HaRakevet ISSN 0964-8763

Series 26 #4 Issue No. 99 December 2012 ,cfrv

A Quarterly Journal on the Railways of the Middle East Edited and Published by Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild PhD Passauer Strasse 4, D-10789 Berlin, Germany e.mail:[email protected]

99:01 In German the game “Musical Chairs” is called for some reason “The Way to ”-. This shows the current state of the section from Derech Bethlehem into the former station area in Jerusalem - the last yards of heavy climbing for a generation of steam and a generation of diesel locos. Soon the level and the destination will be reached (Photo: Aharon Gazit). 99:02. PART 3. A personal whinge: The Editor, having suffered a computer crash and the EDITORIAL. consequent need to replace and – whether PART 1. he wants to or not – ‘upgrade’, yet again, wishes publicly to express his annoyance There are times when one does not know whether to laugh or cry. The situation itself is at bright-spark IT types who, over a cup a grim, unpleasant one: – all over the Moslem world violent riots broke out in Septem- of coffee, whether Java or Botz, decide ber because of – or ostensibly because of - a video that had been placed on YouTube to create wonderful new systems which and which apparently (for I don’t know anyone who has actually seen it fully) portrayed promise to do everything three times as the Prophet Mohammed in an unflattering light. Innocent people were butchered in the fast but end being unable to open exist- name of Love whilst Moslems in Europe demanded ‘Tolerance’ and ‘Respect’. Be that as ing files.... There have been editorials and it may – and no-one has yet burned down British embassies because of the film ‘Life of correspondence in ‘Backtrack’ about the Brian’ - the Railway Minister of Pakistan, Ghulaim Ahmad Bilour, was quoted in the media way in which digitalised information be- on 24.09.2012 as saying words to the effect: „Neither Saudi Arabia nor Afghanistan have comes inaccessible or corrupted or faded railways, so why should Pakistan have any railways?“ The report (in ‘Berliner Zeitung’ of after a relatively short period, meaning that 24.09) adds that Bilour is actually a major supporter of road transport and represents the we will soon know more about 1910 than road lobby, doing all he can to hinder any modernisation or expansion of the railways in 2010, and this is one reason why ‘Harake- Pakistan. vet’ will also appear as a hard copy for as Well, Pakistan is not really in the area covered by ‘Harakevet’ but Saudia Arabia long as we can manage this...... Just as most certainly is and any reader of ‘Harakevet’ would certainly have learned also of major with the Qumran scrolls, there remains a expansion plans in both countries cited. faint eschatalogical hope that Something So maybe someone should present the Minister with a Gift subscription? And in may survive the next technological ‘blip’. the meantime, „Always look on the bright side of life....“ The Israelites followed the ‘cloud’ for forty The other news from railways in the Middle East is of course also affected by the years through the deseert, but look where conflicts in the region or - as in the case of Libya – aftermath and reaction. it got them? Without a hard copy of ink on parchment even Moses would have been PART 2. forgotten by now, not to mention what got In mid-November the rockets, which have been crashing into southern for years, eventually written down as the Mishnah.... began reaching central Israel. Israel’s reaction got the usual tedious and stupid responses from some quarters – though also some positive and supportive ones from others. At the time of writing all one knows is that rockets keep falling and people keep being scared, wounded, or killed. The Editor ‘Harakevet’ covers many countries and in almost all of them – Lebanon, Syria, . Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Libya etc. - there have been conflicts and deaths in recent years. STOP PRESS - Stanier 8F 2-8-0 for- merly WD 341 and repatriated from Turkey to Britain has been sold to 99:03 Municipality to form an exhibit in the city. More, much more, in next issue!”

So, you are sitting somewhere in the Judean Hills enjoying a picnic and suddenly a big monster with rotating teeth comes roaring out of the hillside! Truly the stuff of nightmares. But in fact this shows the first of the Tunnel Boring Machines reaching its target in November 2012 as a part of the Jerusalem A1 line construction project. (Photo: Aharon Gazit.)

