Dear Readers
We are sad to announce that Ian Nibloe passed away on the 25th May in Brisbane.
Ian has had more than 40 years’ experience in engineering, infrastructure planning and senior management positions in the rail industry. He started his career with Queensland Rail, where he rose to the positions of Chief Civil Engineer and Assistant Commissioner - Engineering with responsibility to the Commissioner for all engineering functions of Queensland Rail until 1990 when he left to become Director Engineering with The Institution of Engineers, Australia. In 1993 he joined TMG as a Director and then with Worley Parsons after they bought TMG until he retired in 2014.
During his career he held positions of Chairman, Railways of Australia Technical Development and Applications Committee, Chairman, Standards Australia Committee for Permanent Way Material and Chairman, International Heavy Haul Association.
Our condolences go out to his wife Andrea and his daughters.
Our Job of the Week this week is in Taiwan where we are looking for a Design Engineer to be based in Taipei. This is not an expat position and our client will only consider locally based candidates for this role.
Regards
Ceri Taylor
Editor
This Week’s Headlines
6 Jun 2020. UK. Network Rail completes Newport to London electric railway
Electrification works have now been completed on the Severn Tunnel, meaning the line from Cardiff and Newport to London Paddington is now fully electric
Source: South Wales Argus
6 Jun 2020. Hungary. BFK launches feasibility study for Danube rail tunnel
The Budapest Development Center has launched an open public procurement procedure for a feasibility study to examine the possible route, costs, and benefits of a railway tunnel under the Danube between the Kelenföld and Nyugati railway stations.
Source: Budapest Business Journal
5 Jun 2020. India. Pune-Nashik semi high-speed rail given green light
The much-awaited Pune-Nashik rail line project has been given the go-ahead.
Source: ET Now Digital
4 Jun 2020. UK. Fugro secures western route track and lineside survey deal
Network Rail has appointed Fugro to use its rail infrastructure alignment acquisition system (RILA) to undertake a major survey on over 1,600km of rail line in its western route.
Source: New Civil Engineer
3 Jun 2020. Canada. CP completes Central Maine & Quebec Railway acquisition
Canadian Pacific (CP) formally completed its acquisition of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway on June 3, with the takeover of the railway’s US business.
Source: Railway Gazette
Job of the Week:
Design Engineer Taipei, Taiwan
Job ID#: 13006
Discipline: Mechanical
Position Type: Permanent
Language: English, Mandarin
Job Description
Our client is seeking a design engineer to work on their expanding project, based in Taipei,
Managing all design activities and provide management to the design team.
ii. Report to Project Manager management team.
iii. To manager the geotechnical design matters for the detailed design including submission preliminary design, pre-final design and final design for MRT E&M system.
iv. To study the GS (general specification) and PS (project system) requirements to review the E&M mechanical, electrical, and telecom drawing.
v. Facilitating activities relating to tracing from elements of the designs to requirements to demonstrate that requirements are being met in the drawing.
vi. To coordinate / interface with contractor’s design consultants, clients and construction team, and review submissions from subcontractors
vii. To coordinate with client / consultants on any discrepancy on design
viii. Review the geotechnical pile and Engineer requirement design according to client’s requirements
ix. Coordinate with drafters to ensure all clients requirements are fulfilled
x. Conduct site inspection from time to time to make sure the design are meet with the designments.
Job Requirements
Suitable applicants must be familiar with design elements including:
1. MRT E&M System equipment installation design experience.
2. With experience in mechanical works. Ex: steel support, cable tray, structure support and mechanical structure support design as well as
3. experience in electrical works. Ex: High voltage, low voltage, breaker, power supply cubit design….
4. With experience in telecommunication routing design, Antenna design
5. Cable size design
* Minimum Requirements and Competencies
To be shortlisted all must have:
* Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical or Telecommunication Engineering, preferably in Structural or Geotechnical engineering.
- With MRT or rail work construction design work experience.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office, AutoCAD and Geotechnical analysis software
- Fluent English both in writing and speaking.
