The trains will run between the retailer’s depots in Livingston in Scotland and Daventry in Northamptonshire.

“This was our idea,” said the haulier’s chief executive, William Stobart, whose brother Edward created the business 36 years ago. “It’s greener and you have to think of these things, haven’t you? Tesco had been looking at rail but couldn’t get it to add up. We had to prove that rail could be as reliable as trucks. We did a lot of tests.”

The train will ship a cargo equivalent to the capacity of 26 lorries, before being reloaded and returning to the Midlands — all within a day. It will travel at an average speed of 40mph, which is comparable with a lorry, although the whole process will take slightly longer because of additional loading and unloading.

Still, Eddie Stobart claims that because Tesco will fill the train on both legs of the trip, the supermarket chain will benefit from savings of about 20% on a load that industry figures suggest would cost some £13,000 for a one-way road trip.

That looks like a huge reduction in an industry operating on narrow margins. For the year ending last February, Eddie Stobart is expected to announce profits of £5m on revenues of about £130m. Considering the company runs 850 vehicles, that works out at less than £6,000 profit per lorry per year.

But, strangely, it is the environmental benefit of rail that makes the whole project possible, because without almost £500,000 in “green” grants from the Department for Transport and the Scottish Executive the service would not have been financially viable.

“Our understanding is that if we keep on applying for the grant we will get it renewed if we can show the environmental benefit,” said Andrew Tinkler, the haulier’s chairman. “There is an environmental impact on continually taking 26 trucks up to Scotland five days a week.”

The Rail Freight Group (RFG), an industry lobbying organisation, reckons that moving goods by train saves more than 5.6m lorry journeys in Britain each year. It says the private sector has invested about £1.5 billion in rail freight since privatisation, mainly on new locomotives and wagons but also on new freight terminals.

And since the break-up of the state railway in the late 1990s the amount of freight traffic moving by rail has increased by 60%. In that time, rail’s share of the national freight market has grown from 8.5% to 11.5%.

But that is only half the industry’s story. Lord Berkeley, RFG’s chairman, fears that the rail companies’ profitability could be hit by the rail regulator’s review of the charges they pay Network Rail. Freight transporters fear the five-yearly review, now under way, will bring a rise in the amount they pay to use the national network.

The industry has also suffered from a mixed reputation in Britain, where often the distances covered aren’t great enough to justify the cost. If, for example, a train carrying several loads encounters a problem, none of the loads gets delivered on time. On the roads, some lorries would find a way through.

Stobart believes he has the answer to this problem, although it is hardly a high-tech one. “The train is diesel- powered,” he said, “because otherwise it could run only on electrified tracks. If there is a blockage, this train can turn off like a truck and find an alternative route. If we didn’t have that, it wouldn’t work.”

But others view the switch to rail as more of a publicity stunt. Chris Morgan, a logistics analyst at the research firm Datamonitor, said: “It seems to be food retailers who are beginning to look at this, because of the bad press they receive about how far food travels to get to the shelves. But there’s also a pollution benefit. It’s good PR.”

Still, Eddie Stobart claims to be in talks about further rail deals with other big clients, including Coca-Cola, which may convince doubters that the deal is the real thing.

In the meantime, the move to rail will be great news for those die-hard Stobart fans with their notebooks, who will cheer Eddie the Engine as he puffs his way up and down the Tesco line.

Posted on 10:05 AM | Permalink

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: 09/12/2006
By Denise Hollinshed

Family members said Mardie Oden had found his dream job as a switchman with Alton & Southern Railway six months ago, but it ended tragically Sunday.

The Federal Railroad Administration along with Alton & Southern and East St. Louis Police are investigating an accident in which Oden was fatally crushed between two trains.

Railroad officials said the accident happened at 11:30 p.m. Sunday while Oden was switching locomotives from one track to another.

Oden, 44, of Belleville, was pronounced dead at 12:51 a.m. Monday in the emergency room at Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital in East St. Louis, according to the St. Clair County Coroner's Office.

Mike McCarthy, spokesman for Alton & Southern, said the railway was still trying to piece together exactly just what happened when the trains came together.

"They were just moving them from one track to another, it's basically a simple move," McCarthy said.

McCarthy said Oden was very well thought of.

"He was a conscientious worker," he said. "It will be a big loss for us. We are a small railroad, and he was a big part of it."

Oden's older brother, Lindsey Oden, 52, of Belleville, believes his brother's inexperience may have sealed his fate. He said friends who worked at the railroad told him his brother had been making mistakes and should have been pulled off that job.

He wants a thorough investigation into his brother's death.

"I want the truth," Oden said. "In a six-month span my little brother shouldn't have been doing what he was doing. Simple as that."

Lindsey Oden said his brother had been thrilled to land a stable job after working temporary jobs in security.

Switchman is one of the most dangerous railroad jobs, according to Steve W. Klum, director of public affairs for Federal Railroad Administration. Klum said his agency's investigation could take several months. If any federal safety violations are found, the railroad could face civil penalties.

Funeral services for Oden are pending at L King Funeral Chapel in Belleville.

