April 24, 2013, the first new generation HXD21001 electric locomotive with high traction power and a reputation name " The King of heavy haul " has been perfectly through " the grand testing" in China railway. It is designed and manufactured by China CNR independently and through the 130 thousand kilometers site test in Datong-Baotou railway line without machine broken fault.

 

 

 

 

China’s dubious intentions were revealed yet again when reports claimed that it is building road and railway lines in Indian territory.

 

According to a Times Now report China is building rail lines near the Burtse Post area.

 

Members in the Lok Sabhaon Monday voiced concern over intrusion by Chinese troops in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, with crucial UPA ally Samajwadi Party objecting to the upcoming visit of External Minister Salman Khurshid to Beijing.

 

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav took the lead in targeting the Government for “doing nothing” and alleged that it was acting in a “cowardly” manner in dealing with the intrusion.

 

Describing China as the “biggest enemy”, the former Defence Minister said during Zero Hour, “We have been warning that China has started occupying our territory. But Government is not listening to all this.”

 

He said the Indian Army has said it is ready to remove all intruders but there is no action.

 

“This Government is cowardly, incompetent and good for nothing,” he said, while objecting to the upcoming visit of Khurshid to China.

 

Amid continuous slogan-shouting by BJP members in the Well over coal issue, Yadav said he had raised the issue several times with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister AK Antony, but to no avail. “I went to his (PM’s) chamber to talk to him. But no action was taken.”

 

Claiming that one lakh square km of Indian territory has been “occupied” by China, he accused the Government of “doing nothing”.

 

“When the Army Chief himself says the troops are ready to respond, why is the Government not issuing instructions to it? They (China) insulted us in 1962. They are insulting us now in the world fora,” Yadav said.

 

He was supported by B Mahtab (BJD) and Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), who demanded a statement from the Prime Minister on the incursion on April 16 by Chinese troops who have pitched tents 19 km inside Indian territory in Daulat Beg Oldie area.

 

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid refused to acknowledge any incursion from Chinese side.

 

BJYM, the youth wing of BJP in Jammu protested against the Chinese incursion in Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in eastern Ladakh and also blamed Centre’s wrong policies for the incident.

 

The Government recently admitted that soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army have intruded and pitched their tents 19 km into Indian territory in Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, it was believed they had intruded 1o km into Indian territory. China appears to be adamant not to pull its soldiers back to the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control.

 

Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma and some other senior officials informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence that India has deployed forces to “keep a close watch on the border”, sources said.

 

Sharma and other officials appeared before the Committee after BJP members Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Prakash Javadekar wanted to know the actual ground situation in Depsang sector of Ladakh where the Chinese incursion took place in Daulat Beg Oldie area a week ago.

 

The meeting of the committee was cut short as members were dissatisfied with the insufficient information provided by the officials and they were asked to report back at the next meeting on May 30 with appropriate and exact details of the situation.

 

The officials told the Committee that Indian Army patrols reported on April 16 the presence of Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Depsang, pitching tents 19 km inside the LAC, the sources said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A TYNESIDE digital firm has been selected to provide on-board communications technology for new express trains due to be built in the North East.

 

Hitachi Rail Europe has selected Newcastle-based Nomad Digital to fit on-board server (OBS) systems for the fleet of Intercity Express Programme (IEP) trains that will be built in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, from 2015.

 

Nomad Digital provides on-board communication systems to the rail industry around the world, with contracts across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia and its systems are used on more than 8,000 vehicles.

 

The OBS systems for Hitachi will provide a single gateway for data transmission between trains and trackside.

 

Data transmitted includes train diagnostics from the train management system, energy consumption, seat reservation as well as daily timetable information.

 

Keith Jordan, managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe said: “Nomad Digital is already an existing supplier for our Class 395 train as one of the leading companies in Europe for supplying OBS solutions.

 

“We are now extending our working relationship with them.

 

“We are very pleased to be working with a supplier, based almost on the doorstep of our new train manufacturing plant in Newton Aycliffe in County Durham.”

 

Alexander Eriksen, group chief executive officer of Nomad Digital said: “We are delighted to have been selected as supplier of this innovative communications solution for the IEP fleet.

 

“Nomad truly values its relationship with Hitachi and I look forward to developing this during a successful IEP project and beyond.”

