rail announcement october 2014

ii9ghJJJJooooooooooooooooooooooooRail AnnouncementAnnouncing all the news from the rail industry

October 2014

First to run GW until 2019

£36 million for Jubilee

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Thanks to all the readers that have emailed saying how much they enjoy reading Rail Announcement.

The editorial policy at RA is about being informative and inde-pendant, in much the same way that we do not run page after page of group photographs. Any editor knows that these turn off all the readers not associated with the articles and make a publi-cation look dull and repetative.

It’s good to report that the proposal to name a locomotive after the crew injured in the train robbery of 1963 is making progress and, hopefully, will happen before the end of this year. I know it’s something that railway staff and residents of Crewe have been hoping for for a long time.

As ever it’s always a pleasure to meet and spend time with front line rail staff, some of them former colleauges, and view first hand the challenges and frustrations faced by them on a daily basis.

Enjoy the issue.

Jonathan Webb Editor

[email protected]

News Rail Announcement 2

Abellio wins ScotRailThe Scottish government has chosen Abellio, a subsidiary of the Dutch state-owned rail company Nederlandse Spoorwegen, to run the new ScotRail franchise over incumbent First Group . Other contenders for the con-tract, that commences on April 1 next year, were Arriva, National Express and MTR.

With an estimated value of £6 billion, this is the single biggest contract let to date by the Scottish government. Although the fran-chise length is at least seven years, there is an option to extend it by a further three years pending a review in year five of the contract.

Abellio has said that its investment plans include a fully refurbished fleet of High Speed Trains, which are currently in service with First Great Western, to be introduced by December 2018 and which will connect seven Scottish cities. There will also be 80 new trains introduced on the Edinburgh to Glasgow route in time for the December 2017 timetable change . Hitachi has already been named as the preferred supplier for these units. The route is being upgraded as part of the Edinburgh to Glasgow improvement pro-gramme (EGIP).

According to Transport Scotland the addi-tional rolling stock will result in an increase of 23% more carriages across the ScotRail network, with all carriages being able to offer passengers free wireless internet access.

Aberdeen station will see enhancements in its concourse and retail developments , im-proving links between the station and Union Street, and Inverness, Perth and Stirling stations also benefitting from huge retail im-provement schemes.

Using its experience of rail/cycle integration in the Netherlands, Abellio says that it will create the most extensive rail/cycle network in the UK. This will involve investing £1.6 million in providing additional bike parking spaces at stations and fully staffed cyclepoints at major city hubs, along with cycleparks at five other stations. There will also be bike hire schemes at 10 stations, with extra cycle spac-es being created on off-peak services.

In addition a new range of fares will be intro-duced with a standard class return journey between any two Scottish cities starting at £5, with first class travel over the same routes starting at £7.50.

Scotland’s Transport Minister Keith Brown said: “Trains will have more space for prams and wheelchairs, there will be rigorous new service quality control measures ensuring cleaner trains and improved right-time mea-sures. We’ll see later services for concerts and events and improved integration with bus, ferry and air timetables, alongside a £520,000 Station Travel Planning ‘Plus’ programme and a Journey Companion app with door-to-door travel info, to ensure passengers can get straight from A-B.” Mr Brown went on to say : “ “Every single Scottish station will have CCTV and passengers will enjoy improved waiting facilities at 40 stations, extra retail facilities at up to 50 stations and hundreds of new car parking spaces.”

A disappointed Tim O’Toole, Chief Exec-utive of First Group, said: “Our bid would have delivered even greater levels of service and growth and we are disappointed we will not have the opportunity to implement the credible plans we submitted, building on our record of improvement .

Rail Announcement 3 News

Western Route Study draft published

Network Rail has published a draft version of its new Western Route Study, which sets out proposals for creating additional rail capacity over the next three decades.

Demand for rail travel into Bristol is predict-ed to increase by 50% over the next 30 years , with demand to travel into London expected to double over the same period. As a result the study looks at a number of options in-cluding lengthening trains, upgrading junc-tions and laying new sections of track.

The study considers what may be required during Control Period 6, which runs from 2019 to 2024, to alleviate the problems caused by pinch points along the route. Op-tions being considered include grade sepa-rating Ladbroke Grove Junction, as part of a package to improve the approaches into Lon-don Paddington station, along with junction enhancements at Basingstoke, Bristol East and near Reading.

