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

Scotsman: 30 September 2008

COMMUTERS across Scotland face disruption on the railways next week after signal staff called a strike over working hours.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union said nearly 450 of its members at Network Rail would walk out for 24 hours from noon on Tuesday, 7 October.

A second 24-hour strike has been called for noon on Thursday, 9 October.

A signallers' strike in March last year severely disrupted First ScotRail services, with no trains running north of Stirling and few after early evening.

The union said signallers had voted more than two to one in favour of the action, and would also start an overtime ban next Tuesday.

Bob Crow, its general-secretary, said: "Our representatives have spent the last two years trying to get Network Rail in Scotland to abide by agreements on transfers and rostering and our members have made it clear that they have had enough.

"They are determined to put a stop to a practice that undermines their working conditions and any chance of a healthy work-life balance."

A Network Rail spokesman said: "There is no justification for a strike by our Scottish signallers at this time and we are disappointed and bemused by the RMT's decision."

First ScotRail said it hoped to run as many trains as possible.

Posted on 9:10 AM | Permalink

Financial Times: September 30 2008
By Robert Wright, Transport Correspondent

The huge yellow crane straddling the tracks at one of Norfolk Southern Railway's container-handling yards works steadily along the train. It lifts each of the two containers stacked on each railcar and places them on to a waiting flatbed truck trailer, ready to be driven off.

Business at the yard in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania remains steady in spite of the downturn in demand for the consumer goods often carried in containers. Falling overall demand has been partially offset by the high fuel prices and driver shortages facing the US trucking industry.

Lines such as JB Hunt, the US's largest trucking company, save money by bringing containers to rail facilities such as Harrisburg for their journeys' long-haul legs rather than hauling them by truck. As a result, revenues in Norfolk Southern's Intermodal arm - its container-hauling business - were up 11 per cent year on year to $532m in the three months to June 30.

There is even more robust activity at the Lamberts Point coal port that NS, the fourth-largest US rail operator, operates in Virginia. Long lines of coal trucks wait at the port for loading on to ships. Demand for coal - including the 20m tonnes of Pennsyvlanian and West Virginian coal exported through Lamberts Point annually - gave NS coal revenues for the second quarter this year up 33 per cent on the same quarter of 2007.

The less-severe-than-expected impact of reduced US consumer spending and strong growth in bulk commodities have together helped the seven large US and Canadian railways to withstand the economic slowdown better than any previous such crisis for several decades.

For the second quarter this year, NS, one of two leading US operators east of the River Mississippi, reported net income up 15 per cent year on year to $453m on rail operating revenues up 16 per cent to $2.76bn. Union Pacific, the biggest operator west of the Mississippi, reported second-quarter net income up 19 per cent year on year to $531m on operating revenues up 13 per cent to $4.57bn.

Anthony Hatch, an independent, New York-based rail analyst, says most leading groups beat market expectations in results in the second quarter. They were among the few groups in industrial North America to have done so.

The sector's strength has allowed it to raise prices. NS's average revenue per carload of coal in the second quarter was up nearly 30 per cent year on year to $1,729; intermodal yields rose 9.6 per cent to $656.

James Squires, NS's chief financial officer, gives several reasons for the improvement, including the industry's improving service.

But a key factor has been rationalisation. The industry's liberalisation in 1980 permitted operators to close lines and tear up unused tracks, saving millions of dollars in maintenance costs.

There has also been consolidation among operators, which has allowed elimination of underused routes. "Capacity is still, on a comparative basis historically, relatively constrained," Mr Squires says. "That leads to better pricing and financial performance even through a downturn."

Thanks to the price increases and volume growth, most large US rail groups for the first time in decades earn returns from investments higher than their cost of capital. As a result, railways are among the few US infrastructure owners investing heavily in increasing capacity. NS is still, for example, working on the $151m Heartland Corridor project to clear its route from the Hampton Roads ports in Virginia to Chicago to carry containers stacked two-high, as already happens on other parts of the network.

The work - which, because of its potential to remove trucks from roads, is being part-funded by state and federal governments - should hugely improve the competitiveness of the Heartland route for container shipments to the Midwest.

Mr Squires accepts that rail's profitability and investment might not survive if the slowdown becomes very severe. "If there's a long, deep recession, things are not going to go as well for us, even with the advantages and benefits we have," he says.

But NS is in a very different position from the years following its 1997 acquisition of part of Conrail, another leading railway, when its priority was to cut its debt.

Now, says Mr Squires, NS is inclined to borrow so that its investments need not stop. "That gives you a lot more flexibility - including the ability to maintain growth-oriented investments which traditionally have been cut at the first sign of a downturn."

Posted on 8:14 AM | Permalink

EIRO: 29 September, 2008
Kirsti Nurmela - PRAXIS Centre for Policy Studies

The state-owned Estonian Railways has announced that it is to reduce its workforce to 1,850 employees by the end of 2008.

This is the second large redundancy measure announced by the company in the last year. The sectoral trade union representing employees in the company warned that the move could be detrimental to safety in railway transport due to a large increase in workloads for the remaining employees. As a result, new industrial action is being planned for the autumn of 2008.
Background

In 2007, the Estonian rail transport company Estonian Railways (Eesti Raudtee) experienced difficulties due to a rapid decline in transport volume in May of that year. As a result, many employees were sent on partially paid leave. However, the company was still unable to restore its initial volume and announced that it would cut about 200 jobs by the end of 2007 (see also ERM factsheet). Even though many of the dismissed employees quickly found new jobs in other companies due to the high labour shortages during that period, media reports highlighted the difficulties faced by middle-aged women living in the capital city of Tallinn and men from the eastern Estonian city of Narva in finding an equivalent paying job.

On 20 September 2007, a picket was held by the Estonian Railworkers’ Trade Union (Eesti Raudteelaste Ametiühing, ERAÜ) to draw the public’s and government’s attention to the problems in rail transport and Estonian transport in general. Such problems include the need to restore the dramatically reduced commodity flows and to hold negotiations for that purpose with the government in order to maintain jobs in Estonia’s railway sector; at the same time, the impact of reduced levels of railway transport on the Estonian economy in general needs to be addressed. Through its protest action, ERAÜ aimed to send the message that redundancies do not help to solve problems in the long term. Trade union representativeness in the railway sector is high at an estimated 65%: about 75% of employees at Estonian Railways are members of a trade union.

New redundancies announced in 2008

In June 2008, Estonian Railways announced another redundancy plan which would result in the dismissal of several hundred employees by the end of the year. The company attributed the move to reduced volumes of oil transport on the one hand and to the automation of several activities on the other. According to the company, most of the redundancies will occur in the south Estonian region owing to the increased proportion of automated activities in this area as a result of capital repairs. Thus, due to the regional concentration of redundancies, the impact on the regional employment situation may be more serious than that resulting from the redundancies announced by the company in 2007.

On 12 June 2008, ERAÜ organised a second picket in front of government buildings in protest against the new redundancies. The trade union also demanded that the government put in place a railway development plan, which should address the problems in railway transport and provide a more stable environment in the sector.

At the end of July, a more explicit statement was made by Estonian Railways announcing the reduction of about 200 jobs at the company by the end of 2008, thus reducing the workforce to 1,850 employees (see also ERM factsheet). On 1 September 2007, the company employed a total of 2,303 employees. Thus, the total number of job cuts announced by the company will amount to 453 redundancies overall by the end of 2008. This includes both the number of persons made redundant and those who have left the company by their own accord.

Trade union and employee position

The Chair of ERAÜ, Oleg Tšubarov, has proposed that Estonian Railways and the government should make efforts to save the company by negotiating with Russia to at least partly restore the initial commodity flows in the country’s railway industry and by providing state subsidies for railway passenger transport (see also regarding public transport subsidies).

For their part, the remaining employees at Estonian Railways have warned that they are at risk of an overly large increase in workloads and responsibilities due to the planned job cuts; as a result, safety in railway transport may be affected. Mr Tšubarov has added that due to the reduced number of staff, there will be an insufficient number of employees to substitute those on sick leave or holidays. However, Estonian Railways insists that safety will not be affected as the job cuts mainly relate to positions which have become automated.

As it stands, trade unions in the railway sector are preparing to take further industrial action during the autumn of 2008 in protest against the planned redundancies.

Government response

To address these issues at government level, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (Majandus- ja Kommunikatsiooniministeerium, MKM) has formed an expert group on railways, which aims to develop proposals to increase the competitiveness of Estonia’s transport sector. Moreover, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications, Juhan Parts, has stated that the personnel policy in the sector is to be regulated by agreements between the employer and employees and thus that no government intervention is planned in this respect.

Posted on 9:22 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 29 2008

RMT demands re-instatement of victimised rep, no cuts in signals maintenance and no imposed rosters

AROUND 2,500 Tube infrastructure workers at Metronet are to be balloted for industrial action over breakdowns in industrial relations following the victimisation of an RMT safety rep, dangerous plans to reduce signals maintenance and attempts to impose rosters.

RMT, the Tube’s biggest union, is to ballot its entire membership in Metronet after the crudely engineered suspension of experienced health and safety rep Andy Littlechild for attempting to uphold the company’s own health and safety policy (see notes below).

The union will also ballot Metronet signals staff if the company does not withdraw proposed cuts in signals maintenance and recognise that rosters are subject to negotiation.

“Andy Littlechild has been fitted up on a bogus charge that would embarrass the Spanish Inquisition, and to add insult to injury he was thrown out of his depot at 3am with no means of getting home,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“Andy has spent more than two years trying to get Metronet’s official safety policy applied, and it is the management that has brazenly ignored that policy that should be disciplined.

“Andy’s diligence has clearly upset someone, because they have gone to the trouble of unilaterally altering a risk assessment in further breach of agreements with the sole aim of entrapping him, and it is as clear as day that he has been set up.

“Industrial relations on the signals side have also plummeted in recent months, and we now have a management throwing weeks of patient talks out of the window and attempting to impose rosters and transfers which our members are telling us are unacceptable.

“But most worrying is the company’s intention to halve the frequency of signalling maintenance and move to what it calls risk-based maintenance – something that even Metronet managers have admitted privately is simply about saving money.

“The company says it needs to divert staff for an urgent survey of signals cabling that is half a century old, but it must be unacceptable to do that at the expense of basic maintenance.

“We know that it will undermine safety as well as our members’ jobs, and we have made it clear that we will ballot all our signals-side members for action unless these proposals are withdrawn,” Bob Crow said.

ends

Notes to editors: Andy Littlechild is a safety rep in Metronet Rail Infrastructure Services, which does heavy maintenance and track renewals. He was suspended on September 15 after a ‘fact-finding’ meeting that pre-judged him guilty of refusing to wear a hard hat where one was required. He was told to leave the premises at 3am with no means of getting home and banned from talking to any of his colleagues.

For more than two years MRIS has ignored a central plank of Metronet’s health and safety policy, based on the ‘hierarchy of control’, under which the first principle is to eliminate a particular hazard, failing which attempts should be made to change the way in which a job is carried out or the tools with which it is done, while the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), including hard hats, is regarded under the policy as a last resort – indeed ‘PPE is the last resort’ is a Metronet slogan.

However, MRIS has insisted on a blanket policy of hard hats being worn on all sites at all times, undermining the company policy. As health and safety rep Andy sought to bring MRIS in compliance with the Metronet policy, but it maintained the blanket instruction on hard hats and continued to threaten staff, even when they were working on sites where the risk assessment clearly did not require hard hats.

The problem was raised at every level in the company, and the chief operating officer confirmed that the Metronet policy should be adhered to. But the MRIS blanket instruction was not withdrawn, and Andy was threatened with being sent off site, despite producing documentary proof that his own work site did not require the wearing of hard hats.

Andy sought meetings with MRIS management to out the problem, but none took place, and Andy and colleagues at his work site continued to observe the Metronet policy.

Finally, a senior manager informed Andy that he had unilaterally ‘reviewed’ the risk assessment of Andy’s site and made it a hard-hat area – despite it being company policy that risk assessments, particularly on contentious issues, should involve the health and safety rep.

Andy advised the manager that he would continue to work to the approved risk assessment already in place, and that he would be available to undertake a review with him, in accordance with agreements.

When Andy went to work as usual on September 12 but was sent back to his depot, despite once more explaining the situation to the upgrade auditor who had happened to arrive on site

The following Monday Andy was summoned to a ‘fact-finding’ meeting with no notice (although the manager had known about it for several hours), at which his union rep was prevented from speaking.

At around 3am he was given a letter telling him he was suspended for refusing to wear PPE as required at a place of work – pre-judging a hearing at which the central issue would be whether PPE was required to be worn.

He was required to leave the premises at 03:00 with no means of getting home, and told he must have no contact with any of the workmates for whom he acts as health and safety rep.

Posted on 12:17 PM | Permalink

Gloucester Citizen: September 27, 2008

BUSINESSES are being called on to add their clout to a campaign to improve rail services between Swindon and Kemble.

Gloucestershire First, the countywide economic partnership, has appealed to private sector companies to back the Gloucestershire County Council push to double the track.

Network Rail has supported the campaign, but currently the Office of Rail Regulation says it will not look at installing the track until at least 2015.

Gloucestershire First says the single line is bad for business.

Spokesman Tony Haynes said the line was reduced in 1968, and had caused many missed appointments and lost business opportunities.

Gloucestershire First campaign leader Catherine Farrell said: "The single line holds back economic development in the county.

"It reduces our ability to compete for inward investment with other parts of the UK and overseas locations.

"It's tough at the best of times to persuade companies to come here, establish a base and create new jobs.

"We urge other companies to let us have their views as the lobbying for improvements continues."

Cheltenham Borough Council has also pledged its support for proposed improvements to the track on the Kemble-Swindon route.

Peter Foyle, from commercial property agents Bruton Knowles, said: "In working to encourage companies to come to Gloucestershire, restrictions caused by this line are frequently raised as a reason for rejecting the county."

Keith Whitelock, CEO at Group 4 Technology said: "This problem is having a significant effect on the ability of good quality candidates living outside the area to establish an efficient and timely commute."

More than 40 companies have responded to the partnership's call for support.

Between them they employ 9,000 people and have a turnover of £2,273 million.

Their views have now been sent to transport minister Tom Harris and the Government Office for Rail Regulation.

Council leader Steve Jordan, said: "I wrote to both the Office of the Rail Regulator and Rosie Winterton, minister of state for transport supporting the doubling of track on the Kemble-Swindon route.

