As capital of Kazakhstan (since 1997), the city of Astana becomes every day more important for investors in transport infrastructure development. The international events to be held in Astana (for example, EXPO 2017) encourage the development of economic sectors and create new opportunities for the business segment. During project development, the authorities will rehabilitate the existing transport infrastructure and will develop new projects to optimize traffic and promote public transport use. The programme also includes the construction of a light rail line with a total length of 42 km.

 

Astana is an urban centre which experiences a rapid population growth seeing the number of its citizens double since 1997 when the city became the capital of Kazakhstan. According to estimates, population will reach 1.3 million in 2030, from the current 700,000, and the development plans of urban transport infrastructure are elaborated in conformity with the urbanization. The transfer of the capital from Almaty to Astana has also triggered the transfer of working points, not only for the government, but also for many citizens who relocated to the new capital. The improvement of Almaty and Saryarka districts, as well as the development of a new district, Esil, has created new job opportunities and increased migration to Astana.

 

In this context, the authorities are faced with challenges in delivering modern transport services and, at the same time, in launching infrastructure development projects to answer to the new mobility demand. Although, at the moment urban transport relies on road transport, to promote sustainable transport and the increasing use of public transport, the authorities have decided to develop the light rail line, one of the most ambitious local infrastructure projects. As Astana is divided in three districts, Almaty, Saryarka and Esil, the line will provide connection between Saryarka and Esil imposing the construction of 42 km.

 

The line will be commissioned in 2017 and works will be carried out in three phases. Phase I will include the construction of the 8km section linking the city centre to the airport, Phase II will include the construction of 10km of line providing connection between the city centre, the north and the central rail station and Phase III will include the construction of 18km of a ring line. The project will be financed by the Kazakh Government. Civil engineering works part of Phase II will have a total cost of USD 594 Thousand, the Asian Development Bank estimates. The bank will grant USD 565 Thousand and the Government will pay for the remaining USD 29,000. The whole cost of the project is estimated at USD 1.3 Billion.

 

The implementation of the project was initiated in 2011 and works for Phase I were carried out in 2012. By March or August 2013 at the latest (delays are caused by expropriations) the authorities plan to initiate Phase II as well. The project is considered as the central element of a railway urban transport network and is part of the capital’s plan for the development of a sustainable, integrated, comfortable and rapid system.

 

 

 

 

 

As of 2016, the estimated date for completion, the metro in Doha, capital city of Qatar, will be one of the most advanced rail public transport systems in the word. At the end of 2012, Qatar Rail signed contracts worth USD 406 Million for this project whose total costs had been estimated at USD 36 Billion. Work initiation for the underground transport network in Doha is part of the preparations of the Persian Gulf state for the organisation of the World Football Championship in 2022.

 

Contracts for the first three lines to be built in the first phase of Doha Metro construction works will be awarded starting with the next month, declared for constructionweekonline.com, Saad Al Muhannadi, CEO of Qatar Rail. The contract for the Red Line will be awarded in March and the contracts for the Yellow and Green lines will be awarded by the end of the second quarter. 18 consortia have been shortlisted in the tender for these contracts.

 

The first phase of the underground will be commissioned in 2019 and will represent 60% of the final network, with 151 km of line and 48 stations. The second phase will consist in the construction of 100 km of line and 44 stations and will be completed by 2026.

 

One of the richest Muslim countries, Qatar plans, in the second half of 2013, to launch tenders on the manufacturing and delivery of rolling stock and for the installation of the traffic control systems for the very expensive project of Doha Metro. Qatar estimates that the signing of contracts on the acquisition of rolling stock will take place in 2014.

 

Qatar also announced that in 2016-2019 the country will finalize four railway projects including Doha Metro, as well as Lusail and West Bay light rail transport networks and sections of the national railway network. The construction of this public rail transport system in Doha is part of the strategy of Qatar Government on modernisation and diversification based on public and private investments. The costs necessary to the implementation of this strategy amount to EUR 130 Billion. The tender for a lot of five underground stations is under evaluation and it is expected to be launched in the second half of 2013, while the tender for the suspended section of Doha Metro is in the final shortlisting phase and should be launched by the end of 2013.

