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

AFP: 29 Nov, 2009

SEOUL — South Korean police began clamping down Monday on leaders of a railway strike which has halted 70 percent of freight train services and started taking a toll on industry.

South Korean police have begun clamping down on leaders of a railway strike

Police said they summoned 44 union leaders for questioning on charges of leading an illegal walkout. "If they ignore our summons we will seek court warrants to arrest them," a National Police Agency spokesman told AFP.

About 16,000 members of the 25,000-strong union of KORAIL, the country's railway monopoly, walked out Thursday in protest at the company's plans to cut jobs and wages and reduce welfare benefits to reduce its deficit.

KORAIL has filed complaints against 182 unionists for impeding business with an illegal strike.

Police say the strikers violated the law by stopping work to demand the reinstatement of dismissed workers.

President Lee Myung-Bak has urged stern action against the strikers, accusing them of hampering the country's efforts for economic recovery.

"There must not be a convenient compromise this time," Lee said Friday night.

"The walkout by unionised workers of public corporations, who are guaranteed lifetime job security, cannot be understood by the people at a time when hundreds of thousands of young people are struggling to land jobs."

KORAIL said the walkout had cost about 4.76 billion won (four million dollars) in losses as of Monday morning. Some 70 percent of cargo train services remained idle Monday along with 40 percent of passenger train services.

KORAIL accounts for only about seven percent of the country's passenger and cargo transport but the strike has begun taking a toll on industrial activities.

Electronic firms and other exporters have not experienced any major problems but other companies which rely heavily on rail transport, such as cement and coal producers, have been hit hard.

"Our stocks have been increasing rapidly. If the current situation goes on, we have no choice but to keep our plants idle," Kang Byung-Chul, a Ssangyong Cement manager, told Yonhap news agency.

The walkout comes as Lee's administration is locked in tough negotiations over a bill seen by unionists as curbing their activities.

About 12,000 public-sector workers held an anti-government rally Saturday in Seoul after two umbrella union bodies threatened to stage a rare joint strike next month.

The bill would allow multiple unions at each workplace and ban employers from paying wages to full-time union officials.

See also:

Strike hitting travelers and cargo shipments

JoongAng Daily: November 30, 2009

Many empty freight train cars were grounded yesterday at Obong Station in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, where an inland container depot is located as railway workers continued a general strike for the fourth day. [YONHAP]

During the fourth day of the Korean Railway Workers’ Union’s strike yesterday, passenger train operations were disrupted after the Korea Railroad Corporation assigned some workers operating those trains to instead operate ones hauling cargo. Cargo train operations partially improved.

The number of Saemaeul and Mugunghwa trains in operation reduced by 30 and 120, respectively, which lowered by about 40 percent the number of trains in operation. Seoul Station in central Seoul was congested with passengers throughout the day.

“It is so absurd that trains cannot be in operation. I came to Seoul to meet my family and parents during the weekend but I cannot go back to Busan to work,” said Jeon Seok-ju, who had earlier purchased a Saemaeul train ticket for 7:20 p.m. Like Jeon, there were some 4,000 other passengers who had to cancel trips.

Problems dealing with cargo congestion at Inland Container Depot in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, were resolved partially as Korail utilized 68 extra cargo trains during the weekend to transport some 650 containers to ports in Busan and Gwangyang, South Jeolla.

Korail mobilized some 9,600 regular and 4,200 emergency workers - including retired Korail train drivers, Korail office workers and military personnel who hold licenses for train operations - yesterday alone. The combined number only accounts for 55 percent of the daily workforce.

“Many emergency workers are getting tired. We have no choice but to give them breaks beginning early this week and the number of workers will decrease even more,” said an official at Korail who asked not to be named.

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs is planning to urge passengers to take either expressways or cross-country buses.

The ministry will also lend cargo trucks to shippers to use for emergency transportation. The strike cost Korail 3.7 billion won ($3.1 million) from Thursday to Saturday. “We will use this opportunity to correct the union’s habitual custom of going on strikes and its irrational system,” Korail CEO Huh Joon-young said. “We are going to also ask for deep understanding from people who had to suffer inconvenience due to the strike.” Huh stressed that there will be no negotiations unless the union ends its strike. The union showed no signs of doing that.

“The union went on strike because the firm abrogated its collective bargaining agreement unilaterally while the government is pushing forward with advancing public firms,” Baek Nam-hui, an executive in charge of managing information of the union, said. “We have no plan to end the strike as long as the government is pushing for personnel restructuring.”

“In a situation where a number of young job seekers are in pain getting jobs, people cannot understand and they will not understand the illegal strike caused by a public firm’s union workers whose employment period is guaranteed. Compromises should not be made with the strikers,” Blue House spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye quoted President Lee Myung-bak as saying on Saturday.

See also:

Rail Strike Cuts Passenger Services to 60 Percent

The Korea Times: 11-29-2009 여성 남성
By Kwon Mee-yoo, Staff Reporter

The rail workers' strike entered its fourth day Sunday causing major disruptions to freight and passenger transport. President Lee Myung-bak ordered strict action to be taken against public workers refusing to work.

The Korean Railway Workers' Union started an indefinite strike Thursday, which has almost paralyzed the nation's freight services. The union claimed that KORAIL unilaterally ceased negotiations Tuesday, which covered a wide range of key issues related to the company's downsizing plan, including wage cuts and reduction of welfare programs.

President Lee condemned the strikers for their "unreasonable and selfish" demands.

"We must not meet the terms of such a union," the President said at a government workshop attended by some 130 ministers and heads of state-run firms, Saturday.

"A strike by the union members of a public business, who are guaranteed lifetime employment, cannot be understood by the people. It cannot be tolerated especially at a time when hundreds of thousands of our young people are suffering because they cannot find jobs."

KORAIL is trying to deal with the cargo backlog. Freight trains' operation rate fell to 5 percent on Thursday, the first day of the strike. The rate was up to 31 percent by Sunday.

"We examined the goods piled up at logistics warehouses and stations, and decided to increase the number of freight trains to solve the problem," a KORAIL official said. "We will finish transporting all containers for import and export by Sunday."

However, the increase in freight trains resulted in a drop in the operation rate of passenger trains to some 60 percent Sunday.

While KTX, commuter trains and subway trains in the Seoul metropolitan area were operating according to their regular schedule, the Saemaeul and Mugunghwa trains were operating at only 60 and 63 percent, respectively, of their normal Sunday time table.

KORAIL filed complaints against nearly 200 unionists who led the walkout for impeding business with an illegal strike on Friday and Saturday.

Posted on 9:37 AM | Permalink

Canwest News Service: November 29, 2009
By Carolynne Burkholder and Keith Bonnell

OTTAWA — The Canadian government will force striking rail workers back to work if the two sides can’t come to an agreement by Monday, a senior government official told Canwest News Service Sunday night.

Striking CN engineers on a picket line at one of the entrances into the rail company's western Canadian headquarters in Edmonton Saturday, November 28, 2009. Photograph by: Chris Schwarz, Edmonton Journal

About 1,700 Canadian National locomotive engineers walked off the job and onto the picket line on Saturday over wage concerns at Canada’s largest national railway.

