IRJInternational Railway Journal

French liberalisationRegions progress towards open competition in 2023

December 2020 | Volume 60 Issue 12www.railjournal.com | @railjournal

French plan to double rail freight = Inspiring the next generation

SNCF at a crossroadsFarandou plots route to recovery

Future radio FRMCS project reaches key milestone

Dec Cover_Layout 1 17/11/2020 09:10 Page 1

IRJDECXX (TMH)_Layout 1 16/11/2020 11:08 Page 1

France16 SNCF at a crossroads

Covid-19 adds to the list of challenges facing SNCF’s CEO

20 Can France double freight volumes in 10 years? An alliance of operators sets out ambitious expansion plan

24 Passenger liberalisation stumbles towards start France gears up to open PSO contracts to competition

Contact us

Also in this issue36 Rendezvous37 Full contact list37 Advertisers index37 Fresh faces38 The last word

ContentsEditorial officesPost 46 Killigrew Street

FalmouthCornwall, TR11 3PP, UK

Tel +44 1326 313945 Web www.railjournal.com

Editor-in-ChiefKevin Smith ks@railjournal.co.ukConsulting Editor/Associate PublisherDavid Briginshaw db@railjournal.co.ukNews & Features WriterDavid Burroughsdburroughs@railjournal.co.ukNews & Features WriterOliver Cuencaocuenca@railjournal.co.ukProduction ManagerSue Morant sm@railjournal.co.ukIRJ Pro Account ManagerChloe Pickering cp@railjournal.comIRJ Pro Market AnalystOscar Sinclair os@railjournal.co.uk

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Tel +1 212 620 7200Business development managerJerome Marullo jmarullo@sbpub.comTel +1 732 887 5562Subscriptions hotlineTel (US only) +1 800 553 8878 (Canada/International) +1 319 364 6167 Fax +1 402 346 4740International Railway Journal (Print ISSN 2161-7376,Digital ISSN 2161-7368), is published monthly bySimmons-Boardman Publishing Corp, 88 Pine Street,23rd floor, New York, NY 10005, USA. Printed inGreat Britain by Buxton Press and distributed in theUSA by Mail Right International, 1637 Stelton RoadB4, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. Periodicals postagepaid at Piscataway, NJ and additional mailing offices.COPYRIGHT © Simmons-Boardman Publishing Cor-poration 2020. All rights reserved. Contents maynot be reproduced without permission. For reprintinformation please contact Editor-in-Chief. For sub-scriptions & address changes, please call +1 319 3646167, Fax +1 319 364 4278, Email: internationalrail-wayjournal@stamats.com or write to: InternationalRailway Journal, Simmons-Boardman PublishingCorp, PO Box 1407, CedarRapids, IA, 52406-1407.POSTMASTER: Send addresschanges to International Rail-way Journal, PO Box 1407,Cedar Rapids, IA, 52406-1407.

News4 This month6 News headlines12 Transit news14 Financial news15a News analysis - ONLINE EDITION

Track28 Adjustable track verifies measurement systems

TTCI tests high-speed geometry measurement systems

Education, training and recruitment32 Pandemic transforms learning

BCRRE adapts to online teaching

34 Skills for the next-generation rail industryEuropean skill base responds to a changing industry

35 Inspiring rail’s next wave of engineersClass of Your Own provides real-world experience

35a Online extra - DB takes learning digitalAdapting training to the restrictions brought by a pandemic

IRJInternational Railway Journal

French liberalisationRegions progress towards open competition in 2023

December 2020 | Volume 60 Issue 12www.railjournal.com | @railjournal

French plan to double rail freight = Inspiring the next generation

SNCF at a crossroadsFarandou plots route to recovery

Future radio FRMCS project reaches key milestone

17/11/2020 09:10 Page 1

Front cover

December 2020 Volume 60 issue 12

20

16

28

35

IRJ December 2020 3

Since taking over as CEOof SNCF in November2019, Jean-PierreFarandou has guided thecompany through anumber of challenges,including Covid-19. Seeour exclusive interviewon p16.

Dec Contents_Layout 1 20/11/2020 17:15 Page 3

4

There is also a general lack ofharmonisation of cybersecurityregulations.Combating many of these

challenges requires a new setof skills and expertise. Asmany railways around theworld embrace their respectivedigitalisation strategies, theyare actively recruiting expertsin fields such as ArtificialIntelligence and data science.However, a skills gap remains. As Unife director general, Mr

Philippe Citroën, points out (p34)new campaigns are activelypublicising rail as a career pathfor environmentally consciouspeople interested in Science,Technology, Engineering andMathematics (Stem) careers. Itis also hoped next year’sEuropean Year of Rail willoffer positive PR for recruiters.The UIC and other equivalent

bodies will help guide railwaysthrough the technical adaptationsrequired by offering necessaryexpertise outside of rail’straditional wheelhouse -Evangelou for example hailsfrom the telecoms sector. Andwhile railways should not losesight of the day-to-day - intricateknowledge of the railway systemis as critical now as it has everbeen - a marriage of the twowill leave railways well placedto maximise the opportunitiesoffered by new technology.

ALL good things must cometo an end. But the gradual

decommissioning of GSM-R,the 2G+ dedicated railwayradio platform, at the end ofthe decade will mark thewithdrawal of arguably themost successful interoperablerail system ever conceived. Installed on more than

150,000km of lines in Europeand 250,000km worldwide,GSM-R has been universallywell received and adoptedsince its standards wereratified by the InternationalUnion of Railways (UIC) in 2000.This contrasts sharply with

ETCS, the signalling componentof ERTMS. While trains cancross borders seamlessly withoutswitching radio systems, thepiecemeal rollout of ETCS inEurope means a completelyinteroperable signallingnetwork is still a long way off.Indeed, major railways inFrance, Germany and Britainare only now getting onboard.A key milestone was reached

last month in the developmentof GSM-R’s successor, the FutureRailway Mobile CommunicationSystem (FRMCS).FRMCS is 5G-based and like

GSM-R will support trainradio voice applications andETCS data. However, it is alsoan enabler for possible game-changing applications such asETCS Level 3, ATO, virtualcoupling, smart maintenance,monitoring of tracksidecomponents, and directconnections between trains andtraffic management systems. The 5GRail project will develop

the first FRMCS prototypes andwork began on the É13m, 30-month project on November 1.Funded by the European Union’sHorizon 2020 initiative, theproject is led by the UIC andsupported by the EuropeanRail Industry Association(Unife), infrastructure managers,Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB),DB Networks, SNCF Network,Swiss Federal Railways (SBB),and Portugal Infrastructure, aswell as telecoms suppliers,two universities, and industryregulatory and standardisationbodies, including the European

Union Agency for Railways,Shift2Rail, and EuropeanTelecommunicationsStandards Institute (ETSI). While conceived in Europe,

FRMCS will become the globalstandard for railway telecoms.5GRail participants willvalidate specifications forFRMCS by developing andtesting prototypes of tracksideinfrastructure and onboardapplications in Germany andFrance by the middle of 2023.The UIC is aiming to deliveran FRMCS first edition basedon 5G (3GPP Release 17) in2025, which will be availablefor national pilots.

Mr Jean-Michel Evangelou,the UIC’s head of telecomsand signalling, says the biggestchallenge for FRMCS is replacingsomething that has worked sowell for so long. However, theUIC and its FRMCS partnersdeserve great credit for gettingthe project to the point where“we know what we know, andwe know what we don’t know,”as Mr Dan Mandoc, the UIC’shead of FRMCS, puts it.A key element in this

process is acceptance by 3GPP,the global standard for telecoms,which will protect the standardand provide added flexibilityfor future evolution as newtelecoms technologies emerge.The result is significant becauseit recognises the importance ofrail among all the verticalmarkets that will use 5G andwas no easy task given theliterally hundreds of meetingswith various parties thatMandoc says have taken place. Significant work was

necessary to secure adequatefrequency or spectrumallocation for FRMCS. WhileGSM-R is primarily standardisedin the 900MHz band, FRMCSis targeting adoption at 900MHz

and the 1900MHz band. FRMCSwill offer extra dedicatedbandwidth during the migrationwhen the two platforms willco-exist, and significantly morebandwidth overall, providingmore flexibility in the long-term.Away from FRMCS, another

significant step for Europeantransport telecommunicationswas taken in October. TheEuropean Commission’s decisionto adopt the 5.9GHz band forthe exchange of real-timeinformation on the safetycondition of connected transporteffectively doubles the level ofavailable spectrum for IntelligentTransport Systems includingurban rail, metro, light rail androad vehicles to 60MHz. The ruling, which will enter

force on June 30 2021, includesCBTC for the first time and is

significant because it harmonisesthe European market andshould encourage thedevelopment of new systems,regulate costs and improvemaintenance efficiency.Increased spectrum will offer

greater scope for innovationand telecoms suppliers arelining up to offer their tailoredsolutions. However, a numberof challenges remain, notablyrelating to cybersecurity. While developers are

building security into FRMCS,cybersecurity is a generalchallenge for the sector. According to a study

published by the EuropeanUnion Agency for Cybersecurity(Enisa) last month, railwaysgenerally suffer from low digitaland cybersecurity awareness.The large geographical spreadof networks, an over-relianceon the supply chain, limitationsof legacy systems as wellas a growing need tostrike a balancebetween cybersecurity,competitiveness, andoperational efficiencyas railways embracedigitalisation aremajor challenges.

Next-generation railwayradio reaches key milestone

This month | Kevin Smith

The biggest challenge for FRMCS isreplacing something that has workedso well for so long.“

ks@railjournal.co.uk

Dec TM_Layout 1 20/11/2020 17:36 Page 4

www.plassertheurer.com”Plasser & Theurer“, ”Plasser“ and ”P&T“ are internationally registered trademarks

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6 IRJ December 2020

EUROPEAN operators havecut back national and cross-

border passenger services inresponse to a number ofnational lockdowns institutedto curb the second wave ofCovid-19.France: A second lockdownbegan on October 30 and wasexpected to run until December 1.On November 17, FrenchNational Railways (SNCF)said ridership was better thanduring the first lockdownfrom mid-March to mid-May.The 30% of TGV trains inservice were running at 30-40% of capacity and theoperator confirmed it wouldnot reduce services further.However, international trains

are severely limited; Eurostaris operating just one London -Paris and London - Amsterdamservice per day; Thalys isproviding two Paris - Brusselsservices with one runningthrough to Amsterdam.French transport minister,

Mr Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, alsoinstructed SNCF to operate afull timetable over theChristmas period fromDecember 15 to January 4.

Nightjet: Austrian FederalRailways (ÖBB) scaled backNightjet services betweenAustria and Germany,Switzerland and Germany,and Austria and Italy fromNovember 7 until at leastDecember 2. ÖBB said it hadto react to the restrictions oninternational travel but hopedto resume services in time forthe holiday period. Switzerland: Following asignificant decline ininternational passengers,Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)cut back services fromNovember 9 operating to

France until December 1 andItaly until December 12.Czech Republic: A drop inpassenger numbers led toCzech Railways (CD) reducingthe number of passenger trainsin operation around Prague,Central Bohemia, Pardubice,Hradec Králové, the Moravian-Silesian Region and theVysocina Region. Netherlands: NetherlandsRailways (NS) began adjustingits timetable from November 9in response to a 70% drop inpassengers, with most changescoming into effect from thesecond half of November. NS

says 90% of services willcontinue to operate but hascancelled extra commuter andweekend night services.Britain: open-access operators,Grand Central and HullTrains, suspended operationfollowing the start of England’ssecond lockdown onNovember 5. Italy: private high-speedoperator Italo-NTV suspendedmost of its services onNovember 10 following thereintroduction of nationwideCovid-19 restrictions. Italo-NTV is only operating sixNaples - Milan - Turin andtwo Salerno - Rome - Venicetrains every day, down fromthe 112 daily services. Thecurrent timetable will run untilDecember 12. This follows a90% drop in passengers.Germany: open-accessoperator FlixTrain suspendedits services for a second timethis year from November 3until at least February 2021.Unlike its principal competitorGerman Rail (DB), Flixtrainhas received no funding fromthe German government otherthan an employee furloughfunding scheme.

News | headlines

European operators reduce services again as passenger numbers drop

THE Austrian government has reintroduced asubsidy to Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB)

and Westbahn to operate their passengerservices on the Vienna - Salzburg route as thecountry enters a second national lockdown.The government will provide ÖBB with

É37m and Westbahn É7.5m to operate arevised timetable on the route from November16 until February 7 2021. Tickets for eitheroperator are valid on all services.ÖBB told IRJ that without the financial support,

ÖBB would have withdrawn the service, whichÖBB and Westbahn operate commercially.Current loadings are around 20% of normal, the

same as during Austria’s first lockdown.The government introduced a temporary

public service obligation (PSO) contract to bothoperators on April 20 to maintain an hourlyservice on the route. This agreement expired onOctober 7, with the government insteadchoosing to waive track access charges foroperating services. Track access charges havebeen reinstated under the revised agreement.Westbahn said that the decision not to extend

the subsidy had left it at risk of further staffcutbacks and service reductions because reliefof track access charges would only cover aquarter of its costs.

ÖBB and Westbahn secure Austrian government support

ZAMBIA’s Northwest Rail(NWR) has signed a

cooperation agreement withTransmashholding subsidiarySmart Operations and Uroven,Britain, to build the first phaseof a 590km east-west railway.Phase 1A will run from

Chingola to Solwezi, Phase-1Bfrom Solwezi to Kalumbila andPhase 2 from Kalumbila to theAngola border. The partnership will conduct

a Bankability Feasibility Study(BFS) for Phase 1A, which isscheduled to be completed inthe first quarter of 2021. Thestudy will include a landsurvey and examine the landacquisition process. The project will support

Zambia’s aim to shift morethan 30% of freight from roadto rail and connect with the1067mm-gauge Benguelarailway through Angola.

Phase 1A involves theconstruction of the first 166kmsection, which will link theexisting north-south railcorridor at Chingola to thenew Solwezi freight terminal.The line will also connect witha recently upgraded road toKipushi on the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo border,creating a new export corridorfor Katanga mining production.Following the completion of

the feasibility study, SmartOperations will constructPhase 1A of the line andsupply locomotives, wagonsand advanced control andmaintenance systems. The line is expected to

unlock economic growth andopen new export revenueopportunities in Zambia’sCopperbelt Province and thenorthwest region known for itsmining and agricultural exports.

Italo-NTV has laid off around 1300 staff in response to the sharp reductions in services. Photo: Marco Stellini

Zambia Northwest Rail 166km Phase 1A agreement signed

Dec News_Layout 1 19/11/2020 17:58 Page 6

IRJ December 2020 7

ArgentinaThe Salta - Güemes regionalrail service in northwestArgentina will be extendedsouthwest from Salta toCampo Quijano followingagreements signed by theArgentine government,Argentinean Trains (SOFSE)and the governor of Saltaprovince. Work is expected tobe completed in June 2021.

BelgiumBelgian National Railways(SNCB) has received a É2.4mgrant from the EuropeanUnion (EU) to support a pilotproject to upgrade onboardETCS signalling and controlsystems from ETCS Level 2Baseline 2 to ETCS Level 2Baseline 3. The funding will beused to upgrade four vehiclesahead of a larger-scale roll-outof the system in 2023.

BritainThe University of Birminghamhas completed work on a newpurpose-built research centrefor the development of digitalrail technologies, includingrailway control and simulation,data integration, cybersecurity,condition sensing andmonitoring technologies, aswell as improved methods fortechnology introduction.= The government hasconfirmed that the eastern legof High Speed 2 (HS2) Phase2b from Birmingham to Leedswill be split into a secondparliamentary bill, separatefrom the western section ofPhase 2b from Crewe toManchester. Each phase of theline must receive approvalfrom the government, whichPhase 1 received in February.

Czech RepublicInfrastructure manager SZ haspublished a tender for acontractor to undertake offeasibility study for aproposed high-speed line fromPrague, via Hradec Králové, toWroclaw, Poland.= SZ has announced plans fora new double-track, electrifiedline suitable for 200km/h toreplace the single-track, non-electrified line from Pilsen toDomazlice and the Germanborder near Furth im Wald,Bavaria.

In brief

INDIAN Railways (IR) plansto implement its NationalRail Plan (NRP), which aims toincrease IR’s modal share from26% of all transport to 45% by2030 and integrate the IRnetwork with other modes toachieve a seamless nationalmulti-modal network. The planalso calls for the deployment ofArtificial Intelligence (AI) toolson future infrastructureexpansion and rolling stockmodernisation projects.“The NRP, which is being

formulated by Rail IndiaTechnical and EconomicServices (Rites) in consultationwith Aecom, United States,will form the template for raildevelopment in India until

2050,” says Mr V Shankar, IRboard executive director,planning. “The policy will beformally adopted in the firstweek of December, but majorrecommendations contained inthe draft report have alreadybeen accepted and are in theprocess of being implemented.”Route surveys for new lines

had previously been conductedaccording to the demands ofMembers of Parliament. TheNRP proposes to reverse thisprocess by having a networkplan in place beforesanctioning fresh surveys.The NRP envisages speed

increases on IR’s GoldenQuadrilateral and GoldenDiagonal routes, first to

130km/h and later to160km/h. Current averagespeeds of IR’s Mail andExpress trains are 55km/h.The document stresses the

need for IR to complete trackdoubling and yard remodellingwork rapidly and pushes forthe installation of advancedsignalling systems, longerpassing loops, andconstruction of major bridgesand tunnels.AI tools for data analysis

will help IR to run trains ondemand, use capacityeffectively, improve servicequality through accuratedemand prediction, optimiseresource utilisation and offeraccurate asset planning.