 

Concerning the railway network that will link the member states of the Gulf Coo- peration Council, Saad Al Muhannadi, CEO of Qatar Rail, said the offer had already been launched for the detailed design of the entire network whose construction would be divided in three phases. Al Muhannadi also added that until the moment Qatar Rail had received orders from 26 different bidders for this project and said tender procedures would be completed in March.

 

The member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council plan to invest over USD 79 Billion in railway projects, including metro, tram and rail stations by 2020, shows a study elaborated by Kuwait Financial Centre investment bank. Qatar could invest USD 28.7 Billion, Saudi Arabia USD 20.2 Billion, the United Arab Emirates USD 11.8 Billion, Kuwait USD 6 Billion and Oman USD 2.5 Billion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kuwait is about to enter a new era as regards public transport system. The Arab state plans to develop its own metro and rail transport network as part of the efforts of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council to improve public transport and connectivity between member states.

 

Another major project for Kuwait consists in the construction of the underground network along 171 km and 60 stations on the four main lines that will cross Kuwait City. The project could be carried out simultaneously with the metro networks in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Doha (Qatar).

 

The study for the development of the first phase of the metro network is almost completed and expects the approval of the High Commission for Government Projects before organising the tender. Works on this project will begin in 2013, the Government of Kuwait announced in October 2012. The finalization of the underground network is due in 2016.

 

One of Kuwait’s key infrastructure deve-lopment initiatives is the implementation of an advanced public transportation system. As such, the Ministry of Communication wishes to develop a railway system which will link Kuwait city to Kuwait airport, seaports, and other GCC countries. The project will enhance Kuwait’s regional integration, boost trade volume, and create new job opportunities.

 

The Kuwait National Rail Road System (the country doesn’t have a railway network yet) will be an integrated rail network with 511 kilometres double track total length. The Rail Road system will serve freight and passengers and will have a 120 km/h regional lines speed and a 200 km/h high speed. The project will be implemented as a build, operate, and transfer (BOT) agre-ement. The project is currently in the feasibility study phase.

 

The Government of Kuwait said it was planning to launch a special company for executing railway ventures, as part of the planned USD15 Billion GCC joint railway network, projected to be inaugurated by 2017, a senior Kuwaiti official announced for arabtimesonline.com.

 

“All member states of the GCC are planning to upgrade and expand their internal transport networks, including construction of railway lines, said Salem Al-Uthayna, the Minister of Electricity, Water, Acting Minister of Information and Communication, who also disclosed that Kuwait would establish, soon, a special company for executing projects in this transport sector. The future railway network in Kuwait will be connected to another 2,000km network (currently a project proposal) which will connect the network of the Persian Gulf to Iran and Iraq.

 

Kuwait’s railway network will be implemented via a joint-stock company, where 50% of the shares will be offered for sale to Kuwait citizens, 40% of the share will be owned by the Government and the rest of 10% by the Syndicate for Surface Transport in Kuwait.

 

 

 

  

 

KAZAKHSTAN: National railway KTZ has provided an educational grant to support the training of 400 students from a number of technical colleges in rail-specific technology.

 

Intended to give the students 'the symbiosis of theory and practice', KTZ expects the secondment in Astana to provide a practical basis to the students' courses by giving them the opportunity to study current rolling stock designs, operational principles and infrastructure design, construction and maintenance.

 

Extensive use will be made of KTZ's training school in Astana, which includes a training simulator.

 

 

 

 

confirmed on March 28 the purchase of 15 three-car Movia trainsets from the consortium of Bombardier Transportation and Changchun Bombardier Railway Vehicles Co. The order is worth S$119·2m, with Bombardier's share valued at S$46m.

