rail announcement january 2015

ii9h_Rail AnnouncementAnnouncing all the news from the rail industry

January 2015

King’s Cross report released

Hong Kong investors buy Eversholt

Rail Picture Library Commissioned and stock [email protected]

Iconic images of the

rail

industry

The approaching UK general election will no doubt see the rail industry become a major political issue including demands to either scrap or divert HS2 and for renationalisation, with what happened over Christmas at King’s Cross being used as an example of all that is wrong with privatisation.

Carrying out major engineering work on the East Coast, Great Western and Mid-land Main Line routes during the Christmas shut down would always carry an element of risk and, as anyone who has ever worked on the ground during such projects knows, things can and do go wrong and it’s so easy for a minor delay to escalate into a major problem. I can recall being at a bridge lift when , with the new footbridge swinging feet above a station, it was realised that it was around four inches too long.

No one could have predicted that new log grabs brought in to reduce delivery risk would continually lose hydraulic fluid and that an initial cascade of two drivers, to replace two drivers who had run out of hours, would lead to catastrophe when the supply of cascaded drivers ran out in the early hours of Boxing Day. The situation was compounded when a ballast wagon developed a fault meaning it could not be moved for a number of hours.

It is worth remembering that the overrun could have been so much worse if the staff on the ground had not gone beyond the call of duty and doing their best in challenging circumstances.

It is unfortunate that King’s Cross, and to a certain degree the overrun at Padding-ton, overshadowed the 314 projects that were handed back on time during the Christmas period, a time when most staff would rather be with their families and not working in freezing and unforgiving conditions. The rail industry should be thankful they did though.

Jonathan Webb [email protected]

Rail Announcement 2 News

Quality wins over price in ScotRail franchise

Abellio beat rival National Express into sec-ond place to run the new ScotRail franchise with a bid that required £29 million more subsidy but aimed to deliver a significantly higher quality of service.

Transport Scotland said that Dutch group Abellio will receive £776 million in subsidy over the seven year franchise, with the Na-tional Express bid requiring £747 million, but with a lower score for quality. At 70.7 Abel-lio’s quality score was the highest of any bid-der for the ScotRail franchise , with National Express scoring just 62.8, the lowest score in the franchise competition.

The award of the ScotRail franchise was based on a formula that weighted bids 65% on price and 35% on quality. Abellio beat Na-tional Express by just 0.24% when both fac-tors were combined. If National Express had managed to secure the quality rating awarded to any of the other bidders it would have been awarded the franchise. that had been successful in helping the com-pany win the Essex Thameside contract.

National Express did consider a judicial re-view, but chose not to go ahead.

The other bidders for the ScotRail franchise - incumbent First Group, MTR and Arri-va - were a considerable distance behind Abellio and National Express. First Group was though to be the third placed bidder and required £65 million more subsidy than National Express and £36 million more than Abellio. In terms of quality its score was com-parable to National Express, but significantly below Abellio.

News Rail Announcement 3

Deal struck to release class 170s to Chiltern

A complex deal has been agreed to provide alternative trains for TransPennine routes once class 170s are transferred to Chiltern for use on their new London Marylebone to Oxford Parkway route which opens later this year.

Rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook prompted a row when it agreed to transfer nine of its class 170s to Chiltern, leaving the government unable to explain how capac-ity could be maintained on TransPennine’s Manchester and Hull and Manchester and Cleethorpes North and South TransPennine routes once the class moved to a new opera-tor.

The new deal aims to safeguard services to all stations currently served by First TransPen-nine until the next franchise commences in February 2016. Franchise specifications for both TransPennine and Northern are ex-pected to be released in the near future and will include a requirement to provide rolling stock that is both modern and appropriate for the north of England.

From the timetable change on 17 May this year Chiltern will receive five class 170s and TransPennine will retain four 2-car class 170s. Northern Rail will hire six class 156 units to TransPennine for use on the Man-chester Airport to Blackpool North route, enabling an hourly increase in capacity to be achieved between Preston, Bolton and Man-chester. Concern has been raised over the

use of class 156s and their inability to accom-modate shopmobility scooters. It is under-stood that the class will operate on alternate services, so scooter users will be advised to ensure that they catch the non-class 156 ser-vices along the route.