“For all intents and purposes, talks have broken down,” the government official, who asked not to be named, said in an interview Sunday evening. “To protect the Canadian economy, the government cannot allow this strike to continue. By (Monday), if the two sides cannot reach an agreement, the government is prepared to introduce back-to-work legislation.”

Earlier Sunday, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union said it was willing to let binding arbitration settle a dispute over wages — once the two sides settle the other outstanding issues.

But the offer was quickly rejected Sunday by CN officials.

Wages and the number of kilometres engineers can drive each month are believed to be among the issues dividing the two sides.

The union said early Sunday its offer could help resolve the dispute.

“CN must accept their responsibility in this dispute as well,” said union president Daniel J. Shewchuk.

“We do not feel our position on wages is excessive as they are in line with what CN has negotiated with other unions. Nevertheless, in an effort to move the process forward, we indicated that we are prepared to submit the issue of wage increases to final and binding arbitration.”

In its own statement, CN said it had carefully reviewed the union’s proposals but did not believe the offer was reasonable.

The company said the offer would not immediately end the strike, and was therefore unacceptable.

“If the TCRC (union) would enter into a binding arbitration agreement with us today that simultaneously ends the strike, we would be pleased to draft an offer for resolution,” CN spokesman Mark Hallman said in a statement.

“The union’s proposal continues negotiations, for an undefined period of time, over the same work rule issues we have been discussing for 14 months. Frankly, we do not see how further discussions on these same points will change the parties’ positions.”

The engineers, who CN said make an average of more than $100,000 a year, have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2008.

CN has said passenger service will not be disrupted by the strike, and that freight service will continue, with managers taking up the slack.

However, a shipping industry group said this weekend that the dispute could have major repercussions on the nation’s economy, if it drags on.

“It will start to affect service very badly, very quickly,” said Bob Ballantyne, president of the Canadian Industrial Transportation Association.

“If it goes on for any length of time, it will start leading to layoffs and companies will have to shut down production because they can’t ship.”

The government official agreed, saying that the government was forced to step in to protect the Canadian economy.

“We’re seeing some economic progress but we’re not out of the woods yet,” he said. “CN is a vital part of our economy.”

The last work stoppage at CN was in 2007, at which time Parliament ordered more than 2,700 conductors back to work.

See also:

Canada railway workers strike for higher wages

AFP: November 29, 2009

MONTREAL — Some 1,700 mechanics working for state-owned Canadian National Railways (CN) went on strike this weekend for higher wages and lower workloads, as opposition leaders called for government mediation in contract talks.

The strikers, part of the Teamsters union, began their work stoppage on Saturday to protest the company's wage hike offer and its proposal to increase the minimum mileage at work.

Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff said Canadians deserve a transport system that works, and called on the government to resolve the labor dispute.

A CN spokesman said the strike would not affect passenger trains.

See also:

Rail strike sparks recovery worries

Globe and Mail: Nov. 30, 2009
BRENT JANG

CN Rail work stoppage by 1,700 engineers imperils fragile economic momentum and threatens already downtrodden companies with costly shipment delays

A strike by Canadian National Railway Co. locomotive engineers threatens a nascent recovery in freight shipments.

Canada's largest railway, which is seen as a barometer for the economy because the carrier hauls a wide range of goods, finally began to see signs of a turnaround in November.

But a strike that began Saturday by 1,700 engineers comes at a precarious time for farmers, manufacturers and other corporations dependent on CN to move cargo ranging from grain and chemicals to lumber and consumer products.

While the recession may be over for the broader economy, it continues to be a tough time for many companies, said Jean-Michel Laurin, a vice-president at the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.

"Everybody's fighting for every dollar, and we don't want to see any disruption in rail shipments," Mr. Laurin said yesterday. "We need everything to be working well."

Montreal-based CN has been gradually bouncing back from the recession. In early July, weekly carloads of merchandise were down 35 per cent from the same period last year, but for the week ended Nov. 21, they edged up 1.5 per cent year over year.

CN spokesman Mark Hallman said managers are doing their best to keep the trains on schedule. "We can't predict weather, but we're executing well on the plan that we have in place now," he said.

"This strike was entirely avoidable had the union agreed to our request for final binding arbitration. This unnecessary and damaging strike doesn't do the engineers any good, and it doesn't do our customers and indeed the Canadian economy any good."

While truckers are positioned to pick up some of CN's short-haul business, long-haul shipments are best suited to rail. The Hamilton Port Authority, which has developed its own strategy to win short-haul business that would otherwise go on rails, is touting the transport of goods by ship to take advantage of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Joe Martin, director of Canadian business history at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, said CN managers may be able to maintain deliveries for the first several days, but there are bound to be delays as the strike lengthens, especially if snowstorms hit.

In contrast to a strike at CN in 2007, the economy this time around doesn't have the resilience that it did during the previous labour dispute, Prof. Martin said yesterday.

Federal Labour Minister Rona Ambrose said she's disappointed by the breakdown in talks between CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. The last contract expired on Dec. 31, 2008.

"At a time when our economy is still recovering, our government will not support a disruption to such a vital component of Canada's economy," Ms. Ambrose said in a statement, adding that Ottawa favours the union accepting binding arbitration.

Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff urged the Conservative government to "get this dispute resolved."

Teamsters president Daniel Shewchuk said the engineers, who operate the locomotives and are responsible for train speed, are upset that CN management is proposing to increase work loads while only offering a 1.5-per-cent raise, with no retroactive pay increase and unsatisfactory health benefits.

The current monthly "mileage cap" is 3,800 miles, but CN wants to raise it to 4,300 miles - the distance travelled for work duties, which could translate into working at least an extra day every month, he said.

CN said the engineers make more than $100,000 a year for working an average of 15 to 17 days a month, but Mr. Shewchuk disputed the pay figures, emphasizing instead the long stretches of time spent away from family and friends.

The Teamsters say they are willing to return to the bargaining table while submitting the "wage portion of the dispute" to binding arbitration, but CN responded that the union's latest offer would unreasonably extend contract negotiations "for an undefined period."

The Teamsters also say CN has enlisted the help of people who have retired from the company to operate trains.

CN endured a 15-day strike in February, 2007, by 2,800 conductors and yard workers.

A wide array of industries urged Ottawa at the time to end the labour dispute, saying they couldn't afford any more costly delays to rail service.

Manufacturers, chemical producers, forestry firms and farming groups were among the angry rail customers. Despite a tentative pact in late February of 2007, workers later rejected the deal and staged a series of rotating strikes in the spring, forcing Parliament to pass back-to-work legislation in April. A federally appointed arbitrator subsequently selected CN's final offer.

