AnsaldoBreda had agreed to deliver 106 trains to state-owned DSB from 2003-06 but has so far delivered only 15, DSB spokesman Niels-Martin Methmann said.

In May 2008, DSB delivered an ultimatum demanding AnsaldoBreda deliver 14 trains approved for national Danish traffic by May 2009, along with one train that could be coupled into national traffic.

DSB said while AnsaldoBreda met the deadline, the trains had many flaws that needed to be corrected.

DSB said it has given AnsaldoBreda another ultimatum which includes a possible cancellation of the contract if the trains are not delivered according to the delivery plan.

From: Reuters. More news on Railwaygazette.

The minister claims that the only high speed rail project "does actually not connect any of the major cities in the country". For the endeavour, a new company called High Speed 2 lead by Sir David Rowlands is leading the effort, aiming to come up with proposals before the 2010 elections.

The minister believes it is a case of "if not when" a high-speed line is built and that the project would be a success only with cross-party support. He added: "I am more than ever convinced that a north-south high-speed rail line in Britain is just a matter of dates. This will not happen without a political consensus, this should not be an issue of political points-scoring. It is an immensely consequential and extremely costly project which needs to be got right."

Source: Birmingham Post and Railnews

Yet in 2008, the Indian minister Lalu Prasad still claimed that the first corridor Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, was about to go in prefeasability study, saying that "the process for inviting global tenders for engaging a consultant for conducting pre-feasibility studies". One year later, regional authorities and the ministry are still struggling.

"The official clarified that the implementation of the project would not be feasible without the full participation and contribution of the states. He also said that the railways could not run it as a Public Private Participation (PPP) project."

German train producer Siemens has inked a $1 billion contract to build 100 new high-speed trains for China. The company's Velaro train has a top speed of 218mph (350.84km/h). A typical train will have 16 cars and carry more than 1,000 passengers. With a total length of more than 1,300 feet (396.24m), the new trains will be the world's longest single high-speed units in use, according to Siemens.

By the end of the first quarter 2009, the approved Chinese railway investment exceeds $292 billion including more than $175 billion investment in the process projects. The data shown in the recent "Research Report on the Investment in Chinese Railway Transport Industry, 2009" indicates that China plans to construct 40-thousand-kilometer railways with the total investments of over $730 billion by 2012.

Source: Seeking Alpha

Dr al-Sireisiri said this contract represents the second part of the first phase of the project of Al-Haramain High Speed Train.

He noted that the designs will be in line with the international standards and specifications.

Dr al-Sireisiri said these Railway stations will be located in Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and Rabigh.

Dr al-Sireisiri pointed out that Foster company is one of the greatest specialized companies in the field of engineering designing.

On his part, SRO President Abdulaziz Al-Hukeil said the SRO in cooperation with the representatives of the World Bank and the General Investments Fund is finalizing the documents of the second phase of the project.

Source: Daily 

In particular one kilometer of the North entrance of one of the tunnels, i.e. the entrance located on the Segovia side, filtrations appeared as a result of the defrosting of the snow from last winter.

Although these leaks take place while the railway tunnels that are in operation, the situation forced Adif to contact with companies specialized in this type of deficiencies to realise "studies of preventive character", according to a statement.

The infrastructure manager wants to reinforce the measures of drainage and evacuation of waters coming from filtrations that exist at the moment in the Guadarrama tunnels.

The singularity of the orography of the tunnels, described by the public company like as "special characteristics", was one of the main causes of these filtrations. In the North side, that is the affected one by the leaks, an unevenness exists that, although with 0.002 likelihood, "tolerates a greater difficulty for the evacuation of waters coming from the filtrate", according to sources at Adif.

Until now, the circulation of the HS trains that cover the Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid line have not been affected by these deficiencies. The situation described by Adif is like "normal". No works are currently scheduled, according to Adif.

Sources near the company warned, however, that the objective is to divide the works in several sections to correct the filtrations, considering that these tunnels have a length of 28.4 kilometers, the fourth longest in Europe and fifth in the world.