A number of class 185s which currently op-erate between Manchester Airport and Black-pool will be assigned to the Manchester to Hull and Manchester to Cleethorpes routes. This will result in all TransPennine Express services being operated by class 185s between Liverpool, Manchester, West Yorkshire, Hum-berside, North Yorkshire, the Yorkshire coast and the north east.

Former Thameslink class 319s are to enter service later this year , running on the new-ly electrified routes between Liverpool and Preston and Manchester Victoria and Liver-pool. This will enable numerous diesel units to be cascaded onto other routes.

Two locomotive hauled services, in connec-tion with Direct Rail Services, are also ex-pected to be introduced along the Cumbrian Coast line.


Report released into King’s Cross overrun

The report by Network Rail into the Christ-mas overrun at London King’s Cross on 27 December has revealed that the cause was a multiplying catalogue of errors compounded by ‘mutual failings’ of communication be-tween Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway which manages Finsbury park sta-tion, the station which was used as an emer-gency alternative to London King’s Cross.

Such was the volume of passengers using Finsbury Park during the disruption the station had to be closed for safety reasons during the day and hundreds of passengers had to queue on the streets outside in inclem-ent weather waiting for platforms to clear. Some of the more vulnerable passengers were offered taxis for at least part of their journey north.

Prepared by Network Rail’s managing di-rector of infrastructure projects Dr Francis Paonessa, the report details how track re-placement work at Holloway Junction, ap-proximately 1 1/2 miles from King’s Cross, became mired by numerous factors including issues with removing the old ballast, scrap rails and sleepers. The delays were caused mainly by the failure of new equipment. This resulted in the project slipping 6 hours be-hind schedule by Christmas Day.

Failure of the equipment was unexpected due to the provision of new hardware that had been introduced with the specific aim of reducing the risk of a breakdown. It was soon discovered that the new hardware, which had

never been tested in a railway environment, was not as reliable as envisaged once it was put to use at Holloway.

Despite of these failures rail managers still believed it would be possible to open two of the four lines by the morning of 27 De-cember, enabling the already agreed reduced passenger service to run. At this point it was realised that the point of no return had already been reached and the works were committed. Things worsened overnight with the physical works falling out of sync with the project’s logistics which resulted in train drivers having to book off after completing their maximum shift lengths, leaving engi-neering trains in the wrong position to sup-port the infrastructure work. One driver told Rail Announcement that such was the chaos that during his 12 hour shift he sat in his cab and didn’t move an inch due to being blocked in by engineering trains. Staff, not booked to work over Christmas, were called at home asking them to come in to try and alleviate the situation but many had already enjoyed a Christmas drink by then so had to decline the request.

The report continues by stating that commu-nication between Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway was inadequate with regards to using Finsbury park station as an emergency alternative to King’s Cross. Com-ing in for particular criticism was the imple-mentation of the contingency plan, with the failure to operate a revised platform usage pattern, that had been agreed the previous


crowding and was only implemented af-ter three long distance service had cycled through the station.

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne said : “In very complex projects sometimes simple things go wrong and these can snow-ball in short periods of time to become major issues. Our contingency plans should address these issues and protect passengers from our problems as far as possible. And our industry service recovery plans should minimise the impact of any disruption once it has oc-curred. On these occasions we simply did not do these things well enough.”A wider industry review , led by the Rail De-livery Group, will now take place looking at how possessions are time and managed.

Mr Carne came under fire during the im-mediate aftermath of the disruption after his refusal to return to London from his Cornish holiday. Industry insiders have questioned how appropriate this was considering the seriousness of the situation and the fact that it was Mr Carne’s first Christmas as CE.