Indian Railways to adopt National Rail Plan

THE European Commission(EC) has informed Czech

Railways (CD) of its preliminaryview that CD breached EuropeanUnion (EU) anti-trust rules byengaging in predatory pricingon the Prague - Ostrava routebetween 2011 and 2019.CD competes with private

operators RegioJet and LeoExpress on the route and theEC says its investigation showsthat CD’s ticket prices wereinsufficient to cover operatingcosts. Following a complaint, the

EC carried out inspections atCD’s premises in April 2016,subsequently opening a formalinvestigation in November2016. The EC has now issued aStatement of Objections to CD,whereby CD can examine thedocuments and request an oralhearing. If the EC concludesthat there is sufficient evidence

for an infringement, CD couldpay a fine of up to 10% of itsannual turnover.Prague - Ostrava trains are

operated commercially, receivingno public subsidy. RegioJet andLeo Express entered the marketin 2011 and 2012 respectively,helping to double traffic on theroute within a few years.However, the EC investigation

shows that CD felt RegioJetand Leo Express expanded tooquickly and CD subsequentlyreacted by starting to selltickets at below cost price withthe aim of hindering competition.Under EU antitrust rules,

dominant companies have aresponsibility not to abusetheir powerful market positionby restricting competition. TheEC says pricing below costmay constitute such an abuse. CD says that while it will

cooperate and negotiate with

the EC, the EC statement doesnot have any bearing onongoing court cases withcompeting operators.In contrast, RegioJet welcomed

the commission’s announcement,calling it “a victory of thegeneral right for fair competition.”RegioJet says that just one weekafter introducing its servicesbetween Prague and Ostrava,CD reduced ticket prices to30% below those of RegioJet.RegioJet says it took severalyears to stabilise the financialperformance of its trains,causing damage worth hundredsof millions of Czech koruna.Leo Express says it will

increase the amount it isseeking in compensation fromCD from Koruna 468m ($US20.9m) to Koruna 1.05bn foralleged predatory pricing onthe Prague - Ostrava routebetween 2011 and 2019.

EC alleges Czech Railways engaged in “predatory pricing”

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8 IRJ December 2020

News | headlines

EAST Japan Railway (JREast) has announced plans

to test Automatic TrainOperation (ATO) at GoA 4 and5G telecommunications on anE7 series train on a section ofthe Joetsu Shinkansen.The trials will take place in

October and November 2021using an out-of-service 12-cartrain on the 5km stretchbetween Niigata station andthe Niigata Shinkansen vehicle

depot. The ATO trials willconsist of remote departure,tests of the ATO system toautomatically accelerate anddecelerate the train, automaticstopping in a pre-determinedlocation, and emergency stopprocedures.JR East will also test the use

of local 5G infrastructure totransmit high-definition videoin real-time, which willsupport verification of the use

of 5G in railways. JR East willinstall a base station with thecapability to perform large-capacity, low-delaycommunication along the lineto support the transmissiontest.JR East says experience from

these trials will support thewider deployment of ATOacross its Shinkansen network,a policy included in itsTransformation 2027 strategy.

JR East to trial ATO and 5G on Joetsu Shinkansen

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Ukrainian Railways set for restructuringTHE new chairman of

Ukrainian Railways (UZ)has announced a majorrestructuring along with anincrease in investment in 2021,as he looks to turn the loss-making company into aprofitable business.UZ is being split into four

divisions: passenger, freight,production and infrastructure.“In 2021, we plan to completethe subordination of UZ’sdivisions so that eachproduction unit receives all thenecessary assets so that theycan calculate profits and lossesand produce their own balancesheets,” Zhmak says. Theprocess should be completedby the end of next year.Zhmak also announced that

UZ plans to invest Hryvnia26bn ($US 907.9m) ininfrastructure, locomotives,freight wagons and passengerservices in 2021, subject toapproval from the Ukrainiangovernment.“2021 should be a breakthrough

on the way to transforming UZfrom a loss-making companyinto a profitable business,”Zhmak says. “This is not an illusion - UZ

should end next year with aprofit not on paper, but withreal figures.”Hryvnia 7bn will be allocated

to renew UZ’s freight wagonfleet. “We want to increase ourfreight market share from 19%to 35-40% by the end of nextyear,” Zhmak says. UZ wantsto increase freight traffic from814,000 tonnes a day to onemillion tonnes a day in 2021.Hryvnia 4.1bn will be spent

on locomotives next year, withUZ planning to beginpurchasing new electriclocomotives in 2022. Hryvnia 9.4bn and Hryvnia

2bn will be spent oninfrastructure and passengerservices respectively. UZ plansto purchase 100 coaches worthHryvnia 2.7bn and will spendHryvnia 100bn to extendelectrification.

THE board of directors ofGabon passenger and

freight railway Setrag hasappointed Mr Christian Magnias CEO, succeeding Mr RenatoTorres who has left the company.Setrag, a subsidiary of

mining company Comilog,operates a 648km line linkingFranceville and Libreville.The board has directed Magni

to continue the transformationand development of Setrag,including continuing the 2016-2024 upgrade plan (PRN) torehabilitate and modernise theline to double freight capacity. After obtaining a master’s

degree from the HigherNormal School of TechnicalEducation in Libreville, Magnijoined Comilog in May 1999.In July 2013, he was appointeddirector of track maintenancein Owendo, before joiningSetrag as director of fixedinstallations in May 2015 anddeputy CEO in 2019.

New SetragCEO set tooversee Gabonline upgrade

FRENCH infrastructuremanager SNCF Network

has announced that its É1bnArgos innovation partnership,launched in June 2018 todevelop a new generation ofcomputer-controlled signalinterlockings, will progress tothe implementation stage.Over the last 18 months,

engineers from SNCF Networkand industry have undertakenresearch to find a technicalsolution best suited to theFrench network. In order tomove to the developmentphase, SNCF Network hasannounced it will pursue acooperation with the Thales,Alstom and Hitachi Rail-ledgroups.SNCF Network says that

many existing interlockings areold or contain obsoletetechnologies and are thereforedue for replacement. TheArgos computer-controlledinterlockings underdevelopment will enable theseelectro-mechanical, electrical or

mechanical systems to beconverted and upgraded todigital technology.SNCF Network says by

transmitting information inreal-time, incident responsewill be swifter, reducingmaintenance and the impact offailures. The technology willreduce the need for intermediaterelays, cables and otherground-based infrastructure.This should reduce installation

and maintenance costs by 15%and cut installation lead timesby 30% - medium-sizedinterlockings currently take threeyears to commission, and willreduce to two years with Argos.The Thales-Engie Solutions-

Vossloh group, Alstom, andthe Hitachi Rail-Eiffage EnergySystems-Systra group haveeach been tasked with upgradingan existing installation anddeveloping pre-seriesproduction interlockings, thefirst of which are scheduled forcommissioning at the end of2023.

SNCF Network to rollout digital interlockings

A series E7 high-speed train will beused to conduct the tests next autumn.

Dec News_Layout 1 19/11/2020 17:58 Page 8

In brief

EuropeThe European Union Agencyfor Railways (ERA) becamethe sole authority for thecertification and authorisationof rolling stock across theentire European Union (EU)on October 31, as part of theTechnical Pillar of the FourthRailway Package.= The European Commission’sFuel Cells and Hydrogen JointUndertaking (FCH JU) hasawarded a É10m grant to theCAF-led FCH2RAILconsortium for the design,development and testing of aprototype bi-mode hydrogen-electric propulsion system.Work will begin in January.= Shift2Rail has launched acompetition to develop aprogramme to track all in-service commercial freighttrains across the wholeEuropean network. Thesystem will incorporate datafrom Telematic Applicationsfor Freight Services (TAF),operators, infrastructuremanagers, Rail Net Europe’s(RNE) Train InformationSystem (TIS), terminals, portauthorities and combinedtransport operators. Entriesclose on September 21 2021.

GermanyDB Regio has begun operatingservices in the state of Bavariausing six Škoda double-deckpush-pull trains ordered in2013 following a four-yeardelayed approval process dueto reliability concerns. = The state of Hesse has begunconstruction of its first hydrogenfilling station, following aground-breaking ceremony onOctober 26 at the site in HöchstIndustrial Park, near Frankfurt.= The Federal AdministrativeCourt in Leipzig has dismissedsix appeals against theconstruction of the Germansection of the Fehmarn Belttunnel between Denmark andGermany, enabling the projectto proceed.

InternationalThe governments of Egypt andSudan have signed a jointcooperation agreement tocarry out economic, social andenvironmental feasibilitystudies for the creation of anew cross-border railwaybetween the two countries.

IRJ December 2020 9

BRITISH infrastructuremanager Network Rail (NR)

has announced the introductionof science-based targets forreducing its carbon footprint.NR’s Science-based targets

are validated and approved bythe Science Based TargetsInitiative (SBTi), a group ofenvironmental non-profitorganisation CDP, the UnitedNations Global Compact, WorldResources Institute, and theWorld Wide Fund for Nature(WWF). The targets include:

= reducing absolute scope 1and 2 greenhouse gas emissionby 46% by 2029

= 75% of NR’s suppliers,calculated by emissions, andcovering purchased goods andservices and capital goods, willhave science-based targets by2025, and = reducing absolute scope 3indirect emissions by 28% by2029.Scope 1 and 2 emissions are

within NR’s control, whilescope 3 are indirect. “We arethe first railway in the world toset targets that will help limitglobal warming to 1.5oC andthis shows our commitment tochange,” says NR chiefexecutive, Mr Andrew Haines.NR is already reducing its

greenhouse gas emissions,with all energy used to powerdepots, stations and officescoming from renewablesources. A trial to deploy anentirely electric road fleet isalso underway. NR is also exploring how it

can generate renewable electricityas well as ways to supportimproved biodiversity, with anextensive community treeplanting scheme underway. With around two-thirds of

the railway’s emissionsgenerated by suppliers, NRsays it is keen to support itssupply chain to set their owntargets.

Network Rail sets ambitious emissions reduction targets

CRRC Changchun hasunveiled a new high-speed

train equipped with variable-gauge bogies, which canoperate on a range of gaugesand power supplies. The400km/h train has beendeveloped to facilitate fasterservices on internationalroutes.

CRRC has also developed agauge-changer track device toenable the bogies to switchbetween gauges.At present, China’s rail

network is 1435mm gauge,with around 79,685km of line.By contrast, neighbouringcountries employ two mainbroad gauges, with 1520mm

gauge in Russia, Mongolia,Kazakhstan and former Sovietcountries; and 1676mm commonin India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.CRRC also says that the train

can operate in temperaturesbetween -50oC and 50oC andunder a range of differentpower supplies and railstandards.Development of the train

was revealed in July last yearby Mr Yu Weiping, vice-president of CRRC at theGlobal Manufacturing ServiceOutsourcing Summit inChangchun, China, and isexpected to be completed intime for the Beijing 2022Winter Olympic Games.The project was supported

by a research grant from theChinese government. CRRC says that it is now

ready to take orders forcustomised high-speed trainsbased on the prototype.

CRRC unveils 400km/h gauge-changeable train

BRIGHTLINE, United States,has suspended the sale of

bonds to support its $US 8.4bnLas Vegas - Southern CaliforniaBrightline West high-speed linefollowing a failure to sourcebuyers.Parent company, Fortress

Investment Group, beganselling the bonds, worth $US3.2bn, at the end of September,under a bond arrangementagreed with California andNevada state agencies. Thissum was subsequently reduced

to $US 2.4bn, according toCmppncfshRvjou.Under the arrangement,

Fortress had to sell the bondsby December 1, or the state ofCalifornia would return thefunding it had allocated to theproject to the state’s affordablehousing fund.Despite the setback, Brightline

says the project will continue.“I’ll confirm that we postponedour bond sale, but we willcontinue to move our projectforward,” Brightline told IRJ’s

sister publication Sbjmxbz!Bhf.“We will continue this project.This does not stop us but rathercauses us to shift our fundinggoals until the market improves.We will continue the projectand focus on raising equity.”A construction schedule,

with a potential to start workon the 217km California lineand 54km Nevada line by theend of the year, was releasedon a new website in October,with a current completion dateof 2024

Brightline fails to sell bonds for Las Vegas - California HSL

Dec News_Layout 1 19/11/2020 17:58 Page 9

10 IRJ December 2020

News | headlines

GERMAN infrastructuremanager DB Networks has

announced the final route forthe new Frankfurt - Mannheimhigh-speed line following afour-year public consultationperiod. After considering 32routes, the 57.8km option 2bhas been selected. The new 300km/h line will

begin south of Frankfurtairport at Zeppelinheim, whereit will connect with both theairport and Frankfurt citycentre via existing routes. Itwill then follow the A5highway south to Darmstadt,before following the A67highway to Lorsch, around15km north of Mannheim. The new line will then run

under the A67 before headingsouthwest, largely in tunnel, toa junction with the existingZeppelinheim - Gross Gerau -Mannheim line south ofLampertheim. Services willthen use the existing line viaMannheim-Waldhof to reachMannheim main station. The new line will include

12.7km in tunnels and 7.2km incuttings, and will reduce the

fastest ICE journey timesbetween Frankfurt andMannheim from 38 to 29minutes. The line will be builtfor mixed traffic with freighttrains running at night. Planning permission and

funding for the project will besought in the next 18 months,with construction unlikely tobegin until the mid-2020s. In November, DB launched

public consultation for a newMannheim - Karlsruhe high-speed line connecting the new

Frankfurt - Mannheim linewith the upgraded Karlsruhe -Basle main line. TheMannheim - Karlsruhe linecould be either a newalignment or a completerebuild of existinginfrastructure. DB has also presented four

potential corridors for the new70km Ulm - Augsburg300km/h line. The fourcorridors will run parallel tothe existing route at both ends,with some options partially

paralleling the A8 highway. The new line will reduce

journey times by 15 minutes to26 minutes compared with theexisting 85km 200km/hconventional line viaGünzburg.The first phase of public

consultation is due forcompletion in mid-2021.Planning permission will besought for the final routearound 2023-24, withconstruction unlikely beforethe late 2020s.

DB confirms new Frankfurt - Mannheim high-speed route

Amobilisation meeting forthe construction the Ya’an -

Nyingchi central section of theSichuan-Tibet Railway washeld on November 8 at theSejila Mountain tunnel and theDadu River bridge.The Ya’an - Nyingchi section

will be 1011km long and havea design speed of 120-200km/h.China National Railwayestimates it will take 10 yearsto complete the project.The first section of the

Sichuan-Tibet Railway fromChengdu to Ya’an opened in

December 2018, whileconstruction of the Lhasa -Nyingchi section started inJune 2015.When the Sichuan-Tibet

Railway is completed in 2030 itwill cut the Chengdu - Lhasajourney from 48 to 13 hours.

CEO of Australia’s V/Line sacked over corruption claimsTHE board of Victoria’s regional rail network

V/Line has sacked its CEO after he appearedbefore an anti-corruption hearing in Melbourneaccused of receiving illicit payments from thecontractors employed to clean the operator’s trains.Mr James Pinder was suspended in August

when it became known that he was to be thesubject of a hearing by the Victorian IndependentBroad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC).The IBAC inquiry heard Pinder, together with

the fleet manager of Metro Trains, the operatorof the Melbourne’s suburban network, Mr PeterBollas, received regular cash payments of up to$A 10,000 ($US 7021) from Transclean, thecompany contracted to clean Victoria’s trainsand trams.The V/Line board immediately cancelled the

contract, saying the alleged conduct of Pinderand the cleaning company was unacceptable“under any circumstances.”

Pinder has denied any wrong doing andclaims he and Bollas were in a secret gamblingsyndicate and that was the source of the money.However, Bollas confessed to the inquiry he

had taken up to $A 150,000 in corrupt cashpayments from Transclean director, Mr GeorgeHaritos.In addition to the regular cash payments, Pinder

also reportedly received a gift of $A 320,000 fromTransclean which was spent on his $A 2.5m house.The CEO of Metro Trains, Mr Raymond

O’Flaherty, announced he had sacked Bollas,who was also stood down in August.The IBAC hearing was also told Pinder helped

cover up the fact Transclean had not properlysanitised trains at the start of the Covid-19pandemic despite being paid an additional $A1.3m a month to carry out extra cleaning andsanitising. The basic contract with V/Line wasworth $A 40m.

SPAIN inaugurated a 110kmsection of the Madrid -

Galicia high-speed linebetween Zamora and Pedralbade la Pradería on October 26.The new section, which

opened to traffic on October27, cost É898m, and expandsthe Spanish high-speednetwork to around 3567km.The section reduces travel

times between Madrid and themajor Galician cities, including24 minutes to A Coruña, 31minutes to Vigo, 39 minutes toOurense, 41 minutes to Santiagode Compostela, 1h 2min to Lugoand 1h 26min to Pontevedra.There are now four trains per

day between Madrid andOurense, Santiago and ACoruña and between Madridand Vigo, five times per daybetween Madrid and Lugo, andsix times per day betweenMadrid and Pontevedra. Renfeplans to further increase thefrequency of services whendemand recovers.

China starts work on central section of Sichuan-Tibet Railway

Spain opens newHS rail section

The new high-speed line will use the existing line via Mannheim-Waldhof to Mannheim main station. Photo: Keith Fender

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In brief

= Japanese logistics companyNippon Express is planning todouble the number of freighttrains it operates betweenChina and Europe from 2500return journeys to 5000journeys annually.= Shift2Rail has signed twoagreements to promoteinternational cooperation inresearch and innovation (R&I)One, with the Canadian UrbanTransit Research & InnovationConsortium (Cutric), willsupport cooperation on thedevelopment of environmentally-friendly and energy-efficienttransport modes. The second,with the Permanent Secretariatof the Transport Community,will promote modernisation ofthe rail sector in the westernBalkans.= The International Union ofRailways (UIC) has announcedit will introduce a new OpenSales and Distribution Model(OSDM) platform supplied byHit Rail to replace the existingPrice and Fare InformationStorage (PRIFIS) internationaltariffs distribution tool.

ItalyItalian State Railways (FS) andenergy infrastructure companySnam have signed an agreementto assess the technical andeconomic feasibility for thedevelopment and rollout ofhydrogen-powered trains.

KoreaHyundai Rotem and theKorean Rail Research Institute(KRRI) have signed amemorandum of understandingto cooperate on the researchand development of ahydrogen-based propulsionsystem for rail vehicles.

NorwayNorway has begun testing ofonboard ETCS ahead of theintroducion into commercialoperation from 2021.

TaiwanHyundai Rotem has deliveredthe first of 52 EMUs orderedby Taiwan RailwaysAdministration under a Won909.8bn ($US 803.4m) contractawarded in June 2018. Thenew trains will be used onexisting suburban lines from2021. The full fleet is scheduledfor delivery by 2023. IRJ

IRJ December 2020 11

FOLLOWING the election oflong-time passenger rail

advocate, Mr Joe Biden, aspresident elect of the UnitedStates, the United States HighSpeed Rail Association (USHSR)has published a five-point planto encourage the developmentof high-speed networks acrossthe country.The plan looks to build on

Biden’s campaign promise to“spark the second greatrailroad revolution” in the US.The plan comprises: 1: Create a new High-SpeedRail Development Authoritywithin the US Department ofTransport to direct andcoordinate the nationalprogramme, working closely

with the states. The authoritywould be tasked with initiatingnew high-speed rail projects,conducting route studies, filingfor permits, assembling land,hiring contractors and consultants,and hiring operators. 2: Identify the top five high-speed rail priority projects, whichwould be fast-tracked tocompletion with the full supportof the federal government. Thefive projects are: California($US 60bn); Texas ($US 20bn),Northeast Corridor (NEC)upgrade and New York Citytunnels ($US 50bn); CascadiaVancouver - Seattle - Portland($US 40bn); and Florida Tampa- Orlando ($US 2.5bn). 3: Select second-tier projects to

receive funding and assistancefor early works. These include:Chicago - Milwaukee ($US 8bn),Atlanta - Charlotte ($US 18bn),Denver - Albuquerque ($US 40bn),Nashville - Memphis ($US 15bn),Chicago - Detroit ($US 30bn),Phoenix - Tucson ($US 12bn), andKansas City - St Louis ($US 19bn). 4: Coordinate closely with localcities on transit-orienteddevelopment (TOD) planningto maximise community andeconomic developmentopportunities brought by newhigh-speed stations. 5: Work with airlines andairports to replace short-haulflights with high-speed railand extend high-speed lines tomajor airports.

