News
India establishes railway tariff authority T
Raghav Thakur Correspondent
HE Indian government kicked off a programme of
financial reforms for Indian Railways (IR) on August 1, when the cabinet approved proposals to establish an independent Rail Tariff Regulatory Authority (RTA). Over the last decade passenger fares have largely remained unchanged, with freight revenues being used to cross-subsidise fares. As a result, losses from passenger operations have mounted and are expected to reach Rs 250bn ($US 4.7bn) in the current financial year - a four-fold
increase over the figure of Rs 61.6bn in 2004-05. “The populism and short- sightedness of past railways ministers have destroyed rail finances,” an official said. “There is no money to fund capacity building schemes.” The five-member RTA- comprising a chairman and four other members - is expected to tackle the distortions between IR’s freight and passenger activities by disconnecting the process of passenger fare increases from political decision making and bring it into line with the realities of the market. In the early stages of this process a Fuel Adjustment
Component (FAC) is likely to be added to passenger fares. Passenger fares are likely to be adjusted at periodic intervals based on the FAC calculations. Initially RTAwill have
limited powers, acting only as a recommendatory authority. This means that the final decision to raise passenger fares will remain in the hands of political leaders, at least in the short-term. The RTAconcept has been
under discussion for several years and was formally proposed for the first time in January 2011. It was also mentioned in this year’s railways budget, which was published in February.
British group to test battery-powered emu
Diesel locomotive market defies weak European demand
recovering well from the worldwide economic recession and is expected to grow by 17% per annum up to 2017. However, deliveries in Europe are in decline and are only expected to recover slightly in the next few years. These are some of the findings of SCI Verkehr’s latest market study “Diesel Locomotives-GlobalMarket Trends”which states that the current market volume for
G
diesel locomotives is worth ƒ17bn. More than 70% of this is generated from the after-sales market which encompasses repair and maintenance of the approximately 120,000 diesel locomotives operated worldwide. The current market for new diesel units is worth around ƒ4.8bn per annum, with 85% of these main line locomotives. North America, Asia and the
CIS remain the most important markets for diesel locomotives, with the national markets of the United States, India, China and Russia accounting for more than 60% of the diesel units delivered in the last five years. Low orders from the United States prompted an interim low in the market, but SCI says the current market offers good prospects for suppliers. In particular SCI expects
battery-powered emu which can operate beyond the catenary as a way of extending the benefits of electric operation as Britain electrifies more of its national rail network. The project is being undertaken by a partnership of Network Rail (NR), Bombardier, the operator Greater Anglia, the Department for Transport (DfT), and the Enabling Innovation Team (EIT) which was set up to
W 10
ORK has started to create a prototype
accelerate the adoption of railway innovations. The initiative is being funded by NR, DfT and EIT. AGreater Anglia class 379
emu built by Bombardier will be fitted with two types of battery: lithium (iron- manganese) phosphate and hot sodium nickel salt. However, the batteries will be tested in a laboratory before being installed on the train. The train will then be tested
on the Old Dalby test track and elsewhere away from the
live railway. If the trials are successful, the train will operate with its pantograph down on a Greater Anglia electrified branch line, both with passengers on board and empty. This will allow the train to switch to conventional electric operation in the event of a problem with the batteries. The test programme should be completed by the end of next year, when the batteries will be removed so that the train can return to normal operation.
positive momentum from previously less important regions of the Middle East, Africa, South America and Australia due to the development of new infrastructure to extract raw materials and upgrades to mine-port transport. However, in Europe SCI does not expect to see a rise in orders. Declining use of diesel locomotives for passenger operations and the difficult position of freight operators coupled with new environmental standards which are increasing the cost of diesel traction, means there is little prospect for growth.
IRJ September 2013
LOBAL demand for diesel locomotives is
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