Many within the industry feel that a show of support by helping over stretched staff deal with the crowds, it was even suggested he could have handed out tea and sandwiches to the hundreds of stranded rail passengers at Finsbury Park, would have gone a long way to showing solidarity , especially when one is asking thousands of staff to give up their Christmas, albeit with enhanced pay, and some to work on through the days that they had planned to use for their Christmas with their families. Even shaking hands with staff as they came off duty and saying thank you would have been appreciated by staff.

Pressure is now on the rail industry to move blockades to mid summer.

Following the disruption Carne announced that he would not be accepting his perfor-mance-related bonus of around £34,000.


Government criticised over rail plans

A new report has been published by MPs and concludes that there is no clearstrategic plan and that big projects such as Thameslink are being hampered by delayand running over budget. The report, which follows an inquiry into the government’splans for the rail industry, goes on to say that the Department for Transport hasfailed to convince its critics that it is able to deliver value for money.

The report calls for the drawing up of a trans-port plan to cover the next threedecades and uses HS1’s Ebbsfleet station as an example of how a station opened sevenyears ago is only now being supported by a local development plan.

The Commons Committee of Public Ac-counts said it was concerned about the piece-meal approach to developing high speed rail in the UK and the lack of assessment by theDfT regarding HS3 before it gave approval to HS2, meaning that no one gaveconsideration as to whether HS2 or improved connectivity in the north deservedpriority.

Chair of the committee Margaret Hodge said: “Investment in major rail infrastructureprogrammes takes a long time and costs a lot of money. It is therefore hugelyimportant to ask the right questions and make properly informed judgments onpriorities. Yet the Government takes deci-sions without a clear strategic plan.

“The Department has still to publish propos-als for how Scotland will benefit fromHigh Speed 2, including whether the route will be extended into Scotland.

“The Department should set out a long term strategy covering the next 30 years fortransport infrastructure in the UK, and use this strategy to inform decisions aboutinvestment priorities and specific investment decisions.

“We are skeptical about whether the Depart-ment can deliver value for money for thetaxpayer on High Speed 2. The overall fund-ing envelope of £50 billion includes agenerous contingency, and we are concerned that this will simply be used to maskcost overspends, rather than valid calls on contingency funds.”

High speed rail lobby group Greengauge21 hit back by saying the findings of thecommittee are “ only telling part of the story” and that : “ “The PAC should beaware that it is the private sector that will design, build and operate HS2,creating a much stronger UK-based rail capa-bility in the process.”


West Coast open access proposal rejected

Deutsche Bahn owned Alliance Rail’s propos-als to operate services between London and Blackpool from May 2017 and between Lon-don, Huddersfield and Leeds from December 2018 have been rejected by the Office of Rail Regulation.

The open access operator’s trains were to fea-ture Great North Western Railway branding and operate up to six return trips, seven days a week, on each route using a fleet of new tilting electric trains which would have been capable of running at 140 mph.

The main reason given by the ORR for the rejection was that it felt that the new services would be unable to generate enough income to justify allowing them to run in compe-tition with the Virgin operated West Coast franchise.

GNWR would have been the first open access operator on the West Coast Main Line and GNWR managing director Ian Yeowart react-ed by saying : “ We are naturally disappoint-ed with the ORR’s decision, especially as we reached agreement with Network Rail in May last year that there was sufficient capacity to operate these trains on the West Coast Main Line and across the Pennines. The ORR’s reasons came as something of a surprise as GNWR was told last July that forecasts of generation from the first part of the five stage test were relatively high compared with pre-vious open access applications that have been approved by the ORR.”

The company will now undertake a detailed review of the ORR’s decision before deciding on its next steps. Sister company Great North Eastern Railway will, however, continue with an application to operate new services be-tween London King’s Cross and Edinburgh and to Cleethorpes and Bradford. This ap-plication was lodged with the ORR early last year.


Rethink on Hope Valley improvements

Part of the Northern Hub programme has been revised by Network Rail and will now deliver three instead of four trains an hour on the Hope Valley line connecting Manchester with Sheffield.

A public consultation was held by Network Rail in 2013 outlining plans to upgrade the route , including the construction of a 1km passing loop near Grindleford in addition to enhancements around Dore and Totley sta-tion.

