News
Fyra HS service suspended after V250 fleet grounded
SNCF to invest €2.6bn in passenger improvements
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RENCH National Railways (SNCF) says it will invest
an unprecedented amount this year to expand and modernise its passenger fleet and facilities. It plans to spend ƒ2.6bn procuring new trains, refurbishing existing trains, and improving stations. SNCF will take delivery of 15 TGV Duplex trains from Alstom and refurbish 30 TGVs at a cost of ƒ540m. It will spend a further ƒ100m renovating 15 trains in its inter-city fleet. The French regional
Quintus Vosman Regional editor
Amsterdam and Brussels were cancelled on January 17 and are likely to remain suspended for some time. This follows damage to the underside of three trains which led to the Belgian National Safety Authority (DVIS) banning the operation of the V250 emus in Belgium except for testing. The service had been launched just weeks earlier with the start of the new timetable on December 9 2012.
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Extensive tests with the trains using cameras mounted beneath them revealed accumulations of snow under the trains which froze and then fell-off damaging and
LL Fyra V250 high-speed services between
dislodging a number of components, which dropped onto the track. AnsaldoBreda, Italy, which has so far delivered nine of the 19 trains ordered, has assembled a team of 40 engineers in an effort to resolve the problem. The company has acknowledged the cause of the problem and issued a public apology via Twitter on January 19. “The Fyra trains have been
properly and duly tested and verified,” says Mr Alessio De Sio, AnsaldoBreda’s senior vice-president, external and institutional relations. “They performed tests in the climate chamber at the Rail Tec Arsenal facility in Vienna as well as development and verification trials on the test circuit at Velim in the Czech
Republic and on the Fyra line, and in no way did the problems outlined above occur.”
SNCB has told AnsaldoBreda it will cancel its contract for the trains unless the problems are resolved within three months.
The Dutch secretary of state for infrastructure, Mrs Wilma Mansfeld, demanded to see plans by the end of January for a replacement service. Netherlands Railways (NS) has asked the Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail to identify paths to allow a conventional inter-city service to be reinstated between Amsterdam and Roosendaal, while SNCB has announced it will launch an interim Roosendaal - Antwerp inter- city service.
authorities, excluding Ile-de- France, will purchase 350 new trains to meet growth in demand for regional services. This year will see the delivery of 10 tram-trains, 38 Alstom Régiolis sets and the first Regio 2N double-deck trains from Bombardier. Ile-de-France Transport Authority (Stif), the Ile-de- France region and SNCF will invest ƒ574m to improve the quality of Transilien commuter rail services in the Paris area. This includes ƒ270m for the acquisition of 32 trains and ƒ120m for the modernisation of 40 trains.
SNCF’s Stations and Connections division will invest ƒ309m this year. Work will be completed on the renovation of some of SNCF’s largest stations, while the first phase of upgrading Montpellier station will be completed.
Bidding underway for Brazilian high-speed project B
RAZIL’s National Transport Agency (ANTT) issued a call for tenders in December for a 40-year contract to equip, operate, and maintain the 511km high- speed line from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo and Campinas. Prequalification bids will be accepted up to August 13, with a winner set to be announced on September 19. A separate construction tender for the 350km/h line will be let next year.
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ANTT says it has revised the terms of the tender by splitting it in two and increasing the public stake in the project to 45% from 30% previously to reduce the risk to bidders. Two earlier tenders for the project were abandoned in 2010 and 2011 due to a lack of interest. Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) announced on January 18 that it will invest up to Reais 6.6bn ($US 3.17bn) in the project.
The winning bidder will invest an estimated Reais 7.7bn ($US 3.71bn) in the project, offer economy-class tickets for no more than Reais 200, and cover the 418km between Rio and São Paulo in less than 1h 39min. Mr Bernardo Figueiredo, ANTT executive director, says he anticipates that 40 million people will use the service in its first year of operation, rising to 100 million by the end of the concession in 2060.
He adds that the government will pay for its part of the construction costs through the fees the operator will pay the state, which will be set at a minimum of Reais 70.38 for each kilometre travelled, totalling more than Reais 27bn over the course of the concession. Figueiredo said the winner of the contract will be the bidder which offers the highest fees to the government and a design that costs the least to build.
IRJ February 2013
Photo: Quintus Vosman
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