Beyond CP6 it is suggested in the study that four-tracking the route between Exeter and Newton Abbot would be desirable , but as the existing coastal route through Dawlish and Teignmouth would present many challenges in making this a reality , Network Rail says that one of the alternative routes highlighted in the West of Exeter Route Resilience Study may be worth further consideration.

Consultation on the draft Western Route Study runs until January 9 next year, with publication of the final document expected next spring. This will then be used to inform the Department of Transport’s strategy for CP6.

Network Rail managing director for the west-ern route Patrick Hallgate said: “The West-ern route is already one of the busiest in the country and is currently undergoing a major programme of investment including electri-fication, new track and signalling and a new fleet of electric trains to make sure it is fit for the future. But there is more we will need to do to keep up with the continuing growth in demand for rail travel between London, the Thames Valley, the west and south west of England.”


£36 million released for Jubilee line project

A mid October Transport for London Fi-nance and Policy Committee meeting has bee asked to release £36 million of the total £253 million budget for the Jubilee line World Class Capacity project.

The initial sum will go towards supporting detailed design work to enable service fre-quencies to rise from 30 trains an hour to 36 trains an hour during peak periods.

Since the recent commissioning of the Thales Transmission Based Train Control (TBTC)signalling system, this has allowed frequen-cies to increase from 24 trains an hour to 30 trains an hour along the central section of line for 90 minutes during the peak . The new signalling is capable of enabling a higher frequency service , but the line is constrained to 30 trains an hour due to the availability of rolling stock and by issues with the infra-structure such as stabling and maintenance facilities, along with power and ventilation issues.

New trains for the Jubilee line will be ordered alongside additional rolling stock required as part of the Northern line upgrade 2 and Bat-tersea extension. A range of ancillary works will be carried out as a result of the latest approval for funding. This includes:

Renewing points at West HampsteadEnabling works for stabling stock overnight at Stratford and Stanmore stationsSix power stations to receive strengthening worksConversion of a cleaning road into a pit road at Stratford depot

Conversion of temporary fit out shed at Strat-ford Market depot into three stabling roads

Upon completion of the Jubilee line project Transport for London will offer a 36 trains an hour three hour peak service between West Hampstead and North Greenwich during morning and evening peaks, with the off peak service between Willesden Green and Strat-ford increasing from 24 to 27 trains an hour.

Some doubts remain regarding the ability to deliver 36 trains an hour, so an option for 34 trains an hour has also been drawn up.


Hitachi to supply Scottish trains

Abellio has announced that Hitachi is the preferred bidder for supplying rolling stock for the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP)

The company will construct 70 electric multiple units at its soon to be completed Newton Aycliffe works , which will form 46 3-car trains and 24 4 car trains, equating to 234 carriages. The new trains, based on the AT200 , a mock up of which was unveiled in London in July, will enter service on the soon to be electrified Edinburgh to Glasgow route as well as on the Stirling-Alloa-Dunblane lines. As further Scottish routes are electri-fied it is envisaged that the new trains will be cleared to work on these routes too.

Hitachi Rail Europe Chief Operating Officer Andy Barr said: “We are delighted that Abel-lio has selected Hitachi Rail Europe as pre-ferred bidder to supply rolling stock as well as long-term maintenance of our electric trains. This is great news, as it is the first contract for our recently launched AT200 commuter train.”

The new trains, which will have a top speed of 100mph along with air conditioning, power sockets and wifi access, are expected to enter passenger service from 2017. To make the best use of passenger space the trains will have cab end and inter vehicle gangways.

The design life of the train is 35 years and meets Transport Scotland’s criteria for light-weight, energy efficient trains that will mini-mise rail wear and tear.


First to run Great Western until 2019Following the granting of a 23 month non-competed direct award, when the West Coast procurement process collapsed, First Great Western is set to continue to run ser-vices until at least spring 2019 with the fur-ther award of a 5 year direct award.

The Department for Transport has taken this decision to avoid the risks that bringing in a new operator in the middle of the multi-bil-lion pound upgrade of the western route could create.

Network Rail is currently electrifying the route to South Wales and Bristol, ahead of the introduction of a fleet of Hitachi built electric trains, as part of the Intercity Express Programme. Further disruption to services is likely due to work on Crossrail and commis-sioning of the European Rail Traffic Manage-ment System (ERTMS) .

In 2011 First Group selected an early termi-nation option on the previous Great Western contract as a way to avoid the payment of premiums that were heavily weighted towards the end of term finishing in 2016.