Network Rail now says that although Grin-dleford is the ideal location for such a loop that would enable four trains an hour to run, timetable constraints mean that it would not possible to evenly space these services. As a result the rail industry will now press ahead with plans to run just three trains an hour and a review has concluded that passengers will be better served by a loop being installed at Bamford.

This new location, just east of Bamford, will make it easier to construct a loop, compared to Grindleford, and has the added bonus of not disturbing any ancient woodland. The new loop will run between the station and Jaggers Lane in Hathersage.

A new platform will be constructed at Dore and Totley station along with a footbridge and lifts.

It is envisaged that an application for a Trans-port and Works Act will be submitted this summer, following a further period of public consultation. Subject to consent being given it is hoped that the project will be finished by the end of 2018.


Hong Kong investors to buy UK trains

Eversholt Rail is to be sold to a joint venture of two Hong Kong-based investment firms.

The leasing business, which owns nearly a third of the UK’s rolling stock, is to be bought by CK Investments ,which is jointly owned by Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings and Cheung Kong Holdings. Eversholt, which ac-quired the train leasing company from HSBC in 2010, consists of a consortium comprising 3i Infrastructure, Morgan Stanley Infrastruc-ture Partners and Star Capital Partners.

It is envisaged that the deal will be complet-ed in March on condition of clearance being granted by the European Commission under the EU Merger Regulations.

Eversholt’s passenger rolling stock portfolio comprises of around 3,500 vehicles covering 19 separate fleets. Of these over 3,100 are electrically powered and include the Hitachi built Javelin trains used on HS1.


Strategic plan announced for rail suppliers

The unveiling of a ‘strategic vision’ for rail related firms has been made in a joint an-nouncement by business secretary Vince Cable and transport secretary Patrick Mc-Loughlin.

This latest move follows the creation of a Rail Supply Group with the objective of co-ordi-nating and encouraging companies who sell to the rail industry. The rail industry in Brit-ain has a domestic turnover of approximately £12 billion and supports many thousands of jobs away from the main operators and Net-work Rail.

It is envisaged that by 2025 the rail supply chain will have seen a doubling in its export volumes and be a ‘global leader’ in high speed rail.

There was also confirmation that over the coming months the Rail Supply Group is to develop an industrial strategy , including a clear plan of action.

Mr Cable said: “Britain’s valuable train supply chain is renowned for excellence in an ar-ray of disciplines from train design to signal solutions. We are committed to keeping the industry on track as a global leader which is why we are creating a unique partnership through the Rail Supply Group.“The group will work together to future proof this valu-able sector through a long-term Rail Supply

Chain Industrial Strategy -- creating more jobs and ensuring the UK can capture a share of the global rail market, worth £150 billion per year.”

In addition to the two ministers the Rail Supply Group is chaired by the president of Alstom UK Terence Watson. He said : “All the UK’s industrial companies should be watching the rail sector closely. There are opportunities for growth not only for estab-lished players, but for digital, manufacturing, engineering and service companies of all siz-es and from all industries. We need the best of the UK’s talented, innovative and entrepre-neurial people to help us create a truly world class rail supply industry -- and to make the UK a global leader in rail again.”


CMA to examine competition possibilities

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is to examine the possibility of in-creasing competition in passenger rail ser-vices in Great Britain to discover if this would lead to better value for money and increased service quality.

Currently the benefits of competition are tied in with franchise awards, which are the subject of tough competition. Following the recent franchise system reforms the process of competitive bidding appears to be work-ing well, especially as there is often degree of competition where franchises compete with each other over routes where franchises over-lap or from an open access operator.

This policy project, which is not a formal investigation or market study, will look to see if the current industry framework can be modified for the future and will examine the desirability, and the feasibility, of expanding opportunities for in-market competition, with a view to securing greater value for money for passengers as well as taxpayers and to improving the passenger experience. The CMA says that it will take into account rail services that serve rural communities and receive significant public subsidy for them to be commercially viable.