The Guadarrama tunnels have previously suffered from dubst problems with test trains at an accident in one of the tunnels on the 6th of August 2003, which resulted in 34 workers being trapped in the tubes and the evacuation mechanism to be adapted. This, together with the reinforced concrete that had to be used on the walls, made the initial budget rise to 1,219 million euros and one year and five months of delay in opening.

Source: El Mundo

Railway Gazette published in their recent article that tendering started on March 30th, 2009 and that  "from a field of four consortia, Elos and Altavia Alentejo have been shortlisted to present their best and final offers for the concession covering the 169 km between Poceirão and the Spanish border at Caia, including a new 1668 mm gauge freight route from Évora to Caia. It is hoped to sign the concession contract in September for work to start in 2010, with some €641m of European Union funding being available for the project."

In an own presentation, Brisa indicated the differences in the BAFOs, indicated below.

From: Portuguese government

The entire corridor is scheduled to be in service in 2016 and has ASFA-200 and ERTMS as protection systems.

Source: Hoy

Mr. Ignatieff also underscored the potential economic benefits of building a high-speed rail corridor between Quebec City and Windsor, a long-discussed project for which provincial and federal governments recently announced a $3-million feasibility study.

Transport Minister John Baird has indicated such a plan would not meet the "shovel-ready" criteria for stimulus dollars to flow, but Mr. Ignatieff contends that as the country heads toward deficit, the focus should shift to "big projects that tie us together."

"Of course, it's expensive, and we can't fund it all at once, but no project would do more to stimulate regional economic development along the line," he said during the magazine interview at Stornoway, the official residence of the Opposition leader. "No project would allow us to demonstrate a commitment to environment goals, no project that I can think of would be a bigger boost to some of our big competitive companies."

The high-speed line, estimated to cost about $30-billion, would be manageable if rolled out in stages, Mr. Ignatieff said. As Canada approaches its 150th anniversary in 2017, he added, government should work on promoting a country that is "more united" than it was in 1967, the year of Canada's centenary.

Mr. Ignatieff also underscored the potential economic benefits of building a high-speed rail corridor between Quebec City and Windsor, a long-discussed project for which provincial and federal governments recently announced a $3-million feasibility study.

Transport Minister John Baird has indicated such a plan would not meet the "shovel-ready" criteria for stimulus dollars to flow, but Mr. Ignatieff contends that as the country heads toward deficit, the focus should shift to "big projects that tie us together."

"Of course, it's expensive, and we can't fund it all at once, but no project would do more to stimulate regional economic development along the line," he said during the magazine interview at Stornoway, the official residence of the Opposition leader. "No project would allow us to demonstrate a commitment to environment goals, no project that I can think of would be a bigger boost to some of our big competitive companies."

The high-speed line, estimated to cost about $30-billion, would be manageable if rolled out in stages, Mr. Ignatieff said. As Canada approaches its 150th anniversary in 2017, he added, government should work on promoting a country that is "more united" than it was in 1967, the year of Canada's centenary.

Source: National Post

A state Senate subcommittee Thursday expressed concerns about the structure and business plan of the California High Speed Rail Authority -- the agency charged with building the $40 billion rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The Senate's budget subcommittee, which includes senators Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), John J. Benoit (R-Bermuda Dunes) and Alan S. Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), heard a request from the rail agency for about $130 million in bond funding.

Simitian said the community's message was "loud and clear." The subcommittee agreed to hold off on authorizing the funds and urged rail-authority officials to expand their outreach efforts.

The senators heard from about 30 concerned Peninsula residents who made a morning trek to Sacramento to lobby for more oversight and transparency.

"It's quite clear that the high-speed rail staff is insensitive to the community and has no ability to be responsible for the funds," he said.

Simitian said the nature of the rail authority has changed over the past few months from a small study group advocating a high-speed rail line to an organization actually building the line. Now is the time to consider changes that would bring more oversight and more community outreach to the process, he said.