Posted on 11:25 AM | Permalink

Daily Mail: 15th Sept 06

This extraordinary picture shows just how busy the Thames has become.

The montage of all the boats which passed between Tower Bridge and London Bridge in a single hour also shows the many different types of river traffic - looks like the Thames Watermens Branch of RMT have loads of recruiting opportunities!

Among the 56 vessels pictured are speedboats, fishing boats, lifeboats, container barges and a range of tourist cruisers as well as HMS Belfast, which is permanently moored.

The image was taken by photographer Alisdair MacDonald, who set up his camera on London Bridge between midday and one o'clock and photographed every vessel that passed in the hour.

He then created this composite image.

It reflects the huge growth in river traffic and the number of passengers - a rise of 44 per cent since 1999 to 2.3 million a year.

The increase in the number of commuters has been even more marked, with a leap of 80 per cent in the past year alone.

Freight on the Thames has risen from 50 tonnes in 2000 to 56 tonnes last year, an increase of 11 per cent.

The river will be at its busiest this weekend when about 500,000 visitors will flock to the South Bank for the 10th annual Thames Festival.

The south side of the river from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge will come alive with street performers, musicians, artists and a series of outdoor ballrooms.

The event will culminate in a huge carnival on Sunday evening when 2,000 performers will put on a show with lanterns and illuminated costumes before a massive display of fireworks let off from barges on the river.

A spokesman for the Port of London Authority said: "We are seeing big increases in use of the river.

"The rise is down to all sorts of factors but the investment made in bringing piers up to date and by companies buying more modern vessels has been very important in attracting new business to the river.

"Similarly, it is becoming clearer that the Thames represents a very convenient way of transporting cargo in and out of the capital without having to deal with road congestion.

"The Thames today is a busy working river."

The Thames Festival will take place on the open spaces between Westminster Bridge and Tower Bridge.

Launched in 1997 with a high-wire walk across the Thames, it has grown to become one of the capital's largest free festivals with more than 470,000 attending last year.

Posted on 10:11 AM | Permalink

ICFTU ONLINE: 13 September 2006

In a Joint Statement issued today, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the World Confederation of Labour and the Global Union Federations called on Heads of State and Ministers participating in the General Assembly High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development to adopt a strong rights-based approach to global migration policy.

The Statement makes a number of key recommendations which Member States are asked to consider, with a view to incorporation in the Conclusions of the High Level Dialogue which takes place at the UN Headquarters in New York from 14-15 September, 2006. In so doing, it draws on the Conclusions of the Informal Interactive Hearings of the General Assembly with Civil Society, which was held on 12 July, 2006.

“Migration should not be used as an alternative to decent employment opportunities in sending developing countries” commented Sharan Burrow, President of the ICFTU, who will make the case for coherence on migration policy at a Round table of the High Level Dialogue on Thursday 14 September. Burrow expressed concern at the dominant paradigm informing the preparatory debates for the HLD. They tend to treat migrant labour as a commodity to be shuffled around in response to labour market shortages in industrialized countries. “This approach fails to recognize the negative social costs associated with economic migration”, said Burrow. “It fails to address the need for equal treatment of migrants, protections against exploitative wages and conditions of work, and migrants’ rights to join trade unions to improve their conditions of work and life”.

The Statement asks Member States to seize the opportunity of the HLD to shift the policy debate in a more positive direction, one which places human and trade union rights and the decent work agenda at the heart of the discussions. Policies must also focus on the provision of quality public services, particularly in education and health, and social protections, with a view to stemming the brain drain, and achieving the MDGs and other internationally agreed goals. Special attention should be paid to vulnerable groups such as young women, subject to abuse as domestic workers and in the entertainment industry, as well as those that are trafficked.

Trade unions further call on Member States to adopt a gender-friendly, normative framework for migration policy, based on core UN human rights instruments, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and ILO Conventions 97 and 143 on Migrant Workers, as well as the ILO Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration. Deploring the low level of ratifications of the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, particularly by receiving industrialized countries, the Statement says that the Conclusions of the HLD should include a call for all Member States to ratify the Convention.

Trade unions are criticizing the WTO for dealing with labour migration as a purely trade issue under the GATS Mode IV, while ignoring the human and social dimension. Given its competencies and tripartite consultative structure, the ILO should be the relevant locus for addressing the social and labour issues arising out of the cross border movement of persons, according to the Statement.

The Statement calls on Member States to define a clear follow-up procedure to continue the dialogue in this critical area, with a view to adopting best practice on migration policies. Trade unions are recommending a transparent, Consultative Forum located within the UN, for discussions with Member States as well as relevant specialized agencies, funds, and programmes of the UN, and intergovernmental organizations with special competencies. The forum should recognize and make use of the special competencies of the ILO on labour migration policies. It should be open to consultations with civil society and the private sector. Given their critical role in shaping migration policy, trade unions should be allowed to participate fully in this forum.

Posted on 09:56 AM | Permalink

Warsaw Business Journal: 14th September 2006

Jerzy Polaczek, the Transport Minister, confirmed earlier plans defined in "Strategy for Railway Transport by 2009" and other sources.

