Here are two of the video presentations from Middle East Rail 2012 about urban transport.

The keynote address from London Overground is titled Metro’s Role in Reforming Urban Transport Networks: The Development of London Overground, covering:

• How London Overground reinvigorated rail travel around London
• Integration with London’s transport network
• Commercial framework, funding and risk allocation

Click here to watch the video, and download the presentation slides here.

The second presentation is by Kayseri Light Rail System, called Future vision: Integrating bike sharing with light rail system, covering:

• Bike Bus Tram integration
• Single fare system for bike bus and tram
• Increasing attainability with bike sharing system

Click here to watch the video, and download the presentation slides here.

If you found this interesting you might also want to read GCC Rail Development: Qatar Railways and Etihad Rail.

Eskom is estimated to spend R9.79 billion to move coal transport from road to rail – taken from an article by By Antonio Ruffini http://www.esi-africa.com/node/14612

“While conveyor carried coal is the ideal it will not be possible for these supplies and the next best option is rail, which is cheaper and eliminates other negative effects in terms of road safety hazards and wear and tear on the roads. Road transport won’t be sustainable,” Maharaj says. Eskom has been moving some 30 million or so tonnes of coal a year to its power stations by road and in 2008 it translated to 5,100 truckloads a day, and the distance covered was equivalent to driving around the world 15 times daily. Diesel consumption of the trucks carrying this coal amounted to 2% of the country’s total diesel usage.

The R9.79 billion investment by Eskom in rail infrastructure will result in 140 km of new rail in Mpumalanga and a reliable rail haulage capacity of 32 million tonnes by 2018, up from 8.8 million tonnes today, which will remove 2,500 daily road truck trips for coal delivery. In addition to the Mpumalanga road to rail initiative Eskom is also looking at the plans to provide 600 km of extra rail from Waterberg from which the utility is looking to secure some of the two billion tonnes of unsecured coal supply it will have to source for its fleet from 2020 onwards.

Plans that have already been realised saw 1.3 million tonnes of coal delivered for Camden power station using a containerised rail solution in 2011 and this is expected to increase to two million tonnes this year. A containerised solution for Tutuka power station is being constructed and expected to be delivering the first deliveries in July 2012. This has seen some of the Tutuka Standerton track reinstated.

Africa Rail is the continent’s leading rail event.  It is Africa’s only railway conference and exhibition with attendees from all over Africa.  It is supported by government and industry alike.
 
Co-located with the Ports & Harbours Show and exhibition – the Africa Rail exhibition draw 1900+ visitors annually.
Who should attend?
Rail Operators, Rail Authorities, End Users (Mines, Manufacturers & more), Ports & Intermodal Operators, Logisitcs, Government, Investors & Financiers
Attend to; meet the needs of end-users, finance major projects, develop more efficient operations & source new solutions.
> Click here to visit the show
> Click here to make an enquiry

> Click here to read the VESDA DBT success story

Xtralis will be exhibiting at the Africa Rail and Africa Ports and Harbours Exhibition, come and visit their stand at stand number D2. Register as a visitor online at http://www.terrapinn.com/2012/africa-rail/

If you missed out, here’s video presentations from Middle East Rail 2012. Qatar Railways Company and Etihad Rail gave an overview of work so far and planned rail projects in the GCC. Two of the biggest railway operators in the region gave exclusive insights on their projects including:

• Qatar’s underground network
• Etihad’s freight lines across the GCC
• Planned technology investments
• Key success factors in previous projects

Click here to view the presentation from Geoff Mee, Deputy CEO, Qatar Railways Company on Creating state of the art underground rail networks in Qatar.

Click here to view the presentation from Graeme Overall, Business Development Director, Etihad Rail on Etihad Rail’s ambitious GCC rail plans — outlining the scope of the project.

RUSTENBURG (miningweekly.com) – Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) on Wednesday launched the first of five fuel cell-powered locomotive prototypes to be tested at its mining operations in South Africa.

The first locomotive would be surface tested over the next few months at the company’s Khomanani mine, in Rustenburg, to establish the viability of commercialisation.

Amplats delivered the project in collaboration with Vehicle Projects, Trident South Africa and Battery Electric.

The company aimed to use the five fuel cell-powered locomotives for underground testing in one of its mines – yet to be decided – by the end of the year, Vehicle Projects president Arnold Miller told Mining Weekly Online.

Amplats CEO Neville Nicolau said that using the platinum-based hydrogen-powered fuel-cell locomotives would reduce the energy dependence of its mines and would be more environment-friendly than traditional rail transport. Fuel cell-powered locomotives would also create jobs and provide a more economical mining environment.

> Click here to read full article

Why attend the Africa Rail conference and exhibition?
 
Africa Rail is the continent’s leading rail event.  It is Africa’s only railway conference and exhibition with attendees from all over Africa.  It is supported by government and industry alike.
 
Co-located with the Ports & Harbours Show and exhibition – the Africa Rail exhibition draw 1900+ visitors annually.
 
Who should attend?
Rail Operators, Rail Authorities, End Users (Mines, Manufacturers & more), Ports & Intermodal Operators, Logisitcs, Government, Investors & Financiers
 
Attend to; meet the needs of end-users, finance major projects, develop more efficient operations & source new solutions.

> Click here to get involved

CAPE TOWN-based rail engineering specialist Racec – which recently disposed of its electrical engineering interests – has a promising order book for 2012 and 2103. But it has raised a flag around capacity. CBN suspects this may signal a greater role for its empowerment partner Solethu – a 50% shareholder rail specialist RRL Grindrod – in terms of building sufficient capacity to capitalise on new opportunities.