"We deferred action in part to ensure that before the funds are authorized for the coming year that we see a stepped-up program for outreach and oversight," Simitian told the Weekly.

The Thursday hearing came about six weeks after the state Legislative Analyst's Office released its review of the rail agency's business plan for the proposed 300-mile line and found many details missing.

The March 17 analyst report said the authority's business plan failed to disclose expected service levels, assumed train capacity, ways in which funds would be secured, the schedule for completing design and environmental clearance and other critically important factors.

The analyst report said the structure of the rail agency is unusual in that contractors are providing both the technical work and the oversight. Typically, state employees are in charge of managing large infrastructure projects, not contractors.

"The philosophy of the (rail authority) has been that it should avoid developing a large permanent organizational staff because the project is a one-time endeavor, requires highly specialized skills, and will require limited on-going support," the report stated.

"On the basis of this approach to project management, the (authority) is relying upon outside consultants to provide both technical and managerial services."

The report also mentioned a letter that Quentin Kopp, chair of the rail authority's Board of Directors, sent to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, listing elements of the high-speed rail project that could qualify for federal funding.

The list of projects - which has since been revised -- was not discussed with stakeholders in the area, the analysts' report states. The rail authority's board plans to review and tentatively approve the list at its May 7 meeting.

"There has been no public review process for determining the list and there does not appear to have been a collaborative technical review process among the stakeholder agencies," the analyst report states.

"Because of the lack of a transparent, inclusive process for selecting projects, the reasons for including some ready-to-go projects and excluding others are unclear," it said.

California voters approved Proposition 1A last November, which provides $9.95 billion in bonds for the rail project.

But while many residents still support the concept, local residents and officials have grown worried in recent months about the project's potential impact on their neighborhoods.

Hundreds have attended community and council meetings to raise alarms about the potential of an elevated wall splitting the cities, and to express concerns about the possibility of having portions of their property's seized through eminent domain.

Palo Alto Councilwoman Yoriko Kishimoto, who organized a coalition of Peninsula cities that meets weekly to discuss high-speed rail issues, said city officials are now discussing a variety of proposals they'd like Sacramento legislators to consider.

The coalition, which met Friday morning, wants the rail authority to use the "Context Sensitive Solutions" developed by the Federal Highway Administration in designing the new rail line. The method emphasizes stakeholder involvement and design elements that integrate the project with the surrounding communities.

Ms. Kishimoto said the coalition also plans to request that the rail authority conduct an economic analysis for the various design alternatives concurrently with its environmental review of the options.

"We don't want to go through all the environmental analysis only to find at the very end of the two-year process that the tunnel is not feasible," Ms. Kishimoto said.

Source: Almanac News
 

The project entails building three separate lines ― 66-kilometers, from Mokpo to Haenam; 28-kilometers Haenam-Bogil Island; and 73-kilometers, Bogil Island-Chuja Island-Jeju. The last line would be linked by a high-speed train through an undersea tunnel. When connected with other major railway lines across the Honam region and the rest of the country, major inland cities and Jeju will be connected by train for the first time.

The project is expected to serve as a new tool for growth for two of the most underdeveloped parts of the nation located in the southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula. The ``underwater train'' is to be operated in conjunction with the Seoul-Mokpo express train project currently underway.

The National Assembly held a special forum last week to discuss and publicize the Honam-Jeju Undersea Rail project. Participants were mostly in agreement of its necessity, especially in light of the nation's urgent task to achieve a balanced development nationwide.

Jeju is currently only accessible by plane or boat. Both present inconveniences, as they are highly vulnerable to weather conditions, costly and limited in passenger capacity compared to railway transportation. Additionally, the Jeju International Airport is insufficient in size and facilities to deal with the increasing influx of domestic and international visitors.

The KTI projected that 78 percent of air travelers to Jeju will switch to the underwater train. ``Upon completion of the tunnel in 2026, we will see around 15 million additional travelers on high-speed trains,'' said Lee Jae-hoon, a researcher with KTI, as he presented an outline for the project.