The operator will now continue to run ser-vices beyond this date, but pay less than under the initial contract and with the added bonus of not facing any competition from other train operators.

First Group Chief Executive Tim O’Toole said: “A period of detailed negotiation will follow but we are very pleased that, after a consultation process in which the DfT sought the views of stakeholders and user groups across the line of route, the DfT intend to negotiate a direct award with us which will be for three-and-a-half years with an option to extend for up to one year at the DfT’s discre-tion. This offers good value and better ser-vices for First Great Western passengers and, in particular, will provide stability and allow the planned major projects and new trains to be delivered.”

First has recently suffered some significant blows to its rail empire as other operators have won the ScotRail and Thameslink routes.


Sussex consultation begins

Network Rail has commenced a 90 day con-sultation on its Sussex Route Study.

The study is in response to a forecast in in-creased demand for rail travel during CP6 (2019-2024) and beyond up to 2043. This covers the areas around London Bridge, Clapham Junction and East Croydon, which are some of the busiest sections of the UK’s rail network.

One of the report’s proposals is to extend the deployment of Automatic Train Protection , which under current plans, in the first use of ATO on national rail in the UK, will keep services regular through the Thameslink core from late 2019. It is suggested by Network Rail that ATO cvould be introduced from London Bridge to Norwood Junction and be-yond. The ATO proposal being described as : “With ETCS/ATO delivered in the Thames-link core from December 2018 and a substan-tial proportion of GoVia Thameslink Rail-way’s rolling stock being compatible with the system, a logical opportunity exists to extend the technology south towards Norwood Junc-tion at least, as part of an incremental plan.”

Although the report concludes that there is no business case for reopening the Uckfield to Lewes route before 2043, it recommends that the alignment be safeguarded and that the viability of reopening the route is depen-dant on identifying a new route from Croy-don to central London. The report says that “Lewes-Uckfield adds value only when com-bined with a new lines scheme north of HurstGreen/Sanderstead.”

The study identifies a number of potential options for the Brighton Main Line and these include:

- Grade separation of two key junctions at Windmill Bridge, where trains to London Bridge and Victoria from the Brighton Main Line currently cross each other on flat junc-tions- Grade separation of Stoats Nest junction at Coulsdon where slow and fast lines converge- Two new platforms at East Croydon- Investigation of further introduction of cab based signalling and Automatic Train Oper-ation on key sections of the route - building on the first roll out of that technology already planned for 2018 between London Bridge and St Pancras- Improvements to junctions north of Gatwick Airport

Following the consultation Network Rail is expected to publish the final strategy next spring.


Porterbrook sold

Rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook, which owns around 5,900 vehicles equating to approximately a third of UK rolling stock, has been sold to a consortium of four infra-structure investors.

The new owners are Canada based Alberta Investment Management Corporation, Alli-anz Capital Partners, France’s EDF Invest and Hastings Funds Management, which has its headquarters in Australia.

This is the third time Porterbrook has been sold on . Following a management and em-ployment buyout in January 1996, the firm was taken over by Stagecoach just eight months later. It was then bought by Abbey National Treasury Services in April 2000 before being sold on again in December 2008 to a consortium of investors - Antin Infra-structure, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds TSB and OP Trust. Lloyds TSB exited the consortium in October 2010.

___________________________________________Community rail status for Tyne Valley

The Tyne Valley line connecting Newcastle and Carlisle has, following a six week con-sultation, been designated a community rail service by the Department for Transport.

Services will continue to be operated by Northern Rail with the help of the commu-nity rail partnership, which is supported by Northumberland County Council.

Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership representative Gareth Evans said: “Official

designation will give our line the formal rec-ognition I sincerely believe it deserves, and provides the partnership with new opportu-nities to help us attract more people on to the services.”

___________________________________________Four tracking to go aheadTaylor Woodrow has been awarded a £3 mil-lion contract to quadruple the route between Dr Day’s Junction to Filton Abbey Wood Station, a distance of 15km.

The project, which is expected to commence in December, will also include the replace-ment or enhancement of 17 structures and

the refurbishment of two stations.

The scheme is essential in order that the planned MetroWest local train service can be delivered.


Passenger figures continue to riseFigures released by the Rail Delivery Group show that the growth in rail travel over the last 6 months has outpaced the strengthening economy and rising employment levels.