 

 

 

  

 

Japanese giant eyes region's plans for high-speed inter-city and inter-country railway networks, reports RAJU CHELLAM ONE of the biggest railway giants in the world, the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) will use Singapore as its Asia-Pacific hub to tap on the region's plans to set up high-speed inter-city and inter-country railway networks. JR East opened its Singapore office in March this year, its first outside Japan in Asia, as well as a European hub in Brussels in Belgium in November 2012.

 

JR East is the largest passenger railway company in the world with revenues of about 2.5 trillion yen (S$32 billion). It employs 72,000 people and runs all the high-speed trains (called Shinkansen) north of Tokyo, the Tokyo Metropolitan area railway network and local rail networks in East Japan. It also owns the railway infrastructure, including 1,700 stations, rolling stock, tracks, etc.

 

The Association of the European Rail Industry estimates the global railway market is growing at a 2.5 per cent annual clip and is set to cross 22 trillion yen by 2020. "We will develop business sites in Asia, including Singapore, in addition to opening the Brussels office to serve as a business site in Europe," JR East said in a statement. "The purpose of these offices is to promote overseas railway projects while strengthening our information gathering and marketing capabilities."

 

The proposed Singapore- Kuala Lumpur high-speed rail project is a possible mega-deal JR East could be mulling. On Feb 19 this year, prime ministers of the two countries agreed to collaborate to build a high speed rail link by 2020 that could cut travel time to just 90 minutes between the two cities.

 

 

 

 

Work on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway construction is maintained in accordance with the planned schedule, head of Azerbaijan Railways JSC Arif Askerov said on Thursday, commenting on the suspension of work under this project.

 

According to him, the Azerbaijani side adopted a budget for financing the work throughout 2013 and all work is carried out in accordance with a prearranged schedule.

 

The transport corridor includes the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki branch line with a length of 98km of which 68km lies in Turkey and 30km in Georgia.

 

A 183 kilometre section of the Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi railway will be reconstructed as part of the project to increase the capacity to 15 million tons of cargo per year. It is planned to construct a centre in Akhalkalaki to transfer trains from the existing Georgian track to the European one.

 

Azerbaijan has allocated a soft loan worth $775 million for Georgia to construct and reconstruct the Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

 

Tranche A worth $200 million has been allocated for 25 years at one per cent per annum and includes the work on the project since 2007. Tranche B worth $575 million is for 25 years at five per cent per annum.

 

The need for allocating Tranche B is associated with an increase in world prices on the construction and raw materials, revaluation of the current state of the Marabda-Kartsakhi railway branch and operations in adverse weather conditions.

 

It is expected that about 30 million tons of cargo per year will be transported through the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway annually. It will become a direct route to the European rail network.

 

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will increase the flow of containers, bulk and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe. The Marmaris project envisaging the construction of a tunnel under the Bosporus will be implemented during this period. This will open a rail link to Europe.

 

 

.

 

 
 

JAKARTA - Two consortia made up of Japanese and Indonesian firms were selected Thursday to build the first section of Jakarta's long-awaited metro, a key step in efforts to ease chronic traffic jams.

 

Shimizu-Obayashi-Jaya Konstruksi and Sumitomo-Mitsui-Hutama Karya will begin building the initial phase of the Indonesian capital's first metro system later this year, said Jakarta governor Joko Widodo.

 

The announcement comes more than 20 years after the idea of a metro was first mooted for the capital of Southeast Asia's biggest economy, which is infamous for its traffic gridlock and threadbare public transport system.

 

Widodo unveiled the winners of the metro construction contracts next to a busy roundabout in downtown Jakarta during rush hour, with passing buses and cars belching out fumes and honking their horns.

 

He said he hoped the entire first line of the metro, which includes the section being constructed by the two consortia selected Thursday, would be completed in 2017.

 

The metro was just one initiative aimed at transforming travel around the city, he said, adding that in the future "like it or not, people will be forced to use public transport".

 

The two consortia will build different parts of a six-kilometre (3.7-mile) underground section of the metro from the affluent southern suburb of Lebak Bulus to the landmark Hotel Indonesia roundabout in the heart of the city.

 

Officials finally gave the go-ahead in January for the metro, which will have underground and overground parts, after the city and central governments agreed on how they would share the cost.

 

The Japan International Cooperation Agency has agreed to give a soft loan for the first stage of the project.