`` Traveling on underwater high-speed rail is a cost-effective alternative. It will take approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes to reach Seoul from Jeju. The Mokpo-Jeju section will take around 40 minutes," said Lee. The construction will take around 11 years and require a budget of 15 trillion won.

Experts maintain that expanding railways is a fundamental precondition for fueling regional growth. ``Our railways are woefully underdeveloped in comparison to the road infrastructure,'' said Lee Gun-chul, a senior researcher at the Jeonam Research Institute.

``This project will ultimately have tremendous economic impact on Korea's future by reinventing the southwestern coastline as a new growth bloc. The blueprint benefit Jeju, Honam and the country at large," said Rep. Lee Yong-sup of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP).

The former transportation minister organized the meeting to discuss the initiative with policymakers, politicians, experts and citizens. Partnered by Rep. Bae Young-sik of the governing Grand National Party (GNP), Lee is co-founder of a bi-partisan group for the research and promotion of balanced regional development.

Additionally, Korea will be able to develop its undersea construction expertise, resulting in an economic inducement worth 44 trillion won and see 340,000 new jobs created in the construction industry, the KTI said. The project is also expected to create a new demand for travel and business to Jeju and Honam, creating a new axis of national growth.

Creating undersea transport passages for freight and human traffic has already been underway in countries such as Japan, Britain and France, among others.

In particular, Japan is the only country in the world with self-sufficient technical underwater tunneling expertise. It took part in constructing the Channel Tunnel, a 50.5-kilometer undersea rail tunnel linking Kent, Britain, with Calais, France, beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover. The tunnel is well known to Koreans for its high-speed Eurostar passenger trains.

Japan is also home to the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest rail tunnel, at 53.9 kilometers, 23.3 km of which is undersea. It lies beneath the Tsugaru Strait, connecting Aomori Prefecture on Honshu Island with Hokkaido Island.

Meanwhile, Norway, Sweden and Denmark have begun constructing undersea tunnels. In Asia, discussions are underway to establish tunnels in the seabed to link Taiwan and China, as well as Japan and Russia.

To realize the project, a first test is to be included in the government's upcoming announcement in May of a comprehensive agenda of advancing development in the country's five main economic blocs; Seoul and its vicinity, Chungcheong, Honan, Gangwon, and the Daegu-North Gyeongsang region.

Authorities are cautious because of the associated cost and duration. ``We take note of the significant future implications it may have on the country's economy and industry,'' said Chung Jong-hwan, minister of land, transport and maritime affairs.

However, the ministry pointed out that the KTI outline might contain an inaccurate estimate of the costs involved. ``The construction of the Honam Train Express took more than 11 trillion won. The Honam-Jeju train is likely to require much more than the projected 15 trillion won,'' said a senior official at the ministry.

Rep. Lee urged government officials to be more forthcoming about adopting the historic initiative as a national agenda ``The National Assembly will do its utmost in extending the legislative and budgetary backing for the project upon its inclusion as an official policy of the current administration,'' he added.

Source: Korea Times

"We had expected it to be mostly business travelers on this line," says Julio Hermida, a spokesman for Renfe, the state train operator. "But we're finding it's just as busy on the weekends," as Barcelona residents discover Madrid and vice-versa, despite a long-lived rivalry between the two cities. "To some extent, it's changing the way people think about each other."

Not everyone is pleased. ETA, the militant Basque separatist group, has said it would target anyone involved in the construction of a high-speed train line that will connect the restive northern region with Madrid and France. In December, ETA killed the owner of a company working as a contractor on the project, and in February detonated a bomb at the headquarters of Ferrovial SA, another contractor working on the project.

Other, nonviolent critics say the country's massive investment in high speed rail has come at the expense of other, less-glamorous forms of transportation. Starved of funds, Spain's antiquated freight-train network has fallen into disuse, forcing businesses to move their goods around by road. That means the Spanish economy is unusually sensitive to changes in the price of crude oil.

