Work to conclude the reconstruction of the Sena railway line in central Mozambique will begin this month, according to Marta Mapilele, the chief executive officer of the Mozambican ports and rail company, CFM.

Cited in Thursday’s issue of the independent daily "O Pais", Mapilele said the work would cost 44-45 million US dollars, and should be completed within six months.

The Sena line runs from the port of Beira to the Moatize coal basin in the western province of Tete, with a branch running to the sugar town of Marromeu on the Zambezi. It was thoroughly sabotaged by the apartheid-backed Renamo rebels during the war of destabilisation, and was supposed to be rebuilt by the Indian consortium RICON, which, in 2004, was granted the contract to run the entire Beira rail system.

But RICON continually failed to meet deadlines, and CFM found that the work it did was shoddy. So the government terminated the contract with RICON, and CFM took back control of the Beira rail system in December 2011.

When the refurbishment is complete, the Sena line will have the capacity to transport up to 6.6 million tonnes of cargo a year. This figure is also the current handling capacity of the coal terminal in Beira port.

Further upgrading of the line, which could be carried out by mid-2013, could raise its capacity to 12 million tonnes a year.

"Studies should be undertaken to ascertain what interventions should be made along the line to increase its transport capacity, in the first phase, to 12 million tonnes a year, and later to 18 million tonnes a year", said Mapilele. This would also depend on the capacity of the new coal terminal under construction in the port.

Although there is much talk of Mozambican coal exports reaching 80 million, or even 100 million, tonnes a year in the medium term, at the moment only one mine, run by the Brazilian company Vale, is exporting significant amounts of coal. It will be joined later this year by Rio Tinto.

According to Mapilele, the Vale and Rio Tinto production plans presented to CFM envisage a need to transport, up until next year, five million tonnes of coal – which is less than the installed capacity of the Sena line.

Ref: http://allafrica.com/stories/201202170238.html

Join us at the 15th Annual Africa Rail 2012 to learn more about how your company can take advantage of Africa’s infrastructure boom – contact samantha.pickard@terrapinn.com to book your exhibition booth and meet Africa’s key railway infrastructure buyers.

Scanning goals have not proved feasible and July deadline cannot be met, says US government security chief.

US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have not shown they can meet 100% screening of cargo containers, as required by the 9/11 Act, according to Stephen Caldwell Director, Homeland Security and Justice for the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) .

“Uncertainty persists over how DHS and CBP will fulfill the mandate for 100% scanning, given that the feasibility remains unproven in light of the challenges CBP has faced implementing a pilot program,” Caldwell said in a statement to the House Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security.
In 2006, the CBP, Department of State and Department of Energy launched the Secure Freight Initiative (SFI), a pilot programme to determine the feasibility of 100% scanning.

Challenges encountered at the ports included safety concerns, logistical problems with containers transferred from rail or other vessels, scanning equipment breakdowns and poor-quality scan images.

“CBP officials told us in August 2011 that the agency’s position was that a risk-based approach to global supply chain security was a more feasible and responsible approach than 100% scanning,” he added.

Caldwell also revealed that the DHS had acknowledged it would not be able to meet the 9/11 Act’s July 2012 deadline for implementing 100% scanning, and it expects to grant a blanket extension to all foreign ports to July 2014.

ref: http://www.shippingposition.com/article/us-doubts-100-screening-containers

Join us at the Africa Ports & Harbours Security Day to be held on 28 June 2012 at the Sandton Convention Centre to learn more about Port Security policy and development.

Download the full agenda here.

Following on our report on the recent developments in Malaysia, specifically the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Project, Malaysia has recently announced that they will be creating a sukuk to fund the construction activities in the nation’s capital, with plans of raising as much as USD9.9billion. The Mass Rapid Transit Corp will be taking a loan of RM500 million from a consortium of banks to cover early building work.

Mr. Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal, the Chief Executive Officer of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), has confirmed as one of the Keynote Speakers at Asia Pacific Rail 2012. If you’re interested in finding out more about Malaysia’s metro plans and how you can get involved in the business opportunities, join us at Asia Pacific Rail 2012, held from 13-15 March 2012, Kowloon Shangri-La, Hong Kong. Download the programme brochure to find out more.

The subsidiary of the China Railway Construction Corp has just inked 2 major projects in Africa. Worth over 9.1 billion Chinese yuan (USD1.4 billion), the projects will focus on the development in Nigeria and Djibouti. (source) Following the announcement, the Hong Kong share price of CRCC has risen by 6.6% to HKD5.97. The company current has 268 overseas projects, mostly based in the less-developed African and Asian regions.

If you are interested to find out more about the project opportunities in various parts of Asia, don’t forget to join us at Asia Pacific Rail 2012, held in Hong Kong this March. Operators and government officials from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Seoul, Thailand, Cambodia and more will be at the event to share on project updates and their industry experience. Download the programme brochure to find out more.

Joining Mr. Sim from LTA is Ow Chun Nam, Director Downtown Line 3, a focus for the Tunnelling and Construction track. Mr. Ow is set to deliver a keynote address on “Achieving optimal alignments- Understanding and overcoming key challenges in planning and feasibility studies of metro alignments”.