Five-point plan aims to accelerate US high-speed

THE Brazilian state of SãoPaulo announced a Reais

6bn ($US 1.05bn) programmeof upgrades to its rail networkon October 19, which includesthe reopening of two linestotalling 527km.Under the new plan, the

369km Panorama - Bauru and158.6km Colombia - Pradópolislines will be reopened forfreight services operated byRumo Logistics.Other improvements include:

= track doubling betweenItirapina, Boa Vista Velha andPerequê= around 18km of track and anew rail yard in Catanduva= construction of a new bypassin Mirassol, São José do RioPreto and Cedral= closure of redundant depotsin Araraquara and Rio Claro, and= extension of passing loops

between Rubinéia and Itirapina.The upgrades will expand

the network’s capacity from 35million to 75 million tonnes offreight per year, and areintended to consolidate thestate’s position as the mainexport corridor for Brazil’s

agricultural industry.“It is the largest expansion of

rail transport in the state of SãoPaulo in the last 50 years andis the first major announcementof the 2021-2022 economicrecovery plan,” says São Paulogovernor, Mr João Doria.

CRRC Zhuzhou Institute hasreleased its fully automatic

operation (FAO) tSafer-UC3000signalling system, which it saysprovides a more comprehensiveurban rail signalling solution.CRRC says the system is an

upgrade on CBTC, with morethan 20 additional functionsincluding train start-up, dynamicand static self-testing, obstacleand derailment protection, andremote reset.The system is compatible

with conventional CBTC andprovides several benefits

including enhanced operationalflexibility, improved capacity,reduced labour requirements,and lower energy requirementsand emissions.CRRC says the system

supports both manned andunmanned operation.“The FAO system is a fully

automated and highly centralisedtrain operation control system,which is a new generation ofurban rail transit systems thatautomates the operation processusing modern computing,communication, control,

integrated monitoring and systemintegration technologies,” saysMr Shang Jing, CRRC ZhuzhouInstitute general manager.Automatic operation supports

adjustable departure times aswell as 24-hour operation, sevendays a week. CRRC says thesystem will reduce human errors,stopping times and headways.The system also improves

energy efficiency by controllingthe power supply for all trainsin a sub-section of the networkto improve the use ofregenerative power.

São Paulo announces network modernisation plans

CRRC Zhuzhou Institute releases fully automatic signalling system

Rumo Logistics will benefit from the reopening of two lines in São Paulo state.

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12 IRJ December 2020

News | transit

TRANSISRAEL, the authorityleading the $US 2bn Haifa -

Nazareth tram-train project, hasannounced the 10 contactorswhich will build the 41km line.The winners of the 34km Har

Yona - Merkazit Hamifratzinterurban sections A, B and Care K S M G Contractors(infrastructure and development),A M Z Shemesh, OlizkiInfrastructures, Rolider, and YLehrer.Y Lehrer, Rolider, Abraham

Isaac Co, and Brothers AntonEarthworks won the 7km HarYona (Yona mountain) - TauficZiad urban section D.Preliminary work is due to

start before the end of the year,including relocating andrebuilding infrastructure,building supporting walls,earthworks and pavements.Initial works will be

concentrated at Kiryat-Ata andNof Hagalil, and will includeclearing an area for a depot atKiryat-Ata, building two park-and-ride facilities at NofHagalil in the industrial zoneof Har Yona and at the urbanmarket, and work at thegovernment offices at NofHagalil.

THERE were mixed results for transit fundingmeasures included on election ballots in states

and cities across the United States on November 3.According to the American Public Transportation

Association (APTA), 16 measures on variousballots gave voters the chance to make decisionsconcerning $US 38bn in potential transit funding,although not all these schemes include rail. Among the winners was Caltrain with voters

in the San Francisco Bay Area set to approve ameasure to increase a sales tax to provide dedicatedfunding for the commuter operator, which ishaemorrhaging money during the Covid-19pandemic. The measure is expected to generate$US 108m in additional funding, which will helpto keep the San Francisco - San Jose - Gilroyservice operational. Voters in Austin, Texas, overwhelmingly

approved Project Connect, a $US 7.1bn initiativeto improve bus and rail transit, which is fundedby a 0.875 cent sales tax increase.

The plans include adding stations to theexisting Metro Rail Red Line to Leander andconstruction of the Green Line from central toeast Austin. Two new light rail lines will also bebuilt: the Orange Line between north and southAustin, and the Blue Line between Austin citycentre and the airport. A new city centre tunnelwill be constructed for the light rail service. The result was different in Portland, Oregon,

where voters rejected a measure which includedthe construction of a new 17km light rail linefrom central Portland to Tualatin, a suburbsouthwest of the city. Voters in Gwinnett County, Georgia, a suburban

county, northeast of Atlanta, also voted narrowlyto defeat a measure to raise $US 12.2bn througha 1% sales tax over the next 30 years to supportthe improvement of transit connections toAtlanta. Uif!Hxjoofuu!Ebjmz!Qptu!reported onNovember 4 that the “no” vote received 50.22%of the votes cast.

MINSK Metro opened thefirst section of the cross-city

Line 3 on November 6 followingan inauguration attended byBelarusian president, MrAlexander Lukashenka. Fulloperation began the next day.The new 3.5km north-south

line has four stations andinterchanges with Line 1 atVakzal’naja and Line 2 atYubileynaya Ploshcha. Workbegan in February 2014.Two extensions are planned,

extending Line 3 to 17km when

completed. Construction of thesouthern extension to SlutskyGostinets is underway, and isscheduled to open in 2023. Workon the northern extension tothe Zialiony Luh district is dueto begin in 2023-24, with the fullline scheduled to be completedby 2028. Other shorterextensions to the existing twolines are also proposed. In addition, Lukashenka

announced his support for thecreation of a fourth ring line toconnect with the other three

lines, planning for which isunderway. Minsk’s metro network, which

opened in 1984, is now 41.8kmlong and is used by around700,000 passengers daily.The line will initially be

operated by a fleet of six four-car Stadler M110/M111 EMUs,which were delivered in 2019.A further four five-car trainsdelivered in 2020, currentlybeing used on other parts ofthe network, will be introducedto Line 3 at a later date.

CHICAGO Transit Authority(CTA) faces a $US 375m

operating budget deficit in 2021in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.The $US 1.64bn proposed

operating budget released byCTA at the end of Octoberhighlights the need for newfederal funding to supportpublic transport across theUnited States. While CTA willenter 2021 with no plannedchanges to services or fares, theagency is dependent oncontinued federal support toretain this level of service.CTA says it has witnessed an

unprecedented loss of ridershipand revenue since the start ofthe pandemic in March. Statesales tax funding that supportstransit also fell well belowanticipated levels. Like other transit operators,

CTA benefitted from a $US 24.9bn

aid package delivered as part ofthe $US 2 trillion CoronavirusAid, Relief and EconomicSecurity Cares Act (Cares). Thisfunding will help to sustainoperation for the remainder of2020 and into early 2021. However, the American Public

Transportation Association(APTA) projects that if additionalemergency federal transitfunding is not provided, six in10 public transit agencies willhave to consider service cuts orother cost-cutting measures asthey continue to suffer fromunprecedented financial lossesand lower-than-normal ridership.Despite the challenges to the

operating budget, whichcovers day-to-day service,CTA’s proposed budgetincludes a $US 3.4bn five-yearCapital Improvement Program(CIP). More than half of the

capital funding will go towardpreviously announced majorprojects, including: = upgrade of the Cottage GroveGreen Line station ($US 60m) = Blue Line O’Hare branchpower improvements ($US 50m) = advancement of the RedLine extension project ($US327.8m), and= Phase 1 station improvementsunder the All Stations

Accessibility Plan ($US 78m). Other capital projects to

continue or begin in 2021include: = testing of the 10 new 7000-series metro cars = quarter-life overhaul workon 5000-series metro cars = start of station and trackconstruction as part of RPMPhase One, and = the roll-out of all-electric buses.

Mixed results for transit initiatives in 2020 US elections

Minsk Metro opens first section of cross-city line Israel announcesHaifa - Nazarethline contractors

Chicago Transit Authority faces $US 375m operating deficit in 2021

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IRJ December 2020 13

city’s new lines 3 and 4 lightrail routes. The contract includesan initial order for 66 LRVs,which are scheduled fordelivery by the end of 2023.

EdmontonThe Canadian city announcedMarigold Infrastructure Partners(MIP) as preferred bidder for acontract to design, build andpartially finance the $C 2.6bn($US 1.98bn), 14km ValleyLine West light rail extension.MIP is a consortium of ColasInfrastructure Canada, Parsons,Standard General, FranclArchitecture, Fast + EPP, andStantec.

IstanbulMetro Istanbul began operationof the 18.5km Mecidiyeköy -Mahmutbey section of thedriverless Line M7 on October28. The section is the first phaseof the Kabatas - Esenyurt line onthe European side of Istanbul.

KolkataWork on Phase 2 of Kolkata’sEast-West metro line, including a500m tunnel below the RiverHooghly, has restarted followinga five-year stoppage to theproject. The Indian cabinetsanctioned a revised projectcost of Rs 85.8bn ($US 1.15bn)in October.

LondonThe British government is setto provide Transport for London(TfL) a funding and financingpackage worth around £1.8bnto make up for lost revenuecaused by the coronaviruspandemic. The funding willenable the authority to keepLondon Underground trainsand buses running through thesecond national lockdown thatbegan on November 5.

Panama A consortium of Hitachi, HitachiRail STS and Mitsubishi hassigned a $US 883m contractwith HPH Consortium, theprime contractor for the MetroLine 3 monorail project, tosupply rolling stock and equipthe 25km line. Hitachi andHitachi Rail STS will provide28 six-car trains equipped withHitachi’s B-CHOPregenerative brakingtechnology. IRJ

AlexandriaEgypt’s National Authority forTunnels has awarded a Systra-led consortium a contract forthe design and supervision ofthe É360m rehabilitation ofthe 13.8km Raml light rail line.The rehabilitation is expectedto be carried out over 34 months.

AntwerpBelgium’s Flemish TransportCompany (De Lijn) has ordered17 additional LRVs under acontract signed in October2017 for up to 146 CAF Urbos100 low-floor LRVs.

AthensAthens Metro has awarded a$US 1.8bn contract for theconstruction of the first phaseof its 38.2km Line 4 metroproject to an Avax-ledconsortium, which also includesAlstom and Ghella. The contractcovers the construction of the12.8km Section A.

AucklandThe Link Alliance, led by VinciConstruction Grands Projects,has been awarded two contractsfor the Auckland City Rail Linkproject. Package 5 includes theconstruction of two grade-separated junctions and 2km ofnew track. Package 7 includesinstallation of power supply,overhead lines, signalling andthe control system.

BaghdadA consortium of Alstom andHyundai signed a Letter ofIntent with the Iraqi Ministryof Transport to define aframework to accelerateimplementation of the $US2.5bn Baghdad Elevated Train(BET) project.

Bucharest Metrorex has awarded a É240mcontract for up to 30 six-carMetropolis trains to Alstom foruse on the newly constructedmetro Line 5. The contractincludes an initial order for 13trains worth around É100m,with an option for another 17trains worth É140m.

CasablancaCasa Transport has awardedAlstom a É130m contract tosupply up to 88 Citadis X05LRVs for operation on the

In brief

KENYA Railway Corporation(KRC) began operation of

five metre-gauge class 61 DMUson the Nairobi CommuterNetwork (NCR) on November10, following a ceremony atNairobi Central station attendedby Kenyan president, Mr UhuruKenyatta.The trains will be used to

expand capacity on the fourcommuter lines which radiatefrom Nairobi to Syokimau,Ruiru, Embakasi and Kikuyu. The trains are part of a fleet

of 11 second-hand DMUsacquired by KRC from MallorcanRailway Services (SFM) under

a Shillings 1.5bn ($US 13.76m)agreement signed in March 2019. The trains were originally

built by CAF between 1995and 2003, and were sold bySFM following the completionof electrification of theMallorcan network. The trains were purchased as

part of the Nairobi CommuterRail Service (NCRS) project,which includes upgrades toexisting stations, rolling stock,signalling systems and around100km of track, as well as theconstruction of new stations inBuru Buru, Pipeline, Umoja,Githurai, Donholm.

THE LRTC Consortium hascompleted phase 1 of the

turnkey Light Rail Transit (LRT)project in Lusail, a new citycurrently under constructionnear Doha, Qatar.The first phase includes

9.7km of single-track catenary-free line and 12.8km of single-track underground line. The linehas 16 stations, an interchangewith Doha metro Red Line, adepot and a viaduct over theAl Khor Expressway. Qatar Railways Company

awarded the LRTC consortiuma É2bn contract in 2014 tosupply the turnkey light railsystem. The consortium

comprises Alstom (40%) andQDVC (60%), a Qatarishareholding company incharge of civil works which isheld 51% by Qatari Diar RealEstate Investment Companyand 49% by Vinci ConstructionGrands Projects.Alstom’s share of the

contract is worth É750m andincludes rolling stock, catenaryand catenary-free technology(APS), signalling and platformscreen doors. The 28 five-car Citadis low

floor LRVs supplied by Alstomcan operate with both catenaryand APS, with capacity for 209passengers.

PAKISTAN’s first metro linehas opened in Lahore. The

27.1km Orange Line runs fromAli Town in the southwest viaLahore main station to DeraGujran in the east.The line comprises 25.4km

of elevated and 1.7km ofunderground track and 26stations. Two stations, Chauburjiand Lakshmi, will becomeinterchanges with the planned24km Blue Line and the plannedPurple Line to the airport.

The new line is operated by27 five-car trains supplied byCRRC Zhuzhou ElectricLocomotive. The 80km/h trainshave heat-resistant bogies toimprove durability, systemsconfigured to handle unstablevoltage, and energy-saving air-conditioning. The first trainarrived in May 2017 and testrunning began in October thatyear.The Orange Line is forecast to

carry 245,000 passengers per day.

Lahore opens Pakistan’s first metro

DMUs introduced on Nairobi network

Qatar completes Lusail LRT phase 1

Dec TN_Layout 1 20/11/2020 10:39 Page 13

14 IRJ December 2020

News | financial

SPANISH infrastructure managers Adifand Adif High-Speed (Adif AV) have

announced plans to invest É4.86bn in2021, while national operator Renfe willinvest É857m.

The Adif budget includes É3.01bn onvarious projects already underway, as wellas É1.85bn for the refurbishment andimprovement of the existing network.Work will also focus on completing theSpanish sections of the Mediterranean andAtlantic Trans-European TransportNetwork (TEN-T) corridors.

Adif has allocated É815m for continuingupgrades to commuter networks invarious cities, as well as on the Algeciras -Zaragoza, Júndiz (Vitoria) - French borderand Valencia - Madrid corridors toimprove reliability and connectivity.

Adif AV proposed reducing access feesfor high-speed services by 12% on theMadrid - Barcelona - French border route;16% on the Madrid - Andalusia high-speedcorridor; and 23% of minimum access feesfor all other high-speed lines. Rail Freight

access charges will remain at 20 cents pertrain-km in 2021.

Renfe will increase spending to É857mfor 2021, a 116% rise compared with 2020.

Of this, 77.1% will go towards rollingstock, including É300m for new purchasesand another É300m on improvements toexisting fleets.

GERMANY’s urban publictransport operators expect

to lose up to É3.5bn in revenuein 2021, even if a coronavirusvaccine is available by spring,a study from the Association ofGerman Transport Companies(VDV) says.

VDV says the introduction ofa vaccine will only result in arecovery in passenger numbersif a large portion of the publicreceive it, with restrictions onpassenger numbers and anincrease in working from home

expected to continue until then.“We only expect a noticeable

recovery towards the end of2021,” says VDV president, MrIngo Wortmann. “At the sametime, we as an industry will ofcourse try everything to minimiselosses. Much of this, however,is not in our hands, such as theavailability of the vaccine andthe capacity to vaccinate asmany people as possible.”

Operators are anticipatingincreased losses over the end2020 following the introduction

of new lockdowns, continuedreduced working hours, theabsence of tourists and thecancellation of events, tradefairs and Christmas markets.

“In September, we werealready back at around 80% ofthe passenger numbers we hadbefore the pandemic brokeout,” Wortmann says. “But dueto the overall sharp rise in thenumber of infections and theassociated second lockdown,the figures have been fallingagain since mid-October.”

THE head of RussianRailways (RZD), Mr Oleg

Belozerov, has predicted that railfreight volumes will continueto grow in 2021 as the railwayrecorded strong figures in 2020despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The full recovery of freighttraffic volumes on the railwaysin Russia is expected in the firsthalf of 2021,” Belozerov toldthe online PRO//Motion.1520international and transportlogistics forum on October 22.“The pandemic became a seriouschallenge. We understood thatthe situation was absolutelynot trivial and we had to reactquickly. Our prompt responsehas demonstrated what RZD isnow: a modern, flexible andinnovative company.”

Belozerov says RZD revisedits decision-making processesby granting staff the authorityto make the decisions necessaryduring the pandemic. Thecompany also approved freighttariff discounts worth Roubles10bn ($US 130m).

Initial forecasts predicted adrop in volumes of between 15and 30% for 2020, but this hasnot materialised. Intermodaltraffic in particular grew by18%, with traffic doubling onsome routes.

Adif and Renfe announce major investments for 2021

RZD predictsfreight growth

SIEMENS and Alstom haveboth reported a fall in

income due to the Covid-19pandemic.

Siemens Mobility announcedan adjusted Ebitda of É241m forits 2020 fiscal year, which ranfrom October 1 2019 toSeptember 30 2020, a fall of19% compared with É299m in2019.