The CMA expects to engage with interested parties such as passenger groups and govern-ment in addition to train operators.


Concerted effort to complete electrification

With delays continuing to mount on the Manchester to Liverpool electrification proj-ect ,that was meant to be completed last December, Network Rail has announced that it is to close the route on a number of dates in February and March with the aim of com-pleting the scheme in time for the May time-table change.

Network Rail claims that severe weather and a fault on a wiring train are to blame for the continuing delays, but sources close to the project say that lack of communication be-tween the parties is the root of the problem. The same sources claim that the government hoped that it would be able to use the electri-fication scheme as a propaganda tool in the run up to May’s general election, and before Parliament is dissolved on March 30, as an illustration of rail investment by the coalition government, but now the fear is that Labour may turn it against them by saying that the Tories couldn’t even get this right.

The delay is causing panic at the Department for Transport because the class 319s ear-marked for the route cannot be cascaded to allow the release of class 170s from TransPen-nine Express to Chiltern Railways and it’s proving very difficult to work out the logistics for releasing a class 156 for crew training.

The route between Manchester and Liver-pool via Newton-le-Willows will be closed on 1, 8, 15 and 22 February and 1 March and to extend the current amended Monday to Thursday evening timetable to include Friday nights until 27 February. Network Rail says additional closures may be required.


Battery powered Electrostar enters service

A battery powered class 379 Electrostar has entered passenger service on the Manning-tree to Harwich Town branch.

Commencing on January 12, following a week of testing that began on January 5, 379013 will run in passenger service until February 13, with the five week trial being used to gather data on how the Independent-ly Powered Electric Multiple Unit (IPEMU) performs in passenger service. This includes evaluating if the concept is feasible for use on non electrified routes between electrified lines or on branch lines that would be expen-sive to electrify. The data will also be used to determine if any future IPEMU are to be a straight battery unit or an overhead battery hybrid.

Fitted with six battery rafts and using Lithi-um Iron Magnesium Phosphate battery tech-nology, the IPEMU is capable of holding a charge for 60 miles and requires two hours of charging for every hour running. The batter-ies are charged from the overhead wires when the pantograph is raised and from regenera-tive braking.

The project is a collaboration between Bom-bardier, infrastructure manager NetworkRail, operator Abellio Greater Anglia, inno-vation bodyFutureRailway and the Department for Transport.

It is envisaged that future IPEMUs will be new rolling stock , as opposed to retrofitting existing units, but the project will be useful in gathering information forany proposed retrofit.

379013 (far right) in test area at Bombardier’s Derby works.


Report calls for more investment outside ofLondon

In a report entitled ‘Investing in the Railway ‘ the House of Commons Transport Commit-tee has given a bleak assessment of Network Rail’s management of major engineering projects and, although welcoming record investment committed to the ‘classic’ rail network, wants more rail investment outside of London.

The report looks in detail at the problems at King’s Cross and Paddington around Boxing Day , which saw thousands of passengers have their journeys disrupted due to over-running engineering works, something the report describes as unacceptable. It goes on to say that Network Rail must have adequate contingency plans and improve passenger communication by working with Passenger Focus and train operators when things go wrong.

Also questioned in the report is the effective-ness of the ORR fining a public sector body such as Network Rail as a means of control. It states that greater transparency around rail spending is required with publication of the criteria used to allocate funding, along with a ‘traffic light’ system to indicate the status of each rail project.

Chair of the committee Louise Ellman said: “With over 1.5 billion journeys made last year, millions of people rely on a train service to get to work or see family and friends. We welcome the record spending planned for the ‘classic’ rail network, but Treasury statistics demonstrate that for too long this spending has been focused on London. We call for revised — and published — criteria to ensure fairer funding allocations that reflect wider economic and social objectives.


“The chaos faced by passengers over Christ-mas at King’s Cross and Paddington, and the continuing disruption at London Bridge, are unacceptable. They are also a worrying sign for the capacity of Network Rail to manage multiple, complex engineering projects si-multaneously. Network Rail must demon-strate that it can deliver key improvements — such as electrification in the North West and the Great Western Main Line — on time, and while still delivering safe an efficient services for all passengers.

