In brief
RGENTINEAN president Mrs Christina Kirchner signed a $US 2.47bn financing agreement with Mr Zhang Chun, CEO of China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), in Buenos Aires on December 5, which will fund the renewal of infrastructure and rolling stock on the metre-gauge Belgrano Cargas network.
Minister of the interior and transport Mr Florencio Randazzo said that the deal will see the delivery of new
First 2ES10 locomotives for UZ arrive in Ukraine: Ukrainian Railways (UZ) received the first three type 2ES10 twin-section electric locomotives on December 16 from Ural Locomotives, a joint venture of Sinara, Russia, and Siemens. The 3kV dc locomotives are similar to the type 2ES10 units currently being supplied to Russian Railways (RZD), and have a continuous output of 8.4MW and a 748kN continuous tractive effort. Another four locomotives are due to arrive this month, and the remaining 43 will be supplied between now and 2016.
United States, has finally won a six-year fight for compensation over the forced termination of its Guatemala Railways (FVG) concession and has been fully reimbursed with a payment of $US 14.6m. FVG won a 50-year concession in 1997 to revive the national railway which had been closed by the Guatemalan government the previous year. After RDC had successfully revived and operated the railway for seven years, the government issued a presidential decree in August 2006 which declared FVG’s rolling stock contract “harmful to the interests of the state.” “The decree was issued after
RDC refused to give into the government’s extortionate demands to renegotiate and surrender its key economic
IRJ January 2014
RDC wins six-year battle for compensation from Guatemala R
AILROAD Development Corporation (RDC),
rights under the concession contracts,” says RDC, stating that the decree caused FVG’s railway business to collapse due to commercial uncertainty and political manoeuvring. Ultimately, RDC was forced to shut down FVG’s
operations in Guatemala and the final train ran in September 2007. “Since then the railway has literally disappeared, with even steel bridges being stolen for scrap in broad daylight,” says RDC. In June 2012 a tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (Icsid) ruled that Guatemala had violated the minimum standard of treatment under the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (Cafta) by engaging in conduct that was arbitrary, grossly unfair and unjust, and awarded RDC full
reparations. RDC also defeated two sets of jurisdictional objections by Guatemala. The tribunal awarded RDC damages and compound interest and ordered Guatemala to pay a share of the tribunal costs. However, on full payment of the award, RDC was obliged to surrender its 82% interest in FVG to the Guatemalan government. “The loss of the railway for a second time was a national tragedy, and it can truly be said that there were no winners in this case,” says RDC and FVG chairman Mr Henry Posner III. “But this now offers Guatemala the opportunity to once again look to the international railway investment community to develop the urban train, dry canal, Mexican rail link and other projects that the country aspires to.”
China to finance $US 2.5bn Belgrano Cargas revival A
locomotives and wagons from China and will allow around half of the existing fleet to be returned to service. “The country’s businesses know how important this news is, as it will mean the return of the freight train as a key tool to reduce the cost of logistics,” he says. The loan will also finance the renewal of track and staff training.
The government decided at the beginning of last year to make its takeover of Belgrano Cargas permanent, and
recently created a public company, Belgrano Cargas y Logistica SA (BCYLSA) to take over operation of the railway from Sofse, another state- owned company, which has run the concession on an interim basis since October 2011.
Currently only around 5000km of the 7347km network is operational and freight volumes have collapsed from 1.74 million tonnes in 1999 to less than 369,000 tonnes in the first half of 2012.
on the Zwolle - Groningen line and Hoogeveen and Meppel stations will also be equipped with the system, which uses motion sensors to detect passenger movement.
Poland
A new Polish rail speed record was set in November when a new Alstom Pendolino emu for PKP Intercity reached 293km/h during test runs on the Gora Wlodowska - Psary line near Krakow, beating the 250km/h record set by a previous generation of Pendolino in 1994.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Railways Organisation has appointed DB International to review safety standards on the railway and prepare safety guidelines and manuals relating to the operation and maintenance of rolling stock and track as well as the working environment and staff training.
South Africa
Kumba Iron Ore has taken delivery of six C30ACi diesel locomotives from GE to shunt heavy-haul trains at its Sishen mine in Northern Cape. The 1067mm-gauge locomotives will replace 10 life-expired units, which are hired from Transnet and used in pairs for loading operations. A single C30ACi will be used to load a train of 114 wagons, which until now required two locomotives.
Sri Lanka
The superintendent of Sri Lanka Railways Mr B A P Ariyarathne says he expects reconstruction of the Pallai - Jaffna line to be completed by April. The line was closed in 1990 due to the civil war in the region and suffered extensive damage during the conflict.
Switzerland
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has sold all of its shares in the Voralpen Express joint venture to its partner South Eastern Railway (SOB) in a deal worth around SFr 4.2m ($US 4.6m). SOB plans to introduce new trains on the hourly service from Lucerne to St Gallen and Romanshorn in 2018. IRJ
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