To view the full program and find out how you can share your solution on this great platform in front of the c-level executive customers click here.

As part of the GTECH – CIC joint venture, Huawei was recently awarded a contract to design, supply and install the GSM-R system for the Hong Kong section of the Guang Zhou-Shen Zhen-Hong Kong Express line.

Covering a stretch of 26km, the rail link runs from the terminal in west Kowloon, heading north to the Shenzhen/Hong Kong boundary, where it connects with the Mainland section of the CTCS L3 line. Arriving from Guangzhou via Shen  Zhen, the rail link was been put into full operation  in  (see above). Huawei’s GSM-R system will provide operational voice and CTCS L3 data services for a railway line that will carry approximately 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction. Completion date for the Hong Kong section is 2015.

Huawei is a platinum sponsor of RailTel Europe 2012 taking place in Austria. Further details can be seen on the website here

In September 2011, Huawei signed an agreement with Savronik to provide Turkey Railway’s first Intelligent Video Surveillance (IVS) network. It is set to be designed and deployed along the high speed railway lines between Ankara and Eskisehir by June 2012.

Huawei will design and deploy the Intelligent Video Surveillance (IVS) solution consisting of hundreds of cameras, servers, data storage devices, analytical video processing tools and also a reliable DWDM transmission network to support the high bandwidth required for the IVS system.

In the initial phases, the IVS solution will cover 270km of high speed railway lines between Ankara and Eskisehir, paving the way for 2200km more of newly planned railway lines. The first ever IVS deployment in high speed railways will monitor the railway lines with an embedded intelligence system based on advanced functions such as motion detection, presence and acceleration detection. The IVS system will provide Turkey Railways a safe and reliable high speed rail way operation.

Huawei is a platinum sponsor of RailTel Europe 2012 taking place in Austria. Further details can be seen on the website here

December 26th 2011 marked the opening of the Guang Zhou – Shen Zhen – Hong Kong Express railway line. The first train departed Shen Zhen, running on the newly built railway line with the CTCS-3 train signaling system (coherent with ETCS L2).  Operating at a speed of 300kmph at the beginning, the travel time between Guang Zhou and Shen Zhen had been reduced to just 35 minutes – that’s 30 minutes less than the travel time taken before the new railway line was built. What’s more, the travel time is set to be reduced to a further 25 minutes thanks to the train design that has the capacity to run up to 380kmph.

Huawei was selected to design, supply and build a GSM-R voice and data communication system for the high speed railway line, demonstrating that it was able to overcome the design and deployment challenges the railway operator faced. Huawei was able to deliver a state-of-the-art GSM-R solution reassuring the operator that its communications platform was secure and reliable when dealing with operational communications via voice and data.

About one third of this 105km high speed railway line goes through hilly terrain with a large number of cuttings, tunnels and bridges including the Shiziyang tunnel, the world’s fastest underwater tunnel stretching a total length of 10.8km. The Huawei Base Station Subsystem (BTS) solution was installed to address the unique environmental condition, consisting of a conventional BTS and Repeater equipment. A Distributed Base Station was also deployed; a technology that was first introduced into the industry by Huawei.

Huawei is a platinum sponsor of RailTel Europe 2012 taking place in Austria. Further details can be seen on the website here

STATEMENT ON REGULATOR’S DECISION ON PORT AUTHORITY’S TARIFFS

“Transnet has noted the Ports Regulator’s decision to award the National Ports Authority a tariff adjustment of 2.76% for the 2012/13 period. The decision is a result of a comprehensive consultation process driven by the Regulator.

The decision translates into a real increase in cash flows after taking into account anticipated volume growth.

We recognise the Regulator’s role in determining port tariffs and we believe this must be balanced by the need to invest in critical port infrastructure to boost South Africa’s competitiveness. As such, Transnet recently increased its capital investment programme to R300 billion over the next seven years.

Transnet remains committed to rolling out its capital investment programme. Consequently, Transnet will be engaging the Ports Regulator, as part of the Regulator’s consultation process with port stakeholders, on the development of a tariff methodology that supports our ability to invest in South Africa’s logistics infrastructure. 

We remain firmly committed to regular engagement with the Regulator and await the Regulator’s record of decision.”

Join us at the 9th Annual Africa Ports & Harbours Show to join the debate on port tariff costs, port investment and development.

The move means the end of the dedicated division of transit officers who had patrolled CityRail trains.

Under the new structure, a smaller group of transit officers will be solely responsible for "revenue protection" on buses, trains and ferries.

The Premier, Barry O’Farrell, announced the restructure today with the Police Minister, Mike Gallagher, the Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian, and Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione.

The government says that by 2014 a Police Transport Command will have a force of 610 officers.

This means hiring another  309 police officers to add to the 301 already in the commuter crime unit who will transfer to the new command.

RailCorp’s current transit officer division has an "authorised strength" of about 600.

This will be reduced to 150 revenue protection officers.

Mr O’Farrell said:"To ensure better safety for commuters across all three modes of public transport, having police do this task is the best way to go.

To read the full article, click here.

Urban Transport will be happening on the 27-29 February 2012. It will discuss investment and development for operators, developers, government and investors. Download the brochure here.