"The Government has now replied to say they are likely to change the criteria for judging schemes. I hope this is good news for the Kemble-Swindon plans, but we will have to wait until October for the final decision by the ORR."

Businesses can give their support by contacting: Catherine on 01242 864194 or email catherine.farrell@glosfirst.co.uk

Posted on 11:57 AM | Permalink

Xinhua: Sept. 26

BERLIN -- German state-owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) said Friday it will partly privatize itself from Oct. 27, offering nearly one quarter of the company to investors.

German investors will be able to bid from Oct. 13 onwards for the 24.9 percent stake in a company named DB Mobility Logistics AG. An international road show explaining the deal to institutional investors begins the same day, according to DPA.

The proceeds from the sale will be shared by the German federal government and the rail company itself under a political compromise forged earlier this year in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government.

The listing date will be in the current financial crisis, which surprised the market. However, both German government and DB doesn't favor delay.

Merkels' deputy spokesman Thomas Steg said Friday that privatization is a complicated process, the timetable can't be altered according to "short-term, opportunistic considerations."

DB's Chief Executive Hartmut Mehdorn said he was confidence about the timetable and have held talks with potential investors. Mehdorn is chief of both the subsidiary to be privatized and the parent company which will own 75.1 percent of the unit.

On Thursday, according to the International Herald Tribune newspaper Russian Railways wanted to acquire 5 percent of the German company in the privatization.

The stock of DB Mobility Logistics is to be traded on the prime standard market at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. DB said it would also offer the stock to private investors in Japan, but would not make any offer in the United States before Germany's BaFin regulatory agency approves it.

The financial crisis still affected the value of the privatizing stock package, only months ago, it was widely seen as worth up to 8 billion euros (about 11.2 billion U.S. dollars), while at present analysts expected it may raise less than 5 billion euros (7 billion dollars), according to Financial Times Deutschland.

DB Mobility Logistics has 178,000 employees, while the rest of DB has 63,000 staff responsible for tracks, stations, land and other activities. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.7143 euro)

See also:

German state railway IPO to go ahead

Financial Times: September 27 2008
By Gerrit Wiesmann in Frankfurt

German state railway Deutsche Bahn said yesterday its rail-operating unit DB Mobility and Logistics (DBML) will be floated on the stock market on October 27, a decision intended to show the group and the government will not be blown off course by global financial turmoil.

Deutsche Bahn and Hartmut Mehdorn, DBML chief executive, said discussions with investors had rendered "a good deal of positive feed-back". The company would now start the final phase of the sale of 24.9 per cent of DBML stock.

People familiar with the initial public offering plan said the government was sticking to its goal of raising €5bn-€6bn ($7bn-$8.75bn), making it the largest German privatisation since the sale of a stake in Deutsche Post eight years ago.

Berlin has earmarked two-thirds of the proceeds to provide Deutsche Bahn with new capital and money to invest in its network, with the other third destined for the federal budget. The government has resisted suggestions its price expectations are too high given the level of financial turbulence.

People familiar with the process said some of the banks running the offer - Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS - had pressed Berlin to make do with less than €5bn.

Reports of pricing jitters have caused annoyance in Berlin, leading officials to remind the banks the government could yet cut the amount of shares on offer or postpone the privatisation if the banks were to feel un-able to reach price targets.

Finance minister Peer Steinbrück and his officials have toured the world to entice investors - including sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, China and Singapore - to sign up to the sale, with interest reported to have been intense.

Berlin wants to allocate stakes in Deutsche Bahn - no more than 1-2 per cent - to favoured sovereign funds.

Berlin remains sceptical about selling a stake to Russian state railway RZhD. However, officials did say a share-swap between DBML and RZhD, which has expressed interest in a 5 per cent stake, would be possible at some stage.

But with banks due to complete a first set of analysts' reports, and DBML executives preparing for a road show from October 13, one person involved said Berlin would have to change its price expectations: "The world changed last week."

See also:

German rail operator says IPO on track

The Associated Press: September 26, 2008

BERLIN: Deutsche Bahn AG, Germany's state-own national railroad, said Friday it plans to launch a partial IPO by the end of October despite the uncertainty that has seized global markets since a financial meltdown in the U.S.

The Berlin-based rail operator's chief executive Hartmut Mehdorn dismissed critics who said the initial public offering's timing was unrealistic given the market shakiness of recent days.

"Despite the tough situation on the international financial markets, we are heading with confidence into the hot phase of the initial public offering," he said in a statement. "We have had a welcome number of positive responses to initial talks with potential investors."

The government has estimated that DB Mobility's IPO, set for Oct. 27, could raise some €5 billion (US$7.32 billion), a significant part of which would go to upgrading Deutsche Bahn's infrastructure, including its rail network, and boost capital reserves, too.

Mobility is Deutsche Bahn's freight and logistics division.

Posted on 11:39 AM | Permalink

News & Star: 27 September 2008
James Reay

It beggars belief that Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers and her party’s leader, David Cameron, have had the temerity to come up with plans for a radical shake-up of Britain’s rail industry.

It is sheer audacity for a political party which has reduced an efficient railway system into a chaotic shambles to state that the network needs upgrading to 21st century requirements.

During my working life on the railway I lost count of the number of redundancies suffered due to Conservative government rail policies and am saddened by the demise of the rail network.

The present railway workers do their best, but the complexity which results from having over 30 private companies running the show is ludicrous – and has been a disaster inflicted on the British travelling public.

British Rail operated 365 days a year. Passengers and goods were transported to all parts of Britain, and major engineering works finished on the scheduled time.

Despite that, the industry was still made the butt of comedians’ jokes who appeared in music halls and on the television.

However, eventually British Rail began to modernise: steam locos were withdrawn, the electrified West Coast Main Line was built, and telephone inquiry call centres established in most counties of Britain. These days anyone making rail inquires by telephone, are connected to a call centre in India.

Conservative governments have privatised Britain’s strategic industries.

The British electorate should have the common sense not to give the Conservative Party a second chance because I dread the despondency of the nation, if a future Tory government decides to fully privatise the NHS.

David Cameron would only get my vote if tiddlywinks and darts are included in the 2012 Olympics, and Mr Cameron swore an affidavit to renationalise the railways.

Posted on 12:28 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 24 2008

Celebration to be held in Kennington Park, London, from noon on Sunday, September 28

FRIENDS, FAMILY and comrades of Greg Tucker, the RMT activist and socialist who died in April, are to gather in the Flower Garden at Kennington Park in south London on Sunday, September 28 to celebrate and commemorate his life.

Greg, who died in April, a year after being diagnosed with throat cancer, was the long-standing secretary of RMT’s train-crew and shunting grades’ conference, and secretary of the Waterloo branch for the last 15 years.

Greg’s long-time partner, former Lambeth Council leader Joan Twelves, alongside whom he served as a councillor between 1986 and 1994, will scatter his ashes, and a bench will be dedicated to Greg by John McDonnell MP.

A tree and roses will also be planted by family members and friends in the park, which Greg lived next to for 28 years – and which is also famed as the site of the Chartists ‘Monster Rally’ of 250,000 people seeking political rights in 1848.

RMT President John Leach will preside over the celebration, which will also feature the singing of the Strawberry Thieves Socialist Choir and banners and flags of fellow trade unionists and socialists from around the country.

Posted on 4:22 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 24 2008

WORKERS AT Tyne and Wear Metro have been threatened with disciplinary action for talking to anyone outside the organisation about the company’s plans to privatise the network’s operations and infrastructure maintenance.

Campaigners to protest at transport authority meeting on Thursday morning

Unions and campaigners have protested that an edict from Nexus that employees should not talk to ‘third parties’ about the Metro re-invigoration programme is an attack on democratic rights that bans staff even talking to their MPs or councillors about the issues involved.

The ban comes on the heels of an opinion poll which indicates that 60 per cent of people in the northeast want the Metro to be run by a public-sector organisation, and that only one in five supported plans to privatise Metro services and infrastructure maintenance.

Campaign supporters will lobby tomorrow (Thursday) morning’s meeting of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority wearing gags in protest at the ban – and after being told that Keep Metro Public will not be allowed to speak or ask a question at the meeting, which starts at 10:00 at the Newcastle Civic Centre.

“This is a shocking ban which deprives Metro workers of their basic democratic rights,” RMT regional organiser Stan Herschel said today.

“It effectively bans staff from exercising their right to campaign against the threat to their jobs and conditions posed by privatisation of Metro services, and it would even ban them from talking to an MP or councillor about it.

“Is Nexus seriously suggesting that a Metro worker cannot go home and talk over worries about privatisation with a partner?

“It is bad enough when transport workers are barred from talking to the media, but banning Metro workers from talking to anyone outside the organisation is a step into Big Brother territory and it has to be reversed,” Stan Herschel said.

ends

Notes to editors: The government has agreed to provide £300 million for the ‘re-invigoration’ of the Tyne and Wear Metro, all of which will come from the public purse. However, Nexus, which itself had put the case to keep Metro as an integrated railway, now intends to invite private-sector bids to operate passenger services and maintain infrastructure.

An opinion poll conducted by ICM Omnibus for Keep Metro Public asked a representative sample of 549 people in Tyne and Wear, Cleveland County Durham and Northumberland between September 1 and September 11 the question:

“You may have seen that the Government is proposing to provide extra funds to improve the Tyne and Wear Metro service. Do you think the Tyne & Wear Metro should be run by a publicly owned organisation or should it be run by a private company?

The responses were:

Publicly owned organisation: 60 per cent
Private company: 22 per cent
Doesn’t matter: 10 per cent
Don’t know 7 per cent

The full details of the survey are available by email from the RMT office.

Tyne and Wear Metro was the best performing rail operator in the UK last year, according to Office of Rail Regulation figures, running 95.57 per cent of trains on time in 2007/08, ahead of all privately operated franchises

Nexus says that its figures so far this year are even better, with 96.72 per cent of trains run on time. The network also carried more than 40 million passengers for the first time in 16 years.

Posted on 2:14 PM | Permalink

NZPA: 24 September 2008

The country's rail operator and tracks will be overseen by one state-owned enterprise, Finance Minister Michael Cullen announced today.

Dr Cullen said from October 1, KiwiRail and Ontrack would report to the board of the New Zealand Railways Corporation, which would be chaired by former prime minister Jim Bolger.

Mr Bolger currently chairs the establishment board of KiwiRail, the Government's name for the rail operation business it bought back from private company Toll in July.

At the time Dr Cullen said it was likely that Ontrack -- the state-owned railway track company -- and KiwiRail would become separate operating units of a single SOE.

Today he confirmed that arrangement.

He said the current members of the board of the NZ Railways Corporation, essentially a holding company for remaining rail assets from the sell off in the 1990s, had resigned with effect from the end of the month.

Dr Cullen said he would announce the next tranche of capital funding for rail upgrades and expansion next week.

The Government initially injected $80 million into KiwiRail after its purchase to keep operations at their current level in the immediate future.

But Dr Cullen has previously signalled an additional upgrade package of around $300 million would be likely.

See also:

Key cops a battering over share revelations

NZPA: Tuesday, 23 September 2008

WHAT SHARES? Finance Minister Michael Cullen is accusing John Key of lying over his Tranz Rail shareholding after the National leader was forced to admit he had owned more shares than was previously thought.

Labour today poured scorn on National leader John Key over his handling of his Tranz Rail shareholdings.

Mr Key has admitted he should have disclosed the full extent of his shareholding earlier, but has denied using his parliamentary position for personal profit.

He fronted media today after Finance Minister Michael Cullen yesterday accused him of lying about his shares.

Mr Key failed to disclose his Tranz Rail shareholding, which Labour says amounted to a conflict of interest, when he was National's associate transport spokesman in 2002 and 2003.

That was because he asked parliamentary questions about the Government's planned buyback of the country's rail tracks while holding the shares.

When Mr Key was questioned on the issue earlier this year he said his family trust had held 30,000 shares in the company, but sold them on June 9 and June 12, 2003.

But Dr Cullen revealed yesterday Mr Key's family trust had in fact owned 100,000 shares.

Dr Cullen said today Mr Key had initially tried to lie about the issue when asked about the issue by a reporter.

"He should have declared the conflict of interest. It is the perception around conflicts of interest, not just the reality."

It had been wrong of Mr Key to vigorously pursue information on Tranz Rail at the time the shares were being traded.

"He bought and sold shares at a profit, all of that while never disclosing an interest. He has been caught red-handed," Dr Cullen said.

Mr Key today said he did not know about the additional shares when he answered questions in July, but found out later on and should have disclosed it.

"I'm prepared to accept and I fully accept that. . . when I found out later on that there was a bigger shareholding even though the story had politically passed in the media, I should have come back and said that."

He said the number of shares varied at different times and was managed by a broker who had authority to act without referring back to the trust.

He said all the shares were owned by the trust and information on the share register that he had personally bought 50,00 shares was incorrect.

He said he did not personally gain from the shares and when rail started becoming a hot political issue, he sold them at a loss.

Labour has tried to paint Mr Key as a hypocrite for criticising New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, when he himself failed to disclose a pecuniary interest.

But Mr Key rejected that. He said his share information was on the public share register, there was no Register of Pecuniary Interests for MPs until 2005, and whether he owned 30,000 or 100,000 shares was irrelevant to conflict of interest questions.

Questioned on the issue before he was aware the information had been released yesterday, Mr Key told One News his shareholding ranged between 25,000 and 50,000 shares up until June 2003.

It wasn't until pressed on the issue he admitted there were more shares.

Today Mr Key said his initial reaction to the question was a "genuine mistake", but New Zealanders could still trust him.

"I'm a person who operates in an open way. If I've made a mistake I'll front up and say I've made mistake."

Mr Key said he had acted in 2003 to get rid of all his shares.

See also:

Key 'unethical' over Tranz Rail shares - Labour

NZPA: 22 September 2008

The Finance Minister has accused National Party leader John Key of acting unethically after new revelations he held Tranz Rail shares at the same time as attacking the Government's rail buyback plan.

It was revealed tonight that Mr Key held 100,000 shares in Tranz Rail through a family trust – not the 30,000 as reported earlier.

Mr Key's interests became an issue earlier this year when Labour claimed a conflict of interest because he had asked parliamentary questions about the Government's planned buyback of the country's rail tracks while he still had a shareholding in the rail operator.

Despite his role at the time as National's associate transport spokesman, he did not disclose his shareholding.