,cfrv Page  its type in Israel, and is to the most advanced inter- national standards. Should all go well the $1.75Bn. A1 project should be ready for opening towards the end of 2017.”

(iii). WINTER TIMETABLE. IR announced in mid- September that the winter timetable would start on Sunday 23.09.2012. Dur- ing the Sukkot holidays of 29.09 - 08.10.2012, there would again be different schedules and the reserva- tion of seats would be sus- pended. The services on the Beer-Sheva - Dimona line will be restored to their for- mer frequency and routeing in accordance with public demand.

(iv). FURTHER ORDER FOR DOUBLE-DECK COACHES. From a press release of Isra-Rail by the Transport, National Infrastructures, Co. of 27.09.2012: IR and Bombardier 99:04. and Roads’ Safety Ministry & Isra-Rail Transportation have agreed on a third Company Ltd.: batch of the double-deck push-pull coach- Unless there were a last-minute es. The present batch, from a contract for NEWS FROM change, the big TBM was to be started on 150 coaches signed in 2010, is for twelve Sunday, 06.09.2012 in a ceremony at the six-car train sets comprising one driving THE LINE. work site near Sha’ar-Hagay with the par- trailer/power car and five trailers, includ- ticipation of Minister Katz. ing one fitted for disabled passengers, and (i). NEGEV AREA ROVER TICKET. And: TBM STARTS. (TUNNEL BORING seating 750 each. The total is therefore 72 From a press release of 04.09.2012 both MACHINE) coaches. The new deal is worth $150M; by the Transport, National Infrastructures, From a press release of 09.09.2012 by In- the coaches will be delivered from the 2nd. and Roads’ Safety Ministry & Isra-Rail frastructure Ministry and IR. Quarter of 2014 to the 1st. Quarter of 2015. Company Ltd.: “Transport, National Infrastruc- Since IR still hopes to commence electric “The Ministry and the railways ture and Roads Safety Minister Yisrael Katz operations in 2016, the new coaches will have together introduced the combined IR GM Boaz Zafrir and the TBM project be modified to be suitable for use with /rail monthly free rover ticket on the manager from Shafir Engineering Ltd., both modes of traction. urban lines of METRO-DAN bus operator Yaniv Zohar, participated today in a cer- During the negotiations with at Beer-Sheva as well as on selective rail emony to start operation of the big TBM Bombardier IR managed to gain an overall services to/from Beer-Sheva and Tel-Aviv, at the Nahal Yitla work site near Sha’ar reduction of $25M, both regarding the cur- Hertzliya, , , Kiryat-Gat, Le- Hagay. The 3 TBM are 150m long, 10m rent purchase and an option for upgrad- havim, and Dimona. diameter and weigh 2,500 tons each and ing the existing double-deck fleet – part of The ticket, intended to promote working 24 hours a day can bore 900m a which dates back to 2000 – and converting integration between various modes of pub- month; each costs $50M including acces- it to be compatible with electric traction, as lic transport, provides a reduction of up to sories. The machines will bore the 11.6km. well as raising safety and quality standards 20% on the fares of these lines. Such tick- twin tunnels between Nahal Yitla and Mev- to the current level. ets are already used on lines of the Greater asseret Zion (near Jerusalem) at a cost of IR General Manager Boaz Zafrir Tel-Aviv Area and Haifa, and will be soon $475M. Completion is estimated for mid- announced. „The railways are currently introduced at Kiryat-Gat, Ashkelon, Ash- 2014. Meanwhile, the first twin-bored tun- undergoing unprecedented expansion and dod and . nel totalling 1.25km. between Sha’ar Ha- a technological revolution aimed at link- The Railways’ General Manager Gay and Nahal Yitla is completed. This has ing as many inhabited areas as possible; Mr. Boaz Zafrir, said: “I hope to extend the been achieved using a variety of systems, This is particularly important in an age of system to each town and city which has so far unknown in Israel and rarely used rising fuel prices and clogged highways.