Over 140,000 more daily journeys, equating to 713 million passenger journeys compared with the same period last year. This amounts to a 3.67% increase.

Although these figures have been inflated slightly , due to each leg of a journey carried out using split tickets being counted as a sep-arate journey, the upward trend in rail travel is clear.

The Office of National Statistics reports that the economy is currently growing at 3.2% an-nually , with employment increasing by 2%.

A total of almost 1.6 billion journeys were made in 2013/14, with the latest figures show-ing that the level of rail travel has reached levels that have not been recorded in peace time since the 1920s, when the rail network was almost double the size of the current network.

The growth in employment throughout Lon-don and the south east saw rail travel boosted by 3.72% with the strengthening economy helping contribute to a 3.03% rise in long dis-tance rail travel. Outside of London regional and local rail journeys have risen by 3.75%.

According to the RDG discounted fares have also encouraged the leap in numbers, with advance ticket sales showing the strongest growth of all ticket types, with a year-on-year rise of 9.34%.

Although other European countries have invested heavily in their rail networks none of them are experiencing such strong growth as seen in Britain. Between now and 2019 Net-work Rail will invest on average £27 million a day in improving infrastructure.


Work starts on Lincoln crossingWork has commenced on constructing a footbridge over the railway at Lincoln High Street.

Currently the only way across is via the level crossing, which will be retained, with the new bridge, complete with lifts, allowing pedes-trians to cross the railway without having to wait for the barriers to lift.

The level crossing is one of the worse with regards to misuse, with instances recorded of people even climbing over barriers.

The new footbridge is set to open in October next year, with a second footbridge planned for Brayford Wharf East.

Such is the level of abuse at both crossings that they are ranked first and third on the risk register for Network Rail’s East Coast and East Midlands route.

There is a level of complexity with both proj-ects Brayford Wharf East because of the prox-imity to Brayford Pool, and High Street be-cause of the narrow nature of the street. Both sites are also important to English Heritage in terms of visual lines to the Cathedral and Lincoln High Street is one of the country’s longest Roman roads.

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Electrification project delayed until 2015

The project to electrify the route between Liv-erpool and Manchester Victoria has suffered a delay and will not be ready for the Decem-ber 2014 timetable change, as was originally planned.

Completion of the scheme, which will allow former Thameslink class 319s to be cascaded and enter service with Northern Rail, is not now expected until early next year. The rea-son for the delay has been given as “unfore-seen engineering problems” and follows on from Network Rail’s earlier announcement that the planned electrification between Pres-ton and Blackpool North has been postponed from May 2016 to March 2017. The delay at Blackpool will however allow for resignalling work, replacing a number of manual signal

boxes and associated semaphore signals, in-stallation of OLE and track remodelling work to be carried out at the same time.

A large section of the route is currently oper-ated using the absolute block system, which limits capacity.


Momentum grows for train robbery crew namingFollowing the cancellation of a plaque unveil-ing ceremony in memory of driver Jack Mills and his assistant David Whitby at Crewe sta-tion, following the decision by the rail min-ister not to attend, rail managers have seized the opportunity to try and hnour the two railway men by naming a locomotive instead.

The proposal is far from finalised, but rail mangers think a naming will give the event a “wow factor”, but needs some “pulling togeth-er” for it to happen.

The news comes 51 years after Jack’s life changed forever when he was coshed during a robbery on the Glasgow to London Euston mail train that he and David took over at Crewe station at 00.30 on August 8 1963.

David was thrown to the ground as he at-tempted to telephone Leighton Buzzard sig-nal box after their train had been stopped by a tampered with signal at Sears Crossing.

Despite putting up a brave fight to defend his train by trying to stop the robbers from climbing onto the footplate 57 year old driver Mills was overpowered and coshed over the head before falling to the floor of the class 40.

It was intended that the train would be driv-en forward by a retired train driver brought along by the gang, but he was unable to blow off the vacuum brakes as the pipe had not been sealed when the gang uncoupled the first two carriages from the rest of the train.

At this point driver Mills was dragged back onto the footplate and ordered to drive the locomotive the short distance to Bridego Bridge, where the money would be

unloaded.

Jack Mills started his railway career in 1919 as a knocker upper, making sure drivers weren’t late for work, and became a driver in 1942.

Following the attack Jack never returned to the footplate and was put on light duties until his retirement.