“Reported delays to key infrastructure proj-ects must be addressed by the Department for Transport. If a rail improvement or elec-trification project is announced for delivery in a set time period, there should be an ex-pectation that it will be delivered on time.”

The report also stated that the government should take responsibility for the provision of sufficient rolling stock, ensuring that there are enough trains to operate over newly elec-trified routes.

Louise Ellman went on to say: “Ministers must ensure there is sufficient rolling stock - of a decent quality - to run timetabled rail services and maximise the benefits of new infrastructure. Rising numbers of rail passen-gers have not being matched by investment in new rolling stock, resulting in overcrowding, and passengers unable to board some busy trains.

“The Secretary of State refused to tell us when the outdated and unpopular Pacer trains will be removed from the rail network — in Wales and the South West, as well as the North. We call for a clear commitment to remove Pacers from the rail network by 2020 at the latest.”


Labour could scupper Abellio franchise

Should Labour win power in Scotland next year it plans to exercise a break clause in Dutch group Abellio’s £2.5bn ScotRail fran-chise, allowing a non-profit public sector operator to take over the franchise which commences in March.

Jim Murphy, Scottish Labour leader, said “The current ScotRail franchise sees mon-ey going straight from the public purse to shareholders pockets. The incoming one will see Scottish public money support transport infrastructure in Holland.”

The ruling Scottish Nationalist Party pointed out that not only will Abellio deliver substan-tial improvements but that UK law does not allow public organisations to bid for rail fran-chises and that to have delayed the new fran-chise until new powers are devolved would have cost tens of millions.

If the break clause is used the Abellio con-tract will expire in its seventh year.

Supporters say that the example of Directly Operated Railways, which operates the East Coast franchise, is a positive example that the state can run a railway, but some private companies say such a move would deter them bidding for new franchises and that there would need to be 100% transparency where the government became both bidder and referee.

However according to opinion polls there is little chance of Labour beating the SNP in the 2016 Scottish Parliamentary election.


Tram passenger numbers rise by 10%

The Croydon tram system has seen a 10% increase in passenger numbers between Wimbledon and New Addington on Sundays, following the introduction of an enhanced timetable in December.

Previously the tram service operated at a 15 minute frequency, with the new timetable seeing this increased to a tram ever 8 minutes between 10.00 and 18.00.

Prior to the introduction of the new timetable around 39,834 passengers used the network on a Sunday. This has now increased to an average figure of 44,330.

Later this year work to increase capacity at Wimbledon station will commence, which will enable an increased frequency to operate over the Wimbledon branch.

Despite the increase in passengers , Decem-ber proved to be a month of mixed fortunes with a tram derailing near Mitcham Junction on December 29.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch is currently investigating the cause and have issued an interim statement saying:

“On leaving the tram stop, the tram driver noticed that an indicator, which shows the position of these points, was indicating that the points were not correctly set.

“He stopped the tram before reaching the points, and after speaking to the tramway control room by radio, he left the tram and used an operating lever to manually move the points until he observed that the indicator was showing that they were correctly set.

“He then drove the tram slowly over the points, but the centre bogie and one wheelset of the trailing bogie became derailed.”


Northern line extension funding confirmed

The European Investment Bank, Europe’s long-term lending institution, will provide a long-term loan of £480 million to finance an extension of the Northern line to Battersea.

Last summer Ferrovial Agroman Laing O’Ro-urke was awarded the main £500 million construction contract and approval of the loan, which will cover nearly 50% of the over-all cost of the link that will connect Battersea with Kennington, will enable work to start in the spring with completion expected in 2020.

Once open the new line, which is being con-structed without public funding, will reduce journey times from Battersea to the West End and the city to 15 minutes.

Repayment of the loan will be by the develop-ment company rejuvenating Battersea power station and business rates from the Nine Elms Enterprise Zone from 2016.