“ a railway station.” The Ministry is working worldwide. Bombardier Israel General Manager Yossi hard on improving bus feeder links to rail- Mr. Zafrir said that the A1 line is Daskal added. „We applaud the Railways way stations. one of the most complex and important for this purchase, which demonstrates projects that the railways have ever imple- their trust in Bombardier; we are proud to (ii). JERUSALEM LINE CONSTRUC- mented, and works are under way inten- be part of the railway developments and TION. sively all along the alignment. Yaniv Zohar will continue to assist them to achieve their From a press release of 06.09.2012 both said the TBM project is unique, the first of aims of providing a good, modern and ad- ,cfrv Page  vanced passenger service.“ (vi). POSSIBLE ARIEL LINK. The programme called “Futuristic Practi- In late September Minister Katz cal Engineers”, a result of co-operation be- (v). PLANS FOR 2015. announced that the Railways are seriously tween the Ministry of developing the Negev The delivery of the new locomo- considering a feasibility study of a rail link (south) and the Galilee (north), the Trans- tives and double-deck stock is intended to between Rosh HaAyin and the city of Ariel, port, National Infrastructures & Roads’ enable a large increase in services on the some 20km. to the east. Safety Ministry, the Commerce & Industry existing lines; the daily total should jump Ministry, the railways, and the lobby for Fu- from 397 trains to 727. In peak hours the (vii). POSSIBLE NEW DEPOT. turistic Practical Engineers, is underway at rise in hourly services will be as follows: Due to the significant growth of a cost of $0.5 Million. Acre – Haifa: from 2 to the rolling stock and motive power fleet, The aim is to create study pro- 4. the railways are searching for a site for an grammes for railway professions as cus- Haifa – : from 3 to 4. additional depot. One of the options being tomary in developed rail networks, while Netanya – Tel Aviv: from 3 to 7. considered is the industrial zone of Ramla, strengthening and encouraging people Rishon leZion West – Tel Aviv:from 3 to 4. near the Nesher cement factory, which from both the south and the north; the Ashkelon – Tel Aviv: from 2 to used to have a rail connection, which is institutions chosen a pioneers for this pur- 4. now disused and is located close to the pose are the ORT Brauda college of Car- Hod HaSharon – Tel Aviv: from 3 to Ramla – Na’an section. miel in the Lower Galilee and the techno- 4. logical college of Beer-Sheva. – Tel Aviv: from 2 to 5. (viii). CHILI PEPPERS. Among the railway projects creat- Following a Red Hot Chili Pep- ed with the intention of strengthening and In connection with this it is worth repro- pers concert in the Tel Aviv Hayarkon Park encouraging both the south and the north ducing an ‘Overview’ answer Chen Melling on 10.09.2012 IR provided extra trains people and their settlements, are: upgrad- gave an English enquirer who was planning ing the line to Beer-Sheva-recently com- from Universita station, one northbound at to use IR services:- pleted, the line between Ashkelon, Ofakim, 23.45, and trains to Modiin and Ashkelon „IR currently operates four types Shderot, Netivot, and Beer-Sheva-current- of passenger trains – three types of Push- both departing 23.54, on a ‘fill up and go’ ly in a progressive stage of construction, Pull coaching rakes (single-deck by GEC- system. and the lines between Haifa and Afula (the Alsthom and Siemens, double-deck by Yizrael Valley or ex-Hedjaz line), and Acre Bombardier) and the IC3 DMUs by ABB- (ix). IDEAS FOR THE OLD JERUSALEM to Carmiel lines – both in construction. Scandia/ADTranz/Bombardier. The Push- LINE: The ceremony of opening the Pull types do not get mixed, i.e. each Though nothing is yet official, IR first study programme took place on type only operates with itself, though the is considering ideas for better utilizing the 16.10.2012 at Carmiel with the participa- locomotives used are the same – mostly existing ‘old’ Jerusalem line. The catalyst tion of Transport, National Infrastructures JT42BW (note no hyphen) from Valencia for this is that works on adding an addi- & Roads’ Safety Minister Mr. Yisrael Katz, (GEC-Alsthom/Alstom/Vossloh) and re- tional lane in each direction to Highway 1 and the railways’ General Manager Mr. cently the fourteen units of type Euro4000 will last for several years and create many Boaz Zafrir. from the same source, plus the occasional obstructions and delays for road users, The