 

Jakarta, home to 27 million people, is one of the last major cities in Asia without a metro. Singapore inaugurated one in 1987, Manila in 1984 and Bangkok in 2004.

 

 

 

 

A trial subway train left Anting Station in Shanghai for Huaqiao in Jiangsu province at 12:10am on April 28. Running at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour, the train passed through two stations and eventually stopped at Huaqiao Station in Jiangsu province. The line marks the first trans-regional metro line ready for operation in the country.

 

The metro line is an extension of Shanghai subway’s Line 11. Huaqiao has preserved the construction space for track traffic construction since the project of Line 11 began in 2007. Approved by the National Development and Reform Committee, the project started in June 2011 with an investment of 1.85 billion yuan ($300 million), according to Suzhou Daily.

 

The total length of the extension is about 6 kilometers. It is an elevated section with three stations: Zhaofeng Road Station, Guangming Road Station and Huaqiao Station.

 

The newly-built line is scheduled to kick off trial operation in September this year. Connecting Huaqiao and Shanghai, the metro line will strengthen economic and trade cooperation between Jiangsu and Shanghai and improve regional competitiveness.

 

A feasibility study on the city of Shijiazhuang’s subway Line 1 gained National Development and Reform Committee approval, on April 23, seven months after the report was submitted, marking another step forward in subway construction.

 

The 23.9-kilometer-long Line 1 will have 20 metro stops on its way through the city, from Xiwang station in the west to Dongzhaotong station in the east. Total spending on the improvement has reach 17.3 billion yuan, with the construction expected to take four years and nine months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALSTOM has unveiled the first completed Metropolis train for Chennai metro at its Lapa plant in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

 

Chennai Metro Rail Limited placed a €243m order with Alstom in 2010 for 42 four-car 25kV ac trains, which will enter service on the initial 45.1km two-line phase of the network in 2014-15.

 

The first train will be shipped from the port of Santos within the next few weeks and is due to arrive in Chennai at the beginning of June, where it will undergo a four-month programme of testing and commissioning.

 

The first nine trains are being built at Lapa, while the remaining 33 sets will be assembled at the new Sri City facility in Tamil Nadu, Alstom's first rolling stock assembly plant in India. Alstom has trained 65 Indian employees in Brazil in preparation for the transfer, and production is already underway on the domestically-produced trains.

 

Phase 1 of the Chennai Metro network comprises a 23.1km north-south line from Washermenpet to Chennai International Airport and a 22km east-west line from Chennai Central to St Thomas Mount. The two lines are designed for three-minute headways and will have capacity for up to 500,000 passengers per day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in central Jakarta on May 2 to mark the official launch of construction on the city's first metro line.

 

During the event Mr Dono Boestami, managing director of MRT Jakarta, announced that preferred suppliers have been selected for three of the five contracts for the construction of the 9.2km underground section of the first 15.2km phase of the north-south line. A consortium of Shimizu, Obayashi, Wijaya Karya and Jaya Construction has been chosen for two contracts, while the third will be awarded to Sumitomo-Mitsui Construction. Boetsami confirmed preferred bidders will be announced soon for the two remaining underground construction packages, together with the three contracts for the elevated section of the line.

 

The first phase is due to open in 2017 will link to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle with Lebak Bulus in southern Jakarta. The line will have six underground and seven elevated stations. Services will initially operate at five-minute headways and ridership is expected to reach 420,000 passengers per day after three years of operation.

 

The second phase will extend the line 8.1km north to Kampung Bandan and is due to be completed by 2019. Feasibility studies are also underway on an east-west line, which is scheduled to open in 2024.

 

 

 

 

 

HITACHI Rail Europe announced at the Railtex exhibition in London on May 1 that it has selected Nomad Digital to supply onboard servers for all 92 Super Express trains being supplied for Britain's Intercity Express Programme (IEP).

 

The onboard server will transmit all operational data between the train and trackside, including diagnostics from the Train Management System, energy consumption, seat reservation, and timetable information. The server uses Nomad's R3500 router for communications, connecting through multiple 3G networks.

 

Hitachi will deliver a total of 596 Super Express Train (SET) vehicles, which will replace most of the 200km/h High Speed Trains (HSTs) used on the Great Western Main Line (phase 1) and East Coast Main Line (phase 2). The fleet of 92 electric and bi-mode trains will be maintained at new depots in Swansea, Bristol, London (North Pole) and Doncaster. Under the fixed-price train provision agreement, Hitachi will maintain the fleet for 27.5 years.

