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

RMT: March 31 2007

FOUR ‘DISASTROUS’ years after Metronet took control of the maintenance of two-thirds of the London Tube network, the underground’s biggest union today renews its call for the privateers to be sacked and all infrastructure work brought back in-house.

On the eve of tomorrow's fourth anniversary of Metronet assuming control of infrastructure on the Bakerloo, Central, Victoriaand 'sub-surface' lines, RMT called for an end to an end to the PPP experiment that had "failed by every measure".

"Metronet and Tubelines have already snaffled more than £3.3 billion of public money and made £300 million in profits, yet they are failing to meet even the modest targets they were set," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The PPP years have been marked by deterioration in service, missed targets, infrastructure failures, engineering overruns and an alarming rise in safety problems.

"Now Metronet's costs are soaring out of control and they are threatening to scale back renewals work even further if they are not handed even more public money to offset £750 million in cost overruns.

"That is also no doubt why they are trying to split up their workforce and outsource contracts, adding even more fragmentation to the chaos they have already created.

"We have said time and again that failure and fragmentation are built into the very fabric of the PPP, and the time has come to call a halt to a scam that is little more than a complex device for converting taxpayers' and farepayers' money into super-profits.

"If London is to get the world-class Tube system it needs for the 2012 Olympics it is abundantly clear that the PPP should be scrapped altogether and the work brought back in-house," Bob Crow said..

Posted on 5:50 PM | Permalink

New York Times: March 31, 2007
By WILLIAM NEUMAN

When New York city subway and bus workers went on strike 15 months ago, their leaders refused to accept changes to pension benefits for newly hired workers but ultimately agreed to have members pay a portion of health insurance premiums.

A group of Metro-North Railroad unions that hammered out a contract deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took the opposite tack yesterday, agreeing to raise the age at which pension benefits would kick in as a way to spare their members from having to contribute to the health insurance plan.

The Metro-North agreement will last until June 2010, and covers about 4,200 employees of the commuter railroad, including mechanics, machinists, conductors, engineers, office workers and administrators.

But the Teamsters union, which represents about 560 track workers, dropped out of the negotiations and could go on strike this summer.

Despite the Teamsters’ absence, the deal signifies a truce between two rival union coalitions that represent different sections of the railroad’s work force. The two groups had clashed for years, with engineers and conductors on one side and maintenance workers on the other.

Elliot G. Sander, the executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said that having the two factions come together was a major benefit of the contract.

“You were having a work environment where there was the high potential of this conflict boiling over and impacting the service to our customers,” he said.

The agreement still requires ratification by the union members.

The deal includes annual wage increases of 4 percent, 3.5 percent and 3 percent consecutively over the next three years, which is similar to the transit workers’ contract.

It also provides for retroactive raises for the members of several unions that have been without a contract since four years ago.

But the key to the negotiations appeared to center on the issue of pensions and health care costs, which have been of increasing concern for public agencies.

When subway and bus workers in Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union went on strike in December 2005, the union president, Roger Toussaint, rejected changes that would give newly hired workers less generous pensions than those of current employees. He said he would not “sell out the unborn.”

Instead, Mr. Toussaint ended the strike after 60 hours and agreed to a contract that maintained pension benefits but included a contribution to health insurance costs equivalent to 1.5 percent of workers’ pay.

The health insurance provision angered many workers and led to the contract being narrowly defeated in a vote of union members. The dispute between the authority and the union ultimately went before an arbitration panel, which imposed a contract almost identical to the one that emerged from the strike, including the health care component.

In their talks with the authority, the Metro-North unions departed from that model.

Mr. Brown said that the new contracts created a new pension tier for newly hired workers. While current employees can begin receiving pension payments at age 55, new workers will not be eligible for pension payments until age 62.

Mr. Brown said that young mechanics and machinists entering his union were more concerned about health care payments today than about the more distant eventuality of pension benefits.

Posted on 5:46 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 30 2007

KEY LESSONS from the 1999 Ladbroke Grove tragedy have not been learned, Britain’s biggest rail union said today as a £4 million fine was handed down to Network Rail for Railtrack’s role in the crash which left 31 people dead and 400 injured.

Privatisation, fragmentation, the absence of train protection and the lack of corporate accountability were at the heart of the Ladbroke Grove tragedy, and each problem remained to be dealt with, RMT said.

"It is only right that the survivors and the families of those killed have heard the catalogue of failings that led to the disaster aired in court, but it was the wrong people in front of the judge," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today

"The Railtrack executives whose negligence led to the Ladbroke Grove crash walked quietly away a long time ago.

"Until we have an effective corporate manslaughter law that puts bosses whose negligence leads to unnecessary death and injury in the dock and facing the prospect of prison, justice will not be done, no matter how big the fines.

"After Clapham in 1988 we were promised automatic train protection, which would have prevented Ladbroke Grove and saved 31 lives, but we are still no nearer getting it because it is deemed too expensive.

"The Cullen inquiry into Ladbroke Grove insisted that the regulation of rail safety should be in independent hands, but that process has been thrown into reverse and key safety areas have been handed back to the commercial interests that will always put profit first.

"Cullen also pointed to the crucial role played by the guard in the aftermath of Ladbroke Grove, but only this week we have learned of plans to do away with guards on busy commuter lines in and out of London," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 2:34 PM | Permalink

Guardian Unlimited: March 30, 2007

Network Rail was today fined £4m for "systemic and unacceptable" safety failures that led to the 1999 Paddington rail disaster.

Thirty-one people died and more than 400 were injured when a local Thames Trains service went through a red signal and collided with a London-bound First Great Western express train.

Network Rail - the firm responsible for maintaining Britain's railways - was fined at Blackfriars crown court, in London.

The company, which had earlier admitted breaches of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act between January 1 1995 and October 5 1999, was also ordered to pay £225,000 towards prosecution costs.

Officials from Railtrack, the precursor to Network Rail, were warned at least five years before the collision that a set of signals was badly laid out and so difficult for drivers to interpret that a serious incident was likely to happen, the hearing was told.

The signals had been misinterpreted by drivers at least seven times in the previous five years, and had been the subject of internal inquiries.

The Paddington disaster, which was likened in court to a "senseless and unnecessary terrorist attack", would never have happened had it not been for a string of safety blunders.

Failures spanned several years and flowed from "the culture at the top" of the company, the court heard.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Bean said Railtrack had admitted that its failure to carry out "adequate root cause analysis" of signals passed at danger (Spads) had been "systemic and unacceptable".

Quoting from his judgment, he added: "It was due, as counsel to the [Lord Cullen] inquiry submitted, to a combination of incompetent management and inadequate process, the latter consisting in the absence of a process at a higher level for identifying whether those who were responsible for convening such committees were or were not doing so.

"If a signal sighting committee had been convened, it would have found that SN [signal] 109 was unacceptable, not merely because of its non-compliance with the relevant group standards, but also of the inferior quality of its visibility."

Chris Newell, the principal Crown Prosecution Service legal adviser, said Railtrack had been held accountable for the "disastrous and inexcusable failures" that caused the tragedy.

Denman and Maureen Groves, who lost their daughter, Juliet, in the crash, said it was "plain from quite early on" who was to blame for the disaster.

"Now we believe the truth has been heard in court," they said. "But still there are those who should have been brought to court today to stand trial for manslaughter.

"They go unpunished for their gross negligence that killed our beloved daughter Juliet and 30 others. The worrying thing is they still work for Network Rail."

The Network Rail chairman, Ian McAllister, said the company was "very sorry for the failings of Railtrack some seven years ago that contributed to the tragedy at Ladbroke Grove".

"Network Rail accepts the fine imposed by the court today," he added. "The events of Ladbroke Grove will always be remembered, and our thoughts must remain with the families and friends of the 31 people who lost their lives on that tragic day and those that were injured."

The court heard that one Railtrack official had gone as far as to assure First Great Western Trains and the rail drivers' union Aslef that he had ordered an expert review into the safety of the controversial signal when he had in fact not done so.

Another official was so concerned he sent a colleague an email warning of "a big one". He asked that it be deleted once read.

At 8.11am on October 5 1999, his fears were realised when the Thames Trains service, leaving Paddington, passed signal SN109 at red and drove into the path of the First Great Western Trains flyer, which was travelling from Cheltenham.

Both drivers belatedly realised they were on a collision path but were unable to stop and crashed at 130mph.

At the hearing, Philip Mott QC said "a catalogue of failures to act over a number of years" had "left one signal in an inadequate state and continually missed by experienced and inexperienced drivers".

Mr McAllister said new systems that would prevent a repeat of the disaster were in place.

"The railways have seen huge change since 1999," he added. "Network Rail took over from Railtrack in 2002 and completed the installation of an automatic train braking system that would have prevented the Ladbroke Grove tragedy.

"This system ... will automatically apply a train's brakes if it passes a signal at red or approaches one too quickly."

See also:

The Final Insult

Reading Evening Post: 2/4/2007

READING survivors of the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster have dismissed the multi-million pound fine imposed on Network Rail as “a drop in the ocean”.

The company was ordered to pay £4 million for the “systematic and unacceptable” failures that led to the tragedy on October 5, 1999, at a sentencing hearing in London on Friday.

But crash survivors from Reading have told the Evening Post the sentencing at Blackfriar’s Crown Court will do nothing to alleviate the suffering of victims or improve rail safety.

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Tony Knox, who was a passenger on the London-bound First Great Western train, suffered a collapsed lung, broken ribs and cuts and bruises.

He said: “I think Network Rail last year had an income of £3 billion – that’s a 750th of that income.

“It’s a drop in the ocean, it’s not going to punish them.

“I find it soul destroying that when it comes to something wrong the managers turn around and say ‘sorry nothing to do with me’ but when things go well they blow their trumpets.”

Mr Knox, who also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and still has flashbacks, said he lost his job as a result of the crash and is now unable to use any public transport.

“It’s not going to help people come to terms with it,” he said.

“I have always thought that time is a great healer – it’s now been almost eight years and I’m still suffering.

“I will never forget what happened, it will always be there.

A total of 31 people were killed and more than 400 injured on October 5, 1999, when a Thames Train from Paddington station went through a red light at signal SN109 in Ladbroke Grove and crashed into a London-bound First Great Western service.

Tilehurst man Michael Hodder, the 31-year-old driver of the Thames Train, which was heading to Wiltshire, was among those who died.

The fine is the second highest imposed on a rail company for safety breaches following the £7.5 million awarded against engineering firm Balfour Beatty in 2005 over the 2000 Hatfield train crash.

Mr Knox added: “It was a life-changing day, but it was not life changing for the best, it was life changing for the worst. But I’m lucky I survived, I’m not saying ‘oh, poor me’.”

Fellow survivor Alan Macro, a Theale parish councillor, was also a passenger in the First Great Western train. Although he escaped uninjured, Mr Macro said he had been affected emotionally by the crash and was still affected today.

“The fine is not really enough to make a company think when they make a decision that affects safety,” he said. “It’s taken so long to come to fruition.

“It’s too late and I don’t think this penalty is enough. Some people were so terribly affected by this, I don’t think they will ever recover. I don’t think any fine or anything will put things to conclusion – we must continue to fight for better railway safety.

“When I see pictures of the crash and also the Ufton Nervet crash which happened up the road, when I see pictures of bombings in Baghdad, it all comes back.”

After the sentencing rail union leaders said the £4 million fine imposed on Network Rail, which took over from Railtrack in 2002, should be paid out of directors’ salaries. Otherwise it would be taxpayers who foot the bill as the company was publicly funded, they argued.

Both Mr Knox and Mr Macro rejected the claim saying it would be unfair as Network Rail’s current directors were not the same as Railtrack’s at the time of the crash.

But they hit out at the UK legal system for not allowing corporate manslaughter charges to be brought against the directors who were in command at the time.

“I have in the past suggested that in any year there is a rail accident, there should be no bonuses payable – that would be fair,” Mr Knox said.

“However to penalise people like [John] Armit [Network Rail’s chief executive] who was not at the company at the time would be illegal and certainly unethical and unfair.

“I would prefer to see a jail sentence for those responsible but it won’t happen – we have been asking for that for eight years, it’s not going to happen. It’s being decided that you can’t prove there was one single controlling mind.”

Mr Macro added: “The original mistake was made by Railtrack and it’s Network Rail that has to pay the fine.

“The directors were not the people who made these decisions, so I do not really agree with this.

“But Network Rail is supposed to be a non-profit organisation – the money will come out of the money that was available for improvements.

“The other thing is the companies are fined under the health and safety legislation but we still do not have a corporate manslaughter charge. We should have been able to prosecute the directors of Railtrack for what happened.”

A catalogues of failures by Railtrack led to the catastrophe, Blackfriar’s Crown Court heard last week.

The disaster would never have happened but for a string of safety blunders spanning several years from the “culture at the top” of the company, the court heard.

Friday’s sentencing came more than seven years after the crash. It followed a decision by the Health and Safety Commission taken three days after the crash to hold a public inquiry into the collision.

The inquiry was led by Lord Cullen, who was highly critical of both Railtrack and of driver training at Thames Trains. The Cullen report also found there had been difficulties seeing the signals in the Paddington area and that Railtrack had failed to deal with previous instances of trains passing danger signals there.

Posted on 2:30 PM | Permalink

ABC: 29 March , 2007
Reporters: Mark Colvin & Stephen McDonell

Rescuers in Beijing are trying to reach six trapped workers who were building the city's new underground railway to the Olympic village. The men have been given little chance of survival after they were caught in a tunnel collapse.

The story is also about the intense pressure the Olympics is putting on the city and the culture of secrecy which still reigns in China.

The Chinese Government is determined that there will be no last minute worries about completion for the 2008 Olympics, in contrast to the last games in Athens.

The project manager for the subway kept the cave-in secret for eight hours, a decision certain to have endangered the trapped workers and which may have sealed their fate.

The accident follows a series of floods and cave-ins at the subway construction site, as contractors race against the clock to get the Olympic project built on time.

At 9am yesterday Beijing's subway construction site collapsed. Six workers who were building the underground railway which will take spectators to the Olympics were trapped underground and are now feared dead.

The site manager tried to cover up the accident, sealing off the area and confiscating workers' mobile phones. He was possibly hoping to rescue the men using his own staff before word got out.

When police arrived at the construction site soon after the cave-in, he reportedly told them there was nothing wrong so they left. The authorities finally found out about the trapped men via a circuitous route.

Workers were able to call the wife of one of their trapped colleagues 700 kilometres away in Henan province. She rang the local police who, in turn, rang the Beijing police who then raced back to the construction site. The official rescue attempt didn't start till more than eight hours after the initial cave-in.

By this morning the Chinese media had found out about the accident and reports of it were being broadcast around the country.

According to local media the cave-in happened in a construction area which will become an exit for a new underground station. It created a 20 square metre hole which is five-and-a-half metres deep.

The workers are believed to have been trapped under a two-story construction containing a mobile office and a meeting room. They're almost certainly dead.

Beijing is building four new underground railway lines to be completed before the Olympic Games.

The line to the Olympic precinct faces an especially tight deadline. At best it will be finished six weeks before the games begin next August.

It's already had a troubled history.

In November 2005 a section of subway tunnel collapsed under a roundabout. The ground sank more than 10 metres and nobody was hurt.

Last January a waste water pipe burst open and flooded a section of tunnel. The tunnel collapsed but nobody was hurt.

Then last June there was another cave-in close to the location of yesterday's accident. Two workers were buried underground. When they were found they were dead. The official accident report said their death was caused by quicksand.

Tonight in Beijing's northern university district, known as Haidian, the rescue attempt continues. Local reports are expressing little hope that any of the workers could have survived, especially given that what was already a desperate situation was made almost impossible by the subsequent cover-up.

For the sake of making the Olympic deadline and retaining his business, this contractor may have sacrificed his own workers' lives.

See also:

Beijing subway collapse highlights abuse of migrant workers

Chinaworker.org: 01/04/07
 
The Beijing Olympics is being built on migrant workers’ sweat and blood. This brutal truth was highlighted by the tragic collapse of part of Beijing’s Olympic Games subway system, in which six construction workers were killed, and where the company involved tried to cover-up the disaster, even impounding workers’ cell phones to prevent them contacting the police.

Attempted cover-up

Police have since detained 10 construction company representatives. The state-run construction company attempted to cover up after the tunnel cave-in, by delaying alerting police and other authorities for eight hours. The tragedy underlines the acute need for genuine trade unions and elected workplace health and safety representatives on the world’s largest construction sites.

The disaster occurred on the morning of Wednesday 28 March. The company, China Railway 12th Bureau Group Co, organized its own rescue teams to prevent news of the disaster from leaking out. Managers ordered workers not to talk to media or police, made them hand over their mobile phones, and locked the gate of the site, the Beijing Times said. Because of these security precautions, Beijing police first learned of the accident after a construction worker from Henan province made an anonymous phone call to police in his hometown, who then contacted the Beijing police.

The project supervisor and tunnel designers were among the ten people detained and the cause of the collapse is now under investigation. The Beijing Times reported that a labour contractor working for the company, gone into hiding.

Prestigious games

The collapse occurred in Beijing's Haidian university district on the No 10 subway line and the workers were working on a stretch of tunnel eleven meters underground. The line crosses northern Beijing and when it is finished will link up to the Olympic Village. The 25-km (15-mile) line has reported several accidents in past. In June, two people died in a collapse and in January 2006 a section of highway running past the central business district caved in, rupturing a sewage pipe and flooding another subway construction site.

The 2008 Summer Olympics open in less than 500 days, hence the feverish building boom underway in the Chinese capital. Four new subway lines and a light rail line connecting the international airport are set to be completed in time for the games, an event that carries enormous international prestige for the Chinese government, allowing it to showpiece not just the booming capital city but also China’s much vaunted ”economic miracle”.

Trade union rights needed

Fatal accidents like this one, however, reveal the other side of China’s economy – the super-exploitation particularly of the 120 million-strong migrant workforce. Of the six workers killed, five were reportedly from Sichuan province and one from Henan. Migrants from poorer inland provinces make up over 80 percent of the construction workforce, working long shifts with few days off, often sleeping on site, and receiving much lower wages than the permanent city population. The 2008 Olympics is being built on the sweat – and blood – of these migrant workers.

Their plight is highlighted by tragedies such as last Wednesday’s tunnel collapse. Surviving workers vented their anger on the company, defacing the company’s logo on notice boards. ”Workers’ anger was palpable,” Xinhua reported. But while the state-run media has been quite open in reporting the tragedy, the authorities are adamantly opposed to the one thing that make a real difference in avoiding such disasters in future – the right to form independent trade unions. By organising themselves, outside the control of company structures (and party structures which are of course closely linked), workers could press for better conditions, and elect their own safety representatives with the right to stop work and withdraw workers from unsafe areas until proper precautions are taken.

Posted on 4:58 PM | Permalink

AFX: 29 March 2007

LONDON - All of the UK's rail sectors showed growth in total passenger kilometres, total passenger journeys and revenue in the third quarter of 2006 compared to the same period last year, according to the Office of Rail Regulation's latest National Rail Trends quarterly report.

Long distance operators' total passenger kilometres and journeys increased by 7.0 percent and 7.2 percent respectively between 2005-06 Q3 and 2006-07 Q3, continuing the Q3 on Q3 increases in recent consecutive years.

Between 05-06 Q3 and 06-07 Q3 total passenger revenue increased by 12.1 percent. Meanwhile, the moving annual average for total passenger revenue increased by 11.0 percent this time.

Passenger revenue for long distance operators increased by 14.9 percent between 2005-06 Q3 and 2006-07 Q3, while total passenger kilometres for regional operators increased by 2.9 percent between the same period.

Revenue at 05-06 prices per passenger kilometre increased by 3.2 percent between 05-06 Q3 and 06-07 Q3.

Posted on 11:49 AM | Permalink

RMT: March 28 2007

Strike action will follow if agreement not honoured, says RMT.

MORE THAN 2,000 Metronet Tube maintenance staff will begin a seven-day overtime ban at 18:00 on Easter Monday (April 9) in a dispute over the forced transfer of staff to other companies, London Underground's bigest union announced today.

RMT said the action would have an immediate and cumulative impact on services across two-thirds of the Tube network, and warned that if the company failed to resolve the dispute by April 16 strike days would be called as well.

RMT members at Metronet voted overwhelmingly both for strike action and for short of strikes (figures below) after the company refused to withdraw plans to transfer staff to its parent companies, despite agreeing a year ago that it would not happen.

"Our members have demonstrated their anger at Metronet reneging on an agreement they made only a year or so ago," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"This dispute is about honouring agreements and defending our members' pay, conditions and organisation, but it is also about resisting dangerous fragmentation that our members already have too much bitter experience of.

"After consulting reps across the company the RMT executive has today agreed that a seven-day ban on all overtime working will begin at 18:00 on Easter Monday, April 9.

"That will have an immediate effect on traffic on two-thirds of the network, and will eventually completely paralyse the system.

"The door is open for talks to sort this dispute out based on the agreement we already have, but the executive has also made clear that strikes will be called if there is no sign of a resolution in a week's time," Bob Crow said.

ends

Note to editors: RMT members at Metronet voted by 750 (92.6 per cent) to 60 (7.4 per cent) for strike action, and by 775 (96.4 per cent) to 29 (3.6 per cent) for action short of strike.

See also:

U.K. Rail Union Threatens Strike at Tube Contractor

Bloomberg: March 28
By Brian Lysaght

-- The Rail, Maritime & Transport union said workers voted in favor of a strike at Metronet Rail Group, the largest contractor on the London Underground, in a protest over jobs that may disrupt service on the railway.

Union members voted by a margin of 750-60 in favor of a proposal to strike, the RMT said in an e-mailed statement today. The union represents 2,000 Metronet workers who maintain nine of the 12 lines on the London railway known as the Tube.

"Our members are angry that plans to force the transfer of staff into Metronet's parent companies are back on the table again, despite having won an agreement last year that it would not happen,'' Bob Crow, secretary general of the RMT, said in a statement.

The Tube carries 3 million travelers each weekday, and a lengthy strike at Metronet would disrupt the railway. Negotiations are continuing to resolve the dispute. Metronet is one of two contractors awarded 30-year agreements to maintain and upgrade the Tube. It works on the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria, Waterloo & City, Circle, District, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City and East London lines.

Metronet, a joint venture, said on March 9 it wants to transfer 250 train-maintenance employees to Bombardier, one of its five owners. The union and Metronet have been negotiating over the transfers since 2005, and talks are continuing, the company said.

Metronet is jointly owned by WS Atkins Plc, Balfour Beatty Plc, Bombardier Inc., EDF Energy SA and Thames Water.

Tube Lines Ltd., which maintains the Northern, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines, isn't involved in the dispute.

See also:

Bombardier Fourth-Quarter Profit Rises on Rail Unit

Bloomberg: March 28
By Frederic Tomesco

-- Bombardier Inc., the world's third- largest maker of commercial aircraft, said fourth-quarter profit rose 30 percent on a fivefold earnings increase in the company's rail division.

Net income exceeded analysts' estimates, climbing to $112 million, or 6 cents a share, from $86 million, or 5 cents, a year earlier. Revenue grew 8.7 percent to $4.39 billion in the period ended Jan. 31, Montreal-based Bombardier said today in a statement.

Pretax earnings in the rail division, the world's biggest trainmaker, surged after the company closed plants and cut 7,500 jobs in Europe over the past two years. Chief Executive Officer Laurent Beaudoin said the unit had its best sales year ever with $11.8 billion in new orders, including $5 billion in the fourth quarter.

"The rail business has shown really good improvements over the last couple of years,'' said Richard Stoneman, a Toronto- based analyst with Dundee Securities Corp. He has a "buy'' recommendation on the shares. "It's enjoying significant increases in backlog. The margins finally started to shift higher, reflecting the cleanup they did by closing plants.''

Profit beat the average estimate of 5 cents a share from a Bloomberg survey of 10 analysts.

Bombardier's widely traded Class B shares rose 12 Canadian cents, or 2.6 percent, to C$4.73 at 9:44 a.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has climbed 20 percent this year. It reached a high of C$26.30 in August 2000.

Rail Division Margins

Earnings before financing income and expenses and income taxes at the rail unit jumped to $86 million in the quarter from $16 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, profit in the rail division was $53 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Excluding the items, income in the rail division amounted to 4.7 percent of sales, up from 3.2 percent a year earlier. Bombardier today reiterated its goal of boosting the unit's margin to 6 percent within three years.

On that same basis, profit in the aerospace unit climbed to 6.2 percent of revenue from 4.5 percent as Bombardier delivered 69 business aircraft, up from 65 a year earlier. Bombardier wants the profit margin at the division, which makes Learjet and Challenger business aircraft, to expand to 8 percent within three years.

In the latest period, Bombardier also delivered 31 regional aircraft such as CRJ900 jets and Q400 turboprops. That's down from 35 a year earlier.

Business Jets

"Regional jets get all the attention, but they really are a minor player for Bombardier,'' Dundee's Stoneman said. "Those aircraft are not all that profitable. Business aircraft are where the profits are for Bombardier.''

Stoneman estimates business jets will account for 70 percent of Bombardier's aerospace revenue this year, an increase from 65 percent last year.

Bombardier forecast today plane deliveries will rise this year from last year's 326, the first gain in four years. It did not provide a specific figure.

Bombardier has shipped fewer regional aircraft as it lost sales to Brazilian rival Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA, or Embraer, whose biggest plane seats 118 people. Bombardier's largest plane in service has 90 seats.

Two of Bombardier's biggest clients, Northwest Airlines Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc., entered bankruptcy protection in 2005.

C Series Plans

The slackening in regional-jet shipments prompted the company to announce plans in October to cut 1,330 jobs and reduce production. The cuts, equal to about 5 percent of the workforce, cost the company about $31 million in its third quarter.

Bombardier hasn't yet decided whether to build the proposed $2 billion C Series aircraft, which would be the company's largest plane ever. Bombardier Aerospace President Pierre Beaudoin said in January the company would update investors on the project as it released fourth-quarter results.

"Aerospace continues to refine the C Series aircraft business plan, and discussions with a limited number of international partners are progressing,'' Bombardier said in its annual report, which was posted on the company's Web site. ``We will continue to evaluate the viability of the C Series.''

As of Jan. 31, Bombardier had $13.2 billion worth of airplane orders in its backlog, 23 percent more than a year earlier. The company's rail backlog was $27.5 billion, a 32 percent increase.

Posted on 4:06 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 27 2007

SECRET PLANS to remove guards from busy commuter trains across London just before the 2012 Olympics will be fought “all the way”, Britain’s biggest rail union pledged today.

Privateers bidding to run the 'London Rail Concession' from 2010 have been told by Transport for London that driver-only trains could be operated on the North London and West London lines from December 2011. Trains on both lines are currently guarded.

The invitation to tender, obtained by RMT under freedom of information law, tells bidders: "TfL anticipates the implementation of a system that will support DOO [driver-only operation] operations on the NLL and WLL by December 2011," and adds: "Bidders can set out proposals to broaden the scope of DOO or bring forward its implementation."

TfL intends that the proposed new franchise will include the privatised operations of the East London Line when it re-opens after extension in 2010 - the first privatisation of a London Underground line.

"It will be bad enough if the privateers get their hands on the East London Line, but it beggars belief that they will be given a free hand to remove nearly 100 guards from busy commuter trains just in time for the Olympics," general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"That is absolutely crazy and RMT will fight it all the way.

"The North and West London lines are heavily overcrowded at the best of times, and removing a key safety-critical member of train crew is the opposite of what is needed.

"But doing it when there will be hundreds of thousands of extra people, most of them unfamiliar with the network, travelling in and out of East London every day is absolute, unbridled madness.

"Just about everyone who uses and works on the railways agrees that there is a pressing need for more staff on stations and trains, for security and safety reasons.

"TfL should be planning the return of guards on London Underground and everywhere else they have been removed, not undermining safety even further by taking away those that remain.

"TfL have sought to sell us a vision of Metro services that are safe and secure, but by anyone's standards removing guards will have the opposite effect," Bob Crow said.

ends

Note to editors: The North London Line and the West London Line are currently operated as Silverlink by National Express. Both are to become part of the 'London Rail' franchise, which TfL intends will also include the privatised operations of the East London Line when it re-opens after extension in 2010. The shortlisted bidders are Hong-Kong based MTR and GoVia.

See also:

Safety fears over guards axe threat

Hackney Gazette: 06 April 2007

Scrapping guards on a Hackney railway line will threaten passengers' safety, a trade union union has warned.

Transport for London (Tfl) has asked rail companies bidding for the North London line franchise to consider ditching train guards.

It means more than 100 guards who currently work on the North London line could be moved elsewhere.

The line runs through Dalston Kingsland, Hackney Central, Homerton and Hackney Wick stations.

Furious rail union chiefs insist removing guards by 2011 will threaten the safety of passengers in the run-up to the London Olympics.

"It beggars belief that they will be given a free hand to remove nearly 100 guards from busy commuter trains just in time for the Games," said the Rail Maritime and Transport general secretary, Bob Crow.

"The North London line is a heavily used commuter line with a high level of assaults on passengers and staff.

"People who work and travel on the railways want to see more uniformed staff on duty, both on stations and on trains.

"Far from removing guards, TfL should be leading the way in restoring them where they have been removed already."

The North London line is currently run by Silverlink Metro, but will come under Tfl control in November.

By 2010, the line will form part of an improved network of overground rail services across the capital.

Known as the London Overground, the North London line will be connected to the extended East London Underground line at Dalston Junction.

Two private companies - Hong-Kong based MTR and GoVia - are competing to run the new-look service under strict franchise from Tfl.

During the tendering process, Tfl asked the bidders to consider scrapping guards on the North London line.

The RMT obtained the information through the Freedom of Information Act.

Defending the proposal, Tfl said staffing levels will be increased on the North London line.

"The new staff will be paid for by the huge investment that is central to the mayor's and TfL's London Overground operations," said a TfL spokesman.

However, he admitted that the bidders for the London Overground contract had been asked to consider running a driver-only service by 2011.

"This will not involve staff cuts," he aded "On the contrary, the move will help ensure that more staff can be made available to concentrate on looking after passengers' safety and welfare.

Posted on 1:23 AM | Permalink

Transport Briefing: 28/03/07

Train services on the Isle of Wight have taken a major step towards becoming a self-contained, self-financing operation after the company which leases rolling stock for use on the Island Line agreed to sell the trains for £1.

The nominal payment sees Island Line operator South West Trains take possession of the units. SWT owner Stagecoach has previously paid rolling stock leasing company HSBC Rail £150,000 a year to lease the carriages, much of which was reimbursed by the government, making the eight and a half mile route one of the most heavily subsidised rail lines in England and costing the taxpayer 77p for each mile travelled per passenger.