Mr Key said tonight it had been known for months that his family trust had held shares in Tranz Rail.

"The shareholdings were managed on my behalf by my broker who had the authority to act on individual share parcels without referring back to the trust," he said.

"This attack by Michael Cullen and the Labour Party research unit is further evidence they will run a desperate smear campaign against me."

When Mr Key was questioned on the issue this year he said his family trust had held 30,000 shares in the company, but had sold them on June 9 and June 12, 2003.

He said his questions and comments never led to any gains from the company's share value.

But Finance Minister Michael Cullen today released correspondence and share register information contradicting several of Mr Key's claims.

The information showed Mr Key, through his trust and under his own name, had owned 100,000 rather than 30,000 Tranz Rail shares.

Questioned on the issue before he was aware the information had been released, Mr Key told One News his shareholding ranged between 25,000 and 50,000 shares up until June 2003.

But when pressed on the issue he admitted there were more shares.

"Actually maybe 100,000 from memory, sometimes 50,000, sometimes 100,000, yep," he said.

"Yeah, sorry, there was 100,000 in total."

Mr Key said no one had questioned him previously on exactly how many shares he had owned.

The papers released by Dr Cullen show Mr Key personally bought 50,000 shares in Tranz Rail in May 2003 after he had actively pursued information from the Government on the company.

He sold those shares five weeks later for $51,000 – more than double their $22,500 purchase price.

However, 50,000 shares bought by his family trust in February 2002, were sold in June 2003 at a loss of $132,000.

Dr Cullen said Mr Key should have declared his shareholding to Parliament and his failure to do so was unethical.

"John Key lied because he knew he had something to hide," he said.

"Mr Key was in fact commenting publicly on Tranz Rail, meeting with bidders for the rail track and vigorously pursuing the release of commercially relevant information all while being an undisclosed shareholder in the firm."

Dr Cullen said Mr Key had spent a lot of time attacking Prime Minister Helen Clark's credibility over the New Zealand First donations scandal, but had covered up his own actions.

"For him to have in effect grossly misled both the media and the public on this I think raises that issue of trust yet again," he told reporters.

"Clearly Mr Key was not simply not forthcoming, he actually lied."

Not revealing his shareholding was a clear breach of Parliament's Standing Orders, Mr Cullen said.

See also:

Key’s lies continue – what’s next?

NZ Government Press Release: 23 September 2008

John Key continued to lie last night as he attempted to explain away hard evidence that he had a major, undisclosed conflict of interest in Tranz Rail, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said.

It was revealed yesterday that Mr Key had 100,000 shares in Tranz Rail in 2002-2003 – a full 70,000 more than he had previously disclosed. 50,000 of these shares were purchased in Mr Key’s own name while he was an MP and after he started seeking commercial information and commenting publicly in Parliament.

When confronted with the facts last night, Mr Key continued to lie before finally conceding that he had in fact misled the public.

“John Key lied because he knew he had something to hide,” Dr Cullen said. “And then under pressure last night he just kept on lying.”

In a defensive, misleading press statement he continued to imply it was only his family trust that held shares. He even tried to create the impression that shares were bouncing around outside his control, saying his level of shareholdings ‘varied’ at different times.

“Yes, Mr Key, they did vary – because you were actively buying and selling them.

“In one eight week period Mr Key asked written and oral questions in Parliament, lodged an OIA request to me, bought 50,000 shares in his own name, met with Rail America, complained to the Ombudsmen about his OIA, and then sold his personal holdings nearly doubling his money in the process.

“We know Mr Key’s claim that he sold the shares because he wanted to publicly speak out on rail is proved a lie by the facts. He was speaking out through his newsletter, he was taking meetings with bidders for the rail system, and trying to get me to release commercial information to him.

“No aspect of Mr Key’s story can now be trusted. He has lied in July to reporters and the public and he did it again last night. He needs to produce any correspondence he had with his broker during 2002 and 2003 at the very least.

“And he also needs to give us the real story about why he sold the shares. He should tell the truth now to save himself at least some embarrassment when the real story emerges.”

Timeline of Key’s Tranz Rail share conflict

15 February 2002 - Through his family trust John Key buys 30,000 shares in Tranz Rail, owners of New Zealand’s rail system (dates for share purchases reflect appearance in register)

19 February 2002 –Family Trust purchases an additional 20,000 Tranz Rail shares

July 2002 –John Key elected to Parliament

30 and 31 October 2002 –Key asks series of Parliamentary Questions relating to Tranz Rail and the future of the rail track. Ministers reply to questions. His shareholding interest is not disclosed.

9 April 2003 –In Parliament at Question Time, Key asks detailed question of Finance Minister seeking information about ‘secret meetings’ between the government and Tranz Rail. His shareholding interest is not disclosed.

14 April 2003 –Key asks Written Parliamentary Questions to Finance Minister seeking dates and details of government meetings with Tranz Rail

23 April 2003 –Key writes to Finance Minister seeking copies of minutes from government meetings with Tranz Rail. Request declined on commercial secrecy grounds.

7 May 2003 –John Key purchases an additional 50,000 Tranz Rail shares, this time in his own name

20 May 2003 –In his Parliamentary role as Associate Transport Spokesman Key meets with Rail America to discuss their views on Tranz Rail. Shareholding not disclosed.

27 May 2003 –Key complains to Ombudsmen Anand Satyanand over Cullen’s refusal to release commercial information on Tranz Rail

10 June 2003 –John Key sells the 50,000 Tranz Rail shares he purchased in his own name

11 June 2003 –John Key ‘intensely’ questions (Key’s own words) Finance Minister Michael Cullen on Tranz Rail issue. Cullen expresses his view that Tranz Rail is carrying hundreds of millions worth of liabilities.

13 June 2003 –John Key sells the 50,000 Tranz Rail shares purchased through his family trust

18 June 2003 –Key attacks government over Tranz Rail and plans to buy back the track. Recent shareholding interest is not disclosed.

16 October 2003 –Key raises Tranz Rail in what appeared at the time to be an apparent hypothetical reference in the debate over Pecuniary Interests Legislation:

It might be a bit uncomfortable, but if I am a shareholder of Tranz Rail and I want to get up in this House and start talking about that company, then my shareholding is relevant.

ENDS

Posted on 9:40 AM | Permalink

Railway Gazette: 24 Sep 2008

After much debate and two false starts, the partial flotation of DB is now moving ahead.

If all goes according to plan, the long-anticipated partial privatisation of Germany’s national railway will finally come to fruition by the end of this year. A 24·9% stake in the newly-established operating business DB Mobility Logistics AG is due to be floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Target date is Nov­ember 5, although there have been suggestions that this might have to be delayed because of the weakening German economy and the global credit crunch. Nevertheless, Federal Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee and Deutsche Bahn AG Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn are pressing ahead. Tiefensee, in particular, is keen to get the sale completed well ahead of the national elections scheduled for September 2009.

Mehdorn has long advocated taking DB into the private sector, and he welcomed the government’s formal approval of the flotation plan on May 30 as 'a good day for customers, taxpayers and workers’, adding that the decision would ensure 'the future of the business and its 237 000 employees’ and help to strengthen the German economy.

A tight timescale

Around 30 banks are understood to have expressed interest in organising what is expected to be one of the most prestigious IPOs in Europe this year. Following a joint selection process with the government, DB AG announced on May 27 that it had selected Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS as global co-ordinators to lead the flot­ation. According to reports in Handelsblatt, the government will meet the cost of organising the sale, which it puts at €75m compared to a market estimate of €100m.

The actual flotation is predicted to generate between €5bn and €8bn, depending upon the final share price. Mehdorn is due to launch an international roadshow in early October to canvass support amongst potential investors, and this will be followed by a bookbuilding exercise to establish the sale price. The price may not be announced until October 28 or 29, barely a week ahead of the date when the shares are due to start trading. Reports suggest that both DB and the government are anxious that the flotation is not postponed into early 2009, and both would be willing to accept a lower price in order to push the sale through quickly.

According to the government, the majority of shares are likely to be bought by institutional investors, although there are suggestions that some other railway operators might welcome the chance to take a stake in DB. So far the only player to have confirmed its interest publicly is RZD, although President Vladimir Yakunin admitted that it was up to the Russian government to decide whether the railway would be allowed to bid.

Asked to comment on the flotation process, a Federal Transport Ministry spokesman explained on August 19 that the government was 'pleased that investors will be able to bring their ideas and visions into DB ML’. However, the ministry is concerned about the degree of influence that the investors would have over railway strategy, such as whether or not 'services are given priority over profit expectations’.

Pointing out that it would not be right for the investors to have control over employment terms, as an example, the ministry insisted that 'we want to have partners on board who can take a long-term perspective, but we want to prevent them from interfering with the business in a way that would be bad for DB ML’.

Long road to flotation

The total or partial privatisation of DB AG was always seen as the ultimate objective of Germany’s railway reform process launched in 1994, although this took a lower priority than dealing with the backlog of maintenance and productivity issues inherited after the merger of DB and DR.

With modernisation and renewals well underway, a Railway Advisory Council of leading industrialists, academics and economists was established in October 2002 to look at completing the reform process. Following a study by Morgan Stanley, the council recommended in June 2004 that DB AG should be listed 'as an integrated business’ during 2006.

The council believed that a partial privatisation would enable DB to compete more effectively in an increasingly liberalised market, although it flagged up that the flotation would be dependent upon agreement between the railway and government over infrastructure financing.

The timescale proposed by the council was immediately rejected by the Bundestag, which argued that it would be better to wait until DB had demonstrated its profitability for a number of years before launching the flotation. It also called for a study into floating DB without the infrastructure (RG 7.04 p381).

Infrastructure has indeed proved to be one of the major stumbling blocks in the development of the privatisation proposals, and in particular the degree to which the management of the national rail network should be separated from DB’s train operations in line with European Union policy.

Mehdorn’s often-expressed preference had been to see DB floated as an integrated business, which he said would make the company stronger and better able to compete on the international money markets. However, there were strong political objections to handing over control of state-owned infrastructure assets.

After extensive studies, a compromise was proposed in the draft legislation which the government presented to the Bundestag in September 2007. This envisaged that the infrastructure would remain state-owned, but DB would have an enshrined right to manage the network. This proved unpalatable, and even a compromise suggesting a long-term infrastructure management contract was rejected, leading the government to withdraw its entire proposal for 'reconsider­ation’ earlier this year.

Restructuring in haste

The result was a switch to a 'holding company’ model, which had widely been touted as the likely fallback. Moving rapidly to get the flotation underway ahead of the 2009 elections, the ruling Christian Democratic Union party finally struck a deal with its SDP coalition partner on April 13 to reform DB and only float the oper­ating businesses. It rejected SDP proposals to exclude regional passenger services, but did agree that the operating arm should be offered as a single entity, ruling out the sale of separate stakes in the inter-city or freight businesses.

At the same time, the government conceded to an SDP demand that the proportion of the shares on offer should be cut from 49% to 24·9%. Despite this, both Tiefensee and Mehdorn hope to see the private-sector holding increased to 49·9% in the longer term. With the infrastructure remaining in state ownership, some commentators have suggested that the share of the operating company to be sold should be proportionately greater, although it seems unlikely that the government could get approval to privatise a majority stake.

The revised plans were endorsed by the cabinet on April 30 (RG 5.08 p289). And barely two weeks later, an extraordinary meeting of the DB Supervisory Board approved the restructuring of the company to enable the flotation to proceed.

This saw the existing subsidiary DB Mobility Logistics AG — which was already acting as an umbrella for the Railion, Schenker and Stinnes freight activities — expanded to form the new operating company, with the inclusion of the passenger businesses and other subsidiaries (right). Infrastructure business DB Netz, the power supply arm DB Energie and DB Stations & Service continue to report directly to DB AG, which will remain 100% owned by the German state.

Enshrining the ministry’s wish to safeguard existing railway staff, DB signed an agreement with the Trans­net and GDBA unions on May 15 protecting pay and conditions and precluding any forced redundancies as a result of privatisation until the end of 2023. According to Transnet, this also commits DB AG to retaining an integrated business 'and the employment market within it’.

The new structure became operational on June 2, along with a three-way agreement between DB AG, DB Mobility Logistics AG and the federal government. This accord was retrospectively endorsed by the Super­visory Board on June 25, when its Chairman Dr Werner Müller insisted that all of the structural and legal conditions for the partial privatisation were now in place.

European intervention

Despite Müller’s optimism, the European Commission wrote to the German government at the end of June, expressing a number of concerns about the proposed structure. In particular, the Commission is worried about the lack of independence between the infrastructure manager and the operating business when both report to the holding company. If it decides to take these concerns to the European Court for clarification, this could put the whole flotation time­scale in doubt.

Independent operators’ association Netzwerk Privatbahnen had already raised concerns over the lack of transparency in the DB structure, which it believed did not meet EU rules requiring an independent body to oversee path allocation and the setting of track access charges. And the degree of independence for DB Netz was one of the issues raised with the German government by the Commission when it launched infringement proceedings against 24 member states for various failures to implement correctly the requirements of the First Railway Package. Not least of its concerns is the ease with which management and staff are able to transfer between businesses in the DB group.

The ministry insists that competition in Germany is stronger than in any other EU country, with many different operators 'already jostling for freight traffic’. And in the regional sector 'the number of private operators is also increasing. The Länder can contract out their regional operations, and private operators can bid on exact­ly the same terms as DB ML. So competition is already possible with the structure which we have – 100% state ownership of Deutsche Bahn AG. We have now a DB AG with a high quality of service, and that should remain in the future.’

European legislation will also impact on the use of the proceeds from the flotation. During the negotiations, Tiefensee had emphasised that the privatisation would provide much-needed funding towards DB’s 'huge investment needs’. He envisaged that one third of the receipts would be allocated for investment in the infrastructure, one third would go to DB and the final third would be retained by the government.

However, the German competition authorities have ruled that DB ML should not benefit directly from the flotation, suggesting that any payments to the operating business would fall foul of the recently-tightened EU rules on state aid.

The ministry reiterated on Aug­ust 19 that 'above all the railway’s customers should benefit from the receipts of the partial privatisation. We want to eliminate bottlenecks in the rail network, to modernise stations faster, and to improve noise protection.’
Investing for profitability

DB will not comment officially, citing legal restrictions on making 'forward-looking statements’ ahead of the flotation. However, Mehdorn has clear ambitions for DB to become a global transport operator, with aggressive expansion evident throughout his chairmanship.

