In brief
odernisation Turkey advances reform programme T
HE Turkish government has presented a bill to parliament to split up Turkish State Railways (TCDD) to form a separate infrastructure manager and a train operating company, while at the same time paving the way for open- access operators. TCDD will remain state- owned and funded, and will become the infrastructure manager, while a new company called Turktren will be formed to operate freight and passenger services. Turkey’s huge investment programme will be stepped up, the main focus of which is the expansion of the high- speed network. Turkey’s minister of transport, Mr Binali Yildirim, says that Lira 26bn ($US 14.86bn) has been invested in rail in the last 10 years, and this will increase to Lira 45bn by 2023.
Depending on the passage
The electrification plans cast further doubt over the future of the troubled IC4 dmu fleet.
plans to order 2-3 trains of proven designs from different manufacturers before choosing a design for series production. It is possible that both regional and long-distance versions of the same train could be considered. The future of the IC4 dmus now appears very uncertain as there will be no suitable services left for them to operate following the completion of electrification in 2025.
TENDER notice was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on March 13 for a contract to operate direct cross-border passenger services between The Hague and Brussels. The Hague Trains Holding, a limited company registered in the Netherlands which is wholly owned by the municipality of The Hague is managing the tender process. The company will award the contract on behalf of the ‘tendering authority’ and the deadline for submission of offers is April 19.
A
of the legislation, it is hoped to allow open-access by the end of 2014, with private operators being granted licences for up to 49 years. “The lines will remain in the hands of the state, but those who ask will be able to use them just like airports and highways,” says Yildirim. A network statement will be published next year, establishing a framework for capacity allocation. A rail regulator has already been set up following the approval of legislation in 2011 and started to function in October 2012.
The government wants
Turktren’s freight operations to become profitable within five years and for rail to increase its share of the freight market from 5% today to 25% by 2023. The government also plans to set up a system to fund loss-making, but socially- desirable passenger services.
Tender issued for The Hague - Brussels service
The tender calls for the operation of 16 return services per day between the two cities, with intermediate stops at Delft, Rotterdam, Dordrecht, Roosendaal, Antwerp, Mechelen, Brussels Zaventem Airport, Brussels North and Brussels Central. The winning bidder will begin commercial operations on December 15 and the contract will run for four years.
The Hague lost all of its
remaining international trains with the launch of the full Fyra service between Amsterdam and Brussels in December.
figures from the Office of Rail Regulation for the third quarter of the 2012-13 financial year. The total number of passenger journeys reached 385 million, an increase over both the corresponding period last year and the second quarter of 2012-13, while the total distance travelled in the third quarter rose 2.8% year- on-year to 14.6 billion passenger-km.
Chile
Chilean State Railways (EFE) has appointed Mr Joaquín Brahm as its new CEO, succeeding Mr Víctor Toledo who resigned in January. Brahm was previously vice- president of EFE management board and CEO of EFE subsidiary Concepcíon Suburban Railway (Fesub).
Germany
DB has begun two separate legal claims against Bombardier for alleged poor performance and costly repairs on the class 612 dmu and class 423 emu fleets supplied from 1998 onwards. The first case for the class 612s is reportedly seeking damages of more than ƒ150m, while the second seeks access to Bombardier documentation to allow a claim to be prepared. Both fleets were ordered from Adtranz before its acquisition
Czechs test ÖBB RailJet: An Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) RailJet train made a special tour through the Czech Republic on February 21 in preparation for the launch of joint operation of RailJet trains by ÖBB and Czech Railways (CD) in December 2014 on the Graz - Vienna - Brno - Prague corridor. The service will operate at two-hourly intervals. Testing focused on the performance of the ÖBB class 1216 locomotive on the 3kV dc electrification system, the operating parameters of the RailJet vehicles, and functioning of information systems.
IRJ April 2013
by Bombardier in 2001. Federal transport minister Dr Peter Ramsauer signed an agreement with the state government of Bavaria on February 18 to finance the modernisation of the Munich - Mühldorf - Freilassing - Salzburg line. The project will include construction of a second track on the section between Tüssling and Mühldorf, which carries considerable volumes of freight from the chemical works at Burghausen. The work is expected to cost around ƒ127m.
Hungary
The Hungarian government has given the go-ahead for the 113km Tatabánya - Cegléd line, which will allow freight trains to bypass congested lines in the Budapest area. The Forints 300bn ($US 1.34bn) double-
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