Critics say the AVE will never stop losing money. Even its backers say high-speed rail can only be economical if the state bears much of the construction costs. But they say the train's benefits-lower greenhouse-gas emissions, less road congestion and, in Spain's case, greater social cohesion and economic mobility-make it an investment worth making.

The AVE was originally designed to compete with the airplane for commutes between major cities around 300 miles apart. But the biggest, and least expected, effect of the AVE has been on the smaller places in between.

Perhaps the most striking example is Ciudad Real, a scrappy town 120 miles south of Madrid in Castilla-La Mancha which, Mr. Ureña says, "had completely vanished from the map." In medieval times, the town was a key stopover point on the route between the two of most important cities of the time, Córdoba and Toledo. But the railway and the highway south later bypassed the town, and Ciudad Real began to wither.

Now it has an AVE station that puts it just 50 minutes away from Madrid, and Ciudad Real has come alive. The city has attracted a breed of daily commuters that call themselves "Avelinos." The AVE helped attract a host of industries to Ciudad Real, and the train is full in both directions.

Indra, an information technology company, moved a "software factory" to Ciudad Real a decade ago. "Along with the University, the AVE was one of the key reasons we moved here," says Ángel Villodre, the director of the center.

The University of Castilla-La Mancha's campus here has grown sharply in size and importance. "The school is here because of the AVE," says Mr. Menéndez, the department head. "Without it, it would be impossible to attract the high-level staff we need."

Around a third of Mr. Menéndez's students are from a different region of Spain -- almost unheard of in a country where students mostly stay close to home.

Airlines have in the past lobbied hard against high-speed rail projects, seeing them as unfair, government-subsidized competition. Southwest Airlines was credited with helping to kill a project to build a Texan bullet train in the 1990s.

But in Ciudad Real, an international airport has just opened its doors. Its key selling point? The AVE. The private owners of the airport have placed it next to the high speed line, hoping to offer a cheap alternative to Madrid's airports.

"If you can't beat them, join them," shrugs José Lopes, director of airlines development at Aeropuerto Central.

Source: Wall Street Journal

The plan draws on $13 billion in federal investment as a down payment on a world-class passenger rail system consisting of 10 high-speed rail corridors. The initial federal investment would consist of $8 billion in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), plus $1 billion per year for the next five years as requested in the federal budget.

The high-speed rail corridors run along the East Coast and most of the West Coast, and form networks in the Northeast, Midwest and South, with each corridor extending 100 to 600 miles.

To develop the plan, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) will initially offer ARRA grants to projects that are ready to roll, with environmental reviews and preliminary engineering work already completed. Those initial projects will be followed with more comprehensive programs and cooperative agreements to develop entire phases or geographic sections of the high-speed rail corridors.

Over the next five years or more, non-ARRA federal appropriations will go toward cooperative agreements for planning the activities and projects needed to fully develop the high-speed rail network. Developing a comprehensive high-speed rail network will require a long-term commitment at both the federal and state levels. See the strategic plan on the FRA's high-speed rail Web page.

Source: US Department of Energy EERE News

The Minister was speaking ahead of his meeting with UK Rail Minister Lord Adonis.

He said:

"There is no doubt that a high speed rail link connecting Scotland, London and Europe would bring significant economic and environmental benefits.

"Improved journey times could provide significant benefits to Scotland's economy, improving connections and opening up new opportunities. Shorter journeys could also drive a real travel shift from air to rail and significantly reduce our emissions.

"Lord Adonis recently asked High Speed 2 (HS2) to examine the potential for expanding high speed services to Scotland and I will ensure Scotland's voice is heard in this work. It is important HS2 works up a fully developed case for a high speed rail project that links Scotland to the major capitals of Europe.

"While we support High Speed links to Edinburgh and Glasgow it is vital these connect effectively to our existing network so that all parts of the country can enjoy the benefits."

Source: The Scottish Government