With the tacit support of its federal owner, DB has already built up stakes in freight operators from Denmark and the Netherlands to Switzerland and Italy. Moves to acquire control of EWS and Transfesa during 2007 have now given it access to the UK, France and Spain. Further afield, DB has signed joint venture agreements in Russia and China, operating experimental freight trains between Germany and China as well as over the Balkan route to Turkey and beyond. Outside the rail orbit, DB has acquired road, sea and air operations that now make it one of the world’s largest logistics companies.

Mehdorn has certainly heeded the 2004 recommendation from the Bundestag that DB needed to demonstrate its profitability before any flotation. Announcing the 2007 results on March 31, he emphasised that DB had recorded an operating profit for the third year running. 'Our strategy is clearly right’, he insisted. 'DB is ?fit for the challenge, both at home ?and in Europe.’

With turnover up by 4·2% on 2006 at €31·3bn, DB recorded an operating EBIT of €2·37bn in 2007. Net profit for the year was up by 2·1% at €1·7bn, despite gross investment totalling €6·3bn. As a result, the company had been able to reduce its long-term debt by more than €3bn to €16·5bn. Return on capital increased from 5·5 to 8·7%, which Board Member, Finance, Diethelm Sack said was in line with long-term plans.

As in previous years, DB’s biggest revenue generator in 2007 was its regional services, which contributed €6 532m compared to €3 265m for long-distance passenger, €1 879m for urban and €3 878m for freight. However, it should be noted that €4 483m of this came through contract payments from the Länder to support regional operations. Barely a quarter of regional services in Germany have yet been put out to competitive tender, but the rest are due to be contracted out over the next 15 years. DB has won less than 50% of the services tendered so far, although it secured 70% of the 33 million train-km contracted in 2007, and says it will 'defend its position’ vigorously in future bidding.

Announcing DB’s first-half results on August 18, Mehdorn reported a further improvement in profitability. He said DB had recorded 941 million passenger-journeys in the first six months of 2008, up by 30 million on the same period last year. He attributed this to high fuel prices hitting car and air travel, noting that the total distance driven by German car owners in the six months had fallen by 1·5% year-on-year against a 1·4% increase in rail passenger-km.

Freight traffic is continuing to hold up in the face of recession, although the rate of growth has slowed. The first results from EWS contributed to a 6·8% jump in total revenue to €16·2bn for the period. With profit for the six months rising by 5·4% to €915m, Mehdorn said DB ML’s full-year results should be better than 2007. This comes despite higher operating costs attributable to rising energy prices and huge wage increases after last year’s strike by train drivers.

Despite the continuing uncertainties, Mehdorn is still convinced that a flotation is the right way to go. 'The transport market in Europe is changing rapidly and radically’, he says. 'DB AG needs to take its chances now, and that means we will need capital. And the government agrees that we need to finance much-needed infrastructure investment with the proceeds from the partial privatisation’.

Milestones to flotation

1994. Start of German railway reform process

October 8 2002. Railway Advisory Council established to look at concluding the reform process.

June 15 2004. RAC recommends a stock market listing of DB AG 'as an integrated company’ during 2006.

September 21 2007. Government bill for partial privatisation has first reading in the Bundestag.

Mid-February 2008. Government proposal collapses after Länder reject plans to give the part-privatised railway exclusive control of the state-owned infrastructure.

March 31 2008. DB announces third successive annual profit in 2007 results.

April 13 2008. Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee reaches agreement with SPD coalition partners reducing proportion of sale from 49% to 24·9%

April 28 2008. Chancellor Angela Merkel confirms that a government committee had approved the sale of a 24·9% stake. The plan was endorsed by the cabinet two days later.

May 15 2008. DB Supervisory Board approves restructuring to form holding company, with operations grouped in DB Mobility Logistics AG. New structure takes effect from June 2.

Early October. International roadshow to attract investors, followed by bookbuilding exercise to set share price for the flotation.

October 28 or 29. Share price announced.

November 5. IPO completed; DB ML shares start trading on Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

DB business units

DB AG (holding company)

DB Netz
DB Energie GmbH
DB Stations & Service GmbH

DB Mobility Logistics AG

DB Fernverkehr AG
DB Regio AG
DB Stadtverkehr GmbH
DB Vertrieb GmbH
DB Dienstleistungen GmbH
DB (UK) Logistics Holdings Ltd
DB Automotive Rail (Spain) SL
DB Gastronomie GmbH
DB Magnetbahn GmbH
DB Schenker Rail
DB Schenker Logistics

Executive boards:
DB AG

Hartmut Mehdorn (Chairman)
Diethelm Sack (Finance)
Stefan Garber (Infrastructure & Services)
Otto Wiesheu (Economic & Political Affairs)
Norbert Hansen (Purchasing)

DB Mobility Logistics AG

Hartmut Mehdorn (Chairman)
Diethelm Sack (Finance)
Margret Suckale (Personnel & Legal)
Karl-Friedrich Rausch (Passenger)
Norbert Bensel (Transport & Logistics)

Posted on 8:10 AM | Permalink

Reuters: Sept 22

LONDON - British lessor Angel Trains has signed a 1.5 billion-pound ($2.8 billion) order for 106 express train carriages, bringing a long-awaited capacity increase on Britain's busiest inter-city railway a step closer.

France's Alstom SA is to build four 11-carriage Pendolino train sets for use on the West Coast Main Line, and 62 individual carriages which will see 31 trains lengthened to 11 carriages from nine. The deal includes 10 years' maintenance.

"This move will reduce overcrowding and significantly improve the travel experience for passengers on the West Coast Main Line," Angel Trains chief executive Rob Verrion said in a statement.

Work on the new trains will begin in January in Savigliano, Italy, with all the new rolling stock due to be in service by December 2012. The current WCML franchise, which runs to end-March, 2012, is operated by Virgin Trains.

Its trains, which operate between London and Glasgow and serve Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, are made up of four first-class carriages and five standard.

This summer, Virgin Trains turned one of the first-class carriages over by to standard customers, in a nod to the greater leisure traffic in the school holiday period.

Angel Trains was sold by Royal Bank of Scotland for $7 billion, including debt, to Australia's Babcock & Brown in a deal announced in June.

On Aug. 7 Britain's Competition Commission said a lack of competition was hampering train operating companies trying to lease rolling stock, and that it was considering remedies.

The Commission said the lack of rivalry resulted from a shortage of vehicles available for lease and the cost and risk of switching rolling stock, among other factors. Barriers to entry to the market were high, it said.

Passenger trains in Britain are mostly owned by three companies: Angel Trains, HSBC Rail, and Porterbrook Leasing Co Ltd, owned by Santander.

Posted on 6:23 PM | Permalink

Metronet management is currently pursuing a vicious disciplinary process against one of their employee’s: RMT Health & Safety/Union Rep Andy Littlechild.

A Dedicated Rep
Andy has been a rep at MRIS (Metronet Rail Infrastructure Services ~ formerly TrackForce) for 12 years, where he is known for his complete dedication to the health, safety and welfare of all workers; Metronet employee’s and agency staff alike.

He is also known for his union activity across Metronet as a company, and was instrumental in the RMT’s recent successful campaigns in September last year which stopped management from devaluing Metronet staff’s pensions by 10% and halted mass job cuts, and that in April this year opened up the Transport for London pension scheme, free travel on TfL and subsidised travel on Network Rail to new starters, previously denied to them by Metronet.

PPE: By Risk Assessment or by Management Dictation?
For the last 2 years, Andy has been attempting to bring his department (MRIS) into compliance with Metronet company policy regarding the wearing of PPE on site: based on risk assessment; through the established company health & safety procedures. However, MRIS local management have chosen to stubbornly keep their blanket “hard hats at all times” policy in place, repeatedly ignoring clear instructions to comply with Metronet PPE policy from even their own senior managers above themselves!

Trapped
It seems MRIS management has now decided that Andy’s number is up. They intentionally sidelined him as an H&S rep from a meeting that produced a “bespoke” risk assessment for the job he was working on; adding in the wearing of hard hats which he objected to in writing, stating he wouldn’t work to it accordingly. Next a management “audit” was carried out on site, and Andy was stood down from duty and removed from site.

Sucked in, Chewed up & Spat out!
On reporting to work the following Monday night 15th September, he was high jacked with an unannounced fact finding meeting. His rep was stopped by the Chairperson from even objecting to the conduct of the meeting, and after they finished with him, Andy was banned from contacting his members, from entering company premises and was put out on the street at 3am in the morning with no way of getting home and nowhere to go! Andy is now sat at home waiting to hear whether disciplinary action is to be taken against him. This looks likely in light of the rough treatment he’s had to date!

RMT WILL NOT ALLOW REPS TO BE VICTIMISED

Posted on 4:28 PM | Permalink

Campaigning to defend and extend women’s abortion rights in the final stages of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

7pm
Tuesday 7 October 2008
House of Commons
Committee Room 10

Speakers include:
Diane Abbott MP, Katy Clark MP, Evan Harris MP, Dr Audrey Simpson fpa Northern Ireland, Polly Toynbee Guardian commentator, Katie Curtis NUS, TUC speaker. Others to be confirmed

All pro-choice supporters welcome!
Please RSVP to choice@abortionrights.org.uk
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill goes through its final stages in Parliament this autumn. In May we defeated anti-abortion amendments to lower the time limit from 24 weeks. This was a huge victory for women, the pro-choice movement and Abortion Rights. Yet the fight is not over — anti-abortion MPs have tabled a series of amendments to restrict women’s abortion rights when the Bill is voted on at its decisive Report Stage. We believe these amendments must be defeated.

Women in fact need improved rights. Forty years after the enactment of the 1967 Abortion Act, pro-choice MPs are seeking to improve access to abortion and bring the law into line with developments in medical practice and social attitudes. Changes proposed include a reduction in the number of doctors who need to consent, from two to one, and the extension of the law to Northern Ireland.

Eighty-three per cent of people support a woman’s right to choose. Abortion Rights believes the law should reflect that majority.

Join us to add your voice and debate the next steps for choice. The meeting is planned to allow plenty of time for questions and discussion.

18 Ashwin Street,
London E8 3DL.

Posted on 3:19 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 17, 2008

SOUTH EASTERN Trains should drop its intimidation tactics against its workforce and negotiate settlements to the disputes that have led to 48-hour strike action being called for next Monday and Tuesday, Britain’s biggest rail union said today.

RMT revealed today that the company had threatened to punish staff who strike by withholding back-pay and suspending travel facilities, and had even told staff that if they took action they should never bother seeking promotion.

Talks are now scheduled to take place tomorrow over separate disputes involving around 500 guards and drivers and some 750 retail and engineering staff (details below).

“We have seen management documents revealing how shocked the company was that our members voted by substantial margins to take action in both these disputes,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“The systematic intimidation our members have since been subjected to is a knee-jerk reaction that has angered them even further and has made a difficult situation worse.

“The company knows as well as we do that blacklisting people for promotion for taking strike action would be unlawful, and if it thinks that the threat of withholding back pay will make a settlement more likely it has made a serious miscalculation.

“No matter how hard the company tries to intimidate its staff the reality is that our members are resisting attempts to undermine safety by removing guards and extending driver-only operation, and to impose an effective pay cut on engineering and retail staff.

“They are the issues at the heart of these disputes and if the company seriously wants to resolve them it should take a step back and use tomorrow’s talks to negotiate seriously,” Bob Crow said.

For further information contact Derek Kotz on 01273 730 170 or 07939 595 092

Posted on 7:12 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 16 2008

Union warns of company-wide ballot on pay

RMT, BRITAIN’S biggest rail union, today expressed its complete support for members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) in dispute with Arriva Trains Wales.

TSSA members employed as driver managers at the company are in dispute over the erosion of pay differentials and began a 24-hour strike at mid-day today (Tuesday September 16), in addition to bans on overtime and on-call work.

RMT has instructed its driver members at ATW to ensure that they do not undertake any duties normally carried out by their striking colleagues.

“RMT fully supports its brothers and sisters in TSSA who are in dispute with Arriva Trains Wales,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“We have made it clear to the substantial number of RMT drivers at the company that they should undertake only their normal duties and that under no circumstances should they do work normally done by driver-managers.

“We have also made urgent representations to ATW to ensure that our members’ safety is not compromised in the event of any operational incident during the dispute, and we have urged the company to negotiate a settlement that is acceptable to driver-managers.

“There is also growing anger among our own members that Arriva Trains Wales has so far failed to table an acceptable pay deal, and I have no doubt that if ATW does not take seriously the rejection of its latest offer it will be facing a company-wide ballot.

“I am sure that where they can our members will show their support for their TSSA colleagues on picket lines, and it goes without saying that RMT will provide whatever practical assistance it can to its colleagues in dispute,” Bob Crow said.

Posted on 3:23 PM | Permalink

Gwent Gazette: Sep 18 2008
by Dominic Jones,

A RAIL link between Ebbw Vale and Newport will be up and running by 2010 after the announcement of a £2.6m investment from the Assembly.

Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones, who is also Minister for the Economy and Transport, announced the investment of up to £2,618,000 would be used for rail and signalling improvements.

This means all work necessary for a link between Ebbw Vale and Newport will be completed by 2010.

Mr Wyn Jones said: “My decision to invest in these improvements at Newport follows careful consideration of a report submitted by Network Rail.

“This investment is an essential prerequisite to any future regular passenger rail service between Ebbw Vale and Newport.”

The news has been welcomed by Blaenau Gwent’s Independent AM Trish Law, a long-time campaigner for an Ebbw Vale to Newport link.

Mrs Law said it was fantastic news that the service would be completed in time for the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor and the National Eisteddfod in Ebbw Vale in 2010.

She added: “The Newport link will be a huge boost to people in my constituency, many of whom look more to Newport than Cardiff, and I have many constituents who work in Newport.”

Mrs Law said she had already written to Ieuan Wyn Jones urging him to complete the missing link by extending the line at Ebbw Vale Parkway to the Corus site where the Eisteddfod will be held in 2010.

She said: “I would like to see these last couple of miles of track laid in time for the Eisteddfod. It would be fantastic to be able to transport people from Cardiff and Newport straight to the Maes.

“That would just leave the link to Abertillery and I will continue to press for an early start on that.”

Blaenau Gwent MP Dai Davies said the link to Newport would open up many new opportunities.

He said: “It will extend the horizons of people looking for work and provide more travel choice.”

