THE Bolivian Ministry of Public Works, Services and Housing has awarded a consortium of Acciona Ingenieria, Spain, and CPM a contract worth around $US 10.5m to supervise construction of the 205km Montero - Bulo Bulo line.

 

The $US 250m railway will serve a new fertilizer plant at Bulo Bulo, which is being constructed by Samsung. Around 20% of the plant's annual output of 1 million tonnes is forecast to be consumed domestically with the rest being exported to Brazil via the border crossing at Quijarro or Argentina via the border station of Pocitos.

 

The line is being built by Chinese companies, with Spanish contractor Yapilo constructing three major bridges.

 

 

 

 

 

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) announced on February 11 that it plans to continue the modernisation of its motive power fleet this year with the acquisition of 629 new locomotives at a total cost of Roubles 76.1bn ($US 2.17bn).

 

RZD says it will take delivery of 352 electric locomotives and 277 diesel locomotives during 2014.

 

In 2013, RZD purchased 804 locomotives at a total cost of Roubles 83.5bn.

 

RZD and its subsidiaries currently operate a fleet of more than 20,000 locomotives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE FIRST of three class DP3 three-car dmus being supplied by Pesa, Poland, to Belarus Railways (BC) arrived in Belarus on February 11.

 

The 69.3m-long 140km/h regional trains seat 145 passengers and have an entry floor height of 600mm.

 

The two remaining trains are due to be delivered in March and April. Pesa is providing BC maintenance staff with training on the new fleet.

 

 

 

  

 

THE prime minister of Turkey, Mr Tayyip Erdoğan, and prime minister of Spain, Mr Mariano Rajoy, presided over a ceremony held in the Turkish capital of Ankara on February 12 to mark the opening of the city's second heavy metro line, M3.

 

The 15.4km line runs east-west from the end of line M1 at Batikent to OSB Torekent in Sinçan and has added 10 stations to the network. Comsa Emte, Spain, built the line in partnership with local contractor, Açilim Insaat, with the companies also currently working on Line M2, a 16.6km link from Kizilay to Çayyolu, which is expected to open later this year.

 

CSR Zhuzhou is supplying a fleet of 342 stainless-steel metro cars to Ankara which will be deployed on lines M3 and M2 under a Yuan 2.5bn ($US 412.5m) deal signed in August 2012. The Chinese manufacturer was expected to deliver 15 trains within 20 months of the contract signing, and the remaining sets within 39 months.

 

 

 

 

UKRAINIAN Railways (UZ) suspended operation of all 10 HRCS2 emus supplied in 2012 by Hyundai Rotem for inter-city operations on February 13, with all of the emus undergoing technical checks.

 

UZ deputy director general, Mr Nikolay Sergienko, says that technical problems found in one of the trains during a scheduled technical review prompted the withdrawal of the sets due to the fact that the problem could occur in the other inter-city trains. He said that UZ engineers will work with experts from Hyundai Rotem to analyse and verify the fault, and if necessary independent and academic experts could be involved in this process.

 

"We expect to find the cause of the malfunction next week," Sergienko says. "The trains remain under the warranty of the manufacturer."

 

Mr Yong Suk Choi, the head of Hyundai Rotem Ukraine, said that following unreliable performance of the trains last winter, his company performed a significant amount of refurbishment work on the trains including the replacement of all pantographs, and reinforcements of roofs.

 

"These measures were designed to prevent malfunctions and to improve passenger safety," Choi says. "I want to apologise to passengers for the inconvenience caused by the technical condition of the trains."

 

Locomotive-hauled coaches have been introduced on lines served by the HRCS2s, which operate at the same maximum line speed of 160km/h. Passengers are being offered full refunds if they decide not to travel, while refunds are available for those passengers who choose to travel in an inferior class compared with the tickets they purchased for journeys operated by HRCS2s.

 

 

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On February 3, the fourth day of Lunar New Year, a CRH380A high-speed train made in China was showed on NASDAQ's large screen at Times Square, presenting the up-to-date image of the high-end transportation equipment in China at the "Crossroads of the World".

 

This advertisement video made by CSR was played to present great changes to people's life achieved by speedy, safe and comfortable high-speed trains of CSR. Train, which is highly represented by high-speed train, is still playing the most important role in domestic transportation during Spring Festival in China, transferring up to 3.6 billion people. 2.8 times of the total population in this country.

 

By the end of 2013, more than 10,000 km high-speed railway lines have been put into operation and 12,000 km lines are under construction, making China the country with the longest high-speed railway lines. High-speed train travels at a speed of 300km/h on lines such as Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Guangzhou Lines, largely shortening traveling time between the cities. Furthermore, operation of high-speed railway lines has boosted economic and trade contacts between the regions, promoting economic vitality and driving development of regional economy. According to statistics, the high-speed railway lines currently in operation in China may contribute an annual capacity of 230,000,000 tons to freight transport Industry. According to expert's analysis, in the volume of freight transport across the society, each percent point elevated in share of railway transportation will help to cut down social logistics cost of 21.2 billion Yuan.