programme has been de- appearance of some of the eight Co’Co’ creating more bottlenecks on what is al- veloped thanks to a close cooperation freight version JT42CWs. Around the new ready the most congested road in Israel; between the railways’ various departments year, the first of the Euro3200 from the even diversion of traffic to parallel road No. and the assistance of the ‘Railway Studies’ same stable are due to arrive. Single-deck 443 (which passes near Modi’in and enters faculty of Birmingham University. push-pull trains usually have their locos at Jerusalem from the north) will not help Out of 300 candidates, 49 “survived” the the northern end, and vice versa for the much, as this is also congested, mainly final strict selection; 22 will study at Car- double-deck ones. This is so in order to with heavy lorries. In good times, travel miel and 27 at Beer-Sheva; it will start on make sure that the northern-most coach time between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem by 21.10.2012 and last 17 months, or 400 is always the reserved-seating one, with Highway 1 was about 45 minutes centre hours. more-or-less the same number of seats to centre, while by rail it took 85 mins. to The students will enjoy a monthly available. reach Malkha station which is quite remote scholarship of around $375.00 and addi- The services to Jerusalem (and from the centre. However, recently road tional benefits, with personal treatment in most/all of those ending in Bet Shemesh), traffic has been taking 90 mins. and when small classes. They are committed to work numbered in the 5XX range, are always there is traffic disruption even more! By at least three years at the railways’ depots operated by IC3s, though this has more rail it now takes 77 mins., and the intention and workshops, while receiving assistance to do with curve radii than with gradients is to introduce at least twice a day direct in finding apartments in the nearby areas. (all the other coaches being just too long). non-stop services in each direction, sav- Another service which is the exclusive ing at least ten minutes and bringing the (xi). ELECTRIFICATION SCHEMES. haunt of the IC3s is the very sparse one travel time down to about 67 mins., thus From a press release of Sunday 14.10.2012 from Be’er Sheva to Dimona (8XX range). competitive with road. Due to requests by the Transport, National Infrastructure & On other hand, the Binyamina - Ashqelon from Jerusalem inhabitants IR is also seri- Road Safety Ministry:- suburban-service (6XX range) is usually ously considering diverting some trains to “Isra-Rail Co. and the National Roads all double-deck. On the rest of the lines, run via Ben Gurion International Airport, as Company have today signed an agreement anything might appear, and even if you get there are few direct links of co-operation regarding the implemen- today’s diagrams there’s a good chance between Jerusalem and the airport, par- tation of the Rail Network Electrification. they’ll change by the time of your visit, even ticularly at night. Instructed by Minister Yisrael without taking into account daily changes Katz, discussions were held in the past due to circumstances. Also, there’s a com- (x). ACADEMIC TRAINING. week between the two companies in order pletely new timetable planned to be intro- From a press release of 17.10.2012 by to clarify ways for co-operation, to enable duced around the new year (no final date Isra-Rail Company Ltd.: utilisation of their advantages and manage- yet).“ Academic studies in railway profession for rial abilities in promoting the electrification the first time ever in Israel! project. The agreement was signed at Min- ,cfrv Page  ister Katz’s office. After the two companies project, the electrification, is under way. Genady Stern. had reached agreement on how to share This will form the basis for a significant Mr. Zafrir said that “When com- the responsibility. The guiding principle is improvement to services in terms of in- pleted, the $1.8 Billion A1 will have a direct that in those areas in which the National creased speed, capacity and frequencies, effect on the life quality and economy of Roads Co. is carrying out work on national ths bringing the railways to the forefront of more than 800,000 inhabitants