Eurotunnel still in trouble

Eurotunnel announced the financial figures for the first quarter 2006 with the revenue coming from Shuttle activities slightly lower (-1%) than the similar period in 2005. Revenues from the railway services increased by +2% at £60 million. At the end of 2005, its workforce decreased to 2590 from 3205 in 2004.

The number of passengers carried by Eurotunnel remained unchanged at 1.69 million whilst the tonnage carried through the Tunnel by railfreight trains declined by 6% at 392.699 tonnes.

Eurotunnel operates passenger (car and coach) services between Folkestone, UK and Calais/Coquelles, France. The company is also in charge of the infrastructure of the Channel Tunnel and collects toll revenue from train operators (Eurostar for rail passengers, and EWS and SNCF for rail freight) that use the Tunnel.

Eurotunnel said on 12 April 2006 it was ready to enter talks with creditors over its debt burden of more than £6 billion. The company confirmed it would not be able to meet its debt repayments in the first half of 2007 and could go bankrupt next year.

Source: Eurotunnel, www.eurotunnel.com

 
Safety record for US railways

The number of overall train accidents and derailments declined in 2005 according to the latest preliminary statistics published by the Federal Railroad Administration (U.S.A.) on 21 March 2006.

The number of injuries suffered by railway workers decreased by 12.7% and train accidents caused by human factors was 12.8% lower in 2005 compared to 2004.

Overall train accidents have fallen by 7.9% and the number of level crossing incidents declined by 3.5% reaching an all-time record low of 3.81 per million train-miles, said US Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta.

The National Rail Safety Action Plan launched in May 2005 was aimed at targeting the most frequent and highest risk causes of train accidents. In 2006, Mineta said the focus would be on reducing the most common human errors that caused train accidents.

Source: The Federal Railroad Adminstration, www.fra.dot.gov

 
Privatisation and retrenchment in Kenya and Uganda railways

Sheltam Trade Corp, a South African maintenance company, led the Rift Valley Railways Consortium (RVRC) in a successful bid to run freight trains in Kenya and Uganda for the next 25 years. Comazar (Pty) Limited (10%) of South Africa, Primefuels Limited (15%) of Kenya, Mirambo Holdings Limited (10%) of Tanzania and CDIO Institute for Africa Development Trust (4%) of South Africa are the other investors in RVRC.

The two countries which signed the concession (Kenya in February and Uganda in April 2006) hope to reduce their railways’ debts as they will benefit from upfront fees of US$3 million in Kenya and US$2 million in Uganda paid by the concessionaire, in addition to 11.1% of future gross revenue from freight transportation. RVRC will also pay US$1 million per year for operating passenger services.   

The concession is due to operate the railway line linking Mombasa (Kenya) to Kampala (Uganda) and is expected to increase the freight traffic volumes and to provide an integrated 1,920 km railway system in the two countries. 

Whilst pensioners from Kenya Railways (KR) claimed in court some Sh17 billion in allowances and redundancy packages before the concession, the World Bank set aside funds for a downsizing programme of the railway workforce.  

KR Public Relations Manager, Judith Sidi Odhiambo, said that 5,500 employees would be retrenched over a period of five months after the RVRC takes over its running and management in August 2006, according to the East African Standard.

Sources: Railways Africa; www.railwaysafrica.com/; The East African Standard – 5 May 2006

 
Railway police in France

The French government’s concern about passenger safety on trains will be put in practice by creating a 1000-1500 strong railway police. Minister of the interior, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy said that the move was being made to address a "problem of coordination" between the police and the security services of French National Railways (SNCF).

Source: International Railway Journal: www.railjournal.com

 
Joint infrastructure plans in Southern Africa

Countries in the southern African region are developing an infrastructure development master plan to improve the transport and communications networks within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It is expected that this initiative will bring new jobs and facilitate market integration in the 14-member regional organisation.

The master plan takes into account the importance of infrastructure in promoting tourism, which accounted for 15.1 million tourist arrivals in 2005 compared to 12 million the previous year. National parks and conservation areas will be provided as part of the Trans-Frontier Conservation Areas 2010 Soccer World Cup Strategy.

Source: Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC), www.sardc.net

 
Progress on Trans-Asian Railway

At the end of 2005, representatives of most of the 27 countries involved in creating this 81,000 km railway network signed an intergovernmental agreement, according to International Railway Journal. The four-corridor Trans-Asian Network (TAR) is aimed to provide a continuous rail link between Singapore and Istanbul (Turkey), with further connections to Europe and Africa.

The TAR routes are as follows:

• Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) – 12,600km.
• Northeast Asia (China, Korea, Mongolia, North Korea, the Russian Federation) – 32,500 km.
• Central Asia and Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) – 13,200 km.
• South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey) – 22,600 km.

Source: International Railway Journal, www.railjournal.com

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