 

The achievements in development of high-speed train in China have attracted many countries' attention. As reported by CSR, more than 50 countries have contacted with CSR for cooperation in high-speed train, among which over 20 countries has made in-depth communication, including potential high-speed train markets such as USA, Brazil, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Romania. China-Thailand High-Speed Train Research Center was set up in 2013 to provide technical support for planning of high-speed railway lines in Thailand. The CRH380A high-speed MU shown on Times Square is one of CSR's representative products, which has safely operated for more than 3.5 million kilometers.

 

Times Square is located at the crossing of Broadway, Seventh Avenue and Street No.42, and honored as one of the four major golden advertisement districts on the globe, where China's promotional video was played in 2011.

 

 

 

 

IT has now emerged that a Kenyan firm has the same name as the firm that won the Sh447 billion tender for the Mombasa- Nairobi standard gauge railway upgrade.

 

Yesterday the Public Investments Committee was told that two Kenyans registered a company called China Roads and Bridges Corporation Kenya Limited in 2008.

 

The Registrar of Companies Bernice Gachegu yesterday told the committee that Peter Maingi Gatere and Leonard Mwangi Ndungu were registered as the directors of the company at her office.

 

The firm's office is in Mpaka Road in the Westlands area of Nairobi. Yesterday a Star reporter walked up and down Mpaka Road but could find their office. The Star could not find out where Gatere and Ndungu work and what they do.

 

A Chinese company was registered 30 years ago as China Roads and Bridges Engineering but changed its name to China Roads and Bridges Corporation in 1996.

 

The Beijing based firm in 1984 stated its directors as Pan Qi, Wang Zhi, Wang Jinqian, Zhang Yaping, Lin Cen, Liu Yugeng, Zheng Renzhou, Yan Guangzhen Dong Ning and Sun Xiaozhong. Neither the Kenyan company nor the Chinese company have been filing their annual returns as required by law.

 

The Kenyan firm was registered in 2008 when the idea of a modern railway was first being mooted. "This may be the company that is dealing with the government to deliver the rail project. The fact that the government is adamant that the project must be done raises serious issues because the government may not know who it is dealing with," said Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi. Committee members claimed that it was not an error but a deliberate inside job.

 

The Chinese firm was registered on December 12, 1984, Jamhuri Day and a public holiday. The MPs were further dumbfounded when the Registrar said that the Chinese company's certificate of registration was only collected three years later.

 

Normally the Registrar of Companies will refuse to register two companies with similar names in the same industry for fear of fraud.

 

Gachegu struggled to convince the committee members why two companies with similar names existed contrary to the law. This MPs blamed her for failing to deregister one company to save potential losses.

 

In 2009 the Registry of Companies launched the document management system. A name search is supposed to check companies so similar names are not registered.

 

"It had not come to the attention of the Registrar but we notified the Kenyan firm early this month that the allocation of name was inadvertent and therefore no longer tenable," Gachegu told the appalled MPs.

 

Linturi said that the directors behind the local company may be aliases for powerful individuals in the country. "To me this is like another James Bond movie. This is a properly choreographed and properly executed scheme to defraud this country," Linturi said. Gachegu however insisted that the Chinese firm won the tender and not the Kenyan.

 

She was hard pressed by Gichugu MP Barua Njogu who asked whether the memorandum and articles of the two companies at her office showed they were in the same business.

 

"Could this be a conduit to con public money? Has any of the companies ever complained of the existence of another with a similar name. Has the Kenyan firm complained of the other one getting the contract?" posed Njogu.

 

The Registrar produced a letter dated February 12 from the Chinese firm complaining of media reports that there was a firm with a similar name. The MPs dismissed her explanation saying there had never been any media reports about two firms.

 

Committee member Francis Nyenze (Kitui West MP) said the committee had unearthed the information that it was looking for.

 

An express railway linking Beijing and the northern city of Zhangjiakou is expected to begin construction in 2014 and be completed in 2017, a local official said Monday.

 

The 174-km-long line is a cutting-edge advantage for the two cities to bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, according to Zhang Chunsheng, an official in charge of the bidding office under the Zhangjiakou municipal government.

 

Trains will take only 40 minutes to make the run from the capital to Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei Province, a journey which currently takes at least four to five hours, according to Zhang.

 

After the new line is opened, the trains currently in operation will only be used to transport cargo, he said.

 

The two cities will launch a joint bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) announced in early November 2013.

 

Beijing, host city of the 2008 Summer Games, will bid to stage the ice events while Zhangjiakou will seek hosting rights for snow sports, according to the COC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The City Industrial and Development Corporation (Cidco) chairman is keen to adopt the China model of metro and implement it in the city.

 

Pramod Hindurao has just returned from his six-day technical study of China and Thailand's mass transit system.

 

"The sole purpose of the tour was to acquire knowledge about existing international metro railway and rapid transit systems," he said.

 

He was accompanied by a team that comprised engineers and consultants.

 

"Cidco planners will study the possibilities of emulating the China model in the local context. If the model is to be adopted, Cidco will have to appoint a special purpose vehicle for its development, operation and maintenance of Navi Mumbai Metro system," he added.