CEO Gary Harrod, writing in the latest annual report notes that more than 80% of the 2011 revenue is already secured for 2012. “We know further opportunities are out there. Our challenge is not our ability but our capacity. We need to know when to take on work and when to walk away.”

Harrod says indications are that Transnet is looking for a third operator in the mechanised maintenance market. “As a black-empowered, rail-focused contractor we are ideally positioned to seize this opportunity. We have already appointed a dedicated high-level management resource to drive this opportunity.”

> Click here to read the full article

RACEC will be exhibiting at Africa Rail 2012! Come and visit their stand! Stand number D19

> See the exhibitors

> Register as a visitor for free

Bigen Africa head Snowy Khoza says “the South African government must establish whether we are a developmental State or a capable State.”

Speaking recently at the seventeenth Infrastructure Dialogue, hosted by State-owned financial institution the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Khoza referred to the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission’s (PICC’s) framework outlining an integrated management and delivery system for 17 strategic infrastructure projects (Sips) across all three spheres of government.

At an infrastructure development cluster media briefing in late February, Department of Transport (DoT) Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin unveiled more information on Sips, which will span sectors like transport, energy, water, telecommunications and public works. This includes the development of an aerotropolis in the region of OR Tambo International Airport, peripheral developments in and around cities, maintenance and repair of these projects and a number of other infrastructure challenges that the country faces.

> Click here to read the full article

Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin will be speaking at the Africa Rail and Ports and Harbours Show 2012 at the Sandton Convention Centre on the 26th to the 28th of June 2012.

> Click here to register!

> Click here to make an enquiry

Europe’s rail operators look increasingly set to shake up the region’s travel business, and challenge Europe’s Low Cost Carriers. We believe that the powerful combination of liberalised markets, improved high speed rail technology, and ubiquitous broadband and more effective distribution technology will mean that train will increasingly replace plane as many European’s preferred method of travel over short and medium haul journeys.

Eurostar, for instance have recently launched a direct service from King’s Cross St Pancras International to Avignon over the summer. Though it’s currently only set to run once a week, it certainly made me think twice about taking the car for our family holiday in France this summer. A 5.5 hour train journey would beat a two day drive hands down (especially with two children aged 5 and 7 in the back seat). In the end we’ve chosen the car (mainly because we need a vehicle while we’re there, and it’s hard to put much wine on the train).

This certainly was highlighted at the Rail Revenue & Customer Management Conference last November and this year’s meeting seems set to shine the spotlight on it even more. The other new dynamic challenging the status quo is how new technology is allowing start ups such as WESTbahn GmbH and the Hamburg-Koln-Express GmbH to challenge Austria’s OBB and Germany’s mighty Deutsche Bahn respectively on their home ground. I certainly look forward to hearing how these two challenger brands are tackling the incumbent operators using new and innovative distribution technology and customer service offerings.

We’ll be looking in future at key success factors that will enable Europe’s operators to meaningfully take market share from Low Cost Carriers (or indeed to grow the size of the market, as was the experience with the launch of Eurostar’s London-Paris service).

Speaking at the event she congratulated the DMRC on their efficient and effective completion of Delhi metro projects and their ability to succeed without causing any major traffic disruptions.

Joining her as host to the event was DMRC Managing Director Mr. Mangu Singh, who outlined a new 2016 goal for the completion of a further 140 km of track works as part of the Phase III project. Dr. Sudhir Krishna, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development and Chairman, DMRC, said that the central government is throwing their full support behind Delhi Metro to achieve such goals.
Sheila Dikshit’s also revealed that the government has given DMRC the task of studying and implementing a new Monorail system for the capital.

DMRC are scheduled to participate at MetroRail Asia 2012 in Mumbai this October 9 – 11, further sharing their best-practice strategies and plans for the future. Some other representatives include:

H.S. Anand, Director, Rolling Stock, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation

Arvind Bhatnagar, Executive Director, Signalling and Telecommunications, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation

Rajan Kataria, Chief Engineer, Design, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation

To find out how to get involved with MetroRail Asia 2012 (October 9-11 Mumbai), please feel free to contact us at +65 6322 2783. Alternatively, you can also download the 2012 agenda here.

 

Africa Ports & Harbours Show speaker & SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) CEO Tsietsi Mokhele is keen to have SA establish its own shipping line. South Africa does not have a single own-flagged commercial vessel on its shipping register.

The implication of not having its own domestic fleet sees SA paying billions in maritime services to foreign operators.

When compared to its BRICS counter parts – SA is lagging behind by a long short. Brazil operates a fleet of 172 merchant vessels; Russia, 1891 vessels; India, 534 vessels; and that China had 2044 merchant ships.

Mokhele said that "South Africa has no ships on its register, and pays R37bn a year [2007 figures] in maritime transport services to foreign owners and operators," adding that it was the cost of moving 180 million tons of freight into and out of the country at that time. In a document tabled at the briefing, Mokhele called for a policy framework to enable the establishment of both a coastal and a blue-water (high seas) merchant fleet.

According to Fin24.com, about 98 percent of South Africa’s total import and export trade, by volume, was currently carried by foreign ships. Up to 12,000 vessels visited the country’s eight commercial ports each year. "We are almost 100 percent dependent on foreign shipping to get our goods to market," he said.