Posted on 3:20 PM | Permalink

Daily Telegraph: 14/09/2008
By Alistair Osborne

Network Rail has appointed advisers to consider whether it should make an unprecedented appeal to the Competition Commission over a funding row with the industry regulator.

The infrastructure company that is responsible for Britain’s tracks, signals and stations has hired Clifford Chance, the lawyer, and Law & Economics Consulting Group, the economic adviser, to review whether to refer its dispute with the Office of Rail Regulation to the Commission.

Network Rail is furious that the ORR is refusing to back down over the cost-savings that it expects the company to make over the next control period between 2009 and 2014.

The rail company has said that, unless it resolves the dispute, it will face a £1bn   shortfall at a time when the industry requires massive investment to cope with a rapid rise in passenger traffic.

In a 400-page submission this week to the ORR, Network Rail described the regulator’s demands as “unrealistic”, adding: “It is not the quantum of the targets, but the proposed speed at which they are expected to be delivered.”

In July, the ORR said that Network Rail should be allowed £26.5bn over the next control period – £2.6bn less than the company believed that it needed and a £1.6bn reduction on the current five-year settlement.

The regulator also hit out at what it saw as Network Rail’s ongoing inefficiencies, saying that it expected the company to cut its operating, maintenance and rail renewals costs by 21per cent over next five-year period — compared with the 13 per cent reduction that the company has proposed.

Since the ORR released its draft determination, Network Rail has moved some way towards meeting the regulator’s targets, saying this week that it could shave a further £800m off its spending plans.

It added that it may have to find a further £1bn of funding from alternative sources to finance projects necessary for the long-term development of the network, but stressed that hitting the efficiency targets remained a significant stumbling block.

The ORR plans to publish its final conclusions on October 30 and is already braced for its first ever appeal.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “We have issues with the draft determination, which we believe, in its present form, wouldn’t enable us to deliver the bigger, better railway this country will need over the next five years if it’s to meet the growing demands placed on it. As a sensible precaution we have appointed legal and economic advisers who will help us in considering the decision.”

Posted on 11:08 PM | Permalink

The Nation on Sunday: 14-09-08
By Rathindra Kuruwita

Railway workers are to launch a 24-hour strike, commencing from midnight today, Railway Services Trade Union Joint Alliance Secretary Sampath Rajitha said.

Rajitha told The Nation that they were forced to resort to trade union action because the authorities had failed to address their grievances, despite repeated complaints.

“The Railway workers have been facing many problems including salary increments, promotions and loans. Although trade unions have informed the relevant authorities on many occasions, nothing has been done over the years. That is why we had to take this decision,” Rajitha pointed out.

The train services will be affected on September 15 and passengers will face difficulties because of the strike, he added.

He claimed that although they were very much aware of the impact of the strike on the passengers, they had to take this decision as a last resort.

“We are well aware of the difficulties faced by the passengers, but this is our last option,” he said.
“Many sections attached to the Railway services will join in the strike including engine drivers, technicians and signal officers,” he added.

Meanwhile, Railways Minister Dallas Alahapperuma was not available for comment.

Posted on 10:17 PM | Permalink

5th anniversary of Cocidirail: August 31, 2003 - August 31, 2008
(‘Citizens' Collective for Restitution and Development of the Railways of Mali’)

"Democracy knows her heroes, she relies on ordinary men and women" - Dr Tiécoura Traoré

The failure of rail franchising and the fight for complete abolition

Cocidirail (‘The Citizens' Collective for Restitution and Development of the Railways of Mali’) commemorates its 5th anniversary on August 31, 2003. Alas, the anniversary takes place as the crisis of the franchised railway concession reaches alarming proportions.

The poster reads: With COCIDIRAIL - the Citizens' Collective for Restitution and Development of the Railways of Mali - and its President, Dr Tiécoura Traoré arbitrarily sacked by the colonialists of Transrail. Return the railways to the people of Mali!

The Senegalese trade unions, alerted by rumours of the bankruptcy of Transrail, last July triggered a strike just to find out what is going on at the company!

Already this year on June 27, 2008, the states of Mali and Senegal have explicitly noted: "the failure of the concession", the "death of the railway business" (sic!) and delivered their verdict without appeal that: "The concession performed no better than the National Railways of Mali"!

Accordingly the two states have advocated the following measures:

"- Undertaking a study by December 31, 2008 to examine the institutional nature of public-private partnership;
-- Strengthening the powers of the rail regulator;
-- The adoption of a three month investment plan;
-- The creation of an audit committee within the Board of Transrail Plc;
-- The payment of all arrears and signing of all documents relating to rolling stock and the property portfolio signed over to them;
- information for investors on the current situation binding Mali and Senegal to Transrail PLC."

Clearly this means that for the almost 5 years that railway concession has been franchised, Transrail has never achieved its planned investment programme and it does not even exist. Yet the concession agreement was conditional on implementation and the existence of an investment plan within 180 days. This means that this concession has been lapsed since March 31, 2004.

Map of sites along the "Railroad Corridor" in Mali and Senegal

In addition Transrail has cut passenger traffic so far that it is contractually imposing "financial compensation" on Mali and Senegal to pay for traffic management. This ferocious contract says that: "the concessionaire operates as a service provider whose remuneration is fixed irrespective of the level of traffic actually delivered"! So, Mali and Senegal, by acting to satisfy the demands of the World Bank and against the interests of their own populations, have sold off our railways under the worst possible conditions. The Wade and ATT Governments also agreed contractually that Transrail should only be required to transport currently profitable freight. As for passenger transport, it has been operating a convention, which binds the two states (through their companies) to Transrail. Therefore Senegal and Mali went into debt to the tune of 14 billion CFA francs to enable Transrail to acquire and operate 4 locomotives and 60 carriages. And on top of the 14 billion, Mali has guaranteed another 13 billion!

Can you imagine such a national surrender in the entire annals of privatisation?

The franchised rail concession has led us into bankruptcy

But that's not all. It needs to be understood that, to restore the network (which means achieving substantial investment to renew track and improve capacity and performance of rolling stock) State loans made through IDA credits, AFD, CIDA and BOAD to Mali and Senegal have been surrendered to the contractor responsible for carrying out the work, notwithstanding that the borrowing was only able to be undertaken with state guarantees.

Cocidirail has recorded at least 30 billion plus handed over to Transrail since October 2003. This money was squandered by the notorious opportunist, the former CEO of Transrail, Francois Lemieux who was let go without being held to account.

Before his departure, the company audit in December 2007 under the auspices of the World Bank estimated the management deficit 2003-2006 at 8 billion CFA francs. Francois Lemieux, was suspended on April 24, 2007 and dismissed on April 27 by Transrail’s American majority shareholder, SAVAGE INDUSTRIES, which in turn sold its shares to VECTURIS run by Eric PEIFFER, current CEO of Transrail. Since then, in the year 2007 alone the deficit has grown by 2.5 billion.

The hidden truth is that the concession has led the railway straight to bankruptcy. We are at the point where the Paris Auditors have deemed it imperative that the only way of avoiding liquidation is to recapitalize the company to the tune of 12 billion. The audit has instructed Mali and Senegal to borrow yet again 8 billion for that purpose! But Mali and Senegal, now faced with an obvious bottomless abyss are dragging their feet over signing and endorsing the conclusions of the Paris audit.

However, rather than putting an end to this bottomless pit and simply cancelling the concession, our two governments are opening new negotiations without any principles.

They plan to create a new company on the same railway line, in which to entrust the management of passenger traffic and to provide technical management to Transrail. That is the purpose of their famous “study by December 31, 2008 to examine the institutional nature of public-private partnership" !

Transrail, for its part rejects the analysis of its bankrupt concession to: "manage the new passenger trains." Transrail is in fact assimilating commercial passenger traffic in violation of the concession and trying to get support for the idea that it should be compensated if Senegal and Mali decide to go ahead! This is unacceptable blackmail intended to counter the June 27 dismissal and would mean the abject surrender of the Senegalese and Malian governments.

Transrail must be expropriated without compensation and renationalised

Cocidirail is of the opinion that the peoples of Mali and Senegal are not indifferent to this arm-twisting. They must put all their weight into the battle and have the last word, not only against Transrail and the World Bank, but also against our own governments who have proven they are not trustworthy.

Cocidirail, while recognizing the absolute and inalienable right of peoples to self-determination against the dictates of multinationals and the World Bank, says it is not viable to have two operating companies on the same railway line. Ordinarily, as we know, regulated rail freight traffic is highly profitable, offset by a system of cross-subsidy of generally loss-making passenger traffic to balance the company's accounts.

If the company takes over passenger traffic will that take place? It is clear that operating in two separate operating companies implies that there will never cross-subsidy, or compensation for Mali and Senegal. On the contrary, it is clear that the "bi-national" state company (devoid of freight traffic) will be required to pay "financial compensation" to VECTURIS for the technical service it supplies! The company not for that reason alone is condemned to chronic deficits not to mention the expected burden of corruption and mismanagement since it will not be placed under strict control?

What is the benefit for our countries of going into debt to acquire plant equipment and to limit our control only to a commercial company instead of taking the whole lot back? Will there be further debt and recapitalisation of Transrail so that these highwaymen can go straight into bankruptcy for the sole purpose of allowing them once again to begin looting us?

The small print of the franchise concession does not give us anything, the company wins hands down, always subordinating the needs of passenger and freight traffic?

Is this private company not objectively driving us to the wall, whatever the intentions of bringing them in may have been?

Would Mali and Senegal not be locked into a vicious circle of "public-private partnership" under this plan, which means continuously going into debt just to enable Transrail and its new shareholder to run down passenger traffic and win on all fronts?

This "vicious circle" has been known for a long time. It’s time to end the ruinous contract that we have been supporting for no reason for five years and "return the railway to the people of Mali", as Dr Tiécoura Traoré and Cocidirail have tirelessly explained since the beginning.

Mali needs to renounce its previous signature, purely and simply cancel the franchise concession and get rid of Transrail, which we do not need!

Cocidirail then proposes that we should reconstitute the National Railways of Mali (Régie de Chemin de Fer du Mali) and accompany the renationalisation of the railways under popular control, by not only ensuring reinstatement of all those dismissed including Dr. Tiécoura Traoré with full maintenance of workers’ rights, but also by systematically fighting the running down and mismanagement of the railways.

This is the one and only basis on which we can and must establish a union with Senegal, in accordance with mutual interests well understood by our two countries, their nationals and workers. Such a position can certainly be understood as a declaration of war by the World Bank and all globalisers. But it is merely an expression of our national, popular sovereignty that Cocidirail calls on all Malians and Mali to defend!

Demand the State of Mali takes its responsibilities and puts an end to the franchised railway concession.

Long Live Cocidrail for the rebirth and long life of the National Railways of Mali - Regie des Chemin de Fer du Mali!

Bamako, 1 September 2008
For the Executive Committee of Cocidirail, Secretary of Communication

Mohamed Cheick Tabouré

Collectif Citoyen pour la Restitution et le Développement Intégré du Rail Malien (COCIDIRAIL)
(‘Citizens' Collective for Restitution and Development of the Railways of Mali’)
Tel: +223 639 08 71, +223 559 81 74
E-mail: cocidirail@yahoo.fr Website: www.cocidirail.info

Posted on 7:19 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 12 September 2008

A row has broken out between a rail operator and a city council over engineering work starting in October.

The work in the centre of Bath will mean up to 35 replacement buses per hour entering the city in run up to Christmas, claims the council.

In a statement, Bath and North East Somerset Council (BANES) said this would prove very disruptive.

Network Rail said it had tried to minimise disruption and added there was no good time to carry out the work.

BANES said in a statement: "We are very disappointed Network Rail has chosen one of the busiest periods of the year to send up to 35 coaches per hour into Bath for these weekends, despite our objections.

"No consultation with the council took place to understand the impact this decision would have on the city and the roads.

See also:

ROW OVER RAIL COACH INVASION

Bath Chronicle: September 13, 2008

Council chiefs have attacked rail officials over the timing of engineering work which will clog Bath with coaches in the Christmas shopping season.

Bath and North East Somerset Council is angry that Network Rail has chosen to carry out the work around the city on six consecutive weekends - starting on October 11 and 12.

Train operator First Great Western will have to replace its rail services with coaches on the weekends in question.

The authority says the work will lead to up to 35 coaches an hour coming into the city in what it describes as "the busy run-up to the Christmas period."

In June, council chief executive John Everitt wrote to Network Rail asking it to postpone the work until January, but the organisation has ruled out any delay.

B&NES transport cabinet member Cllr Charles Gerrish said: "The council is very disappointed that Network Rail has chosen one of the busiest periods of the year to send up to 35 coaches per hour into Bath for these weekends, despite our objections.

"No consultation with the council took place to understand the impact this decision would have on the city and the roads.

"Because of the time of year selected by Network Rail it is likely their own coaches will be delayed in addition to maximising inconvenience for businesses, shoppers, and visitors. Unfortunately, there is little the council can do except do except mitigate the impact of this situation imposed upon us. We have no powers to delay these works from happening."

Mr Everitt's letter had warned that traffic in the city centre was already being disrupted by work on the SouthGate shopping centre which includes the area around the railway station where the coaches will be concentrated.

His letter said: "The prospect of this happening during the Christmas shopping period gives me great concern.

"Major redevelopment work is going on in the area around Bath Spa Station at present, including the construction of a new bus station adjacent to the rail station.

"Inevitably, the work involves considerable disruption to traffic and restricted road widths.

"Although through access for buses has been maintained, most bus stops in the vicinity of the station have been relocated away from the construction site. It is inevitable that the large number of coaches required to provide alternative transport for rail passengers will block the roads around the rail station, thereby causing considerable disruption to local bus services and through traffic.

"I am also concerned too that many shoppers will be deterred from visiting Bath on the closure weekends with a consequent adverse impact on retail businesses during this critical period."

A spokeswoman for Network Rail said its work programmes were set 18 months in advance and that it was not possible to change them now.

She said liaison with the council over the impact of the extra coaches was down to First Great Western.

"We are doing this investment work to improve the rail and really there is no good time to do this work" - Network Rail spokeswoman

"Because of the time of year selected by Network Rail it is likely their own coaches will be delayed in addition to maximising inconvenience for businesses, shoppers, and visitors.

"Unfortunately, there is little the council can do except do except mitigate the impact of this situation imposed upon us. We have no powers to delay these works from happening."