Jack’s son John, who followed his father onto the railway and worked at Crewe works, said in an interview that : “My dad’s life was ru-ined. He never drove a train again and they found him a little job handling out overalls in a little shed”

The locomotive involved in the robbery was class 40 40126, then numbered D326, and this was quickly scrapped at Doncaster works, even jumping the scrapping queue, when it was withdrawn in 1984.

However Royal Mail carriage 30272, which formed part of the train, still survives and is currently undergoing restoration.


Boost for HS3 plans

A reduction of journey times between Leeds and Manchester by almost 50% would be-come reality if proposals published by David Higgins, chairman of HS2 Ltd, in a new re-port ‘Rebalancing Britain: from HS2 towards a national transport strategy’. are adopted .

The report has the backing of prime minister David Cameron and chancellor George Os-borne , with the chancellor announcing that a new devolved body ‘Transport for the North’, made up of the main northern city regions, will be created to oversea developments.

The government will, working with ‘Trans-port for the North’ , produce a transport strategy for the region which will include costs, options and a delivery timetable for the HS3 east west rail route.An interim report will be published in March, just ahead of the general election.

A review is also being launched, drawing on experience from abroad, into the costs and time it takes to construct high speed rail routes and will look at how costs can be re-duced for future high speed rail projects.

Also included in the report is strong back-ing for phase 2 of HS2, taking the scheme to Manchester and the north west and Leeds and the north east. It is also proposed that plans for a hub station in Crewe be brought forward to 2027, much to the disappointment of Stoke-on-Trent, that has spent £500,000 on trying to persuade the government to divert the line through the Potteries. Sheffield city council also tried to influence David Higgins

by saying that the best location for a station would be in the city centre, but he has reject-ed this proposal and confirmed that Mead-owhall is a more appropriate location.

The East Midlands interchange will remain in the Toton area, but Mr Higgins confirmed that “its precise location needs further work.” An alternative site at Breaston, close to the Nottingham to Derby line, is being examined as a possible alternative. This site is still rel-atively close to the M1/A52 interchange that serves Toton.

Plans for the final phase 2 routes will be set out by the government next year.


Weirs to be removed to reduce flooding riskFollowing detailed research, including an in-depth environmental study, over the last year, Network Rail has announced its preferred solution to solve the problem of repeated flooding at Cowley and Stafford bridges in Exeter. In recent years flooding has caused four weeks of closures and delays over this busy section of the Great Western Main Line.

The study has concluded that the best way of reducing the risk of flooding in the future is to remove the weirs at Pynes, Exwick and

Cowley, as this would provide the highest re-turn on investment when the extent to which it could prevent further flooding is compared to its cost.

Removal of the three weirs will allow the riv-er to return to its natural state and should see water levels drop by up to a metre.

___________________________________________Government to sell its stake in Eurostar

Chancellor George Osborne has announced that the government is to sell its 40% stake in Eurostar before May’s general election. It is hoped that the sale will raise a sum in the low hundreds of millions which will help support the government’s effort to lower public debt.

The company has become profitable over the last two years and last year declared an oper-ating profit of £54 million, with dividends of £18.6 million. Of this the UK’s government share was £7.4 million.

Within two years Eurostar will lose its mo-nopoly on its current routes when rival Deut-sche Bahn begins operating services out of London St Pancras.

The first of Eurostar’s new E320 trains, or-dered from Siemens in 2010, will go on dis-play in London during November and enter passenger service in 2015. The new rolling stock will increase capacity by a fifth.

State rail operators SNCF of France (55%) and Belgium’s SNCB (5%) are the other own-ers of Eurostar and although SNCF has the right to outbid the winner, it cannot block the sale.


Approval given for Cotswold line upgrade

A package of interim improvements for the North Cotswold line has been signed off by the Department for Transport.

The enhancements will see additional train services and faster journey times between Hereford and Worcester and London Pad-dington. This is the initial step in service improvements that will continue with the in-troduction of the Hitachi built electric trains from 2017.

It is envisaged, subject to agreement from Network Rail, that journey times from Her-eford and Worcester to London Paddington will be reduced by 21 minutes and that two additional direct services will be introduced from Worcester to Oxford and Paddington to fill the current gap between 10.00 and 12.00. The introduction of a new morning High Speed Train service from Moreton-in-Marsh at 07.11 would create two peak train arriv-als into the capital (at 08.30 and 08.51) from Moreton-in-Marsh.