Despite the impact ofCovid-19, revenue fell by only2% year-on-year from É2.5bnto É2.45bn. The companyrecorded 14% growth in ordersin 2020, rising from É1.83bnin 2019 to É2.08bn.

Siemens says that thecompany experienced gains inrolling stock and signalling

orders, which counteractedlower proceeds from higher-margin rail infrastructure andservice businesses.

Alstom reported net incomeof É161m in the first half of the2020-21 fiscal year from April1 to September 30, a 24.4%drop compared with É213min the first half of 2019-20.

The manufacturer alsoreported an adjusted Ebit ofÉ263m for the first half of2020-21, falling 18% fromÉ319m for the same periodlast year. Alstom’s Ebit marginremains robust, falling by only0.2% to 7.5%.

Despite new orders decliningby 43% year-on-year to É2.65bn,and sales by 15% to É3.15bn,

Alstom retains an order backlogworth É40bn, with a year-on-year decline of only 3%.

Alstom is anticipatingstronger performance in thesecond half of 2020-21, providingthat the second wave of thepandemic has no materialeffect on production or thecommercial tendering schedule.The company forecasts salesfor the second half of betweenÉ7.6bn and É7.9bn, and anadjusted Ebit margin withinthe 7.7-8% range.

Siemens Mobility remainsoptimistic about the 2021 fiscalyear, and forecasts that theCovid-19 pandemic will nothave a long-lasting impact onthe global economy.

Siemens and Alstom report fall in net income

€3.5bn revenue loss predicted for urban opeartors in 2021Renfe is planning to spend €300m to upgrade its fleet in 2021. Photo: Shutterstock/Takashi Images

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IRJ December 2020 15

providing single wagon loadservices.

IndiaThe National High Speed RailCorporation (NHSRCL) hasnamed Larsen & Toubro (L&T)as the preferred bidder for aRs 249.85bn ($US 3.39bn)contract to construct a sectionof the Mumbai - Ahmedabadhigh-speed line. The contractcovers a 237.1km section of the 508.1km line.

ItalyWebuild has completed theacquisition of 65% ofinternational construction firmAstaldi. The new group has anorder backlog of more thanÉ40bn and 70,000 direct andindirect employees in 50countries.

NetherlandsThe EC has approved a Dutchscheme worth around É1.5bnto compensate regional andlong-distance public transportoperators for losses caused bythe coronavirus pandemic andthe subsequent measuresintroduced to contain the virus.

South AfricaTransnet has reported a 34.9%decrease in net profit to Rand3.9bn ($US 241.7m) for thefinancial year ending March31, despite a 1.3% increase inrevenue to Rand 75.1bn.Operating costs increased by1.9% to Rand 41.1bn, whileEbitda increased by 0.7% toRand 34bn.

United StatesShort line and regional freightoperator Patriot Rail hasentered into an agreement toacquire Class 3 short lineoperator Salt Lake Garfield &Western Railway (SLGW) andits subsidiaries Caballero andCaballero 2, which providestorage and multi-modalservices.

UzbekistanThe Asian Development Bank(ADB) has issued a $US 121mloan to complete themodernisation of the country’seastern rail network. The loanwill support projects toincrease capacity andfrequency. IRJ

AustraliaThe government of Victoriahas released a new businessplan to rescue the troubledMurray Basin project. Theproject stalled last year afterits entire $A 440m ($US314.64m) budget was spentbefore completion.

CanadaCanadian National Railway(CN) reported $C 3.41bn ($US2.59bn) in revenue for the thirdquarter of 2020, down $C 421mfrom the same period in 2019.Operating expenses fell by 8%to $C 2.04bn.

Czech RepublicCzech Railways (CD) hasawarded a Koruna 9.6bn ($US429.17m) framework contract tosupply up to 60 RegioPanterEMUs to a consortium ofŠkoda Transportation andŠkoda Vagonka. The trainswill operate regional servicesin the east of the country, withthe initial order for 29 trains.

DenmarkDanish State Railways (DSB)and Nordic Investment Bank(NIB) have signed a É400mloan agreement to support aproject to fully electrify andconvert DSB’s fleet. The 15-year loan will help finance 42new Siemens Vectron electriclocomotives, more than 100 newEMUs and coaches, and theestablishment of threeworkshops.

FranceTransport minister, Mr Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, presented the2021 provisional rail budget toparliament on November 10.The proposed budget fortransport infrastructure andservices will increase by 17%to É3.7bn.

GermanyBombardier Transportationreported $US 2.1bn in revenuefor the third quarter of 2020,adjusted to exclude the impactof foreign exchange rates dueto the impact of the Covid-19pandemic. The result is a 5%drop compared with the sameperiod in 2019.= The European Commission(EC) approved a É600mscheme to support operators

In brief

THE Brazilian NationalAssociation of Passenger

Rail Operators (ANPTrilhos)says metro, urban and lightrail operators are expecting atotal loss of Reais 7.4bn ($US1.3bn) in 2020, with passengernumbers dropping 30%compared with 2019.

The situation is beginning toimprove slightly, with passengernumbers recovering by 27% inthe third quarter comparedwith the second quarter, whichrecorded an 84% drop year-on-year. However, passenger

numbers in the third quarterwere still down by 54% year-on-year.

This recovery has beenslowed by the fact that 70% ofjourneys are usually taken forwork, with high unemploymentcoupled with an increase incompanies closing or workingremotely affecting passengernumbers.

Between January andSeptember, operators carriedaround 1.1 billion fewerpassengers, a 47% decreaseyear-on-year.

MEXICO’s National Fundfor Tourism Promotion

(Fonatur), which is overseeingconstruction of the 1452kmMayan Train project on theYucatan peninsula, has releaseddetails of the internationalpublic tender to supply rollingstock and signalling andoperations equipment for thefirst five sections of the project.

The contract is split into fourcomponents, which Fonatursays is intended to maximisepossible efficiencies.

The first element includesthe procurement, testing andcommissioning of 43 trains foroperation on the first fivesections of the line fromPalenque via SF Campeche,Izamal, and Cancun to Tulum.There is also an option topurchase an additional 27 setsfor the remaining two MayaTrain sections, which are newbuild sections between Tulum,Bacalar and Escárcega.

Speaking to IRJ, Fonaturchief, Mr Rogelio Jiménez

Pons, says the railway willrequire a mixed fleet of electricand diesel-electric trains andhas a budget of approximatelyPesos 40bn ($US 1.97bn). Thenetwork will be electrified on a690km stretch between Meridaon section three and Chetumalon section six.

The second element comprisesthe acquisition, installation,testing and commissioning ofsignalling, train protection,telecommunications and radiosystems. This element alsoincludes the design, construction,equipment and operation ofcontrol rooms for the network.

The third element is the design,construction and equipment ofrolling stock maintenancedepots. The fourth is a five-yearafter sales agreement, whichincludes knowledge transfer toFonatur and Fonatur Tren Maya.

Bidding for the tender isrunning from November 24until December 4, with thewinning contractor announcedon May 26 2021.

Mayan Train rolling stock andequipment tender announced

Brazilian passenger operators face$US 1.3bn loss from Covid-19

Photo: Shuterstock/Andre Luiz Moreira

Dec FN_Layout 1 19/11/2020 17:25 Page 15

15a IRJ December 2020

traffic to recover from the lowsof 2020 in 2021 before growingslightly above the rate of GDPgrowth from 2022, which willsupport long-term revenuegrowth for Europeanpassenger railway companies. While many European

governments have requiredoperators to maintain analmost full service to supportessential journeys during thepandemic, the significant dropin passenger traffic has led to asubstantial decline inoperators’ Ebitda, especiallyduring the first half of the

AS countries, regions andcities across Europe

restricted travel to stem thespread of coronavirus inMarch of this year, theresulting drop in travellers hitthe passenger rail sector hard.Falls of up to 90-95% in somecases decimated the balancesheets of many operatorsacross the continent placingthem under immediatefinancial pressure. While this has caused major

concern in the short term,government intervention isexpected to mitigate the worst

effects of the pandemic on thesector, says a report fromMoody’s Investor Servicereleased at the end of October.This government support isalso expected to enable thesector to preserve its creditquality, despite the plummetin railway companies’earnings in 2020, the creditrating provider notes.In general, Moody’s expects

passenger traffic to recovermore quickly in the rail sectorthan in the airline sector wherea substantial recovery isunlikely before 2023. The

faster recovery is driven by thelower exposure of passengeroperators to internationaltraffic, which accounts for only6% of European rail passengertraffic, and also by theincreasing use of rail as a formof transport.While leisure travel will

fully recover, Moody’s believesthere is a risk that commuterlevels may not return to 2019levels as it expects apermanent increase in peopleworking from home instead ofcommuting to an office. Overall, Moody’s expects

Strong environmental credentials set todrive European passenger rail recoveryEnvironmental trends are expected to help Europe’s passenger rail sector recover from the Covid-19downturn in the long-term, but medium-term risks still remain according to a report issued last month byMoody’s Investor Service. David Burroughs reports.

News | analysis

Many previously busy stations , such as London Waterloo, were left deserted as passengers stayed away from trains throughout 2020. However, Moody’s says environmental trends will drive passengers back to rail in the long-term, helping the sector to recover and potentially capture new users.

Dec NA_Layout 1 30/11/2020 16:12 Page 14

year. Moody’s says this willrequire government support,including direct or indirectmeasures, to continue over thenext 12 to 18 months. The coronavirus pandemic

is also highlighting thelimitations of the liberalisationof the passenger railway sectorat the expense of small privaterail operators, Moody’s says.Unlike domestic incumbents,private operators do not havethe scale, the access to fundingor government support tosurvive a prolonged severedecline in demand.Long-term, environmental

trends are expected to creategrowth opportunities over thenext decade. Initiatives byEuropean governments totackle air pollution and cutgreenhouse gas emissions willprovide a boost to rail trafficdue to lower CO2 emissionscompared with other forms oftransport.“Environmental trends will

create growth opportunitiesfor European passengerrailway companies in the nextdecade, a credit positive giventhe impact of the coronaviruson the sector,” says MrFrancesco Bozzano, assistantvice-president and analyst atMoody’s Investors Service.“Government initiativesencouraging consumers to usemore sustainable transportalternatives to reduce CO2emissions should also mean aprofit boost to rail traffic.”Both the European Union

(EU) and nationalgovernments are in the processof drafting regulations andmeasures aimed at promotinga shift to rail, a positive signfor passenger operators.Moody’s expects the CO2

emissions gap between trainsand aircraft to widen as morelines are electrified, dieseltrains are replaced byhydrogen trains and electrifiedlines are increasingly powered

by clean energy sources.While investments in next-

generation rolling stock, newtechnologies and themodernisation of the railnetwork are needed to supportthe planned growth forpassenger rail, this increasinginvestment, coupled withcoronavirus disruption, willlead to negative free cash flowand higher funding needs,Moody’s says.

This will in turn keepoperators’ debt/Ebitda ratioshigh. Moody’s expects a largeportion of these funds to besubsidised by governments orlocal authorities, but a residualportion will be paid bypassenger operators.Among the European

railway companies Moody’srates, German Rail (DB)exhibits the highest increase incapital spending in 2021 as therailway plans investments inrolling stock and infrastructureimprovements. Czech Railways’ (CD)

capital spending is also risingrapidly as a percentage of itsrevenue to around 30%-40% in2021 from around 15%-25% in2018 as the company plans tomodernise its relatively oldrolling stock and steps up itsinvestment projects followingCovid-related delays in 2020.

Social risksMoody’s considers

passenger operators to havemedium credit exposure tosocial risks, due to the sector’slabour-intensive and highlyunionised nature whichincreases the probability ofsocial actions and pressure onlabour costs.Income inequality supports

the value proposition of low-cost airlines like EasyJet and

IRJ December 2020 15b

bus operators such as Flixbus,which have been growingfaster than their respectivesectors. Moody’s says thisrepresents a threat for someincumbent operators in termsof increased competition andpricing pressure. Income inequality is also, to

some extent, expected to slowthe shift of passengers to railin Europe, especially incountries such as France

where ticket prices are high.However, Moody’s says thiscould also be an opportunityto diversify passengerrailways’ service offerings.Domestic operators that havecreated their own low-costoffers such as French NationalRailways’ (SNCF) Ouigo inFrance and Renfe’s Avloservice in Spain are wellequipped to face competitionin the next 10 years.Passenger operators are also

increasingly moving to dynamicticket pricing systems, similarto those used by airlines,which will enable them toextend offers to customers ofdifferent income levels,thereby increasing traffic. Moody’s adds that as people

continue to move to fast-growing areas in search ofwork, particularly large cities,the use of some regional railnetworks has decreased thusmaking several regional linesuneconomical to run. Whilethe cost of maintainingminimum public services aregenerally borne by governmentsrather than operators, Moody’ssays services could beindirectly affected as fundingminimum services inunprofitable regions divertsgovernment funds away frompotential investment in otherparts of the network or intechnological improvements. IRJ

Both the European Union (EU) andnational governments are in the processof drafting regulations and measuresaimed at promoting a shift to rail, apositive sign for passenger operators.

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Dec NA_Layout 1 30/11/2020 16:12 Page 15

16

MR Jean-Pierre Farandou tookover as president and CEO ofFrench National Railways

(SNCF) in November 2019, replacingMr Guillaume Pepy who had held thepost for 12 years. Unlike his predecessor,Farandou has spent his whole careerwith SNCF, moving through a variety ofposts, including eight years at the helmof Keolis, SNCF’s operator of urbantransport in France and abroad.Farandou arrives at a crucial time. Thenational incumbent, which has 270,000

staff worldwide and an annual turnoverof É33bn, will shortly face competitionfor operation of long-distance, regionaland suburban passenger services (p24),while a new mobility law will allowregional government to take overownership of rail infrastructure. At thesame time, SNCF’s rail freight subsidiariesare being reorganised to eliminatechronic losses and an ambitious plan hasbeen launched to double rail freight’smarket share by 2030 (p20).Farandou’s first year has been turbulent

to say the least. A national strike overpension reforms was immediatelyfollowed by the Covid-19 pandemic andlockdown which led to a collapse in railtraffic. After a relative recovery, a newlockdown started on October 30 andSNCF has again responded by limitingservices as passengers are encouragedto stay away from its trains.The impact of Covid was reflected inSNCF’s first half results. Total revenuefell by 21%, contributing to a É2.4bn loss.Intercity passenger operator, SNCF

Mobility, which is normally responsible for20% of total turnover, was worst hit,with revenue down by 57.5%. At theheight of the mid-March to mid-Maylockdown, SNCF was operating only7% of TGVs, 16% of regional passengertrains, and 34% of Transilien Parissuburban services. Freight traffic wasdown by 30%, mainly because buildingwork was halted and the automotiveindustry stopped, both of which hitsteel producers. SNCF reacted byfurloughing some staff under a

government-financed scheme anddelaying or abandoning some investments. Following the end of lockdown,services returned to near normal inParis, 87% in the regions and 70% onTGVs. Rail freight returned to 85% ofpre-pandemic levels. A normal passenger service wasannounced for the summer holidays,but SNCF was forced to cut some TGVservices due to poor reservations. In theend TGVs carried 2 million passengersduring July and August, 85% of the2019 figure, but in order to achieve this,some fares were significantly discounted. Following the return to work andeducation, TGV revenue in October2020 was only 50% of the 2019 level,while TER traffic was down 25% andTransilien services by 35%. Businesstraffic was much reduced due to thecancellations of trade fairs and acontinuation of home working.International passenger services werevery badly hit - Eurostar from Londonto Paris and Amsterdam, for example,carried only 11% of 2019 traffic inSeptember.The impact of the new lockdown,starting October 30, is likely to beslightly less drastic as great efforts havebeen made to maintain industrialactivity, while schools have remainedopen; on the other hand commutingwill be hit by the government’smessage to work from home.There will be little or no leisuretraffic with journeys betweenregions banned. Farandou says SNCF isfinding it very difficult toforecast results for 2021. He saysthe recent “second wave” ofCovid has taken everyone bysurprise and the number ofpassengers travelling in 2021will depend on the rate ofinfections and decisions takenby the government to limit itsimpact on the health system.Farandou hopes that avaccine will be available by

France | SNCF

SNCF at a crossroadsPassenger market liberalisation, freight reform and growing company debt were all major challenges facingFrench National Railways (SNCF) president and CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou when he took the job in November2019. Covid-19 has added a new dynamic to the role. In an exclusive interview, Farandou speaks to DavidHaydock about SNCF’s prospects for the decade ahead.

SNCF will continue to invest at a very high level,particularly in renewing the network. Jean-Pierre Farandou

“

Farandou was previously executivechairman of Keolis before takingover as president and CEO of SNCF

on January 1. A graduate of engineeringfrom Mines ParisTech, Farandou beganhis career with US mining companyAmax before joining SNCF in 1981.In 1993 he was appointed projectmanager for the launch of the Paris -Lille high-speed line, before going onto create the legal structure for ThalysInternational, where he was also

general manager between 1993 and 1998.Farandou led the SNCF Rhône Alpesregion between 2002 and the end of2004, when he joined Keolis, initially ashead of Keolis Lyon, which operatesbus, metro and tram services in theFrench city.In 2006 he was appointed director ofSNCF Proximités, before becomingdeputy managing director of SNCFEpic in June 2012. He was appointedchairman of Keolis in August 2012.

Jean-Pierre Farandou

Dec SNCF_Layout 1 17/11/2020 16:29 Page 16

17

mid-2021 and that life - and rail traffic -can return to normal.Although current polls suggest thatsome people are avoiding trains due toconcerns about Covid, and using theircars, which add to congestion andpollution, there is significant evidencethat the public is even more afraid ofusing air transport, which is helpingrail. “We do not think passengers willbe put off using the train - travelling bytrain presents very little risk of catchingthe virus,” Farandou says. “Cleaning oftrains has beenstepped up

and all trains are being disinfected once ortwice a day. Face masks are obligatoryon all of our trains and in stations.”