CN Rail (CNR-T)
Close: $55.64, up 64¢

********

CN'S WEIGHT

$1.27-billion Nine-month profit

4 per cent Decline in nine-month profit from year earlier

$5.48-billion Nine-month revenue

13 per cent Decline in nine-month revenue from year earlier

58 per cent CN's portion of container traffic (42 per cent moved by rival CP)

Posted on 9:11 AM | Permalink

Reuters: Nov 28, 2009
TORONTO

* Company using non-union workers to run trains

Locomotive engineers at Canada's largest railway walked off the job on Saturday after talks broke down, but Canadian National Railway said it was using management and non-union staff to provide "the best possible service under the circumstances."

CN spokesman Mark Hallman said the strike started overnight after the breakdown of talks with the Teamsters Union. "We have deployed our contingency plan," he said.

Union officials were not immediately available to comment, although an overnight statement said commuter train services in the Montreal area would not be affected.

The engineers have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2008, and CN unilaterally imposed new work conditions on Monday, describing this as the only way to break a deadlock.

Hallman declined to say how many trains were running, or indicate the possible impact the strike might have on CN results. Canada's rail network is heavily used by grain shippers and other exporters of raw materials.

The Teamsters represent about 1,700 CN engineers in Canada out of a Canadian workforce of more than 15,000.

The dispute does not affect CN's engineers in the United States, who work under different contracts.

Under the new conditions imposed by the company, engineers' monthly mileage cap would rise to 4,300 miles (6,900 km) from 3,800 miles (6,100 km), matching that of the railway's train conductors.

The mileage caps are designed to keep train crews from being overworked. CN says the 3,800 mile-limit was set decades ago, in an era of steam locomotives, and a higher limit would improve productivity.

The railroad also said it would raise wages by 1.5 percent, below the figure offered in contract proposals that the union had turned down.

The union said some engineers might have to would work seven days a week with no time off under the new system.

The last strike at CN began in February 2007 when 2,800 conductors and yard-service employees in the United Transportation Union (now the Teamsters Union) walked off the job. It ended two months later after the federal government passed back-to-work legislation, citing the importance of the rail service to the economy.

Hallman declined to say if he expected similar legislation this time. He said the company hoped to end the strike through negotiations.

Posted on 2:34 AM | Permalink

ThinkSPAIN: November 28, 2009

A HIGH-SPEED train covering the trip from Madrid to Paris will be on track by 2012.

The Spanish government has announced that the line will link up to the Eurostar station in Paris, meaning passengers can travel on to London without having to cross the city by metro.

As a result, there will be a direct public transport link from Madrid to the UK within less than three years.

Plans have been approved between Spain's president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and French minister François Fillon.

The rail-link will be jointly managed by the RENFE – Spain's railway board – and the SNCF, that of France, although the resulting company's head office will be in Spain.

RENFE intends to invest 300 million euros in the project, which will be the ideal solution for British expats in Spain who hate flying but wish to return to the UK to see their families.

Additionally, the Spanish and French governments have agreed to invest a total of 108 million euros into the high-speed train-line from Figueres (Girona) to Perpignan, providing a coastal link between the two countries by rail.

Posted on 11:17 AM | Permalink

Bloomberg: November 26, 2009
By Chris Jasper

Hitachi Ltd., maker of the 186 mile per hour (300 kph) Bullet Train, will bid against the French- built TGV on its home soil as the Japanese company targets a European rail market that’s the biggest in the world.

Hitachi, whose high-speed train sales in the region have been limited to the U.K., will offer the latest Shinkansen- series model to replace TGVs run by French state rail operator SNCF and built by Paris-based Alstom SA, said Mac Motraghi, head of sales at the Asian company’s European rail unit.

“We’re having informal discussions,” Motraghi said in an interview at Tokyo-based Hitachi’s depot in Ashford, England, where it services Javelin high-speed commuter units. “The French market has always been Alstom and perhaps our chances of winning there are not that great, but to be a serious rail player in Europe you have to get involved.”

Prospects for sales in France may be helped by concerns at SNCF about the cost of new rolling stock, the executive said, adding that the French company is expected to issue a request for bids next year. Hitachi will also compete for German orders to replace older versions of the ICE high-speed model made by Munich-based Siemens AG, Europe’s biggest engineering company.

“It’s out, now, that Hitachi are active here and we get approached by the train operating companies,” Motraghi said. “We see high speed expanding throughout Europe and we want to be a part of that. I think it’s very realistic.”

SNCF Tender

SNCF, or Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais, may issue a tender for a new generation of high-speed trains as early as next year, with the contract open to bids from any supplier, spokesman Philippe Mirville said by telephone. The company has more than 300 TGVs and 83 awaiting delivery.

Alstom said Hitachi may find it tough to penetrate a European market that’s complicated by the variety of railway systems and requirements for cross-border running.

“The Japanese industry is a very serious one and their ability and technology isn’t in doubt, but they will face some difficulties,” Jean-Noël Debroise, product-strategy manager at Alstom’s Transportation unit, said in a telephone interview today. “We know the customer better than them.”

Siemens has won five of eight contracts tendered since 2002 in the super-high speed segment for trains faster than 300 kph, giving it confidence in a product range led by the new Velaro model, spokeswoman Anja Uhlendorff said. Unlike the ICE, the Velaro was developed without a partner as the German company seeks to maximize its market share, she said.

Speed Record

The Shinkansen -- meaning “new main line” in Japanese and referring originally to the dedicated tracks on which it runs -- grabbed the world rail speed record on its introduction in 1964. The model was dubbed the “bullet train” overseas because of its then-unrivalled speed and streamlined design.

The Japanese high-speed network is the world’s busiest, with four operators carrying a total of 314 million people in the 12 months through March 2008, according to their Web sites. TGVs run by SNCF moved 98 million passengers last year.

Alstom says it has built 70 percent of all trains able to travel at more than 300 kilometers per hour. The TGV, or Train a Grande Vitesse, was introduced in 1981, captured the rail- speed record in 1990 and has held it ever since, setting a new high of 575 kph in 2006 using a modified vehicle running on a new railway line in eastern France.

Maglev

Shinkansen speeds are being improved to 330 kph, while the JR-Maglev system under development by Central Japan Railway Co., which uses magnetic levitation technology, has reached 581 kph. The units run on tracks at lower speeds and then hover as they accelerate and aren’t regarded as conventional trains.

Hitachi sold 29 Javelins to Go-Ahead Group Plc for use on the U.K. section of the Channel Tunnel rail link, the country’s only line able to carry trains at 140 mph or more, and to shift people from central London to the site of the 2012 Olympics.

The new units will begin a full roster of services on Dec. 13 following five months of trials in which the reduced journey times have already created a new commuter market in some towns, with passenger numbers increasing from 6,000 to 20,000 a week.

“We didn’t know what to expect so we’re very please with the reaction,” Vince Lucas, commercial director at Go-Ahead’s Southeastern rail franchise, said in an interview. “We had to lengthen some trains in the first week.”

Open Market

Britain, with no major train manufacturer and a network run by listed companies, is Europe’s most open market and has provided a bridgehead for exports in the region, Motraghi said.

“Some of the markets in Europe are more mature than others, but there are new projects all the time,” he said. “Capacity needs to be expanded and rolling stock replaced, so there are plenty of opportunities. We are in Europe to stay.”