Improvements to the afternoon services would see a service extension through to Worcester, providing another direct service from Paddington, which would fill in a two hour gap in the current timetable. However, to enable these additional services to run Per-shore will lose two services a day during the week. This is fewer than was initially planned.

A £70 million project to redouble part of the route was completed in 2011.


GNGE project enters final stage

The planned upgrade of the Great Northern Great Eastern (GNGE) line has entered its final stage.

By November 4 , twelve modernised level crossings and new signalling, controlled from Lincoln signalling centre, will have been commissioned between Spalding and Wer-rington Junction.

The £280 million project to upgrade the Pe-terborough to Doncaster, via Spalding , route will deliver an upgraded diversionary route for freight traffic travelling between Doncast-er and Peterborough and thus enable better use of the East Coast Main Line for passenger services.

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Cowley could rejoin the rail network by 2020

On November 5 a passenger train for invited guests will make its way along the Cowley branch near Oxford and showcase a proposal by Chiltern Railways to introduce a Cow-ley to London Paddington service along the freight only line.

If the proposal goes ahead two new stations would be constructed at Oxford Science Park and Oxford Business Park and would follow the train operator’s Oxford to London Marylebone service that is due to commence next year.

Chiltern has said that the potential is there to start a Cowley to London passenger service by 2020.

The line closed to passengers in 1963, but the signal box at Cowley, controlling the remain-ing freight traffic, remained open until 1982.

Currently the line is used to transport Mini cars from the Cowley factory, with up to five trains a week travelling over the branch.


North American rail network faces gridlock

Canadian Pacific chief executive Hunter Har-rison issued a stark warning saying that the north American rail network is heading for unprecedented gridlock if it does not alter its current path.

The warning came just days after CP aban-doned talks with CSX, the US east coast’s main rail company over a possible merger be-tween the two companies. Mr Hunter argued that a merger would relieve much of the rail congestion that is delaying services across the US and Canada, but other rail industry fig-ures said that they doubted if such a merger would receive regulatory approval and could initially increase congestion.

The issue of rail congestion has been caused by the increase in grain and oil traffic in states such as North Dakota and this has spread to the whole of the US and Canada, mainly because of major pinch points such as the one in Chicago, where all seven major North American railroads meet.

Hunter Harrison said that a merger would move much of its cross-border traffic away from Chicago and instead see the traffic trav-el via Buffalo or Albany in upper New York state.

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Japan tests gauge changing train

West Japan Railway Company has com-menced tests for the truck parts of a gauge changeable train, which will allow direct connections between Shinkansen and con-ventional routes.

It is envisaged that such a train will be in-troduced during fiscal 2025, which starts in April that year, when the JR group’s Hokuri-ku Shinkansen line is extended to Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture.

Tests are being carried out on a 180 meter test line, which has a gauge changing device, at Tsuruga station.

The gauge of Shinkansen lines is 1,435 mm,

compared to 1,067 mm on conventional lines.


China looks oversees for rail contracts

In a bid to win more oversees contracts the Chinese government has announced plans to merge its two largest railway equipment manufacturers.

Over a decade since China CNR and CSR Corp were split off from the China National Railway Locomotive and Rolling Stock Indus-try Corp, the two will become a single entity.

In the past the two companies have competed against each other to secure contracts from oversees, with the result that often both com-panies have failed in their bids. The merger will see a combined revenue of more than $32bn and coupled with a 118,000-strong workforce.

Earlier in October CNR secured a $567mil-lion contract to supply Boston’s subway sys-tem with at least 284 vehicles and construct an assembly works in Massachusetts. This is the company’s first US contract. This saw CNR beat off competition from Bombardier, Hyundai-Rotem and Kawasaki. However, Chinese rival CSR was ruled out at an early stage of the tendering process over technical and manufacturing issues.

Separate bids have been entered by CSR and CNR to construct a a $68billion, 1,300km high-speed line linking San Francisco and Los Angeles, due for completion by 2028.

___________________________________________North Korea in joint rail venture with Russia

North Korea, in a joint venture with Russia, has commenced a project to modernise its main rail routes.

One of the first objectives is to rebuild the Jaedong-Kangdong-Nampho railway, which links the logistical hub of Nampho, North Korea’s largest port city, with industrial areas rich in coal.

It is reported that upon completion of the joint venture approximately 70% of North Korea’s rail network will have been mod-ernised, equating to 3,500-kilometers.

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