The Isle of Wight rolling stock arrangement was cited by the government in June 2006 when it prompted the Office of Rail Regulation to conduct an enquiry looking at whether or not ROSCOs were overcharging train operators to lease aged carriages that previously belonged to British Rail (Transport Briefing 28/06/06). In fact, the Class 483 rolling stock running on the Island Line originally entered service with London Underground in 1938. As a result, HSBC will be glad to have distanced itself from charging to use vintage trains in the event of future scrutiny of leasing costs.

South West Trains managing director, Stewart Palmer, said: "We are pleased to announce the change in ownership and a repaint for these trains. The Island Line is a vital form of transport both for local people and the booming tourist industry - and this marks another step in the direction of community rail partnership."

Peter Aldridge, head of HSBC Rail (UK), said: "This means the train company can adopt a more flexible, targeted approach to the local needs of the community, working alongside the Isle of Wight Community Rail Partnership, promoting increased usage by tourists and local people.

"HSBC Rail has worked closely with Island Line for the past 10 years to make modifications and repairs so that these units can continue to serve the Isle of Wight for many years to come. As part of the handover of these trains we have given a refund of rental towards the relivery and corrosion protection of the vehicles."

Jack Richards of the Isle of Wight Community Rail Partnership said he regarded the formal handover of the train fleet by the ROSCO as a welcome and logical development in the move towards increased local ownership of Island Line.

Island Line is served by six 2-car electric trains which run 68 services a day between Ryde Pier and Shanklin. Each unit is capable of covering up to 70,000 miles a year. The trains will now be repainted in heritage colours, as will stations at Ryde, Brading, Sandown, Lake and Shanklin.

On 29 November 2006 the ORR said it was "minded to refer the supply of leasing of rolling stock for franchised passenger services and related maintenance services to the Competition Commission for a market investigation under section 131 of the Enterprise Act 2002". It has since embarked on a further period of consultation with industry stakeholders.

Posted on 1:15 AM | Permalink

Financial Times: March 28 2007
By Michael Peel

The imminent sentencing of Network Rail over safety breaches related to the 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail crash, which killed 31 people, has once again raised the question of how to deal with companies' responsibilities for fatal accidents.

The punishment over the rail crash, expected this week, comes as parliament considers a contentious proposed law on corporate manslaughter.

The long-awaited bill has left business at loggerheads with campaigners who say the reformed rules will let companies off too lightly and fail to hold individual managers to account.

The debate has highlighted considerations on either side that resonate beyond the UK. At its heart is a broad philosophical dispute over how companies should be made accountable.

Some campaigners for tougher corporate manslaughter laws argue for a two-pronged approach: individual officials should be held responsible, if possible, while companies should be prosecuted in cases of cumulative small failings.

Business representatives retort that there are few cases where problems can be traced back to one person - adding that existing health and safety laws are the best way to punish companies unless they are proved to be grossly negligent.

The government has brought the proposed law forward in an attempt to address longstanding and widespread criticisms that the existing corporate manslaughter law is inadequate for dealing with cases of alleged corporate negligence.

Prosecutions are rare and do not tend to target large companies or their officials. The high-profile prosecutions of big businesses have involved only fines under the health and safety law passed more than three decades ago. These have included the £11m fine on Network Rail and Balfour Beatty over the Hatfield crash in 2000 and the £15m fine on Transco, the gas supply company, over an explosion in Lanarkshire that killed a family of four in 1999.

The main reason for the lack of prosecutions of large companies under the existing manslaughter law is the need to find a senior company official who acted as a "controlling mind".

This makes it impossible to take on cases in which the company's negligence is the result of the collective errors of a number of officials, none of whom can be identified as the controlling mind.

In practice, this means that prosecution of large companies is not normally feasible: the only businesses for whom the controlling mind test can be proved are small, such as a company that ran a canoeing trip in Lyme Bay in 1993 in which four schoolchildren drowned.

Critics say the new bill neither holds officials sufficiently responsible nor goes far enough in enabling prosecutions to be brought against large companies.

They argue the proposed new law has been so watered down after corporate lobbying that it offers at most only a small improvement on existing law.

Louise Christian, senior partner at Christian Khan, the law firm, who has acted on behalf of people affected by train crashes, describes the proposed law as "pretend justice" and "a bit of a farce". She says its focus on fining companies rather than individuals will punish investors, who have no direct control over fatal incidents, while ignoring managers, who do.

A related and broader problem of accountability, say critics, is that company law still imposes no responsibility for health and safety on individual directors.

David Bergman, executive director of the Centre for Corporate Accountability, an advice and research group, says these requirements exist in countries such as Canada, Australia and in continental Europe.

Campaigners argue that another shortcoming of the bill is that it fails to give the courts enough options for punishments beyond the unlimited fines already available under health and safety law.

There is a provision for an "adverse publicity order" requiring a company to announce in the media the details of findings against it but critics say reforms should have gone further.

Possible measures - some of which are used in other countries - include community service-style penalties, director disqualification and remedial orders for companies to improve their practices.

The CBI, the employers' body, by contrast, says it is broadly happy with the "centre of gravity" of the bill and its focus on collective corporate responsibility.

John Cridland, deputy director-general of the CBI, argues against expanding the range of punishments available to the courts, which, he says, may not be the most appropriate bodies to issue orders relating to best management practice.

Nor is it true, he argues, that managers will escape responsibility under the new system: a large corporate fine would expose them to shareholder unhappiness.

Mr Cridland adds that it is incorrect to suggest business pressure has delayed the bill and undermined its effectiveness. The time taken to bring it forward reflects the evolution of the government's thinking, he argues. "They have realised the complexity of this," he says. "Great as it would be for me to take the credit for emasculating the bill, it would be very far from the truth."

If the bill does finally go through, the biggest threat facing big businesses may turn out to be reputational rather than financial or judicial. It would look much worse to be convicted for corporate manslaughter than for breaching health and safety regulations. An investigation alone could go on for years, generating extended bad publicity.

As David Leckie, partner at law firm Maclay Murray and Spens puts it, the bill may not save more lives in the workplace but it may still have consequences that cause companies to take notice of it. "It hasn't really changed much," he says. "What it has changed is the stigma."

Posted on 1:10 AM | Permalink

Press Association: March 27, 2007

Health and safety inspectors repeatedly failed to raise concerns about the signal blamed for the devastating 1999 Paddington rail disaster, a court has heard.

The crash, which left 31 dead and more than 400 injured, happened when a London-bound First Great Western express train crashed into a Thames Trains local service to Bedwyn, Wiltshire.

The Thames train had gone through a red light at a signal - named SN109 - in Ladbroke Grove shortly after leaving Paddington station.

The signal was only fully visible from 164m rather than the required 188m, giving train drivers travelling at the maximum line speed 6.2 seconds to see it instead of the recommended 7 seconds.

Network Rail accepted that SN109 did not comply with signal visibility requirements but insisted it had frequently been checked by health and safety inspectors in the years before the crash, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

Nigel Sweeney QC, for Network Rail, said: "It is also significant that the signal had been considered by the Health and Safety Executive as part of a number of considerations of signalling in the Paddington area over the years, between 1994 and 1999.

"In none of those considerations was any query raised about sighting distance."

A "catalogue of failures to act" by Railtrack, then responsible for maintaining Britain's railways, led to the crash on October 5 1999, the court heard on Monday.

Network Rail, which has since replaced Railtrack, is facing an unlimited fine after earlier admitting health and safety blunders before the crash.

Posted on 12:54 AM | Permalink

EJP: 27/Mar/2007
By Joseph Byron

PARIS --- A French Appeal Court in Bordeaux Tuesday overturned a conviction handed down on the French state railway operator SNCF for its role in the deportation of two Jewish men in Nazi-occupied France.

Helene Lipietz and her brother Alain gave a press conference 27 March 2007 in Paris after a French Appeal Court overturned a conviction handed down on the state rail company SNCF for its role in the deportation of two Jewish men during World War II. The case centred on a suit brought by the family of Green party deputy Alain Lipietz, whose father and uncle were taken by train to an internment camp in Paris in May 1944. They both survived the war. The Lipietz family said it will now take the case to the State Council in Paris, which acts as France's highest administrative court.

Lawyers representing SNCF last February had urged the court to overturn the ruling by an administrative court in Toulouse in June 2006 ordering the group and the French government to pay 61,000 euros to the family of Georges Lipietz, a Polish-born Jew arrested by French police and taken by train to the Drancy transit camp near Paris in 1944.

In its judgement, the administrative court of appeal in the southwestern city of Bordeaux said that the case was "outside the jurisdiction of the Toulouse court."

“The SNCF is a legal entity in its own right and therefore subject to a judiciary court,” it said.

Administrative courts in France normally judge suits brought against the state.

Lipietz, aged 21 at the time, was arrested with his 15 year-old half brother and taken in a cattle wagon to a camp at Drancy outside Paris where they spent three months before the allied victory saved them from being sent to Auschwitz or another death camp.

Since launching the action in 2001, he has died but members of his family, including his son Alain, a Green member of the European Parliament, have continued the case.

Other lawsuits

Some 76,000 Jews were arrested in France during WWII and transported in appalling conditions in railway boxcars to concentration camps such as Auschwitz where most died.

Nearly 1,800 people have brought a lawsuit for compensation to the SNCF for what they consider as its responsibility in the deportation of a member of their family.

The rail operator company had appealed, saying it had been only an “instrument” of the German army and that it had been forced to obey the orders of the government of the time.

President Jacques Chirac officially acknowledged French complicity in the wartime deportation of Jews for the first time in 1995.

But it was not until a ruling in 2001 that it has been possible to sue French authorities for compensation.

See also:

French court: Rail firm not liable for damages over Nazi transport

Reuters: 27/03/2007

A French court on Tuesday struck down a ruling that had ordered state rail operator SNCF to pay compensation to the family of a Jewish man transported to a transit camp in Nazi-occupied France.

Judges in an administrative appeals court in the southwestern city of Bordeaux ruled the administrative courts were not competent to rule on SNCF's legal liability in the case.

The appeal, which overturned a landmark verdict in June last year, could affect hundreds of other potential lawsuits against SNCF by victims of wartime deportations or their families.

A court last year ordered the SNCF and the French government to pay 61,000 euros to the family of Georges Lipietz, a Polish-born Jew arrested by French police and taken by train to a transit camp near Paris in 1944.

Some 76,000 Jews were arrested in France during World War II and transported in appalling conditions in railway boxcars to concentration camps such as Auschwitz, where most died.

The SNCF, which has received 1,800 requests for compensation since the ruling, said it had been forced to obey the orders of the government of the time.

Posted on 12:01 AM | Permalink

Wednesday 25th April, Southville Centre, Beauley Road,Bristol BS3 1QGA Conference organised by the South West TUC Women's Committee, to examine what unions are doing for women workers.

For the first time in our history, union membership is now 50.50 men and women.

Working women want equal pay, training, safe work and more control over their lives at work. This Confernce is designed to boost women's confidence, skills and participation, and put equality at the centre of union bargaining and organising.

A Question Time Panel will offer women the opportunity to question representatives from unions about their policies for women.

The Conference is free, with buffet lunch supplied. Workshops will look at: Low Pay; Equal Pay; Organising Women Workers; Skills and Flexible Working.

To register contact: South West TUC, Church House, Church Road, Filton, Bristol BS34 7BD ( by 13th April)
Tel. 0117 947 0521 email: jrees@tuc.org.uk

Posted on 9:21 PM | Permalink

The Times: March 27, 2007

LONDON Network Rail has apologised for the mistakes that led to the Paddington rail crash, after a court heard that “a catalogue of failures to act” led to the tragedy.

The failings in Railtrack, then responsible for maintaining Britain’s railways, started at the top and permeated the whole organisation, Blackfriars Crown Court was told.

Network Rail, which has since replaced Railtrack, faces an unlimited fine.

Nigel Sweeney, QC, for Network Rail, said: “On behalf of Network Rail I want to say sorry, sorry for the failings of Railtrack that contributed to the tragedy at Ladbroke Grove, sorry to all the victims of the tragedy and to their families and loved ones.”

The court heard how there had been seven previous occasions where a driver passed through signal SN109 when it was at red in the previous five years.

Network Rail Infrastructure pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The hearing continues.

Posted on 11:58 PM | Permalink

Reading Evening Post: 26/3/2007

THOUSANDS of pounds worth of damage have been caused to the First Great Western train in these pictures by taggers with artistic derring-do.

Staff at Twyford station discovered the extensive spray painting on the three-carriage train on Friday morning, including 10ft high letters, tags on both ends of the train and “Here Comes Trouble 2007” daubed on the nose.

British Transport Police say the vandalism spree has cause damage estimated at £3,000, not to mention the train being out of service the next morning and causing inconvenience to commuters.

PC Bob Burrows, of British Transport Police, said that he was confident of making arrests within the next few days because the spraying, which happened between 2am and 4am on Friday, had been caught on CCTV.

He said: “We think that there are three of them.

“They have caused extensive damage. Basically they have sprayed the whole of the side of the train.”

He added: “Obviously the dangers of people graffiti-ing trains on the railway are horrendous. A number of people have been killed recently by being struck by a train or touching the third rail. The dangers don’t bear thinking about.”

The vandalism flies in the face of a new high profile anti-graffiti campaign launched by Reading Borough Council last week. The authority has set aside £185,000 to clean up the town.

The vandalised train is now in the Cow Lane depot, where it will be cleaned before it is put back on the tracks.

“It’s a completely wasted exercise as far as the graffiti artists are concerned. No one will see their work because the train won’t be used until it is cleaned,” said PC Burrowes.

Posted on 7:27 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 26 March 2007

Some train routes in England and Wales are running at almost double capacity, according to new research.

Rail passengers often have to stand on their daily commute

The 0759 Durham to Newcastle service tops the list, sometimes operating at 88% above capacity, according to environmental group Transport 2000.

Also highlighted were the 0718 Cambridge to London and 0753 Eccleston Park to Liverpool Lime Street, both often at 85% over capacity.

The Department for Transport has said it will add 1,000 carriages by 2014.

MOST OVERCROWDED ROUTES
Durham to Newcastle (0759) - 88%
Cambridge to London Liverpool Street (0718) - 85%
Eccleston Park to Liverpool Lime Street (0753) - 85%
Cardiff to Maesteg (1721) - 78%
Humphrey Park to Manchester Oxford Road (0814) - 75%
Morpeth to Newcastle (0800) - 58%
Barnsley to Leeds (0731) - 57%
Sheffield to Leeds (0714) - 53%
Sutton to Luton (1644) - 50%
Northampton to Birmingham New Street (0726) - 45%

Julia Thomas, Transport 2000's public transport campaigner, said: "It's very easy to blame rail operators for overcrowding problems, but actually a lot of it is down to the government's rail policy.

"They have issued 'no growth' franchises for the past 10 years and they've been promoting a policy of fare hikes to get people to travel off-peak, but passengers really don't have that much flexibility.

"In addition, the very short time periods covered by franchise agreements does not encourage any infrastructure investment by the rail operators."

The group said it is gathering evidence to send to Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander ahead of the government's expected major rail strategy report this summer.

A DfT spokesman said: "The government has acted and will continue to act to provide additional capacity.

"We've improved capacity in recent franchise contracts, and invested billions in major upgrades of the network.

"A fortnight ago we announced that we plan to add 1,000 extra carriages on the network - an increase of 10%. The first of the new trains will be put into use as soon as possible on the busiest parts of the network.

"And that is not the end of the story, as Transport 2000 are aware. Our rail strategy, to be published this summer, will give more details of how and where extra capacity will be created."

Posted on 7:05 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 26 March 2007

A "catalogue of failures to act over a number of years" caused the Paddington train crash in 1999, a court has heard.

The crash killed 31 people and injured hundreds

There were failings across all levels of staff at Railtrack, which maintained the railways - the sentencing hearing at Blackfriars Crown Court was told.

Philip Mott QC, for the Crown, compared the crash, which killed 31 and injured more than 400, to a terrorist atrocity.

Network Rail, which replaced Railtrack, earlier admitted safety breaches and is now facing an unlimited fine.

The crash happened on 5 October, 1999, when a Thames Train went through a red light at Ladbroke Grove, shortly after leaving Paddington in west London.

"The failings started with the culture at the top of the body responsible for the track and affected staff at all levels of the organisation" - Philip Mott QC

It hit a Great Western express, causing the first-class carriage at the front to burst into flames.

Mr Mott said a catalogue of failures to act over a number of years had meant drivers - both inexperienced and experienced - passed through one signal at red on seven separate occasions.

"It was the last protection against a head-on collision with a train travelling at high speed," he said.

"The sad conclusion... is that the failings started with the culture at the top of the body responsible for the track and affected staff at all levels of the organisation."

Mr Mott said: "This was no terrorist attack, but to many who have suffered and still suffer it must have seemed as senseless and unnecessary."

He added that the devastating impact was compounded by "fireballs of diesel vapour" which shot through wrecked carriages".

The number of dead and injured was so high, there was a danger they may appear to be "mere statistics", he said.

"But no one who has studied the evidence in this case can fail to be aware of the individual tragedies which lie behind each and every one of those names and numbers."

In October 2006, Network Rail admitted charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Train operator Thames Trains was fined £2m for the crash in April 2004.

Posted on 6:59 PM | Permalink

The Guardian: March 26, 2007
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent

A survivor of the Paddington train crash seven years ago, in which 31 people died, has warned that complacency over railway safety could cause another tragedy, as Network Rail faces a multimillion-pound fine for lapses which contributed to the disaster.

Network Rail will be sentenced at a two-day hearing beginning today in London, bringing to a close a quest for justice by survivors and bereaved relatives.

Jonathan Duckworth, chairman of the Paddington Survivors Group, told the Guardian that a large fine was needed to send a message to companies that fatal breaches of health and safety regulations will not be tolerated.

He said: "We believe that this happened as a result of a very poor corporate culture regarding health and safety. How are we going to get companies to understand that if they mess around with peoples' and employees' lives there will be a cost to it?"

Network Rail pleaded guilty last year to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act, charges that it inherited when Railtrack - the firm that took over the network when British Rail was privatised by the Conservative government 13 years ago - collapsed in 2002. The crash, on the morning of October 5 1999, was caused by the driver of a Thames Trains service failing to spot a signal at danger and colliding with a Great Western express at Ladbroke Grove outside Paddington station.

The sentencing hearing comes less than a month after the Grayrigg crash, in which a Virgin train was derailed by faulty points, killing one person and injuring dozens. It has since emerged that train operators had complained to Network Rail about declining maintenance standards in the months before the crash.

"As time goes by and people get less active about these things, it can slip off the agenda," Mr Duckworth said. "If the culture of a company slips back to what Railtrack was like pre-1999, then everything has been in vain. If there are no incidents, the corporate memory of incidents lessens and people take decisions that they should not."

The Paddington charge criticised Railtrack for not carrying out an adequate risk assessment on signal 109, a notorious stop light that was partially obscured by gantries and cables. The driver of the Thames Trains service, Michael Hodder, who was killed in the crash, failed to spot the signal. Thames Trains was fined £2m for inadequate training of Mr Hodder and legal experts expect Network Rail to be handed down an even larger fine.

A spokeswoman for Network Rail said: "Railtrack and Thames Trains accepted responsibility for the crash. We have been working very hard to ensure that there are hugely improved safety standards across the organisation but we have accepted that the legal liabilities of Railtrack have been transferred to Network Rail."

Posted on 12:30 AM | Permalink

Independent Online: 26 March 2007

The Nairobi to Mombasa railway heralded the birth of modern Kenya but it has fallen into decay. Now there are plans to restore it.

At 10 o'clock on a hot and humid Kenyan morning, as the sun rises above the Rabai hills that slope down towards the port of Mombasa, Frederick Omondi finds himself peering underneath a train carriage. "It is OK," he says. "It is only a burst pipe."

The Nairobi-Mombasa train left the cool of Kenya's capital 15 hours ago. It was supposed to arrive in Mombasa at 8 o'clock this morning but three breakdowns - make that four now there is a burst pipe - have delayed it.

"This is nothing," says Mr Omondi, the train manager, as he jumps back on board. "Once it took 29 hours. That was not good."

Within 15 minutes the pipe has been fixed and the 15 carriages, carrying some 400 passengers, enter the final stretch into Mombasa.

This railway heralded the birth of modern-day Kenya and Uganda. Stretching 657 miles from the humid coastal port of Mombasa, climbing through the desert of eastern Kenya, dipping into the Rift Valley, heading towards Lake Victoria, then turning once more towards Uganda's capital, Kampala, the railway enabled Britain to impose imperial rule across east Africa.

The land that now forms Kenya did not even interest the British. The railway's purpose was to provide a secure transit line from Mombasa to Lake Victoria. Kenya was viewed as a barren wasteland that would simply serve as a corridor to the lake.

A survey of the proposed route, presented to the Treasury in 1893, claimed there were "no great, or even serious, difficulties to overcome". The survey was wrong. Dismissed by opposition parliamentarians as a "gigantic folly", the railway took six years and £5m to build - a colossal sum in 1895. More than 600 workers died - many from malaria, some from attacks by lions.

It was nicknamed the "Lunatic Express" and over the past few decades that name has become pertinent once more. Chronic underinvestment and corruption has left the railway a shadow of its former self. Whereas once it carried presidents, prime ministers and Nairobi's elite, now it is only for the curious tourist who wants a bit of adventure and Kenyans who cannot afford to take the bus.

A new consortium aims to change that. Rift Valley Railways, backed by a South African transport firm, took over the company late last year and plans to return the Lunatic Express to its former glory. They will have a lot of work to do. New track needs to be laid, new engines and carriages introduced, and services need to be improved.

If the consortium needs an example of how to do it, they should look no further than Angola. Three decades of civil war destroyed the country's infrastructure, including its rail network. China has stepped in to rebuild three main railway lines, bringing its own labour and expertise. By next year, just five years after starting work, Angola is expected to open its new railways.

Night is closing in as we leave Nairobi. The electricity is not working so first and second-class passengers are issued with torches. There is no such luxury for those in economy class. The train's chef strides the narrow corridors playing a xylophone to call first and second class passengers to dinner. White-coated waiters serve up a very English-style three-course dinner - soup and beef stew, followed by sponge with custard. There is not enough cutlery to go around so some passengers have to wait for others to finish eating. The passengers in the dining car are almost entirely white. Just a handful of middle-class black Kenyans are in second class, none are in first. By contrast, the five economy carriages are entirely black. With no light and cramped seating, few enjoy a comfortable journey.

For tourists though, the "Lunatic Express" is not just a way of getting to their destination - it is part of the holiday. As the last passengers leave the dining car and people begin to bed down for the night, four French tourists drink whisky in their cabin. "It is just like an Agatha Christie novel," laughs Isabelle Magne. Together with her husband, Frederic, and his brother and wife, they decided to take the train because they wanted "to have an adventure", she says. "And this is certainly an adventure. When we arrived at the station it looked so British and colonial. The train looked like something from 100 years ago. In France we have the TGV - train à grande vitesse. This is the TPV - train à petite vitesse."

The driver of the "TPV", Peter Wainaina, grew up dreaming of becoming a pilot, while his older brother wanted to be a train driver. Their real lives mirrored the others' dream, but Mr Wainaina, 40, is happy with his lot. "It is very much a good job," he smiled. "I am covering many kilometres every day, seeing different sights, meeting different people."

Sat in his compact cabin, alongside his co-driver, Alloyce Ojiambo, Mr Wainaina gently re-adjusts the levers in front of him, increasing power as we climb a small incline, pulling softly on the brake as the track begins to dip. An emergency brake with a solid steel lever sits by his left elbow. Behind him the wall is home to a dizzying array of switches and buttons, gauges and monitors detailing pressure, heat and engine power.

Above his head sits a speedometer, the needle firmly stuck on zero. "It doesn't matter," he said. "I know our speed from experience. This is 40km per hour."

As the train ambles its way past small settlements composed of a sprinkling of mud huts with thatched roofs, small children stand at the side of the tracks waving at Mr Wainaina and Mr Ojiambo. Some wander across but Mr Wainaina has never worried about hitting a child. "They always get out of the way," he said.

Animals are another matter. The route to Mombasa takes our 15 carriages through some of Kenya's vibrant national parks where elephants, giraffes, buffalo and lions roam free.

On one occasion, in the middle of the night, Mr Wainaina hit an elephant. A family of elephants had been crossing the tracks as the train approached. Just making out the silhouette of the elephants in the darkness ahead of him, Mr Wainaina yanked back the emergency brake. The mother managed to push her baby out of the way, but she was struck. "I reacted fast but it was too late," said Mr Wainaina. The mother died instantly. "An elephant is only six tons. This train is 116 tons."

Accidents are not only caused by animals. As we approach Mariakani, a town 50km outside Mombasa, we pass the rusting corpse of a derailed cargo train lying on its side. It had been overloaded, said Mr Wainaina, and the driver had been going too fast.

As the train winds its way towards the coast, the sun rises over a landscape of desert and brush. Over the next few hours it gradually becomes more tropical, with palm trees replacing acacias and the heat and humidity increasing to uncomfortable levels.

Three British students peer out of the open window in their second class carriage. "It's absolutely amazing," gushes Sarah Collins, 21. "You wouldn't get to see all of this if you flew. We feel like we've seen a whole country."

For Kenyans, the attraction of the train has nothing to do with adventure. For most, flying is out of the question. On average, return flights to Mombasa cost around 12,000 Kenyan shillings (£95), although competition from a new airline has driven prices down as far as 5,540 for certain times. The bus, which can take eight or nine hours, costs 600 shillings each way. But the train costs just 400 shillings for a standard-class ticket. There are no beds and passengers have to hope it is not too crowded so that they can lie across a tatty leather covered seat made for two.

"It is not too bad here," says 21-year-old Kennedy Omondy, who is travelling to Mombasa to meet friends. "I could get some sleep last night. But now it is hot and there is no water."

After the final delay, some 30km from Mombasa, Frederick Omondi says the train is likely to be three hours late. There were hold-ups in Oulu and Dara during the night, while speed restrictions imposed after problems were found with the track have made progress slow. His passengers are not always that understanding. "You meet different types. Some are fine, but some are rowdy and want to beat you up. You learn how to deal with it."

We crawl into a hot and humid Mombasa at 11am, a full 16 hours after leaving Nairobi. The French tourists had been planning to get the train back after spending a week in Mombasa's resorts. Now, they're not so sure. "I think we will fly," says Mme Magne. "It will be quicker." Some 15 hours quicker to be precise.

The "Lunatic Express" has made it. A mere three hours late and Mr Omondi is happy. "That was OK. We had no major problems. But if you are in a hurry I would advise you not to get the train," he laughs.

Posted on 12:29 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 25 March 2007

The 200-year anniversary of what is believed to have been the world's first passenger railway is being celebrated.

Swansea and Mumbles Railway, circa 1810 the first horse-drawn carriage (Picture: Dragon News)

The Swansea and Mumbles Railway began life as a horse-drawn carriage which ran along a line built to transport limestone from Mumbles to Swansea.

Over the years it saw the introduction of steam and later electric-powered trains until its final journey in 1960.

The publisher of a book documenting its history said the railway was a "remarkable achievement".

Entrepreneur Benjamin French launched the service for passengers who wished to explore the romantic scenery of the Mumbles area.

The original route ran from the Brewery Bank by the Swansea Canal around Swansea Bay to Castle Hill - today known as Clements Quarry - in the village of Oystermouth.

"The people of Swansea and Mumbles retain wonderfully fond memories of this railway in its various guises" - Publisher David Roberts

The first, four-wheel carriage was built mainly of iron and was pulled by one horse.

In 1813 a booklet describing the area put the fare at the relatively considerable amount of two shillings, but by 1823 the fair had been cut in half.

But by 1830 the service was withdrawn because of competition from horse-drawn buses and was out of action until the 1860s, when horse-drawn and steam trains began running alongside each other.

The service enjoyed its heyday in the years leading up to the Great War when the line was used by thousands of holidaymakers and day-trippers.

A restored Swansea tram representative of the 1934/4 trams (Picture: Dragon News)

In 1929 electricity superseded steam when a fleet of red trains were introduced which operated throughout the war.

Although famous for its rock and roll motion, the electric train service was reliable and it was said the people of Swansea would set their watches by the train times.

To celebrate the anniversary, railway and tramway enthusiast David Beynon has produced an illustrated book documenting its colourful history.

Publisher David Roberts said: "The people of Swansea and Mumbles retain wonderfully fond memories of this railway in its various guises.

"It was a remarkable achievement for the Swansea area in particular and Wales in general to have such a global first - the efforts of those incredible early pioneers should never be forgotten."

The celebration is being held at Swansea Museum, and is being attended by members of the Mumbles Railway Society.

Posted on 12:09 PM | Permalink

The Observer: March 25, 2007
Juliette Jowit, transport editor

Network Rail faces a multi-million-pound fine this week for its part in the Paddington train crash, Britain's worst rail accident for a generation.

Thirty-one people died when a Thames Trains cross-country service went through a red signal and hit a Great Western express outside the station in west London in October 1999. Hundreds of people were injured after fire engulfed some of the carriages.

Network Rail, which took over from Railtrack after the accident, pleaded guilty last year to breaking health and safety rules because of problems with being able to clearly see the signal, although the company denied responsibility for the crash.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, it faces an unlimited fine at Blackfriars crown court in London on Tuesday. The biggest fine yet imposed on a British company under the act was when gas pipeline company Transco was ordered to pay £15m after an explosion at a house in Lanarkshire killed a couple and their two children.

Experts said Network Rail's fine was expected to be less than this because the company was not seen as the main cause of the accident at Paddington. Another factor which could reduce the fine is that any money paid to the court will come out of the company's budget to run and improve the network.

Three years ago Thames Trains was fined £2m for its part in the accident because its driver did not stop either at the red signal, nor when a warning siren sounded in his cab. The driver, Michael Hodder, was one of those killed.

Whatever Network Rail is made to pay it is not likely to placate some groups representing survivors and the bereaved. They are still angry at the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service that there was not enough evidence to pursue individual charges for corporate manslaughter. Previous fines on Network Rail for crashes that happened while Railtrack was in charge before 2002 have also been criticised because the new company is now largely funded by government subsidy. Others feel the fines are important to demonstrate that companies cannot get away with breaking health and safety rules.

Anthony Smith, national director of the Passenger Focus lobby group, said: 'Obviously it's rather bizarre Network Rail are being fined for the errors and omissions of the predecessor organisation, and it's all government money, but it's important it happens - it sends the right signal.'

Chris Rumfitt, Network Rail's head of communications, said: 'We'll have to pay from our resources - that's what we'll do when we know what it is. It [the fine] comes out of Network Rail's resources, principally operating, maintenance and renewal of the network.' Since it took over in 2002, Network Rail has already paid out court fines for fatal accidents at Southall in 1997 and Hatfield in 2001. A prosecution under the Health and Safety act is expected for the Potters Bar crash in 2002, during the period after the collapse of Railtrack and before Network Rail took over.