First D78 arrives for conversion at Vivarail

Vivarail has taken delivery of the first D78 London Underground D-Stock train to be withdrawn in preparation for conversion to a D-train.

Three of the four vehicles, which all arrived at Long Marston by road because according to chairman Adrian Shooter it was “ a lot simpler and cheaper than hauling them by rail”, will be weighed and throughly inspected before being stripped down including remov-al of all the old electrical equipment under the floor.

The fourth vehicle will be based at a studio in Leamington Spa where it will be fitted out with a number of different interiors enabling potential customers, and their passengers, to evaluate seating and layout.

A full feature on the project to convert re-dundant D78 stock to diesel powered units appeared in the last issue of Rail Announce-ment.


Tornado awarded British Pullman contract

A1 60163 Tornado has been awarded the contract to operate the prestigious Belmond British Pullman during the overhaul of regu-lar locomotive 35028 Clan Line.

The Pullman service has been almost exclu-sively powered by Clan Line for a number of years, with the occasional appearance of guest locomotives such as Flying Scotsman.

Clan Line will haul a farewell tour between London Victoria and Chester on June 30, a very rare foray of its Pullman duties, with Tornado expected to haul its first Pullman service on July 10.

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Colas Rail has announced that it has been awarded a five year contract with Total UK for the transportation of bitumen from Lind-sey oil refinery to Total UK’s production plant in Preston.

Colas win Total contract


JR Kyushu to be privatised in 2016

Japan’s Ministry of Land , Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has announced that JR Kyushu will be listed on the Tokyo stock exchange in the 2016 financial year, making it the fourth national rail operator to go private.

Currently owned by the government JR Kyushu is one of seven Japan Railway Group companies created during the break up of the Japanese National Railways in 1987, which marked the start of rail privatisation in Japan. In addition to JR Kyushu JR Hokkaido, JR Shikoku, and JR Freight are all still govern-ment owned.

In the near future a bill will be submitted by the government to the Diet for the revision of JR companies’ law which will exempt JR Kyushu from a requirement to obtain the approval of the transport minister before it appoints directors. In return JR Kyushu will guarantee to maintain its current rail service.

A date for the listing has yet to be decided but will depend on the condition of the stock market. Money raised from the listing will contribute towards the pensions of retired JNR staff.

Although the company posted a loss of ¥15.6 billion from its railway operations in fiscal 2013, the transport ministry decided that it can be privatised because it has diversified into other areas such as hotels and station retail outlets.

A medium term business plan has been drawn up by JR Kyushu which aims to gener-ate 60% of its total revenue from non-railway operations in fiscal 2016.

JR Kyushu covers its losses from profits gen-erated from business stabilization fund of ¥387.7 billion provided by the government at the time of the 1987 breakup.

This money will not have to be returned fol-lowing the listing and instead JR Kyushu will be allowed to use ¥220.5 billion of the total to pay Kyushu Shinkansen infrastructure leasing fees to the railway agency that owns the bullet train assets.

JR Kyushu’s network covers 2,273 km and the company operates 140 Shinkansen services and 3,000 other services every day.

Employing around 9,300 staff JR Kyushu car-ries around 3.2 million passengers every year.


Finland to ditch GSM-R

The Finnish Cabinet Committee for Econom-ic Policy has given its backing for plans by the Finnish rail industry to stop using the current GSM-R network and switch to using VIRVE, a TETRA encrypted communications system launched in 2002.

The current GSM-R network is due for re-placement by the end of 2018 and a replace-ment is needed following problems with interference from commercial networks and the ability for GSM-R to weaken mobile re-ception for rail passengers.

Examination of the problems commenced in 2013 and while work is underway at the EU level to decide on a replacement for GSM-R , the Finnish government feels it would be ‘most appropriate and least expensive’ to move over to VIRVE pending a decision by the EU on a future system, in the face of the huge investment required to upgrade and continue to use GSM-R.

It is planned to ask the European Commis-sion for a derogation from the current rules making GSM-R the only option for railway radio systems. Such a ruling would allow the switch over to take place as ‘quickly as possi-ble’.