According to these plans, initial railway privatization will involve PKP Intercity, the fastest growing company in the PKP group. "Firstly we have to raise the company's value. The investment plan envisages expenditures of about zloty.1 billion in purchase and modernization of rolling stock within three years.There is already corporate consent for taking on liabilities of zloty.0.5 billion for this purpose," said Polaczek.

Out of this sum, zotyl.0.2 billion will be obtained from a loan, while zloty.0.3 billion will come from PKP Intercity's own funds, such as its financial surplus of about zloty.140 million annually. Apart from other innovations, such as a smoking ban and refurnishing of restaurant cars, the company is planning to develop customer service centers and refurnish the VIP room at the Warsaw Main Train Station.

See also:

Railway in Poland: Transport Minister Jerzy Polaczek Promises 33m euro for PKP Intercity

Railway Market magazine: 14 September 2006

Polish national long distance passenger rail services operator PKP Intercity will invest almost EUR 33m (PLN 130m) in 2006. He also said it is possible that in a couple of years from now the company will be privatised via the sotck market.

It is possible that the company will have a EUR 5m (PLN 40m) net profit this year.

The company was created in 2001 along with other PKP Group companies and 2006 is the best year in terms of company's financial results.

- This results from the the good strategy of focusing on specialized international and domestic services - said Mr Polaczek.

In 2005 PKP Intercity had a net profit of PLN 3.1m. In 2004 it was a loss of PLN 128m.

Until 2010 the company will invest EUR 250m (PLN 1bn) in rolling stock  - 100 modernized coaches, 10 new locomotives, a minimum of 20 new 1st and 2nd class coaches. This is supposed to double the number of passengers.

By the end of August 2006 PKP Intercity carrid 7 million passengers , the same as in the whole 2004. In 2005 it carried 9.6m and in 2006 it will carry 10.8m.

Currently PKP Intercity has 1240 coaches, from which 213 were modernized since 2001. PKP also bought 28 new coaches and now wants to buy aanouther 20 and modernize 275.

PKP also plans to introduce a modified ticket reservation system as well as a new company management system. From May 2007 PKP will also introduce new trains to its offer, including bringing back the Warsaw-Moscow train and launching Cracow-Moscow connection.

Posted on 11:00 PM | Permalink

The New Times: (Kigali) September 14, 2006
Charles Kazooba, Kampala

The three member states of the East African Community and Rwanda have applied for a US $280m loan from World Bank to finance a railway line that will link Rwanda to East Africa.

Dr. Ezra Suruma, Uganda's Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, wrote to Parliament seeking approval for the government to secure a loan of US $ 41 million as partial funding of the project.

The project is intended to improve the international competitiveness of the region, decrease high transport costs estimated at more than 35% of the value of exports and transit delays at entry and exit boarder points.

Kenya and Uganda railway networks have jointly entered into a 25-year concession agreement with Rift Valley Railways, a South African company. Under the agreement, the respective governments are required to revamp the existing railway infrastructure and assets.

"The Government of Uganda has already negotiated a credit facility of US $ 26.4 million and a Partial Risk Guarantee Facility of US $ 15m from the International Development Association of World Bank. The funds are for the East African Trade and Transport Facilitation project," Suruma's letter seeking Parliament's approval for the credit, partly reads.

The project will boost support to the East African Community customs union implementation and will also enhance the management mechanism to connect Dar-es-Salaam port to the Great Lakes Region.

Under the agreement, Kenya will incur indicative costs of US $150.17m, Rwanda US$28.5m, Tanzania US $ 47.9m and Uganda US $39.3m.

The World Bank financing for Kenya would be US $ 120.62m, Rwanda US $ 15m, Tanzania US $ 37m and Uganda US $ 26.4m.

Al hajji Ibrahim Kadunabi, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on the Economy told The New Times that members of his committee would first consult all stakeholders before asking Parliament to approve the loan facility

Posted on 10:52 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 13 2006

NEARLY THREE-QUARTERS of people in London and the southeast want the East London Line’s operations kept in the public sector, according to an Ipsos MORI poll commissioned by RMT, London Underground’s biggest union.

Some 74 per cent of those interviewed believed that the extended East London Line should continue to be operated by the public sector when it re-opens after extension in 2010.

Just one person in ten wanted the line's operations to be handed to a private operator.

"Commuters and rail workers alike have had a belly-full of privatisation and it beggars belief that anyone could want to hand over any part of the Tube's operations to the privateers," RMT general secretary Bob crow said today.

"Unfortunately the mayor of London is trying to kid us that handing East London Line operations to a private-sector operator is somehow not really privatisation, but you can't justify privatisation by trying to redefine it.

"The simple fact is that TfL intends to remove East London Line operations from London Underground, which is publicly owned, and transfer them to a private franchisee.

"If that is not privatisation, then British Rail was never privatised, England won the world cup this summer and the moon is made out of cream cheese.

"It is not too late for the mayor to keep the East London Line public, and this poll should tell the mayor just how far his plan is out of step with what Tube users and Tube workers want," Bob Crow said.

ends

Note to editors: A sample of 528 British adults In London and the southeast of England were interviewed between August 31 and September 7. The data are weighted to match the profile of the populations They were asked: