News Kyrgyzstan eyes transit corridor from China to the Gulf and Europe


Kevin Smith Features editor


Mr Argyhbek Malabaev says the railway plans to complete a comprehensive feasibility study by the end of 2013 for a new cross-country electrified line that will open up the country to transit traffic between China, the Persian Gulf and Europe. Speaking to IRJ in Astana, Kazakhstan, last month,


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YRGYZSTAN Railways’ (KTZ) director general


Malabaev said he hopes construction of the new line, which would cut the distance by rail between China and Europe by 900km, can begin in 2014. Malabaev says that the line will offer an alternative to transit corridors through Kazakhstan and Russia. “At the moment we are not a transit railway, all of our lines are dead ends,” Malabaev said. “If you look at the map, the Persian Gulf countries as well as Turkmenistan and Iran are closer to us and we want


to be another way into these important markets.”


The 264km line will start in Kashgar and cross the Kyrgyzstan border at Torugart, transcending the Tuzbel pass, through the Arpa River valley and Fergana range, to reach Kara-Suu on the Uzbekistan border which is the railhead of the existing Uzbek network. The line will pass through 48 tunnels with a total length of 48.9km, the longest being the Ferghana at 14.1km, and requires the construction of 95


bridges with a total length of 20.9km. In addition, due to the gauge differences between China and Kyrgyzstan, a bogie changing station will be built near the Tuzbel mountain pass where freight and containers will also be weighed and sorted.


By building the new line, KTZ’s existing Balykchy - Kochkor and Karakeche - Arpa - Kara Suu lines will be connected for the first time, providing improved transport links across the country.


Mixed fortunes for Western Australian rail projects


Funding agreed for Liechtenstein S-Bahn project: The government of Liechtenstein has agreed to commit ƒ45m towards a ƒ90m scheme to upgrade a section of railway in the principality as part of the S-Bahn Flach project, which will see the introduction of half-hourly regular-interval regional services between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs in Switzerland. The investment will fund the initial phase of the S-Bahn project, which involves building a second track between Tisis, Austria, and Nendeln in Liechtenstein, together with the reconstruction of the stations at Schaanwald and Nendeln, to allow a half-hourly peak service from the end of 2015. Photo: David Gubler


has decreed that Austrian infrastructure manager ÖBB Infrastructure acted unlawfully in preventing open-access operator Westbahn from accessing real-time data on the train movements of other operators. Prior to its launch in December 2011, Westbahn had planned to provide real-time onboard passenger information about connecting trains, but ÖBB Infrastructure refused to supply any data on other operators. Westbahn


European Court rules on ÖBB - Westbahn train data case I


N a landmark ruling, the European Court of Justice


(SCK), which referred the case to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling. ÖBB Infrastructure argued that it provided all the data it was legally obliged to offer Westbahn, and that the company should seek separate agreements with the operators concerned if it required more detailed information about their train services. SCK sought a preliminary


ruling to establish whether information on main


subsequently filed a complaint with Austria’s rail regulator, the Rail Control Commission


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connecting services, in addition to scheduled departure times, should include delays or cancellations, including those affecting the services of other operators. Secondly, the court


had to clarify whether operators needed to make real-time information about their services available to other operators, in so far as those services constitute main connecting services. The court ruled that the


infrastructure manager is obliged to provide real-time data on train movements to other operators for their own operations, including information on delays and cancellations, to inform passengers of the situation regardless of operator. The court denied the claim by ÖBB Infrastructure that train information displayed in stations is confidential.


ECOND tier iron-ore miners operating in the mid-west of Western Australia have been dealt a blow with the indefinite suspension of the $A 6bn ($US 6.2bn) Oakajee Port and Rail (OPR) project, which would have provided them with a 570km standard-gauge, heavy-haul, open-access rail link to the proposed new port at Oakajee 24km north of Geraldton. Mitsubishi Corporation which has 100% share of the OPR development and the associated Crossland Resources has cut around 65% of the OPR project workforce because of current economic conditions and the lack of progress in securing equity partners. In more positive news,


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infrastructure owner Brookfield Rail has announced that work on upgrading the 1067mm-gauge former grain branch between Morawa and Geraldton has been completed, linking a number of ore deposits already in production with the existing rail-served port at Geraldton. The two-year $A 550m


MidWest Rail Upgrade has raised capacity on the line from 3 million tonnes per year to 27.5 million tonnes and included 185km of new track and realignment, in addition to the laying of gauge convertible concrete sleepers for much of its length.


IRJ January 2013


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