In brief
São Paulo regional rail plan unveiled D
URING presentations held on July 12 in São
Paulo and Sorocaba, technical staff of Paulista Metropolitan Trains Company (CPTM) revealed details of the planned São Paulo - Sorocaba regional rail project.
The 87.6km-long double- track line will be constructed for 160km/h operation, with services running at 15-minute intervals and a journey time of 51 minutes between the two cities. The project will involve the
construction of four new stations, including Água Branca, São Roque, Brigadeiro Tobias, and Sorocaba. Água Branca station will be served not only by regional trains but also by Metro Line 6, which is due to open in 2020, CPTM
Line 8 commuter trains, and planned Jundiaí Express regional services. Tendering for the Reias 4bn ($US 1.8bn) project is due to begin in 2016, and the scheme will be implemented as a PPP with a 35-year operating and maintenance concession. The line is expected to carry around 20,000 passengers per day.
The state government of São Paulo plans to invest nearly Reais 18.5bn ($US 8.2bn) in the construction of a 432km regional network, which will also connect the city with Santos on the Atlantic coast, and Jundiaí to the north. Total daily ridership is estimated to be around 250,000 passengers and the government says fares will be competitive with buses.
Portuguese freight sell-off delayed
T HE Portuguese
government has delayed the privatisation of Portuguese Trains (CP) railfreight unit CP Carga for a third time because it wants to see the financial position of the company improve before it invites bids. The sell-off was originally due to take place in early 2012, but was deferred to the second half of 2012 as part of revisions to the broader privatisation programme. However, in May 2012 the government postponed the sale again, this time until September 2013. The sale of loss-making
CP Carga is a condition of Portugal’s bailout by the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.
following May’s cash for jobs scandal (IRJ June p16).
Ireland
Mr Allan Kelly, minister of state for the Department of Transport, has told Irish Rail to develop a rescue plan for the Galway - Limerick Western Rail Corridor, which reopened three years ago at a cost of ƒ106m. A recent report by the National Transport Authority described the journey as slow and expensive, and found that while 250,000 passengers used the line in 2011, just 35,000 travelled over the Ennis - Athenry section.
Mexico
The Mexican Ministry of Transport says it expects construction on a 46km bypass around Celaya in the state of Guanajuato to be completed next year.
Slovakia
The government has adopted proposals to reform struggling state-owned railfreight operator ZSSK Cargo with the creation of three separate business units by the end of next year. One subsidiary will be responsible for all railfreight operations, while two fleet management units will oversee maintenance of locomotives and rolling stock.
South Africa
EFE revises Arica - La Paz reopening plan
C
HILEAN State Railways (EFE) has revised its plans
for the restoration of freight services over the Chilean section of the Arica to La Paz Railway (FCALP). FCALP ceased operations in October 2005 (apart from a short-lived tourist service), due to the bankruptcy of the concessionaire which had been administering it. Between 2010 and 2012, the contractor Comsa, hired by the Chilean government, rehabilitated the infrastructure and removed soil
contaminated by mineral residues from land surrounding the railway in
IRJ August 2013
Arica. The total cost of the rehabilitation was some $US 45m. FCALP is now fully operational and trial trains have been run over it. FCALP presents significant operational difficulties, such as a winding 43km stretch where the ruling gradient is 6%. Chile´s previous plan to tender the operation of FCALP was reliant on the success of a tender to repair the best of the existing locomotives. However, at present, EFE does not have any operable locomotives on the line. The current proposal is to allow technically-qualified operators to run trains over the railway,
using their own equipment. The most likely interested party is Bolivia’s Andina Railway (Efasa), which connects with FCALP at the border between the stations of Visviri and Charaña and has well-equipped workshop facilities at Viacha, near La Paz. Any other operator would have to bring in its own, or leased, locomotives and rolling stock. Efasa is administered by Bolivian Railway Investors, a subsidiary of Antofagasta PLC, which owns the railway from the frontier between Abaroa and Ollagüe down to the Chilean Pacific coast ports of Antofagasta and Mejillones.
Construction is expected to begin soon on a 38km link between the new Boikarabelo coal mine in Limpopo province and the Transnet Freight Rail network at Waterberg. The mine is initially expected to produce 6 million tonnes of coal per year.
Swaziland
The government says it is confident it can raise the Rand 9bn ($US 882m) it needs to fund its share of the Rand 15.9bn Swazilink line between Lothair, South Africa, and Sidvokodvo, Swaziland, before construction starts in the third quarter of next year. Public works and transport minister Mr Nthuthuko Dlamini says that an environmental impact study still needs to be completed and there are also land acquisition issues. IRJ
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