peed rail market
Thai Senate backs high-speed funding bill
T
HAILAND’s Senate voted on November 20 to
approve a bill which will allow the government to borrow up to Baht 2.2 trillion ($US 69bn) over the next seven years to finance infrastructure projects, including a network of four high-speed lines. The bill enables the Finance Ministry to borrow from domestic and international lenders, avoiding the need to seek funds through the annual government budget process. In total, 80% of the funding will be allocated to rail projects. The first phase of Thailand’s high-speed programme comprises a network of four lines linking Bangkok with Hua Hin, Pattaya, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Phitsanulok.
Manchester - Scotland services go electric
LECTRIC trains began operating over the line between Manchester, and the West Coast Main Line at Newton-le-Willows on December 8, marking the completion of the first phase of the £400m North West electrification scheme. TransPennine Express
E
introduced new Siemens class 350/4 emus on Manchester - Edinburgh/ Glasgow services from December 30. All 10 of the emus are due to enter service by May.
CORE component of the Mid-German S-Bahn network was completed on December 14 when the ƒ960m Leipzig City Tunnel was officially opened in the presence of around 4000 guests, including the president of the state of Saxony Mr Stanislaw Tillich, the mayor of Leipzig Mr Burkhardt Jung, and German Rail (DB) CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube.
Germany inaugurates Leipzig City Tunnel A
Public services began on December 15, initially with six S-Bahn trains per hour operating in each direction.
The Mid-German S-Bahn network is operated by DB Regio using a fleet of 51 Bombardier class 442 emus.
In brief Germany
Electric services began operating on the 73km Reichenbach - Hof line last month. The ƒ160m project involved the electrification of 175 track-km and the installation of more than 3000 catenary masts, as well as new
substations at Plauen and Hof. The latest figures from federal statistics agency Destatis show that Europe’s largest railfreight market suffered declining volumes in the first three quarters of this year. Overall volumes fell 1% compared with the same period in 2012 to 274.1 million tonnes with export traffic falling by 3.5% and domestic traffic down by 1.8%, although import traffic grew by 4.8% year-on-year.
International
German Rail (DB) subsidiary DB Regio has reached an agreement with Poland’s Regional Railways (PR) to continue operating the cross- border RE 100 Dresden Wroclaw Express. According to DB the service, which runs three times a day via Görlitz and Legnica, has seen double- digit ridership growth since its launch in 2009 and now carries 70,000 passengers a year.
Israel
Israel Railways has completed a $US 186m project to upgrade and double-track the 20km Kiryat-Motzkin - Nahariya line, thereby creating a continuous double-track line for the first time from Beer- Sheva in the south via Tel Aviv and Haifa to Nahariya in the north. Completion of the work will enable frequencies to increase from two to three trains/hour in peak periods and allow a half-hourly frequency at other times.
Netherlands
The 3.6km twin-bore north- south tunnel links Leipzig North and Leipzig MDR, with new underground stations at Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, Leipzig Markt, Wilhelm- Leuscher Platz, and Bayerische Bahnhof.
IRJ January 2014
Infrastructure manager ProRail has begun trialling a new station lighting system which automatically dims platform lights by up to 40% during quiet periods to reduce energy consumption. The intelligent lighting system developed by Dutch company Tvilight has been installed at Beilen station
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Photo: David Gubler
Photo: Kai Michael Neuhold
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