 

The initial phase comprises 21 nine-car electric trains and 36 five-car bi-mode trains for the Great Western franchise (369 vehicles), while the second phase includes 12 five-car electric trains, 10 five-car bi-mode trains, and 13 nine-car bi-mode trains for the East Coast franchise (227 vehicles). Financial close was reached last July on phase 1, although phase 2 has yet to reach this stage of the procuremen processt.

 

The first four trains, all bi-mode five-car sets, will be assembled at Hitachi's Kasado plant in Japan before final assembly moves to a new purpose-built facility at Newton Aycliffe in northeast England.

 

The first train for Great Western will be completed in June 2014, and test operation on the British network is due to begin in May 2015. The trains will enter service on the Great Western Main Line from April 2017.

 

Nomad has already supplied onboard servers to Hitachi for the fleet of 225km/h class 395 emus, 29 of which are in service with Southeastern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metro Vancouver recycling firms are seeing a backlog of recyclable materials, particularly plastics, after China decided it would no longer accept other nations’ dirty plastics or potentially contaminated recovered materials.

 

China’s so-called 10-month Green Fence policy, which came into effect in February, has resulted in stricter scrutiny of foreign containers carrying everything from paper to metals and plastics when they arrive at the Chinese docks.

 

If a load is considered to be at all potentially contaminated — containing food or glass or mixed materials, for instance — the entire load is rejected on the spot and sent back, at what some say costs an estimated $10,000 to $18,000 per container.

 

Plastic bags, lower-grade plastics, coloured plastics or materials with food residue are among the materials being turned back. In one case, bales of what were supposed to be mixed paper were rejected en route.

 

The situation, which has affected exporters from North America to Europe, has led to a “significant” backlog of mainly low-grade plastics at sites such as Urban Impact’s New Westminster recycling plant, said CEO Nicole Stefenelli. The company has also hired more staff to ensure any products are clean before the inspections stage and before they’re loaded onto containers.

 

“We have not had any rejections but you can imagine the costs of a rejected load,” Stefenelli said. “It’s not really a positive situation. It’s very challenging. Ultimately we have to have somewhere to store (the material) while we decide what to do with it or find an alternative source, or it goes into the landfill.

 

“Real estate is expensive in the Lower Mainland. You can’t just sit on this product forever.”

 

The move, part of China’s attempts to boost the country’s environmental performance, comes more than a decade after China opened its doors to the world with an insatiable appetite for recovered metals, plastics and fibre.

 

Its decision to shut the door now poses a near-crisis to the industry, with prices for exports of shredded aluminum falling amid a rise in piles of plastic bags and yogurt containers at local depots.

 

But Stefenelli noted the move also highlights the need for recyclers to provide more quality products to China, which had been seen by some as a dumping ground for waste. “It means an emphasis on quality,” she said. “We can’t just dump things in a market just because they have an appetite for it.

 

“What needs to be recognized by all parts of the supply chain is the more mixed it is, the more difficult it is to make a quality product at the end. You really have to spend more time to make sure the quality is there.”

 

Stefenelli believes China will eventually change its mind as it needs a massive amount of recovered materials. But in the meantime, the industry will have to shape up, she said, by creating a better blend of domestic and foreign markets.

 

Sebastian van Wollen, president of Blue Planet Recycling in Langley, which processes plastic materials, said it’s about time more companies looked domestically to recycle materials.

 

Jason Kemp, manager of Westcoast Plastic Recycling, agreed. His company, which had shipped about 60 containers a month to China when the situation was more flexible, was shocked when the edict first came down, he said, but two weeks ago decided to diversify into more domestic and North American markets. His company is also continuing to look for opportunities in India and Malaysia.

 

“This just gave us a heavy push we needed to keep all that we could local,” Kemp said. “There are a lot of people going through a lot of hard times right now.”

 

Allen Langdon, of Multi-Materials B.C., a non-profit group of retailers and manufacturers, said his organization hopes to avoid such situations by changing the way products are packaged.

 

MMBC is devising a plan to reduce the amount of packaging and to make industry bear the full cost of recycling products and packaging and increase the opportunities for recycled content.

 

“Our whole strategy is finding ways to increase the value for those materials,” he said. “At the end of the day we have to create a market in a number of places, not just China.”