Contact: Patricia Hsiao (patricia@railpersonnel.com)
Rail News
6 Jun 2020. UK. Network Rail completes Newport to London electric railway
Electrification works have now been completed on the Severn Tunnel, meaning the line from Cardiff and Newport to London Paddington is now fully electric. It is hoped the electric railway will result in more frequent and quicker journeys, as well as providing a more energy efficient mode of transport. Sudbrook pumping station - which pumps more than 14 million gallons of water out of the tunnel every day - is also set to be renewed as part of the upgrade of the Severn Tunnel, further improving the reliability of the railway. The electrification process supports the Welsh Government’s plans which includes a south Wales metro, an integrated transport system across the whole of Wales and a long-term vision for a Swansea Bay Metro.
Source: South Wales Argus
6 Jun 2020. Hungary. BFK launches feasibility study for Danube rail tunnel
The Budapest Development Center (BFK) has launched an open public procurement procedure for a feasibility study to examine the possible route, costs, and benefits of a railway tunnel under the Danube between the Kelenföld and Nyugati railway stations. According to the center’s announcement, with the development of the railway, transport could be improved for the growing agglomeration and suburbs, operation within urban areas could be more environmentally sustainable, and the interior of the capital could be renewed. With the development, the number of commuters in suburban traffic could increase by up to 70%, but this will require more trains, which will either require more main station capacity or new track connections along which trains can pass through Budapest.
Source: Budapest Business Journal
5 Jun 2020. India. Pune-Nashik semi high-speed rail given green light
The much-awaited Pune-Nashik rail line project has been given the go-ahead. According to the Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (MRIDC) the project is going to be the world's first semi high-speed corridor over broad gauge. The detailed project report for the high-speed rail corridor was completed by the state-run MRIDC in February and sent for approval by the Railway Board and Maharashtra government. Once completed, the railway aims to bring the travel time between Pune and Nashik down to two hours with trains travelling initially at of 200km/hr with a future increment up to 250 km/hr.
Source: ET Now Digital
4 Jun 2020. UK. Fugro secures western route track and lineside survey deal
Network Rail has appointed Fugro to use its rail infrastructure alignment acquisition system (RILA) to undertake a major survey on over 1,600km of rail line in its western route. The train-mounted system, which can be fitted to passenger trains on normal operational services, is expected to capture 97% of all track and lineside structures. RILA uses a GPS measurement system, combined with inertial measurement units, laser scan technology and video cameras to collect the X, Y and Z position of the track, the rail profile and parameters such as track gauge and cant. Data gathered by the survey will be used to form a “geodetic backbone” that can be used for a range of route maintenance applications, including topographical survey extraction, determination of heights and staggers on sections of electrified routes, vegetation analysis, ballast profiling and ballast volume validation. Survey on the routes is already underway and includes the Great Western Mainline from London Paddington to Bristol, onwards to Penzance and into South Wales, linking with the RILA survey of the Welsh network performed by Fugro in 2019.
Source: New Civil Engineer
3 Jun 2020. Canada. CP completes Central Maine & Quebec Railway acquisition
Canadian Pacific (CP) formally completed its acquisition of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway on June 3, with the takeover of the railway’s US business. CP had already acquired CMQ’s 381 route-km in Canada on December 30 2019, under a deal with Fortress Transportation & Infrastructure Investors announced last November. Its takeover of CMQ’s US operations was approved by the Surface Transportation Board on 4 May 2020. Taking over the operation of 393 route-km in Maine and Vermont, including 92 km leased from Maine Department of Transportation, restores CP’s direct access to the Atlantic seaboard. The 774 km CMQ network in Québec, Vermont and Maine comprises sections of the former Canadian Atlantic Railway, which was spun off by CP in 1995, and the former Bangor & Aroostook Railroad. CP intends to invest up to US$90m over the next three years to bring the CMQ infrastructure up to FRA Class 3 standards.
Source: Railway Gazette
3 Jun 2020. Ghana. Government signs €500m Western rail line deal
The government has signed a €500m contract for the construction of sections of the Western Railway Line. The contract is for the construction of a standard gauge rail line between Takoradi Harbour and Huni Valley. It will form a total of 102 kms of continuous single track railway line, with sections along the tracks, an initial workshop facility at a location to be specified by the employer, and an initial complement of rolling stock.. The deal is considered the largest single rail contract in the post-independence history of Ghana. The contract was signed between the government represented by Ghana Railways Development Authority and Amandi Holdings. The project is to commence in October 2020 and is expected to be completed in 42 months.