 

LTA had already purchased 73 trainsets for the Downtown Line. Of the 11 trains purchased for the first phase, Bombardier has so far delivered five. The additional trains are to increase peak capacity. Designed in Hennigsdorf and assembled in Changchun, they will be delivered from 2015.

 

The 42 km Downtown Line will run from Bukit Panjang to Expo via the Central Business District. The first phase, between Chinatown and Bugis, is due to open towards the end of the year. Phase 2 is planned for 2015 and Phase 3 for 2017.

 

 

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ISRAEL: The National Council for Planning & Construction approved the full 260 km alignment for the proposed Eilat line on March 5, enabling detailed design to begin and costs and timescales to be finalised. This followed the Southern District Committee for Planning & Building’s approval for the Dimona – Hatzeva section, which had attracted criticism from environmental campaigners.

 

The double-track electrified route from Be’er Sheva’ will have stations at Dimona, Sapir, Ketura, Ramon and Eilat, and four freight terminals.

 

Part of the route will have separate alignments for passenger and freight services, with the passenger line being around 20 km shorter at 240 km.

 

The chosen route includes 9 km of tunnel; a more expensive proposal for a longer route would have required 26 km of tunnelling.

 

Transport Minister Yisrael Katz has said he plans a bond issue to fund construction.

 

 

 

 

JAPAN: Mitsubishi Electric has supplied silicon carbide power modules for the auxiliary power supply systems on the Series 1000 electric multiple-units entering service on Tokyo Metro's Ginza Line this year.

 

A fleet of 37 six-car sets is being built by Nippon Sharyo to join a prototype unit which began running in April 2012.

 

Mitsubishi Electric says the SiC modules which provide power for the air-conditioning and lighting systems offer 30% less power loss and are 20% smaller and 15% lighter than its silicon modules. Transformer noise is reduced owing to a 35% improvement in the distortion rate of output voltage waveforms.

 

Mitsubishi Electric has developed a variety of SiC power modules, with its first deployment being 600 V/750 V DC inverters for Ginza Line Type 01 units last year. SiC inverters developed for 1 500 V DC power lines are being installed on Tozai Line Type 15000 trainsets.

 

Six locomotives bought by the Tanzania Zambia Railway Corporation (Tazara) through a $24 million loan from China are said to have failed several trial runs.

 

The locomotives were supposed to boost the corporation’s operations by increasing the tonnage hauled along the 1,860 kilometre stretch between Dar es Salaam and New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia.

 

A source at Tazara said that during the first trial run, one of the engines developed technical problems at Mzenga, the first railway station on the Tazara line, just outside Dar es Salaam.

 

“These engines were delivered at the last Chinese holiday sometime in December; unfortunately none of them has passed a trial run,” the source said.

 

Tazara currently has nine old locomotives in operation.

 

Both regional offices of Tazara had been tasked to increase the amount of cargo they haul from 30,000 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes a month under the performance contracts signed by the regional managers in Tanzania and Zambia, but further delays in getting the locomotives operational is likely to hamper the achievement of these ambitious targets.

 

“Even after the Chinese technical team brought in a different team to look afresh at the locos, nothing worked. They tried running two engines that failed to make it past Mbeya and one of the engines has been abandoned at our workshop there,” said the source.

 

The $24 million paid for the locomotives is part of the $39 million that was given to the ailing railway company jointly owned by the Chinese government under the 14th Protocol of Economic and Technical Co-operation, signed by the governments of China, Tanzania and Zambia in December 2009.

 

READ: Tazara gets $42m boost from China

 

Tanzania’s Minister for Transport, Harrison Mwakyembe, told The EastAfrican that the locomotives had been supplied after a Chinese company won the tender.

 

“I have been told about the technical problems, but you need to speak to our technicians and engineers who would be in a better position to explain in detail the technical problems. It appears the engines can’t cope with the Tazara terrain,” said Dr Mwakyembe.