Hitachi will offer to build trains outside Japan for the first time in order to win contracts, Motraghi said. The Javelin trains were exported from Tokyo but a U.K. deal for hundreds of units to replace 35-year-old High Speed Trains on routes from London will require a major manufacturing presence, he said.

Motraghi said the Japanese company is also encouraged by developments in the U.S., where the economic stimulus package passed by Congress in February included $8 billion to develop a high-speed network and President Barack Obama in April identified 10 potential corridors where the trains might run.

“We are a world player in railways and wherever there is a major project we would like to be involved in that,” the executive said. “The American market has its own challenges but we are more than happy to go in there.”

Given the size of the U.S. project, Hitachi is most likely to bid with its Shinkansen allies and a local partner, Motraghi said. Previous versions of the Bullet Train have been developed with Nippon Sharyo Ltd., Kinki Sharyo Co. and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. SNCF said in September it may bid to build and run routes in California, Florida, Texas and Chicago.

Posted on 10:59 AM | Permalink

The Times: November 27, 2009
Philip Pank, Transport Correspondent

National Express, the troubled transport group, won a stay of execution yesterday when the Government held back from an immediate withdrawal of its profit-making rail franchises.

Railway workers as they examine rail tracks in South London (Richard Pohle/The Times)

Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, announced that the company’s East Anglia franchise would end in March 2011, ruling out a further three-year extension.

However, the rail industry was in little doubt that the ruling marked the end of the line for National Express’s involvement in the British railways. The company that once ran half of the national network will return to its roots as a bus and coach operator.

The beginning of the end came in July, when the company abandonded its financial obligations on Britain’s busiest long-distance route. The East Coast franchise passed back to state control this month when Lord Adonis demonstrated that operators cannot expect a public bailout.

Its default effectively rules National Express out of future tenders. “Some one who has defaulted on a franchise in the way that they have would not qualify to run a franchise,” a spokesman for the Department for Transport said.

A rail industry insider added: “They are out of the railway business. It is a very sad end to a company that was very influential in the heady days of privatisation.”

Another seasoned observer said: “Within 18 months they are going to be off the railway one way or another.”

Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat transport spokesman, said: “Clearly, the Government’s intention is to end National Express’s involvement in the rail network. What hope is there that the company will deliver a decent service when they’re operating under sentence of execution?”

The departure from the cash-rich railway sector would mark a dramatic fall from grace for a company that once ran key routes across Britain, including the West Anglia Great Northern, Silverlink, Central, Wessex, Scotrail and Midland Mainline franchises as well as its failed East Coast operation. Its last remaining franchise, Essex Thameside, which is running under the C2C brand, expires in May 2011.

However, National Express, which has fended off two hostile takeover bids, is operating with a bitterly divided board without a chief executive and has £1.1 billion in debt, is not yet ready to rule the railways offlimits.

“It is too early to make a call like that,” a spokesman said. “We are foc-using on our current franchises and that is it. I would not rule the group out of being a train operator.”

Certainly, investors did not take fright at the announcement. Shares closed down 1¼p at 336¾p.

The company said it was “disappointed” that time had been called on its East Anglia franchise “given the excellent improvement in performance delivered by the group over the past five-and-a-half years of operating the franchise”.

In his assessment, Lord Adonis said that a transition period should ensure minimal disruption to passengers on services out of Liverpool Street station.

Nedrail, Deutsche Bahn, Stagecoach, FirstGroup, Arriva and Go-Ahead are all expected to enter a competitive round of bidding to take on East Anglia and Essex Thameside.

The services cover robust commuter routes. A new train fleet arrives in 2011 and the winning bidder will have the cachet of servicing the 2012 Olympic Games. While the industry showed little surprise at the announcement, it did reignite calls to reform the franchise system. Operators are calling for franchises to be extended beyond the average of seven-year terms.

• National Express is expected to comfortably win approval for a £360 million rescue rights issue today, in spite of opposition from its largest shareholder, the Cosmen family.

The fundraising is expected to win the support of all the bus and train company’s other big investors — leaving the Cosmen family, who hold 20 per cent, relatively isolated. Proceeds from the cash call will be used to trim debts that have ballooned to more than £1 billion.

Gerald Khoo, an analyst at Arbuthnot Securities, said: “Although the Cosmen family has increased its stake to just under 20 per cent and we expect a material protest vote against the rights issue, we believe the group will have secured sufficient support from institutional shareholders.”

The journey

1969 The State-owned National Bus Company is set up, offering a co-ordinated express coach service across Britain by 1972

1992 National Express Group floats

1995 Acquisition of West Midlands Travel, one of the UK’s largest bus companies

1996 Enters UK rail market with acquisition of Gatwick Express and Midland Mainline

1998 Goes into US, buying Durham School Services

2004 Enters London bus market with acquisition of Travel London

2005 Enters Spanish coach and bus market, acquiring Alsa

2009 Hands back East Coast Main Line franchise in July

Posted on 9:54 AM | Permalink

Guardian: 26 November 2009
Richard Wachman

Rail network and station operator sees revenues drop after being forced to cut charges and costs

Network Rail chief executive Iain Coucher. Photograph: David Jones/PA

The company that runs Britain's rail network and maintains many of its largest stations reported a fall in revenue after being told to cut its charges to train operators.

Under a new regulatory regime that came into force in April, Network Rail must accept a lower rate of return on its assets, a ruling that also means it must cut costs by £4bn over the next five years. As part of its efficiency drive, Network Rail said earlier this month that it planned to cut about 1,500 maintenance jobs, with about half on the west coast main line between London and Glasgow.

The drop in revenue from £3.1bn to £2.8bn in the six months to the end of September was partly offset by success in cutting delays to passengers, allowing it to reduce payments to train operators for disruption caused by investment work. Maintenance costs were 8.5% lower as a result of savings on subcontractors, agency workers and the hire of plant equipment. Profit after tax jumped from £5m to £99m compared with this time last year, when the company was hit by a huge one-off tax charge. But operating profit slipped from £1.2bn to just below £1.1bn.

Iain Coucher, its chief executive, said: "Network Rail has a big task ahead. It must continue to drive down costs and reduce prices to customers and at the same time build a bigger and better railway through an extensive investment programme that will bring more trains, more seats and better journeys."

He added that the company was anticipating that demand for rail would continue to grow and that as roads and airports became more congested "the greener and safer option of rail travel makes it the best choice". Coucher said investment remained at historically high levels, reflecting the focus on adding capacity, increasing line speeds and improving reliability. In London and the south-east, a major congestion-busting programme of platform-lengthening was under way to allow for longer trains.

The company recently revealed that British passenger trains were achieving a punctuality record of 93.5%, beating the best figures achieved by the former nationalised industry, British Rail.

But in the summer, the office of rail regulation criticised the company's decision not cut bonuses for some of its top directors after a mixed showing over the last year. The company has faced criticism over the poor performance of some equipment on the west coast main line.

Posted on 12:08 AM | Permalink

The Observer: 22 November 2009
Dan Milmo

The east coast line's fortunes have been revived since it passed from National Express to state ownership, raising hopes of a return to network integration last seen in the days of British Rail

The London to Edinburgh east coast line made an operating loss last year under its former owner, National Express, but remains 'essentially profitable'. Photograph: Luke Macgregor/Reuters

Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, has big plans for Britain's largest rail franchise. Asked by the Observer last week if he was considering changes to the government-owned East Coast service, he said: "I want to see these trains full and I want to see a fares strategy that encourages people to get on trains. Watch this space."

According to accounts filed this month by the east coast franchise's former owner National Express, the Department for Transport (DfT) will start its overhaul from a financial position that is stronger than the headlines over the past year would suggest. The London-to-Edinburgh route made an operating loss of £23.6m last year, but that was due to £50.9m of exceptional costs related to the looming demise of the contract. Strip out the one-off costs and cancel the franchise payments of £60.1m that were made to the DfT last year, and the franchise made an operating profit of about £90m.

According to projections seen by the Observer, the east coast franchise would have made a profit of about £31.5m this year if it had escaped the yoke of the DfT's payment schedule. An act that appeared to be crisis management – renationalising a flagship of rail privatisation – also looks like a shrewd business deal.

"The east coast line is essentially profitable. But that has been obscured by previous operators' promises of unrealistic premium payments, based on over-optimistic growth projections," says Douglas McNeill, analyst at Astaire Securities.

National Express pledged payments of £1.4bn over seven and a half years and its failed predecessor, GNER, gave up less than two years into an agreement to pay the DfT £1.3bn over a decade. East Coast is working to a much less demanding payment schedule.

The brighter outlook for East Coast could help revive the notion of linking it with the west coast route operated by Virgin Trains, and ultimately adding on the CrossCountry, Great Western and East Midlands lines to re-create the integrated InterCity network that operated under British Rail (BR) until privatisation in the mid-1990s.

According to one industry source, the idea of joining up the east and west coast routes makes financial sense, with the new London-to-Manchester-and-Glasgow franchise expected to pay a premium when the contract is renewed in 2012.

"If they were to pay their full share of maintenance costs, the expectation over the next few years is that the west coast and east coast would become fully profitable and financially self-sustaining franchises," says the source.

Virgin Trains, co-owned by Stagecoach and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin empire, made a profit of £56m last year but will be bolstered by taxpayer support to the tune of £50m in 2009 because it will undershoot sales targets as a result of the recession. It is also underpinned by a DfT subsidy of about £240m that, until last year, was paid to Virgin and was then passed on to Network Rail, the company that owns and maintains the UK rail system, in the form of track usage fees. Now that fee is paid directly to Network Rail by the DfT, helping the west coast route edge closer to becoming a premium-paying franchise.

However, the logic behind combining the east and west coast routes, possibly under government ownership, does not need to be driven by the finances. Roger Ford, industry and technology editor of Modern Railways magazine, has called for the reintroduction of the InterCity network on behalf of a group that is often sidelined in debates over the industry: passengers. Ford says that an InterCity operator with one website, a simplified fares structure and a unifying brand would galvanise an industry that has "lost sight of the passenger".

"It seems such an obvious thing to do," he says. "One of the problems facing the railway is that it is terribly fragmented with different operators. It is very difficult making a long-distance journey these days. There are so many different tickets and websites. What the railway has lost is an integrated national network that holds it together. InterCity is the face of the railway that everybody sees."

But Tony Collins, chief executive of Virgin Trains, does not see the benefits of combining the east and west coast, let alone folding in CrossCountry, which runs from Penzance to Aberdeen, the London-to-Swansea Great Western line, and the London-to-Sheffield East Midlands route.

In the dying days of BR in 1994, InterCity reported an operating profit of £97.9m. But Collins argues annual passenger growth of 20% on the west coast was unheard of during those years, although defenders of BR would say it did not benefit from the £9bn line upgrade that has allowed Virgin to ramp up services.

"The term 'InterCity' as a catch-all is out of date," says Collins. "Our route is now a complex mix of 'long commute', leisure and business travel, which each have different needs, and we are succeeding in the face of greater competition than ever before. Our routes all need astute marketing and management, which wouldn't come under a multi-legged monolith. One size doesn't fit all."

Given the opportunity to back the rebirth of InterCity, Lord Adonis declines. Speaking at a seminar on low-carbon travel hosted by the Campaign for Better Transport, he indicates that the patchwork of individual franchises will stay, albeit challenged by a revived East Coast.

"We do of course have inter-city franchises at the moment," he says. "I want them [the east and west coast] to be exemplary franchises and Virgin is seeing a huge increase in traffic."

For now, a government-owned London-to-Edinburgh franchise is the closest Britain will get to an InterCity revival.

Network Rail profits

Network Rail is expected to report post-tax profits of about £100m this week, but the owner of Britain's tracks, signals and stations relies heavily on the taxpayer for its impressive returns.

The rail industry expects the east coast and west coast franchises to become profitable without government subsidy, while paying their share of maintenance costs, during the next decade. But Network Rail must shoulder the burden of maintaining and upgrading parts of the network that cannot be sustained by the fare-payer.

The Office of Rail Regulation, which monitors Network Rail's finances, acknowledges there would have to be a smaller rail system if subsidies of around £5bn per year were cut.

Most of Network Rail's income of £6.1bn this year will be covered by a government grant of £4bn. This funds the day-to-day work of track repairs and keeping stations tidy. Big improvements, such as platform lengthening and rebuilding King's Cross station in London, are funded by a £22bn debt underwritten by the government.

The rest of Network Rail's income is provided by train operators, who pay for every carriage that runs on its tracks on a per-kilometre basis. Those fees – £1.8bn this year – are also subsidised. According to the Rail Industry Monitor, train operators received a subsidy of about £1.5bn in 2007, accounting for a fifth of their earnings.

Network Rail will celebrate the numbers, but its performance reflects tighter cost management rather than genuine commercial success.

Posted on 9:17 AM | Permalink

Phnom Penh Post: 19 November 2009
Tep Nimol

THREE hundred rail workers demonstrated inside Phnom Penh Railway Station on Wednesday to demand that the government pay two months’ back salary.

Striking rail workers gather at the Phnom Penh Railway Station on Wednesday to demand that the government pay their salaries for the past two months - Photo by: Heng Chivoan

In June, the government awarded Australia’s Toll Holdings a 30-year contract to manage the Phnom Penh-Poipet line after receiving a loan from the Asian Development Bank to revitalise the war-battered rail route. In a further administrative shuffle, an October 1 decree placed the railroad, formerly an independent state entity, under a new Railway Department within the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

Neang Rithearom, a rail employee, said 1,000 workers have been kept in the dark. “Allowing a foreign company to invest in the railway will help us ... attract more customers, but the government still has a responsibility to pay our salaries,” he said.

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport said the October salaries would be paid on November 27, but gave no date for November’s wages.

Ly Borin, former deputy director of the independent railroad, said Toll would pay the salaries of 670 out of 1,000 employees. The rest will be paid by the Railway Department, he said.

Posted on 8:23 AM | Permalink

RMT Calling Notice: 17 November 2009

TUBE AND TfL union RMT will be holding a demonstration in support of London Underground cleaners fight against privatisation this Wednesday (18 November) as it emerged that senior TfL bosses have received a 50% increase in bonus payments over the past two years from £3.6 million in 2007 to £5.3 million this year.

The tube cleaners, who are also fighting for TfL Chair Boris Johnson’s London Living Wage, will be outside the former Metronet headquarters at Templar House, 81-87 High Holborn at 12 noon on Wednesday 18th November.

RMT is demanding that all tube cleaning services should be brought back in house on decent wages and terms and conditions with the cleaners recognised as an integral part of the London Underground team rather than a soft touch for cuts and exploitation.

In a separate part of RMT’s campaign for Cleaners Justice the union has attacked the private company Advance – who clean train trains for Southern running out of London Bridge and Victoria – for slashing staffing levels in order to prop up their profits. RMT is warning that the cleaning cuts will leave trains dirty on these important London commuter services.

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary said:

“The continued attacks on tube cleaners, and on the staff working for Advance on Southern, show that senior tube and rail managers, and the Mayor himself, are prepared to turn a blind eye while those doing the dirtiest jobs on the lowest pay are kicked from pillar to post. That’s a disgrace.

“Londoners should not tolerate a situation where TfL bosses get a 50% increase in bonuses over the past two years while some of their own cleaners on the tube are denied the Mayor’s London Living Wage and are forced to endure the uncertainty of repeated privatisation.

“RMT’s fight for justice for cleaners on our transport system will continue to put this issue right in front of the Mayor and the senior bosses who have the power to stop this exploitation.”

Posted on 11:37 AM | Permalink

THE WOMEN’S Conference of the Scottish TUC (STUC) has today backed an emergency motion from rail union RMT on the urgent need to improve the safety of women travelling on public transport and linking the issue with plans by Scotrail to introduce Driver Only Operation (DOO) on the proposed new rail service between Glasgow and Edinburgh via Airdrie to Bathgate.

The RMT emergency motion states that:

Conference is concerned that the decision to extend [Driver Only Operation] DOO demonstrates that the safety concerns of women passengers have not been adequately addressed and Conference therefore agrees to:

* Campaign to persuade the Scottish Government and First Scotrail to halt the extension of DOO in Scotland,

* Urge the Scottish Government to work with the STUC and affiliates to produce an up to date study of women in transport to assist in improving the safety of women using all forms of public transport.

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said:

“The backing of the STUC’s Women’s Conference for RMT’s campaign against Driver Only Operation on the planned new service between Glasgow and Bathgate is a massive boost for our efforts to ensure that a safe, properly staffed service operates on the line.

“We cannot have a situation where travelers are left vulnerable because corners are being cut on staffing levels in order to maximise profits. Our campaign on this issue is gaining momentum and we know that we have the support of the travelling public who recognise the importance of having a trained guard close at hand.”

ENDS

Further information:

Geoff Martin 0207 255 9146 07831 465 103

Posted on 5:39 PM | Permalink

The Times: November 6, 2009
Angela Jameson, Tom Bawden

Britain’s busiest long-distance rail route was effectively nationalised on Thursday when the Government confirmed it would take control of the troubled East Coast franchise, which National Express has run for the past two years.

National Express now faces a battle to keep its remaining two franchises — C2C and East Anglia — after the Department for Transport said that it was still considering whether it would take control of them also, under cross-default provisions.

The Liberal Democrats urged the Government to seize the other two franchises immediately. Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrats transport spokesman, said: “The Government should now take away the other two National Express rail operations — C2C and East Anglia — otherwise they’ll become lame duck franchises.”

In a written statement to the House of Commons, Lord Adonis, Secretary of State for Transport, said: “I can assure the travelling public that services will continue without disruption and all tickets will be honoured.”

National Express East Coast’s 3,100 staff will transfer to the government-owned East Coast Main Line company from midnight on November 13.

Government ownership will be a temporary measure with plans to begin a fresh competition next year for the blue-chip franchise that carries 17 million passengers a year, with the intention to award the tender mid-way through 2011.

However, unions and MPs are urging him to keep the rail route under public control — not least to provide a comparator for other privatesector rail operators.

The Department for Transport has been in discussions with National Express since July 1, when the rail operator announced that it would walk away from the contract after failing to secure a government bailout.

The East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh has struggled in recent years. GNER was forced to hand back the franchise in 2006 after the July 7 2005 terrorist attacks on London resulted in a big drop in tourism in the capital.

GNER was unable to meet the £1.3 billion in premium payments it had promised the Government in return for the franchise. Just three years later, National Express, which won a second franchise competition with an eyebrow-raising £1.4 billion bid, found itself in a similar position, as the recession deterred passengers.

The company had attempted to renegotiate the terms of the contract but talks broke down amid fears that other private rail companies, also experiencing a fall in passenger numbers, would want similar help.

Posted on 12:31 PM | Permalink

BBC Radio 4: Saturday, 7 November 2009
From Our Own Correspondent

In the week the Lisbon Treaty was finally ratified, the BBC's Johnny Dymond travelled the continent's railways to glean a sense of its past and future.

It is early in the morning in Warsaw, far too early to be doing anything but sleeping. It is cold and dark outside, and the only sound is of crows calling raucously to each other beyond my window.

Once railways measured Europe's balance of power

I am waiting to take the train to Berlin. It has been a long week, bound together by long train journeys through the cities and farmlands of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland.

I like trains. A cynic might suggest that this week was designed around my desire to spend long days staring out of a train window watching the scenery change around me. That is not true.

But in a scramble around central Europe, piecing together people's memories of the past, as the EU stumbled towards the future, trains provided a moment of respite that cars and aeroplanes do not.

Once railways were a measure of the European balance of power and the great industrial nations vied to lay down track in territories near and far.

Now, as Europe's light is overshadowed by the fast developing East, they are more parochial measures of national pride.

Empty carriages

In Budapest, the eastern railway station is a monument to faded imperial glory. There is soaring Hapsburg architecture, and the kind of scale that speaks of high industrial ambition.

But now pigeons rootle around in the international ticket hall and raw wooden beams hold up the ceiling.

The frescoes in the grand entrance have been restored and the fluted columns painted a brilliant white and gold, but they only serve to show how decrepit the rest of the place is.

"We spent a fortune doing this place up and now we can't afford to maintain it," despaired a Hungarian colleague.

Budapest Eastern Station is a monument to faded glory

Twenty years after the fall of communism, nearly everyone I spoke to in Budapest said the greatest change in their lives was the freedom to travel.

So I was a little disappointed to find the train to Prague nearly deserted. Maybe the motorways were thick with cars.

My phone rang all through the afternoon. The Czech president had announced that he had signed the Lisbon Treaty - after eight years of drafting, wrangling, voting and wildly-overblown rhetoric on every side, the reform treaty would come into force.

If the train would only hurry up, I might get to Prague on time and be able to get my report to London.

The train, the 171 Hungaria, rumbled along, but there is no rushing a good train ride.

Little charm

The train to Warsaw left from the modern, fairly ugly Prague city centre station.

It is tempting to blame it on the communists, but it could well have been a typically dry Czech joke, all that squat concrete thumbing its nose at the fairy tale city around it.

There are few more unhappy stations in Europe than Warsaw Central. Ugly inside and out, its windswept, neglected spaces cry out for the wrecker's ball

Cocooned by the train, I watched the landscape change again.

Czech communists clearly specialised in clumsy industrialisation and ugly urban planning.

Concrete houses rotted into the wet soil, tower blocks wept dark trails of rain.

Pre-war, red-brick factories provided some meagre relief.

Up in the hills the fir trees were already covered with snow.

But there are few more unhappy stations in Europe than Warsaw Central.

Ugly inside and out, its windswept and neglected spaces cry out for the wrecker's ball.

What marvels might have come before have been long forgotten.

The departing Nazis razed the city and it is now a place of much concrete and little charm.

Joined up

Trains have connected parts of Europe for over 100 years

But there was time in Warsaw - often spent in choking traffic jams - to ponder the role that trains have played in making Europe a joined up reality, rather than a disparate collection of countries, cities, towns and villages.

More than a century ago, trains knitted together the map of Europe as never before.

And now, with most of Europe free of border checks and controls, the great intercity trains pass with no hindrance through country after country - the only mark of changing sovereignty, the font and colouring of railway station signs.

The smug satisfaction that so often grips the railway traveller rose in my heart.

I looked out of the rain-streaked window of my long-stationary car.

Two grey stone slabs faced me, behind them two more, with names carved into them, and plaques engraved in Polish and Hebrew.

"It's Umschlagplatz," said my friend. "It was a railway station. Where the trains took the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto directly to Treblinka."

Our car jerked forward, and on we drove, into the wet Warsaw night.

Posted on 12:41 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 7 November 2009

Train services on the East Coast Main Line would no longer go to Glasgow and instead terminate at Edinburgh, under new plans which have emerged.

The changes would come into effect in December 2010

At present, the service leaves Kings Cross and travels up the east coast of England before carrying on to Edinburgh, then Glasgow.

The new December 2010 timetable is currently under discussion.

The Department of Transport said it would have to go to public consultation for the changes to take place.

Rail watchdog Passenger Focus said the group was seeking reassurances about the line's future.

Scottish director James King told BBC Scotland: "At the present time the Department for Transport is consulting on a new timetable for the East Coast route, which will generate more train paths and faster, more consistent journey times between Edinburgh and London.

"There is a significant flow from the north east of England through to Edinburgh and Glasgow, which would have to be provided by another operator" - James King, Passenger Focus

"As a consequence of that, it is proposed in the timetable that the services that are presently provided between Yorkshire and Glasgow by the East Coast operator are moved to another operator.

"We're looking for reassurance that another operator will be found. They're certainly shown on the timetable as not being operated by the East Coast operator.

"Clearly, there are other operators out there who could pick up the services - potentially TransPennine or Arriva Cross Country. But a deal would have to be done with those operators because it would be a variation of their franchise."

Direct services from Glasgow to London Euston will continue.

However, Mr King said a "significant" number of passengers travelling from the north east of England to Glasgow through Edinburgh would be affected, particularly in the mornings going north and evenings going south.

He said there would be a particular impact on key routes to destinations such as Newcastle, York and Doncaster.

"There is a significant flow from the north east of England through to Edinburgh and Glasgow, which would have to be provided by another operator," he said.

Public consultation

He added: "I'm sure negotiations are actively taking place but we are looking for reassurance that this is taking place."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said: "Any changes to train services are a matter for the train operating company.

"Any such changes could only be implemented after public consultation and approval from the department."

The East Coast Main Line is due to transfer to a government-controlled company, East Coast, at one minute before midnight on 13 November.

However, the new timetable changes are not directly linked to the temporary nationalisation.

Posted on 11:11 AM | Permalink

The Guardian: 4 November 2009
Dan Milmo, Transport correspondent

First Great Western, which runs from London Paddington to the West Country and Swansea, will be subsidised with about £120m this year - Photograph: Martin Godwin

The cost to taxpayers of underwriting struggling rail franchises was laid bare by FirstGroup today after one of Britain's biggest franchise owners said it expected to receive £140m in government subsidies this year.

The owner of four of Britain's largest rail contracts said its First Capital Connect (FCC) and First Great Western (FGW) businesses would collect multimillion-pound payments after falling short of revenue targets. FirstGroup also ruled out a new takeover approach for the rival train and bus operator National Express, which has been the subject of several buyout proposals since the summer after defaulting on the £1.4bn east coast franchise.

FGW, which runs from London Paddington to the West Country and Swansea, will be the biggest beneficiary with a subsidy of about £120m this year, despite pledging to pay the government £1.1bn over the 10-year contract.

FirstGroup qualifies for revenue support because the government is contractually obliged to cover 80% of any revenue shortfall that is greater than 6% on those contracts. The company confirmed in first-half results today that its FGW and FCC franchises were receiving maximum revenue support because they had missed revenue targets by such a wide margin due to the recession. Jeff Carr, FirstGroup's finance director, said both franchises still made "significant" premium payments to the government.

However, the RMT rail workers' union said the scale of the payments exposed serious flaws in the rail franchise system. Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said: "This is a massive taxpayer bailout, which makes a mockery of the rail franchising system. These figures show that companies are being propped up by taxpayers' money and it reinforces the RMT's argument that the whole system has been an expensive disaster."

Moving on

Sir Moir Lockhead, FirstGroup chief executive, ruled out a further bid for National Express, saying that the company had "moved on" after a tentative approach was rejected this summer. National Express East Coast will be taken over by a government-backed company next month and will not be re-let to the private sector until mid-2011. The move is seen by industry watchers as an admission that no rail company can afford the £1bn franchise bids that marked the pre-credit crunch boom in rail travel.

Lockhead also backed government plans, announced today, to put no more taxpayer cash into the much-criticised bus pass scheme for the elderly. The concessionary fares scheme is disliked by many local authorities and bus operators in England, which claim that it leaves both sides out of pocket. The Department for Transport said today that the annual subsidy would stay at £1bn but it would consider changes to how the funds are distributed, amid warnings from some authorities that other local services might have to be cut due to the financial consequences of compensating bus companies for free bus travel. Some bus operators have cut services after warning that inadequate compensation was making some routes unprofitable. "I don't think any expansion [in the subsidy] could be expected," said Lockhead.

Posted on 5:02 PM | Permalink

The Times: November 2, 2009
Graham Keeley Madrid

More passengers have chosen to travel on the high-speed AVE rail link between Madrid and Barcelona than have opted to fly

AVE trains stand idle at Santa Justa's train station in Seville

Spain’s bullet train is beating the plane in the race to win passengers. For the first time, more passengers have chosen to travel on the high-speed AVE rail link between Madrid and Barcelona than have opted to fly — a switch that could influence British ambitions for a high-speed rail network and add impetus to the creation of a second high-speed line in the UK.

