EWS unveiled its plans for a new subsidiary specialising in meeting the needs of the energy market at the Coaltrans World Coal Conference in Athens, Greece. The new subsidiary, EWS Energy, will bring together all the skills and experience its parent has developed over the years, providing greater focus to this key market sector. The new company will be formally launched on November 6th 2006.
Paul Bates, Managing Director of EWS Energy, said: “EWS Energy is focused on delivering for the electricity generation market in Britain. Through our extensive dialogue with the industry, such as at Coaltrans, we are able to deliver services that meet the requirements of this important market. We are excited to be launching EWS Energy in early November, representing one of the most significant developments in rail freight in years. This is the future of rail freight and we look forward to delivering increased coal volumes by rail.”
At the same event EWS outlined its plans for increased capacity for coal movements despite a number of pitch points around the UK rail network. This is in response to a 26% increase in volumes during the summer of '06 compared to the year before. EWS is working with Network Rail to increase the maximum weight of coal trains from the current limit of 1400 tonnes. At the same time it is understood that the possibility of operating 'flights' through pinch points is being investigated. EWS currently operates an average of 700 coal trains a week.
Doncaster could soon benefit from direct rail services to Bradford say rail operator Grand Central. The idea is to link the Bradford area with London bound Inter-City services at Doncaster. Bradford is currently poorly served with through trains to the capital but Grand Central believes there is a good business case for remedying this situation. “Bradford has a bigger economy than any of the Baltic countries” says their MD Ian Yeowart. The new services could be up and running as early as December next year.
Grand Central recently succeeded in winning the right to run services from Sunderland and Hartlepool into London. The new Doncaster – Bradford service will be building on this experience.
As a result of these developments Doncaster will benefit from direct services to Pontefract, Wakefield Kirkgate, Brighouse, Halifax and Bradford. The new services will enhance the town’s already {josquote}excellent rail connections{/josquote}, bringing in more shoppers, tourists and hopefully inward investment and thereby boosting the local economy. And for the people of Doncaster, attractions such as Halifax’s Eureka and Piece Hall, and Bradford’s National Museum of Photography Film and TV will be easily reachable without having to change trains.
Doncaster based Wabtec Rail has won a 14.5 million contract to refit GNER's entire fleet of High Speed Train Mk3 carriages. Wabtec, based on the site of the famous Doncaster Plant Works, will refurbish all 103 carriages of the 12 train sets in service with GNER by the end of 2008. The 30-year-old carriages will be brought up to the recently introduced Mallard standard. Passengers travelling from Doncaster on the East Coast Main Line will benefit from new seating, luggage racks, tables, carpets, lighting and toilets in the refitted carriages. During the refit wireless internet will also be introduced. A GNER spokesman claimed that this is the most comprehensive package of improvements ever fitted to this type of train.
Doncaster's Plant Works in the past played a major part in the development of UK railways producing locomotives including the Flying Scotsman, Mallard, and Sir Nigel Gresley. With this new Wabtec deal, and deals announced earlier in the year, the Plant looks set to carry on its fine tradition of servicing the railway industry well into the future.
Its full steam ahead for one of the most famous loco's built at Doncasters' 'Plant' locomotive works.
60007 Sir Nigel Gresley, an A4 Pacific class locomotive, has just completed a four year overhaul to return it to its former glory. The refurbishment project has largely been carried out by volunteers at the Grosmont based North York Moors Railway (NYMR). Steam enthusiast from around the world helped the Sir Nigel Gresley Preservation Trust (the loco's owners) raise the 750,000 needed to carry out the work. The National Lottery Heritage Fund also contributed 250,000.
The locomotive, designed by its name sake and built at The Plant Doncaster in 1937, was saved from an ignominious end in 1966 as the era of mainline steam came to an end. Now Sir Nigel Gresley will thrill steam fans once again as it returns to active service on the beautiful North York Moors line. Large crowds of enthusiasts where in attendace to see it back on the tracks for the first time since the completion of the renovation works, so much so that extra runs had to be hastily added to the timetable as tickets rapidly sold out.
Nigeria has launched the first stage of a 20-year rail modernisation programme. This first five year deal will see Chinese firm China Civil Engineering and Construction Corp. (CCECC) design, construct and maintain a line between Nigeria's two principle economic centers, Lagos and Kano. The contracts for this phase alone are worth £4.2 billion ($8 billion). At the signing ceremony CCECC president Lin Rongxin said the project would employ 50,000 Nigerians on the construction of the 1,315km line. Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo said the second phase would add links to the southern city of Port Harcourt, an important oil center, and the central city of Jos.
This is CCECC's second major project on Nigeria’s railways. Between 1995 and 2003 the company carried out extensive line rehabilitation and some rolling stock refurbishment work in a multi-million pound contract that seems to have been the precursor to the newly announced project.