 

According to Tazara’s head of public relations Conrad K. Simuchile, the corporation was aware the manufacturer was facing challenges in putting the new locomotives into operation, but said there was no need “at this stage to be overly concerned because the locomotives are going through a normal trial process after delivery…. and they are still fully in the hands of the manufacturer, who has ample time to rectify the defects, if any.”

 

The Tazara management last November announced the acquisition of the six new diesel electric (DE) mainline locomotives from China and the re-commissioning of two out of four heavy duty gantry cranes, which was seen as a major boost to the operations of Tazara.

 

The two projects marked a major step towards the completion of the implementation of capacity building projects under the Protocol. All projects under the 14th Protocol were originally scheduled for completion by the end of 2011, but encountered difficulties.

 

The six 3,000-horsepower DE locomotives were manufactured in China under licence from the General Electric Company of the US.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are "no obstacles" to Laos' planned high-speed rail link from China, the country's transport minister was quoted as saying Thursday, days after the Asian Development Bank called the project "unaffordable" for the developing country.

 

Construction on the seven billion dollar, 421 kilometre, Chinese-Lao railway "would begin shortly after all parties had reached an agreement and all preparations were complete," the Vientiane Times quoted Minister of Public Works and Transport Sommath Pholsena as saying.

 

The ADB called for caution, noting the cost was 80% of Laos' annual national budget.

 

"For the Asian Development Bank and many others, the cost is unaffordable for Laos to take on, even at very concessional rates," the international lender's Thailand director Craig Steffensen said Tuesday.

 

Sommath said the precise details relating to funding and a start date for the project are yet to be agreed.

 

Laos is to finance the scheme with a loan from China's EXIM Bank of China.

 

The planned railway would run from Luang Namtha on the Laos-China border to Vientiane, with a standard-gauge track of 1.435 metres, and a maximum speed of 160 kilometres per hour (kph), less than the 200 kph initially planned.

 

The line will require 76 tunnels and 154 bridges, including two across the Mekong River, and 31 stations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With less than half an hour to spare, Chen Zhu calmly emerged from the subway station connected to the massive Beijing West Railway Station with a small, wheeled bag.

 

Upon retrieving her ticket from a kiosk, Chen breezed through the security checkpoint before scanning her ticket to open an automated gate leading to the platform. Five minutes after boarding, she was reading a book as her bullet train pulled out of the station precisely on time.

 

For this young journalist who frequently travels for work, these steps have become part of an increasingly appealing routine amid worsening air traffic congestion at major airports across China.

 

"Flights out of Beijing are always delayed," Chen said. "Door to door, high-speed trains are often faster than flying for me.

 

"I usually get to the station last minute and board the train right before departure. The service is just so punctual."

 

China's fast-expanding high-speed rail network is now the world's busiest with daily ridership exceeding 1.3 million.

 

On morning of Chen's journey, train G511 raced through the countryside at 300 kmph (186 mph) from Beijing to the central city of Wuhan in just five hours -- less than half the time of the regular rail route.

 

The new link between Beijing and Wuhan opened last December and added to what has become the world's longest high-speed rail line, running almost 2,300 kilometers (1,429 miles) from the Chinese capital to the southern metropolis of Guangzhou.

 

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Although Chen still prefers to fly on longer routes, she says on business trips shorter than six hours, the choice of train over plane is now a no-brainer.

 

"I work or read on the train," she said, highlighting the benefit of uninterrupted mobile phone reception. "It's great that everyone has access to a power outlet."

 

At $85, her second-class seat costs less than half of a full-fare economy-class plane ticket on this major business route. Now the world's second-largest economy, and flush with cash, China has been busy purchasing foreign rail technologies and building high-speed lines.

 

The Chinese government, which owns and operates all domestic rail companies, launched the country's first high-speed service in 2007 and now boasts 9,300 kilometers (5,778 miles) of high-speed routes nationwide, turning a nonexistent network into the world's longest in a few short years.

