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Rail News

10 February 2020. Volume 2, Issue 2

about 4 years ago by Rail Personnel

​Dear Readers

We have received a query from a reader in Australia, Bernard Schaffler, who is presently working on a thesis for a PhD through Wollongong University.

The title of the thesis is “Hybrid Locomotive Powered from Hydrogen Fuel Cells including Slip/Slide control and predictive wheel diameter compensation of each wheel powered by DTC inverters using AC traction motors”.

Bernard is looking to contact either a person or company who has interest in this subject. Should you be able to offer assistance please contact Bernard by email at bschaffler@schafflerconsulting.com

This week's Jobs of the Week are in Australia and the Philippines. In Sydney, we are looking for a Senior Software Engineer and in Manila, we are looking for a Trackwork Supervisor.

Regards

Ceri Taylor

Editor

This Week’s Headlines

9 Feb 2020. UK. Major disruption for rail users as Storm Ciara hits

Rail operators across the UK have cancelled services as the Met Office issues yellow and amber weather warnings as Storm Ciara pummels the UK.

Source: The Guardian

9 Feb 2020. Australia. NSW rail staff refuse to work on new fleet

New South Wales (NSW) railway staff say they will refuse to work on the state's new fleet of intercity trains from South Korea amid union claims that a "design fault" in the trains increases safety risks..

Source: AAP

8 Feb 2020. Thailand. Consortium ready to start work on high-speed rail

Eastern High-Speed Rail Linking Three Airports Co Ltd, is ready to start the construction of high-speed rail, take over the operation of the Airport Rail Link.

Source: Bangkok Post

7 Feb 2020. UK. Network Rail awards signalling contracts

Billions of pounds will be invested in railway signalling over the next five years to improve the reliability of systems on Britain’s railways, potentially enabling more trains to run

Source: Network Rail

7 Feb 2020. UK. Railway hub opens in Wigan

A state-of-the art new rail depot costing £46m has been opened in Wigan.

Source: Wigan Today

Jobs of the Week:

Senior Software Engineer NSW, Australia

Job ID#: 12920

Discipline: Software Engineer

Position Type: Permanent

Job Description:

This Sydney CBD company is seeking a Senior Software Engineer for a new permanent position.

The Purpose of this role is to contribute to the development team needed to successfully undertake the strategies and tasks to successfully achieve the values, goals and objectives of the company.

Main responsibilities are to:

- Specify, design and develop applications, user interfaces and database design & development on mobile, web and desktop platforms;

- Provide/Consume technical design documentation for projects to be developed by other engineers and used by departments within the organization;

- Analyze complex problems, develop solutions and provide technical customer support for fault tickets

- Follow defined processes for software development/maintenance.

- Write and maintain unit and integration test cases to ensure build/code stability.

- Document code, create installers and deploy code on mobile, web and other platforms.

Job Requirements

* Computer science degree or equivalent thereof;

* Demonstrate 10+ years" experience in online development building highly scalable enterprise software and web apps.

* Experience with QT Framework and designing cross platform applications for mobile and desktop systems.

* Strong knowledge of modern C# and C++ principles and practice (C++11/14 is mandatory) along with prior experience with QT framework.

Contact: Jackie Hendry (jackie@railpersonnel.com)

Trackwork Supervisor Manila, Philippines

Job ID#: 12923

Discipline: Permanent Way

Position Type: Contract

Job Description:

This international firm is looking for a Track Engineer to work in Myanmar to work on the project is Yangon-Mandalay Railway Improvement Project.

Role requires the Track engineer to supervise the design, installation and commission performed by the Contractor.

The project scope is geographically large scope, stretching north to south with approx. 620km.

The roles is required intermittently for a total of 28 man-months in the period from Jan 2020 to Oct 2023.

Job Requirements:

Candidates should have a sound knowledge of permanent way track supervision

Contact: Jackie Hendry (jackie@railpersonnel.com)

Rail News

9 Feb 2020. UK. Major disruption for rail users as Storm Ciara hits

Rail operators across the UK have cancelled services as the Met Office issues yellow and amber weather warnings as Storm Ciara pummels the UK with winds of up to 80mph. Network Rail has restricted trains to 50mph across the majority of its lines. Grand Central has cancelled all its services between London, Bradford and Sunderland. LNER, Avanti West Coast and South Western Railway are among the train companies that have cancelled services. The public is being advised to check National Rail for updates before travelling.

Source: The Guardian

9 Feb 2020. Australia. NSW rail staff refuse to work on new fleet

New South Wales (NSW) railway staff say they will refuse to work on the state's new fleet of intercity trains from South Korea amid union claims that a "design fault" in the trains increases safety risks. The NSW rail union says the state's new trains don' t allow guards to properly monitor platforms. The danger period is the 15 or so seconds before a train takes off, when people running late try to board, or when people are separated from children, it says. Transport for NSW denies there are any issues. Projected to cost A$2.43bn, the new fleet is set to replace the V set trains which have been in service for more than 40 years.

