International Union of Railways commits to sustainable development

The Declaration has so far been signed by 44 UIC members including Amtrak.

The UIC has formally launched the Declaration on Sustainable Mobility and Transport, the railway sector’s commitment to sustainable development.
The UIC Declaration on Sustainable Mobility and Transport lists the most important sustainable development goals for the global railway sector.
By signing it, member railways are making a public commitment to work towards these objectives and provide progress reports regarding further improving safety, reliability, punctuality, and environmental performance.
The Declaration has so far been signed by 44 UIC members representing more than 60% of the total passenger rail market around the world.
The launch event took place at the United Nations in New York, on the occasion of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development.
Representing the global railway sector were Mr. Vladimir Yakunin, President of the Russian Railways RZD; Mr. Takao Nishiyama, Head of New York Office, Japan Railways Group on behalf of Mr. Yoshio Ishida, Chairman of UIC and Vice-Chairman of East Japan Railway Company; Mr. Al Engel, Vice-President of AMTRAK, and UIC Director-General, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux.
Jean-Pierre Loubinoux said:
“Sustainability is a fundamental value shared by UIC members all over the world. With this Declaration UIC and its Members demonstrate rail’s commitment to be at the heart of sustainable transport systems.”
The next step for the UIC sustainability program is to develop a sector-level sustainability report to be presented to the Rio+20 conference in June 2012. This report will summarise the rail sector’s progress in delivering the commitments in the UIC Declaration on Sustainable Mobility & Transport.

Alstom to supply a turnkey rail system in the province of West Papua

Grasberg is the world’s leading gold mine and third-leading copper mine, producing over 240,000 tonnes of minerals per day and employing some 20,000 people. Photo: Alfindra Primaldhi.

Alstom and mining company PT Freeport Indonesia have signed a contract representing around €90 million for the supply of a turnkey rail system to develop mining operations at the Grasberg mine, in the province of West Papua, Indonesia.
Alstom’s will supply the rail, catenaries, substations and the signalling and telecommunications systems for a future underground rail network.
Alstom signalling system Atlas, will in particular be used to achieve more fluid traffic and optimal frequencies while ensuring passenger safety.
The company will ensure the design, installation, and comprehensive integration of the system – which also includes rolling stock specific to mining operations, service launch, operational support and maintenance.
Currently being mined in the open air at 4,000 meters in altitude, Grasberg is the world’s leading gold mine and third-leading copper mine, producing over 240,000 tonnes of minerals per day and employing some 20,000 people.
The rail network will cover 19 km (15 km in tunnels) and consist of a single track. Dedicated to transporting the mine’s employees, equipment and explosives and the removal of rubble, it will facilitate operations in the heart of the mountain, at 2,500 m in altitude.
It will also link the warehouse outside the mine to three terminals in the heart of the mountain.
The rail system will guarantee completely safe train operation, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, at a maximum speed of 40 km/h and a level of availability above 99%.
“This is a first for Alstom Transport,” commented Dominique Pouliquen, Alstom Transport Executive Director for the Asia-Pacific region.
“We had never before worked for a mine in Asia-Pacific region, and are very pleased by the trust PTFI has placed in our Systems solutions for such a project. This project could become a standard-setter in Indonesia and meet the needs of other similar opportunities.”
Under the responsibility of the Alstom’s site of Bologna, the delivery of the Atlas complete signaling system will involve sites of Charleroi (Belgium), Villeurbanne (France) and Bandung (Indonesia).
The main part of the network will be put into service in July 2013.

Russian Railways to build rail line in Indonesia

The initial planning of the project started in mid-2010. Photo: Russian Railways.