A Network Rail spokeswoman told BBC News the work was essential.

"We plan 18 months in advance and if there was any way we could carry out the work while the trains were not running we would do that," she said.

"They are concerned that bus services are coming into the city. They are hired by First Great Western.

"We are doing this investment work to improve the rail and really there is no good time to do this work."

Posted on 12:55 AM | Permalink

RMT: September 11 2008

TRADES COUNCILS, the unions’ voice in the community, should have the right to a voice at Congress, transport union RMT will propose today.

RMT has tabled a call for a rule change which would give the annual conference of trades councils the right to submit a motion to Congress from 2009, in line with rights already enjoyed by the TUC's equality conferences.

The union's motion (87) also points out that trades councils in Wales and Scotland already have the right to submit motions to their respective national congresses.

"This is a small step, but one which will benefit the entire trade union movement," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Trades councils are our movement's community voice and they play a vital role in focusing trade-union energy on local issues affecting working people and their families and helping to build union strength.

"It makes sense for them to have a voice at Congress and all we are asking is that the trades councils' conference is allowed to submit a motion to Congress in the same way that the TUC's equalities conferences already can," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 12:30 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 11, 2008

RMT members vote for action in two separate disputes

AROUND 1,250 RMT members at Southeastern Trains are to strike for 48 hours on September 22 and 23 in two separate industrial disputes.

Nearly 500 guards and drivers returned a more than two-to-one majority for strike action after the company declared war on the safety role of the guard and signalled its intention to extend driver-only operation and do away with guards on new 395 Hitachi ‘Javelin’ trains.

And some 750 retail and engineering staff at the company voted by a similar margin for action after the company tabled a below-inflation 4.3 per cent pay offer – and threatened to reduce it to 4.1 per cent if it was rejected.

RMT members in all the grades involved will not book on for shifts commencing between 00:01 on Monday September 22 and 23:59 on Tuesday September 23.

“Southeastern’s plan to extend driver-only operation and remove guards on trains carrying up to 1,000 passengers should ring alarm bells among passengers as well as rail staff,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“SET’s plan is about cutting costs and maximising profits, but it amounts to an attack on safety standards and our members have made it clear that it is unacceptable.

“The company is attempting use the new Javelin trains as a Trojan horse to scrap guards across its franchise, and it is unbelieveable that they are attempting to do it on 12-car trains carrying up to 1,000 people through tunnels longer in total than the Channel tunnel.

“The company wants to replace guards with a new non-safety critical post without the training in on-board safety and train protection, route-knowledge and licence that guards must have, and passengers should be as angry about that as our members are.

“SET’s parent group has increased its profits by 23 per cent and given its shareholders a 16 per cent rise in dividends, but it has offered its retail and engineering staff what amounts to a pay cut.

“That is a case of one rule for the fat cats and another for the people who actually do the work, and our members have made it clear that they will not accept it,” Bob Crow said.

Notes to editors:

SET’s ‘final offer’ to engineering and retail staff was 4.3 per cent – but the company has said it will be reduced to 4.1 per cent if rejected
Total Govia group Operating Profit increased by 16.8% to £64.5m in the six months to the end of December 2007, compared with the same period in the year before.
Rail division Operating Profit increased by 22.7% or £5.8m to £31.4m, despite a reduction in total subsidy.
Total rail revenue up 14.2% to £76.7m
5.9% passenger growth at South Eastern in the six months to December 2007
10.9% increase in proposed dividend to shareholders
· Directors’ remuneration (from 2007 Annual Report)

The Chief Executive’s salary on appointment was increased from £340,000 to £450,000 with effect from 10th July 2006 and a further increase was awarded in April 2007 taking his salary to £470,250.
The Chief Executive was also entitled to cash bonuses of 96.4% of basic salary, £453,000 and a £17,000 car replacement bonus
Excluding pension provisions and Long –Term Incentive Plan share options, the Chief Executive received a package worth £964,000 in 2007.

For further information contact Derek Kotz on 01273 730 170 or 07939 595 092

Posted on 12:12 PM | Permalink

Reuters: Sep 8, 2008

PARIS - The world's biggest airline by revenue, Air France-KLM, said on Monday it plans to move into high-speed passenger rail transport in a venture with French transport, waste and water firm Veolia.

The Air France unit of the airline group said that it and Veolia were studying such a venture for when European rail passenger traffic is liberalised on Jan. 1, 2010.

However the company said in a statement it could not confirm a newspaper report that the deal could be signed on Sept. 15.

Air France-KLM said at the beginning of July that it was in discussions with Veolia about a partnership to create a new high-speed rail player in Europe.

Veolia's shares closed up 2.80 percent at 33.5750 euros per share, while Air France KLM was up 2.25 percent at 17.0450 euros.

High speed rail travel is currently mainly in the hands of state-owned rail companies such as SNCF [SNCF.UL] or Deutsche Bahn [DBN.UL] or joint ventures between these operators such as Eurostar and Thalys. Private group NTV plans high-speed travel in Italy.

Posted on 11:23 AM | Permalink

Financial Times: September 9 2008
By Amanda Vermeulen

Network Rail and its regulator have less than two months to agree a five-year budget, but are still separated by a £1.8bn discrepancy. The gap remains despite an £800m concession by the owner and operator of the rail infrastructure.

Network Rail last week submitted a formal response to the Office of Rail Regulation's draft findings, published in June, from its five-yearly review of the railtrack company's funding.

In the 400-page response, published yesterday, Network Rail said ORR's conclusions about the efficiency and costs savings it could make were unrealistic, lacking in transparency, inconsistent and flawed.

ORR's draft findings suggested that Network Rail be given a budget of £27.8bn, 11 per cent less than the £31bn the company said it needed to operate, maintain and improve the rail network in the five years from April.

While Network Rail has made some concessions, saying it could trim £800m from its initial forecasts, it maintained that another £1bn for expansion projects might have to be raised from alternative funding sources. "The remaining £1bn shortfall, mainly attributed to very aggressive efficiency targets, is currently unrealistic. It is not the quantum of the targets but the proposed speed at which they are expected to be delivered."

Network Rail said ORR had assumed it could achieve annual savings of 3.5 per cent and 5 per cent in operating and maintenance costs respectively over the five-year period. But the company was unable to make significant annual savings in insurance, pensions and signaller costs, accounting for 40 per cent of operating costs.

"Reducing costs in line with ORR's draft determinations would require annual savings of over 7 per cent in other areas, which is double the overall rate assumed by ORR. It has given no evidence to suggest that this is realistic. It is also out of line with assumptions made by other regulators."

ORR must publish its final budget for Network Rail by the last day of October. If it is rejected by Network Rail, it can take the matter to the Competition Commission.

"We believe that the scale of the [improvement] gap identified by ORR lacks credibility," Network Rail said.

Posted on 11:18 AM | Permalink

Transport Briefing: 08/09/08

Crucial rail enhancement schemes have been omitted from Network Rail’s business plan for 2009 to 2014 according to the South West Regional Assembly and South West Regional Development Agency.

In its response to the Office of Rail Regulation’s draft determination of Network Rail’s Strategic Business Plan, the bodies have called for full support for Network Rail’s core high speed route strategy for the Great Western Main Line. They also demand backing for the infraco’s original plans to redevelop Reading station and a commitment to specific funds for schemes including a fourth platform at Bristol Parkway station that are required in order to achieve a Bristol Metro high frequency service.

The SWRA and SWRDA also want other rail schemes, such as Swindon to Kemble track redoubling and a Taunton to Westbury line speed increase, reinstated. They say that if accepted by the ORR, the changes would help to ensure that the rail network and rail services are capable of meeting current and future demands of people, places and businesses in the south west.

Cllr Julian Johnson, chair of the Assembly's Regional Transport Board said: "The Assembly is committed to supporting a railway that can cope with the expected growth in housing and employment over the next 20 years and helping maintain the south west’s economic viability. We will continue to lobby the rail industry and government to ensure that the right improvements are made to rail services in the south west.”

The ORR is due to publish its final determination regarding Network Rail’s business plan on 30 October 2008. The infraco will then be required to implement those schemes contained within the final report.

Posted on 12:46 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 8 2008

Picket at 10:30, Tuesday, September 9, St James Park football ground, Newcastle

TRADE UNIONISTS and campaigners will be at St James Park football ground tomorrow, Tuesday, September 9, to tell fat-cat privateers that they are not wanted on the Tyne and Wear Metro - Britain's most punctual railway.

More than 100 companies have been invited to the ground to hear how Nexus, Tyne and Wear's passenger transport executive, intends to split up and privatise the network - despite it beating every private rail franchise to run 95.57 per cent of its trains on time.

"The Metro is a public-sector success story and it is beyond belief that anyone could want to split it up and hive its operations off along the same disastrous lines as national railway network," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The Metro is officially Britain's best performing railway, and that has been achieved as an integrated, publicly owned and publicly operated network," Bob Crow said

"The campaign to retain the Metro as a public asset is growing by the day, and it is clear that the people of Tyne and Wear do not want their successful network privatised," said Northern TUC regional secretary Kevin Rowan.

"Nexus itself has put the case to keep Metro as an integrated railway, because they know as well as we do that fragmentation will lead to a less efficient, less safe and more expensive railway," Kevin Rowan said.

Unite regional officer Bill Green said: "The last thing we need is to see fares revenue and public subsidy being used to pay dividends to shareholders instead of being used to improve the Metro for everyone's benefit."

RMT regional organiser Stan Herschel said: "All our experience tells us that privatisation will put Metro workers' jobs, pensions and conditions under threat, but it also tells us that safety will be compromised, and that is why our members are determined to stop this plan."

ends

Note to editors:Tyne and Wear Metro was the best performing rail operator in the UK last year, according to Office of Rail Regulation figures, running 95.57 per cent of trains on time in 2007/08, ahead of all UK rail franchise performance

Nexus says that its figures so far this year are even better, with 96.72 per cent of trains run on time. The network also carried more than 40 million passengers for the first time in 16 years.

Read Nexus' press release at:

http://www.nexus.org.uk/wps/wcm/connect/Nexus/Nexus/News/News+archive/2008/Nexus+news+-+Metro+sets+new+record+for+running+trains+on+time.

Posted on 12:37 PM | Permalink

Bridgwater Senior Citizens Forum & Trades Union Council
invite all in Bristol & Somerset to our Rally to celebrate the centenary of the Battle for the Old Age Pension
SATURDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER 2008

10.30am - assemble in the Blake Gardens, Bridgwater
11.00 - march to the Town Hall

• information fair
• history exhibition
• refreshments available -
Speakers (12 noon):
Dot Gibson, National Pensioners Convention
Kerry Rickards, Chief Exec., Sedgemoor Council
Phil Sealey, Bridgwater Senior Citizens Forum
Chair: Glen Burrows, RMT/Bridgwater TUC

all are welcome to join us in celebration and in
the continuing battle for better state pensions
and services for older people

Contacts: Phil Sealey: 01278 662683, Malcolm Banwell: 01278 451659, Dave Chapple: 01278 450562

Posted on 7:57 PM | Permalink

RMT: September 7 2008

ANTI-UNION decisions by the unaccountable European Court of Justice have undermined workers' rights even further than the Thatcher anti-union laws still on Britain's statute books and urgently need to reversed, transport union RMT says today.

As delegates gather for the Trades Union Congress in Brighton, RMT says that recent rulings by the ECJ add up to the most serious attack on union rights since the Taff Vale judgement more than a century ago.

The union will this week ask delegates to back its call for the TUC to step up the campaign against Britain's anti-union laws and to work for Europe-wide action with the aim of restoring the human right to strike enshrined in International Labour Organisation norms.

"The ECJ is an unaccountable and politically driven body which aims to extend the 'internal market' - that's privatisation to you and me - and its rulings effectively render the right to strike meaningless," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The Viking, Laval and Ruffert rulings have each undermined the ability of trade unions to defend their members against attacks on living standards, and the Luxembourg ruling even attacks the right of EU member states to set decent minimum employment standards.

"Together they mean that an employer's right to 'freedom of establishment' trumps the right to strike, and are more restrictive than even the Tory anti-union laws still in place in new-Labour Britain.

"These draconian judgments and EU rules on 'free movement', which are enshrined in the renamed EU constitution, the Lisbon Treaty, represent a fundamental attack on trade union rights.

"Unless we roll back these ECJ rulings we will be left defenceless against the EU's drive to liberalise markets and institutionalise social dumping.

"That means stepping up the campaign for a Trade Union Freedom Act and ensuring that any new UK Bill of Rights includes all ILO conventions, and it means working with unions across Europe to demand the reversal of the ECJ's anti-union rulings," Bob Crow said.

ends

Notes to editors: The ECJ has taken upon itself the right to judge the legitimacy and the proportionality of a dispute and the effect on the employer:

In the Viking case the Finnish ferry company Viking Line attempted to reflag one of its ships to Estonia and replace Finnish seafarers with cheaper Estonian labour. When the Finnish workers decided to strike to stop this social dumping, Viking began legal proceedings and, after sitting on the case for three years, the ECJ ruled that the company's 'freedom of establishment' took precedence over the Finnish workers' right to strike.

The Vaxholm (or Laval) casebegan after Swedish trade unionists attempted to prevent Latvian firm Laval paying poverty wages to Latvian builders working in the Swedish town of Vaxholm. The ECJ ruled that the right to take action is superseded where an employer complains that the union is seeking terms and conditions in excess of the minimum provided by the Posted Workers Directive. It claimed that as Sweden has no minimum-wage legislation in place the industrial action was invalid.

In the Ruffert case the court ruled that a German public body was not entitled to include a clause in a public works contract that required contractors to pay foreign workers the same rates as those set down in collective agreements.

In the Luxembourg case the court ruled that Luxembourg must remove labour laws putting national and foreign workers on an equal footing with local employees.

In all these cases the ECJ asserts that EU rules on the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour give private firms protection against collective action by trade unions.

Posted on 4:37 PM | Permalink

Sunday Times: September 7, 2008
Dominic O’Connell

NETWORK RAIL will this week ask for another £1 billion to run the rail network over the next five years - and also request an easing of efficiency targets over the period.

The group, which runs most of Britain’s overground track, signalling and larger stations, is expected to make its final pitch in a five-yearly pricing review tomorrow.

In June, the Office of the Rail Regulator, which sets Network Rail’s earnings, said the company should receive £26.5 billion over the five years from next April. This was £2.5 billion less than it had asked for.