Relaunch FranceOn September 3, the Frenchgovernment announced the “RelaunchFrance” package of aid to boost theeconomy, which included É4.7bn forSNCF. Of this no less than É4.1bn willgo to infrastructure manager SNCFNetwork to support continuingnetwork modernisation projects. Theremaining É600m is for future servicerelaunches. The government is alsohelping rail freight by waivingtrack access charges completelyin 2020 and halving them in2021. SNCF has not yet requesteddirect financial aid from thegovernment to supportoperation, unlike nationalairline Air France, whichreceived a promise of É7bnin April. In the meantime,SNCF will reduce TGV andIntercités services to matchdemand, while regionalcouncils, including Île-de-France will decide whetherto reduce TER and Transilienservices. Farandou did not comment

on a recent report that SNCFhas started the process ofselling off its freight wagonbusiness Ermewa and thepossibility of more assetsales. While centralgovernment has

promised to takeon part of

the

group’s historic debt - that related toinfrastructure building - SNCF is stillweighed down by other debts, such asthe É5bn built up by Fret SNCF’schronic losses over the last 15 years.“SNCF will continue to invest at a veryhigh level, particularly in renewing thenetwork,” Farandou says. “But theCovid crisis has had an inevitable effecton less urgent projects – we haveagreed a slowing in the delivery of newTGV sets with Alstom, postponedrefurbishment of maintenance depots andput off less urgent training programmes.“TGV services may also face a‘structural reduction’ in business trafficdue to an increase in home workingand the increased use of videoconferencing. This has already been aneffect of Covid and SNCF has had toadjust fares and marketing to fill seatswith more private and leisure traffic.”The government bailout for Air Francewas conditioned on the abandonmentof all domestic flights taking less than2h 30min where there is an alternativeby rail such as Paris - Nantes and Paris- Bordeaux. Although a welcome benefitfor SNCF, the numbers of passengersconcerned is relatively small comparedwith the capacity of trains on theseroutes - a pair of TGV Duplex sets cancarry over 1000 passengers - five timesor more the capacity of equivalentplanes. Farandou confirmed that he wishedto see SNCF go back to its core activitiesof running trains in France. “What thepublic want is trains which run on time,are comfortable and well maintained,stations are comfortable, and it is ourjob to provide this,” he says.However, he flatly rejected the ideathat the group might sell its roadhaulage subsidiary Geodis, whichaccounts for about a quarter of grouprevenue, arguing that diversifying

activities also diversifiesrisks. One new internationalenterprise that is proceedingas planned is theintroduction of low-costTGVs in Spain, which willrun as Ouigo as in France.“Our market researchshowed clearly that theSpanish market wantslow cost, low pricetrains,” Farandou says.Although Covid throwssome doubts over thelaunch of services,Farandou believes thata relatively quiet start

Dec SNCF_Layout 1 17/11/2020 16:29 Page 17

18 IRJ December 2020

on the Madrid - Barcelona route willallow experience to be gained during2021, thus helping later launches on theMadrid - Valencia and Seville routes.SNCF is expecting 60-70% occupationinitially, rising to 85-90% as servicesbuild up.

StrikesOn his arrival in the post of CEO inNovember 2019, Farandou made aseries of speeches in which he said thathe wished to renew contacts with staffand bring back “social peace.” At thesame time, he condemned wildcat strikesas “unacceptable.” In the difficultatmosphere of the time, he said that hewished to improve everyday conditionsfor railway personnel, saying that someof the buildings currently in use were“unfit for purpose.” He also said that he

agreed with passengers that thereshould be more staff at ticket windows;this comes after years of stress on theimportance of the internet, andunpopular station destaffing. In July 2020 Farandou presented the“Everyone is SNCF” plan, the statedaim of which is to make SNCF a“champion of sustainable mobility” by2030. The plan concentrates on fourthemes:= people - making people want to workfor SNCF, with an accent on lifetimeretraining= decentralisation - 11 regionalcoordinators have been appointed toliaise with regional government,industry and other organisations, thenproduce regional development strategies= the environment - including reducingenergy bills by 25% within five years,and emissions, and

= digitalisation - 5000 staff and É2b inturnover, with investment in trainingfor everyone, especially in data collection.Farandou emphasises the importanceof decentralisation. “SNCF is toocentralised at present,” he says.“Everyone is SNCF will bring thecompany closer to the regions and theirpolicies.” Clearly SNCF will only winTER operating contracts if it sees eye-to-eye with regional councils. SNCF and successive Frenchgovernments have argued for delays tocompetitive bidding to operatepassenger services, and French tradeunions are openly hostile to the idea.However, in the interests of faircompetition and the competitiveness ofrailways, the EU has pushed throughthe process. In 2019 non-subsidisedlong-distance services were opened upto competition and Trenitalia intends to

France | SNCF

SNCF plans to introduce its low-cost Ouigo brand on theMadrid - Barcelona route in 2021. Photo: David Haydock

Dec SNCF_Layout 1 17/11/2020 16:29 Page 18

IRJ December 2020 19

start Paris - Milan high-speed servicesin 2021. The Railcoop cooperativeintends to run domestic intercityservices on routes SNCF no longeroperates in 2022.According to EU rules, subsidisedpublic service obligation (PSO) services -regional and city suburban services -must be tendered from 2023, althoughthe French government has encouragedtrial opening before this date. However,fewer than half the French regions havestarted this process. These regions havestated that they expect to see costreductions of up to 30% and improvementsto services. French companies, including SNCFsubsidiary Keolis, have wide experienceof bidding for contracts and operatingtrains outside of France and Farandousays SNCF’s strategy will be to bid forall of the contracts, starting with thecentral government’s tender for Intercitésservices from Nantes to Bordeaux andLyon. “The terms of the contract as faras rolling stock and timetables will bequite restrictive,” he says. “But SNCFwill be able to innovate in several fields.However, it is not possible to give anydetails.” Farandou also believes that thesummer 2021 limit for bids may slipdue to Covid-19.As far as regional services go, tendershave already been issued by the Sud-Paca, Grand Est and Hauts-de-Franceregions. Farandou rejects the manycomparisons between SNCF’s operatingcosts for regional services with those inGermany. “Germany has denser populationsthan in France and services are thereforeless frequent and resources used lessintensively,” he says. “SNCF can reduceits costs and win contracts - many of therecent contracts signed with the Frenchregions involve cost reductions over aperiod of several years. Improving serviceswill above all depend on improving thestate of the network, something whichis being carried out at present.”

Green SpeedSNCF holds majority stakes in bothEurostar, which operates high-speed trainsfrom London to Paris and Amsterdam,and Thalys which serves Paris, Amsterdamand Cologne. Incidentally Farandou wasbehind the creation of Thalys in 1997. In2019 it was announced that Eurostar andThalys would be merged in 2021 underthe new brand, Green Speed. Farandouconfirmed that the merger would go aheadas soon as possible in order to benefitfrom synergies and economies of scale. With Thalys’ fleet approaching 30-

years-old, one priority is to ordercommon rolling stock. Farandou alsoconfirmed that a new direct servicebetween London and Germany wouldbe an idea for the merged company.On July 14 2020, French president, MrEmanuel Macron, acknowledged rail’s

contribution to reducing pollution andglobal warming, and called for therelaunch of overnight trains, most ofwhich were withdrawn in 2017 forfinancial reasons, to safeguard minorbranch lines, and the relaunch of railfreight. The government has since askedSNCF to restore night trains to theParis-Tarbes/Hendaye and Paris-Niceroutes by 2022. This will initiallyinvolve reviving and modernising 40-year-old Corail coaches.SNCF is already planning to launch amarket study into routes and pricing and isinvestigating both second-hand andnew rolling stock. The company willalso explore relaunching internationalservices such as Paris - Berlin with partnerssuch as DB. “We will be targeting a newgeneration of travellers who wish to

avoid plane travel and do not own carsto use these trains,” Farandou says.Questioned on SNCF’s research intonew technology such as automatic trainoperation (ATO), Farandou says ATO islikely to initially be used to moveempty stock and for shunting in freight

yards. “ATO on main lines is likely tobe linked to the development of geo-localisation of trains and the installationof ERTMS,” Farandou says. “ERTMS isextremely important for the solution ofcapacity problems.” The first major use of ERTMS will beon the Paris - Lyon high speed line, whichwill support an increase in capacityfrom 13 to 16 trains per direction perhour with work on this project alreadyunderway.Overall Farandou has said that he isvery optimistic for the SNCF groupover the next 10 years, in spite of theCovid-19 pandemic. He has describedCovid-19 as a “meteorite” which has hitthe SNCF planet, and which may affectSNCF for two years, but which has notblown the planet off course. IRJ

We do not think passengers will be put off using the train- travelling by train presents very little risk of catchingthe virus. Jean-Pierre Farandou

“

Farandou wants to see SNCF get back to its core activities of running trains that are on time,comfortable and well maintained. Photo: Keith Fender

Dec SNCF_Layout 1 17/11/2020 16:29 Page 19

20 IRJ December 2020

ON June 23 2020 the French RailFreight Future (4F) alliance ofprivate operators and Fret SNCF

presented a 22-page report to the Frenchgovernment detailing 10 priorities tohelp rail freight double its market shareby 2030. Of the É15.7bn plan, the majority of

actions focus on modernisation,enlargement and construction ofinfrastructure at a cost of É13.3bn. Thesecond main measure, which will costjust over É2bn, will provide temporarysupport for intermodal and wagonloadtraffic. Further measures proposeinvestment in new technology, “greening”traction and updating the wagon fleet.

The plan has been produced at apromising time for French rail freight.Although the Covid crisis has hurt traffic,the public and government have at lastnoticed the essential role played by thesector. Concerns over road transport’scontribution to pollution and globalwarming also favour a relaunch for railfreight. Indeed, the 4F report sets outthe massive externalities caused by roadtransport and points out savings availableby expanding rail freight’s market share.The government’s Relaunching France

package announced on September 3included a promise of É4.7bn forrailways, É4.1bn of which will go toinfrastructure manager SNCF Network.

Some of the remainder will supportmeasures outlined in the 4F plan.The coordinator of the 4F plan, Mr

Franck Tuffereau, who also leads theArfa rail lobbying body and hasexperience of working for FrenchNational Railways (SNCF), Transdevand Euro Cargo Rail, envisages a two-stage implementation programme.Firstly, safeguarding and improvingexisting services and prioritisingcustomer service improvements whileplanning takes place for the secondphase, which will emphasise significanttraffic growth. Doubling of freight traffic will put

pressure on the rail network and it is

France | freight

Can France double rail freight volumes in 10 years?

This summer an alliance of French rail freight operators presented an ambitious plan to double rail freight volumesover the next 10 years. David Haydock examines the plan and asks whether it can succeed.

Dec French Freight_Layout 1 17/11/2020 16:37 Page 20

IRJ December 2020 21

therefore not surprising that 85% of thetotal budget for the 4F plan is slated forinfrastructure improvements.SNCF’s head of rail freight, Mr Frédéric

Delorme, says the key to doubling railfreight is improving infrastructure -decongesting busy junctions andincreasing the loading gauge and trainlengths. However, he says it is equallyimportant to consider the external costsof road transport, and to move to muchgreener logistics.Priority 6 of the plan includes Action

18, which would gobble up É10.5bnbetween 2025 and 2030. This workincludes adding tracks and introducingbi-directional signalling where trainsneed to overtake, new chords at SaintFons (Lyon), Conflans-Jarny (near Metz)and Le Boulou (near the Spanishborder), the elimination of some level

crossings, and provision of diversionaryroutes around Lyon, Lille and Paris. Toavoid additional expenses and planningdelays, this work will focus on improvingexisting lines where possible. Tuffereauhopes to see electrification of the Amiens- Laon - Reims - Chalons route to createpart of an outer ring line avoiding Parisfrom the port of Le Havre. Priority 7 concerns upgrading

existing freight terminals and portnetworks by 2024 at a cost of É100m,and calls for a further É500m toimprove access to ports and a networkof freight terminals up to 2030. Delormeestimates that France will need eight to10 new large terminals by 2030.Under Priority 8 É600m is earmarked

to increase the loading gauge to P400standards, which will support thetransport of semitrailers on all strategic

routes. A further É400m is required tosupport an increase in train lengthsinitially to 850m and later to 1500-1700m. For Tuffereau, Action 24 of this section,

which calls for short-term improvementto customer service, is essential. SNCFNetwork will receive É210m up to 2024to revise its maintenance practises,effectively ending line closures of morethan six hours a day and banningblockades of double-track lines unlessthere is a reasonable diversionary route.

Branch linesThe 2018 Spinetta report on the state

of the rail network questioned the needfor 9000km of branch lines out of anetwork totalling 28,000km. A yearlater, the Philizot report recommendedgiving powers to the regions or other

Fret SNCF, which has a 55% market share in France, has lost money forthe past 15 years but is slated to break even by 2023. Photo: David Haydock

Dec French Freight_Layout 1 17/11/2020 16:37 Page 21

bodies for many of these lines.Tuffereau welcomes the new regime.“While minor lines form just 20% of thenetwork, they generate 50% of allFrench rail freight,” he says. Priority 3 aims to improve rail’s

competitive advantage by favouring railover road, increasing intermodal trafficand subsidising existing and futuretraffic where necessary. A variety ofmeasures costing government aboutÉ120m a year - including an extensionof the existing intermodal subsidy - areintended to encourage modal shift. 4F isalso soliciting support for wagonloadtraffic to the tune of É75m a year.Both subsidies would be temporary

and would cost the government É2bnover the 10-year period. This total ismodest compared with the subsidyoffered for TER regional passengerservices - the Hauts-de-France regionfor example pays SNCF a É500mannual subsidy. There are signs that theFrench state is beginning to move inthis direction. Fret SNCF confirmed thatthe government will provide anexceptional payment of É170m in mid-December, which includes É70m tosupport wagonload traffic, a halving oftraffic access charges in 2021 at a cost ofÉ65m, an intermodal load subsidyexpected to cost É20m, and É15m forthe development of three newAutoroute Ferroviares piggybackservices: Barcelona - Perpignan - Rungis- Antwerp; Cherbourg - Bayonne; andCalais - Sète.

TechnologyA total spend of É670m on new

technology from central governmentand the EU is proposed in Priority 5.The majority of this would go ondeveloping driverless trains, automaticcoupling and a computerised tool toevaluate the environmental impact oftransport in real-time. Other proposeddevelopments include the use of rail-road vehicles for local wagondistribution and collection, low costelectrification and automation forterminals.Priority 4 proposes allocating É490m

to modernise operations. É320m wouldsupport retrofitting of locomotives,including with ERTMS, renewal of thewagon fleet to reduce noise, increasemodularity and improve couplingstrength, and optical identification forwagons and containers. Proposals forlocomotives include elimination ofdiesel traction within 10-15 years.One of the most eye-catching measures -

and by no means the most expensive at

22 IRJ December 2020

France | freight

FOLLOWING the appointment ofMr Jean-Pierre Farandou aspresident of SNCF, Mr Frédéric

Delorme replaced Ms Sylvie Charles ashead of Multimodal Freight RailTransport (TFMM), a cluster of Europeanrail and multimodal freight transportcompanies owned by SNCF. Fret SNCF: Responsible for around

half of TFMM’s turnover and with a55% market share in France, Fret SNCFoperates the national wagonloadnetwork, a range of block trains andprovides traction for intermodalservices under contract to Novatrans,VIIA and others. Fret SNCF has lostmoney for the past 15 years but isslated to break even by 2023. Delormesays the company expects to benefitfrom wagonload traffic growth thanks torecently joining the Xrail partnershipwhich covers most of Europe. FretSNCF will also seek productivity gainsby running longer and heavier trains. The company has built up debts of

É5bn which the government isunwilling (and unable under EU rules)to write off. French media reportedrecently that SNCF is now starting tosell assets in order to reduce the debtsand hopes to obtain É2.5 billion forwagon lessor Ermewa. VFLI, created as a “low cost” freight

subsidiary, and operating a wide range

of traffic, will be renamed CaptrainFrance in January 2021. The move willimprove integration with the otherCaptrain subsidiaries, with the aim ofoffering customers end-to-end serviceacross borders.Ecorail Transport was created in 2010

to operate trains carrying aggregatesfrom western France and became asubsidiary of VFLI in 2019. In early 2020Ecorail started to provide drivers forVFLI in western France, and cooperationis expected to increase in future. Captrain was created in 2009 after

SNCF acquired Veolia Cargo’sactivities and the German privateoperator ITL. It has since set upsubsidiaries in Benelux, Italy, Spainand Poland. Naviland Cargo is SNCF’s

intermodal operator specialising incontainer services from France’s ports.The subsidiary has been given a briefto expand into other ports on theNorth Sea coast where Captrain ownssubsidiary Railtraxx.VIIA operates Autoroute Ferroviaire

piggyback services. The company hassuffered poor growth due to successivestrikes and also a lack of quality paths.Delorme says traffic growth isdependent on freight being consideredas important as passenger traffic andthe allocation of quality paths.

SNCF reorganises TFMM

Dec French Freight_Layout 1 17/11/2020 16:37 Page 22

IRJ December 2020 23

É30m - is Priority 1, Action 1, whichcalls for the creation of a digital platformto monitor trains operating in Franceallowing customers to track wagons. The platform will also identify spare

capacity on trains enabling companiesto purchase space on each other’s trains,saving resources and reducing the numberof paths needed. It is hoped that thiscan be introduced by 2024. “This shouldsave operators a considerable amount ofmoney, especially for ‘last mile’ pick upand set down of wagons,” Tuffereau says.Several operators currently run theirown wagonload services in addition toFret SNCF’s national network.Although traditional traffic is set to

grow, operators agree that the greatestgrowth will come from intermodal.“Improved service should bring about adoubling of wagonload traffic and blocktrains, but intermodal traffic is expectedto triple or even quadruple,” Tuffereausays.

IntermodalMr Paul Hodgson, director of

international activity at CFL Cargo,Luxembourg, sees little growth inwagonload and block trains, but greatpotential for intermodal, comparing the120-150 trains a week flooding out of the

British port of Felixstowe with the 12 trainsa week which currently operate out ofLe Havre, France’s busiest container port. Mr Louis-Félix Touron, Euro Cargo

Rail’s head of business development,agrees that intermodal has massivepotential. “France is a long way behindother European countries, particularlyGermany, but with government aid,

wagonload traffic can not only bestabilised but also has potential forvolumes to grow,” Touron says.Delorme would even like to see roadtolls introduced for transiting lorrytraffic and restrictions on traffic wherethere is an alternative container orpiggyback rail service. It remains to be seen how the rail

unions will respond to the new plan.The past 10 years of stagnant traffic is

partly attributable to the massivenationwide strikes. Indeed, the idea thatFret SNCF might cooperate with privateoperators on last mile services, ratherthan use its own resources, might notgo down well; job losses, especially innon-core personnel, are almost certainover the next couple of years to makethe company more efficient.

