News
Five bid for California HS construction C
Keith Barrow Associate editor
ALIFORNIA High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA)
has revealed details of the five bids submitted in January for the contract to design and build the first section of the state’s high-speed network. The authority’s “best value
bidder,” a California-based joint venture of Tutor Perini, Zachry, and Parsons, submitted an offer of $US 985.14m to build the Madera - Fresno section, significantly less than the anticipated
pricetag of between $US 1.2bn and $US 1.6bn.
Each bidder was scored up to 70 points for their price proposal and 30 points for technical proposals with the preferred bidder scoring full marks on price and 20.55 on the technical element, giving a total of 90.55. A joint venture of Dragados, Pulice, and Samsung came a close second, scoring 63.55 on price ($US 1.09bn) and 26.13 on its technical submission, a total of 89.68. The three remaining bids scored less than 80% with offers ranging from
Swiss transalpine freight operations face shakeup
$US 1.37bn to $US 1.54bn. CHSRA says it intends to
proceed with procurement with the highest-scoring bidder, although if it is unable to conclude a deal it may open negotiations with the second place group. The contract is expected to be signed within the next few weeks. Construction is expected to start later this year on the Madera - Fresno line, the northern stretch of the 209km Initial Operating Section (IOS) Stage 1 between Bakersfield and Madera, which is due to be completed in 2017.
El Salvador mulls rail revival
T
HE government of El Salvador has appointed Spanish consultancy Tramrail to look at the economic, technical, and financial feasibility of restoring passenger and freight services on its railway network, which has lain mostly dormant for the last four decades. No decision has yet been made on how the investment will be financed, although tendering concessions or a PPP are being considered. The government has identified the Nejapa - Apopa and La Unión - Honduras border lines as the first candidates for rebuilding, initially for passenger services, and the study is due to be completed by next month. Tramrail has undertaken similar studies in Costa Rica and Bolivia, and is currently working for the governments of Guatemala and Honduras.
Mobile tracking to aid passenger flow
and reduce congestion at stations is being trialled in the Netherlands under a
A
partnership between NPC, the former consultancy subsidiary of Netherlands Railways (NS) and now part of Royal Haskoning group, and Blip Systems, Denmark.
S
WISS Federal Railways (SBB) railfreight unit SBB
Cargo announced on April 2 that it will take over operation of most of DB Schenker’s transalpine intermodal traffic between Germany and Italy from next year, ousting BLS Cargo, which is 45%-owned by DB Schenker.
After many years in the red, SBB Cargo expects to see a return to profit as a result of the deal, which involves between 5000 and 6000 trains per year. The contract covers two corridors, Basle/Singen - Gallarate/Chiasso via the Gotthard line, and Basle - Domodossola via the Lötschberg and Simplon lines.
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“We are very pleased that DB Schenker has decided to put their business in our hands and are confident we can provide a good service,” says Mr Nicholas Perrin, CEO of SBB Cargo.
Despite achieving strong
growth and profitability since it was first established 12 years ago, BLS Cargo is now struggling to break even in the face of problems caused by the strong Swiss franc. In a statement issued on April 2, the company announced that it has decided to cut back its network, abandoning loss- making services and focusing on returning to profit. The loss of the contract with DB
Schenker represents a substantial cut for BLS Cargo - 26% of its volumes are carried on the Gotthard route, most of which will now be lost. Around 80 jobs will be cut, mostly drivers, although some of these staff are expected to transfer to SBB Cargo. “We have to finance
ourselves, so we have to work with an eye to making a profit,” says CEO Mr Dirk Stahl. “This will entail staff cuts and efforts to compensate for part of the lost business with new services and clients.” BLS Cargo and DB Schenker
are now in talks over the future shape of their partnership.
Blip Systems together with NPC have installed Blip Systems’ BlipTrack solution at Groningen central station for an eight-week study which aims to learn more about passenger movement patterns. BlipTrack uses 22 sensors which register passengers carrying phones and tablets with integrated WiFi and Bluetooth and tracks their movements. A cloud server calculates the speed and travel time of these individuals which makes it possible to improve the flow of
passengers while optimising the use of resources. Blip Systems says that the collected data is encrypted, making it impossible to relate the Bluetooth and WiFi address of a device to an individual.
IRJ May 2013
NEW system designed to optimise passenger flow
Photo: David Gubler
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