Russian Railways has prepared a project for the construction of a railway and its associated infrastructure in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo.
This may become one of the company’s largest foreign contracts.
The project was presented in September in Moscow as part of a business forum on investing, organised by the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board.
The initial planning of the project started in mid-2010. It involves the construction of a railway that will connect the northern areas of the province of Central Kalimantan with the east coast of Borneo.
The length of the route will be about 300 km. At present, the transport system in Kalimantan is ‘weak’ and consists mainly of river and road-based transportation.
Russian Railways’ specialists have developed a preliminary feasibility study, and have identified the key indicators that demonstrate the project’s economic viability and marketability.
The project is being implemented in accordance with the so-called ‘Equator Principles’: these hold that clearly defined social and environmental criteria must be met by international investment banks operating in the area of project financing.
The Indonesians have underscored the following mandates for the project:

• That it pay special attention to circumventing “protected” tropical forests;
• That emphasis must be placed on meeting social obligations, and that the project must involve local residents through hiring and training.

The outcome of the meeting was that the Indonesian side expressed their readiness to support and cooperate fully in the project.
According to current plans, funding for the project shall consist of investments of up to $2 million, which will be organized in the form of loans from major international banks.
An additional $500 million will be raised from private investors, including institutional investors who have a strategic and/or financial interest in the project.
At present, Russian Railways preparing a draft of the agreement at the intergovernmental level and is completing work on its feasibility study.

QR National announces rail haulage

2010/11, QR National transported more than 240 million tonnes of freight, including coal, iron ore, other minerals, agricultural products and general freight. Photo: QR National.

QR National has signed a new coal-haulage contract with Aquila Resources to the new Wiggins Island Coal Terminal.
The 10-year contract will see up to 1.6 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) hauled from Aquila’s Washpool mine in Central Queensland to the new terminal at the Port of Gladstone.
The contract with QR National provides transport for 100% of Washpool Coal’s output.
QR National Executive Vice President and CEO Coal Operations Marcus McAuliffe said the company was focussed on performance-based contracts that were underpinned by reliability, certainty of haulage supply and safety.
“We share with Aquila an appetite for growth and the desire for long-term relationships based on performance,” Mr McAuliffe said.
“QR National is absolutely committed to delivering reliable and safe operations and we know this is important to our customers too.
“In New South Wales and Queensland, QR National Coal has proven that we can meet customer’s current needs and grow capacity to match their growing operations.”
In September, Aquila Resources became a signatory to the Wiggins Island Rail Project, which will be delivered by QR National’s wholly owned subsidiary QR National Network Pty Ltd.
The Wiggins Island Rail Project will align with the time frames for the new coal export terminal and the development of related mining projects.

Indian Railways to invite bids for Dedicated Western Freight Corridor

The plan is to construct dedicated freight corridors across the country to free up passenger lines and increase speeds. Photo: V Malik.

The Indian Ministry of Railways has decided to invite tenders for the WesternDedicated Freight Corridor development worth Rs 10,000 crore ($2.2 billion) in the current financial year.
The Western Corridor is part of the initiative set up by the Railway Ministry, which will cover 2,762 km long two routes – the Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni and the Western Corridor.
The project will be developed on the ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ linking Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Howrah and its two diagonals Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Howrah; which carries more than 55% of revenue earning freight traffic.
An official from the DFCCIL said:
“Overall, Rs 10,000 crore bids will be invited by us this year for awarding civil engineering contracts for package I & II of the first phase of the western corridor.
“This will be followed by bids for awarding electrification and signalling works in six months.”
The Western dedicated freight corridor is being developed from Dadri, near New Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) passing through three states, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat will be developed in two phases.
Phase I will be the 950 km Rewari-Vadodara section. Civil engineering works for this phase is being awarded in three packages of Rewari-Ajmer, Ajmer-Palanpur and Palanpur-Vadodara.
Phase II consists of the 565 km Vadodara-JNPT stretch.
The overall cost of the Dedicated Freight Corridors will cost the exchequer more than Rs 77,000 crore ($17 billion to $18 billion).
After completion, the dedicated freight corridors will enable Indian Railways to move fright cargo at an average speed of 65 kmph instead of the 22 kmph it currently moves at.
It is also expected to drive the establishment of industrial corridors and logistic parks along its alignment with the development of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).
The Japanese Bank of Industrial Cooperation (JICA) has loaned close to Rs 4,500-crore for the first phase of the Western Corridor which is likely to be commissioned in March 2016.