However, Tuffereau believes that thistime things might be different. “Theunions realise that Fret SNCF is indanger of disappearing completely andare ready to behave responsibly,” hesays. If growth does happen at the 5-10% annual rate envisaged, jobs will becreated and Fret SNCF, as well as itscompetitors, will be able to prosper,reversing the culture of decline that hasdogged the sector for decades. IRJ

Improved service should bring about a doubling ofwagonload traffic and block trains, but intermodal trafficis expected to triple or even quadruple. Franck Tuffereau

“

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Dec French Freight_Layout 1 17/11/2020 16:37 Page 23

24 IRJ December 2020

SUCCESSIVE French governmentshave done everything in theirpower to slow down the EU’s

opening up of railways to competitionover the past 20 years. Arguments havevaried from deeming the measures asunnecessary, that liberalisation has notbeen effective elsewhere, and FrenchNational Railways (SNCF) was not ready. Of course, French companies have

been successful in neighbouringliberalised markets - notably Transdevand French National Railways’ (SNCF)subsidiary, Keolis. But with the EUconfirming that 2023 is the deadline forall countries to open-up subsidisedpublic service obligation (PSO)

passenger services to competition,France is finally poised to follow suit. In France, regional governments are

responsible for defining PSO services, andthe French government permitted theregions to begin experimental tenderingfor packages of services from 2019. However, take up has been slow. Less

than half of the regions are taking stepsto tender a proportion of PSO TrainExpress Régional (TER) services, and theCourt of Audit, which monitors publicspending, has criticised several regionsfor not preparing for liberalisation. In the regions that have not

proceeded with tendering, existingcontracts with SNCF are due to expire

between 2023 and 2029 and it is notclear yet what will happen when thesedeadlines pass. As well as operatingservices, SNCF maintains rolling stockowned by the regions. The regions havealso gradually been pushed to financenew or reopened lines, new depots and,more recently, even to renew track.However, relations between SNCF

and the regions are often tetchy. Theneed to obtain a great deal of data on allaspects of traffic and operation is aparticular source of friction - for example,Hauts-de-France’s appealed to the railregulator to clarify what data should bemade available. Communication is alsopoor, emphasised by SNCF not always

France | liberalisation

France is slowly gearing up to open up Public Service Obligation (PSO) passenger contracts to competition from2023, in line with European legislation. David Haydock reviews the current situation.

Passenger liberalisation stumbles towar

Dec French Pax Lib_Layout 1 19/11/2020 18:02 Page 24

IRJ December 2020 25

informing the regions of traffic disruption.One of the major problems facing the

opening up of PSO services to competitivebidding is the relatively low costcoverage from fare box revenue. TERservice revenue covers on average 27-30% of costs, with this figure onlyexceeded in two regions. Some ruralregions do not even reach 20%. Inaddition, the cost per train-km in Franceis at least double that in Germany andmany routes are not helped by the veryfew or no off-peak services available,meaning the majority of revenue comesfrom heavily discounted season tickets.Despite the obvious challenges,

several companies have confirmed theirintention to bid for contracts. SNCF says it will bid to retain all

contracts and that its local operatingsubsidiary Transilien plus Keolis will

bid for contracts and create ad hocsubsidiaries if they win in Île-de-France. Transdev welcomed the publication

of a tender in January by the Ministryof Transport to operate Intercitiesservices between Nantes and Bordeauxand Nantes and Lyon on the Balance ofTerritory (TET) inter-city network,currently operated by SNCF Mobility,from the beginning of 2022. Thecompany has also used examples fromits activities in Germany to suggest thatliberalisation can mean reopening oflines and increases in passengernumbers rather than closures as Frenchtrade unions suggest. “Transdev will bid for most of the

contracts for regional services to betendered, and is also looking closely atopportunities in Île-de-France,” saysTransdev spokesman, Mr Olivier leFriec. “We are most advanced with theMarseille - Nice service in SudProvence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (Paca). Thecompany will base its offers on itsexperience in Germany, Sweden andNew Zealand, for example, on a widevariety of services from S-Bahn citystopping trains in Hannover to overnightservices from Sweden to Berlin.”The RégioNéo joint venture of RATP

Dev (55%), a subsidiary of ParisTransport Authority (RATP), andGetlink (45%), operator of the ChannelTunnel, was formed with the intentionof entering the regional market inNovember 2019. “Our initial aim will beto bid for contracts in the Grand Est andHauts-de-France regions where the twocompanies are already well established,”Mr Romain Dufour, Getlink spokesmanconfirmed to IRJ.Italian State Railways (FS) subsidiary

Trenitalia has made friends in the Pacaregion in recent years, operating Thelloservices from Marseille and Nice toMilan, and is likely to bid for contractsthere. Another possible competitor inPaca is RDT13, which is owned by theBouches-du-Rhône department whichcovers Marseille and Aix-en-Provence.RDT13 currently only operates railfreight services and buses in the area.

Tenders underwayGrand Est is one of the pioneers of

early tendering, offering two contracts.The first is for services on the non-electrified Nancy - Vittel - Contrexévilleline. However, the contract is offered inan unusual format with the winner bothmanaging infrastructure and runningthe train service. At present this line isclosed completely between Xeuilley andVittel and is freight only from Pont St

Vincent to Xeuilley. The contract isexpected to start in 2024. The second tender is for DMU services

between Strasbourg, Molsheim, Saint-Dié and Epinal and Strasbourg -Molsheim - Sélestat. This will be limitedto train operation. The contract isexpected to start on March 1 2022, willcover 1.5 million train-km a year andwill last between eight and 15 years.Existing DMUs will be used. Grand Est is also working with the

neighbouring German authorities inSaarland, Baden-Württemberg andRheinland-Pfalz to tender improvedservices on seven lines for launch in2024. Grand Est expects to see a 30%drop in costs by tendering operation onthese lines.The Hauts-de-France region put three

sets of services on lines currently beingrenewed out to tender in September2020: = an 11-year contract worth É228m tooperate the Paris Nord - Beauvaissuburban line, which accounts for900,000 train-km per year= a 12.5-year contract worth É820m tooperate services around Amiens, whichaccounts for 3.4 million train-km a year,and= an 11-year, É155m contract to operateservices around St Pol-sur-Ternoise,which accounts for 600,000 train-km ayear.The Pays-de-la-Loire region intends

to start the tendering process in July2021 on two networks accounting for30% of TER services: tram-train servicesfrom Nantes to Châteaubriant andClisson, and Sud Loire covering Nantes- Pornic - Saint Gilles - Croix-de-Vie, LesSables-d’Olonne - La Rochelle - Cholet,and Cholet - Angers. Operation willstart in December 2023 at the latest.The Sud-Paca region is tendering two

service groups. The first is Marseille -Toulon - Cannes - Nice, which accounts2.45 million train-km a year and iscurrently operated with vintagelocomotive-hauled Corail stock. Thiswill start in summer 2025 afterconstruction of a new depot in Nice andthe procurement of new trains. Thecontract will last 10 years and is worthÉ870m. The second contract will coverservices around Nice: Les Arcs - Cannes- Nice - Monaco - Ventimiglia, Italy;Cannes - Grasse; and Nice - Tende. Thiswill start in December 2024 and willtotal 4.3 million train-km a year. Other regions have announced

provisional plans. Ile-de-France (greaterParis) will open non-RER lines tocompetition from 2023, RER Line E,which is operated by SNCF and currently

ard 2023 start

The slow move to begin tendering TER servicesin some French regions has been criticised bythe Court of Audit. Photo: Keith Fender

Dec French Pax Lib_Layout 1 19/11/2020 18:02 Page 25

26 IRJ December 2020

being extended westwards, in 2025,RER lines C and D (SNCF) from 2033and RER lines A and B (joint operationby SNCF and RATP) from 2039. The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region

has talked of starting tendering withtwo small networks: tram-train serviceson the West Lyon three-line networkand the Saint Gervais - Vallorcine line,which is metre gauge. No date has yetbeen announced. Finally, NouvelleAquitaine has already divided its offerinto five lots covering services centredon Bayonne, Bordeaux, Limoges,Périgueux and Poitiers, but has not yetannounced a timetable for tendering.

Open-accessAlmost all other passenger services in

France are currently operated by SNCFMobility. The majority is high-speedTGV along with six Intercités daytimeroutes and two overnight trains. TheFrench government decided toreintroduce two overnight servicesearlier this year while the remainingIntercity services have transferred to TER.A number of companies are on the

verge of or are exploring the possibilityof introducing main line services tocompete with SNCF on an open-accessbasis. Italian State Railways (FS) was set to

launch two daily high-speed trains onthe Paris - Milan route in competitionwith SNCF from June 2020. The Covidpandemic has delayed the launch to2021 with the trains set to operate theservice still undergoing testing. TheItalian operator is also exploring thepossibility of offering Paris - Brussels andParis - Bordeaux services in competitionwith SNCF although the pandemic islikely to delay these plans. Covid-19 has

also resulted in the withdrawal of FSsubsidiary, Thello’s Paris - Veniceovernight service, and a reduction inthe frequency of its Milan - Nice trains.German company FlixMobilty, an

operator of long-distance buses inFrance, similarly postponed plans tolaunch FlixTrain services on threeroutes, including Paris - St Quentin -Brussels, in April. The company said

the situation was more complicatedthan foreseen and that track usagecharges were too high, a claim that hasalso been made by Thello.Other companies which are monitoring

the situation include RegioRail, whichcurrently operates freight trains inFrance and is 50% owned by RailroadDevelopment Corporation. German Rail(DB) has regularly said that it intends tocompete with SNCF, most likely byextending its Frankfurt - Cologne -Brussels service to Paris. However, anyplans have been shelved for severalyears. DB currently cooperates withSNCF on the Paris - Frankfurt and Paris- Stuttgart - Munich high-speed routes.Railcoop is a cooperative venture

founded in 2019 with the objective ofrestoring services to areas deserted bySNCF. While exploring rail freight andnight trains, the company’s main projectis to restore the “direct” passenger

service from Bordeaux to Lyon viacentral France by the end of 2022.The company announced in June that

it is planning to offer three trains perday via Libourne, Périgueux, Limoges,Guéret, Montluçon, Saint-Germain-des-Fossés and Roanne and is proposing a6h 47min journey time. It submitted aproposal to France’s RegulatoryTransport Authority (ART) and is

expected to learn whether it will securethe necessary train paths by September2021.Opening up of passenger services in

France is now well on its way. However,the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic ontendering remains to be seen. Some commentators fear that lasting

damage to company finances and thehigh cost of operating in France may fornow discourage potential bidders frombranching out into France - Flixmobilitybeing a case in point. Transdev, at least,believes than any delay will be shortand that the process is essential to thefuture of French passenger services.Regional governments also increasinglyseem convinced that the process willbring better and less expensive railservices. If all goes well, this willprovide a timely boost to the country’sunder-utilised regional network andefforts to curb climate change. IRJ

France | liberalisation

Transdev will bid for most of the contracts for regionalservices to be tendered, and is also looking closely atopportunities in Île-de-France. Olivier le Friec

“

SNCF has a monopoly over inter-city services in France, but this could be set to change with open-access operators eyeing entry into the market.

Phot

o: K

eith

Fen

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Dec French Pax Lib_Layout 1 19/11/2020 18:02 Page 26

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28 IRJ December 2020

TESTING on the US Federal RailroadAdministration’s (FRA) High-SpeedAdjustable Perturbation Slab (HS-

APS) test facility at the TransportationTechnology Center (TTC) near Pueblo,Colorado started in 2015. This 152m-long section of tangent slab track wasdesigned to allow installation andremoval of precisely controlled verticaland lateral track geometry deviations. There are two main objectives for the

HS-APS involving the evaluation andtesting of: = track geometry measurement systemsto verify their accuracy and repeatabilityunder a range of controlled operationalconditions, especially for high-speedinspection, and = the dynamic response of rail vehiclesto specific vertical and lateral trackgeometry deviations. Validation of track geometry

measurement systems and vehicle/trackinteraction testing are two critical functionsfor the safe operation of railways, especiallyfor high-speed passenger operation. For thefirst, FRA is developing a comprehensivetest procedure to evaluate the accuracyof vehicle-borne track geometrymeasurement systems, especially forhigh-speed track geometry inspection. To date, track geometry measurements

made from a moving platform are oftenassessed by comparing limitedmeasurement parameters such as gaugeand cross level at discrete locations withstatic measurements made with a handmeasurement tool, or by conductingrepeatability analyses of track geometrymeasured at different speeds anddirections of travel. This practice, albeithelpful, does not give a sufficientlyaccurate assessment of vehicle bornemeasurements. In addition, track geometrymeasurements can be repeatable andreproducible but not necessarily accurate.

For the second critical function, vehicleperformance specifications require analysisand/or testing of a vehicle’s dynamicresponse to specific track geometryperturbations, such as the MinimallyCompliant Analytical Track (MCAT)federal regulation, and the perturbationsspecified in the Association of AmericanRailroads’ (AAR) Manual of Standardsand Recommend Practices for testingnew freight vehicles. Although these specifications may

not always require testing over trackgeometry perturbations, vehicle designersand analysts often want to performsuch tests on controlled track geometryperturbations to benchmark analysesand validate computer simulation models. To address these needs, the HS-APS

was designed and built with preciselyadjustable track geometry and trackproperty - stiffness and damping -variations. It is part of the existing high-speed Railroad Test Track (RTT), a 21.7kmloop with a maximum speed of 266km/hin tangent sections and a limiting speed of212km/h in a 1400m-radius reverse curve.The tangent portion of the RTT high-

speed test loop includes a slab trackwith specially designed sleeper platesthat are adjustable so that a maximumvertical perturbation of 44.5mm can beinstalled while a lateral adjustment of38.1mm is possible on either rail.Specially designed plates and shimsallow track geometry deviations of3.2mm (Figure 1). By using rail seatpads or vertical shims with differentrubber pads, various track stiffness anddamping properties can be achieved.This test track can be used to createdifferent types of track geometryperturbations at different wavelengths,including surface, gauge, alignment,cross level deviations, and theircombinations.

Older rails used in this section of thetrack were replaced with new rails, asthe wear and deformation at the weldedjoints of the older rails affected theaccuracy of the installed trackperturbations. To facilitate the creationand adjustment of track geometryperturbations with various amplitudesand wavelengths, expansion joints wereinstalled outside but adjacent to the testsection. Wayside instrumentation was installed

to measure vertical and lateral wheel-railforces along the test section and to quantifyvertical and lateral track componentdeflections under train operation. For the wheel-rail force measurement,

10 locations were selected along the testsection to capture their variationscorresponding with various perturbationsunder different testing speeds. All thecircuits and transducers were calibratedprior to testing with a portable calibrationfixture or a test vehicle that can applyand measure vertical and lateral wheelloads to the rails.Ground truth measurements are

intended to capture the true shapes oftrack geometry perturbations underunloaded conditions. TTCI used severalsurvey methods for the ground truthmeasurements, including: = lateral track alignments using a total

Track | geometry

Adjustable track verifies measurement systemsDingqing Li and Nicholas Wilson, with TTCI, Brian Marquis, from the Volpe Center, Boston, and Ali Tajaddini,with the FRA, explain how test results from the High-Speed Adjustable Perturbation Slab Track testing facilityare being used to verify and improve track geometry measurement systems and vehicle/track interaction.

Figure 1: HS-APS on the test track.

Figure 2: Vertical and lateral design perturbations installed, tested and removed.

Dec TTCI_Layout 1 20/11/2020 10:54 Page 28

IRJ December 2020 29

station referenced from the establishedHS-APS centreline = top of rail (TOR) elevation (verticalprofile) surveys using an optical levelreferenced to a benchmark, and = a portable track geometrymeasurement system. All three methods required the

installation of permanent surveybenchmark monuments. A portable trackgeometry measurement system canprovide alignment, surface, gauge, crosslevel and curvature measurement. Thefirst two measurements are performed byhand from one sleeper to the next andare time-consuming. The third methodrequires post processing/filtering toproduce the ground truth data. FRA iscurrently developing an improved andautomated method for ground truthmeasurement.

Since 2015, several on-track testingprogrammes have been conducted onHS-APS with various perturbations,including activities for the first andsecond objectives and critical functions. The main objective of a testing

programme conducted by a projectteam including TTCI, Volpe, Ensco, andFRA was to obtain test results to supportthe FRA in developing and evaluatingthe track geometry measurement system(TGMS) evaluation procedure. The projectteam used the FRA’s DOTX-216 TGMSover the HS-APS with various introducedtrack geometry perturbations. As the TGMSevaluation procedure remains underdevelopment, test results obtained sofar illustrate how the HS-APS was used.Under the programme, nine trackgeometry perturbations were installed,tested and removed:

1 - no perturbations2 - single 9.5m, 19mm amplitude verticalperturbations installed at the ends ofthe HS-APS outside the central test zone3 - combined vertical profile and cross-level perturbations: two sets of 18.9m,22mm amplitude, sinusoidal profileperturbations, in the central test zone 4 - combined 37.8m, 22mm amplitude,profile and cross-level perturbations inthe central test zone 5 - combined 9.5m, 16mm amplitude,profile and cross-level perturbations inthe central test zone6 - blind test - combined profile andcross-level perturbations installed at theends of the HS-APS 7 - single 9.5m, 13mm amplitude,alignment perturbations installed at theends of the HS-APS 8 - combined 18.9m, 10mm amplitude, in

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Track location (m)32km/h - Run 132km/h - Run 232km/h - Run 3

48km/h - Run 148km/h - Run 248km/h - Run 3

64km/h - Run 164km/h - Run 264km/h - Run 3

97km/h - Run 197km/h - Run 297km/h - Run 3

129km/h - Run 1129km/h - Run 2129km/h - Run 3

161km/h - Run 1161km/h - Run 2161km/h - Run 3

Figure 4: Example comparisonsTGMS and ground truth results(space curve and MCO).

