Network Rail faces regulator grilling over reliability

Train services run by Southern, Thameslink and ScotRail all missed punctuality targets, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said.

Network Rail maintains the rail system.

Rail passenger journeys have risen 59.1% since 2005, while freight is up 9.1%.

 

Passengers using Thameslink routes have had to deal with disruption caused by long-term work at London Bridge, while track and signalling failures have disrupted travellers on Southern lines.

Nigeria takes first step to open railways to private sector

A first step that could cause the long awaited revolutionary shake up in Nigeria’s antequated railways is now being taken by the federal government, with a number of bills now before the National Assembly ,one of which passage is primed to see the entry of the private sector in the running, ownership and management of the railway systems.

If all goes well and the National Assembly applies the required speed needed for this revolutionary intervention, it will be the first time in the 117 years of the country’s railways that this will be happening.

“ The private sector urgently needs to get involved in the rail sector – it’s a key driver for the economy, and the multiplier effect on the Nigerian economy will be significant. 

Stanbic IBTC finances acquisition of buses in Lagos transport.

The transportation sector of the economy in Lagos State has received boost following Stanbic IBTC Bank’s financing of the acquisition of Tata buses by Southdrift Investment Limited for operation under the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme of the Lagos State government. The buses were commissioned at a ceremony comissioned at a ceremony in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, recently.

Southdrift, which will operate the buses on dedicated routes, has a five-year BRT contract with LAGBUS Asset Management Limited, operator of the Bus Rapid Transit scheme, to run a particular route within the Lagos metropolis till 2018.

Labor Agreed Deal on Canada's Biggest Railroad

Canada’s biggest railroad has reached a last-minute tentative agreement with one of its unions, averting a lockout that had threatened to delay imports from Asia and compound a port logjam on the West Coast of the United States.

Canadian National Railway and Unifor, the union representing its 4,800 mechanical, clerical and trucking workers, struck a deal late Monday, just before the railroad’s deadline to lock out the workers.

 

“I’m delighted to say that Unifor and Canadian National Railway have been able to come to a tentative agreement,” the Canadian minister of labor, K. Kellie Leitch, said outside the bargaining room. “CN will be running at full capacity tonight and tomorrow.”

CN operates freight trains on tracks across Canada and the United States, but Unifor represents only Canadian workers.

The two main unresolved issues had been pay and benefits, a Unifor executive said Monday.

Details of the tentative agreement are being withheld pending ratification by Unifor members, CN said in a news release. The union is expected to announce the results of the ratification vote in the next three weeks.

“I’m elated; it came right down to the wire,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor’s national president. The labor minister “found a way to make sure the corporation knew that there had to be a negotiated settlement, and her strong statements in that regard were pivotal.”

A lockout could have spurred disruptions of shipments of grain and other commodities and goods across Canada and impede operations at the country’s biggest port, Vancouver.

Automakers in Ontario like Ford Motor, Honda Motor and General Motors, and companies that ship crude oil by rail like Keyera were monitoring the situation.

Retail companies and ports, particularly on the Pacific Coast, had feared the impact of a lockout at CN.

American ports on the West Coast only resumed full operations over the weekend after a tentative labor deal late Friday ended a dispute that has caused months of disruption to trade, but port officials said it would take six to eight weeks to clear a backlog of containers.

The Retail Council of Canada, an industry group, had asked the government to step in to help avert a lockout, saying even a short disruption could have had a major impact on retailers as many keep only minimal inventory.