Source: AAP

8 Feb 2020. Thailand. Consortium ready to start work on high-speed rail

Eastern High-Speed Rail Linking Three Airports Co Ltd, a consortium led by Charoen Pokphand Group, is ready to start the construction of high-speed rail, take over the operation of the Airport Rail Link (ARL) and train new staff for future service. After signing contracts with the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), the company is waiting for the SRT to clear and deliver land for construction of the Don Mueang-Suvarnabhumi-U-tapao high-speed railway, said Thiti Nantapatsiri, the company's president. To improve services, it will increase the number of trains and change the railway signal system. It will take all ARL staff and new recruits to operate the ARL and the future high-speed rail by coordinating with SRT's Railway Training School. The company is a consortium of CP Group, Ch.Karnchang Plc, Bangkok Expressway and Metro Plc, Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) and China Railway

Source: Bangkok Post

7 Feb 2020. UK. Network Rail awards signalling contracts

Billions of pounds will be invested in railway signalling over the next five years to improve the reliability of systems on Britain’s railways, potentially enabling more trains to run. Five framework contracts – worth an estimated £2.4bn over Control Period 6 (2019-2024), and up to £3.6bn including options to extend for the first two years of Control Period 7 (2024-2026) – will improve asset reliability and in turn reduce delays for the users of the railway – passengers and freight operators, while also increasing capacity on the network. The frameworks have been awarded to: Alstom (Southern Region and Eastern region); Siemens Mobility Ltd (Scotland Region and North West & Central region); and A joint venture between Hitachi Rail STS UK Ltd and Linbrooke Services Ltd (Wales & Western region).

Source: Network Rail

7 Feb 2020. UK. Railway hub opens in Wigan

A state-of-the art new rail depot costing £46m has been opened in Wigan. The Springs Branch railway sidings in Ince have been adapted by Network Rail so it can stable and maintain 24 electric and eight diesel trains. The upgrade is part of the Great North Rail Project - a railway industry team effort to transform train travel for customers across the north. The new depot - located just off the West Coast Mainline - will provide more flexibility for regional rail operators to move their trains across the north overnight in preparation for services the next day and will provide a new home for additional trains brought into use by 2020. The development has seen the installation of new overhead line equipment to power the electric trains. The build involved 2,500m of new track, 46 new pylons and 2,650m of new overhead line equipment. Five new service platforms have been built and 1,000m of walkways for staff to operate the facility safely.

Source: Wigan Today

7 Jan 2020. Finland. Two bidders for operating Helsinki rail regional services

Helsinki Regional Transport (HSL) has received two bids to operate regional rail services around the Finnish capital from June 2021, with the winner of the tender due to be announced in May. HSL will now undertake a bid evaluation process, with a particular focus on the bid quality and financial sustainability. Services are currently operated on a direct award basis by VR Group, who are one of the bidders. The bids will then go before the board of HSL, with the winning operator due to take over on June 27 2021. The new operator will use the same fleet, which is owned by Metropolitan Railway Equipment, a holding company jointly owned by the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen. Current HSL staff will also transfer to the new operator.

Source: International Railway Journal

6 Feb 2020. Italy. Two killed in train derailment

A high-speed Frecciarossa, or Red Arrow, train has derailed killing two railroad employees, injuring at least 31 other people and prompting renewed concerns about the country’s transportation infrastructure. The passenger train was travelling near its top speed of more than 180 miles per hour when the engine became detached and the second car went off the tracks at dawn near the town of Lodi, 19 miles south of Milan. Local news reports and the authorities said the engine slammed into a railroad building. The railways had undergone maintenance work the night before the crash, a spokesman from Trenitalia said, but it was still unclear if the two events were connected. Rail traffic was diverted to local tracks, and there were delays of about an hour. The authorities had said an investigation was underway.

Source: New York Times

6 Feb 2020. Singapore. Jurong Region Line fleet ordered from Hyundai Rotem

A total of 62 three-car trains will make up the fleet for the upcoming Jurong Region Line (JRL), which is expected to start operations in 2026.The S$416.5m contract for the trains was awarded to South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem Company, which is supplying new trains to Singapore for the first time. The company was previously engaged to carry out mid-life refurbishments of first-generation trains for the North-South and East-West lines in 2006. JRL, Singapore’s seventh MRT line, will serve areas such as the Jurong Lake District, the Jurong Innovation District and Nanyang Technological University in western Singapore. The trains will be fully automated and driverless.