Announcing a £3.5m fine for the Hatfield accident, the judge, Mr Justice Mackay, said: 'Every pound fined is a pound that it [Network Rail] cannot spend on railway safety.'

· The Department for Transport has asked Network Rail to bid to run the four biggest stations on the east coast mainline route from London to Scotland. It has also asked the company to help specify details of a new generation of high-speed trains.

Posted on 4:43 AM | Permalink

Research and Markets: March 23, 2007

DUBLIN, Ireland -- A new business report into the UK rail market has found that 15% of 825 companies analysed in the rail sector are trading at a loss.

The Portfolio Analysis - Rail Transport updated 2007 edition analyses the financial performance of the companies using the most up to date information available. The Analysis lays bare the performance of each company highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.

The report is divided into Sector Analysis (sales growth, market share and profitability are all analysed over a 10 year period) and Individual Company Analysis (each company's financial performance over the last five years is evaluated).

Over the past 12 months out of 825 companies in the UK rail industry:

* 22% of companies are now in financial danger.
* 124 companies are blatantly selling at a loss to capture market share.
* Average pre-tax profit was 4.7%
* Average sales growth was 3.4%

Posted on 4:20 AM | Permalink

Express & Echo: 21 March 2007

Passenger groups called on a transport minister to back plans for an extra passing loop on the Exeter to London Waterloo railway line at a meeting in the city.

Rail Minister, Tom Harris

Rail Minister Tom Harris yesterday promised a "colossal" amount of investment in the South West's railway infrastructure during the talks at the Thistle Hotel about the future of the region's rail network.

A letter was presented to the minister by Travel Watch South West pressing for Government backing on proposals for another passing loop on the Exeter to Waterloo line to allow for hourly train services to and from the capital.

The letter also called for more trains in the region and expressed concern that the re-letting of the could lead to a reduction in services to the south west of Bristol.

David Redgewell, from Transport 2000, which is part of Travel Watch South West, said: "We want to make sure these services are maintained to Exeter and Plymouth.

"At the moment, in some services, people are packed in like sardines."

Among those at the talks were bosses from Network Rail, First Great Western and South West Trains, along with Devon County Council leader Brian Greenslade and Exeter City Council leader Roy Slack, and representatives from the South West Regional Assembly and the regional development agency.

Speaking to the Echo afterwards, Mr Harris said he had found the meeting constructive.

He said: "There were concerns that because of the remoteness of the peninsula and that because of the view that policy is London driven, that sometimes the South West gets overlooked in terms of transport planning and I was able to reassure them that was not the case.

"The South West has the fastest-growing population of any region and that will have an impact on transport demand.

"The infrastructure is among the worst in the country because of decades of under investment.

"I was able to reassure the meeting that colossal amounts of expenditure will be invested in the railway network and will have a benefit on rail services."

On the subject of recent hikes in train fares, Mr Harris said the price of fares regulated by the Government had fallen by two per cent in the last 10 years.

He said: "With other fares that are non-regulated it is up to rail regulators how much they are increased.

"If we bring more fares under regulation, then we have to give more Government subsidies to rail regulators and that money would have to come from taxes."

See also:

MINISTER FACES TOUGH QUESTIONS OVER STATE OF DEVON RAIL SERVICES

Express & Echo: 20 March 2007

Rail Minister Tom Harris was set to face some tough-talking when he visits Exeter today to meet business and regeneration chiefs to discuss under- fire rail services.Much of the criticism has been aimed at train operator First Great Western over the level of its services.

But the general state of rail provision in the region, described in some quarters as "approaching meltdown" is a cause of continuing embarrassment to the Government, as it tries to get more people out of their cars and on to public transport in a bid to tackle congestion.

Immediate action has been demanded not only from First Great Western, but also ministers to tackle a catalogue of complaints including delays, cancellations, overcrowding and fare increases.

MPs at Westminster have accused both ministers and train bosses of blaming each other for the mess, and called on the Government to hold a train summit to address the thousands of complaints from commuters.

Government franchising failures had also contributed to the problems, they said.

Mr Harris has previously told MPs that he completely understood the frustration felt by First Great Western passengers and sympathised with the problems they faced.

Regional development agency officials were among those he was due to meet in the city to discuss rail services, which are seen as vital to the economy of the South West.

In the face of sustained criticism, First Great Western earlier this year said sorry to long-suffering passengers and pledged to improve services.

But the Government so far has failed to offer any such apology and laid the blame firmly at the door of the train operator.

It has even seen Commons Leader Jack Straw wade into the fray, branding services among the worst in the country.

A survey in recent years of businesses by the regional development agency on rail services found that reliability, quality and value for money were the top priorities.

But instead people had seen rising fares and overcrowded trains. It is estimated this could amount to losing three million rail passenger journeys a year - increasing road congestion, commuting and pollution, at the very time when efforts are being made to reduce the need to travel by car and encourage greater use of public transport.

Posted on 9:52 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 22 March 2007

A train driver involved in a fatal rail crash 18 years ago is to challenge his conviction for manslaughter.

Five people died and more than 80 were hurt when the train went through a red light and collided with another train outside Purley station, south London.

The accident involved the Littlehampton to Victoria train, driven by Robert Morgan, 64, from Ferring, West Sussex, and a Horsham to Victoria service.

Judges sitting in the Court of Appeal ruled Morgan's case was "arguable".

He was sentenced at the Old Bailey in September 1990 to 18 months in jail, of which 12 were suspended, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter.

'Human factors'

His sentence was later reduced to four months on appeal.

Morgan's case centres on whether he would have felt constrained to plead guilty if what is now known about the causes of railway accidents was known at the time of his trial, and whether such information would have persuaded a jury to acquit him.

The appeal court judges said they had heard detailed submissions about infrastructure and human factors which may cause or contribute to an accident.

The court also heard evidence, previously not available, that the signal at the centre of the case "had been passed when on red" on four previous occasions between 1984 and 1987, and again in June 1991.

Fresh evidence to be presented at the forthcoming full appeal includes an expert's opinion that the driver made an error which was a consequence of the infrastructure design.

'Great public interest'

It will say that the root cause of the Purley crash was the "state of the infrastructure which existed at the time of the incident".

Lord Justice Maurice Kay said: "That conclusion is based to a significant extent on the evidence of the four incidents that preceded the crash in March 1989."

One of the reasons it was "appropriate" to give leave to appeal "so that the matter can be fully considered on another occasion" was the "great public interest" relating to such cases, he said.

Afterwards, Morgan's solicitor, Gary Rubin, said: "Mr Morgan is delighted that he has been granted leave to have his case heard by the Court of Appeal.

"We are now concentrating on fully preparing for the appeal hearing."

The appeal will be heard at a date to be fixed.

Posted on 9:36 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 22 March 2007

Train operator First Great Western is changing its timetable after passengers and MPs waged a high-profile campaign for it to change its services.

First Great Western has responded with new adjustments to timetables

Passengers had complained about overcrowding and a group of MPs from the Thames Valley described the situation as "commuter chaos".

Following a protest by hundreds of rail passengers the company apologised "for not meeting their expectations".

The new timetable will come into effect from 26 March.

'Alleviate problems'

Glenda Lamont, from First Great Western, said: "We recognised that some elements of the timetable had not met all our customers needs and we made changes earlier this year.

"I am today announcing further improvements including additional peak time services, extra seating capacity, and modifications to some timings to alleviate the problems experienced by some of our customers."

The changes will affect services in the Thames Valley, Kennet Valley, Oxford, and the Cotswolds.

A company spokesman said more than 750 seats will be added to morning services running through Reading and more than 500 seats would be added to morning services from Newbury.

He added that the changes would improve frequency and capacity from and to Henley, Oxford, Pangbourne, Maidenhead, Twyford, and Worcester.

Posted on 1:42 AM | Permalink

Oxford Mail: 23rd March 2007

Rail commuters have welcomed moves by First Great Western to provide extra seats on rush-hour trains to London next week - but they say further improvements are still needed.

Last December, FGW infuriated passengers by cutting the number of fast morning peak trains from Oxford to the capital from six to three.

A month later, the firm was forced to bow to public pressure and introduced a revised timetable on January 15, which introduced an extra fast train at 7.33am and speeded up another service.
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Yesterday, FGW said it would make further changes from Monday, including the provision of more than 200 extra seats on the 7.33am service, by introducing a refurbished High Speed Train in place of an Adelante unit.

Zahra Akkerhuys, a spokesman for rail campaign group Ox Rail Action, said: "We welcome some of these changes, but First Great Western is still fiddling at the edges and more still needs to be done.

"A High Speed Train on the 7.33 will free up an Adelante to be used on the 7.05am service, where there's major overcrowding."

The 5.55am Oxford to Paddington service will now be doubled in size, to 10 coaches, and will depart at 5.51am calling at Radley, Didcot and Pangbourne.

Another change being made from Monday aims to end delays to morning peak trains on the Cotswold Line.

The 6.03am from London to Oxford and Worcester will in future depart at 5.52am from Paddington, to try to ensure it leaves Oxford on time at 6.59am, to avoid delays to three London-bound services it passes at loops between Oxford and Worcester.

Posted on 1:37 AM | Permalink

Daily Telegraph: 24/03/2007
By David Derbyshire, Consumer Affairs Editor and Martin Beckford

Britain's biggest train companies are routinely overcharging customers who buy tickets over the telephone, the rail watchdog said yesterday.

A survey by Passenger Focus found that one in 10 people calling GNER and First Great Western were not given the cheapest prices for their journeys. Some were overcharged by more than £200.

The disclosure came as rail companies were accused of bamboozling passengers with a bewildering choice of tickets and prices. A year after the industry promised to make prices more simple, The Daily Telegraph found travellers trying to book tickets on some routes must still choose from up to 40 different fares, each with its own restrictions.

Campaigners yesterday called for the rail industry to "stop dragging its heels" and improve the quality of its information and introduce easier to understand tickets.

Gwyneth Dunwoody, the Labour chairman of the cross-party transport select committee, said: "You can book a cheap flight on a website in a short period of time but if you want to buy a train ticket you need a degree in economics. Information is power and people buying tickets should have ready access to accurate information. They should be told all the alternatives, not just given the one price.

"I know of no other industry where companies make it so complicated to use a service, or so expensive."

Passenger Focus's survey involved 250 calls to five rail companies. Although the companies were "generally good" at quoting the correct price for simple journeys, the call centres struggled with complicated travel plans.

Out of 250 calls, 15 were quoted incorrect prices while 16 were told they could not have a quote. GNER and First Great Western were the worst offenders. Each company gave the wrong information to five out of 50 callers. Virgin quoted the wrong prices for three out of 50 calls.

One caller who asked Virgin for a price for four journeys to different destinations in one week should have been quoted £375 for an All-Line Rover ticket. Instead, Virgin said the trips would cost £638 - an extra £263.

"On the whole, they get the simple fares right but they seem to have problems with the more complicated journeys where there is a choice of routes or fares," said a spokesman for Passenger Focus. "We have been saying for a long time that fares need to be simplified. We need to have meaningful choice."

The train companies insisted that they were improving the quality of their phone and internet information. Virgin Trains said it had set up a new, clearer websites.

First Great Western said its online journey planner had also been revamped, while GNER said the mystery shopping exercise had used "complicated and unusual" journeys, so the results were not representative of its customers' experiences.

"We have simplified the structure of our fares and we have removed some ticket types over the last few years," a spokesman said.

South West Trains was accused this week of making fares more complicated when it introduced a new, higher price for off-peak trains in the morning.

Rail companies also want the Government to de-regulate Saver tickets, a move that could lead to an even greater variety of prices.

A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: "We are simplifying the fares."

Posted on 1:29 AM | Permalink

RxPG: Mar 22, 2007

Bhopal - The railway staff has also dug in its heels and threatened to intensify the agitation if the lawyers responsible for the chaos are not put behind bars.

Lawyers and railway staff in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur town struck work Thursday demanding action against each other, a day after 50 people were injured in a clash over an advocate's five-year-old son being fined for travelling without a ticket.

Heavy police force was deployed outside the Jabalpur Divisional Railway office to ensure that Wednesday's violence was not repeated.

Railway staff went on an indefinite strike demanding action against 42 lawyers who ransacked railway property. In a tit for tat action, lawyers, who blockaded roads, denied the charge and also went on strike saying punitive action must be taking against the erring railway staff.

Some railway staff have been kept out of the strike to ensure that train movement is not affected.

More than 50 people were injured in the clash that occurred at the Jabalpur station Wednesday evening when TTE - Kamal Patel imposed a fine for ticketless travel on lawyer Suresh Mishra's five-year-old son.

Mishra in turn filed a complaint of loot with the government railway police. The situation worsened when a group of lawyers reached the station to inquire about the action taken on Mishra's complaint.

Railway staff also gathered in strength and soon it was a free for all. The injured included 19 lawyers, 22 railway employees and nine policemen.

Both sides blame each other.

'Our strike will be called off only when action is taken against the erring railway staff and GRP personnel. If authorities fail to take action by the evening, the strike would be extended to all the district courts in the state,' Jabalpur District Bar Association President R.K. Saini told IANS over the phone.

The railway staff has also dug in its heels and threatened to intensify the agitation if the lawyers responsible for the chaos are not put behind bars.

'It was the lawyers who were at fault. But false allegations are being made against our staff by lawyers who are used to speaking lies,' said B.K. Utrapati, general secretary of the West Central Rail Employees Union.

Posted on 8:08 AM | Permalink

Shanghaiist: March 22, 2007

This morning, Chinese language news portal 163.com had a great scoop, and revealed the future planning for Shanghai and China's Maglev railway system.

Shanghaiist's Chinese ability is sadly limited, but using the new-fangled internet technology we reported on earlier this week, we were able to get the gist of the 163.com article.

Shanghai Metro Map

The article reveals that the current 30km long section of the Pudong Airport-Longyang Road Maglev line will be extended to eventually form a giant T network. The first stage of the extension is planned to be finished in 2009. Firstly, a 37 kilometre extension will connect the Pudong International Airport to Hongqiao Domestic airport and pass via the World Expo 2010 site. The Maglev will also meet up with the Shanghai South Railway station, and the planned Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway station at the Hongqiao Airport. The second, and biggest Maglev extension (104 kilometres) will connect Hangzhou to Shanghai. In total, the whole Maglev network will be approximately 200 kilometres long.

A little further digging around on this announcement revealed that Shanghai blogger Wang Jian Shuo had this morning dug up a rail, metro and maglev route map that outlines how Shanghai's mass public transportation system could potentially develop into between 2008 and 2012. Wang Jian Shuo also linked out to a new site to this little Shanghaiist, the Shanghai Metro Fan bulletin board on which we discovered (care of Google Translation tools) a few, lively discussions on the regarding this recent transportation development.

Of the positives coming out of this announcement, there now might be a convenient way to get into Shanghai (albeit not downtown) from PVG and to connect to the domestic airport in Hongqiao. The connection of the major transportation systems is another plus, which reflects the 'Road to Nowhere' situation of the current Maglev line.

While it is great to get caught up on the gadget and technology hype rollercoaster, Shanghaiist is also aware that these plans come at a cost for local residents. Recently, Der Spiegel reported that a group of Shanghai residents have appealed to German Chancellor Angela Markel to stop the extension of the Maglev in Shanghai.

This from The Spiegel article:

In a letter quoted in the German newspaper Tagesspiegel, the residents write: "The Transrapid project is curtailing the human rights of Shanghai residents, because the rights to health and existence are being ignored." More than 1,000 inhabitants of the Tianyizou housing development in the Pudong district support the appeal, its authors told the newspaper. They are concerned about their health and security, as the safety distance between the houses and the maglev line extension has been set at only 22.5 meters — much narrower than the current Transrapid track. And the residents claim that there has been little notice or information about compensation given to those who are to be evicted.

This appeal is in light that the German Government together with multinational companies Siemens and ThyssenKrup under the guise of Transrapid International have developed the technology to be utilised in this extension.

Besides health concerns, there is also the displacement of thousands of residents to make room for the physical space required for this system. This from Monsters & Critics website:

A sign saying 'Notice of Demolition and Resettlement' is pasted to building No. 69 at the Plum Garden No. 1 housing development in the Xuhui district. An old man, who declined to give his name, gestured towards a group of his neighbours there and said: 'We're sad that we have to go.'

And this:

Thousands of residents in the districts of Xuhui, Minhang and Pudong have already been told that move they must. Many feel taken by surprise. Expressions of opposition have proliferated on the internet.

'But the government has ignored the protests of all the people who live here,' wrote residents of 1111 Shuyung Street in the Minhang district.

Some resident's affected by this announcement have jumped on the net and formed their own protest site.

Let us remember the other impacts a 200 kilometre Maglev network could have as well. At the end of January this year, a high-speed bullet train service between Hangzhou and Shanghai commenced operation, with initial speeds of 160km per hour, following upgrades to tracks in April this year, could have the capability of running at 250km per hour. That is pretty fast, but not as fast as what the Maglev is reputedly able to reach (up to 430 kilometres per hour). The 200km Shanghai-Hangzhou journey is projected to take 26 minutes, but the slower train travelling at half the speed may take around an hour.

According to the railway-technology.com website, the Maglev extension is proposed to cost USD$36 million per kilometre. Yep, you read correctly. The original 163.com article also quotes a similar number, but also mentions that the current 30km long section between Longyang Road and the Pudong Airport cost RMB10 billion (USD$1.2 billion) and two and a half years to complete.

From these figures it appears the remaining 170 kilometres of the Maglev system will cost around RMB56.1 billion (at today's exchange rate, USD$7.25 billion). Even though there exists a need to expand China's rail capacity, Shanghaiist thinks that is an awfully expensive way to save 40 minutes on a train journey and we doubt that this money will be money well-spent.

A few other things to consider. We are sure that a lot of taxi drivers out at Pudong airport won't welcome this news. Residents of tourist-swollen Hangzhou may think this is a blessing or a curse, and we're sure the construction of a hyper-electric powered magnetic railway system will of great joy to China's electricity polluters producers.

This is going to be one interesting story.

Posted on 10:17 AM | Permalink

Cumbria News & Star: 21 March 2007

SOME of us would like to know the details of the brief given to the Cumbria's new rail officer and what exactly he is going to do.

On my desk are two reports (publication dates unstated) with lots of glossy pics issued around 2003-4 – the SRA Strategic Plan and a second by the Countryside Agency, “A partnership story – getting things moving” about Gateway stations.

Since their release the Transport Minister has fed the media with policy feelers about turning over the running of what are classed as secondary lines to local authorities and downgrading their maintenance.

And a month or so ago it was being suggested that because of the costs of the West Coast Main Line the signalling on the power boxes north of Warrington ie Preston and Carlisle would be put on a string and sticking plaster basis!

All the train operating companies lease their trains from the train leasing companies owned and financed by the big banks, and for this expect a 33 per cent return on capital... nice one.

There are new rakes of coaches/trains on the commuter routes into London and the south east (where the influential voters are – I see them when I go to visit friends in London).

But just imagine a country where the railway operators remove seats and toilets from carriages so they can cram in more customers – that country is Britain.

My sheep travel to market in more comfort by law... where are the HSE inspectors? Presumably in the signalman’s cabin sipping tea.

Consider the lines with tourist potential which we have lost since 1956 due to the market forces economics of Messrs Beeching/ Marples/ Thatcher/ Major/ Blair... Penrith-Kirkby Stephen, Tebay-Sedbergh, Tebay-Kirkby Stephen, Foxfield-Coniston, Aspatria-Abbeytown, Carlisle-Silloth, Haltwhistle-Alston, Kershopefoot-Otterburn-Hexham, Penrith-Clifton-Kirkby Stephen-Warcop.

All these are capable of restoration in metre gauge for summer season trains and if the driver has to shoo the sheep or the recumbent cow off the track, how thrilling for visitors.

A visit to the Peloponese in Greece would reveal a very popular metre gauge system with comfortable trains, each with a buffet car service putting ours to shame on quality and cost.

The CKP and the Waverley Line to Edinburgh would cost £80m and £140m respectively to rebuild yet we can spend a billion on a useless “Tent on the Thames” and Eden District Council authorises the construction of warehouses on the trackbed at Greystoke.

Where is the vision? We do not deserve tourist income from such a butchered system.

Listening to government and press spin you’d think we only have one railway – the West Coast Main Line.

But alas the whole system is in a disastrous state (Richard Branson draws a very healthy subsidy for every week/ month/ year that he cannot run his Pendolinos at 130mph because having spent £9bn on the track we, the public, have to spend £4bn plus to upgrade the signalling. No wonder he and Blair are buddies).

If we are to attract tourists to the trains then:

1 We need sleek new rolling stock as I observe in Greece and rural France – clean, comfortable and attractive – not the old rattle traps cascaded up here.

2 Bus and rail completely integrated under one owner/directorate.

3 A car parking charge at stations of £1 per day, all day.

4 Fares which reflect a country committed to diverting people from cars to public transport ie a fare of £1.50 from Workington to Carlisle so that I could not afford to use my car.

5 Vastly more provision for cycles (carried free), disabled, parcels and push chairs.

6 Value for money refreshments served on board as in a bistro cafe. On a Japanese scenic heritage train the passengers are each provided with a very appetising packed lunch in a souvenir box.

7 A universal bus and train pass anywhere in Cumbria – and cheap.

Cumbria County Council and the tourist board should go abroad and have a look/see.

I think of a rural line in Alsace which I have watched for more than three years... new trains, new stations... sheer comfort – what a contrast.

Also we must realise that the keys to more rail tourists lie at stations like Euston in London. When I can get a day return there from Penrith for £12 and the trip takes a maximum of two hours, we’ll be making progress.

Privatisation has been a massive fraud on the British people.

Every post-war Prime Minister except Clement Attlee has ducked or fudged the rail issue.

When I return from my continental travels I just weep.

GH COLE
Mosser
Cockermouth

Posted on 9:51 AM | Permalink

Railway People: March 21st 2007

Once dubbed the Varsity Line because it linked Cambridge and Oxford the dream of a restored cross country railway between Milton Keynes and Oxford moved a step nearer this month.

A new report commissioned by the East West Rail Consortium, a collection of local authorities and businesses, believes much of the capital could be raised from property sales along the route.

Currently a freight only line connects Bicester with Bletchley via Claydon Junction. South of the junction another line connects Claydon with Aylesbury via Quainton Road. This line is operational and is used by the Buckingham Railway Centre at Quainton and refuse trains carrying spoil to the landfill site at Calvert – just south of Claydon.

The report says two trains an hour between Oxford and Milton Keynes, and between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes could be achieved. The cost of building the railway between Oxford and Milton Keynes is put at between £100 and £135 million. Developers could fund around £100 million of the cost. The railway needs upgrading and re-signalling. However it could be used by long distance passenger and freight services. The work was managed bySteer Davies Gleave

Says theConsortium’s Chairman, Neil Gibson, ‘The report shows for the first time that there is a credible and achievable scheme for the western section of East West Rail. We will continue to work with our partners in local, regional and national government, and the rail industry to further develop the scheme. The next stage of development work will define the scheme and establish a clear delivery and funding framework.’

Posted on 9:44 AM | Permalink

Zee News: March 21

Forty-three people, including six policemen, were injured in a clash that erupted between advocates and railway staff after a group of lawyers ransacked the train ticket examiners’ office here today.

The lawyers ransacked the TTEs' office at the railway station here to protest against a fine imposed on the son of one of their colleagues, officials said.

Railway employees briefly stopped work to protest against the attack, delaying four trains by an hour, while advocates said they would go on strike from tomorrow.

Seventeen lawyers, 20 railway employees and six policemen were injured in the clash and were taken to the railway hospital, Superintendent of Government Railway Police J P Ahirwar told a news agency.

The advocates gathered in strength at the station to get information about a complaint of loot filed by lawyer Suresh Mishra against TTE Kamal Patel, Ahirwar said.

Patel had imposed a fine for ticketless travel on Mishra's son yesterday and the dispute led to a scuffle between them.

Protesting the incident, over two-dozen lawyers ransacked the TTES' office and beat up employees who retaliated, Ahirwar said.

Posted on 9:34 AM | Permalink

Business Updated: 22/3/2007

The European Commission has decided to pursue infringement proceedings against ten Member States that have not yet communicated their national implementing measures to transpose two key directives of the so-called 'second railway package'.

These directives claim to ensure high levels of safety and interoperability for rail business across Europe.

The second railway package had to be transposed into national legislation before 30 April 2006. The 10 countries failing to notify the Commission of their transposition of the two directives (2004/49 and 2004/50) are Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic. These Member States failed to respond to the Commission's reasoned opinion sent in October 2006, therefore the Commission has decided to take the case before the European Court of Justice.

Directive 2004/49/EC on railway safety aims at strengthening rail safety by ensuring full transparency in relation to safety procedures in force. It lays down a procedure for granting the safety certificates, which every railway company must obtain before it can run trains on the European network. The objective is to gradually bring the national safety systems to the highest common European standards, which would be set by the Commission after preparatory work carried out by the European Railway Agency at the technical level. It also requires Member States to set up an independent safety authority and an accident investigation body for rail transport.

Directive 2004/50/EC updates legislation already in force on the technical interoperability, which is needed in order to operate cross-border services and cut rolling stock costs on the high-speed network. The Directives allows for a change in working methods so that faster progress can be made on interoperability also on the conventional network. Geographically, interoperability will be extended to the entire open rail network of the European Union.

Posted on 9:07 AM | Permalink

Western Mail: Mar 21 2007
Martin Shipton

THE Assembly Government will have to pay Arriva Trains Wales an undisclosed sum for a train service that won't be carrying passengers, it has been confirmed.

Delays in construction work on the reopening Cardiff-Ebbw Vale line means that trains will not be able to run from July as planned. It is likely that passengers will not be able to use the route until October.

In the meantime, however, because of contractual obligations, the Assembly Government will have to pay the wages of staff who are being recruited to run the new line, which is seen as a vital tool in regenerating the economy of one of Wales' poorest areas.

Trish Law, the Independent AM for Blaenau Gwent, said the lengthy saga of the Ebbw Vale-Cardiff railway was being reduced to farce.

She said, "First we have Ministers assuring us that passenger trains will run from July, but not telling us that they won't actually be carrying passengers until October at the earliest.

"Then we have this farcical situation where taxpayers are effectively having to pay to run empty trains between Ebbw Vale and Cardiff for three months. Arriva Trains Wales must be laughing all the way to the bank."

Mrs Law added, "I'm just amazed that all these issues - delays caused by health and safety requirements, and so on - were not taken into account at the outset.

"I remain concerned that the latest delay will have a knock-on effect on the proposed Newport spur, which I want to see up and running in time for the 2010 Ryder Cup."

An Assembly Government spokesman said, "The Welsh Assembly Government is providing funding towards meeting the capital costs of the project, and will also be fully funding the cost of operating passenger train services when the line opens - ie subsidies will commence when passenger services start.

"In the meantime, the Assembly Government will contribute towards the cost of recruiting and training drivers and conductors in the run-up to the period when passenger services will commence. For example, this training will include specific route training.

"The Ebbw Valley Railway scheme is promoted by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council which has direct responsibility for managing the project.

"We cannot disclose the wage figures as they are commercially sensitive."

When the line between Cardiff and Ebbw Vale finally opens, it is intended to have hourly services in each direction.

Posted on 10:26 AM | Permalink

Transport Briefing: 20/03/07

A high profile campaign designed to show users of a new domestic flight that an environmentally friendly rail alternative exists, has coincided with engineering works along the suggested route.

Greenpeace has taken out full-page advertisements in today's Guardian and Independent criticising BA's decision to reinstate flights between London Gatwick and Newquay airports and offering to provide free train tickets to passengers booked on to today's flight. However, engineering works mean buses are replacing trains between Par and Newquay until 23 March and any passengers who do switch can expect a lengthy journey.

Laura Yates, from Greenpeace, said: "This week there are engineering works, but it is still possible to get to Newquay. There is a bus service.

"In the long term there is a very viable train route which costs almost exactly the same as the flight and takes only marginally longer when you take into account check-in times. It is also 10 times less polluting than flying."

The first British Airways flight is due to arrive in Newquay at lunchtime. BA previously flew the route until 2003 but dropped the service, which was taken over by Air South West, saying it was making a loss. A BA spokesman said the increasing popularity of Cornwall prompted a rethink.

Devon County Council has welcomed the return of BA to Newquay in neighbouring Cornwall, which it says is vital to Devon's prosperity. The airport has about 300,000 passengers a year, a figure expected to quadruple by 2030.

BA said it was providing travel for people who wanted to get from Gatwick to Cornwall in one hour, rather than the five hours it took for the London Paddington to Newquay train. "We have improved our fuel efficiency by 27% since 1990," a spokesman said. Passengers are asked to check in two hours before the flight is due to leave.

Despite the best efforts of Greenpeace campaigners to raise awareness of the London Paddington-Newquay rail route, the five-hour journey, even without the bus rail replacement service, seems likely to deter many would-be train travellers. However, a direct London to Newquay service using High Speed Train rolling stock, and avoiding the need to change at Par to a local train, is due to be introduced in July this year. This will cut rail journey times to four hours.

Posted on 4:32 PM | Permalink

The Mirror: 20/03/2007

RAIL chiefs are hiking fares by up to 20 per cent, just days after pocketing a £175million bonus.

The move by South West Trains has angered passenger groups and union leaders.

The increases will hit passengers travelling into London between 10am and noon.

Passenger Focus said the rise in off-peak fares, which kicks in on May 20, was "unexplained and unfair".

Chief executive Anthony Smith said: "These large increases are unjustified. They have the effect of extending the peak throughout the whole of the morning.

"They have been introduced without consultation and are a blow to passengers who value an affordable walk-on fare."

Gerry Doherty, leader of the TSSA rail union, said it was "daylight robbery".

Last week, South West Trains' owners Stagecoach revealed plans to pay shareholders a £700million dividend.

The move meant that founder Brian Souter and his sister Ann Gloag landed a £175m windfall.

"Dick Turpin was famous for robbing stagecoaches," said Doherty. "But today it is passengers who are being held to ransom by the Stagecoach owners."

Posted on 4:04 PM | Permalink

Independent Online: 20 March 2007
By Barrie Clement

The operator of Britain's busiest commuter rail routes provoked fury yesterday by raising off-peak fares by up to 20 per cent.

South West Trains (SWT), which promised the Government £1.19bn over 10 years in return for retaining its franchise, will charge the higher prices for those who travel into London Waterloo just outside the morning rush-hour. A new "super off-peak" fare, which will be 3 per cent more than the current off-peak price, will be paid by those travelling after noon. First-class fares will also increase by between 15 and 20 per cent.

The rises come on top of increases of up to 5.3 per cent from 1 January and could presage similar decisions by companies running other commuter routes.

The announcement resulted in allegations of "daylight robbery" against SWT and "hypocrisy" against the Government, whose policy is to encourage people to use trains rather than cars. Ministers' insistence on extracting the highest possible premiums from train-operating firms has led to higher fares and the failure of Great North Eastern Railways.