Between July and September, 651,498 passengers made the 314-mile journey between Spain’s biggest cities (slightly farther than London to Newcastle), a rise of 21 per cent compared with the same period last year.

In comparison, 643,512 travellers made the journey by aircraft during the same period, a fall of 7.5 per cent compared with the third quarter of last year.

Madrid-Barcelona is the fifthbusiest air route in the world, with four airlines offering 116 flights a day, according to the Official Airline Guide in July. Since the rail link opened last year, Renfe, the Spanish state rail operator, and the airlines, led by Iberia, the national flag carrier, have fought a fierce battle to win passengers. The high-speed train, which takes 2hr 40min to travel between Madrid and Barcelona, at 236.3 kilometres per hour (146.8mph), has won over commuters with competitive fares, greater comfort and the absence of elaborate airport security. It also offers promotions to attract tourists, as well as business travellers.
Related Links

* 'We could do better than Network Rail’

* Eurostar connections has brought British buyers back to France

The success of the state-funded AVE may help efforts to build a similar line in Britain. Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, travelled on the AVE between Madrid and Barcelona this year to gauge the success of the line and was impressed, according to Spanish rail sources. It is thought that the Government may enlist Renfe’s help if it decides to extend the high-speed rail network.

The High Speed One line between St Pancras and Ashford (a 30-minute journey at 140mph) opened in June and plans are under way for a second line. High Speed Two, a company charged with assessing possible high-speed routes in the UK, is due to report before the end of the year. It is thought that a line could open between London and the West Midlands by 2025.

Robert Preston, deputy editor of Railway Gazette International, said: “This [the success of the Madrid to Barcelona line] will add support to plans for a high-speed network in Britain. Spain is different to Britain geographically, but a high-speed line might bite into the air routes between London and Scotland.”

The Madrid-Barcelona line success story is being followed closely elsewhere. Ray LaHood, the US Transportation Secretary, made the same journey as Lord Adonis on the AVE to learn from the Spanish experience in preparation for the upgrading of America’s railways. President Obama has set aside $13 billion (£7.9 billion) in stimulus and budget funds for high-speed trains.

In Spain, the Socialist Government is expanding the high-speed network rapidly. Renfe plans that by 2020 everybody in the country will live within 50 kilometres of the network. However, the expansion comes at a cost: the Government plans to spend €119 billion (£106.5 billion) on infrastructure and millions more on trains.

Speed kings

1 TGV France, Lorraine to Champagne: distance 167.6km, speed 271.8kmh

2 TGV France, Lorraine Muese to Champagne: distance 99.8km, speed 260.3kmh

3 TGV France, St Pierre de Corps to Massy: distance 206.8km, speed 258.5kmh

4 Japan, Hiroshima to Kokura: distance 192km, speed 256kmh

5 Japan, Okayama to Hiroshima: distance 144.9km, speed 255.7kmh

Source: Railway Gazette International World Speed Survey 2009

Posted on 6:58 AM | Permalink

RMT General Secretary, Bob Crow was a guest of Bristol Rail Branch on Wednesday 28th October to present awards to RMT members who reached 40, 25 and 10 years of union membership this year.

Dave Rowe, a Network Rail infrastructure maintenance Permanent-Way worker was awarded a 25-year membership badge by General Secretary, Bob Crow

Bob told the packed branch meeting: “The union is its membership – it’s not just an administrative body in London - and it’s a pleasure to be invited here to meet you all. These badges come with thanks on behalf of the whole union.” Photographs were taken as Bob presented each member with an RMT badge.

Arriva Cross Country Train Manager (Guard), Andy Davidson receives his 25-year badge from Bob Crow

First Great Western Fleet Operative, Richard Cox receives his 25-year badge from Bob Crow

Network Rail Mobile Operations Manager and Signallers' Area Council Rep, Gerry Davidson receives his 10-year badge from Bob Crow

First Great Western, Bristol Temple Meads Station Staff Rep and delegate to the RMT Women's Advisory Committee, Jenny Gray receives her 10-year badge from Bob Crow

Network Rail Signalling Manager (Wessex), Jim Roussell receives his 25-year badge from Bob Crow

Network Rail Infrastructure Maintenance, Weston-super-Mare P-Way member and Union Learning Rep, John Bebbington receives his 10-year badge from Bob Crow

First Great Western, Bristol Temple Meads Station Staff member, Martin Lee receives his 10-year badge from Bob Crow

RMT Bristol Rail branch Secretary, Glen Burrows was presented with a set of whisky tumblers engraved with the union logo by Bob Crow on behalf of all the Bristol rail branch members

Glen is retiring from the railway shortly, but will represent members at the RMT Special General Meeting taking place next Friday, 6 November in Doncaster to decide on rule changes. Glen has served Bristol Rail branch members as Secretary since 2005 and before that as Chair and Assistant Secretary. As well as being elected onto the (Sectional/Divisional) Council for Station/Retail grades members employed by Wessex Trains and First Great Western Trains, Glen has been our branch delegate to Bridgwater Trades Union Council, the South West TUC, the RMT South Wales & West of England Regional Council and to several RMT Annual General Meetings.

The General Secretary also spoke about the economic situation and said employers are on the attack everywhere, their main motive being profits.

He said: “We are seeing wages go down as unemployment increases. There will be mass unemployment for at least another five years, with one in five young people unemployed. All three main political parties have roughly similar policies. Trades unions are, therefore, crucial in the fight to defend working class people. Workers must make demands for wages, jobs, housing, pensions, student grants and higher taxes for the rich, and be prepared to fight for them."

Bob Crow: "Our parents and grandparents fought for a better deal for working people, and we are seeing things they fought for being destroyed. Unless we fight back, the future for our children is bleak.”

He also urged full support from rail workers for the postal workers in their current dispute over Royal Mail modernisation to defend jobs and conditions against privatisation. “Royal Mail and the Government want to smash the CWU, which, like the RMT is a fighting union. It’ll be us next, so we must make sure the CWU wins this dispute.”

On the situation at Wessex Connect, where the company is imposing a union (UNITE) on the workforce, the majority of whom are in the RMT, he said: “It is a disgrace. Wessex Connect workers should have the right to choose their union. The RMT will not desert our members there.”

The meeting was also addressed by Mike Newport, Area Delivery Representative, Bristol CWU, who thanked the Branch for their support and gave details of forthcoming picket lines, where visiting supporters are much appreciated. Mike said: “ deliveries get later and later, and 50-60,000 jobs have gone – and they call that “modernisation”. He spoke about the legal challenge from the CWU to the scab workforce at Western Approach Business Park, Severn Beach. He finished by asking for financial support for the CWU through donations and workplace collections.

Branch Chair, Chris Davidson, thanked Bob Crow and all those receiving badges for attending, and invited everyone to join him at a buffet served after the meeting.

GLEN BURROWS,
BRANCH SECRETARY

Posted on 8:00 PM | Permalink