Salzburg AG has grouped all its rail services under the Salzburger Lokalbahnen brand, including the Salzburger Lokalbahn, Schafbergbahn and the Pinzgauer Lokalbahn, which has just taken delivery of a third Gmeinder diesel locomotive. ADB’s technical assistance special fund is to provide US$225000 to support the restructuring of State Railway of Thailand, including defining targets for reform, reviewing previous studies, preparing an outline restructuring programme and defining a loan policy. West Japan Railway is planning to spend ¥100bn to increase resilience against earthquakes and tsunamis. The German Land of Thüringen has directly awarded Erfurter Bahn a contract to operate Gera – Zeulenroda – Hof passenger services for 10 years from June 2012. The Paris Commercial Court has accepted Groupe Eurotunnel’s €65m bid to acquire SeaFrance assets including the ferries Berlioz, Rodin and Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The acquisition will be made by financial vehicle Eurotransmanche, which will lease the vessels to an independent operating company. On June 12 the US Federal Railroad Administration announced regulations requiring railways to install signs at level crossings by July 2015 showing free telephone numbers the public can use to alert operators to unsafe conditions. The cost is estimated at $15·6m, off-set by an estimated accident and casualty reduction benefits of $57·8m over 15 years. The Georgian government postponed its plan to float a 15% stake in Georgian Railway on the London Stock Exchange (RG 5.12 p8), citing ‘challenging capital market conditions’. Due to a lack of serviceable locomotives, Uruguayan national operator AFE suspended passenger services between Montevideo and Sudriers on June 1. Services to San José and Florida now only operate as far as 25 de Agosto, with the number of Montevideo – 25 de Agosto services cut from five to two pairs of trains per day. On June 17 RENFE began operating Class 730 gauge-changing electro-diesel trainsets on services from Madrid to Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña and Vigo. Journey times have been cut by 30 min or more. More...