Richard Dyer, of Friends of the Earth, said: "These changes will present a major disincentive to making the greener choice to go by rail. Government policy is simply inconsistent."

PassengerFocus, which represents rail travellers, said the increases were "unexplained, unjustified and unfair". The organisation's chief executive Anthony Smith said the increases had as "much to do with making money as they do in seeking to ease crowding pressures on true peak-hour trains".

Bruce Akhurst, the SWT commercial director, said the new ticket-type would bring the franchise into line with some other train firms and allow management to match demand and pricing better.

Stagecoach, the parent company of SWT, said the fare increases would affect fewer than 20 per cent of passengers and was "entirely consistent" with the business plan submitted to the Department for Transport.

Brian Souter, the chief executive of Stagecoach and his sister Ann Gloag, who helped to found the business, are to collect £168m after the group decided to increase its capital return to shareholders by 75 per cent.

See also:

Rail firm's 20pc rise in saver fares is 'unfair'

Daily Telegraph: 20/03/2007
By Alex Berry

A train company which runs one of Britain's most crowded commuter rail services yesterday announced it was raising fares by up to 20 per cent, leading to fears that others could soon follow suit.

South West Trains (SWT) announced the increases will take effect from May 20. The move was condemned as "unjustified, unexplained and unfair" by one passenger group. Campaigners also believe it is evidence that proposals to deregulate protected rail fares should be scrapped.

A spokesman for Passenger Focus said: "With unregulated rail fares, train companies can raise them as much as they want. It's masses of money for some passengers."

Last week, The Daily Telegraph revealed that millions of passengers could face huge rises in fares under plans to scrap saver tickets, which are capped by the Government.

Passenger Focus said yesterday's move by SWT indicated rail firms would impose "staggering" rises if regulations were relaxed.

The company said the increase would mainly affect those arriving in London between 10am and noon on weekdays. They will pay up to 20 per cent more than on current SWT off-peak fares. A new "super off-peak" fare, which will be 3 per cent more than the current off-peak price, will operate after noon.

SWT, which is owned by Stagecoach, runs trains into London from stations such as Basingstoke, Bournemouth, Guildford and Woking. It is one of Britain's biggest commuter train operating companies, operating 160 million passenger journeys a year.

A spokesman said the change to a three-tier pricing structure would bring it into line with companies such as Southern and South Eastern.

Under the changes, a cheap day return from Guildford to Waterloo would increase from £11 to £13.20 off peak but this would only be £11.30 during a new super off-peak period.

Antony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive, expressed concern that the move would set a precedent for fare price restructuring.

He added: "These large increases are unjustified. They have the effect of extending the peak throughout the whole of the morning, and because of that, must have as much to do with making money as they do in seeking to ease crowding pressures on true peak-hour trains.

"Passengers have little choice but to use SWT services. This unjustified, unexplained and unfair price hike is exploiting a monopoly market."

Bruce Akhurst, SWT commercial and marketing director, said: "People who decide to travel outside of the peak can still make really good savings by buying one of a range of off-peak value tickets and megatrain.com deals and by using a Railcard discount."

Gerry Doherty, general secretary of transport union TSSA, said: "This amounts to daylight robbery in view of Stagecoach's profit levels."

Posted on 3:57 PM | Permalink

Mid Devon Star: 20 March 2007

A restored train service from Plymouth to Tavistock along what was one of the prettiest rail routes in the area, could cut road congestion.

The railway line closed nearly 40 years ago but could be reopened if funding can be found.

Known as the Tamar Valley line it currently runs trains from Plymouth to Bere Alston in Devon and Gunnislake in Cornwall.

But now campaigners are hoping a new service from Bere Alston to Tavistock could be viable with public and private sector funding.

An engineering survey found the track bed was complete and all structures sound. Now the £10m cost of a new line will be discussed at a public meeting.

It could provide a vital link between the Dartmoor town and Plymouth making it easier for hundreds of commuters to reach their workplace without having to tackle the gruelling road journey.

Posted on 3:52 PM | Permalink

Bloomberg News: March 20, 2007

HONG KONG: China plans to rely more on its own designs and technology as it expands the world's third- longest rail network, which would hand market share to Chinese makers at the expense of Alstom of France and Siemens of Germany, the world's biggest producers of locomotives and rolling stock.

"In terms of technology, we have what we need," Huang Min, chief economist at the Ministry of Railways, said in an interview Tuesday on the sidelines of a conference in Hong Kong.

China needs 1.5 trillion yuan, or $194 billion, in spending on trains and rail lines from 2006 to 2010 and will tap investors at home and abroad, Huang told the Asia Pacific Rail 2007 conference. The expansion essentially requires laying enough track to connect Beijing to London twice.

China already makes trains on its own or through joint ventures, and using more domestic technology means fewer orders for overseas manufacturers, forcing them to compete harder to win business.

Two days ago, the government made public a decision to step up efforts to make passenger aircraft, a first step in challenging Boeing and Airbus, the world's dominant plane makers.

"There's a clear pressure and a clear desire to localize and have the benefits of that," Simon Charlesworth, vice president of business development for Alstom in Asia and Australasia, said at the conference. "China has developed rolling stock capabilities and signaling capabilities that were absorbed through technology transfer and are not, in a sense, self-sufficient, but are able to serve the needs of the market."

Transrapid International, a group led by Siemens and the German steel maker ThyssenKrupp, built the magnetic-levitation train link that ferries people from Shanghai at speeds of more than 400 kilometers, or 250 miles, an hour to its international airport.

Alstom, the No. 1 maker of high- speed trains, aims to double its sales to China in the "next few years," from €200 million, or $266 million, to €250 million annually, Philippe Mellier, head of the French company's train unit, said last year.

China Railway Engineering Group, the nation's largest construction company and a former branch of the Ministry of Railways, is considering an initial public offering of stock, three people with knowledge of the plan said in January.

In December, the ministry sold 5 billion yuan in bonds to finance expansion of rail networks. Ministry officials have said it planned to sell as much as 14 billion yuan of bonds.

"In terms of financing, whether it comes from a domestic or a foreign investor, a yuan is a yuan," Huang of the Ministry of Railways said in the interview.

Posted on 10:09 AM | Permalink

This is Lancashire: 19th March 2007
By Ben Hewes

AN EAST Lancashire firm has made at least £3million in just over two years after tripling its money on a stake in a rail company.

At the end of 2004 Fraser Eagle, based in Altham, became the majority shareholder in York-based Grand Central Railway, essentially making the company a train operator.

Now it has been revealed that Grand Central has now been taken over in a deal by a group led by two former rail bosses and the chairman of Bolton Wanderers Football Club.

Fraser Eagle is not revealing the exact financial details, but it is thought to be costing the new investors about £10million - which includes buying Fraser Eagle's 79 per cent share of the firm, the trains and meeting running costs of around £1m.

But Fraser Eagle, which has about 350 staff, has said it has more than tripled its initial £1.5million investment in Grand Central, in about two years.

Group managing director Kevin Dean said: "This is great news for Fraser Eagle because it secures the future of the company and will give us the funds we need to develop exciting new areas of the business.

"We financed Grand Central through a lengthy regulatory process with the rail authorities and also through a High Court legal challenge to get permission to operate these trains and we are now reaping the rewards of our determination."

The new owners of Grand Central includes Phil Gartside, chairman of Bolton Wanderers Football Club, who will act as director; and former rail firm bosses Giles Fearnley and Bob Howells, who will serve as chairman and vice-chairman.

In 2005/06, Fraser Eagle had a turnover approaching £50million in 2005/06.

The company specialises in coach services, but has branched out into other areas including car sales, and also has two World Choice travel shops.

It had established a new company, Bus Partnerships, which it is hoped will work with local authorities in England to supply transport.

Posted on 11:38 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 19 March 2007

The firm renewing the London Underground has signed a lease to use a test track in part of Leicestershire.

The 13-mile (21km) track at Asfordby, near Melton Mowbray was part of the main rail line but closed in 1968.

Metronet Rail, which is having its Tube trains built at Bombardier in Derby, will spend £7m to turn at least 2.5-miles (4km) into a full test site.

Metronet will keep the track in a used condition to maximise the endurance testing of the new stock.

The work will see the 2.5 mile stretch of the line electrified and fitted with Underground-compatible rails.

Beeching cuts

The site at Asfordby was closed in 2005, following testing of the Virgin Pendolino tilting trains.

The track was closed during the Beeching cuts and then reopened by British Rail as a test track.

Metronet has leased the track to test the next generation of air-conditioned Underground trains, due to begin service on the Metropolitan line from 2009.

It will also be using workshops at a nearby former coal mine site as part of the project.

Metronet, which is renewing two-thirds of the Underground, is investing £3.1bn upgrading the Metropolitan, District, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines with new rolling stock, signalling, upgraded power and depots.

Mark Loader of Metronet said: "Old Dalby (test track) will enable us to really prove the reliability of these new trains - we'll be able to simulate six months to a year's service in only a month.

"That means a more reliable train for Tube travellers when they enter service."

Posted on 4:47 PM | Permalink

A seminar for workplace representatives and trades union officers. The TRACE programme aims to set a positive trades union agenda in Europe: building solidarity, and working together to change and influence decisions and organisations.

The seminar will be held at the Holiday Inn, Newport, starting at 09.30, and finishing at 13.00, with a buffet lunch. The programme consists of:

What's happening in Europe & how TRACE can help

The future for trades unions in Europe

The seminar will be led by John Stirling, who is a trades union tutor, wrote the TRACE Handbook and runs courses for European trades unionists

For more information and registration contact Julie Cook 029120 347010 email j.cook@tuc.org.uk

Posted on 2:12 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 15 2007

STRIKE ACTION by RMT signallers working for Network Rail in Scotland has been suspended this morning by the union’s executive, which also warned that action would be re-instated if any further attempt was made to renege on the 35-hour week agreement.

The move follows consultation with members over the progress made in talks with Network Rail on Monday, which followed a 48-hour strike by more than 400 signallers and supervisory staff.

Two further 48-hour strikes had been scheduled to begin at noontomorrow (Friday March 16) and at noon on Monday (March 19).

"We now have an undertaking from Network Rail that they will implement the 35-hour week deal in full and, after consulting our members, the executive has agreed to suspend the strikes scheduled over the coming week," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Details of rosters will now be concluded in local talks, which we now expect to be concluded swiftly and in line with the UK-wide agreement, which envisages banked hours to be converted into extra rest days.

"We obviously now hope that the matter can be put behind us, but the union has warned that any further attempt to undermine or renege on the agreement will be met with the re-instatement of strike action," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 2:50 PM | Permalink

Daily Mirror: 15/03/2007

STAGECOACH bosses drove into a huge row yesterday after pocketing £175million.

Unions reacted furiously to news that the transport giant is to pay a £700m special dividend to its shareholders.

The hand-out will mean a massive £100m windfall for Stagecoach's founder and chief executive Brian Souter.

His sister Ann Gloag, a former nurse, will pocket £75m from the 63p per share pay-out, which is £300m above City expectations.

The directors said the group could afford it as profits are soaring at South West Trains and Virgin Rail, which is half-owned by Stagecoach.

But the pay-out is unlikely to please passengers who face overcrowding on South West Trains and suffered fare increases of up to 6.6 per cent on Virgin from the start of 2007.

Bob Crow, leader of the RMT rail union, said Stagecoach's rail franchises received almost £300m in subsidy from taxpayers last year. "Yet again privatisation is proving a crude device to convert public money into fat-cat profits," said Crow.

"Every penny profit made by Stagecoach's rail and bus operations comes from the pockets of taxpayers and passengers.

"They should have the right to expect that money to be invested in improving services.

"Stagecoach had better not plead poverty when our members demand a decent pay rise.

"The transport privateers have taken us for a ride for too long and it's time to bring them back into public ownership."

Stagecoach has promised to pump £50million into its staff pension fund - provided the special dividend goes ahead.

See also:

Stagecoach to return £700 million

Times Online: March 14, 2007

Transport group will nearly double cash back to investors, of which a quarter goes to Brian Souter and his sister
Steve Hawkes

Stagecoach faces a backlash from commuter groups and union leaders after announcing plans today to return £700 million to shareholders.

The cash return is almost double the £400 million forecast by the transport operator before Christmas.

About a quarter will go straight into the pockets of Brian Souter, the chief executive, and his sister, Ann Gloag, who co-founded the firm in 1980.

Rail campaign group Passenger Focus in December warned that the £400 million payout would stick in the throats of commuters facing packed trains on Stagecoach’s South West Trains franchise.

Stagecoach today said it was able to up the proposed payout after strong trading which will see results for the year to 30 April come in “at the upper end of expectations”.

A trading statement revealed the group has seen revenues soar across most of its business, which also owns half of Virgin Rail, and runs buses across the UK and the US.

Stagecoach said Virgin Rail had benefited from the recent re-negotiation of the West Coast franchise and a jump in passenger numbers.

There had also been a “sustained reduction” in fuel costs across the group.

“The overall trading of the group remains strong and earnings per share for the year ending 30 April 2007 are now anticipated to be at the upper end of our expectations,” Stagecoach said.

Shares rose 2 per cent, or 3.25p to 164p, and analysts said the trading update could boost the whole bus and rail sector.

The proposed return, equivalent to 40 per cent of Stagecoach’s market capitalisation, will be made before 30 June.

Investors will most likely receive 63p per share.

A Stagecoach spokesman defended the payout ans said the company was generally far more competitive on fares than its rivals.

He added: "At the end of the day, we are in business and we have to make a profit and appropriate returns to shareholders as well, but we try and get the balance right."

Posted on 9:45 AM | Permalink

The Guardian: March 15, 2007
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent

· £1bn earmarked to buy 1,000 more carriages
· Industry insiders say urgent action needed

Rail passengers face annual inflation-busting fare rises into the next decade after the government announced a £1bn investment in carriages to ease overcrowding. A passenger watchdog said yesterday it expected season ticket prices to rise by at least 1% above inflation for the foreseeable future to fund the expansion of the overloaded rail network.

Douglas Alexander, the transport secretary, said the government would buy 1,000 extra train carriages between 2009 and 2014 to ease sardine-like conditions on the worst affected routes.

Farepayers contributed £4.8bn to the upkeep of the rail network last year amid mounting passenger anger over ticket costs and lack of seating. Yesterday they were warned that the solution to overcrowding would come at a price.

The rail watchdog Passenger Focus said that commuters' pockets would have to deepen to recoup expenditure on new carriages, longer platforms and other infrastructure improvements to accommodate rising passenger numbers.

Asked if the price regime of RPI plus 1% would stay in place, Anthony Smith, chief executive of Passenger Focus, said: "That will be the minimum...Over time the RPI plus 1% pricing does build up into quite significant increases. We are still worried that the price increases we are seeing are excluding people from the railway."

Mr Alexander said that investment in lengthening station platforms and other infrastructure schemes would be announced in the summer when the Department for Transport published a five-year plan for the rail network alongside details of the routes getting new carriages, with London and the south-east the most obvious candidates.

Speaking at a rail conference in London, he said: "Money will still have to be accounted for and our budget will remain tight. Our immediate challenge is to tackle capacity to meet future demand. These new carriages are an important first step."

The carriages will be funded out of the DfT rail budget, but the government will expect to recoup the cost from train operators as rising passenger numbers and fares boost their revenues. Network Rail, the company that owns and maintains the rail system, will also pass infrastructure costs on to operators - and ultimately fare- payers - via track access charges.

Rail industry insiders attacked the delay in introducing new carriages, not to be available until near the end of the decade at the earliest. Train leasing firms, which acquire carriages from manufacturers and lease them to train operators, believe at least 500 carriages are needed to address overcrowding problems immediately.

With train usage expected to grow by 30% up to 2020, yesterday's announcement might not be enough to accommodate passenger growth by 2014, industry sources said.

Julia Thomas, of the campaign group Transport 2000, warned that with passenger growth running at nearly 10% a year, the investment would not cut overcrowding on a rail network that accounted for 1.1bn passenger journeys last year.

Chris Grayling, the shadow transport secretary, said the announcement ignored the scale of the overcrowding, which had led to a passenger fare strike on First Great Western this year. "The key problem is that the government is saying there is an overcrowding crisis and there will be lots of new carriages, but not until 2014. It looks like a 'jam tomorrow' announcement."

Iain Coucher, deputy chief executive of Network Rail, suggested the government would back the £1bn carriage investment by spending many billions of pounds more on infrastructure. He said the government was prepared to release funds for a £3.5bn overhaul of the former Thameslink route, which runs from Brighton to Bedford via central London and is one of the most overcrowded routes on the network.

The Department for Transport is to outline its requirements for the rail network and the amount of money it is willing to commit in a statement this summer.

Posted on 9:40 AM | Permalink

RMT Circular No. IR. 064/07: March 15 2007

Dear Colleagues,
I can confirm that there have been two meetings this year at senior management level with EWS.

The meetings were primarily set up to discuss Groundstaff pay and conditions in response to the proposal document that management had tabled earlier this year. However, the opportunity was also taken to discuss fundamental issues concerning representation with the company.

I had written to EWS in advance of the first meeting on 15th February, giving them notice that as well as the long outstanding issue of a new procedural agreement for Groundstaff, it was also our intention to raise the issues of recognition for engineering staff and supervisory grades, plus seeking an increase in rates of pay and conditions of service for these staff.

I can say at the outset that the meeting was amicable. Management accepted that 'a lot of water had gone under the bridge' since procedural arrangements were last discussed and indicated that they would reconsider this issue again in the light of further representations. Obviously the major issue being the avoidance of disputes procedure, which would be resolved by replacing the no-strike/binding arbitration clause with the same arrangements that have been agreed with other Unions.

We also discussed the question of the reintroduction of recognition for engineering staff on account of the 300 members we have in these grades and of the serious concerns that have been made known to us with the manner in which the CSEU/AMICUS have been conducting pay negotiations.

In relation to supervisory staff, management stated that they needed confirmation that we were prepared to sit down with the other trade unions and deal with the whole group of staff, including management grades. It was confirmed that we have no issue at all with this. Indeed in most companies we are happy to deal with all the grades concerned and sit down with all the other trade unions involved. We are after all an all-grades Union.

Obviously before we could explore our claim for an increase in rates of pay and conditions of service, a recognition and procedure agreement needs to be agreed and in place and this we intend to prioritise.

One major area of concern has been made known to us during these discussions. It has emerged that AMICUS / CS&EU had approached the company in relation to recognition for Ground staff claiming a significant number had joined their union from within these grades. As an aside, I recently received a letter from this very organisation who appeared to be absolutely rabid to learn we were seeking to take management up on an offer made two years ago for pro-rata representation for Engineering Staff. Neither of these positions can go unchallenged.

As I said, RMT is more than happy to sit down with other trade Unions and negotiate jointly with employers to improve pay and conditions and to defend jobs. We do this in virtually every company we deal with and such cooperation is known to yield good results. But at the same time in every case where clearly defined recognition rights are established, they are respected by all parties in all instances.

In this instance, RMT has always had sole recognition rights for Groundstaff and joint recognition for Engineering Staff with the CSEU. I have referred the matter to the TUC.

The meeting with EWS ended with an undertaking by us to produce details of our Engineering membership within the company and it was agreed to reconvene on Friday 2nd March 2007.

This meeting duly took place where further approaches were made with regard to extending recognition rights of Groundstaff to AMICUS/CSEU. We have agreed to a further joint meeting with EWS and AMICUS, but I believe I have already made RMT's position clear.

At this point in time, all of the discussions referred to have been amicable. I will report further as soon as I am able.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Crow
GENERAL SECRETARY

Posted on 7:37 AM | Permalink

Guardian Unlimited: March 14, 2007
James Sturcke and agencies

Rail campaigners today warned that the extra 1,000 train carriages announced by the government would barely keep pace with the growth in passenger numbers.

The transport secretary, Douglas Alexander, said the extra carriages would be brought into operation between 2009 and 2014 to ease the overcrowding on peak-time services.

The government will pay for the newly-built carriages - equivalent to roughly one-tenth of the current stock - and lease them to train companies at a cost of £130m a year.

Mr Alexander said the new carriages were "an important first step" in tackling overcrowding on a network on which more than 1bn passenger journeys are made every year.

At a rail conference today, he said the government would "specify that 1,000 new carriages should be targeted at the most congested routes to effectively tackle passenger demand".

"In this way, if the price is right, I anticipate that we will significantly increase the number of carriages on the network by 2014," he added.

"Of course, these carriages are not the only answer. We will need investment in infrastructure as well. Money will still have to be accounted for, and our budget will remain tight.

"Our immediate challenge is to tackle capacity to meet future demand. These new carriages are an important first step."

Julia Thomas, of the campaign group Transport 2000, welcomed the extra capacity but warned that it was unlikely to provide much relief to overcrowding.

"Since 1995, there has been a 66% increase in passenger kilometres on the railways," she said.

"Currently, there is an increase in passengers of about 10% year on year. Our concern is that, with such rapid growth in passenger numbers, I do not think it is going to make such a big difference as the government says."

Ms Thomas said overcrowding problems existed not only in London and the south-east but all over the country, including other urban areas such as the West Midlands and even in rural Wales.

She criticised "the ridiculous situation" in which train operators hired rolling stock from companies that "can basically charge what they like", and called for longer franchise contracts to give train operators more reason to contribute to infrastructure improvements.

The Passenger Focus chief executive, Anthony Smith, said: "It's good news. Hopefully it's going to lead to a bit less overcrowding, so let's write some cheques and get on with it."

George Muir, the director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies, predicted that the extra capacity would soon be used up.

"It's going to be a little bit neck and neck to keep the capacity and the growth alongside each other. But this 1,000 [carriages] is a good step," he told the BBC's Today programme.

He said current platforms would "not quite" be able to cope with bigger trains.

"Infrastructure is required to do it, particularly on the approaches to Waterloo and into Paddington and the Thameslink programme which goes north-south across London," he said.

The shadow transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said longer trains had been promised in the governent's 10-year plan five years ago.

"This is just another jam tomorrow announcement from the government," he added.

Today's announcement effectively pre-empts part of what the government will say when it publishes what is known as the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) which will outline government plans for the railway for the next few years.

Mr Alexander said the HLOS would be a plan "that takes us beyond the next five years to the decades ahead".

He added that the plan would "give us the flexibility to meet future demands and to increase capacity where demand is greatest".

There could be "a possible role" for high-speed rail, and the government would also have to consider the role of major improvements and additional lines such as Thameslink and the cross-London Crossrail scheme, he said.

See also:

Rail carriages promise "a farce"

The Bolton News: 14 March 2007
By Andy McFarlane

CAMPAIGNERS have dismissed as "a farce" the government's pledge to put 1,000 extra carriages on Britain's railways by 2014.

Train operators welcomed the announcement which they said would benefit regional services such as the crammed Bolton to Manchester services.

Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander said the annual £130 million investment, to begin in 2009, was an "important first step" in tackling overcrowding.
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But Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Campaign chairman Tony Fawthrop branded his speech "typical government hype".

"It's a farce," he said.

"There are already vast numbers of perfectly good carriages made surplus when Virgin introduced Pendolinos and Voyagers.

"Most of them are either being scrapped, rotting in sidings or have been bought by priavte companies for charter.

"There's also a large number of diesel units available because of the new fleet introduced for the TransPennine franchise."

Announcing the investment at a London rail conference, Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander said the government would "specify that 1,000 new carriages should be targeted at the most congested routes to effectively tackle passenger demand.

"My department is actively considering exactly where these carriages need to be added and has very recently begun to discuss with train manufacturers how they can cost-effectively be delivered."

George Muir, of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "We've got to see the details, but a thousand carriages, when we get them on the track carrying passengers, that'll make a lot of difference."

The extra carriages could increase capacity by 20 per cent and benefit regional services around cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, he said.

Carolyn Watson, of Northern Trains which operates many services through Bolton, said: "Today's announcement is great news for passengers and we eagerly await further information from the government about how these carriages will be deployed."

The company has been in negotiations with regional transport officials over the possibility of leasing extra carriages to increase capacity, as it has done in West Yorkshire.

Overcrowding is among the issues for discussion at a meeting of the Bolton Local Transport Public Forum at the Quaker Meeting House, Silverwell Street, at 2pm tomorrow. People who want to raise issues about any aspect of public transport can attend an operators surgery at 1.15pm.

See also:

1,000 extra rail carriages planned

Press Association: March 14, 2007

Rail commuters have been promised an extra 1,000 train carriages for the most-congested spots on the network.

The commitment was made by Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander in a speech at a rail conference in London.

It is planned that the extra carriages will be introduced between 2009 and 2014 at a cost of about £130 million a year, to be funded out of the Department for Transport rail budget.

Mr Alexander said the new carriages were "an important first step" in tackling overcrowding on a network on which more than one billion passengers' journeys are being made a year.

Passenger Focus chief executive Anthony Smith and Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) director general George Muir both welcomed the announcement.

At the rail conference Mr Alexander said that this summer the Government would "specify that 1,000 new carriages should be targeted at the most congested routes to effectively tackle passenger demand".

Shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling said: "We support the idea of longer trains. But the problem is nothing is going to happen for seven more years, at a time when overcrowding is already endemic, and we've been promised this all before in the (transport) 10-year plan five years ago. This is just another 'jam tomorrow' announcement from the Government."

Speaking at the rail conference, Office of Rail Regulation chairman Chris Bolt said: "Comparing the rail industry with what it was three years ago, performance and reliability are better, overall passenger satisfaction is high and demand for the transport of goods and passengers is growing fast. Despite the (Cumbria) derailment at Grayrigg, safety has improved on a number of key measures."

The announcement effectively pre-empts part of what the Government will be saying when it publishes what is known as the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) which will outline Government plans for the railway for the next few years.

Mr Alexander said that the HLOS would be a plan "that takes us beyond the next five years to the decades ahead".

He added that the plan would "give us the flexibility to meet future demands and to increase capacity where demand is greatest".

Posted on 11:00 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 14 2007

THE NEW rolling stock announced today by the Transport Secretary should not become a cash cow to be milked by profiteering rolling-stock companies, Britain’s biggest rail union said today.

While welcoming the news that up to 1,000 new train carriages will be introduced on busy commuter lines, RMT warned that the government should keep them out of the hands of the rolling-stock companies.
 
"This is a positive first step, especially as a massive increase in rail capacity is urgently needed to help Britain meet its climate challenge," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.
 
"It would be even better news if the government were to signal that it will move away from the wholly unnecessary reliance on the Roscos that have robbed our railways blind and raked in profits at obscene rates of 30 per cent and more.
 
"That means keeping new stock out of their hands and, better still, starting the process to bring all Britain's rail rolling stock back into public ownership, where it belongs.
 
"However, as none of these new carriages will be available until 2009 at the earliest, it is imperative to ensure that no existing rolling stock remains mothballed."
 
"It is scandalous that rolling stock is still being kept in sidings for no good reason, and the government must take the necessary steps to bring those units back into operation.
 
"It would be good news too for British manufacturing if the government also took the positive decision to build these carriages in Britain, using the wealth of engineering skill that still exists, despite the recent spate of works closures," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 10:55 PM | Permalink

The Guardian: March 14, 2007
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent

· Travel close to peak times may be more expensive
· Passenger groups fear end of low-cost day trip

The last bastion of cheap rail travel, the saver fare, is under threat as the government considers changes that will make some off-peak trains more expensive.

The suggested changes would mean that travelling just after the peak morning period and in the late afternoon becomes costlier, under proposals being discussed by the Department for Transport, train operators and the rail watchdog Passenger Focus.

The talks are taking place against a backdrop of mounting passenger anger over year-on-year price rises and overcrowding on trains, with passenger groups warning that the government is in danger of driving people off the railways.

A saver return from London to Manchester on Virgin Trains costs £59.50 and is controlled by a price cap, with the unregulated standard open return costing £219. Under the proposals, the cheaper saver ticket will become more expensive for travel closer to peak hours.

Long-distance operators such as GNER, Virgin and FirstGroup want to introduce a new price tier because services near peak hours - around 9.30am, 3.30pm and 7pm - are becoming overcrowded with saver ticket buyers. In return, train operators are willing to make the changes "revenue neutral" by cutting the price of some peak tickets and guaranteeing that some saver fares - typically a third of the cost of a full fare - will not be increased.

Colin Foxall, chairman of Passenger Focus, warned that it would be a "great shame" if railway staples such as the cheap day trip were endangered. "The government wants to see people using trains and it needs a system that preserves an affordable walk-up fare," he said.

Richard McClean, operations director of GNER, said allowing train companies greater flexibility with ticket prices would "smooth out" overcrowding problems. "It's not about putting fares up in the shoulder of peak hours, it's about balancing demand and supply in a way that provides a better service."

Price caps on tickets are under pressure amid record demand for rail travel and government belief that the fare payer should make a greater contribution to the multibillion-pound cost of maintaining the rail network. Saver fares accounted for 7% of the 1.1bn rail journeys last year.

A spokesman for the DfT said: "We have always said that we are in the business of encouraging more people to use the railways. DfT, Passenger Focus and Atoc [the Association of Train Operating Companies] are working together as part of the review of regulation of saver fares but no decisions have yet been taken."

Atoc, which is leading negotiations on behalf of train operators, said it wanted a "formula for a much more simplified fare structure", which would include the deregulation of saver fares.

Any move to lift price caps is likely to incur the wrath of passengers - only four out of 10 rail users believe they get value for money for their ticket.

The DfT will publish its five-year plan for the railways in the summer, outlining its vision for the network for 2009 to 2014. Network Rail, the company that owns and maintains the rail system, is asking for up to £29bn in funding over the period.

Posted on 10:28 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 13 March 2007

An extra 1,000 train carriages are expected to be provided for Britain's railways in a bid to tackle overcrowding, the BBC has learnt.

Rail passengers often have to stand on their daily commute

Ministers will announce that carriages will be used to lengthen trains on the most congested parts of the network.

Much of the extra rolling stock is likely to be used on the jammed network serving London and south-east England, where passenger increases are highest.

It is understood the government wants them introduced by 2014.

BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds says the carriages - equivalent to about one-tenth of the current total fleet - will be newly-built.

The government will pay for them, to be leased to the train companies at a cost of about £130 million a year, he says.

Number-one problem

As well as relieving the problems in south-east England, crowded cities in the rest of England and Wales are also expected to benefit.

Last year, there was a 10% rise in the numbers of people taking the train.

Overcrowding has rapidly become the number-one problem facing the railways.

Train companies have been making dire warnings about the future, and passengers are being told they will have to stand more often.

The government is expected to promise the new carriages on Wednesday, and later this year it will publish a wider strategy to improve the capacity of the rail network.

See also:

Extra 1,000 carriages to ease rail congestion

Daily Telegraph: 14/03/2007
By John Crowley

An extra 1,000 train carriages - equivalent to about one-tenth of the current total - will be provided for Britain’s railways in a bid to tackle overcrowding, it will be announced today.

Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport, is due to announce that the newly-built carriages will be used to lengthen trains on the most congested parts of the network.

The majority are likely to be provided to the network serving London and south-east England, where passenger increases are highest.

It is understood that Mr Alexander, MP for Paisley & Renfrewshire South, will say the Government wants them introduced by 2014.

The Government will pay for the carriages and then will lease them to the train companies at a cost of about £130 million a year.

Last year, there was a 10 per cent rise in the number of people travelling by train.

Train companies have been making dire warnings about the future, and passengers are being told they will have to stand more often.

George Muir, director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said that without the extra carriages, passenger conditions would become "even more intolerable".

He said more still would be needed by 2014 and conceded that further work was needed on some platforms before the longer trains could be used.

"The railways are proving enormously successful - there's an enormous growth in passenger numbers - and if we don't put more carriages on, conditions are going to get even more intolerable than they are now," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We've got to see the details, but 1,000 carriages, when we get them on the track carrying passengers, that'll make a lot of difference.

"It's about 10 per cent and if we put it on the routes where it's really needed...it could add up to 20 per cent extra capacity."

Asked if present platforms could cope, he said: "Not quite. Infrastructure is required to do it, particularly on the approaches to Waterloo and into Paddington and the Thameslink programme which goes north/south across London."

He predicted that the extra capacity would soon be used up. "It's going to be a little bit neck and neck to keep the capacity and the growth alongside each other.

"But this 1,000 is a good step. By 2014 I think it won't be enough and we will be ordering more."

See also:

1,000 NEW CARRIAGES TO EASE RAIL CRUSHES

Daily Mirror: 14/03/2007
By Adrian Shaw

BRITAIN'S rail network is to get an extra 1,000 carriages to tackle overcrowding, it will be announced today.

The rolling stock will be introduced by 2014 and expand the entire fleet by 10 per cent.

Most of the extra carriages will be used in London and the South East, where overcrowding is at its worst.

They will be paid for by the Government, which will lease the coaches to train firms for about £130 million a year, ministers are set to announce.

The move comes as the number of people travelling by train rose by 10 per cent nationwide last year. At the same time, complaints about overcrowding during rush hour rocketed.

Rail companies have warned that if passenger numbers increase further, more people will have to stand up during their journeys.

And last month, Dr Mike Mitchell, the Department of Transport's head of railways, caused outrage when he said it was "unreasonable" for people making half-hour journeys in rush hour to expect to get a seat.

His comments were echoed by Rail Minister Tom Harris, who said: "You can't pour a pint of water into a half pint glass."

In January, a House of Commons debate on overcrowding, delays and train cancellations forced First Great Western to make a public apology for the state of its services.

Just days later, Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander met FGW boss Muir Lockhead to voice his concerns.

Meanwhile, furious commuters in Berkshire have organised petitions complaining of increased overcrowding.

See also:

AFX: 03/14/07

UK govt to buy new trains to ease overcrowding, Saver fares could rise

LONDON - The British government will today announce plans to buy about 1,000 train carriages to tackle overcrowding on the UK rail network, according to a report.

Ministers are expected to say the coaches will be used to lengthen trains on the most congested parts of the railway, such as commuter routes in London and the south east, the BBC reported.

The government will pay for the carriages and leasing firms such as Royal Bank of Scotland's Angel Trains, Abbey's Porterbrook and HSBC Rail will lease them to train operators at a cost of about 130 mln stg a year, the BBC said.

Train manufacturers Bombardier Inc, Siemens AG, Alstom and Hitachi are all likely to be interested in building the stock.

Ministers are likely to use the move to defuse criticism from passenger groups that train operators are hiking fares to reduce overcrowding.

Passenger watchdogs today repeated warnings that people are being priced off the railways in response to news that the government is considering allowing train firms to raise the price of discounted Saver fares just after the morning peak and in the late afternoon, according to a report in today's Guardian.

Watchdogs say Savers are crucial because they are cheaper than full fares and can be bought for use on the same day on most off-peak trains, unlike advance-booked fares, which force people to take specified services.

Posted on 11:02 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 12 2007

RMT OFFICIALS and signallers’ reps will meet in Glasgow on Wednesday to discuss the progress made at today’s talks with Network Rail, the union said today.

No decision on the two 48-hour strikes scheduled to start this Friday (March 16) and the following Monday (March 19) will be made until the executive meets after that meeting.

"The union's executive will be meeting with full-time officials and signallers' reps on Wednesday to discuss the progress made in today's talks," general secretary Bob Crow said today.

However, no decision will be made by the executive until after that meeting has taken place, and as matters stand the strike action remains on, " Bob Crow said.

Posted on 5:12 PM | Permalink

Transport Briefing: 13/03/07

Grand Central, the open access train operator due to begin running services in May, has been sold by majority shareholder Fraser Eagle to a consortium of private investors for an undisclosed sum.

The deal sees four new directors join Grand Central's board alongside existing managing director and shareholder Ian Yeowart and operations director Sean English. Giles Fearnley takes up the role of chairman, Bob Howells becomes vice-chairman and the two are joined by Philip Moody and Phil Gartside. All four are investors in the restructured company.

Both Fearnley and Howells were founder directors of Prism Rail, the company which operated the WAGN, C2C, Wales & West and Cardiff Valleys train franchises before selling them to National Express in September 2000 for £165.8m. Moody is a corporate financier who worked with Prism during its stock market flotation. The presence of all three on the new Grand Central board will fuel speculation that the company is being primed for a sale to one of Britain's transport plcs within the next few years.

Ian Yeowart, managing director of Grand Central, said: "We are delighted to have secured our continued independence and the management expertise and financial resources that Giles, Bob and their team bring to us. This agreement ensures Grand Central now has the necessary resources to deliver its long-term vision.

"The new team has a formidable track record in successfully developing rail businesses and we very much look forward to working with them. I would also like to thank Fraser Eagle for the invaluable support it has given to Grand Central over the past two years."

Giles Fearnley, chairman of Grand Central, added: "Ian has shown remarkable tenacity in developing the Grand Central project and in overcoming the many obstacles and challenges he has faced in securing a track access contract. We see great potential for developing Grand Central into a major UK train operating company."

In June 2006 Fraser Eagle announced that it had received a number of approaches from parties interested in acquiring Grand Central and was evaluating a potential sale. A spokesman for the company said it would use the money to invest in a recently formed Bus Partnerships division, set up to offer managed bus services for school and community transport using a similar business model to the company's rail replacement bus services.

Grand Central will begin operating three daily services in each direction between Sunderland and London later this year and is seeking to run a fourth service - having already made a timetable request to Network Rail. The company also has long-standing plans to operate direct trains between London and Bradford via Halifax. Detailed negotiations are currently taking place with Network Rail on timetabling issues.

Key personnel required for the launch of services on 20 May have been recruited, with 11 drivers currently undergoing an intensive training programme led by driver standards manager Robin Hicks. The remaining on-train staff are due to join the company later this month.

Posted on 5:10 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 13 2007

THE GAPING legal loophole that allows UK shipowners to discriminate against foreign national seafarers must be plugged, maritime union RMT says today.

As Shipping Minister Stephen Ladyman announced a consultation on the future of the notorious Section 9 of the 1976 Race Relations Act, which allows shipowners to pay foreign nationals lower rates of pay, RMT called for the exemption to be scrapped.

Mr Ladyman is this afternoon scheduled to address RMT's parliamentary seminar on the shipping industry, alongside RMT general secretary Bob Crow, Chamber of Shipping Director General Mark Brownrigg, TUC deputy general secretary Frances O'Grady and RMT group parliamentary convenor John McDonnell (see note below).

"In the 21st century it is grotesque that legislation aimed at ending discrimination should still contain clauses that allow it," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The government has already amended Section 9 once, in 2003, when it banned discrimination on grounds of race, colour or ethnic origin, but continued to allow it on grounds of nationality.

"That change made no difference to the discrimination that has ensured the continued super-exploitation of overseas ratings and hastened the decline in the number of UK ratings employed in the maritime industry.

"The government has now set out three alternatives: doing nothing, banning discrimination against EU nationals only, or banning it altogether.

"RMT believes that only the full repeal of Section 9 will help to end once and for all a practice that brings shame on Britain's maritime industry," Bob Crow said

ends

Note to editors: RMT's parliamentary briefing on the maritime industry begins today in Committee Room 12 at the House of Commons at 14:00. Other speakers include Nautilus UK Deputy General Secretary, Peter McEwen, Dover MP Gwyn Prosser and RMT national secretary Steve Todd.

See also:

Department for Transport: 13 March 2007

Seafarers - changes to Race Relations Act

Shipping Minister Stephen Ladyman today launched a consultation on proposed changes to the Race Relations Act aimed at ensuring that it complies with EU law relating to the freedom of movement of workers.

Section 9 of the Act contains an exception for seafarers who are recruited abroad. This means that they can be discriminated against on the grounds of nationality in relation to pay. This exception needs to be changed.

Dr Ladyman said:

"Changing the Act is a positive step for European seafarers and those from other states with agreements with the EU.

The purpose of the consultation is to assess the impact that changing the Act would have on seafarers and on the industry. Wage patterns may change and there is a risk that shipowners will flag out of the UK. We must ensure that the potential negative impacts of the changes are minimised."

The consultation will close on 14 September 2007.

Note for Editors

The text of the consultation can be seen at http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/"

Posted on 4:25 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 13 2007

PRIVATEER CONSORTIUM Metronet must not be allowed to scale down renewals work on the Tube network to claw back up to £750 million in cost over-runs, London Underground’s biggest union says today.

As the PPP arbiter today indicated that a projected £750 million in cost over-runs would have to be met by Metronet, RMT warned that the consortium would seek to cut costs by slashing refurbishment projects and outsourcing work on the cheap.

"It is quite right that taxpayers and farepayers should not have to foot the bill for Metronet's failings, but there is no way Metronet should be allowed to skimp on the work it is supposed to deliver either," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Metronet has already indicated that if it cannot squeeze more cash out of the public it will cut back on station renewals and is looking to fragment the network even further by outsourcing contracts - and that can only undermine safety even more.

"Our members at Metronet will tomorrow start voting in a ballot for strike action to prevent engineering staff being forcibly transferred to Metronet shareholder companies, which include Bombardier, Balfour Beatty, WS Atkins and EDF.

"We have said time and again that failure and fragmentation are built into the very fabric of the PPP contracts, and the solution is to bring the work back in-house and under the direct control of London Underground," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 4:15 PM | Permalink

Railway Market Magazine: 12 March 2007

A memorandum on the construction of Rail Baltica has been signed by the Polish minister of transport, Mr Jerzy Polaczek and his Lithuanian partner Mr Algirdas Butkeviczius.

The document on March 9th marks the point at which the railway route will cross the Polish-Lithuanian border.

According to the ministers memorandum is of historic significance as it enables the start of the first phase of the work. Rail Baltica will link Warsaw with Helsinki via Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Rail Baltica will cross the Polish border in the same place where the current rail border crossing is located, that's Mockawa-Trakiszki.

Minister Butkevicius said that signing this declaration makes it possible to take advantage of the TEN-T funds. The Programme provides EUR 2.7m for Lithuania to prepare the technical aspects for Rail Baltica by 2009.

Lithuania has to adjust the track gauge to the European standard of 1435mm. Poland has to set out the route of Rail Balitica on its territory and upgrade the lines.

Rail Baltica is one of Poland priorities for 2007-2013. Poland plans to spend EUR 100m on track upgrades this year - said Polaczek.

Lithuania plans to launch with the construction of a 160 km/h line in 2009. The first trains are scheduled to run on Rail Baltica by 2015.

Posted on 11:58 PM | Permalink

Railway mrket magazine: 12 March 2007

Hungary's debt-ridden railway company MÁV may post a minor profit this year, due to privatisation of its cargo unit, a HUF 111.6 billion capital injection and some HUF 100 billion cost refunded by the state.

Operational woes, however, will not be covered up anymore from next year on. MÁV's passenger business (MÁV Start that is to be established in July this year), expects losses to amounting to HUF 50 billion this year, implying that the company will consume much of its capital in the first year of its operation, broadsheet Népszabadság said on Monday. By 2009, the company's losses can be up at HUF 55 billion against HUF 15 billion capital.

MÁV Start will either have to receive HUF 50 billion more funding from the state or it should considerably reshuffle its timetables (cost cutting).

The first scenario would bump into the undertakings in the Convergence Programme, which the government is highly unlikely to rewrite, and the second version would go against the company's pledge to modernise operations (e.g. more routes, more trains). It is still more likely, however, that MÁV would choose the latter path, as it has already expanded its timetable by 13-14% this year.

Posted on 11:18 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 12 2007

BRITAIN’S BIGGEST rail union today welcomed a call by MPs for a joint public inquiry into the Potters Bar and Grayrigg train crashes.

On the eve of International Railway Workers' Action Day on safety, RMT urged MPs to add their names to Early Day Motion 1087, tabled by Glasgow MP Ian Davidson, which calls for an inquiry to include consideration of the effects of the continued fragmentation on rail engineering work.

The motion, signed so far by four other MPs, points to the similarities between the two crashes and the concern that normal industry inquiries are "insufficient to prevent a recurrence of this type of accident".

"The call is growing for a full public inquiry into Potters Bar and Grayrigg and whether ending fragmentation of rail engineering and creating a single command structure is the best course of action to protect rail passengers and workers," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The Assistant Deputy Coroner has already adjourned the inquest into the 2002 Potters Bar crash in the light of the apparent similarities with last month's Grayrigg crash, and has asked the Transport Secretary to consider holding a joint inquiry into both incidents.

"Mr Justice Sullivan quite rightly pointed out that the key questions arising from Potters Bar 'could not sensibly be undertaken without reference to what appears to have taken place at Grayrigg', and a joint inquiry is the logical conclusion.

"Such an inquiry must necessarily also examine the adequacy of safety management systems in place, and whether the continued fragmentation of rail engineering poses increased safety risks.

"It must also ask the key questions of whether putting all railway activity under the control of a single organisation would improve safety, and what contribution the constant pressure on Network Rail to reduce its costs might have had made to the tragic events," Bob Crow said.

ends

Early Day Motion 1087, tabled by Ian Davidson MP and signed to date by four others

GRAYRIGG DERAILMENT AND RAILWAY SAFETY

"That this House sends its sympathies to those directly involved in the Grayrigg derailment and their friends and families; places on record appreciation of the professionalism and courage of rail and emergency response staff; supports the view that the similarity to the Potters Bar crash of May 2002 raises concerns that the normal industry inquiries are insufficient to prevent a recurrence of this type of accident; therefore further supports the growing call for a public enquiry into the facts of both accidents; and believes that a public inquiry should consider the impact of the continued fragmentation of engineering work and whether bringing all railway activity under the control of one organisation will ensure that the safety of the public and the railway workforce is best protected."

International Railway Workers' Action Day

SAFETY FIRST is the theme of the 8th Railway Workers' International Action Day, organised by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), to be held tomorrow

Railway workers' unions all over the world will take a variety of actions to appeal for the importance of railway safety.

For further details, please visit: http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/SafetyFirst2007.cfm

Posted on 3:54 PM | Permalink

Monsters & Critics: Mar 12, 2007

Taipei - Taiwan's high-speed rail has been losing money since it was launched in January due to technical problems, an official said on Monday.

Transport Minister Tsai Tui told parliament that in January and February the high-speed rail was earning 600 million Taiwan dollars (18 million US dollars) per month, 40 per cent less than the rail's one billion Taiwan dollars (30 million US dollars) monthly cost.

'There were several reasons for incurring the losses, including the line was only partially opened, there were only 19 round-trip services daily due to lack of train drivers, discount tickets to lure passengers and compensation for train delays,' he told parliament.

He expects the revenues to start picking up in April when the high-speed rail begins to increase train runs as newly-trained Taiwan drivers will join the fleet of foreign drivers.

Since its launch on January 5, the 345-kilometre high-speed rail built with Japanese technology has experienced technical trouble on a daily basis, causing delays and complaints from passengers.

Posted on 12:20 PM | Permalink

CFR: March 12, 2007
Author: Eben Kaplan, Assistant Editor

The US Council on Foreign Relations considers the issues of Improving Passenger Rail Security, Securing Rail Freight and use of Inherently Safer Technologies.

Introduction

High profile terrorist attacks on rail systems in Madrid, London, and Mumbai provide troubling illustration to persistent warnings that the U.S. public transportation system is a vulnerable target for terrorists. But passenger rail is not the only, and perhaps not even the gravest concern. Much of the 160,000 miles of railroad track in the United States transports freight, including highly toxic chemicals. These shipments often have minimal security, even though they pass through populated areas, endangering thousands of lives.

Passenger Rail

Each year Americans make more than 3.5 billion trips on intercity trains, commuter rails, and subways. On a given day in New York City, more people pass through Penn Station than all three major airports servicing the region combined. The abundance of passengers, combined with the need for easy access, makes securing passenger railways a daunting task. Absolute security can never be achieved, and experts caution against extreme security measures, which they say would disrupt how transportation systems function while offering no guarantee against attack.

In an attempt to balance security and accessibility, rail companies have taken measured precautions to help prevent attacks. These include random searches of passengers and baggage, increased presence of security officers and bomb-sniffing dogs, increased video surveillance, removal or hardening of trash cans so they cannot hide bombs, and encouraging passengers to report suspicious activity. But though these measures preserve passengers’ easy access to trains, they would be unlikely to foil a determined terrorist cell.

In light of this inherent vulnerability, many rail companies have sought to bolster their ability to react to emergencies in order to minimize the impact of an attack. This includes emergency planning, hiring and training emergency personnel, and purchasing emergency equipment such as radios. By mitigating the potential impact of a terrorist attack, experts say, rail companies could discourage some terrorists from targeting them.

Improving Passenger Rail Security

Though security professionals see trains as some of the likeliest terrorist targets, P.J. Crowley, a homeland security expert at the Center for American Progress, explains: “On passenger rail, there’s a limit to what can be done.” Some experts believe existing precautions on most railroads already approach that limit, but Crowley suggests increasing police presence in stations and on trains could further diminish the risk of attack. The problem, he says, is that local governments usually don’t have the money to sustain such a force.

In lieu of additional manpower, security experts suggest an element of randomness could help thwart terrorist plots by presenting a dynamic target. Frequent, unpredictable police presence and random searches—like those implemented on the New York City subway following the 2005 London bombings—have the potential to deter or disrupt an attack. Random searches avoid the civil liberties issues raised by profiling based on race, gender, or age. They also ensure that every passenger has a chance of being searched, dissuading notions that, for instance, female suicide bombers are less prone to security screening.

Some in Congress have become frustrated by the financial roadblocks in the way of increased security measures. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) has decried a system that sees nine dollars spent on aviation security for every penny spent on shoring up railways, but many people disagree. “A commercial airliner has the capacity to kill 3,000 people,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff once told reporters, “A bomb in a subway car may kill thirty people. When you start to think about your priorities, you’re going to think about making sure you don't have a catastrophic thing first.”

Some security analysts argue the best way to ensure the safety of American railways, as well as the myriad other easy targets in the country, is to focus efforts on counterterrorism investigations and intelligence operations. “The best way to prevent a terrorist attack is to stop terrorists before they can strike,” writes James Jay Carafano in a recent Heritage Foundation memo. Indeed, perhaps the most serious plot against an American passenger train—a plot to bomb the Herald Square subway station—was foiled by a yearlong undercover operation by the New York Police Department.

Freight Rail

Many of the tracks that carry passenger trains run parallel to those carrying freight shipments throughout the United States, meaning rail cargoes often travel along the same heavily populated corridors. Much of the freight presents little danger to people living near the tracks, but some does—particularly certain industrial chemicals. The deadliest of these chemicals are almost identical to those used as weapons on the battlefields of World War I, and in 2005 former White House Deputy Homeland Security Adviser Richard Falkenrath told the Senate these chemicals pose “the single greatest danger of a potential terrorist attack in our country today.”

Hazardous chemicals travel on railcars in ninety-ton pressurized tanks. What little security exists along their route tends to be lax, and at times tanks sit unmonitored in rail yards for days at a time. Should one of these tanks rupture—either from a terrorist attack or an accident—the results could be catastrophic. Fred Millar, a rail security lobbyist and former member of the Washington, D.C. local Emergency Planning Committee, likens the shipment of chemicals through America’s biggest cities to “pre-positioning weapons of mass destruction.”

Dr. Jay Boris of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., told the City Council that the worst-case scenario for that city could result in up to a hundred thousand fatalities. A video from his laboratory simulates the spread of a toxic gas cloud over three major U.S. cities. A more conservative 2004 Homeland Security Council report (PDF) estimated that a ruptured chlorine gas tank in a densely populated area could kill as many as 17,500 people and injure an additional 10,000. In addition to the dead and wounded, tens of thousands would have to evacuate, causing widespread panic. Nancy L. Wilson, the Association of American Railroads’ vice president for security, calls Boris’ projection “pure fearmongering” and suggests the Homeland Security Council model would require perfect conditions. Wilson, who speaks for the rail industry, says a more plausible scenario might result in hundreds dead, not thousands.

Securing Rail Freight

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has 415 inspectors who ensure that rail freight conforms to federal regulations (PDF) for transporting hazardous materials. Those regulations require rail carriers to implement security plans, including special training for their employees. Carl Prine, an investigative reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, says FRA audits since 2003 show many companies have yet to conform. In researching his own report, Prine gained unfettered access to rail cars holding toxic chemicals in several U.S. cities.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) offer a list of voluntary security practices for hazmat carriers, including criminal background checks for employees, regular training drills, and designating a liaison to government emergency response agencies. Many believe these measures should be mandatory; Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) described the federal government’s approach to the issue as merely “window dressing” (WashPost). The rail industry says it implemented most of these measures before the government issued its recommendations. “We have the best safety record of any transportation method in the United States,” Wilson says. “[After 9/11,] we identified our vulnerabilities and made significant changes to our operations.”

One proposed measure championed by Fred Millar and others calls for rerouting hazardous rail cargo so it bypasses densely populated areas. In 2005, the District of Columbia became the first of several cities to enact legislation banning rail carriers from transporting hazardous chemicals through the city’s center. That ban has yet to take effect due to an unresolved legal appeal by CSX Transportation, the primary rail carrier in Washington. Rail companies argue that rerouting would prove costly, though experts note the cargoes in question account for less than 1 percent of rail freight. However, major cities often produce or consume these chemicals, in which case rerouting is not an option.

Though rerouting may be appropriate in some circumstances, Stephen E. Flynn, the Council on Foreign Relations Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies, explains, “When you do start diverting, you are talking about delays and increased costs. Some of that’s worth it, but what’s important to remember is that some of these chemicals are very important to our daily lives.” For example, oil refineries and water treatment plants use dangerous chemicals to produce the gasoline and drinking water Americans rely on.

Flynn says rail companies need to improve their communication with local officials in places through which they ship dangerous chemicals. “Fire chiefs don’t want to show up and have to guess what they’re confronting.” This is among the voluntary measures recommended by DHS and DOT, but Flynn says the rail industry has resisted because effectively sharing this information can prove costly. Not so, argues Wilson. The rail industry provides lists of the top twenty five most dangerous chemicals that travel through a given community over the course of a year, she says. Companies could easily provide car-by-car information on a daily basis, but local officials have no interest because they fear becoming overwhelmed with information.

Wilson says rail carriers have taken other measures to ensure local officials have adequate information. “The railroad industry, often working with chemical companies, trains more than twenty thousand first responders [about chemical hazards],” she says. The rail industry also has its own intelligence center, which examines classified government reports for potential threats to railways, and can quickly communicate with the appropriate rail workers when danger is imminent.

Inherently Safer Technologies

Experts agree that any solution to rail freight security must address the hazardous chemicals themselves. “In my thinking,” Crowley says, “freight rail, for all intents and purposes, is an element of chemical security. You can’t separate the two.” Reducing the need for some of the most dangerous chemicals reduces the risk of their release, either by accident or sabotage. Some chemical companies have begun opting for less hazardous alternative chemicals: At a nominal difference in cost, water treatment facilities can use liquid bleach in place of chlorine and refineries can replace hydrofluoric acid with the less lethal sulfuric acid. Inherently safer technologies (ISTs), as they are called, play a major role in efforts to secure U.S. chemical facilities as well.

Many companies and municipalities make these changes on their own, but the federal government has done little to encourage them. “These are not railroad issues,” Wilson says, “The government needs to step up to the plate.” Crowley says requiring implementation of ISTs would not work, but “government can use carrots and sticks to force the private sector to adapt.”

Posted on 11:24 AM | Permalink

Computing: 08 Mar 2007
Dave Friedlos

Technology behind the new European rail signalling system is proving more complex than expected

Confusion surrounds the schedule for rollout of a computerised safety system for high-speed trains, Computing can reveal.

The Department for Transport is to submit a national implementation plan for the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) to the European Union in September, including proposed timelines and locations

But Network Rail, which is implementing the project, says no plans will be made to install the technology until it can assess the results of a trial that is not due to begin until next year.

High-speed trains will be fitted with onboard computers as part of the £3.7bn project to replace traditional signals and improve capacity on the rail network, with the first trial scheduled for the Cambrian Line in Scotland in 2008.

Confusion over scheduling is the latest problem to affect the system since it was first recommended in 2001.

The Uff-Cullen inquiry into the 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail crash recommended installing ERTMS level one by 2010, but a decision to move straight to a more advanced system pushed back the implementation date to 2015.

And trials of GSM-Railway (GSM-R), a secure voice and data communication system that will form the basis of ERTMS, have also been delayed (Computing, 1 March).

Installation of ERTMS by 2015 now appears unlikely, and Network Rail says installing the technology as existing signals become obsolete is a more sensible approach.

‘We were ambitious to develop ERTMS quickly but the technology is more complex than first expected,’ said a Network Rail spokesman.

While ERTMS has been successfully deployed on dedicated high-speed rail lines in Europe, the UK has been hampered by its ageing lines, which run a combination of passenger, freight and high-speed trains.

‘We need to ensure the technology works properly on the Cambrian Line before we make the decision to roll it out further,’ said the spokesman.

John Cartledge, safety adviser to rail consumer watchdog Passenger Focus, believes ERTMS is now likely to be rolled out over decades as signals are upgraded.

‘Going back to the initial inquiry there were a number of estimates and target dates for the launch of ERTMS,’ he said. ‘But this is an innovative technology and clearly there will be unexpected hiccups.’

A spokeswoman for the Rail Safety and Standards Board says the government is developing a long-term view while Network Rail is focused on the immediate future and trial.

‘We want to see a successful trial to ensure the technology works before rolling it out further,’ she said. ‘If something arises during the trial that has an impact on the long-term view, it would require a rethink.’

The Association of Train Operating Companies is working with Network Rail on an implementation plan for ERTMS and wants to see both the safety system and GSM-R tested fully to ensure a problem-free rollout.

Safety systems... in 30 seconds

Delays in the rollout of GSM-Railway (GSM-R), a secure voice and data communication system, could hold up the installation of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), a computerised safety system to be fitted onto high-speed trains. GSM-R is the secure communications link for drivers and signallers that forms the basis of the ERTMS system.

Installation of GSM-R was planned to start in 2006 and be operational by 2008. But Network Rail was ordered to reduce costs, and so it was delayed first to 2010 and then 2013.

Network Rail was again forced to assess the system after concerns arose that it could become overloaded at busy junctions.

A trial in Strathclyde was scheduled to begin in March but has once again been delayed until the end of the year because of a need to upgrade software. Network Rail says GSM-R will be in place by 2013 ahead of the planned ERTMS rollout.

Posted on 11:00 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 10 March 2007

Two more 48-hour rail strikes could be averted after Network Rail and the RMT union agreed to have face-to-face talks on Monday.

The 48-hour strike caused major disruption to rail passengers

A 48-hour walkout by signal workers earlier in the week led to the cancellation of train services across Scotland, causing major disruption.

The row is over proposed changes to signalling staff's shift patterns.

"The goodwill is gone really. The shorter working week was supposed to come in last October but the company refused to implement it." - Bob Crow, RMT

The union said it hoped the talks in Glasgow would bring about a swift resolution to the dispute.

The General Secretary of the RMT, Bob Crow, told BBC Scotland that he hoped Network Rail would "see sense" and apply in Scotland what had been applied in the rest of Britain.

But he stressed that the RMT would not withdraw its threat of further action ahead of the meeting.

He said: "All we've got at the moment is a meeting. We're hopeful at the meeting that some progress can be made but we can't suspend anything until we see what the company is offering.

"The goodwill is gone really. The shorter working week was supposed to come in last October but the company refused to implement it.

"They then gave us a new date of January and then never implemented it and now we're faced with the middle of March.

"We've got to have something in writing that they're going to implement the shorter working week. We're not hard and fast about it coming in next weekend or the weekend after but we want a date when the shorter working week will apply."

Network Rail's route director for Scotland, David Simpson, said they hoped to resolve the dispute through "reason and negotiation".

"Across Britain, almost 90% of our signalling community has already reached an amicable agreement," he said.

"In Scotland, 28% have already reached agreement.

"We intend to meet with representatives of the RMT on Monday, and we hope to move the issue forward at this meeting."

'Prevent chaos'

On Friday the RMT announced plans for a further strikes from Friday 16 March to Sunday 18 March and on Monday 19 March to Wednesday 21 March.

The Scottish Executive welcomed the news that both sides are to meet.

A spokesman said they would encourage both parties to resolve the issue and prevent further chaos for rail passengers across Scotland.

Posted on 1:03 PM | Permalink

The Times: March 09, 2007
Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

Capacity on overcrowded high-speed railway lines will be doubled under plans to introduce a fleet of as many as 2,000 carriages, with the new system far more fuel efficient than today’s trains.

The Department for Transport (DfT) yesterday invited train manufacturers from around the world to submit proposals for a fleet of trains that will be powered by both diesel and electricity. They will be lighter than existing trains and capable of capturing and storing the energy normally lost during braking.

The DfT said yesterday that it would order at least 500 carriages and possibly as many as 2,000. They will replace the 30-year-old high-speed trains, the Intercity 125s, which were built by British Rail and which operate on the Great Western Main Line, Midland Main Line and the East Coast Main Line.

These trains are reliable but their diesel engines cause air pollution and deliver poor fuel efficiency.

Their slam doors cause delays at stations and their lavatories empty on to the tracks, a practice now deemed a health hazard.

They will be the first trains since privatisation a decade ago to be ordered by the Government, as opposed to the train-leasing companies, which the DfT has claimed are making excessive profits.

The new trains will have electric doors and up to 100 more seats, with more carriages. Unlike the Intercity 125s, seats are likely to be fitted in the power cars at the front and rear. They will be the first trains since privatisation a decade ago to be ordered by the Government, as opposed to the train-leasing companies, which the DfT has claimed are making excessive profits.