of Jerusa- infrastructure, it will also be responsible for technology and enabling better service for lem by bringing Tel-Aviv within 30 minutes; the electrification. Minister Katz congratu- the growing number of passengers, as well it will additionally save 4.94 Million driving lated both sides, adding that “Conversion as more freight traffic.” hours for the people”. to electric power will significantly cut jour- Meanwhile, the vast investments ney times, increase capacity and service Tender EL/PQ/01/12 is for “the Electri- in upgrading the existing lines and build- frequencies of the trains, as well as reduc- fication of the network, ing new lines are paying off. During 2012, ing noise and air pollution caused by die- including without limitation detailed traffic on the newly-opened Tel-Aviv - Ris- sel traction.” [These are standard claims Design, Construction, Erection, Com- hon-Le-Zion West - Yavne West line grew - Ed.] missioning and Maintenance of the by 85%! According to the agreement, the Project.” Tel-Aviv - Beer-Sheva rose by 48%; The National Roads Company will be responsi- “After approval by ISR of the most surprising being the old Tel-Aviv - Je- ble for carrying out the electrification works eligible participants, fulfilling all financial rusalem line with 64%, not so long ago this on two new main projects: the Hasharon and technical pre-qualification requisites line was consider Railway (in the median strip of Highway detailed in the Invitation to Pre-Qualify 531 linking Kfar Sava with the Tel Aviv - (‘IPQ’), ISR intends to publish a request for (xiii). INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS Haifa coast line) and the Acre - Carmiel proposals (‘RFP’) and select, among the During the night Thursday - Fri- line in the Lower Galilee; and IR will carry bids submitted by the eligible participants, day 25-26.10.2012 there were to be no out the conversion of the existing network one winning bid. Participants “may only be services between Haifa and Nahariyya to electric traction. The agreement further a single company or consortium; a mem- due to infrastructure works. The 00.51 states that the National Roads Co. will hand ber in a consortium may only be a com- and 01.51 services northbound from Beer over the completed sections of these two pany...” each of which has to demonstrate Sheva would terminate at Tel Aviv Savidor projects which will include completion of its financial strength” and which have to at 02.06 and 03.06; the 00.53 train from the main permanent way structure, com- demonstrate experience in at least one rail- Ben Gurion terminates at Tel Aviv Savidor prising bridges and tunnels, also signalling way electrification project. The contractor at 01.06. The normal 00.07 from Acre and and communications systems and the in- shall provide maintenance for a period of 00.58 and 01.58 from Nahariyya would frastructure for electric train operation. ten years, and ISR will have the option to start instead from Tel Aviv Savidor at 01.41, The Hasharon Railway project order maintenance for additional periods 02.41, and 03.41 respectively. includes a double-track section between of up to 15 years. Proposals must be sub- and the Tel Aviv - Haifa coast mitted by 30.12.2012. (xiv). PUNCTUALITY. line, building two new stations within the IR punctuality has improved from city of Ra’anana, rebuilding and upgrading (xii). TUNNEL VISION. 80% to 95%. Then during the war situation Herzliyya station, and quadrupling the line From a press release of in southern Israel with numerous rocket Tel Aviv - Herzliyya. 23.10.2012 by Isra-Rail: As an integral attacks around the Gaza Strip, there were The Acre - Carmiel project in- part of the Jerusalem Event “Inside View” delays to trains; average punctuality went cludes a 23km. double-track line starting in which hundreds of houses, apartments, down to around 75%. However, it soon re- from the coastal line to Nahariyya, with two public buildings etc. are opened to the turned to the higher figure once the direct stations, at Amihud and Carmiel respec- public, IR will enable the public to see Tun- conflict was ended. tively, tunnels, bridges and the re-routeing nel 3A on the A1 fast line. These visits will of some creeks. be possible on Friday 26.10.2012 