Ground truth Ground truth

Ground truthGround truth

Dec TTCI_Layout 1 20/11/2020 09:56 Page 29

30 IRJ December 2020

and out of phase alignment perturbationsin the central test zone, and9 - blind test - alignment perturbationsinstalled in the middle of the HS-APStest zone.For the blind tests 6 and 9, the operators

of the TGMS were not informed whatthe wavelengths and amplitudes of theperturbations were until after themeasurements were completed. For theother perturbations, the TGMS operatorswere informed of the intended trackgeometry in advance. Figure 2 shows two examples of

vertical and lateral track geometryperturbations installed, tested and thenremoved. The plot on the left was thedesign perturbations as listed in test 3;and the plot on the right was the designperturbation in test 8.For each design perturbation, the

unloaded track geometry was measuredusing the survey equipment and theportable track geometry car to establishthe ground truth reference. DOTX-216was then tested over each perturbationat different speeds from 32 to 169km/h.The testing speed was limited by themaximum speed of the locomotiveavailable. Each testing speed was repeatedthree times over the same test zone. Thesame number of tests at different speedswere also conducted in the oppositedirection. For the two design perturbations in

Figure 2, the actual ground truth resultsobtained using the survey equipmentare shown in Figure 3. The plot on theleft shows vertical profile results of thetwo rails that had removed the actualgrade of the test section (0.3%). Theactual perturbation installed was closeto the design perturbation shown inFigure 2 (left). The plots on the right

show the actual lateral alignmentresults of both rails and the resultinggauge result for the design perturbationin Figure 2 (right). Although both railswere not perfectly straight, the designedalignment perturbations were indeedintroduced, and the gauge variationalso reflected these changes.Figure 4 shows example vertical profile

results (inside rail) from DOTX-216 forthe design perturbation test 5 obtainedunder various testing speeds, includingspace curve results, mid-chord offset(MCO) results based on three chordlengths of 9.5m, 18.9m and 37.8m. Groundtruth data were also included forcomparisons with TGMS results, processedin terms of space curve and MCO formats.Vertical profile results can appeardifferently depending on whether theywere processed in terms of space curveor MCO, while chord length can alsoaffect the results significantly.During all test runs, the research team

monitored vehicle dynamic response ofthe DOTX-216 and the locomotive (DOT-203), as well as the track componentdeformation, using onboard transducersand wayside instrumentation. For allthe design perturbations tested, verticaland lateral wheel-rail forces, and lateralto vertical force ratios (L/V or Y/Q) wereall well within FRA CFR and AAR Chapter11 limits, with the maximum L/V ratiobelow 0.3. Figure 5 shows L/V ratio resultsrecorded under the locomotive andTGMS at various speeds over designperturbation test 4. For all test runs conducted, the

maximum lateral rail displacement was1.3mm, and the maximum rail roll anglewas 0.5o. The maximum slab deflectionswere insignificant - less than 0.6mmvertically and 0.6mm laterally.

Test results and findings from HS-APSare being used to develop the procedurefor verifying and improving track geometrymeasurement systems and vehicle/trackinteraction. The test facility has greatpotential to improve the measurementaccuracy of track geometry inspectionvehicles and improve passenger vehicledesigns based on their responses tovarious track geometry perturbationsand track properties. Lessons learned and recommendations

include: for testing on the HS-APS, blindtests should be included to evaluate anyTGMS to ensure impartiality of the test andevaluation process; design perturbationsshould include wavelengths that are notstandard FRA chord lengths; and heatwaves and wind can affect accuracy andrepeatability of survey measurementssignificantly for ground truth. For the design and construction of the

HS-APS, lateral adjustment shouldallow the correction of initial alignmentnot perfectly centred; finer adjustmentsmaller than 3mm is needed to accuratelyinstall exact lateral sinusoidal shapes;designs that minimise bolts used arebetter for long-term use due to lesswear on bolts and fewer broken bolts;and variations in ambient temperaturecan affect perturbations - expansiontrack joints are needed to allow the railsto breathe. FRA plans to design and install another

HS-APS in a section of curved track onthe RTT. The design of this new curvedHS-APS is underway and will considerthe lessons learned from the HS-APSinstalled on tangent track. IRJ

Track | geometry

This article is based on a submission to the WorldCongress on Railway Research 2019, which won thebest paper award in the Railway System Interfacecategory.

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Figure 5: Lateral/vertical force ratios recorded by wayside instrumentation.

Dec TTCI_Layout 1 20/11/2020 09:56 Page 30

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THE global Covid-19 pandemic hashad an enormous impact on allaspects of 21st-century living.

Physically constrained and limited to ourhomes or to front-line work, mobility andeducation have never been so important,or so disrupted. Indeed, higher educationas a sector shifted almost overnight toembrace digital learning and hybridmodels of teaching.With the railway industry being

pushed into a period of massive change,it is unsurprising that so many railwayprofessionals see this as a good time topursue personal developmentopportunities. The Birmingham Centre for Railway

Research and Education (BCRRE) ispart of the University of Birmingham.And with over 150 academics, researchersand professional support staff deliveringresearch and thought leadership,BCRRE is comfortably the largest centre

of its type in Europe and is playing abig role in the change taking place. BCRRE has two main flagship

programmes: Railway SystemsEngineering and Integration (RSEI) and arelative newcomer, Railway Safety andControl Systems (RSCS), which are bothoffered at MSc level with optional exitpoints at PGCert and PGDip. Althoughoffering differing academic learningpathways, both programmes have thesame overall aim: to provide the learningexperience that will produce a morerounded railway engineer or railwayprofessional who is knowledgeable ofthe engineering, operational, leadershipand management challengesparticularly when operating across theinterfaces of a railway system.BCRRE is also increasingly working

overseas, partnering with professionalinstitutions to deliver courses directly topersonnel. For example, the PGCert

Urban Railway Engineering programmedeveloped by BCRRE for SingaporeMass Rapid Transit (SMRT) involvesbringing the teaching to the customerusing the BCRRE ‘Flying Faculty’whereby, twice a year, BCRRE andguest lecturers converge on Singaporeto deliver the courses to multiple cohorts. However, the pandemic presented a

fresh set of challenges to the provisionof railway education, and especially in-person instruction. This has resulted inBCRRE adjusting our courses to a newblended learning provision.In the eight months since Britain first

went into lockdown, closing universitycampuses for the first time in livingmemory, a lot of lessons have beenlearnt - and not just by the students. Weall value the ease and normality of face-to-face contact, but the challenge ofmoving to online study has also pushedus to innovate our courses and helped

Education | remote learning

Pandemic presents new opportunitiesthrough digital and remote learning

The Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) at the University of Birmingham is thelargest centre of its type in Europe. Zena Green, international teaching fellow, and Dr Holly Foss, director ofeducation, at BCRRE, explain how the centre adapted to offering online teaching and learning during thepandemic to satisfy a growing appetite for personal development.

SMRT PGCert students undergoing a leadership exercise as part of railway management lecturesprovided by BCRRE. The centre has had to rethink its offer during the pandemic. Photo: BCRRE

Dec Uni Bham_Layout 1 19/11/2020 18:10 Page 32

IRJ December 2020 33

us to identify areas for change. Beginning last spring, the shift towards

digital methods of learning has led usto several conclusions: = Online takes timeIt is easy to underestimate how much

time it takes to operate in a fully digital- or even hybrid - space. We are quiteused to digitisation as passive consumers,for example streaming media in aninstant on a whim, accessing information,or online purchasing. However, asproducers, developing this content andits interfaces is a lengthy and highlyskilled process. For online teaching and learning it is

important that the digital materialsproduced are not materials for passiveconsumption but rather require activeengagement. A concern of studentslearning online for the first time is thatthey will simply be left to watch hoursof lectures. However, few consider theopportunity available to have a discussionbetween people in 10 or more countrieswho can immediately turn their laptoparound to illustrate an issue or solutionwhere they are. Digital also gives us theopportunity to take students to placeswhere otherwise it would be difficult tovisit. Yes, a digital course takes time,but the possibilities make it worth it. = Less is moreThere has been a lot of press in recent

months on ‘Zoom fatigue.’ However,what has not been noted is the ease ofcontact. A meeting which may previouslyhave taken up a whole day, once traveltime is considered, now might only takean hour. It has also been possible tobring people working around the world

together for the first time. This has madeit possible to introduce our students to agreater range of industry professionalswho have been willing to give up theirtime to discuss real world examples,both in Britain and overseas.= Peer engagement is as importantas tutor engagement Education is fundamentally a social

activity. At its very basis, it is a two-wayrelationship between tutor and studentwho develop together. One of the difficulties of online

learning can be simulating the organicinteractions between students - sharinga coffee break, a quick question to checkan understanding, or a seeminglyinsignificant comment on the weather,traffic, construction or current affairsissues pertinent to the day. These

innocuous passing remarks, instigatedby bringing people together in time andspace, serve a vital function whenbuilding community. Online, it is very difficult to catch

someone’s eye, or comment on a sharedexperience in quite the same way. AtBCRRE we have always understood thatmany of our students are experiencedrailway professionals and discussion

between students is just as important asbetween students and staff. It is truethat at present the online environmentmay not feel natural to all of us, but byencouraging students to come togetherand share their ideas and experienceswe can ensure learning is both socialand supportive. = A home is not a recording studio,but this doesn’t make it less effectiveWhen recorded materials and online

classes were first raised, there was a lotof anxiety about being able to producedigital content at home amidst thedistractions and sounds of day-to-daylife in your own personal space. Goingto work involves inhabiting a space,place, and persona associated with ourtrade, that is typically rooted inexpertise. The loss of this through

performing professionalism in ourhomes is naturally unsettling. It takestime to learn to function confidently inalternative means and professionalismacts as a shield or veil here. The performative nature of teaching

from our homes makes education avery personal, intimate experience thatmany of us have not experiencedbefore. While we might want to shyaway from this, it also allows for a morepersonalised teaching and learningexperience. As tutors, we can be seenand read as individuals, with our ownlikes, dislikes, traits, and, of course, slipups and interruptions. Within a digitalcontext where we are strangers, neverhaving met before, this creates anopportunity to develop the supportiveand approachable environments whereteaching and learning can thrive. Of course, digital learning is not for

everyone and at BCRRE we are committedto returning to face-to-face teachingwhen the current Covid restrictions arelifted, and encouragingly, this year’sapplication rates have remained in linewith previous years. For those who have appreciated being

able to study part-time while continuingto develop their careers at home or thosewho have enjoyed the flexibility onlinelearning can bring, we will certainly belooking to continue to develop ourdigital output in the future. IRJ

Education is fundamentally a social activity. At its verybasis, it is a two-way relationship between tutor andstudent who develop together.

“

BCRRE has been expanding its overseas operations, including working with Singapore Mass RapidTransit to deliver its PGCert Urban Railway Engineering programme.

Dec Uni Bham_Layout 1 19/11/2020 18:10 Page 33

34 IRJ December 2020

2020 has been a year of disruption.Forced out of communal officespaces due to the coronavirus, people

across the planet have discovered how tocarry out their professional duties fromtheir homes and to utilise digital toolsin creative ways to innovate. This spirit of innovation has long been

a characteristic of the European railsupply industry. Our sector has continuedits work and is looking beyond thiscrisis by launching active recruitmentand skill training programmes designedto attract new talent and help nurtureexperienced colleagues’ potential. In an increasingly competitive global

market during a period in need ofclimate relief and economic recovery,the European rail industry is committedto addressing its current skill shortage toremain a global leader in the field andto continue driving the development ofsustainable mobility solutions. To do so,we are working hand-in-hand withEuropean institutions, academia,operators and infrastructure managers.Recently, two significant initiatives

have commenced to present rail as afulfilling career path and expanddedicated training opportunities topotential and current rail sector employees. The first is “Hop on for Our Planet!,”

a communications initiative launched onOctober 21 by the European Rail IndustryAssociation (Unife) in coordination withsome of Europe’s largest rail supply firms. This digital launch event was an

important opportunity to share howsustainability-conscious Generation Z(16-25 year-olds) are seeking out greenmobility options, are urging theirgovernments to support such means oftransport, and are interested in careersthat are impactful in the internationaleffort against climate change. This wasclearly a trend in a survey conducted bythe youth-oriented international thinktank, Think Young, in support of theinitiative across the campaign’s six targetcountries - Germany, France, Italy,Spain, Poland and The Netherlands. The Hop On campaign aims to position

rail at the forefront of Europe’s greenfuture by ensuring that young people,but particularly women and those lookingfor new career paths, are aware of Science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics(Stem) professional openings in ourfield. The campaign also publicises

available training programmes toexperienced rail colleagues. Thisinformation is being communicatedthrough platforms ranging fromLinkedIn to Instagram and a dedicatedwebsite www.hoponrail.eu stocked withindustry testimonials and job vacancies. Unife hopes that these efforts to boost

employment in the rail sector will beamplified by the European Union’s 2021“European Year of Rail,” a Europe-widepublic facing celebration of rail as themost sustainable, innovative and safestmode of transport, and another importantinitiative pertaining to skills in rail: theEU’s recently approved Blueprint forSectoral Cooperation on Skills for Rail.To fill the workforce gaps, European

rail suppliers will require institutionalcooperation. There has already beennotable success between the two,emphasised in the Shift2Rail JointUndertaking, which brought togetherrail sector leaders, academia and the EUto craft innovative green mobility solutions,which should be extended as Shift2Rail-2. However, this extended programme

will require more than substantial EUfunding support - É1.5bn has beenrequested through the MultiannualFinancial Framework - to create thenext-generation European rail transportsystem. The EU will need to generateand improve skilled human capital beingdeveloped through the recently approvedBlueprint for Skills in Rail to do so.Following the European Commission’s

assessment of a skill gap in the rail supplysector and its potential impact ongrowth, innovation and competitiveness,the blueprint - co-funded by the EU inthe framework of the Erasmus+programme - represents a commitmentto reversing this adverse trend.

Swift completion of the rail sectorblueprint will lead to a quicker roll outof national and regional plans that willbuild synergies between governments,regional authorities, academic andvocational training centres and railsuppliers. Doing so is essential todevelop greener rail products that willserve as the backbone to a sustainable,seamless and multimodal mobilityparadigm. 2020 has been a year of crises, but as

we continue to battle Covid-19, Unife iscommitted to charting future successes.We are similarly committed to workingwith the EU to ensure a timely Covid-19recovery and achieve key EU GreenDeal objectives such as making thecontinent carbon neutral by 2050. The Green Deal is an ambitious initiative

that necessitates preparing the nextgeneration of European workers toaccomplish its goals. Similar efforts areneeded to achieve the objectives of theforthcoming Sustainable and SmartMobility Strategy to be presented soonby transport commissioner, Ms AdinaValean. Unife will continue to advocate for

these conditions while working withthe EC - including research andinnovation commissioner, Ms MariyaGabriel - and the European Parliament, aswell as the current German presidencyof the council and the Portuguesepresidency, which will take office at thebeginning of next year. Skills initiatives are not only an

opportunity to ensure economicstability for young Europeans in need ofwork or professional advancement, theyare an essential step towards fortifyingEurope’s ability to remain a greenmobility leader in the years to come. IRJ

Training | up-skilling

Skills for the next-generation rail industryPhilippe Citroën, director general of the European Rail Industry Association (Unife), highlights work underway to boostthe European rail industry’s skill base as the sector strives to become the backbone of a sustainable transport network.

Young people are increasingly looking to enter careers thatsupport the fight against climate change. Photo: Bombardier

Dec Unife_Layout 1 18/11/2020 18:31 Page 34

IRJ December 2020 35

CLASS of Your Own (Coyo) is aneducational consultancy aiming toprovide young people with the

technical skills and enthusiasm for the“built environment.” The company runsthe accredited learning programmeDesign, Engineer, Construct (DEC),which empowers students to designand engineer their own project.

The programme, which has now beenadopted in 59 schools, provides teachertraining, technical workshops, onlineresources and access to industry-standard tools, including computer-aided design (CAD) software such asRevit and Bentley.

DEC also partners schools withconstruction industry sponsors, whichprovide funding and support forstudents as well as access to liveprojects, including site visits and digitalmodels and initiatives such asshadowing days and work experience.

The scheme is supported by 39industry backers, including globalengineering and construction firmsArup, Mott MacDonald and BalfourBeatty, the Royal Institution of CharteredSurveyors (RICS), the CharteredInstitute of Civil Engineering Surveyors(ICES), and several universities.

“In terms of practical skills, we teachmeasurement, spatial awareness, digitalskills, data management, design skills,engineering skills, and constructionskills,” says Ms Alison Watson, Coyo’sfounder and chief executive. “Studentswill finish the programme with a greatbig wad of a portfolio to show for it.”

When Watson founded the companyin 2009, the aim was to address whatshe saw as a failure to engage youngpeople in the world of construction.“The usual thing that contractors didwas to show them a few assemblycharts and give a few badly deliveredyoung enterprise events where theethos was ‘let’s pretend we’rebuilders,’” Watson says. “I just foundthe whole thing really frustrating anddisappointing.”

Watson says that the constructionindustry continues to suffer from a lackof exposure to young people, and a lackof knowledge about what skills theindustry needs. She highlights the

enthusiasm surrounding careers in thegame design industry but says that fewstudents know that the same skillscould apply to construction.

“Look at HS2, and the sorts of datavisualisation they use,” Watson says.“They can’t just lay a track and seewhat it looks like, they have to visualiseit. All the animation skills, and theanalytical skills needed to assess impacton the environment, economic impact,social impact, they’re all great. Let’sgive kids the opportunity to use them.”

Maximise engagementWatson says that a key element to her

strategy is to maximise students’engagement by encouraging them tosee the skills they learn in school interms of real-world engineeringapplications and offering them thechance to apply their skills to taskswhich mirror real industry standards.

Indeed, Watson says that too manyschools are still focused on traditionallytaught subjects such as maths, literature,science and languages, which prioritisetheory over practical applications.

“The built environment is all thosethings and more,” she says. “It’s onething to learn geometry or trigonometry.But unless, you’re going to use it, youwill forget it very quickly.”

Watson also worries that efforts bygovernments and educational groups toimprove career guidance, though well-meaning, don’t fully comprehend thechallenges teachers and pupils face.

She highlights a recent visit to oneschool in Manchester, where the Britishgovernment’s new T-Level technicalqualifications were introduced this year.She found that tutors were lacking inconfidence because they were dealingwith concepts such as regulations,digital, and sustainability with whichthey were unfamiliar.

“I think the problem a lot of the timeto me, is that politicians or educationbureaus will put stuff together, and bevery well meaning, but they don’t talkto parents, teachers and children oftenenough to get it right,” she says.

Watson says Coyo tries to avoid thispitfall by taking a non-traditional

approach to teaching by giving pupilsmore hands-on control of their learning.

Watson highlights a newcollaboration with Liverpool CityCouncil in which students in the citywill be asked to create a ‘digital double’of a new housing development in theStonebridge Cross area. The virtual modelwill incorporate Internet of Things (IoT)functionality which dynamically reactsto real-world conditions while thestudents will design public transportinfrastructure, integrating the newneighbourhood with existing andplanned rail and transport networks aswell as planning the design of housing,roads, utilities and other infrastructure.The students will also learn to managetasks such as surveying, planningapplications and tree preservation.

Past results show Coyo is having animpact. Many participants in DEC areon civil engineering degrees atuniversity, or degree apprenticeships forcivil engineering or land surveying. The businesses and institutions involvedin the programme are also benefitting.Beyond just seeking publicity, theseinstitutions continue to support theprogramme out of a real desire toencourage new talent into theinfrastructure construction industry.