The DfT accepts that Britain’s intercity lines need a big increase in capacity to cope with the thousands of passengers each week switching from congested roads. The total distance travelled on longdistance lines increased by 9 per cent last year. The DfT wants the new trains to be capable of operating on all parts of the longdistance network, including sections where there are no overhead electric power lines.

It is proposing a “dual-power train”, which will have diesel engines and a pantograph to draw electricity from power lines. Existing electric trains, such as Virgin’s Pendolino and GNER’s Intercity 225, are restricted to electrified track.

The DfT said that the weight per seat of the trains would have to be much less than present standards. It is keen to match efficiency levels achieved in Japan, where bullet trains weigh only 0.5 tonnes a passenger, compared with more than a tonne a passenger on the Pendolino.

Roger Ford, technical editor of Modern Railways magazine, said that the DfT’s failure to invest in electrifying the entire intercity network meant that it had to order a more expensive train. “ The train will carry lots of heavy, redundant equipment, with diesel engines lying idle while running under the wires. There has been a total failure of vision by the DfT, which has left Britain alone in Europe in having so much unelectrified high-speed track.”

He said it would be cheaper in the long term to electrify the Great Western Main Line, Midland Main Line and extensions of the East Coast Main Line than to run a dual-power fleet.

The trains are due to be tested on the East Coast Main Line from 2012 and introduced more widely from 2014, with 250 carriages delivered each year.

See also:

High speed intercity train fleet could cost up to £4bn

The Guardian: March 9, 2007
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent

The Intercity 125, the workhorse of Britain's long-distance rail network, will cost at least £1bn to replace after the government yesterday revealed plans for a new generation of high-speed trains.

The new trains will be introduced from 2014, the Department for Transport said. At least 500 carriages are needed to replace the 30-year-old fleet but the final order could be for up to 2,000, which would value the deal at between £1bn and £4bn, with each carriage costing up to £2m.

The 125 is being phased out in preparation for a 30% rise in train usage over the next decade. The national passenger watchdog warned that the trains should not duplicate the cramped conditions that are a feature of many rail services. Colin Foxall, chairman of the rail watchdog Passenger Focus, said: "We will not get people switching from cars to the train unless a reasonable experience is provided, one that people are prepared to tolerate."

Overcrowding was a growing concern among rail users, with only 60% of passengers believing there is enough room for all fare payers. "Passengers are going to have raised expectations because a lot of the old 125s are spacious vehicles." The 125, once nicknamed the "screamer" because of the loud engines used by the first versions, operates on the east coast, Midland mainline and Great Western routes.

Douglas Alexander, the transport secretary, said: "My department has led the way by specifying what we want to see in the next generation of intercity trains - more seating capacity, improved performance, greater flexibility from our trains, and recognition of the importance of being environmentally friendly."

There was concern in the rail industry yesterday over such a large train order, the biggest in 30 years, being left in the hands of civil servants. One industry source said: "Where are the department's expert negotiators? We have seen with the defence deals that the government has a very poor procurement record. And we are not convinced that it will be any better at train orders." A DfT spokesman said the process would be overseen by a team with a joint 250 years of procurement experience.

The government is expected to delegate the process of buying the trains to the rolling stock companies that acquire carriages from manufacturers and lease them to train operators. However, rolling stock companies are at loggerheads with the government after the DfT called for a competition commission investigation into charges for train rentals. One leasing business, Angel Trains, has refused to buy Pendolino trains for Virgin's west coast operation, citing uncertainty over how it will be able to recoup its investment.

One of the companies that could be an operator of the new trains, Arriva, is looking to eastern Europe for expansion after reporting a 6.5% increase in pre-tax profits for last year. Britain generates 60% of Arriva revenues and it owns the Welsh rail franchise Arriva Trains Wales. It has been shortlisted for three major rail franchises to be awarded this year: East Midlands, Cross Country and the east coast route, which will test run the new 125 trains from 2012, according to yesterday's DfT announcement. David Martin, Arriva's chief executive, said the government must back train operators' investment in overcrowded routes by making more funds available for new infrastructure.

Arriva is one the largest pan-European rail and bus operators with services in Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and the Czech Republic. Mr Martin said the recent acquisition of two Czech bus companies could be followed by more deals in the former eastern bloc because the "phenomenal" increase in car buying was exacerbating traffic problems and boosting demand for public transport.

Arriva reported a pre-tax profit of £110m in 2006 on turnover up 10% at £1.73bn.

Posted on 7:12 AM | Permalink

RMT: March 9, 2007

MORE THAN 400 RMT signallers working for Network Rail in Scotland are to hold two further 48-hour strikes over the company’s continued failure to implement the 35-hour week agreement signed last summer, the union announced today.

Signallers and supervisory staff in Scotland will strike between noon next Friday (March 16) and Sunday (March 18), and again between noon on the following Monday (March 19) and Wednesday (March 21).

And as signallers and signalling supervisory staff began returning to work after the first 48-hour strike in the dispute ended today, the RMT executive also announced plans to ballot more than 4,000 signalling and supervisory members throughout Britain.

“Our signalling members in Scotland are standing shoulder to shoulder despite attempts to browbeat them, and it is time that Network Rail acknowledged their anger at the failure to deliver the 35-hour week deal they signed up to,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“Our members are adamant that the deal we signed last July should be implemented properly and in full, and after consulting reps around Scotland we will today be informing Network Rail of two further 48-hour strikes.

“Network Rail have been drafting in scab managers from around the country in their attempt to undermine our members’ strike, and evidence is emerging of serious safety breaches that affect our members throughout Britain.

“The 35-hour week deal was a UK-wide deal, and the company’s blatant reneging on the assurances they gave us over its implementation also has serious implications for our members throughout Britain.

“As a result the RMT executive will also now be informing Network Rail of our intention to ballot signalling and supervisory staff for strike action across the UK rail network.

“The solution to this dispute is straightforward. We already have an agreement in place, and Network Rail has only to agree to implement it, and to put a stop to the safety breaches,” Bob Crow said.

ends

Posted on 3:04 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 9 2007

A POTENTIALLY serious signalling blunder at Haymarket station this morning has highlighted RMT’s fears over the use of inadequately trained scab managers to staff signal boxes during the current dispute with Network Rail in Scotland.

RMT has asked the Railways Inspectorate to take urgent action to stop Network Rail further jeopardising safety after the 07:15 Glasgow Queen St to Edinburgh train was signalled to proceed in both directions when it was terminated at Haymarket station at around 08:00.

"This was a potentially very dangerous signalling blunder at Waverley which could have resulted in two trains running in the same track section, or a derailment," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Had this mistake been made by one of our members it would have been regarded as a serious matter and would certainly have resulted in disciplinary action being taken against the signaller responsible.

"I have already expressed my grave concerns to the Railways Inspectorate at the unsafe use of scab managers without suitable local knowledge, and this shocking incident underlines those concerns.

"I have today asked the Inspecorate to look into this specific incident and a number of other safety-critical failures we have information on, and to take urgent steps to ensure that the safety of our members and the travelling public is not further compromised.

"Our reps have collated a number of disturbing reports, including the case of a part-time trainer who had been retired from signalling on ill-health grounds with a heart condition being pressured to staff a box in despite not being near a box for five years.

"We have also learned of six safety critical track faults in the Glasgow Central area that the S&T team were told simply to leave, and even the case of a secretary working a 12-hour shift as a caretaker and taking potentially safety-critical calls with no safety training at all.

"Rather than risking people's lives in a fruitless attempt to undermine our members' solid industrial action, Network Rail should be putting its efforts into engaging with us to implement the 35-hour week agreement we signed last summer," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 1:11 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 9 2007

MORE THAN 2,000 Tube maintenance workers are to be balloted for strike action over Metronet’s refusal to withdraw plans to transfer employees to other companies.

The ballot will open on March 14 and close on March 28, and could result in strike action that would close at least two-thirds of the Tube network.

The union has already once prevented the mass transfer of staff to Bombardier, Metronet's major shareholder, after a strike ballot more than a year ago.

Under the agreement that ended that dispute, Metronet agreed that it would not transfer employees without agreement with RMT, but despite further talks the company has signalled that it is to renege on the deal.

"We have managed to protect and improve our members' pay and conditions within Metronet, and we are not about to allow the consortium to trample on them by simply tearing up agreements," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Forcing our members to transfer is about maximising profits and dividing and undermining our members' organisation, pay and conditions.

"But it also means forcing even more fragmentation on a network that has already seen its safety culture undermined by the disastrous PPP.

"If Metronet get away with this it will only be a matter of time before the entire workforce is transferred to Bombardier, Balfour Beatty, W S Atkins and EDF, the four companies that make up the Metronet consortium.

"That would leave Metronet Rail as nothing more than an overpaid contracts controller, and would see our members' pay and conditions taken apart by companies that care for nothing but the size of their dividend.

"The unity of RMT members within Metronet has ensured that pay and conditions have been improved year on year despite the PPP, and allowing them to be decimated is not an option," Bob Crow said.

See also:

U.K. Rail Union May Strike Against Tube Contractor Metronet

Bloomberg: March 9, 2007
By Brian Lysaght

The Rail, Maritime & Transport union said 2,000 employees of Metronet Rail Group, the largest contractor on the London Underground, will vote on whether to strike in a dispute over jobs.

The vote will run through March 28, and a strike would shut down two-thirds of the London railway known as the Tube, the union said in an e-mailed statement today.

Metronet is considering transferring employees to other companies in violation of an agreement with the union, according to the RMT.

``Forcing our members to transfer is about maximizing profit and dividing and undermining our members' organization, pay and conditions,'' Bob Crow, secretary general of the RMT, said in a statement.

The union last month called off a planned strike on the London Underground after reaching an agreement with the railway. That agreement, which covers a different set of workers, is being voted on by members.

The Tube carries 3 million riders each weekday. Metronet is one of two contractors awarded 30-year agreements to maintain and invest in upgrades for the railway.

Metronet ``regrets'' the RMT's decision to vote on a strike ``especially when discussions are ongoing to find an acceptable solution,'' the company said in an e-mailed statement.

The company is jointly owned by WS Atkins Plc, Balfour Beatty, Bombardier, EDF Energy SA and Thames Water. It said the transfer of workers is part of a plan to shift train maintenance to Bombardier.

Posted on 11:47 AM | Permalink

Oxford mail: 9 March 2007

Plans for a £130m rail link between Oxford and Milton Keynes via Bicester have been boosted by the findings of a year-long study.

A new report finds the East-West link to be a "credible, deliverable and affordable scheme".

The £300,000 study examined engineering and operational needs, plus funding.
advertisement

It concluded there was enough support for two trains every hour between Oxford and Milton Keynes.

It would form part of a rail route that could ultimately link Swindon, Oxford and the Thames Valley with Cambridge and East Anglia.

The prospects for the rail link have been boosted by anticipated increases in house building in Oxfordshire and along the western corridor.

Adrian Saunders, Oxfordshire County Council's rail development officer, said: "We are working on the basis that 2012 is a realistic time frame for the Oxford- Milton Keynes line, given the momentum behind the scheme and the support from Government.

"The report builds on the planning study published by the Government last year. It looked more closely at the engineering issues and whether it was affordable. It demonstrates that it is. It is a major step forward, allowing us to move forward."

The report was jointly funded by a consortium made up of four councils, including Oxfordshire County Council, the regional assembly, the South East England Development Agency, the Milton Keynes Partnership and the Depart- ment for Communities and Local Government.

The study established that an upgraded railway could be built "easily and quickly", outside the normal railway environment "at a much lower cost than normal".

The Oxfordshire and western section of the link is now listed as a priority in the draft South East Plan, currently undergoing an examination in public in Reading.

David Robertson, Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for transport, said: "An East-West railway line of this kind would represent a real breakthrough for public transport in general and railways in particularly in Oxfordshire,and the country as a whole"

Posted on 11:35 AM | Permalink

Computing: 08 Mar 2007
Dave Friedlos

Rail infrastructure firm will only retain IT core to its business

Network Rail to sign multi-million pound IT outsourcing deal

Network Rail is to outsource significant parts of its IT infrastructure in a multimillion-pound deal.

The organisation will retain control only of services that affect its core business. It is to appoint a third party to manage enterprise operations, computer systems and network services at 1,200 sites.

Network Rail’s goal is improved service, but it also expects savings.

‘Keeping true to our origins as a railways maintenance and engineering company, we will retain core IT activities that are important to the company’s strategic objectives,’ said a Network Rail spokesman. ‘Non-core activities will remain externally provided or be outsourced.’

Core activities include Network Rail’s service centre, operations management, technical design and application support.

The organisation has shortlisted suppliers and will make its selection later this year.

Focusing on core activities while outsourcing network services and IT infrastructure is increasing among large organisations, says Forrester analyst Euan Davis.

‘This is a sensible deal as it will allow Network Rail to focus on what really counts, such as rail management, signalling and track maintenance,’ he said. ‘Centralising its core services will also simplify them, reducing management overheads and costs.’

Independent rail expert Christian Wolmar says the decision fits in with its strategy of focusing on core activities, such as the insourcing in 2004 of IT activities related to track maintenance.

See also:

Network Rail restructures IT round smaller central core

Computerworld UK: March 08, 2007

Enterprise operations to be outsourced

Network Rail has launched a major shake-up of its IT department to refocus it on core activities, with plans to outsource the enterprise operations and distributed computing workstreams.

Network Rail’s infrastructure support services department will manage and support applications and equipment across the organisation, while the IT helpdesk, incident management and operations bridge units will be amalgamated into a new service centre to support Network Rail’s 20,000 IT users. These core activities will be retained or brought back in-house.

The company has now shortlisted suppliers to provide enterprise operations and distributed computing services and is planning to select a single partner organisation for each workstream.

But Network Rail said an outsourcing arrangement would only be finalised “if the proposals are economically and technically viable” and the relationship with the proposed partner organisations was right. The selection process is set to be completed in the middle of this year.

The rail infrastructure firm said the restructuring was prompted by a detailed review originating from a 2006 benchmarking exercise, in which it analysed monthly performance statistics and trends in its IT infrastructure delivery.

The new strategic plan also takes previous experiences of insourcing and outsourcing into account, Network Rail said.

The rail firm has recently completed the national rollout of Windows XP, and last year began a process of consolidating nearly 900 applications in a move aimed at rationalising the infrastructure it inherited from predecessor company Railtrack.

Posted on 10:13 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 8 March 2007

Rail passengers are experiencing a second day of disruption as rock solid strike action by RMT signal workers continues in Scotland.

RMT Scotland Regional Council organises a picket of Network Rail Signallers

Thousands of people were affected after members of the RMT union began the 48-hour stoppage on Wednesday over proposed changes to shift patterns.

Many services have been cancelled and others will operate on a reduced timetable and with restricted capacity.

The strike is due to run until Friday lunchtime, but fears have been voiced that the action could spread.

The RMT has warned that plans will be put in place next week for a ballot of signal staff across Britain.

The first rail strike in Scotland for nearly four years came after talks collapsed on Monday.

Nationally, the union and Network Rail agreed last July to introduce a 35-hour week.

The dispute centres on how that change will be implemented.

The RMT said the strike had been "rock solid" on Wednesday, when about 400 signalling and supervisory staff walked out at 1200 GMT.

How the strike has affected your region

General secretary Bob Crow said: "Network Rail should understand that our members are determined to achieve the 35-hour week we agreed to last July, and it is the company that holds a very simple solution in its hands.

"Network Rail now has the choice of engaging constructively with us to resolve this dispute or facing a ballot of our signalling members throughout Britain."

However, David Simpson, route director for Network Rail Scotland, labelled the action "regrettable" and "unnecessary" and insisted the company was willing to engage in discussions with RMT.

"We've offered to go to (arbitration service) ACAS to have this matter resolved, but RMT have refused that and passengers are suffering as a result," he said.

Train operator First ScotRail urged passengers to check its website to find out which services were operating.

No trains will run north of Stirling, and those operating further south will operate on a reduced timetable.

The Glasgow to Edinburgh service will run every 15 minutes every first hour and then every 30 minutes for the rest of the day.

Last trains will leave Edinburgh at 1745 GMT and Glasgow at 1800 GMT.

Extra buses have been put on standby in various parts of the country to cope with increased demand.

The Caledonian Sleeper service between Scotland and London is not running on Wednesday or Thursday, but should operate on Friday.

Posted on 9:40 AM | Permalink

RMT: March 7 2007

Union to move towards balloting signallers throughout Britain

RMT SIGNALLERS working for Network Rail in Scotland have demonstrated their anger over the company's failure to implement their 35-hour week agreement with a "rock-solid" strike, RMT said today.

As more than 400 signallers and supervisory staff stopped work at noon today at the start of a 48-hour strike, the union warned Network Rail that the union's executive would next week put in place plans for a ballot of signallers across Britain

"Reports from RMT organisers and reps across Scotland tell us that our members' strike is absolutely rock-solid," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Network Rail should understand that our members are determined to achieve the 35-hour week we agreed to last July, and it is the company that holds a very simple solution in its hands.

"The few trains that have run in Scotland today have done so with the help of inadequatetly trained managers, some of whom have been shipped in from as far afield as Lincolnshire and Kent and put in charge of signal boxes with just a few hours' training

"Rather than risking lives by putting scab managers in charge of signal boxes the company should be concentrating its efforts on implementing the agreement we reached with them eight months ago.

"Network Rail now has the choice of engaging constructively with us to resolve this dispute or facing a ballot of our signalling members throughout Britain," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 5:27 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 7 March 2007

Rail passengers in north east Scotland have been severely hit by a strike.

Aberdeen railway station during strike: There were some long taxi journeys as the strike began

Signal workers with the RMT union are taking part in a 48-hour stoppage over working hours.

There will be no services linking Aberdeen to Inverness and the central belt from mid-morning on Wednesday until mid-afternoon on Friday.

Passengers left facing unexpected bus, car and taxi journeys as a result expressed frustration at what they said was a lack of information.

Some Aberdeen taxi firms reported a slight increase in trade, including passengers paying about £220 to get to Edinburgh and about £300 to get to Glasgow.

"The first I knew of the strike was when I walked through the door and they said the train was cancelled" - Brian Brander, Passenger

Other passengers used taxis in their rush to get to the station to catch trains before they were cancelled.

At Aberdeen railway station, Paddy Quinlan and wife Catriona only found out there was a train strike on the way from the airport to Aberdeen rail station after returning from holiday in New Zealand.

Mr Quinlan, 57, a civil servant from Arbroath, said: "We did not know about the strike until our airport taxi driver told us, we planned to catch the train home but found out the next train is Friday.

"We have all our luggage and now it's plan B but we do not know what to do, it will either be the bus, or a taxi, but that would be very expensive. It's inconvenient.

"I do not know what to think as we know nothing about the strike."

Brian Brander was waiting for his wife to drive from their home in Arbroath to pick him up in Aberdeen after discovering his train home was cancelled.

Some sympathy

Mr Brander, 53, an offshore worker, said: "I turned up at the station and the first I knew of the strike was when I walked through the door and they said the train was cancelled.

"I phoned my wife and she's coming up from Arbroath, so it's a good thing she was in, but I think she's a bit annoyed. The buses are few and far between so I didn't have much choice.

"I have a wee bit of sympathy for the strikers but there should maybe have been more information.

"The dispute seems to have been going on for a while."

Grampian Police reported no major added traffic problems on the roads as a result of the rail strike.

Network Rail said its priority was to keep as many trains as possible running during the stoppage.

RMT members voted last month to take strike action in a dispute over working hours.

The dispute centres on an alleged failure to honour a 35-hour week agreement and abuse of rostering agreements.

Posted on 4:20 PM | Permalink

Edinburgh Evening News: Wed 7 Mar 2007
IAN SWANSON SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR

RAIL passengers face further disruption after the 48-hour strike which started today unless a dispute on working hours is resolved, union leaders warned.

A walk-out by signal workers across Scotland from noon today was set to force the cancellation of many services and threatens continuing disruption until Friday evening.
Advert for The Scotsman Digital Archive

And Phil McGarry, regional officer of the Rail Maritime and Transport union in Scotland, hinted there could be further stoppages, possibly spreading to other parts of Britain.

He said: "We have instructed our general secretary Bob Crow to look into balloting all signalmen supervisors throughout Britain for strike action in the light of what has happened in Scotland and the way our members have been treated.

"We will analyse our next move at the end of our 48-hour strike and decide what action to take if the matter is not resolved.

"Whatever happens there is a real chance that the dispute will escalate into British-wide industrial action."

Rail companies said they were trying to run as many trains as possible.

But trains between Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Queen Street were running every 30 minutes instead of every 15 minutes from 11am today.

And the last departure from Waverley was scheduled for 5.45pm, with the last train from Glasgow at 6pm.

Reduced services were also operating between Edinburgh and Fife, Bathgate, North Berwick and Stirling.

The RMT claimed rail bosses were putting safety at risk by bringing in managers from England to operate signals after just a few hours' training.

Mr McGarry said: "Some managers have had three-and-a-half hours' briefing to operate signalling boxes. We believe this is a dangerous practice and they are putting passenger safety at risk." Network Rail denied there was any lack of training or competence among staff brought in to cover during the strike.

A spokeswoman said: "In most cases they will be more qualified than signallers here."

The dispute, involving more than 400 signal workers, centres on the number of rest days for staff undertaking new work rosters. Three hours of talks on Monday failed to reach agreement.

RMT members voted for industrial action last month over what they describe as a failure to honour a 35-hour week agreement and the abuse of rostering agreements.

Network Rail said it was disappointed that the RMT was going ahead with the strike "without fully exploring all the negotiation opportunities".

Stagecoach has organised 1200 extra coach seats on its Scottish Citylink and Megabus services for inter-city travel.

The firm said more than 20 additional coaches would be on standby in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness and Perth to react to extra demand as a result of cancelled rail services.

Robert Andrew, managing director of Stagecoach Scotland, said: "We are a major provider of bus and coach services in Scotland and we have been working hard to ensure rail passengers have access to alternative transport on a number of key routes, particularly at peak times.

"We are expecting a significant increase in demand for inter-city coach travel and we will be making hundreds of extra seats available on services linking Scotland's main cities."

See also:

Thousands of Scots stranded by rail strike

Glasgow Evening Times: 7 March 2007
by Gordon Thomson

THOUSANDS of train passengers were left stranded today as a 48-hour rail strike began at noon.

Dozens of trains in and out of Glasgow have been cancelled, despite attempts by First ScotRail to offer a limited service.

Many other services - including the flagship Glasgow-Edinburgh route - have been cut back.

Fewer than 30% of services were running from noon today until midday on Friday.

Travellers were forced to make last-minute alternative arrangements, with more cars on the roads and a desperate scramble for buses.

Parts of Lanarkshire, including Cumbernauld and Motherwell, were left without any trains, as were parts of Ayrshire, including Kilmarnock as well as Paisley Canal, Shotts, Springburn and Dalmuir.

Passengers face travel misery until Friday afternoon - and again over the Easter weekend.

And there was a warning today of more strikes after union leaders blamed managers for the 48-hour walkout by 450 signalling staff in a row over working hours.

Commuters at Glasgow Central Station were today handed print-outs of revised timetables.

The RMT union warned more walkouts were likely in the dispute. General secretary Bob Crow said: "These issues have been resolved elsewhere but in Scotland there appear to be managers who want to make a name for themselves."

RMT officials are probing the possibility of a national strike ballot.

Phil McGarry, the union's regional officer, said: "We will analyse our next move at the end of our 48-hour strike.

"Whatever happens there's a real chance the dispute will escalate into Britain-wide industrial action."

The dispute centres on union claims that managers have failed to honour a 35-hour week agreement and are breaching rostering agreements.

Network Rail said it was disappointed the strike had gone ahead "without fully exploring all the negotiation opportunities".

David Simpson, route director for Network Rail Scotland, labelled the strike action as "regrettable" and "unnecessary".

He insisted the company was willing to hold talks with the RMT at any time.

"The door is open and we'd love to talk and sort this," he said.

"We've offered to go to (arbitration service) Acas to have this matter resolved, but the RMT has refused and passengers are suffering as a result."

He insisted safety was not being put at risk, in response to reports that signallers from England are set to be brought in to cover the walkout in Scotland.

Mr Simpson added: "There's no safety concern whatsoever.

"We have contingency plans for this sort of occasion.

"We want to keep some level of service going so we can keep passengers on the move."

Commuters travelling into Glasgow today from the city's South Side said the strike would be very disruptive.

Primary school teacher Laura Boyle, 26, travels from Crosshill Station to Glasgow Centre and then on to Anderson station.

She said: "I'm now going to have to walk to Sauchiehall Street and get the bus to Victoria Road and then walk for 15 minutes with all my books.

"It doesn't make any difference if there is a limited service because I'll still be late."

Glasgow University worker Jasmin Moroney, 28, was waiting for a train at Queen's Park station.

She said: "I get one train to Central and then one to Anniesland, so I'm going to have to get the bus home tonight.

"It's probably going to take an hour-and-a-half, whereas the train takes around half-an-hour, so it's an inconvenience."

Project officer Ross Thomas, 25, said: "I'm going to university after work tonight so I'm going to have to walk home at around 9pm, which is not great in this weather.

"It really is a pain in the neck."

Eleanor, a 29-year-old student who did not want to give her last name, said: "I'm going to be affected with the limited service stopping around 5pm because I'll be coming back home at that time.

"I don't know what I'll do, I might just have to walk back and it's a 40-minute walk."

Posted on 4:15 PM | Permalink

RMT: March 6 2007

IN AN attempt to break planned strike action by signalling staff in Scotland, Network Rail is staffing signal boxes with staff that will not have suitable local knowledge and are likely to jeopardise safety on the rail network, Britain’s biggest rail union said today.

After voting overwhelmingly for strike action, RMT supervisory and signalling members in Scotland will be taking strike action between 12 noon on Wednesday March 7 2007 and 12 noon on Friday March 9 2007.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow has written to HM Railways Inspectorate (HMRI) with particular concerns about unsafe plans at Edinburgh Waverley and Yorker IECC although similar practices may occur elsewhere.

"I am asking for checks to be made to ensure that management comply with competency requirements set out within the relevant rules in respect of those persons undertaking duties during strike action," he said.

The 48-hour strike action follows the failure by NR to honour a 35-hour week agreement, the abuse of rostering agreements and the carrying out of rule-book testing in signal boxes, despite a commitment not to.

"It is not too late for the management in Scotland to stop attempting to browbeat staff and to engage constructively with this union," Bob Crow said.

ends

Notes for editors: Full letter to HRMI below:

6 March 2007

John Gillespie
ORR/HMRI
Lyme Vale Court
Lyme Drive
Newcastle Road
Trent Vale
Stoke on Trent
ST4 6NY

Dear Mr Gillsepie,

INDUSTRIAL ACTION BY RMT MEMBERS

You may be aware that RMT signallers' members employed by Network Rail are currently scheduled to take industrial action in Scotland from noon on Wednesday 7 March to noon on Friday 9 March 2007.

I have been advised by my local activists that Network Rail are putting in place plans to ensure signal boxes are kept open. I understand that this involves staffing some signal boxes with staff who will be unfamiliar with the panels they will be expected to work, will not have suitable local knowledge and are likely to jeopardise safety on the rail network. My particular concerns are at Edinburgh Waverley and Yorker IECC although similar practices are likely to occur elsewhere.

As the regulator of railway safety and the enforcing authority of health and safety legislation, I trust that in such circumstances HMRI will be making additional checks on the standards of safety on those parts of the railway network covered by the industrial action, including the level of supervision that would normally be available as an active risk control measure.

In particular, that these checks will include management's compliance with the competency requirements set out within the relevant Railway Group Standards, Company Standards and the arrangements described in Network Rail's Railway Safety Case in respect of those persons undertaking duties solely for the period of industrial action.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Crow,
General Secretary

Posted on 10:15 AM | Permalink

The Herald: March 06 2007
ROB ROBERTSON

Thousands of Scots travellers facing strike chaos today were warned last night they face further disruption after rail workers refused to rule out future industrial action.

Scotland is set to experience travel problems from noon today as a 48-hour train strike brings misery for travellers throughout the country.

All the major train operators - FirstScotrail, GNER and Virgin Trains - have pledged to run as many services as possible while Stagecoach, which runs buses between Scotland's major cities, is bracing itself for an influx of new travellers.

But with the train timetable slashed, motoring chiefs are predicting Scotland is likely to be hit by traffic chaos as more people travel to work in their cars.

The situation is set to get worse as rail unions are threatening further action that could disable the rail network throughout Britain.

Phil McGarry, regional officer of the Rail Maritime and Transport union in Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: "We have instructed our general secretary Bob Crow to look into balloting all signalmen supervisors throughout Britain for strike action in the light of what has happened in Scotland and the way our members have been treated.

"We will analyse our next move at the end of our 48-hour strike and decide what action to take if the matter is not resolved.

"Whatever happens there is a real chance that the dispute will escalate into British-wide industrial action."

The strike involves more than 400 signal workers in a dispute over the number of rest days provided for staff undertaking new work rosters. Both sides in the row failed to reach any agreement over rest days at the end of a three-hour meeting on Monday.

Mr McGarry said there had been no move by management since to try to find a resolution to the strike that was called after a row over the hours the 400 signalmen in Scotland were expected to work.

But David Simpson, Network's Rail Route Director, claimed the union had not fully explored all the negotiating opportunities open to them and vowed to keep as many trains running as possible during the 48 hour stoppage.

Neil Greig, policy director of the motoring organisation the IAM Trust, said: "Commuters who have not already worked out an alternative way of getting to work face a trying three days. I would urge commuters to look at car sharing and possibly using other means of public transport, like the buses, to get to work."

A Stagecoach spokesman said they would provide hundreds of extra bus and coach seats to help rail passengers hit by strike action.

Posted on 8:24 AM | Permalink

Railfuture: 7 March 2007

Work got under way this week on wrecking the railway between Cambridge and St Ives to make way for a guided bus system.

Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander travelled to Cambridge on Monday to slap down some concrete to mark the start of works on the new Cambridgeshire Guided Busway.

When completed in 2009 the guided busway will be the longest busway in the world – but it will also have blocked attempts to make the rail network more effective.

The busway will cost £116million, more than it would have cost to reinstate the disused railway between St Ives and Cambridge. The majority of people in the area favoured reopening the rail line but the Department for Transport, egged on by the pro-road Government Office for the East of England, decided to give £92million for a busway.

According to propagandists for the road lobby, the busway will provide "excellent transport links".

Mr Alexander said: "This investment clearly signals the Government's continuing commitment to support and promote the economy of Cambridgeshire."

He claimed: "This development aims to give people better public transport choices."

County Councillor John Reynolds said: "We have spent many years planning and preparing for the guided busway."

The busway will allow developers to say there is a public transport link to Northstowe, a proposed new town of 8,000 homes.