from (xv). MARINE WATER PARK AT JERU- The Isra-Rail Company Ltd. will 14.00 - 16.00. Some 820m of the tunnel, SALEM ZOO. be responsible for linking both new lines which is the last-but-one before entering The announcement of to the national network, as well as carrying Jerusalem, have been completed so far. 05.08.2012 by the Jerusalem Municipality out the work on structures to be co-ordi- (xii.a.) BREAKTHROUGH! concerning building two huge aquariums, nated between the two companies. From a press release of 28.11.2012 by one containing sea animals from the Medi- In order to accelerate the projects Isra-Rail Ltd.: terranean Sea and the other of the Red a special Steering Committee has been On Monday, 26.11.2012 there was a cer- Sea, adjacent to the Biblical Zoo, which has a railway stop, may give a real refresh- created headed by the Ministry’s General emony in which the Russian company er - particularly on holidays and vacations Manager, Mr. Uri Yitzhaki, including repre- Metrostroy - through its Israeli partner the - to the sleepy old rebuilt line to Jerusalem. sentatives of both companies and the Min- Minrav construction company - completed The planned $20 Million “Marine Water istry. the construction of the 3.5 km twin-bored Park” is mainly financed by a donation of The Pre-Qualifying Tender pub- tunnel No. 1 on the A1 fast rail link to Je- the Gottesman family from the USA. lished on 15.10.2012 refers to electrifying rusalem, between the Latrun Monastery It should be mentioned that due 420km. of the network, including a control and Sha’ar-Hagay (creek gate). This was to the introduction of the new summer system as well as 14 sub-stations. the the first time ever in Israel that this was timetable, journey time between Tel-Aviv N.R.C. architect Shay Baras done by a TBM. The $25 Million machine and Jerusalem is now shorter by 20 min- praised the agreement, saying “The com- is capable of boring up to 20 m/day and utes - thanks mainly to the shared rebuilt pany is ready to undertake any mission also lays concrete arches on walls immedi- and upgraded line section Ramla - Na’an necessary for the roads and railways de- ately after boring. (used mainly to/from Beer-Sheva) - and velopment, and is proud to lead, together Participants in the ceremony were although the main benefit is to the people of Beit-Shemesh, the whole line enjoys the with the railways, the electrification revolu- - among the others-Isra-Rail Company Ltd. result; travel time to the Zoo is now no lon- tion.” General Manager Mr. Boaz Zafrir, the Chair- ger than by using two ; Furthermore, I.R. General Manager Boaz Zarir man of Minrav Engineering & Construction if going by car, the parking area is relatively said, “At last, after many years of planning Company Ltd. Mr. Abraham Kuznitzky, and limited. and design, the Railways’ most important the Israeli representative of Metrostroy Mr. ,cfrv Page  tation) bus operator, will be introduced months with optional extensions of up (xvi). BARRIER CONTROLS TAKING on 01.11.2012, which will provide users to additional 48 months. Proposals by EFFECT. with fare reduction of up to 20% in addi- 12.11.2012. From a press release of 31.10.2012 by tion to the reduction already existing in the (iv). Tender No. LG/SR/24/12: Pro- the Transport, National Infrastructures & monthly free ticket; Furthermore, in addi- viding translation services of techni- Roads’ Safety Ministry: „Data introduced tion to the citizens of Haifa and the north, cal, legal, commercial, and economical by Minister Yisrael Katz shows that there and the Greater Tel-Aviv Area, those of Ne- literature: The contract is for 24 months is a drastic reduction in cases of breaking tanya, Kiryat-Gat, Ashkelon, and Ashdod with optional extensions of up to additional level crossing barriers’ arms! The number will also enjoy the reductions. 48 months. Latest date for submission of of cases went down from 353 in 2009, to proposals: 20.11.2012. 