 

After Hong Kong visit, Cidco chairman hints china model for metro transportation in Navi Mumbai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After growing weary of five-hour commutes to work in Mumbai, Raghavendra Deshpande took a 20 per cent pay cut when he accepted a job nearer his home. Mumbai's new metro rail isn't going to change his mind.

 

The metro, Mumbai's first, is due to open next month after repeated delays. The 12-kilometre line, built by a group led by billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure, aims to transport 600,000 people a day in a city of about 19 million.

 

"This is a trade-off I made because you don't feel like a human being during the commute", Deshpande, 42, says. Three years ago he made the 30-kilometre trip in taxis or trains. "We were already late in deciding to build the metro and the delay is adding to the misery."

 

A decade after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh vowed to make Mumbai another Shanghai, creaky infrastructure, urban squalor and expensive real estate mar the nation's financial capital.

 

Then there's the safety factor: every year more than 3,500 people die in accidents involving commuter trains. A new monorail and flyovers crisscross the city, almost touching crumbling buildings and defunct mills that have lingered since British colonial days.

 

Mumbai's state is a symbol of the paralysis hobbling India's US$1.8 trillion economy as a string of investment projects remain stalled by delays in land acquisition, environmental clearances and graft allegations. Singh's Congress party-led coalition faces elections by May as voters grapple with a struggling economy and high inflation.

 

Mumbai needs US$60 billion of investment in public transport over the next 20 years and the current plan falls short of needs, according to estimates by Shirish Sankhe, Mumbai-based director at McKinsey & Co.

 

In a 2010 study, the consultant said India must spend US$2.2 trillion by 2030 on urban transport, housing and office space to boost infrastructure.

 

Failure to do so is holding back India's growth while creating bottlenecks that fan inflation, says D.K. Joshi, an economist at Crisil, a local unit of Standard & Poor's.

 

"In some ways, the pace of infrastructure development is synonymous with the slow economic growth," Joshi says. "Considering the importance of the city as a financial centre, a smooth transport system is a necessity and not a luxury."

 

Mumbai's slow pace of development contrasts with Shanghai, which boasts the world's biggest metro network - covering 560 kilometres - the number one container port and two world-class airports.

 

China's resolve to turn Shanghai into a global economic, financial and shipping hub by 2020 has led to an office building boom to accommodate international companies. Pudong, across from the Bund historical waterfront area, has evolved from rice paddies into the city's main financial district in just three decades.

 

India's per capita spending on public works in cities is just 15 per cent of China's. Unless that is increased eightfold, it may jeopardise growth prospects, according to McKinsey.

 

Knight Frank LLP, London-based property consultants, last year ranked Mumbai the 16th most expensive city for residential space, just behind Tokyo and Los Angeles.

 

 

 

 

 

Beijing intends to bring into effect stiffer regulations against smoking and eating in the subway, city authorities announced on Wednesday.

 

Passengers who eat or smoke in stations or trains will be warned and those who ignore the warning will be fined 50 (8.23 U.S. dollars) to 500 yuan, according to the draft of security regulations in rail transportation by the Beijing legal affairs office.

 

Begging, busking, selling and distributing flyers will also be banned.

 

Authorities with the legal affairs office said the new regulations are for passenger safety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Line One of the Beijing Subway suffered another malfunction on Wednesday morning, stranding thousands of rush hour passengers.

 

At around 7:30 in the morning a signal failed at Bajiao Amusement Park station, forcing trains to lower their speed. Thousands of people heading to work were stranded inside and outside the stations. The problem lasted about half an hour, and normal service resumed around 8 in the morning.

 

Line One opened in 1969, making it the oldest subway line in China. It runs underneath Chang’an Avenue, one of the busiest streets in the capital.

 

 

 

Four new subway lines will be put into operation in Beijing in 2014, in the aim of reducing traffic pressure, Beijing Times reported on Friday.

 

The new lines are Line 6's phase II, Line 7, Line 14 (east section) and Line 15 (west section). The lines will add 62 kilometers to the current 465-km subway network in Beijing.

 

The municipal government will also invest more on infrastructure to encourage people to ride bicycles or walk when going out.

 

According to its plan, efforts will be made to ensure there are proper lanes for bike riders or pedestrians to use on 80 urban roads, and will add 5,000 bikes for public rental.

 

The city will also add 10 km of special lanes for buses this year to improve the efficiency of bus operation and encourage more people to use public transportation.

 

At present, about 40 percent of passenger volume on Beijing's public transportation system is on the subway system.

 

Beijing's subway system carried an average of 8.76 million passengers every day in 2013, according to the municipal transport commission. The daily maximum of 11.06 million passengers was set on July 16, 2013.

 

It is planned for the network to extend to 660 km as of 2016 and 1,100 km in 2020.

 

The Beijing subway first came into operation in 1969, and has expanded tremendously since 2001, when Beijing won the right to host the 2008 summer Olympic Games. More than 10 lines have been added since then.