The propagandists also claim the busway will persuade people not to drive their cars despite the fact that people have shown they are unwilling to switch from car to bus but will switch from car to train.

Tim Phillips of The Cambridge And St. Ives Railway Organisation - Cast-Iron – which wanted the railway reinstated – said the busway would do nothing to resolve the issue of heavy lorries on the A14.

In Indonesia a busway accident on Sunday left four people injured. This year, four people have died while five others have been injured in accidents on the TransJakarta busway.

CAST-IRON planned to reinstate the railway as in the map above.

For more information The Cambridge And St. Ives Railway Organisation CAST-IRON

Posted on 7:36 AM | Permalink

Reuters: Mar 6, 2007
By Nelson Banya

HARARE - At least 34 people died in Zimbabwe's capital Harare on Tuesday when a commuter bus crashed into a cargo train at a rail crossing, police said.

Several other people were injured in the accident, which left bloodied and disfigured bodies strewn around a large swamp.

The bus, travelling from Harare's western Dzivarasekwa township to Mbare district in the south, was overloaded and its passengers included women vendors on their way to the city's main vegetable market to buy supplies, said a police spokesman.

"I saw the bus, and it appeared to be speeding and it couldn't stop as the train approached," said a witness.

The police -- who have recently been running a road safety awareness campaign after a recent spate of deadly accidents -- said they were investigating the crash, the worst in the country in six months.

A severe economic crisis, which many government critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's policies, has pushed inflation to about 1,600 percent -- the highest rate in the world -- and left many struggling to survive.

The rapidly rising cost of living has left many people unable to keep their vehicles in good condition, and experts say this has compromised safety on the roads.

Posted on 7:30 AM | Permalink

The Scotsman: 6th March 2007
RHIANNON EDWARD

* Talks have broken down between Network Rail and staff.
* Services between Glasgow and Edinburgh are threatened by possible 48 hour strike tomorrow.
* First ScotRail warns of reduced services.

COMMUTERS face rail chaos this week after talks aimed at averting a strike by supervisory and signalling staff employed by Network Rail broke down yesterday without agreement.

The planned 48-hour strike will see services between Edinburgh and Glasgow severely disrupted with no trains running after early evening.

The strike, which is due to begin at noon tomorrow and end at midday Friday, was called by the RMT union after signallers in Scotland voted by 210 to 90 for action in a 63 per cent turnout.

The dispute centres on a change from 12-hour to eight-hour shifts, as part of a move from a 36-hour to a 35-hour working week.

First ScotRail last night said it would provide as many services as possible.

The company stressed that it was "as prepared as it can be in difficult circumstances to minimise disruption to customers".

There will be reduced frequency and capacity on routes where services are provided. The train operator said a number of services would wind down after the morning peak on Wednesday, 7 March and normal service would not resume until the evening peak on Friday, 9 March.

The Edinburgh Waverley-Glasgow Queen Street services will be half-hourly from 11am and the last service from Glasgow Queen Street-Edinburgh Waverley will be at 6pm and the last Edinburgh Waverley- Glasgow Queen Street service at 5.45pm on 7 and 8 March.

The Anglo-Scottish Sleepers have been withdrawn for 7 and 8 March.

Mary Dickson, First ScotRail's managing director, said: "We are providing as many services and as robust a timetable as possible in difficult circumstances."

Posted on 8:14 AM | Permalink

RMT: March 5 2007

FOLLOWING THE collapse of further talks with Network Rail today, RMT supervisory and signalling members in Scotland will be taking strike action between 12 noon on Wednesday March 7 2007 and 12 noon on Friday March 9 2007, says Britain’s biggest rail union.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that Network Rail management in Scotland has shown complete intransigence on a number of issues and ignored the genuine concerns of members.

"These issues have been resolved elsewhere but in Scotland there appears to be managers who want to make a name for themselves," he said.

The breakdown in industrial relations centres on failure to honour the spirit and intention of the signallers' 35-hour week agreement, abuse of rostering agreements and the carrying out of rule-book testing in signal boxes, despite a commitment not to.

 As a result, the union is also in the process of balloting all signal workers for strike action over safety issues and the failure to implement a 35-hour week.

Posted on 7:33 AM | Permalink

Eastern Daily Press: 06 March 2007

Network Rail and the region's main train operator will be hauled before ministers unless services and the safety of passengers are improved, three Norfolk MPs warned last night.

In a hard-hitting 40-page report, MPs Richard Bacon, Ian Gibson and Norman Lamb set out the changes they want One Railway and Network Rail to make on the Norwich to London line.

The report, seen by the EDP, calls for "outdated" rolling stock to be upgraded, amid concerns that last month's Virgin train derailment in Cumbria would have resulted in more deaths if the carriages now used by One were still in use.

And in the wake of last week's accident at Swainsthorpe, south of Norwich - which saw a motorist killed on a level crossing - the MPs also demanded that Network Rail carry out an urgent review of automated half-barriers at crossings on all 100mph train lines.

But both One and Network Rail declined to comment on the report until they had studied it in detail.

The report calls for:

Several 'rapid' trains to run at peak times calling at only Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and London;

Documentation in carriages to let passengers know what contingency plans are in place when things go wrong - and announcements should be made as soon as there is a problem rather than when it is fixed.

Publication of the report followed a public grilling of Network Rail and One officials in November by the cross-party trio of MPs after overhead cable problems led to delays on the line.

At that meeting, Network Rail said it would bring forward a planned £40m investment from 2009 to this December.
In their report, the MPs welcome this investment, but warn: "The management at Network Rail must get their house in order and act quickly to prevent further problems on the line."

The report - by Dr Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North, Mr Bacon, Conservative MP for South Norfolk, and Mr Lamb, Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk - conclude: "Passengers would probably have a great deal more sympathy for both One and Network Rail if the two were honest about the problems they are facing and the efforts they are making to resolve them.

"Let the two companies be in no doubt, though, we have serious doubts about their ability to maintain a reliable service, and if there is a continual series of delays, we intend to visit [ministers] to discuss their franchise arrangements."

The MPs also vowed to put pressure on Norwich City Council after hearing that plans for a second electronic ticket machine at Norwich station were being held up by the planning process.

Posted on 7:26 AM | Permalink

CaboodleNews: 2007-03-05

The Trade Union of Railway Workers (Vasutasok Szakszervezete; VSZ) called off a planned strike after it reached an agreement with the government regarding the fate of hospitals belonging to state railway company MÁV. The strike committee of the Buda MÁV hospital, however, did not accept the agreement.

VSZ Chairman Dezso˝ Simon said that the pulmonology department at the Buda MÁV hospital will be closed, but the government has promised to ensure that the National Healthcare Center (Állami Egészségügyi Központ; ÁEK) and the National Korányi TBC and Pulmonology Institute signs an agreement that the latter will accept railway workers in the future. According to ma.hu, the strike committee of the Buda MÁV hospital did not accept this agreement. Simon said that if the institution wishes to continue talks with the government, the VSZ will provide all necessary help.
 
Simon added that the Szolnok MÁV hospital will receive 269 (active and chronic) beds, the institution located in Buda can continue to operate with 200 chronic beds, and the central MÁV hospital will operate within the framework of the ÁEK.

Posted on 10:40 PM | Permalink

The Guardian: March 5, 2007
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent

· Leasing firm back in talks after government pledge
· 106 extra carriages will head off overcrowding

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains is close to sealing an order for new Pendolino carriages after intervention by the Department for Transport.

The distinctive trains were credited with preventing a higher death toll in the Cumbria derailment after they did not buckle despite coming off the tracks at high speed. Before the incident, plans to lengthen the trains on Virgin's west coast franchise had been frozen after leasing company Angel Trains pulled out of a deal to supply 106 carriages.

Angel Trains, one of three leasing businesses that dominate the market, backed out after the rail regulator, prompted by the DfT, said it expected to refer carriage leasing companies to the Competition Commission amid suggestions that high rents for carriages were pushing up fares. Angel said it would not spend £180m on the vehicles if it could not guarantee future rental charges.

It is understood that the DfT has offered to guarantee long-term income from the trains, by ensuring their use is written into future west coast franchise agreements. According to sources close to the talks, Angel has warmed to the proposal despite initial misgivings but wants a formal assurance from the department that it approves the financial terms of the Virgin deal.

A DfT spokeswoman would not be drawn on details of the Pendolino talks, but confirmed the department's involvement: "We are working with Virgin to help them to acquire the additional vehicles to lengthen the Pendolino fleet." Angel Trains and Virgin Trains declined to comment. Royal Bank of Scotland, the owner of Angel, did not return calls.

The DfT inadvertently created the impasse by reporting the leasing companies to the Office of Rail Regulation last year. After an initial investigation, the ORR said the £1bn a year cost of leasing carriages was contributing to fare rises and it planned to refer the train leasing companies to the Competition Commission.

Chris Bolt, chairman of the ORR, said: "Passenger train operators spend around £1bn every year on leasing. We suspect there are features of these markets which are preventing them from operating competitively." The DfT was at the heart of the problem because its rail franchise system is too prescriptive and often specifies the type of rolling stock that train operators must use. Following the ORR report, the DfT said it would consider changing franchise contracts but demanded that leasing companies slash their prices: "The government believes this money would be better invested in the network to deliver further improvements for the travelling public. The ORR has questioned whether changes to the franchise process would help. We will be happy to explore this further during the consultation but find it difficult to see how it will have a significant impact on the current market."

Virgin has warned that failure to secure the extra carriages will lead to serious overcrowding on the London-to-Glasgow route, which carries 20 million people a year, expected to rise to 34 million by 2012. It plans to increase services by a third from next year and believes it will run out of capacity by 2010. The 106 carriages will boost train capacity by about 25%.

Last year, Virgin won a £1.36bn government subsidy for the five-year franchise at a time when other train operators such as FirstGroup and GNER had pledged £1bn windfalls to the state for the right to run services on the rail network. Virgin said it needed the subsidy to pay track access charges levied by Network Rail - £2.3bn over the next five years.

See also:

Virgin hopes to seal Pendolino order - report

AFX: 5 March 2007

LONDON - Virgin Trains is close to sealing an order for new Pendolino carriages after intervention by the Department for Transport, according to a report in the Guardian.

The report said the distinctive trains were credited with preventing a higher death toll in the Cumbria derailment after they did not buckle despite coming off the tracks at high speed.

Before the incident, plans to lengthen the trains on Virgin's west coast franchise had been frozen after leasing company Angel Trains pulled out of a deal to supply 106 carriages.

The Guardian claims Angel Trains, one of three leasing businesses that dominate the market, backed out after the rail regulator, prompted by the DfT, said it expected to refer carriage leasing companies to the Competition Commission amid suggestions that high rents for carriages were pushing up fares.

The report said it is understood that the DfT has offered to guarantee long-term income from the trains, by ensuring their use is written into future west coast franchise agreements. Citing sources close to the talks, the Guardian said Angel has warmed to the proposal despite initial misgivings but wants a formal assurance from the department that it approves the financial terms of the Virgin deal.

A DfT spokeswoman would not be drawn on details of the Pendolino talks, but told the Guardian: 'We are working with Virgin to help them to acquire the additional vehicles to lengthen the Pendolino fleet.'

Angel Trains and Virgin Trains declined to comment. Royal Bank of Scotland, the owner of Angel, did not return calls.

Virgin and Stagecoach Group PLC run the UK's West Coast and Cross Country rail franchises via Virgin Rail Group, in which they hold stakes of 51 pct and 49 pct respectively.

Posted on 7:41 AM | Permalink

Bamako:

Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Country: Mali
Language: French, Bambara (English subtitles)
Time: 115 minutes
Rating: 5/5

Melé (Aïssa Maïga) is a bar singer, her husband Chaka (Tiécoura Traoré) is an unemployed railwayman and their marriage is on the rocks. In the courtyard of the house they share with other families in the Malian capital Bamako, a trial takes place. African civil society is taking proceedings against the World Bank and the IMF, charging them with responsibility for the ‘structural adjustment’ policies that have led to Africa's pauperization.

Amidst legal arguments and eye-witness accounts from a villager, a former schoolteacher, a university professor, a migrant worker who has been deported from Morocco on his way to Spain and stunning testimony from a praise singer, Zégué Bamba, the communal life in the courtyard goes on around the court proceedings. Chaka observes Africa's fight for its rights seated against a wall of the courtyard seemingly more and more detached from the seething events around him.

Tiécoura Traoré, the actor who plays Chaka is in real life a Doctor of Civil Engineering and former head of the African School of Railways in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. He is famous in Mali for campaigning against privatisation of Mali’s railways and is founding President of the 'Citizens' Collective for Developing and Taking Back the Railways in Mali' (COCIDIRAIL http://www.cocidirail.info/), a national campaign "to take back the railways for the people of Mali" that he founded after they were sold off in October 2003 to a Franco-Canadian consortium, Transrail.

In 2004 he was sacked. He has produced radio programs, published a petition to MPs (with tens of thousands of signatures), led a mobile demonstration with debates and meetings throughout the country questioning the legality of privatising a public service and now he is starring in a film that has just won the prestigious Lumiere Award (February 2007) in Paris for the Best non-French film shot in the French language.

He has also taken part in building a new railway workers' union, SYTRAIL of which he was elected general secretary. In June and July 2006 The Union of Railway workers in Mali (SYTRAIL) and the Federation of Transrail-SA workers (FETRAIL) in Senegal held 72-hour strikes demanding the reinstatement of sacked workmates and the dismissal of the Managing Director.

A railworker's son with a doctorate in transport engineering, Tiécoura Traoré enjoys enormous confidence both amongst railworkers and ordinary citizens in Mali who oppose privatisation and support a railway that serves the needs of the people of Mali.

Since rail privatisation in Mali passenger traffic has declined, while freight traffic has multiplied 6 fold. More than two thirds of passenger stations have been closed (26 out of 36 in all) in a country where railways represented one of the chief means of travel and many villages are inaccessible by road. Villages, orchards and entire sectors of economic activity, which developed around the railway, are today seriously under threat leading to economic collapse in the countryside, impoverishment and forced emigration.

The first words spoken in the film by a court witness are: “The railways brought Africa its emancipation,.. The World Bank is throwing all that out with the trash.”

Another villager giving testimony says: "Life came to these villages because of the railway ... [Now] you are a seeing the start of an exodus. The situation is distressing."

The junior counsel for the prosecution hits the nail on the head in her final summing up when she says: "A country that does not have its own means of communication,.. its own means of transport, cannot really be called a sovereign nation."

'Bamako' is an angry counterblast to all those who think the laws of economics are natural rather than man made. The film score is also a magnificent treat for those who appreciate African music, which must be just about everyone who has ever heard it. Salif Keita, when he was only twenty-one began singing lead for the Rail Band (founded in 1970 by the Mali railway administration) playing at the Buffet Bar in the Station Hotel in Bamako. Instruments and equipment were government-owned and band members were considered government employees. The Rail Band quickly became a sort of rite-of-passage for Malian musical talent. This film reminds us how essential to African economies and culture railways have become and remain.

Posted on 7:40 AM | Permalink

The Graphic Ghana: 3/4/2007
Story by Charles Benoni Okine

A dual carriage railway system to network Ghana from Tema, through Accra, Kumasi, Kintampo to Paga yesterday received Cabinet approval to begin in June.

The proposal for the project was presented by a foreign-based company, Peatrack, in support of efforts by the government to revive the entire rail system in the country.

The approval now paves the way for the final agreement between the government and senior officials of Peatrack to be sealed on March 15, 2007.

The entire stretch of the project will be a dual rail carriageway and the first phase will cover Tema/Accra to Kumasi at an estimated cost of $1.4 billion and it will take up to three years to construct.

The Minister of Harbours and Railways, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, confirmed this to the Daily Graphic in Accra and described the decision of Cabinet as refreshing.

Early this week, the German and Swiss Ambassadors to Ghana, Mr Peter Linder and Georg Zubler, respectively, paid a courtesy call on the minister to lend their support to two companies from their countries which were key players in the Peatrack multi-billion dollar project.

The companies, Mattes, rail track laying equipment consultants from Switzerland and D.E. Consult, rail track engineers from Germany, were led into the country by a Ghanaian investor, Dr Ebenezer Mireku, the sponsor.

The government, when it assumed power in 2001, pledged its commitment to resuscitate the ailing rail network in the country and set up a separate ministry of Cabinet status to oversee the project.

Since the inception of the ministry some three years ago, more than eight consortiums from different continents, including Africa, had presented their proposals to expand and rehabilitate the rail line.

One of such consortiums, which came close to starting the project, United Rail, could not succeed because its negotiations with the government were deadlocked over thorny issues, including the payment of severance awards to more than 2,000 workers of the ailing Ghana Railway Corporation (GRC).

At the beginning of 2006, the severance package for the workers had been pegged at more than $20 million.

According to Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi, the lack of finance had been the major obstacle to the commencement of the project, which was intended to free the roads of heavy trucks.

He was, however, confident that the company selected for the project would live up to expectation.

Dr Mireku had indicated to the Daily Graphic that the companies were already mobilised to move into the country.

He said the companies undertaking the project were tried and tested in their respective countries and were anxious to get the project done in Ghana.

He said the project would be undertaken using state-of-the-art equipment capable of laying up to six kilometres of rail tracks in a day.

“The moment they lay the bed, which takes a bit of time, the laying of the tracks will be a matter of time because they are determined to work 24 hours a day to get the project completed,” he added.

Dr Mireku, who had been knocking at the doors of the government to get the proposals approved, said, “I am a Ghanaian and I will not bring in companies which are incapable of undertaking such a project.”

He did not disclose the sources of funding but indicated, “We have negotiated the funds already and we will move in as soon as practicable to carry out our part of the bargain,” he added.

He said Cabinet was tough with questions but “we managed to convince them beyond doubt and it is up to us to deliver and we will do so.”

Posted on 7:33 AM | Permalink

Sudan Tribune: Mar 05, 2007

BEIJING — Sudan and China signed 28 February a $1.15 billion USD contract to construct a railway line to link the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, with Port Sudan in the east of the country.

China Railway Engineering Group Co Ltd and China Railway Erju Co Ltd unit Transtech Engineering Corp have jointly won a 1.15 bln USD construction contract in Sudan, according to a statement on the Sichuan province Department of Commerce’s website.

China Railway Engineering Group indirectly controls China Railway Erju Co Ltd.

Inked after two years of negotiations, this contract is considered as the biggest construction contract in the field of the railways ever signed between China and Sudan. The total length of the railway line is 762 kilometres.

The implementation of this project will enhance the capacity of the railways net in Sudan. With a total of 4578 kilometres, the Sudanese railways are considered as the longest in Africa, but its equipments are not upgraded since long-time.

Posted on 7:10 AM | Permalink

Shanghaiist: March 4, 2007

In spite of the benefit of being ruled by a "living Buddha," decades of planning and a cost of billions of dollars, parts of the Beijing-Lhasa railway, China's "engineering miracle," are sinking.

Specifically, those sections where the project attempts to maintain stability atop the seasonal thawing and refreezing of the permafrost, according to Answers.com, engineers built "elevated tracks with foundations sunk deep into the ground, inserting vertical pipes that circulate liquid nitrogen and cold nitrogen gas into the ground, building hollow concrete pipes beneath the tracks to keep the rail bed frozen, and using metal sun shades."

On the failing cooling system, Gas World writes:

"Chinese engineers have used an innovative underground nitrogen system to build China's recently opened Beijing-Lhasa railway line.

"The Chinese Government have played down the potential problems and the Ministry of Railways Vice Minister, Song Yongfu has simply said that the ministry would take measures to deal with such difficulties."

Posted on 7:00 AM | Permalink

International Transport Workers' Federation: 13 Mar 2007

The 8th ITF Railway Workers' International Action Day will be held on Tuesday 13 March 2007.

ITF Railway Day of Action, Safety First, 13th March 2007

As per previous years the International Transport Workers Federation Railway Day of Action takes place on 13th March 2007. Once again the theme of the day of action will be safety first!

This theme is very relevant for RMT rail workers on both the mainline and London Underground.

The tragic derailment at Grayrigg on 23rd February has once again called into question the safe operation of our railways. You will know that the union has written to the Secretary of State for Transport arguing that the apparent similarity to the Potters Bar crash of May 2002 proves that, in incidents of this type, the normal industry and Railways Accident Investigation Branch inquiries are insufficient to prevent a recurrence of this type of accident in the future. We have called for a full Public Inquiry into the event.

We have also said the inquiry must examine the adequacy of Network Rail’s management systems because of the fragmentation of engineering work that still afflicts our railways and whether drawing all railway activity under one organisation can ensure that the safety of the travelling public and the railway workforce is protected.

The RMT Parliamentary Group will shortly be tabling a motion in parliament supporting the call for a public enquiry. To maximise support from MPs, on the ITF Railway Safety Day of Action on 13th March we will be asking all Branches and as many members as possible to write to their MP asking that they sign the parliamentary motion in support of a public enquiry.

With regards to London Underground members will be aware of the union’s ongoing campaign against the privatisation of the East London Line. The new London Rail Concession will link the extended privatised East London Line with sections of the national rail network but, in order to satisfy the competing demands of the privateers, it will also create unnecessarily complex contractual arrangements and fragmentation. In fact at least 8 components will be involved in running the new service. Of these, two will be responsible for signalling operations, two for infrastructure maintenance, two for infrastructure renewals, one for train and station operations and one for train maintenance

The RMT Parliamentary Group has already tabled a motion opposing the privatisation of the East London Line and on 13th March we will be asking Branches and members to contact their MPs to support this motion as well.

I also know that our shipping, bus and raod haulage members will also wish to suppprt the above activity.

Finally I attach an ITF information sheet on the day of action and you can also click on the ITF campaign web page below to access reports on the days of action around the world.

http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/SafetyFirst2007.cfm

I will keep you advised of developments as we approach the ITF Day of Action on 13th March.

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow
General Secretary

Posted on 2:29 PM | Permalink

The Sunday Sun: Mar 4 2007

The boss who accepted responsibility for the Cumbria rail tragedy is in line for a record bonus that could top £400,000, we can reveal.

John Armitt, chief executive of Network Rail, offered an unreserved apology after last week's accident, in which Margaret Masson died when a train was derailed by faulty points.

However, Mr Armitt, 60, is expected to beat his £352,720 bonus last year - which took his salary to more than £1m - thanks to improved punctuality during the past 12 months.

The family of Mrs Masson, 84, from Glasgow, were appalled at the prospect.

Niece Connie Leese, of Mosspark, Glasgow, said: "I think it is disgusting. He should have done the honourable thing and stepped down straight away.

"I can't believe he would be offered a bonus after what happened. It just makes you wonder.

"The money should be given to those who suffered in the crash and to the victims. It won't bring my aunt back, but it will help the family."

The London to Glasgow Virgin Pendolino train derailed last Friday evening at Grayrigg, killing Mrs Masson and seriously injuring eight others.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch said in its report that there was "no complete stretcher bar in place between the switch rails immediately before the derailment".

Investigators found one of three stretcher bars was not in position, two were fractured and bolts were missing.

The bars join the moving rails, keeping them a set distance apart. Although Mr Armitt, who is due to retire in July, accepted responsibility, he refused to quit because it was not the time to "abdicate his responsibilities", he said.

A Network Rail spokesman declined to comment on whether Mr Armitt would take his bonus.

He said: "We are devastated by this and are working with them on this investigation and our priority is to get to the bottom of this.

"Bonuses are a side issue and talking about it is in poor taste."

Bonuses are determined by three things, punctuality, signal efficiency and the organisation's assets - including the points - being in good condition.

See also:

Armitt the calm controller

The Observer: March 4, 2007

Network Rail's boss won admirers for the way he dealt with the Cumbria crash. The unions concur - but what's his legacy? By Juliette Jowit

'I hope that's not the case, but I have to live with the reality that it could be something that has gone wrong under our watch.'

These were the emotional and revealing words last weekend of John Armitt, who, as chief executive of Network Rail, was the man ultimately responsible for the safety of the train line in Cumbria where a woman died after a high-speed train crashed off the track.

Less than two days later the Railway Accident Investigation Branch all but confirmed his worst fears when its preliminary report blamed bad maintenance of a set of points. Armitt immediately accepted responsibility and earned public respect for his conduct, if not the condition of his railway.

In stark contrast to previous accidents when railway leaders appeared to fall over themselves to avoid blame, there was even sympathy for the chief executive, who is just months from his planned retirement this summer. 'I saw him on TV [saying] we have got to take responsibility; that was classic John,' says Chris Garnett, former boss of the high-speed train operator GNER. 'He set a very high standard of dignity and honourable behaviour about how you run a public company.'

Cliches cling to public figures like badly made suits. The most common choices for Armitt are 'softly spoken' and 'considered'. But looking over his history, it's hard to believe that sums him up. A trained civil engineer, he joined John Laing Construction as a graduate and spent 27 years building power stations, oil rigs, airports, roads and hospitals around the world. In 1993 he went to Union Railways, where he negotiated a route and got approval from Parliament for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link - no mean feat when you are cutting through some of the world's most expensive land. In 1997 he took the top job at another construction group, Costain. Rescuing that company, whose shares had been suspended and which was mired in financial problems and investor disputes, would prove to be valuable experience for his next job.

One October weekend in 2001 the government dramatically terminated funding for Railtrack, the privatised network owner, and forced the company into Britain's biggest corporate collapse. Shortly afterwards the administrator, Alan Bloom of Ernst & Young, called Armitt and asked him if he would take over the traumatised company.

Armitt was apparently not the first choice, and for some time afterwards there were questions about whether he was up to the job or not. But he ticked the important boxes: engineering background and experience of railways, government and rescue jobs. Now, whether because he is so universally liked, or because things have improved so much at what is now Network Rail, it is hard to find anybody who will say a bad word about the 61-year-old Arsenal supporter.

'Is there one thing he's done that's wrong? I couldn't point to it,' says Gerry Doherty, general secretary of white-collar union the TSSA. 'There are things he has done we don't agree with, but we talk and try and find a solution.'

When Armitt announced last December that he would be retiring in May, Network Rail put out a statement highlighting the improvements since he took over: costs have been cut by more than £1bn a year while punctuality has improved from 77 to 88 per cent. Armitt undoubtedly deserves a share of this success, but it is hard to apportion glory in such a big organisation. In particular, his deputy and successor, Iain Coucher, is credited with a large part of the turnaround too.

The two men have very different styles: Armitt is reputedly the diplomat and a delegator; Coucher more impatient and, some say, controlling. More than one industry insider told The Observer that, as Armitt's influence has appeared to wane in the last year, the style of the organisation has already begun to change. This will please some but worry others, who point out that infrastructure failures have started to rise in the last six months.

Armitt would be the first to acknowledge he cannot take all the credit for the turnaround, however: few people could have sounded so genuine as he did when he said in his retirement statement: 'Our team has achieved a great deal and I am proud to have led them.'

Where Armitt has made a difference, though, is in the company's vital relationships with government, train operators, and even unions. Garnett suggests that when Armitt first took over he wasn't sure how to handle the operators, but others agree he has since done much to repair the company's arrogant reputation. And even Bob Crow, the RMT's bruiser of a general secretary, agrees Armitt has notably improved staff relations. For example, to the unions' delight, Network Rail brought its maintenance contracts in-house. But the company also took tough decisions, including sacking 600 managers - mostly Doherty's members. 'Number one, he talks with people,' says Crow. 'He's got a real care for the industry. He's a straight bloke to deal with. It's not many chief executives I can say that about.'

This diplomacy was perhaps never so important as after the July 2005 terrorist attacks in London, when Armitt personally handled key conference calls between industry bosses. 'That day he created the calm in the industry,' says one insider at a train operator. 'It was thanks to him that by 5 o'clock the stations were up and running.'

Again and again people use the same adjectives of Armitt: polite, considered, cautious, sometimes patrician - a feeling reinforced by his 6ft 5in height. For some, there has been a little too much caution. Armitt talks of the need to focus on the 'day job' of running the railway. While he is undoubtedly right to do so, there has been frustration he has not done more to provide leadership, especially since the abolition of the Strategic Rail Authority, when the industry badly needs investment to cope with chronic overcrowding. 'He's not a visionary; he's a naturally careful engineer,' says one slightly disappointed industry colleague.

There has also been criticism of pay packages. Last year, Network Rail's four most senior executives shared £1.1m in bonuses. Armitt took just over £350,000, on top of his £500,000 salary. Doherty says he has criticised the payments publicly and privately to Armitt: 'I think it's public money and he shouldn't be taking that. But his view is he could take his skills to the private sector and that's the kind of awards he'd get.'

Nor is the annual bonus row the only controversy Armitt has courted. He caused uproar last year when he said in an interview with The Observer what many in the industry recognised long ago but dared not say: that little-used rural train services should be replaced with buses or taxis and the money saved used to invest in more crowded parts of the network. He has also talked of easing crowding not just by spending money on new infrastructure but also by using ticket prices to spread peak demand. Critics call this disloyal; supporters call it common sense.

The salary comes at a price. Armitt once told an interviewer how he has a pager on or near him 24 hours a day: 'Our national control constantly feeds me with every single event that's happened on the railway.' We can only imagine how the chief executive must have felt when he got the call last Friday night with the news that somebody had died 'on his watch'.

'People don't understand the strain of running a railway - that you live with it all the time,' says Garnett. 'He [always] gave this very calm air; it must have [sometimes] felt like terror underneath, but he never let on.'

The CV

Name John Alexander Armitt

Born 2 February 1946, north London

Education Portsmouth Grammar School; studied civil engineering at Portsmouth College of Technology

Career 1966-1993, John Laing Construction (joined as graduate trainee; chaired Anglo-French Severn Bridge project in 1976); 1993-1997, chief executive, Union Railways; 1997-2001, chief executive, Costain Group; 2001-date, chief executive, Railtrack Group (in administration) and chief executive, Network Rail

Honours Awarded CBE in 1997

Family Lives with partner; son, daughter and two grandchildren from previous marriage.

Interests Lifelong Arsenal supporter, theatre, golf, sailing, fishing

Posted on 9:57 AM | Permalink

Sunday Telegraph: 04/03/2007
Jasper Copping and David Harrison

Only weeks before the fatal Cumbrian rail crash, Network Rail was struggling to cope with a backlog of repairs, the largest rail union said last night.

Network Rail denies there was a reduction in maintenance personnel

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union blames the crisis on a failure by Network Rail to fill vacancies over two years - resulting in a 10 per cent cut in "front-line" technicians and track workers.

With numbers down on the 400 staff the RMT believes are needed, it says the backlog of essential maintenance work in the North-West mounted.

An RMT spokesman, John Tilley, said: "Network Rail are running at what they call deficit manning levels as the norm. The result is that the maintenance people are so stretched, and a backlog has been created."

Network Rail denied that there had been any reduction in the number of maintenance personnel or that a significant backlog had developed.