Source: GhanaWeb
2 Jun 2020. UK. GTR uses Siemens technology for social distancing on trains
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has started to use new Siemens Mobility technology to track the number of passengers on the trains amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The technology is also compatible with service operation and timetables planning to ensure social distancing on the trains, in accordance with the government’s advice. The technology uses the train loading data based on weight and is employed on the Class 700 Thameslink and Class 717 Great Northern Moorgate trains. It gathers data that is fed to the Cloud-based Advanced Passenger Loading reporting to provide immediate information and offers the ability to analyse the information.
Source: Railway Technology
1 Jun 2020. UK. COVID-19 virucide to protect GTR trains for 30-day period
Govia Thameslink Railway’s (GTR) entire fleet of Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express trains – as well as all stations and staff areas – have been treated with a powerful new virucide that sticks to surfaces, killing the COVID-19 virus for up to 30 days. A specially-developed app has also been introduced which tells staff, at-a-glance, when each train carriage was last cleaned with the long-lasting viruscide. The product further improves GTR’s enhanced cleaning regime, in which stations and staff areas are treated with more short-term virucides and all 2,700 of its train carriages are sanitised every night. To help support everyone’s focus on keeping their hands clean, GTR has also ordered 1,000 no-touch hand sanitisers for staff and passengers, which are now being distributed to stations across the operator’s network.
Source: Yahoo
1 Jun 2020. Singapore. Suspension of high-speed rail to KL gets final extension
Singapore has agreed to further extend the suspension of the High-Speed Rail (HSR) project linking it and Kuala Lumpur (KL) for seven months, till the end of the year. Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said that Malaysia's Senior Minister Azmin Ali wrote to him to ask for the extension to discuss Malaysia's proposed changes to the project. "In the spirit of bilateral cooperation, we have agreed to a final extension of the suspension period to 31 December, 2020. This should provide sufficient time for Malaysia to clarify its proposal and for both sides to assess the implications of the proposed changes," said Mr Khaw. The announcements came on the same day as the deadline to decide on the project's fate, after both countries agreed to suspend it for about two years in September 2018. The decision had pushed the completion date for the 350km rail line from end-2026 to January 2031.
Source: Straits Times
1 Jun 2020. Australia. Western Sydney airport metro boost
Construction will begin this year on a metro line linking the new Western Sydney airport and St Marys railway station, after a Federal Government A$3.5bn injection into the project. Two new metro stations will also be built at Luddenham and Orchard Hills as part of the project, which is set to be completed by 2026 - the year the airport is slated to open. The project is expected to include a total of six metro stations, two of which will be within the airport's boundaries. The Sydney Metro-Western Sydney Airport rail project is expected to create about14,000 jobs.
Source: ABC News
1 Jun 2020. New Zealand. Northland Rail work begins
The start of major work replacing bridges, improving tunnels and upgrading the rail line to Whangarei will result in more reliable train services and enable more freight to be carried by rail. As part of the Government's NZ$204.5m Provincial Growth Fund investment to revitalise Northland rail, KiwiRail is upgrading the Northland Line to improve journey times, resilience and reliability. From today, no more train services will run between Swanson and Whangarei to allow substantial upgrade work to begin, including replacing five aging bridges and lowering tracks in the 13 tunnels. When complete, trains will be able to pull hi-cube containers on the Northland Line. Next year KiwiRail will continue to make improvements to the Northland Line, including reopening the mothballed section of line between Kauri and Otiria and building a container exchange at Otiria.
Source: KiwiRail
30 May 2020. China. Ningbo metro Line 2 extension opens
A 5·7 km extension of Ningbo metro Line 2 northeast from Qingshuipu to Congyuanlu, has opened. Half of the three-station extension is elevated and half underground. The extension has been built by Beijing Urban Construction Design & Development Group, with work getting underway in January 2017. Construction of the underground section was finished in February 2018, with the elevated section following in August 2018; tracklaying was completed in October 2019.The 28·4 km first phase of Line 2 connecting Lishe International Airport and Qingshuipu opened on September 26 2015. The extension forms the first part of the second phase, with a further 2 km section from Congyuanlu to Honglian scheduled to open in 2022. CRRC Zhuzhou supplied 24 six-car Type B2 trains to operate the first phase of the line, and 18 identical trainsets were ordered to increase the fleet under phase two.