 

"In less than a decade, we constructed more high-speed rail lines than what it took Japan and Europe 40 years to build," said Zhao Jian, an economics professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and one of the country's leading experts on rail transportation.

 

"We've had such amazing growth because land expropriation is cheap and so is labor," he explained. "You also have the economy of scale -- other countries usually build a few hundred kilometers of tracks, but in China we're talking about thousands of kilometers."

 

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Although Zhao is often cited as a skeptical voice in the development of high-speed rail in China, even he is impressed after taking a few rides.

 

"I've taken high-speed trains in Japan, Germany, France, South Korea and Taiwan," he said. "Ours offer the smoothest and fastest ride in the world." The massive investments and rapid construction, however, have raised public concerns over the new service's safety record and commercial viability, amid state media reports of empty trains traveling between inconvenient new stations in less-developed provinces.

 

Already, rail officials have slowed down some bullet trains -- originally planned to run as fast as 380 kmph (236 mph) -- to make the service safer and cheaper.

 

"Raising the speed to 350kmph (217 mph) or 380 kmph (236 mph) would lower built-in safety redundancies, and greatly increase wear-and-tear and operating costs," Zhao said. "It's not the faster, the better."

 

During most of her journey, Chen's train was only half full, but that hasn't dampened her enthusiasm for her favorite mode of transportation. "I think in parts of the country, taking high-speed trains will be like taking buses in the future," she said.

 

The Chinese government is reportedly spending some $300 billion to make that vision a reality, moving full steam ahead on its plan to build a 25,000-kilometer (15,534 mile) high-speed rail network by 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

BATU GAJAH, Malaysia, April 9 (Xinhua) -- China's leading railway car manufacturer, China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation Ltd. (CSR), started the building of its 131 million U. S. dollars ASEAN manufacturing and maintenance center in Malaysia on Tuesday.

 

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, officiating the ground breaking ceremony in Batu Gajah of Perak State, said the project is a result of the good bilateral relations between Malaysia and China.

 

"The first phase of the project, valued at 400 million ringgit (131 million U.S. dollars), would create 800 jobs," he told local residents and railway employees.The ASEAN rail center would cover all-in-one scope of work of production, assembly, testing, overhaul and refurbishment.

 

The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by mid-2014, with the annual capacity of the production of 100 carriages and the overhaul of around 150.

 

Zhou Qinghe, general manager of CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co., Ltd. (CSR ZELC), a CSR subsidiary and an active player in Malaysia's mass transit projects, said the company is eyeing Malaysia as the base to promote its products in other Southeast Asian countries.

 

CSR ZELC has won the bid for 20 sets of light rail vehicles for Malaysia's AMPANG Line Extension Project, and the cars will be among the first to be manufactured by the new plant.

 

"We managed to become accredited in the country after several years of good cooperation with Malaysia," Zhou told Xinhua.

 

The agreement signed between the Malaysian government and the company last year also involves technical cooperation in railway engineering and technology, as well as human resources training.

 

CSR, based in Beijing and listed on Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets, has been developed into one of the major players in the global railway transport industry and is one of the biggest by global sales revenue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE PCM Group, India, has acquired Rail.One, Germany, bringing to an end the latter's search for a strategic investor.

 

Rail.One specialises in the design and production of concrete sleepers and ballastless track including Rheda 2000 concrete slab track for high-speed lines, Rheda City for light rail applications, and Getrac asphalt track. Last month, Rail.One announced plans to invest €15m to set up a concrete sleeper plant in Clinton, Iowa, and a US subsidiary.

 

PCM also produces concrete sleepers for the Indian market, where it has three plants, while it has a heavy-haul concrete sleeper plant in Saudi Arabia which has supplied sleepers for the North-South Railway project. The company also produces turnouts and level crossings, and conducts flash-butt welding of rails.

 

"This is a giant step for PCM Group and this acquisition has made us world's leading conglomerate in railway infrastructure," says Mr Kamal Kumar Mittal, chairman of PCM Group.