A spokesman said: "We are making efficiency savings of 31 per cent between 2004 and 2009. There may be a couple of vacancies in the North-West, but this is not a picture I recognise. I am not aware of any particular staffing issues and there is no national policy of natural wastage. We have a to-do list, but nothing I would recognise as a backlog."

The cost-cutting claims came as The Sunday Telegraph discovered that Network Rail, which is funded by the taxpayer and train operating companies, spent more than £40,000 on "sponsoring" events for political parties last year, including a total of £11,000 for a lunch and a reception for Labour MPs.

The company admitted that it spent "£5,000 to £6,000" on seven lunches, dinners and receptions at party conferences.

Yesterday, engineers continued work to remove the Virgin Trains carriages that derailed near Kendal nine days ago, killing 84-year-old Margaret Masson and injuring dozens. An interim report by the Rail Accident Investigation Board blamed a faulty set of points, maintained by Network Rail.

Posted on 9:50 AM | Permalink

The Sunday Times: March 04, 2007

Shrewd British firms can profit from railways boom, reports Michael Sheridan

THIS is a tale of two trains, £98 billion and the biggest railway boom since the 19th century.

Train one is the 12.25 from Shenyang to Dandong. It’s the classic Chinese train: a grimy diesel pulling 16 carriages jammed with humanity on a slow haul through China’s northeast rustbelt to the North Korean border.

The corridors are flecked with spittle and strewn with sunflower seeds. The rolling stock is so ancient that coal is stacked at the end of each carriage to fuel its heaters. Rattling along a single track through the snow, the express sighs up gradients and jolts to frequent halts to allow troop trains to pass.

Train two is the 8.30 from Shanghai South to Hangzhou, which made its debut in January. Its sleek lines recall the Japanese shinkansen, or bullet trains, because, thanks to Kawasaki Heavy Industries, China now has its own version.

The 8.30 whisks its passengers between the historic cities in air-conditioned comfort at more than 100mph, making passengers on humbler trains gawp as it flashes by.

The Chinese government wants train two, not train one, to define the future. Untroubled by nimby campaigners, planning inquiries or environmentalists, its engineers are already at work.

“It’s the biggest investment in Chinese history,” said Li Guyong, transport director for the government’s reform commission.

Just the first set of figures for spending to 2010, outlined by Li, is staggering. China will spend £41.6 billion on civil-engineering works, £40 billion on rail infrastructure and £16.6 billion on locomotives and rolling stock in the next five years. By 2020, it will go on to expand its railway system from 43,750 miles of track to 62,500 miles, electrifying half the network, laying double tracks and creating 7,500 miles of passenger lines to separate people from freight traffic.

The potential rewards for British project managers, engineering firms and rail-technology suppliers, plus the spin-off fees for financing and consultancy, have investment bankers in a ferment of calculation.

Yet that is only half the story, according to Jeremy Candfield, director-general of Britain’s Railway Industry Association.

“It’s not just the enormous expansion of the mainline network,” he said. “It’s the rush to build metro systems in cities all over China. And here there are opportunities for British firms.” A survey of the official media shows that 30 Chinese cities with populations of more than 2m are building or planning new metros. “China has become the world’s largest urban rail-transit market,” said a recent report by Research in China, an economic analyst.

Candfield helped to play host last month to the most substantial Chinese delegation of railway planners ever to visit the UK. They were introduced to more than 20 companies at the Railtex exhibition in Docklands and rode on London Underground’s showpiece Jubilee line.

The results were said to be encouraging, although the Chinese are too wily bargainers to show their hand at this stage.

The competition is brutal. In some sectors Britain has already lost out. Its French, German and US rivals dominate the battle to replace China’s fleet of 6,600 locomotives in the next 15 years.

France’s Alstom has won a €1.2 billion (£815m) order to supply 500 electric freight locomotives, the first 100 to be built at Alstom’s plant in Belfort and the rest in a joint venture with the Da-tong Electric Locomotive plant.

Montreal-based Bombardier group has a similar contract for 500 locomotives worth €1.1 billion, to be built in conjunction with the Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works. It is also building 40 eight-car electric trains and a maintenance centre in the southern city of Guang-zhou in a deal worth £390m.

GE Transportation and ElectroMotive Diesel of the US between them account for another 600 orders, most to be constructed in Chinese factories.

Siemens of Germany seized the lead from the Japanese in the race to supply high-speed trains. Like Deutsche Bank, the company owes part of its advantage in China to a political decision by the Communist party to deny Japan a dominant economic role.

As part of a Sino-German joint venture, Siemens will complete a 187 mph fast track from Beijing’s south station — being rebuilt at a cost of £414m — to the trade hub of Tianjin in time for the 2008 Olympics. It will also supply 40 trains for the route, which is a pilot scheme for the 7,500 miles of high-speed network envisaged by the ministry of railways.

The Chinese insist that their grandest such scheme — an 820-mile, £11.5 billion plan to link Beijing to Shanghai in just five hours — will be entirely home-produced. Consultants believe, however, that there will be lucrative benefits for operators already in the game.

Faced with such overwhelming odds, British companies are staging a plucky counter-attack, relying on quality, technology and innovation. Well-known names have managed to get a share of the action, such as Balfour Beatty Rail’s contract to electrify the lines between the northern cities of Harbin and Dalian.

And specialist firms are fighting for niche markets that could turn out to be very big indeed.

Lloyd’s Register is touting its expertise in rail consultancy and risk management — skills that the Chinese need as they strive to upgrade worn-out lines for high-speed travel.

Engineering consultant Mott MacDonald, flourishing in Hong Kong and Taiwan, is in a joint venture to upgrade Beijing’s metro lines 1 and 2.

Brecknell Willis, based in Somerset, is supplying high-grade electrical rails for the Olympic line extension to the capital’s network, and has even set up a manufacturing plant in Tianjin to meet demand.

With 15 years’ experience in Beijing, UK-based Westinghouse Rail Systems beat off competitors to install a signalling-and-control system on the city’s newest lines.

A low-profile firm called Pan-drol, since 1937 one of the world’s few suppliers of high-technology clips to secure rail tracks to sleepers, is also well placed to benefit after successful projects in Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.

“British companies have two strengths: in consultancy and technology,” Candfield said. “We won’t be the cheapest but we can emphasise safety, quality and reliability.

“The fact is that since privatisation and outsourcing of rail supply in the UK, we are a damn sight more commercial than some. There are no government bailouts for rail-industry suppliers here. They must be ready to react and move with the market.”

But although British companies could be poised to win, nothing in China gets done without heavyweight political lobbying.

Britain’s new ambassador to Beijing, Sir William Ehrman, a fluent Mandarin speaker, is credited among the business community with bringing fresh energy to the commercial fray.

He is also keen to encourage British firms to compete for the business of financing and managing the enormous railway system that will emerge.

Chinese officials have said they want public-private partnerships and have studied rail priva-tisations around the world.

“We should seek sources of capital widely through public listings, raising bonds and so on,” said Lu Dongfu, a railways vice-minister. The ministry is also promising foreign investors a say in ticket and freight-pricing.

The freight volumes are so enticing that Deutsche Bahn has joined a Sino-Russian venture to build a Berlin-to Beijing link that would transport goods more than 6,000 miles in 12 days.

Politics are never far from the rail business. China made sure its controversial railway to Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, was kept in the hands of the state. Except, that is, for the contract awarded to two Israeli security companies for “digital real-time video surveillance” of stations and track in some of the least populated regions on Earth.

Undaunted by international criticism, China has just announced plans to extend the line to Tibet’s second city, Shigatse.

For foreign firms, making money by improving the lot of passengers on the 12.25 from Shenyang is probably a safer bet.

Posted on 8:13 AM | Permalink

Daily Record: 3 March 2007

NETWORK Rail signal workers in Scotland will stage a 48-hour strike after last-ditch peace talks broke down yesterday.

The workers will walk out from next Wednesday, meaning travellers face major disruptions.

The Rail Maritime and Transport Union confirmed the action after discussions to try to avert the strike failed.

Union chiefs later repeated their claim that Network Rail have refused to compromise in a dispute over implementing a shorter working week.

They say the firm have failed to honour a deal on the introduction of the 35-hour week.

General secretary Bob Crow warned that the union were now preparing to ballot their entire Network Rail membership across Britain unless the deadlock was broken.

The union warned that rail services in Scotland would be crippled because of next week's strike.

Posted on 9:52 AM | Permalink

The Guardian: March 3, 2007
Dan Milmo and Duncan Campbell

· Network Rail in new bout of soul-searching
· Experts voice doubts on control over contractors

Network Rail is under pressure to restore the pre-privatisation railway culture after safety experts warned that a repeat of last week's fatal Cumbria crash is possible unless changes are made.

Railway workers past and present told the Guardian that tried and tested maintenance practices have been lost and must be restored in order to cut down the risk of future accidents.

The comments came as engineers used cranes to begin removing the nine Virgin Trains carriages that derailed at high speed last Friday, killing one person and injuring dozens.

The initial report into the derailment at Grayrigg has blamed a faulty set of points maintained by Network Rail. It has set off another bout of soul-searching in an industry deeply traumatised by the experience of privatisation, which saw care of the British rail network handed over to the stockmarket-listed Railtrack which in turn delegated maintenance to 3,000 private contractors.

The result was a series of disasters, from the Ladbroke Grove collision in 1999 that claimed 31 lives to the Hatfield derailment a year later that killed four.

All maintenance was brought in-house by Network Rail in 2004 but the Grayrigg derailment has led railway professionals to question whether all traces of the Railtrack era have been eradicated.

"The railway mandarins have attempted to replace the guy with the greasy fingers on the ground," said one former rail engineer with years of experience on the safety aspects, "and the guy on the ground was very conservative."

Mick Cash, assistant general secretary of the rail union, RMT, said: "Around 90,000 people currently have access to the rail track, but only one third of those are Network Rail employees, while two thirds are working for contractors and sub-contractors and that can range from everyone from Balfour Beatty to a one-man band. That's where you get problems - Network Rail don't know who does what."

He said that, in pre-privatisation days, maintenance workers and points operators had their own stretch of line on which they worked, which kept tracks under tight vigil.

He added: "I've worked on points all my life and years ago you had local people and if you didn't know who someone was, you could challenge them. Now if you challenge someone, they take umbrage. It's the norm not to know who's there."

Network Rail said it had restored the "section gang" structure after taking over the network from Railtrack in 2002. A spokesman for the privately owned company added that the industry's safety record was "much better" than it was during the British Rail era.

However, Roger Ford, industry and technical editor at Modern Railways, said the circumstances behind the Grayrigg crash appeared to be worse than a similar incident at Potters Bar in Hertfordshire in 2002, when a set of points maintained by private contractors derailed a passenger train and killed seven.

At Grayrigg, one of three stretcher bars used to keep rails apart at a points intersection was missing and two were fractured. Furthermore, bolts used to secure the lock bar, which detects if rails are in the correct position, were not in place.

A visual inspection of the track by a dedicated signalling and telecoms team, which was supposed to have taken place on February 18, did not appear to have taken place, according to rail accident investigators.

"This is a different magnitude of mistake to the one which caused the crash at Potters Bar, where the points had been wrongly adjusted. At Grayrigg, a part had been taken away altogether, which is a much more serious mistake. Network Rail were scheduled to carry out a visual inspection of the track at crash site on February 18, but I understand it never happened.

"Apparently, of the four stretcher bars at the site, three were unbolted and one was missing altogether. A visual inspection would have picked up a missing stretcher bar, although we do not know the condition of the stretcher bars immediately before the accident."

Mr Ford added that restoration of the section gang structure would take time to bed down because the Railtrack era had seen work teams broken up and moved. .

Peter Rayner, a rail safety expert, said the Rail Accident Investigation Branch report indicated that the system was still suffering from the backwash of the Railtrack era, when thousands of contractors worked on the network and sometimes up to seven companies had responsibility over one section of track.

Mr Rayner added: "These points should have been locked in the safe position. It is an indication of poor maintenance and fragmentation of the system.

"All these sub-contractors have been brought back inside [Network Rail] but taking it back inside has demonstrably failed ... It's sheer incompetence. It would appear to be a case of staff who are not properly supervised and trained. The problem is that Network Rail have taken it back in-house, but they haven't changed it back from a contractor culture."

Network Rail admitted the crash had been caused by maintenance failures, and apologised unreservedly "to all the people affected by the failure of the infrastructure." John Armitt, Network Rail chief executive, said the company would leave "no stone unturned" in its search for the facts which lay behind the derailment.

Another rail consultant, with a lifetime of experience on the railways, said: "In the public service ethos I grew up with in British Rail, you did the job you learned.

"My heart would like to say it's to do with the changed culture, but my head says it's that somebody didn't do his job ... I can only assume there was a failure of the track inspection." But he said there were cultural problems caused by the numbers of contractors involved, which had created an ethos of "it's him, not me."

A former Railtrack employee said he saw the problems setting in when Railtrack took over. "Railtrack were guilty of getting rid of all the engineers who were seen as costly and a lot of us got disillusioned with the people making the decisions and the non-railway people brought in. There was a period when the permanent way workforce used to keep bits of railway close to hand for repairing the track, but Railtrack had a massive drive to remove it because it cost money," he added. "In the American term, they sweated the asset, and there were too many corners cut."

The Grayrigg accident came as the government prepares to outline its vision for the rail network between 2009 and 2014. Prior to last week, the big issue was getting enough seats to cope with demand. Now safety is back on the agenda.

Posted on 9:45 AM | Permalink

Daily News: March 03, 2007
SOSTHENES MWITA, Tabora

THE Tanzanian Prime Minister, Mr Edward Lowassa, has ordered the police and Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) to make an exhaustive investigation that would lead to the arrest of the vandals, who sabotaged the Central Railway Line in Tabora last Tuesday, causing a train accident that injured 71 passengers, 19 of them seriously.

PRIME Minister Edward Lowassa talks to people at the scene of the train accident, at Cheyo B, in Tabora yesterday. (Photo by Hilary Bujiku)

Addressing a small crowd of Tabora residents at the railway station here after inspecting the wreckage of the train engine and four third class cabins, Mr Lowassa ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Saidi Mwema, and the TRC Director-General, Mr Linford Mboma, to ensure the vandals are arrested and charged soon.

Earlier, the Tabora Regional Commissioner, Mr Abedi Mwinyimsa, told the premier that 52 accident victims had been treated for minor injuries and discharged. The 19 victims, who suffered serious injuries, would remain in at the Kitete Regional Hospital for further observation. There were no fatalities in the accident.

The RC said one of the victims, Michael Mwakatobe (21), is in critical condition and was expected to be flown to Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam yesterday for special treatment.

Michael had just finished Form Six at Tabora Boys' Secondary School and was heading home in Dar es Salaam.

Mr Mboma told the premier that the accident caused his corporation a loss of between 60m/- and 70m/-. He showed Mr Lowassa four mangled passenger cabins that were lying on their sides near the now repaired and working railway tracks. One of the cabins tumbled off a bridge where the vandals removed bolts from seven sleepers.

The vandals used a sisal rope to draw the loose tracks back into position in a manner that would deceive the train driver. One track rose two inches higher than the others in order to topple the engine and throw the cabins off the track. Mr Mboma said the driver saw the rope but it was too late to apply the brakes meaningfully.

See also:

TRC to go private any time now

The government said yesterday it will soon hand over the Tanzania Railway Corporation to a private investor.

The announcement comes only two days after a passenger train derailed near Tabora station, injuring 71 people.

Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, who was winding up a five-day tour of Morogoro Region, arrived here yesterday to console the crash victims and assess the damage due to the accident.

Speaking at the scene of the accident, he said the government had finalised all pre-privatisation procedures for the giant corporation.

The Prime Minister added that it was only a matter of time before it was handed over to India`s RITES Company, which has won the respective lease tender.

He said RITES has enormous experience in railway operations because it has been running railway networks in India and Mozambique for years.

"We already have rich experience with some of our privatised institutions or those that have been leased. We should be very careful with contracts attendant or leading up to the privatisation exercise in order to steer clear of problems similar to those we have experienced in the past," noted the Prime Minister.

"We shall lease TRC to the Indian firm for 25 years but we must be careful and satisfy ourselves fully that everything is in order," he added

Speaking about Wednesday's accident, a visibly saddened Lowassa said it threw him into deep grief and sorrow. He hinted that the sad incident was the result of sabotage by elements driven by evil intentions.

"This matter must have been done by people who know TRC's network and operations inside out. Whether they are right inside the corporation or outside it, they must be people who know how to handle or fiddle with the corporation`s facilities and can tighten or loosen bolts," he observed further.

The Prime Minister said planning to kill or injure innocent people was criminal and unacceptable "even if it was the work of disgruntled elements with grudges against the corporation's management".

"What do poor passengers, some of them foreigners and minors, have to do with misunderstandings between the workers and the TRC management?" he asked. Some of the people hurt in the crash were secondary school students and Burundi nationals.

Lowassa ordered Inspector General of Police Said Mwema and the TRC management to track down all those believed or suspected to be behind that incident.

"Police and TRC must work day and night to ensure those vicious people are arrested and brought to justice," he said, adding that the government would not tolerate criminal incidents that unnecessarily cost the nation heavily in human deaths and injuries as well as huge amounts of money in destruction of property.

The Prime Minister ordered TRC Director General Linford Mboma to make a follow-up of TRC employees who could be behind the sabotage.

Nineteen of the people injured in the accident are admitted to the Tabora regional hospital, Kitete.

They include Michael Mwakatobe, who is a condition and is expected to be moved to Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam.

Among the others are Jumanne Fundi, Sudi Juma, Hassan Mohammed, Mohamed Mazinge, Samson Masanja, Nindwa Mnandi, Zawadi Isack of Burundi and Faines Peter.

The others are Kizala Kintu, Neema Yassin, Neema Fanuel, Justa Venance, Victoria Kingozi, Hadija Marwa, Magreth Julius, Magreth Kidana, Veronica Samson and Hamida Ramadhani.

See also:

9 arrested over train accident

Guardian: 2007-03-05
By Lucas Raphael, PST, Tabora

Police in Tabora Region have arrested nine people, including six locomotive drivers, in connection with the sabotaging of a section of the central railway line.

Last week, a passenger train was derailed six kilometers from Tabora Railway Station. The accident led to the injuring of at least 71 people, 15 of them seriously.

A police source, who preferred anonymity, told PST yesterday that the arrested drivers were those under suspension after they were previously suspected of stealing oil from locomotive engines.

Three others, the source hinted, were nabbed near the scene of incident, being two men and a woman.

Due to security reasons, no more details, including names of those arrested, have been released so far.

Unknown people unscrewed bolts from a railway section of the central line at Cheyo area in Tabora Town.

Meanwhile, police in collaboration with Tanzania Peoples Defense Forces (TPDF) soldiers were questioning senior officials of the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) in connection with the train accident. The questioning took place yesterday.

Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, who visited the scene of accident last Friday, ordered the law enforcing organs to leave no stone unturned until the culprits were nabbed.

Reliable information reaching PST indicated that the TRC officers were questioned for at least three hours each in the office of the Tabora Regional Police Commander, Muhud Mshihiri.

The information also revealed that others were questioned for up to 15 hours.

The accident, estimated to have caused a 70m/- loss, forced the Premier to cut short his official tour of Morogoro Region so that he could rush to the scene of accident.

Posted on 9:34 AM | Permalink

Toronto.ctv.ca: Mar. 1 2007

A CN freight train carrying 50 containers has derailed in Pickering, Ont. (CTV.ca / Ken Regular)
The train carried hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid.

Officials from the Transportation Safety Board are investigating at the scene of the CN derailment in Pickering, Ont. (CTV.ca / Ken Regular)

Crews cleaning up a massive CN train derailment in Pickering are hoping to have the mess cleared by Friday morning.

The morning accident caused serious delays for GO Transit commuters Thursday afternoon. Buses were dispatched to transport passengers between Oshawa and Pickering.

Shortly after 11 a.m., a freight train carrying 50 containers derailed between Brock and Westney roads, spilling two hazardous chemicals.

But police and transportation officials were quick to say there was no immediate safety concerns after packages containing hydrochloric and phosphoric acids leaked.

Thirty-two cars derailed, CTV's Jim Junkin reported from the scene. They lay strewn across the train tracks and in a nearby ditch.

The accident, which happened south of Highway 401, severed a one-inch natural gas line that ran beside the track. The line was quickly capped, police said.

No one was injured and an evacuation was not needed. Four crew members were on board at the time, Junkin reported.

While most of the containers were carrying general goods, two contained acids, one had batteries and another contained corrosive liquids.

Officials from the Transportation Safety Board are investigating. They are trying to determine what caused the derailment.

Police sealed off the area and said the situation was under control shortly after the accident.

See also:

CN Rail derailment disrupts Toronto area trains

Reuters: Mar 1, 2007

TORONTO - A freight train derailed on Canadian National Railway Co.'s (CNR.TO: Quote, Profile , Research) main line just east of Toronto on Thursday, fouling commuter and passenger rail service just as a storm hit the region.

Canadian National said 32 cars of a 105-car eastbound intermodal train went off the tracks at Pickering Junction, on the railroad's line between Toronto and Montreal. There were no reports of injuries.

The cause of the accident was under investigation.

Two of the 50 containers on the derailed cars were carrying dangerous materials, including batteries, but there were no reports of leaks, CN spokesman Mark Hallman said.

Commuter rail operator GO Transit said one of the tracks it uses remained open, but that service would be delayed as trains slowed to pass the accident site, which was not expected to be repaired until Friday afternoon.

VIA Rail intercity passenger service between Toronto and Montreal and Ottawa was also disrupted as passengers were bused around the accident site.

The accident happened as the trains on VIA Rail's busiest route were already running at near-capacity because of a storm that disrupted highway flow and air service.

"It's just compounded what the weather was doing," Via Rail spokeswoman Catherine Kalousky said.

The derailment also comes as Canadian National, Canada's largest railway, was trying to clear a backlog of freight caused by a two-week strike by freight train conductors and switch crews.

Posted on 8:39 AM | Permalink

CNEWS: March 2, 2007

VICTORIA (CP) - Transport Canada is calling for better safety practices at CN Rail after a series of derailments, including major toxic spills in B.C. and Alberta.

A derailment in early August 2005 saw a bunker fuel spill in Lake Wabamum in Alberta, while two days later, a crash on the old B.C. Rail line killed thousands of fish in the Cheakamus River near Squamish, B.C. In a two-part audit of CN safety policies, Transport Canada called for a comprehensive review of CN (TSX:CNR) safety issues by the railway's senior management.

It recommended better day-to-day monitoring of safety risks and improved training for workers.

It also found a disconnect between senior management and front-line employees in understanding the management's commitment to safety.

In the second phase of the report, Transport Canada noted high safety defects on freight cars and that in some cases engineers weren't complying with inspections, testing and maintenance.

It said the majority of the issues did not pose an immediate threat to safety and on their own, would likely not have led to derailments.

However, six safety issues were said to be of "sufficient concern."

These include:

-Two concerning the accuracy of train journals;

-The high number of cars with safety defects found in Prince George, Quesnel and Williams Lake terminals.

The report said it was satisfied with the company's corrective plan.

A spokesman for CN Rail said the reports are dated and don't show the changes that have happened in the company since they were completed.

The first phase of the report was conducted between August and September 2005. The second part was done between October and November of the same year.

"It was a snapshot, it was conducted in late 2005," said Jim Feeny. "A lot of things have changed since and the things that have changed have produced significant improvements."

He said some of those changes include an increase in inspections, more training and new detection systems to the tracks.

In a statement, B.C. Opposition transportation critic David Chudnovsky criticized the Liberals government for selling B.C. Rail to CN in 2004.

"The record of the B.C. Liberal government on rail safety is one of uncertainty and inaction," said Chudnovsky.

See also:

Audit reveals safety problems at CN Rail

CBC News: March 2, 2007

A safety audit of CN Rail prompted by two train accidents found a long list of problems, including faulty equipment, improper safety practices and a high rate of safety defects on locomotives.

The audit was conducted in 2005, completed a year ago and released Friday after CBC News filed an access to information request. The audit states CN has fully co-operated with Transport Canada and has improved some practices but that it must move further in that direction.

Transport Canada made 11 recommendations for change, eight of which, it said, the railway has already moved to address.

Transport Canada launched the safety audit after two train wrecks in Western Canada in 2005. In the first wreck, a CN train jumped the rails and spilled oil into Lake Wabamun in Alberta. Two days later, a second train plunged into the Cheakamus Canyon in B.C. and spilled caustic soda into the river.

The two-phase report reveals a number of problems with both targeted safety inspections and with CN's safety management practices.

In the first phase of the report, investigators found a number of "safety defects" in CN's equipment. These defects could cause a derailment, personal injury or property/environment damage.

For example, auditors found a "significantly high rate" of safety defects (54 per cent) on the locomotives they inspected with problems ranging from brake gear defects to too much oil accumulated on locomotives and fuel tanks.

The audit also recorded a number of different system and brake gear defects and defects with the cars themselves, including 27 occurrences of an "unsecured plug type door."

Derailment risk

"The loss of this door on a train in transit has in the past caused the loss of life," the report says, adding the problem causes a medium to high risk for derailment.

The inspection also found a large number of locations where track conditons did not comply with track safety rules.

Auditors identified issues relating to rail defects ranging from damaged rail to rail wear. There were also a number of cases of missing bolts and cracked splice bars.

Train crossings posed another problem. Around 26 per cent of the crossings inspected had inadequate sightlines — the majority at unprotected crossings. There were also problems with surface conditions.

The audit also found more than a third of the locomotives inspected violated parts of the labour code regarding trains. Problems included out of date fire extinguishers, incomplete first aid kits and missing protective covers on electrical equipment.

The second phase of the report found many front-line employees say they feel pressured to get the job done. It also said current practices allow locomotives with safety defects to continue in service.

But CN rejected that allegation. In an email to Transport Canada obtained by CBC News, a CN official said the report included a large number of inaccurate or misleading findings.

The official blamed that on what he calls the unstructured manner in which employees were questioned.

See also:

NDP probes political side of BC Rail deal

Black Press: Mar 02 2007
By TOM FLETCHER

NDP critics have used the latest court filings in the criminal case that prompted the 2003 police raid on the B.C. legislature to question the government about political involvement in the bidding for BC Rail.

Three ministerial aides from the finance and transportation ministries were fired and face charges including fraud, breach of trust and accepting a benefit in connection with the sale of BC Rail assets. Lawyers for Udhe Singh (Dave) Basi, Bobby Singh Virk and Aneal Basi filed an application this week for disclosure of more documents, dealing with the sale of the Roberts Bank port subdivision and freight division of the railway.

CN Rail won the bidding to take over the operation of BC Rail in 2003, beating out U.S.-based Omnitrax. Virk and Dave Basi are accused of leaking confidential information about the deal. Kevin Falcon, who took over as transportation minister in January of 2004, terminated subsequent bidding for the Roberts Bank spur line after allegations of wrongdoing surfaced in the case.

“The former finance minister, Gary Collins, told this house that his meetings with Omnitrax representatives had nothing to do with the sell-off of BC Rail or the Roberts Bank spur line,” NDP attorney general critic Leonard Krog told the legislature Tuesday. “New allegations cast these assertions into serious doubt. The allegations suggest that representatives of the Liberal cabinet and caucus set up the Roberts Bank spur line as a consolation prize for failed bidders.”

Attorney General Wally Oppal replied that it would be inappropriate for him to discuss the case while it is before the courts.

NDP leader Carole James and economic development critic Jenny Kwan asked why the government would withhold documents demanded by defence lawyers. Oppal replied that the appointment of a special prosecutor in the case is done specifically to keep politicians from being involved in cases involving the government.

“It’s not for the government to produce the documents,” Oppal told reporters after question period. “They’re not in our possession. All the documents were seized by the RCMP, presumably, and they would be in the possession of the special prosecutor.”

In the legislature, Krog noted that no politicians are under suspicion in the case. He said there was a cabinet committee established “to ensure the best deal for British Columbians” in the BC Rail privatization, a committee that included current Education Minister Shirley Bond, Agriculture Minister Pat Bell and Energy Minister Richard Neufeld.

“Did that committee ever discuss the potential of the deal collapsing if only one bidder remained?” Krog asked.

Oppal again refused to answer because the case is still before the B.C. Supreme Court.

Posted on 8:02 AM | Permalink

News & Star: 02/03/2007

CUMBRIAN officials from the RMT railway workers union claim that Network Rail struggled to clear a backlog of maintenance work in the county in the weeks before last Friday’s derailment.

The union spoke out as the disaster put the spotlight on safety across the railway network.

Alan Johnson, chairman of the Carlisle branch of the RMT, whose members include the track maintenance and inspection staff who work in the Grayrigg area, said Network Rail, which has responsibility for the track, had cut maintenance by 30 per cent over the last year.

Officials at the organisation have defended their safety regime, but Mr Johnson said: “Network Rail have been going through all areas to see what maintenance needed to be done and three weeks ago they sent a hit-squad to Carlisle because it was one of the worst areas for maintenance.

“There was a backlog of maintenance work that needed to be done and that was because of the number of defects that been found and not touched. That’s happened because we just haven’t got the bodies to do the job.”

It has also emerged that a Network Rail inspection train took pictures of the track at the crash site just two days before the derailment.

Mr Johnson went on to claim that the current Network Rail track inspection regime is not sufficient to identify and address problems of the kind that may have caused Friday’s crash.

The company has confirmed that it carries out weekly line inspections, but Mr Johnson said that the increased volume of rail traffic, together with the increased speed and weight of trains meant lines should be inspected two or three times a week.

He said: “We’ve got high-speed trains, an increase in passenger numbers, increased train weights, yet we now have fewer track inspections.

“You don’t know when a defect is going to come up, whether it’s vandalism or something else, so weekly inspections are not enough. The track should be patrolled two or three times a week. I’ve been in the rail industry for 30 years, and when I started in 1977 the track was patrolled on four days in every week.

“Any defects were reported back to a sub-inspector who arrange to have them sorted out with other staff. That happened throughout the entire rail network. Then they reduced it to three times a week, then two times a week, and just after privatisation it went down to once a week.

“Since then, speeds have gone up 25 per cent and engineering trains which ran at 45mph are now running at 60mph and the weight of trains has gone up around 600 tons to as much as 1,800 tons.

“The number of trains has also increased. So why when the infrastructure is getting such a hammering are they still only patrolling the line once a week?”

Kate Snowden, of Network Rail, suggested that now was not the time to be discussing the track inspection regime, but she added: “We have a very rigorous maintenance regime, which includes a weekly [line] inspection where inspectors walk up and down the track to check that everything is as it should be.”

She said that Network Rail takes safety very seriously. Other aspects of the maintenance regime include the new measurement train; monthly maintenance checks; a quarterly inspection; and an annual inspection.

Network Rail yesterday refused to comment on the claims they were struggling to deal with a backlog of work and that maintenance had been cut by 30 per cent – elements which could form part of the inquiry into the accident.

Posted on 4:21 PM | Permalink