Tomorrow, it is expected to say it needs only £1 billion more than offered, but won’t be able to make a further £1 billion demanded in cost cuts.

“We can meet the regulator’s efficiency targets, but not in the time frame he wants,” said one source close to the company. The group is expected to present a raft of consultants’ reports to back up its spending demands.

It is also confident of meeting a deadline for a large increase in capacity on the West Coast Main Line. The new timetable, made possible by extensive engineering work on the line, is likely to be phased in from December 14.

Trains will run from London to Birmingham and Manchester every 20 minutes, rather than every half-hour.

Posted on 12:44 PM | Permalink

The Guardian: September 6 2008
David Hencke, Westminster correspondent

· Hardliners angry ministers blocked leftwinger's bill
· POA refuses to withdraw 'embarrassing distraction'

Restoring secondary picketing powers for the unions has been an important cause for the left but has been rejected by Gordon Brown. Photograph: Frank Baron

Hardline unions are set to split the TUC next week with a motion calling for the first general strike since 1926 in protest against Labour's refusal to give back secondary picketing rights and allow prison officers to strike.

The Prison Officers Association has angered the TUC council by calling for a series of one-day general strikes in protest at ministers blocking a leftwing Labour backbencher's bill this year which would have restored many of the union rights taken away by the Conservatives in the 1980s and 1990s.

It will be backed by the RMT rail union, led by Bob Crow, which has organised a series of strikes on the London Underground and in national rail companies over wages and conditions this year. Other unions such as the Fire Brigades Union and the Public and Commercial Services Union may support it.

Restoring secondary picketing powers for the unions has been an important cause for the left. The issue was raised by Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of the country's biggest union, Unite, during talks on future Labour manifesto commitments at the Warwick policy forum in July. But Gordon Brown has refused to respond to the union demands, telling journalists that "there will be no return to the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s" over concessions to trade union laws.

John McDonnell, the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington who was author of the failed bill, said: "We intend to reintroduce the bill and table amendments to the government's existing employment bill to give trade unions more rights.

"The TUC bureaucracy have always been lukewarm in support of this, but we think that it is even more relevant that trade unions have more power to organise, given the dire consequences of the recession that will lead to more layoffs and privatisation."

The POA motion accuses ministers of "political sabotage ... to ensure the bill fell" and of taking "even more draconian legislative action to stifle unions". The motion caused conflict at Thursday's TUC council when members instructed Brendan Barber, the general secretary, to ask the POA to withdraw it to prevent an embarrassing distraction for the media. But the union has no intention of doing so.

If the motion goes ahead at Brighton next week it will expose a divide between unions over the tactics needed to win trade union law reform. It will also fuel Tory charges that the government is under constant pressure to give way to demands from Labour's paymasters.

Barber said yesterday: "Given all the other more serious issues that need debating, from low pay to working conditions, this motion is self-indulgent. I have been asked to request the POA to withdraw it."

The POA general secretary, Brian Caton, said: " We believe that the need for new rights for trade unions is supported by tens of thousands of workers and that we have got nowhere so far in negotiations. Jack Straw's decision to introduce tougher legislation banning prison officers from going on strike has angered our members and we have no intention of backing down over this."

The row comes during a difficult week for Labour with the chancellor, Alistair Darling, and Brown both due to address the congress.

Barber said yesterday: "Many union members are very angry about public sector pay being limited to 2% while inflation is nearly 5% and it would be in the government's own interest to change policy."

He praised the London mayor, Boris Johnson, for backing a London living wage of £7.45 for the poorest workers in the capital, nearly £2 above the national minimum wage of £5.52. "He deserves the credit for introducing it, although the Tories don't deserve any credit for never backing a minimum wage in the first place."

Barber also said he thought David Cameron was taking a positive step in arranging meetings with the TUC to hear their views. His strongest criticism was reserved for John Hutton, the business secretary, who "made him cringe" when he backed the case for more millionaires and whose department was "a one-sided ministry that just championed business".

Posted on 10:42 AM | Permalink

Personel Today: 05 September 2008

TUC name change idea rejected by trade union experts

Trade union experts have rubbished claims that the TUC name is old fashioned and, as such, limiting its appeal to a wider audience.

Rory Murphy, the former boss of Amicus union, now part of super union Unite, has warned the very name Trades Union Congress smacks of the 19th century. Writing for Personnel Today, (see Opinion, page 16), Murphy recommended the union change its name to better represent what it does and to attract new members.

Trade union membership stands at 59% for public sector workers but just 16.1% for the private sector.

Murphy's comments come as the TUC begins its annual congress in Brighton, where it will debate how to strengthen employee rights in equal pay, training and pensions.

Names such as the Organisation for Workers' Rights would be better understood, Murphy said, adding that the TUC should consider merging with the CBI to fight for fairness for all workers.

But a TUC spokesman slammed the claims. "With unemployment on the rise and millions of workers facing falling living standards, union members expect a little more from the TUC than a debate about a new name," he said.

Roger Seifert, director of the Centre for Industrial Relations at Keele University, described the TUC as a powerful brand and warned that any name change might reduce its impact.

The CBI's head of employment Neil Carberry said his organisation and the TUC both cared about the workplace, but said they differed in certain areas.

"In a healthy society it's important for those interests to be expressed openly and independently," he said.

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RMT: September 5 2008

Profit-hungry group ‘has declared war on guards’ safety role’

THE £145 million profit declared by the Go-Ahead Group today is a direct drain on fare-payers’ and taxpayers’ cash that should be being invested in the bus and rail industries, transport union RMT charged today.

The group’s profit was funded by nearly £200 million in subsidy for its three rail franchises over 2007/08, inflation-busting fares hikes and untold amounts of public money finding their way into the group’s bus operations from local authorities.

As the company reported a 23 per cent rise in operating profits to the end of June and a 16 per cent hike in dividend payouts to shareholders to £81 million, RMT also warned that the group’s relentless drive for profits was undermining safety and service.

Nearly 500 guards and drivers at Go-Ahead subsidiary South Eastern are already balloting for strike action over an attempt to do away with guards busy commuter trains running in and out of London from Kent. The ballot result is due next Thursday.

“The only people who benefit from rail franchising bus privatisation are the shareholders who are shovelling public subsidy straight into their bank accounts,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“There is no telling how much more public money Go-Ahead’s bus subsidiaries get, because no-one bothers to keep a central record of the handouts they squeeze from hard-pressed local authorities up and down the country.

“While Go-Ahead is passing the lion’s share of £200 million in rail subsidy to its shareholders, the rest of us are facing fare rises up to three per cent ahead of inflation and a battle to stop a mad cost-cutting attempt to do away with guards on South Eastern.

“Our members are balloting for action to defend the guard’s safety role on new Javelin trains that will carry up to 1,000 passengers through Kent tunnels longer in total that the Channel tunnel.

“I hope that passengers facing inflation-busting fares increases and massive overcrowding will join us in defending safety standards against an attack motivated only by the desire to make even bigger profits,” Bob Crow said.

ends

Notes to editors: Go Ahead’s preliminary results for the year ended 28 June 2008 included

* Group operating profit of £144.9 million, up 22.7 per cent from last year.
* Rail-operating profit of £77.2 million, up £11.1 million.
* Bus-operating profit of £66.2 million, up £10.4 million.

Subsidy to Go-Ahead’s rail subsidiaries in 2007/08 was:

* South Eastern: £82.3 million
* Southern: £65.8 million
* London Midland: £44.7 million

Nearly 500 guards, drivers and customer service hosts on South Eastern Trains are being balloted for industrial action over the company’s intention to extend driver-only operation on new Hitachi Javelin 395 rolling stock. The ballot closes on September 11.

The company’s plans, in breach of existing agreements, involve transferring control of powered doors on trains carrying up to 1,000 passengers – 20 per cent more than Eurostars – to drivers and replacing guards with a new non-safety critical post without the training in on-board safety and train protection, route-knowledge and licence that guards must have..

A twelve-car train made up of two of the new units, with no walk-through between units, will carry as many as 1,000 passengers through tunnels west of Ebbsfleet that together are at least as long as the Channel tunnel, and the union’s view is that there should be a fully safety-trained guard in each portion.

The first five of 29 Javelin sets have already been delivered and SET intends to run the fleet on routes through Kent that are currently fully guarded.

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RMT: September 4 2008

INFLATION-BUSTING fare increases are a short-sighted fix that will create more problems than they solve, London Underground’s biggest union says today.

As the mayor of London announced increases at one per cent ahead of inflation, RMT called for an end to the colossal waste of public money still being poured into private pockets under the part-privatisation of the Tube’s infrastructure

“If the mayor needs extra cash for the London transport network he should be looking at ways to end the shocking waste still caused by the PPP, not squeezing passengers even more with inflation-busting fares hikes,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“Metronet’s catastrophic failure has already cost the public £2 billion and has cast a shadow over the upgrades the network desperately needs by 2012.

“But even if Metronet hadn’t collapsed the PPP would still be haemorrhaging huge sums out of the network because it is an expensive scam designed to convert public cash into private profit.

“Public subsidy of the Tube has increased more than 20-fold thanks to the PPP, and Tube Lines, the one that’s supposed to be more efficient, continues to drain £1 million a week from the network in profits that should be being spent on improvements.

“The truth is that Tube Lines, like Metronet, is massively underwritten by the public, and the time to end the PPP is now, rather than waiting for another financial calamity.

“The economy and the environment need a massive increase in affordable transport capacity, and that applies to London as much as the rest of Britain,” Bob Crow said.

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RMT: September 2 2008

AN IMPROVED pay and conditions offer tabled on the eve of a 72-hour walkout by 1,000 RMT London Underground infrastructure workers at Tube Lines has been accepted by a four-to-one margin in a postal ballot.

The three-day stoppage, scheduled to begin on August 21, was suspended after last-ditch talks produced an offer which included a 4.99 per cent pay increase this year and RPI plus 0.85 per cent in 2009, with significant improvements in travel subsidies and substantial minimum rises for the lowest-paid grades and apprentices.

"Tube Lines had told us that they'd made their final offer, but thanks to our members' determination the company came up with improvements that the RMT executive felt it could recommend and that our members have now endorsed," general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"RMT members at Tube Lines stood together in a hostile atmosphere and are to be congratulated for the solidarity and commitment they displayed in very difficult circumstances.

"There remain issues to be addressed, but once more our members have demonstrated the truth in the slogan that unity is strength," Bob Crow said.

ends

Posted on 4:52 PM | Permalink

Africa Online: 02/09/2008

Nairobi, Kenya - The struggling Concessionaire of the Kenya-Uganda railways, has appointed Ugandan industrialist, Charles Mbire, to its board of directors, days after the Ugandan authorities threatened to pull out of the deal.

Mbire's entry to the board of directors of the Rift Valley Railways (RVR), effectively ends a simmering row which threatened the smooth running of the firm after the Ugandan authorities accused the Kenyans of making unilateral appointments.

Local media reports indicated here that Ugandan authorities were demanding a senior appointment to the RVR board after a series of new appointments were made to the new board constituted after senior managers were sacked from the firm.

Sheltam Close of South Africa won the 25-year long concession to run the affairs of the railway firm, once considered a guzzler of government revenue.

The firm's mandate was to revitalize the Kenya-Uganda railway, covering a distance of 1,200 kilometres.

However, the new concessionaire has under-performed the key benchmarks set for the management, leading to wildcat strikes by workers which caused widespread disruptions to key industrial supplies across the region, to the detriment of the manufacturers.

Kenyan and Ugandan governments, which had agreed to give out the rail firm in exchange for accruing annual revenue, were considering cancelling the concession.

The South African firm has sold part of its shares to an Australian firm in an effort to raise more funds after international investors failed to bring in the required funds to revitalize the rail firm, leading to a change of management.

Transcentury, a locally-operated venture fund, established by a coalition of high-ranking Kenyan civil servants and politicians, has been at the forefront of efforts to revive the firm.

The fund appointed Brown Ondego, as the RVR Executive Chairman mid August.

Ondego, a veteran port official who operated the region's largest entry port-Mombasa, said the appointment of Mbire to the board was part of a new strategy to ensure that the Kenya-Uganda railways concession became safe, reliable and operationally efficient.

"With the appointments, Mbire brings to the RVR board, a wealth of international business experience particularly from Uganda, where he serves as the chairman of the telecoms giant, MTN Uganda, and sits on the Ugandan Presidential Investment Forum."

Mbire, Ondego said, would become an ordinary member of the board. He also serves as a director of Eskom Uganda, a subsidiary of Eskom South Africa.

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Reuters: 09.02.08

BEIJING - The chairman of China Investment Corp. (CIC) has expressed interest in Deutsche Bahn's [DBN.UL] initial public offering, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said on Tuesday.

Steinbrueck told journalists in Beijing he had presented information on the upcoming partial privatisation of the German rail to Lou Jiwei, chairman of CIC, one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds.

Steinbrueck said the Chinese showed interest.

'They did not explicitly ask about it but rather we presented the project in an exemplary fashion,' said Steinbrueck, who has long championed the IPO and is hoping the partial privatisation will raise 5 billion to 8 billion euros.

Steinbrueck, on a four-day trip to China, added that he had heard from Deutsche Bahn chairman Hartmut Mehdorn that Russian and Chinese investors were interested in the IPO.

'We'll have to see how that all unfolds,' Steinbrueck said.

Mehdorn has said he welcomes foreign investors, such as Russian state railways OAO RZhD. The Russian railways, preparing for its own privatisation, has already expressed interest in participating in the Deutsche Bahn IPO.

German media have reported Mehdorn has also met institutional investors in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to discuss taking stakes.

The China Investment Corp was launched in September 2007 to manage part of China's foreign reserves. It has assets of $200 billion. Lou is a former vice finance minister.

The government plans to sell a 24.9 percent stake in Deutsche Bahn's passenger transport, logistics and services businesses. The track, stations and energy supply will remain the property of the state.

A listing is expected in late October or November.

Some 80-90 percent of the shares are expected to go to long-term institutional investors with only 10 percent likely to go to retail investors and employees. The IPO promises to be Germany's biggest stock flotation in eight years.

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Reuters: Sep 1, 2008
Reporting by John Joseph; Editing by Christina Fincher and Sami Aboudi

LONDON - A British trade union has launched a campaign to establish a code of protection for transport workers to prevent them being assaulted, the Rail Maritime and Transport union said on Monday.

