In brief nnel charges M Moscow - Kazan to be first Russian HSL
R Vladimir Yakunin, president of Russian Railways (RZD), has confirmed at the end of May that the first high-speed line to be built in Russia will connect Moscow with Kazan. The 800km line will run via Vladimir, Nizhniy Novgorod and Cheboksary serving a corridor with a population of 30 million. RZD hopes to open the line by 2018, and eventually plans to extend it south to Samara, and east to Ufa, Perm, and Yekaterinburg. The second priority is to
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launch of German Railways services through the tunnel. The 1987 usage agreement between Eurotunnel and certain operators, which allocates capacity to these customers for 65 years, is also deemed illegal under European law because of its duration. The Commission sent a formal notice to the British and French governments on these issues in 2011, but the infringements have not been addressed. The two countries have until next month to respond to the latest notice, and if they fail to act the EC could take the case to the European Court of Justice. Eurotunnel says that if changes are made to its concession which are not in the interests of its 300,000 small shareholders it will seek a legitimate indemnity from the British and French governments.
HE Swiss Federal Council has approved a scheme to
create and finance a project which will allow 4m corner- height semitrailers to be carried on the Gotthard line. The SFr 940m ($US 960m)
project will involve upgrading 20 tunnels on the Basle - Gotthard - Chiasso/Luino route together with signalling and catenary alterations. The largest part of the
project will be gauge clearance in the Boxberg tunnel, which is expected to cost SFr 350m. The Swiss government will
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ULGARIA and Romania celebrated the completion of a new rail link across the Danube on June 14 with the opening of the 1.97km bridge between Calafat, Romania, and Vidin, Bulgaria. The so-called Danube Bridge 2 is only the second rail crossing of the river between the two countries, after the bridge between Giurgiu near Bucharest, and Ruse, Bulgaria,
build a high-speed line from Moscow north to St Petersburg followed by a line south to Rostov and Sochi.
RZD would also like to build high-speed lines linking neighbouring cities such as Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. As far as international links are concerned, the priority is to link Moscow with Kiev and Minsk. Yakunin also made it clear that RZD is keen to obtain high-speed rail technology from abroad with a view to localising production.
Gotthard gauge enhancement approved
also finance the gauge enhancement of the Luino Ranzo - Gallarate/Novara line in Italy, which is regarded as essential to the overall project. A SFr 230m loan will be made available to the Italian government for these works. The project will complement the Gotthard Base Tunnel, due to open in 2016 and the Ceneri Base Tunnel, scheduled to open 2019. The project is due to be completed in 2020 and is expected to see an extra 160,000 semitrailers crossing the Alps by rail each year.
Bulgaria and Romania open Danube bridge
which opened in 1954. The new cable-stayed bridge carries a road and a single- track railway, which creates a new rail link between Craiova in southwestern Romania and Mezdra, 80km north of Sofia. The ƒ226m project, which included the construction of 5km of new railway on the Romanian side of the river, was funded with the aid of a ƒ106m European Union grant.
First Polish Pendolino emerges: The first of 20 seven-car Pendolino sets for PKP Intercity was presented to the Polish deputy transport minister Mr Andrzej Massel and PKP Intercity CEO Mr Janusz Malinowski at Alstom’s Savigliano plant in Italy on June 17. The first train is now undergoing static tests and PKP Intercity says production is well underway on the remaining sets with 35 vehicles already completed.
IRJ July 2013
published a tender notice for a concession to operate part of the Main-Neckar-Reid network for 15 years from December 2017. The contract covers the operation of 3.34 million train-km per year on four lines including
Mannheim - Biblis - Frankfurt, Mannheim Friedrichsfeld - Mannheim Main Station, Walldorf - Heidelberg, and Heidelberg - Darmstadt - Frankfurt.
International
The Xrail alliance of seven European wagonload railfreight operators has unveiled plans for the implementation of a “seamless” international capacity booking system for less-than-trainload consignments with the aim of improving the efficiency of cross-border wagonload operations. Under the deal the operators will implement capacity management on their wagonload networks by 2015, linked by a central capacity booking broker.
Italy
A new ƒ10m station serving Cagliari Elmas Airport was inaugurated on June 5. The new station has been entirely financed by Italian Railway Network (RFI), and will be served by a three trains per hour on weekdays with a journey time of just seven minutes to Cagliari.
Morocco
King Mohammed VI of Morocco formally launched the modernisation of the 354km Fez - Oujda line on June 19 during a royal visit to the city of Oujda. The initial Dirhams 900m ($US 105m) phase of the project involves the renewal of around 100km of track and the electrification of the 119km Fez - Taza section.
Myanmar
A team of Japanese consultants has completed a feasibility study for the reconstruction of the 640km metre-gauge line between Yangon and Mandalay. According to local media reports, the government plans to award the contract to Japanese companies because the study has been funded by
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