Related documents:
Railway News No.1/ 11 May 2006 (25kb PDF)
Change low graphic options | Change language | Skip content to navigation
Page context: Home > Railways > Issue 3 - August 2006 > Issue 1 - 11 May 2006
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:
Source: International Railway Journal, www.railjournal.com
If you have stories, please send them to Urata_Mac@itf.org.uk
|
Section home:
Railways
Other pages for Railways:
About This Section | Priorities | Policies | Railway Union Reports | Women in railways
Other pages for Railway Newsletter:
Issue 2 - July 2006 | Issue 3 - August 2006 | Issue 4 – September 2006 | Issue 5 - October 2006 | Issue 6 - November 2006 | Issue 7 - December 2006 | Issue 8 - January 2007 | Issue 9 - February 2007 | Issue 10 - March 2007 | Issue 11 - April 2007 | Issue 12 - May 2007 | Issue 13 - June 2007 | Issue 14 - July 2007 | Issue 15 - August 2007 | Issue 16 - September 2007 | Issue 17 - October 2007 | Issue 18 - November 2007 | Issue 19 - December 2007 | Issue 20 - January 2008 | Issue 21 - February 2008 | Issue 22 - March 2008 | Issue 23 - April 2008 | Issue 24 - May 2008 | Issue 25 - June 2008 | Railway newsletter test | Monthly Railway Newsletter
Main Sections:
Home | About us | Solidarity | Flags of Convenience campaign | Seafarers | Dockers | Civil Aviation | Railways | Road transport | Urban Transport | Fisheries | Tourism | Inland Navigation | Women | Education | Young workers
Transport International Magazine
accessibility | site help | site map
ITF House, 49-60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DR | +44 20 7403 2733 | mail@itf.org.uk