The RMT says official figures underestimate the level workers in the rail, bus and ferry industries are threatened, abused and physically assaulted at work and that more than a third of incidents go unreported.

According to the Rail Safety and Standards Board, there were 4,865 reported assaults against rail workers in 2007 -- a 50 percent increase on 2002 figures -- with a further 2,064 assaults against London Underground staff in 2006-2007.

The RMT's own workplace survey found 71 percent of respondents were assaulted when they were on their own, with two thirds of assaults over tickets or fare disputes.

Backed by 76 MPs, RMT's charter calls for a zero-tolerance approach from employers, with all incidents investigated, an end to unnecessary lone-working and better legal protection for transport workers.

"The level of violence our members face at work is already unacceptable, yet year-on-year the problem gets worse, and it is time to put staff safety ahead of profits," said RMT general secretary Bob Crow in a statement.

"No-one should have to regard the fear of assault as part of the job, no-one should have to worry about reporting assaults for fear that they might be seen as the problem.

"Staff who are attacked should be able to expect the best possible care and support, but all too often the employer's response falls woefully short.

"We need the transport police to have enough resources to respond in time, every time, but we also need the best possible legal protection that sends out the signal that transport workers are not there to be attacked."

See also:

Campaign targets transport violence

The Press Association: 1 September 2008

A leading trade union has launched a campaign aimed at tackling a "tidal wave" of violence against transport workers after new research showed that many incidents were going unreported.

The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union called for increased staffing levels, an end to lone working and better legal protection for rail, bus and ferry workers following a huge increase in assaults.

The union conducted its own study which it said revealed that official figures only represented the "tip of the iceberg", with as many as one in three incidents going unreported.

There were 4,865 assaults against rail workers last year - 13 a day - representing a 50% increase on the 2002 figure, said the union.

The RMT said its own data suggested that most front-line transport workers could expect to be assaulted, threatened or abused in the line of their duty.

The campaign included a charter setting out a zero-tolerance approach among all transport firms as well as encouragement to report every incident.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, said: "The level of violence our members face at work is already unacceptable, yet year on year the problem gets worse, and it is time to put staff safety ahead of profits.

"No one should have to regard the fear of assault as part of the job, no one should have to worry about reporting assaults for fear that they might be seen as the problem, and no one assaulted at work should have to wonder when, let alone if, the police might arrive. Staff who are attacked should be able to expect the best possible care and support, but all too often the employer's response falls woefully short.

"It is cost-cutting by private operators across the transport that has reduced staffing to the bone and has made transport workers more vulnerable. It is high time to reverse that trend and start putting guards and conductors back on trains and buses, and ensure that all stations and terminals are adequately staffed all the time they are open.

"We need the Transport Police to have enough resources to respond in time, every time, but we also need the best possible legal protection that sends out the signal that transport workers are not there to be attacked."

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RMT: September 1 2008

RMT launches charter to protect transport workers
URGENT ACTION to stem a 'tidal wave' of violence was today demanded by specialist transport union RMT as it launched a campaign to establish an industry-wide code of protection for workers in the rail, bus and ferry sectors.

Cross-company zero-tolerance campaigns, an end to unnecessary lone-working, more uniformed staff and better legal protection for transport workers are at the heart of the campaign launched by the union today.

After surveying its own front-line members, RMT says that official assault figures represent only the tip of the iceberg, that police fail to attend as many as 40 per cent of reported incidents, and that more than a third of incidents go unreported.

There were 4,865 reported assaults against rail workers in 2007 - that's 13 a day, and a 50 per cent increase on the 2002 figure of 3,179 - and that is also aside from the 2,064 assaults against staff reported on London Underground in 2006/07.

But data collected from RMT members suggests that most front-line transport workers can expect to be threatened, abused or physically assaulted at work.

RMT's charter calls for a unified zero-tolerance approach among all transport employers, with all incidents investigated and appropriate action taken, along with proper risk-assessment, effective training and encouragement to report all incidents.

The main aim should be to prevent assaults, but there should also in place adequate care to ensure that victims of assaults are given all the support and assistance they need.

RMT has welcomed changes to guidelines that will result in tougher sentences for those who assault public-service workers, but the union will continue campaigning for the law to treat assaults on transport workers with the same severity as assaults on emergency workers.

The union's campaign already has the backing of 76 MPs who have so far signed an early-day motion (see notes) that urges the government and employers to take all necessary steps to prevent assaults and to secure the strongest possible legal protection for transport workers.

"The level of violence our members face at work is already unacceptable, yet year on year the problem gets worse, and it is time to put staff safety ahead of profits," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"No-one should have to regard the fear of assault as part of the job, no-one should have to worry about reporting assaults for fear that they might be seen as the problem, and no-one assaulted at work should have to wonder when, let alone if, the police might arrive.

"Staff who are attacked should be able to expect the best possible care and support, but all too often the employer's response falls woefully short.

"And it is cost-cutting by private operators across the transport that has reduced staffing to the bone and has made transport workers more vulnerable.

"It is high time to reverse that trend and start putting guards and conductors back on trains and buses, and ensure that all stations and terminals are adequately staffed all the time they are open.

"We need the transport police to have enough resources to respond in time, every time, but we also need the best possible legal protection that sends out the signal that transport workers are not there to be attacked," Bob Crow said.

ends

Notes to editors:

· Some 71 per cent of respondents to RMT's workplace violence survey said that they were working alone when they were assaulted.

· Two thirds of assaults reported to RMT were over tickets or fare disputes

· From our survey, 40 per cent of incidents reported to the BTP were not attended - but 51 per cent of those that were attended and investigated resulted in successful convictions.

· The official figures from the Rail Safety and Standards board show 4,865 reported assaults against rail workers, or 13 a day, in 2007, up from 3,179 in 2002.

· That figure does not include London Underground, where there were 2,064 reported assaults during 2006/07 - a 17.5 per cent increase over the previous year.

· RMT's workplace violence survey suggests that assaults are under-reported by at least 36 per cent.

· The bus industry has been so fragmented since its deregulation and privatisation in the mid-1980s that industry-wide assault figures are simply not kept. In an RMT survey of bus workers in 2007, only a third of respondents believed their employers took adequate steps to minimise assaults and anti-social behaviour by passengers.

· A survey published in 2006 by the Department for Transport showed that even employers acknowledged that 'passenger behaviour' was a serious issue adversely affecting recruitment and staff turnover.

Transport Workers Charter of Protection

RMT demands:

* Workplace violence policies that adequately protect our members.

* Policies that provide aftercare and counselling for staff.

* Zero tolerance on violence at work and maximum penalties for offenders.

* Training for staff in dealing with conflict.

* Consultation on additional security measures.

* Consultation on risk assessments of high-risk areas.

* Elimination of lone working.

* Investigation of incidents by employers and the police.

* Reporting of all incidents by victims.

* Improvements to the travelling environment.

Comments from transport workers who responded to the RMT survey

"If I reported every verbal assault on a daily basis I would become a nuisance to the BTP." - Employee, Transpennine Express

"No point in reporting the assault as my company couldn't care less for its employees. Profits matter, not people." - Employee, Heysham Port Ltd

"The manager was there while I was being abused, and did nothing." - Employee, First Great Western

"Didn't report the assault, as I didn't want to be seen as a troublemaker." - Employee, P&O

"London Underground does not like incidents to be reported and view staff as the problem if an individual reports too many assaults." - Employee, London Underground

"A colleague was subjected to an armed robbery and the company seemed more concerned with when they would return to work than their welfare. It seems to me that while the company pays lip service to protecting and assisting staff involved in assaults, ultimately its main interest is protecting revenue. Everything else comes second." - Employee, Southern

"I consider myself very lucky to have only suffered verbal abuse. I always fill in the incident report to my employers, but no action is ever taken. It seems to be considered part of the job." - Bus driver, First

"I work alone as a signaller, and the area I work in is noted for drug dealers. I've been threatened on numerous occasions, had a knife pulled on me and my car stoned. The signal box also gets stoned. The police do the best they can but there are so few of them they can't be in more than one place at once, and by the time they arrive, the yobs are gone." - Signaller, Network Rail

See also:

Early Day motion 901

ASSAULTS ON TRANSPORT WORKERS

Tabled by John McDonnell and signed by 75 others to date

"That this House applauds the vital work of Britain's transport workers who, as essential public servants, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect; believes there is a clear responsibility on the Government together with employers in the rail, ferry and bus industries to take all the necessary steps to prevent staff assaults and provide care for those who are assaulted; further believes that reducing staff assaults will help reduce anti-social behaviour and provide a safer environment for transport users; therefore supports the aims of the campaign of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union which seeks firstly to raise awareness with employers and the public, secondly to secure the strongest possible legal protection for transport workers against assault, thirdly to establish effective cross company forums in each of the rail, bus and ferry industries and finally to persuade transport employers to adopt best practice when developing policies to prevent staff assaults and provide care for those who are victims of assault."

Signatures( 76)

McDonnell, John [R]
Prosser, Gwyn
James, Sian C
Riordan, Linda
Drew, David
Corbyn, Jeremy
Hoyle, Lindsay
Jones, Lynne
Evans, Nigel
Pugh, John
Hopkins, Kelvin
Iddon, Brian
Meale, Alan
Cryer, Ann
Dismore, Andrew
Etherington, Bill
George, Andrew
Gibson, Ian
Hancock, Mike
Williams, Stephen
Spink, Bob
Jones, Martyn
Lepper, David
Dobbin, Jim
Foster, Michael Jabez
Gapes, Mike
Godsiff, Roger
Bottomley, Peter
Williams, Betty
Willis, Phil
Soulsby, Peter
Hunter, Mark
Jenkins, Brian
Caton, Martin
Durkan, Mark
Francis, Hywel
Stringer, Graham
Leech, John
MacNeil, Angus
Sharma, Virendra Kumar
Salter, Martin
Vis, Rudi
Skinner, Dennis
Llwyd, Elfyn
Hamilton, David
Battle, John
Devine, Jim
Singh, Marsha
Naysmith, Doug
Dean, Janet
Efford, Clive
Austin, John
Stewart, Ian
Williams, Hywel
Simpson, Alan
McCartney, Ian
Crausby, David
Strang, Gavin
Lloyd, Tony
Cable, Vincent
Clark, Katy
Hoey, Kate
Illsley, Eric
Hermon, Sylvia
McDonnell, Alasdair
Waltho, Lynda
Spellar, John
Curtis-Thomas, Claire
Doran, Frank
Humble, Joan
Connarty, Michael
Wood, Mike
Kemp, Fraser
Gerrard, Neil
Davidson, Ian
Mitchell, Austin

For up-to-date signatories, please visit

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35077&SESSION=891

Posted on 7:03 AM | Permalink

China Daily: 2008-09-01
By Xin Dingding

China will produce the world's fastest bullet train for the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, a senior railway official has said.

The bullet train with highest speed of 350 kph runs along the Beijing-Tianjin intercity passenger railway on August 1, 2008. China will produce the world's fastest bullet train which will run at 380 kph for the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway

Zhang Shuguang, deputy chief engineer with the Ministry of Railways, said the domestically developed train will run at 380 kph, the highest speed for any railway in the world.

And if the project materializes, the travel time between the two metropolises will be cut from five to around four hours, enhancing the rail network's competitive edge against airlines, he said.

Previously, China planned to run trains at 350 kph on the 1,318-km Beijing-Shanghai line, the same speed as on the Beijing-Tianjin intercity passenger railway that opened a month ago.

And the travel time is estimated at five hours, about half of the current time. Manufacturing 380-kph trains in China is already possible in terms of technology, he said.

China has established a comprehensive system for bullet train manufacturing, including basic theory, design, manufacture, maintenance and appraisal, he said.

In the past few years, China has imported technology to manufacture 200-250 kph bullet trains from France, Japan and Canada, and German engineering giant Siemens agreed to transfer a full set of technology for manufacturing 350-kph trains.

Using Siemens' technology, Tangshan Railway Vehicles Co Ltd in Hebei province has started production of CRH-3, a jointly designed 350-kph train, and is expected to be able to manufacture 50 such trains by next year.

China has also fostered an experienced team through the previous six speed-up campaigns and the building of the nation's first high-speed railway between Beijing and Tianjin, he said.

"We have mastered core technologies in terms of manufacturing high-speed trains and made innovative achievements in the process," he said.

"It is possible that we can start to manufacture 380-kph trains in two years' time, and put them into service on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway," he said.

Construction of the railway is progressing smoothly, according to He Huawu, the ministry's chief engineer.

It is likely that the high-speed line can be finished within four years, and become operational in 2012, one year ahead of schedule.

See also:

China planning 'world's fastest train' from Beijing to Shanghai

Telegraph: 01 Sep 2008
By Richard Spencer in Beijing

China is planning to build the world's fastest bullet train, to link Beijing with the financial capital Shanghai.

China's bullet trains will be able to travel at 236 miles an hour by 2012. Photo: REUTERS

In a sign the country's ambitions to go faster, higher and bigger have not been dimmed by the end of the Olympics, the Ministry of Railways says it is raising the speed it intends the new line connecting the cities to reach when it opens in 2012.

New technology will enable trains to travel at 380 km or 236 miles an hour, 30 km per hour (18mph) more than the current generation of bullet trains, according to the ministry's deputy chief engineer, Zhang Shuguang.

"It is possible that we can start to manufacture 380 km/h trains in two years' time, and put them into service on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway," he said, according to state media.

The high-speed line from Beijing to Shanghai has been an on-off project for several years, but work finally began in April.

Officials have been torn between improving the extensive and reliable but slow services linking cities across the country and building high-tech lines between major cities. But they have also been encouraged by the initial success of the bullet train that since July has reduced journey times from Beijing to the nearest port at Tianjin to just half an hour.

With China's two most important cities separated by 1,318 kilometres or 819 miles, the new line will be the longest high-speed railway to be built in one go in the world.

The Tianjin route uses 350 km/h trains relying on technology imported from the German engineering giant Siemens. A local company is building up production to 50 trains a year by next year to service both the Tianjin and Shanghai lines.

But Mr Zhang said China's own engineers had "mastered" the technology sufficiently to upgrade the trains' speed further.

The extra would be sufficient to cut the journey time from five hours as currently planned to four hours, compared with current 10-12 hours. The difference would make the rail route competitive with the current two-hour flight time once check-in times were taken into account.

Posted on 5:37 AM | Permalink