Spain develops new business model for Renfe Freight and Logistics

Renfe will manage traction and route planning as well as the maintenance of rolling stock. Photo: Renfe.

A new operating model has been approved for Renfe Freight & Logistics.
The decision is in line with the Ministry of Development’s strategic plan to boost rail freight by promoting intermodality and by achieving a more balanced modal split, with greater participation of the railways, as well as by contributing to sustainability and the fight against climate change by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and dependence on oil.
The new business model aims to provide added value to the global supply chain through improved quality of services, efficiency, reliability and sustainability of freight transport services, as indicated in EU regulations.
The new business model also aims to improve economic sustainability, trade capacity and the internationalisation of Renfe in order to compete in a liberalised market and to increase its market share.
Three new companies have been created and are entirely owned by Renfe.
They are being developed according to different activities within the transport market:

• MULTI deals with activity in the Bulk & Multiproduct business area, specialised in the transport of materials such as wood, paper, dry bulk (coal, cement, cereals) and fluids (fuel, chemicals)
• IRION deals with activity in the iron and steel sector, specialised in the transport of materials associated with the metal industry: coils, steel, rails, pipes, etc.
• CONTREN deals with activity in the intermodal business area, specialised in the transport of intermodal transport units (containers).

The operating model is completed with PECOVASA, the logistics operator specialised in the transport of parts and components and finished vehicles.
These four trading companies, whose capital will be opened to private participation of up to 45%, will have management autonomy and differentiated structures to develop the marketing of their services.
Analysis carried out by Renfe forecasts economic and financial sustainability of these companies by improving income – through more specialised business orientation – and cost efficiency improvements.
It is expected that by 2014 every company will be economically sustainable.
Renfe, meanwhile, will manage traction and route planning as well as the maintenance of rolling stock.

Indian Railways to set up station redevelopment body

The Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (RSDC) will be responsible for redeveloping a large number of stations across India. Photo: Challiyan.

The Minister of Railways, Dinesh Trivedi, has announced that Indian Railways will be setting up a new body looking after the redevelopment of stations across the country.
The Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (RSDC) will be responsible for redeveloping a large number of stations across India with the primary objective of ‘augmenting and improving passenger related amenities at stations’.
The body will aim to meet the aspirations of rail users and to provide better facilities.
RSDC will be a special purpose vehicle with equity participation of Ircon International Ltd. (IRCON), a government owned company under the Ministry of Railways and Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), a statutory authority under the Ministry of Railways.
The process of setting the new body has already started.
RSDC will redevelop stations as it will have a mechanism for constantly upgrading and maintaining the passenger amenities & facilities at stations to high standards. A need for a nodal agency having the required professional competence for undertaking such projects was felt.
IRCON has vast national and international experience of infrastructure projects as well as development of commercial, institutional, industrial and residential properties, while RLDA has the statutory mandate for commercial development of identified railway land and airspace for generation of revenues.

Resourcing International appoints Ikram Rabbani to drive Middle East development

Resourcing Solutions Group are experts in the supplying talent to infrastructure projects in Rail, Construction, Civil Engineering, Infrastructure, Highways, Power and Water. Photo: Thales.

Resourcing International, a subsidiary of the Resourcing Solutions Group has appointed Ikram Rabbani as Country Manager for their Middle East operations.
Ikram will initially be based from Resourcing Solutions UK HQ and will be responsible for driving Business Development in the Middle East.
Resourcing Solutions have actively recruited for the Middle East regions for the past 5 years and the move for Ikram shows the intent to have an active presence in both Qatar and the UAE.
Richard Lawrance CEO of the Resourcing Solutions Group said:
“The move to appoint Ikram shows an ambitious growth plan for the business and as we prepare to open both our Qatar and UAE offices in the new year, these are certainly exciting times for the company.
“With premises in these countries we will proactively assist our Middle East clients with their talent management and acquisition needs.”
Ikram comes from a background of working internationally, specifically the Middle East and Far East markets.