In brief
Brazilian high-speed project faces more delays B
RAZILIAN transport minister Mr César Borges
announced on August 12 that the government has postponed the tendering process for the 511km Campinas - São Paulo - Rio de Janeiro high-speed line, which is likely to delay the opening until after 2020. The National Transport
Agency (ANTT) issued a call for tenders for the contract to equip and operate the
ONTREAL, Maine & Atlantic Railway
350km/h line last December, and a winner was to be announced on September 19. The civil works contract is being tendered separately and bids are currently due to be invited in 2015. Atender notice was also issued on March 5 for the project management contract. The government hopes the
hiatus will enable more companies to bid, as only a
(MM&A), the operator of the train involved in July’s derailment and explosion at Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, which killed 47 people, announced on August 7 that it has filed for bankruptcy in Canada and the United States. MM&Aoperates an 821km
network stretching from Montreal in the west to Bangor and Searsport on Maine’s Atlantic coast, with branches to Newport, Vermont, and
Millinocket, Maine. The railway employs 85 staff and is owned by regional and shortline operator Rail World. In a statement, Mr Ed Burkhardt, chairman of MM&Aand Rail World, said: “It has become apparent that the obligations of MM&Anow exceed the value of its assets, including prospective insurance recoveries, as a direct result of the tragic derailment at Lac-Mégantic, adding that bankruptcy is “the best way to ensure fair
Belgium
French consortium including Alstom and French National Railways (SNCF) was ready to bid by the August deadline. The previous tender process in 2011 was cancelled after no bids were received. According to the
government, Spanish and German companies say they are now willing to bid because the deadline has been extended by at least 12 months.
Montreal Maine & Atlantic files for bankruptcy M
treatment to all in these tragic circumstances.” MM&Asays that essential
services will continue on all of its lines in Québec, Maine and Vermont, with the exception of Lac-Mégantic itself, and that service to Lac-Mégantic could be restored as soon as required. Acriminal investigation into
the accident is currently underway in Quebec, and the town of Lac-Mégantic is seeking financial assistance to rebuild the area devastated by the explosion.
Civil works have been completed on the ƒ841m Liefenshoek project to provide a direct link between the western area of Antwerp docks and Antwerp North yard on the east bank of the River Scheldt. The link, which includes two 5.5km single- bore tunnels beneath the river and a 4.3km cut-and-cover tunnel, will open in September 2014.
Britain
Passenger traffic grew by 6% in 2011-12 to reach 1.23 billion journeys, which the Office of Rail Regulation says is the highest since it began keeping
records in 1995-96. The South West Trains- Network Rail Alliance together with the Department for Transport plan to increase capacity on the lines serving London Waterloo by 15% by 2019 to accommodate an extra 10,000 peak-time commuters. This includes running additional, longer trains, extending platforms, reopening the disused former Eurostar platforms at Waterloo, and signalling and power supply improvements.
China
Trial operation should start at the end of the year on the 502.4km 250km/h railway linking Xiamen and Shenzhen. Ajourney time of less than 3 hours is envisaged. The line forms the final southern section of a coastal high-speed line from Shanghai to Shenzhen.
France
KiwiRail receives Harsco track machines: New Zealand’s national railway KiwiRail has taken delivery of three Mk IV tampers and three ballast regulators, which were ordered in October 2011 at a cost of $NZ 12m ($US 9.6m). The tampers are designed for mainline and switch tamping and will operate in pairs with the ballast regulators, allowing the units to travel between worksites as a single train. The ballast regulators were assembled at Harsco Rail’s plant at Brendale in the Australian state of Queensland, while the tampers were built in the company’s main facility in Columbia, South Carolina.
IRJ September 2013
The French Railway Safety Authority (EPSF) has approved Renfe’s S100F high- speed train for commercial operation on the French section of the Perpignan - Figueras high-speed line and on conventional lines in France electrified at 1.5kV dc. This should allow through high-speed services to start operating between France and Spain in November.
Germany
Work has started on a ƒ693m project to construct two
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