Overseas expansionDespite most DEC schools being

based in Britain, Watson says that theprogramme is beginning to expandoverseas. Dubai’s FairgreenInternational School adopted thecurriculum in 2019 and Coyo is in talkswith the Malaysian government topartner Malaysia’s Prince of WalesIsland International School in Penangwith the Bayan Lepas LRT line project.

Watson says Coyo is always lookingfor new partnerships. A dreamopportunity, she says, would be topartner the 11 schools in Edinburghwith the project to upgrade the city’sWaverley station.

“Rail has never been more of anopportunity for young people, and willnever again,” she says. “It’s not just HS2,there’s lots of fantastic stuff going on inrail. Let’s exercise our children.” IRJ

Recruitment | the next generation

Inspiring rail’s next wave of engineers Since launching in 2009, British-based education consultancy, Class of Your Own, has provided real-world civilengineering, architecture and construction experience to hundreds of young people. Founder and chiefexecutive Alison Watson tells Oliver Cuenca about the importance of inspiring the next generation.

Dec COYO_Layout 1 20/11/2020 09:53 Page 35

35a IRJ December 2020

GERMAN Rail (DB)’s training andcertification provider, DB RailAcademy, offers training and

certification to rail industry staff acrossthe world, working in partnership withorganisations in 22 countries.In the past, Rail Academy courses

were usually taught in person.However, following the outbreak of thecoronavirus pandemic, DB was forcedto move its training programmes online.“The pandemic was more or less a

catapult into digitalisation,” says MsDoreen Christmann, senior businessdevelopment manager at DB RailAcademy. “The pandemic hit us veryhard worldwide, especially in Germany,

where the transport system is seen as apublic service which has to be inoperation even though many, manyother businesses had shut down.”In-person training on a Rail Academy

course usually means five full days oftraining. When the pandemic struck, DBwas forced to rapidly reassess itsteaching methods.“We needed to invent or adapt our

concepts very fast and think aboutwhich training is absolutely necessaryto conduct in person, which can beconducted digitally, and which can beshifted to another year, she says.“Business still had to go on, and we

had to find other solutions. There are a

lot of roles in the transport sector whichare super crucial, or in a safety criticalarea, and they need regular, mandatorytraining.”Most assessments are now carried out

online using Cisco’s WebEx onlineconferencing software, except for alimited amount of on-site training.Christmann says that the switch to

digital teaching presented somechallenges at first. “You cannot just put the lessons into

a digital environment, because theaverage attention span is more or less10 minutes,” she says. “How do youkeep up the levels of engagement andactivity in trainees?

Training | Covid-19

DB Training adjusts offer tocomply with pandemicrestrictions

Following the Covid-19 outbreak, German Rail’s training service provider, DB Rail Academy, was forced to shiftits training programmes online. Doreen Christmann, Rail Academy’s senior business development manager, tellsOliver Cuenca how the company continued to teach students from around the world.

Dec DB Training_Layout 1 30/11/2020 16:13 Page 34

IRJ December 2020 35b

“If you look at the teacher, how dothey deal with that situation? They’retrained to adapt to the nonverbalcommunication of the participants, andif they don’t see it, how do they engagethem? Our trainers are used to being inthe classroom and now need to dealwith software on a laptop at home. Weneeded to upskill them in a digitalenvironment to use the new tools.”Christmann says that these challenges

were often accentuated when workingwith Rail Academy’s internationaltrainees - with the additional problemof unreliable connectivity.“Our clients are worldwide, and we

still have projects running, like aprogramme in Brazil, which wasoriginally being taught in person,” shesays. “But now we have conducted thelast two modules online.“And this is more complicated

because you have to deal with differentlearning cultures and different levels ofinfrastructure. In Europe, the ITinfrastructure is very good, whereas inLatin America or in Africa it may notnecessarily be at the same level.”One initiative which Rail Academy

introduced was its Learning Nuggets - aseries of free, “short and sweet” one-hour courses taught by a range ofexperts, both from DB and elsewhere. The nuggets were targeted at

transport workers who are furloughedor working part-time due to thereduction in traffic and may beinterested in learning new skills.“The main objective of the learning

nuggets was to provide something notexclusively to our clients, but also topeople who want to upskill,”Christmann says. “We wanted toprovide them with something that keptthem updated in different topics.”The nuggets were a success. “It

exploded,” she says. “A lot of peopleregistered, a lot of people participated,because we did not restrict the topics.We covered everything which isrelevant in the business of transport,not only the technical side, but also thesoft skill and business related side.”The success of the first series has

encouraged DB to make the nuggets apermanent fixture of DB’s trainingservices. A second series, titled ‘Womenin Mobility,’ is currently underway, andfeatures a range of female experts

speaking on topics as diverse asEuropean rail freight planning, bridgedesign, crisis prevention and innovativeleadership.A third series - the first nuggets to be

in Spanish, is scheduled for next year,with a broad range of speakers signed up.“For the Spanish series we have our

director for America, Mr Carsten Puls,and he will talk about integrated trafficsystems,” Christmann says. “We alsohave a governmental institution whichwould like to share a little bit aboutwater regulation, and one Mexican

company which will talk about how tofinance rail projects. “There will also be an expert from the

engineering faculty of a university inColombia, and they will providesomething from the academic side,although we have not determined thespecific topic and expert yet.”In addition, Christmann says the

nuggets have been incorporated intoDB’s certification process for pickingexternal trainers for Rail Academy’slonger courses. “There are a lot of people who would

like to do training for us, but we needto be very, very sure of the quality, andthat they bring the right competenciesand skills,” she says. “So now one partof the process is that they have toprovide a Learning Nugget, which letsus see all the skills which you cannottest in a testing environment.”

The futureChristmann says Rail Academy’s

rapid transition to digital learning hasprovided a multitude of benefits, andonline learning will continue to be usedin future.“We’ve realised that digital solutions

are a very good alternative which wewill definitely keep using,” she says.“And it is much more cost effective foreveryone involved because nobodyneeds to travel, and it’s ecologicallyfriendly.”

Christmann says in future, DB willemploy a mixture of formats, withonline learning used in parallel with on-site training.“We see it as complementary to on-

site training, which is still superimportant,” she says. “For people whoare unfamiliar with the operational sideof transport, it’s good to go intofacilities like workshops and depots anddiscuss it with them - what this rollingstock is, or how the components work,and what these things actually look likein reality.” IRJ

We’ve realised that digital solutions are a very goodalternative which we will definitely keep using. Doreen Christmann“

Dec DB Training_Layout 1 30/11/2020 16:13 Page 35

36 IRJ December 2020

February 202123-26—Virtual SummitInternational Railway VirtualSummit8 IRITS, London, Britain.www.irits.org

March 20213-5—Konya, TurkeyEurasia Rail Exhibition8 HYVE, Istanbul, Turkey.www.eurasiarail.eu

14-17—Anaheim, USAApta Expo8Apta, Virginia, USA.www.aptaexpo.com/apta2020/public/enter.aspx

16—Virtual AwardsUIC Excellence inStandardisation Awards Webinar8 UIC, Paris, France.https://uic.org/events/3rd-international-railway-standardisation-conference

16-18—Sao Paulo, Brazil NEW DATE: NT Expo8 Informa, Santa Monica, USA.www.ntexpo.com.br/pt/home.html

29-31—Dubai, UAEUITP/MENA Transport Congress 8 UITP, Brussels, Belgium.www.uitp.org/events/mena-transport-congress-exhibition

30-Apr 1—Utrecht, NetherlandsRailTech Europe Conference &Exhibition8 ProMedia, Rotterdam,Netherlands.https://events.railtech.com/railtech-europe-2021

30-Apr 1—Jakarta, Indonesia

NEW DATE: Railway TechIndonesia8 GEM, Jakarta, Indonesia.www.railwaytech-indonesia.com

May 20215-6—Albury Wodonga, AustraliaInland Rail Conference8ARA, Canberra, Australia.https://ara.net.au/events-and-networking/inland-rail-conference

5-7—Munich, GermanyNEW: Transport LogisticExhibition8Messe Munich, Munich,Germany.www.transportlogistic.de/en

11-13—Birmingham, BritainNEW: Railtex Exhibition8Mack Brooks, St Albans,Britain.www.uk-railhub.com/2021/en

26-27—Cologne, GermanyNEW: The Rise of IoT & Big Datain Rail Conference8 Rotaia Media, Ashford,Britain.https://iotandbigdatainrail.com

June 202114-16—Porto, PortugalNEW: European Rail Safety DaysSummit 8 ERA, Valenciennes, France.www.era.europa.eu/content/european-rail-safety-days-14-16-june-2021_en

16-18—Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia NEW DATE: Rail Solutions AsiaConference & Exhibition8 TDH, Cranleigh, Britain.www.tdhrail.co.uk/rsa

16-19—Busan, KoreaNEW: RailLog Korea

https://railwayinterchange.org

28-30—Milan, ItalyNEW: Expo Ferroviaria 8Mack Brooks, St Albans, Britain.www.expoferroviaria.com

October 20215-7—Jonkoping, SwedenNEW: Nordic Rail Exhibition8 Elmia, Jonkoping, Sweden.www.elmia.se/en/nordicrail

6—Vienna, AustriaNEW: Alpine Rail OptimisationConference 8 Rotaia Media, Ashford, Britain.http://alpinerailoptimisation.com

11-12—Dubai, UAENEW DATE: Middle East Rail8 Terrapinn, Dubai, UAE.www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/middle-east-rail

16-21—Beijing, ChinaNEW: 12th International HeavyHaul Association Conference8 TTCI, Pueblo, USA.http://ihha2021.com

26-28—Lille, FranceNEW DATE: Sifer Exhibition8Mack Brooks, St Albans, Britain.www.sifer2021.com

November 202123-24—Sydney, AustraliaNEW DATE: Sydney Transport 8 Oliver Kinross, Sydney,Australia.www.sydneytransportexpo.com

December 202114-17—Melbourne, AustraliaNEW: UITP Global PublicTransport Summit8 UITP, Brussels, Belgium.https://uitpsummit.org

8Messe Frankfurt Korea, Seoul,Korea.https://raillog-korea.kr.messefrankfurt.com/busan/en.html

21-23—Perth, AustraliaNEW: Conference on RailwayExcellence (CORE)8 Encanta, Nedlands, Australia.www.core2021.org.au

23—Stockholm, SwedenNEW: Scandinavian RailOptimisation Conference8 Rotatia Media, Ashford,Britain.www.scandinavianrail.co.uk

23-25—London, BritainNEW DATE: InternationalHuman Factors Rail Conference8 RSSB, London, Britain.www.eventsforce.net/rssb/frontend/reg/thome.csp?pageID=38563&eventID=141

September 20217-8—Berlin, GermanyNEW: 7th Railway Forum8 IPM, Hannover, Germany.https://railwayforum.de

21-23—Bilbao, SpainNEW: The Intelligent Rail Summit 8 Promedia, Rotterdam,Netherlands.https://events.railtech.com/intelligent-rail-summit-wtms

21-24—Gdansk, PolandNEW: Trako InternationalRailway Fair8MTGSA, Gdansk, Poland.www.trakofair.com

26-29—Indianapolis, USANEW: Railway Interchange8 Railway Internchange,Indianapolis, USA.

Rendezvous

Dec Rendez_Febrrend 18/11/2020 12:22 Page 44

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Executive offices

Dr Jan Michael Mrosik has been appointed chairmanof the executive board of Knorr-Bremse for three yearsfrom January 1 2021. Mrosik was most recently chiefoperating officer of Siemens Digital Industries, whichhad global sales of around É16bn and 76,000employees. Mrosik studied at the RWTH AachenUniversity and holds a doctorate in engineering.

Ms Debra Johnson was appointed CEO and generalmanager of Denver Regional Transportation District(RTD) in November. She is the first woman to take onthe role in the agency’s 51-year history, and will beresponsible for budget, capital projects and delivery ofcommuter rail, light rail and bus services across theDenver metro region.

DB Cargo UK has appointed Ms Deb Hardy as chieffinancial officer (CFO). Hardy, who is currentlyfinance director at logistics and warehousing companyMoran Logistics, will join DB Cargo UK in January2021. Prior to joining Moran Logistics, she was financedirector at the Japanese-owned, British-based logisticsand freight-forwarding company, Yusen Logistics

Device Technologies 36IRJ Pro 23Linsinger IBCPlasser & Theurer 5PMC Rail International Academy BCSpeno 31Transmashholding (TMH) IFC

Book review

IRJ’s regional editor for Germany,Keith Fender, tracks thedevelopment of Germany’srailways and the nationaloperator German Rail (DB) sincereunification on October 3 1990.The book documents how thenetwork has changed andadapted in the past 30 years, andincludes more than 130 images,some of which have never beenpublished before. There arechapters on traction evolutionand market reform, which hasresulted in one of Europe’s mostdynamic markets, with 440operators and 170 companiesnow managing parts of thenetwork. Fender also reflects onthe future of the German

network, including new high-speed lines and a national regularinterval timetable from 2030.

Mr Alexander Sergeevich Poprugin has been appointedas general director of Transmashholding (TMH)subsidiary Penzadieselmash (PDM). The 34-year-oldgraduated from the Novocherkassk PolytechnicInstitute in 2009 with a degree in management, andjoined PDM in 2018 as a commercial director.

Mr Heinz Bähr took over as CEO of Hübner subsidiaryGersys on November 1. Bähr joined the locomotiveinstrumentation supplier from Aircraft Philipp Group,where as managing director he was responsible forbusiness development. Prior to this, Bähr held variousmanagement positions within Siemens.

Germany’s Railways: 30 years after reunification

Published by Key Books, the book isavailable from www.keypublishing.comand is priced at £14.99.

Dec Ad Index_Ad Index 20/11/2020 11:54 Page 37

38 IRJ December 2020

operator or a partner in Europeis interested in doing something,we will take a fresh look at itwith a fresh pair of eyes. Wewon’t be blocked by corporateconstraints.”

RethinkThe coronavirus crisis is

clouding the immediate futurefor many manufacturers asthey wait to see what marketemerges in 2021 and 2022.However, Watson believes thelikely result is a rethink ofhow Europe operates itsrailway, including the provisionof more cross-border servicesat the expense of cheap short-haul flights. This could offer apotential boom for somemanufacturers according toWatson. TMH and Dunakeszi,it seems, are well placed tobenefit.“We think that railways and

operators generally in Europeare open for newcomers tocome up with new ideas aboutwhat risks the supply industrycould take and should betaking right now,” Watsonsays. “It is time for newinvestment in new places. Andthat’s an area we’re looking atquite specifically in WesternEurope, and I think it willbring us opportunities.” IRJ

EGYPTIAN NationalRailways’ (ENR)

procurement of 1300 coachesof five different types fromTMH Hungary under a É1bncontract in September 2018was not just a landmark orderfor the railway, it was a majorcoup for the supplier.Initial manufacturing of the

coaches has taken place atTver Carriage Works (TVZ), asubsidiary of Transmashholding(TMH), with production steadilyshifting to the DunakesziVehicle Repair site in Hungary,which was acquired by TMHand its Hungarian partnerMagyar Vagon in June.While meeting the contract’s

localisation requirements, themove to Dunakeszi is alsoestablishing a base for TMH inthe lucrative European market.Dunakeszi is set to manufacture680 of the Egyptian coachesand work is underway onassembling and fitting outbodyshells manufactured atTVZ ahead of shipping thefirst vehicles to Egypt by theend of the year.Mr Terence Watson, TMH’s

senior vice-president Europe,says that while Dunakeszi isan established and reputablerenovation and maintenancefacility, this process is verydifferent from manufacturing -it is generally a lot slower,more static and takes up a lotmore space. TMH has therefore invested

significant capital to updatethe facility through an extensivetechnology transfer process,helping the plant to becomeincreasingly self-sufficient. Atpeak production, Dunakesziwill manufacture 25 coachesper month for ENR. However,the company’s business plan istargeting production of up to50 coaches per month at thesite with capacity to expandfacilities if necessary. Work so far has focused on

renovating the biggest hall toserve the ENR contract whilethe other areas have been

optimised in a process Watsonsays involved TMH Internationalexperts from Germany andSwitzerland as well as specialistconsultancy firms. “Togetherwe have accelerated the plan,”he says. “Normally this wouldtake a company a year to 18months to complete, but wemanaged it in six months.”TMH’s support for the facility

was ratified by long-termDunakeszi customer, MAV-Start. The operator agreed aÉ92m three-year maintenanceand modernisation contract for403 inter-city coaches used ondomestic and cross-borderservices in August, whichWatson says will satisfyDunakeszi’s service activity base.

German contractBut TMH is not standing

still. The company has justsigned its first contract inGermany to maintain twolarge new fleets of regionalEMUs for GoAhead inBavaria, which will bemaintained at a new facility.Watson says the company isalso bidding for other serviceand rolling stock contracts,which will be awarded in thefirst half of 2021. Watson adds that the

company has been workingcarefully to see how themarket develops and there areencouraging signs.After decades of EU and

national investment toimprove infrastructure, hesays demand is shifting topurchasing rolling stock. Forexample, there are ampleopportunities in Hungary tosupply EMUs to MAV-HEV,which operates the 1.5kV dcsuburban network aroundBudapest, as well as coachesfor long-distance domestic andcross-border services for bothMAV and private operators. The location of the site also

means that upcoming contractsin the Czech Republic, Slovakia,Poland, Austria and Slovenia,

which Watson says have nottypically been servedparticularly well by establishedplayers, are within reach. “We want to turn Dunakeszi

into our leading facility forEurope” he says. “We know it’sa wrong strategy to go head onagainst all the big competitors.That’s not in our interest at all.We’re looking for the nichesthat work for us. There aremore now than there were oneyear ago and certainly morethan two or three years ago.”A selling point for TMH,

according to Watson, is thecompany’s versatility. Unlikeother European manufacturers,it is not tied to the fortunes ofa state-owned railway, which hesays leaves it well placed to meetthe needs of all customers,including private operatorsseeking affordable rolling stockor repair and maintenanceservices. Watson emphasises his point

by highlighting TMH’s workin South Africa and Argentina.In the case of Argentina, he saysTMH created a business byreturning a fleet of inoperableChinese locomotives to service,which has since grown to furtherservice and supply contracts.“We made a huge inroad by

simply doing what the customerasked us to do,” he says. “If an

TMH embarks on European expansionTransmashholding’s acquisition of the Dunakeszi Vehicle Repair site in Hungary in June has established afoothold for the Russian manufacturer in Europe. Terence Watson, TMH’s senior vice-president Europe,outlines the company’s European growth strategy to Kevin Smith.

The last word | Transmashholding

We made ahuge inroad bysimply doingwhat thecustomer askedus to do.Terence Watson

“

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