GOVERNMENT AND REGULATORY

CityRail customer charter 3rd quarter report card

Minister for Transport David Campbell said CityRail was continuing to deliver on the commitments made in its Customer Charter for 2009, with 3rd quarter targets now delivered. Mr Campbell said the charter outlined specific targets for improving frontline services for passengers and five of these commitments had been successfully delivered between July and September. “The commitments set out in the Customer Charter are about improving frontline services for customers and making a real difference to their experience on the CityRail network each day.” The Customer Charter was announced in December 2008 and committed CityRail to improve services by delivering specific actions with clear and measurable benefits.

RTSA NSW publishes October newsletter

The NSW chapter of the Railway Technical Society of Australia (RTSA) have published their latest newsletter, including:

• Study Tour to Asia (STORE) 2009
• Point of view.

NTC releases 2008/09 Annual Report

The National Transport Commission (NTC) released its 2008/09 Annual Report themed around the ‘end-to-end’ movement of goods and people and highlighting recent achievements in national transport policy reform. NTC chief executive Nick Dimopoulos said the report shows a year of progress on transport reforms focusing on delivering integrated national outcomes considering all modes, users and policy objectives.

US DOT convenes first-ever safety council meeting

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) recently held the first meeting for its newly formed safety council, which includes representatives from the agency’s 10 operating administrations. The department previously had no formal process for the administrations to share safety data, best practices and strategies. The council is charged with further enhancing all administrations’ safety focus and boosting the impact of all safety programs. The “action-oriented, data-driven” council will foster an open dialogue about common issues and provide a forum for “fresh ideas and new perspectives,” said US Transportation Deputy Secretary Porcari in a prepared statement.

INDUSTRY

New passing loop at Kerewong completed

The modernisation of the Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne rail corridor is picking up pace with the opening of the newly upgraded passing loop at Kerewong between Herons Creek and Wauchope in NSW. The $9.8 million project increased the length of the existing passing loop and installed two new turnouts. ARTC CEO David Marchant said the upgraded passing loop at Kerewong complements the recently constructed loops at Mindaribba, Dungog, Nana Glen, Tamrookum and Greenbank, increasing the capacity and speed of the interstate rail network.

QR signs new long term coal haulage contract in Hunter Valley

QR has announced a new long term coal haulage contract with BHP Billiton subsidiary Hunter Valley Energy Coal Pty Ltd (HVEC). Under the contract, QR’s coal business, QR National Coal, will transport from HVEC’s Mount Arthur thermal coal mine at the Port of Newcastle. To support the expanded contract QR National Coal will initially invest up to $60 million on new locomotives and wagons. QR CEO Lance Hockridge said QR was pleased to continue its relationship with BHP Billiton. “With this contract and two contracts recently announced with Peabody Energy and Felix Resources we will almost double our share of the Hunter Valley market to about 30%,” Mr Hockridge said.

Weekly rail traffic down year over year

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported that rail traffic remains down year over year for the week ended 17 October 2009. US Railroads reported originating 275,545 carloads, down 15.4% compared with the same week in 2008. Regionally, carloads were down 14.2% in the West and 17% in the East. It was the same week last year that notable declines in rail carloads (2.4%) and rail intermodal (2.8%) traffic showed the first significant signs of the nation’s economic downturn. Therefore, year over year comparisons for weekly rail traffic may appear to improve going forward. Intermodal traffic totaled 206,139 trailers or containers, down 12.6% from a year ago. In the year-over-year comparison container volume fell 6.7% and trailer volume dropped 35.2%.

California's Metrolink adds more train-stop systems

Metrolink recently installed Automatic Train Stop (ATS) systems at an additional 49 locations throughout its system. The southern California commuter-rail operator now has added ATS at a total of 105 locations. The operator plans to install Positive Train Control (PTC) on all trains by 2012, three years before the federally mandated deadline. The ATS systems feature magnetic inductors installed adjacent to track where trains approach a curve or change speeds.

International rail transport seminar

International Union of Railways (UIC) and International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) jointly organised a Market Place Seminar on 22-23 October, on Rail Transport Connecting Continents in Istanbul. Almost 100 participants from 15 countries attended the event in order to learn more about the current and future rail situation in South Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The conclusions from the sessions were that Turkey, ideally located between Europe, Asia and Middle East, has the potential to become a major rail logistic hub. The market is constantly expanding and their trade balance with Central Europe has nearly been equalised, which enables the development of efficient railway products involving goods in both directions of traffic.

ACCIDENTS

Use of 'copy' parts will lead to more disasters, technicians claim

Thailand's rail system workers claim patching up emergency brakes with cheap copy parts, running infeasible repair schedules and borrowing parts from one train to keep another in service are all part of daily life for train maintenance workers in Thailand. While a State Railway of Thailand (SRT) fact-finding panel was quick to find human error was the cause of the 5 October derailment at Khao Tao, it is the country's ageing train network that is drawing just as many questions and fuelling the powerful railway workers' union stoppage campaign. Senior maintenance technicians with more than 20 years' experience claim the system is plagued by a shortage of proper spare parts.

One fatality in railroad tunnel accident

One person has been killed in a construction accident inside a Norfolk & Southern Railroad tunnel near the Wayne-Mingo County Line. The accident was reported inside tunnel number 4 in Stepptown on 22 October. Members of the Kermit Volunteer Fire Department said the victim was operating an excavator and working on the tunnel’s roof when a portion of the roof collapsed. It took rescuers nearly two hours to reach the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Half of Muni surveillance cameras fail in audit

The onboard video surveillance equipment on more than half of San Francisco’s Muni buses and trains were not fully operational when an emergency audit was ordered by the San Francisco transit agency after the stabbing of an 11-year-old boy on a city bus in September 2009. The inspection's findings highlight for the first time the extent of the problem Muni has had in keeping a key component of its safety and security system in good working condition. The entire fleet, with the exception of the cable cars and historic streetcars, is outfitted with cameras. Of the approximately 960 vehicles equipped with surveillance devices, 22% were deemed completely nonfunctional and an additional 30% only partially functional, the inspection found.

Passengers set train on fire in South Africa

On 28 July, the class 6E1 locomotive hauling a northbound Shosholoza Meyl Zastron-Johannesburg train, with about 150 people on board, broke down at Welgelee in the Free State. Passengers enraged at the lengthy delay set five passenger coaches on fire, burning them out and melting the overhead traction wires. No injuries were reported but damage was estimated at R9 million. Buses were arranged to convey passengers to their destination.

Train collision in India kills over a dozen

A train collision in northern India killed at least 13 people on 21 October. Railway officials said 15 people were also injured in the crash, with estimates of up to 21 fatalities. The Goa Express slammed into the stationary Mewar Express apparently because the driver overshot a signal to stop, a spokesman from India's northern railway said. Rescuers had to cut trapped passengers from a wrecked car of the Mewar Express. Several other trains that access the Mathura station were diverted.

Deadly train collision in Egypt, 18 fatalities

Rescuers using heavy lifting equipment have untangled the wreckage of two passenger trains which crashed near Cairo, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 50. The trains collided at Al-Ayyat in Giza, 50km south of the Egyptian capital. The incident happened when a train heading to Fayoum stopped after apparently hitting an animal, and a second train went into the back of it. The second train, destined for Assiut in upper Egypt, badly damaged its front carriages on impact, crushing the rear carriages of the train in front.