Source: CNA

5 Feb 2020. UK. Green light for Phase 2 of East West Railway

The Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, has approved Network Rails Transport and Works Order Application, giving permission for work to begin on the next phase of the East West rail link. Once complete, East West Rail will connect communities and businesses between Oxford and Bedford, and Milton Keynes and Aylesbury. The new railway will also connect the Great Western main line, Chiltern main line, West Coast main line and Midland main line - providing passengers with much-improved cross-country rail links from East to West. With phase 1 between Oxford and Bicester already complete, phase 2 involves track and signalling upgrades between Bicester, Bedford, Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, including reinstating a disused section of railway between Bletchley and Claydon Junction, north of Aylesbury Vale Parkway. Network rail have said this will help to create jobs and boost economic growth in the area.

Source: The Bucks Herald

5 Feb 2020. France. lle-de-France seeks to open RER network to competition by 2030

Ile-de-France is seeking to accelerate the opening up of local rail services to competition, regional President Valérie Pécresse has announced. In line with the provisions of the EU’s Fourth Railway Package, the French regional passenger market is being liberalised with effect from January 1 2023. Under the government’s current timescale however, the eight Paris RER routes operated by SNCF’s Transilien business unit are due to be tendered in a phased programme starting with Line E in 2025 and concluding with lines A and B, which are managed by Paris city transport operator RATP, in 2040. However, this timetable only covers five of the eight, with no confirmed plan for tendering suburban lines J, P and R. There would be a particular focus on assessing the case for lines J, P and R to be tendered during 2023-25, and the region intends to have several routes ready for handover by the end of 2023.

Source: Metro Report International

5 Feb 2020. Panama. Hyundai consortium wins Metro Line 3 construction order

The General Directorate of Public Procurement has confirmed that the HPH Joint Venture Consortium of Hyundai E&C), POSCO E&C and Hyundai Engineering have been awarded a $US2.057bn contract for the design, construction and financing of Panama Metro Line 3. The consortium was chosen as the preferred bidder for the project in November 2019. But two other bidders challenged the outcome of the proposal evaluation. They were the China Railway Group and the ACPC consortium consisting of Acciona Construction of Spain and Power Construction Corporation of China. Panama Metro Line 3 will be 25 km long with 14 stations and will run from Albrook to Ciudad del Futuro. An end-to-end journey time will be 45 minutes, and the line will have an initial capacity of 20,000 passengers/hour/direction during peak periods. HPH will have 54 months to execute the project, which is expected to create 3,500 direct and 1,000 indirect jobs.

Source: Business Korea

4 Feb 2020. UK. Eurostar announces direct Amsterdam-London service

Eurostar will introduce a fully direct service between London and Amsterdam on 30 April 30. Currently passengers on the Amsterdam to London leg are required to leave their train in Brussels, clear immigration and security checks, and then get on another service. The direct service from Rotterdam will begin on 18 May. The services stop in Lille, Brussels and Rotterdam. There are currently three outbound services a day from the UK to the Netherlands. Eurostar said the direct inbound journey from Amsterdam to London will start with two services, with the aim of increasing to a third, and later a fourth. Eurostar launched service to Amsterdam in 2018.

Source: Railway Gazette

3 Feb 2020. Australia. Construction begins on Parramatta Light Rail

The Parramatta Light Rail project has officially begun major construction, with the first sod being turned on 31 January. The new 12km light rail project will connect Westmead to Carlingford via the Parramatta CBD and Camellia, and is set to open in 2023. Decommissioning works are already underway along the closed Carlingford rail line, in preparation for its conversion to light rail. The project aims to open up the Greater Parramatta region by improving connections to popular key destinations across the region, while also linking into Sydney’s greater public transport networks.

Source: Infrastructure Magazine

1 Feb 2020. India. Budget provide record spending for Railways

A 17% year-on-year increase in capital expenditure for Indian Railways (IR) in 2020-21 has been By Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman in the nationals’ budget. The Ministry of Railways said the emphasis would be on continuing capacity enhancement works, and accelerating implementation to make Indian Railways ‘the growth engine of the economy’.IR is to complete 3 750 route-km of new lines, gauge conversion or provision of additional tracks this year, up from 3,150 route-km in 2019-20.Electrification of 6,000 route-km is targeted, with wiring of the entire broad gauge network now envisaged for completion by 2023-24.The first phase of a centralised traffic control deployment plan covers the installation of automatic block signalling on 1,830 km across eight zonal railways.

Source: Railway Gazette

31 Jan 2020. Australia. Port of Melbourne rail project approved

The Port of Melbourne in Australia has received Government support for its new A$125m (US$84m) Port Rail Transformation Project (PRTP) to reduce truck congestion. The port’s rail solution which will be developed over the next three years. It will mean more containers are moved by rail, therefore by-passing roads in inner Melbourne, and will be achieved via expanded common user and on-dock rail terminal capacity and improved rail terminal operation arrangements. The project is being funded by an increase in the tariff on full import containers of A$9.75 per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) to take place after 1 April. The PRTP is due for completion in 2023.

Source: Maritime Executive