Source: Metro Report International
30 May 2020. Indonesia. Japan may join China-backed high-speed rail project
Indonesia plans to integrate a medium-speed rail service connecting Jakarta and its second-largest city Surabaya, and built with Japanese assistance, into a high-speed one, built with China's assistance, connecting the capital and the city of Bandung. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Jokowi also proposed to bring a consortium of Japanese investors in, joining the Indonesia-China consortium currently constructing the railway between Jakarta and Bandung, the capital of West Java Province. The construction of the Jakarta-Bandung project itself has been postponed for a year since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic that caused a "budget overrun," In September last year, after two years of negotiations, Indonesia and Japan reached a deal on the outline of the Jakarta-Surabaya railway project, which is expected to fully operate in 2025,
Source: The Mainichi
28 May 2020. Ontario signs formal agreement on Yonge North Subway Extension
The Ontario government has signed off on a preliminary agreement with York Region to move forward on a long-promised northward extension of the Yonge subway line into the 905. The agreement sets a framework for the roles, responsibilities and potential funding mechanisms for the project, which comes with an estimated price tag of A$5.5bin.The northward extension of the Yonge Line beyond Finch Station would bring subway service to Markham and Richmond Hill for the first time. Vaughan would also be served by the extension, adding to subway service that was brought to the city for the first time in 2017 with a subway extension to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre near Highway 7 and Jane Street. The Ford government announced last year that it would move forward with the line, along with plans for a new subway line called the “Ontario Line” to take pressure off the already overcrowded subway system in Toronto.
Source: CTV News
27 May 2020. Germany. World-first for ATO on regional passenger trains
In a a world-first, the automatic operation of regional trains in passenger service is to be tested in a ‘regulatory sandbox’ in Niedersachsen. Due to launch in 2021, the project brings together Alstom, aerospace research centre DLR, the Technical University of Berlin, train operator Metronom and the Greater Braunschweig transport authority, which will provide two of its Coradia Continental multiple-units for use as testbeds. The EMUs will be equipped with ETCS and additional ATO equipment. This will support regular passenger service to Grade of Automation 3 – automated operation with no driver but with an onboard attendant who is able to intervene in an emergency. Shunting moves will be possible in GoA4 unattended mode with no staff on board, but with the possibility of remote intervention. The tests will also contribute to the development of a regulatory framework for ATO ahead of the envisaged series production of regional trains equipped for GoA3
Source: Railway Gazette
27 May 2020. Equador. National Railway put into liquidation
The Ecuadorian government has announced plans to put several state-owned companies, including Ecuador Railways, into liquidation. The decision is intended to substantially reduce expenditures at a time when government income, especially from oil revenues, has been severely reduced. Transport minister, Mr Gabriel Martínez, said the government hoped to revive the tourist train market and that it was in discussion with Peru based rail operator Peru Rail. In the event a new operator or partner cannot be found within six months of the liquidation the assets and the liabilities, including former EFE and FEEP employees’ pensions, will pass to the Ministry of Tourism.
Source: International Railway Journal
26 May 2020. Australia. Inland Rail route to be reviewed
The A10bn Inland Rail route across south east Queensland will be reviewed, after the federal government bowed to community pressure. The current route crosses 16 kilometres of the Condamine floodplain with multiple bridges, banks and culverts, which many say will drastically change the way water flows across the region, putting properties, businesses and lives at risk from flooding. The government asked the Australian Rail Track Corporation to investigate a route further west, which would require only six kilometres of floodplain crossing. Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack said: "I have asked for an immediate review of the forestry route against the selected route to assess its ability to meet the business case requirements such as transit time, reliability, cost competitiveness and availability." The review's timeline is yet to be revealed.
Source: Queensland Country Life