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New trains for Osaka Loop Line

JR West has announced that it is to procure 21 eight-car electric multiple units for the Osaka Loop Line.

Introduction of the class 323 will see the current fleet of class 103 EMUs , which were delivered between 1964-1984, withdrawn by 2018.

The new trains will be constructed of stain-less steel and have a maximum speed of 100 km/h. Each vehicle will have three double doors per side, as opposed to the four in use on existing rolling stock and be equipped

with wi-fi. There will also be bilingual passen-ger announcements and screens with passen-ger information in Japanese , English, Korean and Chinese.


More JR Kyushu stations to lose their staff

JR Kyushu is to make more of its stations un-staffed in a bid to stem losses.

Last March JR Kyushu recorded a loss of 15.6 trillion yen on its rail operations and it is hoped that this latest move will reduce loss-es to 12 trillion yen. The train operator also hopes to diversify its income streams and is looking at involvement in hotels, retail and restaurants .

Currently 281 out of 566 JRK stations are unstaffed.

The main problem faced by JR Kyushu is depopulation of rural areas as people move away from the countryside and into the cities, resulting in decreased revenue on many rural routes. Reducing staff is seen as the least drastic option as it allows the rural lines to continue to operate and provide a lifeline for many rural residents, especially those of the older generation.


Cake on offer to Fukushima passengers

A cafe on rails is to be offered to passengers travelling between Koriyama and Aizu-wakamatsu stations from April in an effort to promote the nuclear-stricken Fukushima Prefecture.

Operated by East Japan Railway Company the train is nicknamed FruiTea, which is a fu-sion of the words fruit, which the Fukushima prefecture has in abundance, and tea.

The two car train will carry up to 36 passen-gers and passengers will be served cake and tart made from grapes and peaches grown in the prefecture. Seating and tables will be ar-ranged to allow passengers clear views of the scenery and the livery will be black with a red pattern, suggesting red tiles and black stucco.

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Thai win for Hitachi

Hitachi has been awarded an additional order for 16 TEMU 1000 tilting rail vehicles from the Taiwan Railway Administration. Sched-uled to be delivered within the 2015/16 fi-nancial year, with entry into service by June 2016, this latest order follows an initial con-tract in 2006/7 to supply TRA with 48 TEMU rail vehicles. These entered passenger service in May 2007 becoming Taiwan’s first tilting trains for a limited express service.

The TRA has publicly acknowledged the high quality of the initial Hitachi rolling stock, based on their operation record over the last eight years along with Hitachi’s after sales service, passenger comfort and reliability. The latest trains will have computer controlled active tilt systems installed which will tilt the

vehicles at a maximum of 5 degrees, accord-ing to the curvature of the track. This enables the trains to travel through the curves at 25 km/h faster than rolling stock without the tilt system.

The trains are nicknamed Taroko after Taroko Gorge near Hualien city in the east of the country.


Merger terms agreed between CSR and CNR

State owned rolling stock manufacturers Chi-na CNR Corp and CSR Corp have confirmed that, subject to final ratification by the State Council, they have agreed terms for a merger which will create the world’s largest rail vehi-cle supplier.

The draft proposal, which has been submit-ted to the State Council for approval, will see CSR acquire the shares of CNR, which would then be delisted on both the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges. The newly created company will then be known as the China Railway Rolling Stock Corp.

It has been agreed between the two compa-nies that each CNR share will be exchanged for 1.1 shares in CSR. CSR’s Shanghai-trad-ed A shares have been valued at 5·63 yuan against 6·19 yuan for CNR’s while the two companies’ Hong Kong shares are priced at HK$7·32 and HK$8·05 respectively. Share prices for both companies rose sharply when trading resumed on December 31, having been suspended since October 27 during the merger negotiations.

Between them CSR and CNR already have over 90% of the country’s domestic rolling stock market and it is envisaged that the merger will enable the new company to in-crease China’s global market share by gaining a more advantageous position in the interna-tional competition.

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