217 in 2010, to 130 in 2011; during the (xix). YAGUR INTERCHANGE BRIDGE. (v). Request For Information (RFI)- first 10 months of 2012 there were only From a press release of ERTMS system including ETCS L2 & 56 cases! Minister Katz claims that the 14.11.2012 by the National Roads’ Com- GSMR. Latest date for submission of pro- significant improvement is mainly due to pany: posals: 22.11.2012. the massive campaign made both by the On Thursday, 15.11.2012, phase 1 of (vi). Tender No. HN/KB/02/12: Car- ministry and the railways and the tendency Yagur Interchange, east of Haifa, will be rying out development and maintenance is very positive and encouraging!“ [Surely opened for traffic; as far as railways are works at level crossings and roads the elimination of many busy cropssings concerned, the bridge there is the first to which are under the Railways’ responsi- by bridges has also been relevant! See be- be built on the newly-aligned Yzrael/Jez- bility. The contract is for 24 months with low. Ed.] reel Valley (once Hedjaz) railway line; More optional extensions of up to additional 36 1. bridges are to be built along the route. months. Latest date for submission of pro- (xvii). GRADE SEPARATION NEAR posals: 06.12.2012. ACRE. (xx). LOD STOPS SUSPENDED. (vii). Tender No. BT/MT/03/12: Pro- Transport, National Infrastruc- From 18.11.2012, trains from Jerusalem viding consulting - including character- tures & Roads’ Safety Minister Mr. Yisrael to Tel-Aviv will not call any more at Lod sta- ization - services, preparing tenders, Katz, the Mayor of Acre Mr. Lankry, and tion; bus shuttle services will be provided and follow-up of Data Protection. The the Chairman of Yefe-Nof (a Haifa located between Lod and Ramla; trains will call 2 contract is for 12 months with optional company responsible on local transporta- minutes earlier at Lod Ganei-Aviv. extensions of up to additional 36 months. tion infrastructures) Mr. Jacky Wakim, in- Latest date for submission of proposals: augurated in October a new grade separa- (xxi). ACQUISITION OF MORE CON- 29.11.2012. tion built just south of Acre station hand in TAINER WAGONS. (viii). Tender No. BN/KB/03/12: Car- hand with realignment of the Kiryat-Motz- IR issued in November a Tender for rying out completion works (construc- kin - Acre line; it will significantly reduce the supply of Second-hand or refurbished tion and civil engineering) at the rail- the bottle necks from which car drivers Flat Bogie Wagons for Containerized ways new operational site – depot DP3 often suffer daily. Freight Transport. The document states - at Beer-Sheva (old railway station): Im- they should be supplied „in the shortest plementation time: 22 months. Latest date (xviii). TRANSPORT INTEGRATION. possible time and shall meet IR’s techni- for submission of proposals: 10.01.2013. From a press release of 25.10.2012 by cal and operational needs“ - this clearly Isra-Rail Company Ltd.: The Transport, refers to compatible braking and coupling National Infrastructures & Roads’ systems. The intention is to acquire suf- B. TENDERS ALLOCATED. Safety Ministry, together with Isra-Rail ficient to convey 480 20ft. Containers, if (i). The Israeli company Altrans Infrastruc- Company Ltd, are currently active possible as: ture, Engineering, and Development Ltd. within the project “Shiluvim” (integrations), 160 (bogie) wagons suitable for the won tender No. BN/KB/01/12 for building to improve the existing integra- maximum loading arrangement of three a control centre at the railways’ depot of tion between public transport services and 20ft. or one 40- and one 20-ft. Contain- Beer-Sheva near the university. the railways (funny; are the railways not ers; or 240 wagons suitable for two 20ft. Worth of the tender: $4.3 Billion. a public service?...), in order to encour- or one 40ft. Container (These would pre- (ii). Tender TM/KB/04/12 for maintenance age using the various mentioned modes sumably be four-wheel flats) or any combi- of tracks, under-track structures and the of transport, and as making trains as the nation of these. Last date for submission: rebuilding of drainage channels - to Israeli best alternative for those using kiss and 03.12.2012. company Olnik, Company for Transporta- ride services. 99:05. TENDERS. tion, Earthworks and Roads Ltd. 1. Improving combined smart A. (iii). Tender No. TM/KB/01/12 for rebuild- cards (rail-public transport). (i).Tender No. MS/RC/2012/8: Permis- ing and maintenance of bridges and engi- . Improving feeding/distribution sion to provide taxi services to/from neering structures: To the Israeli company services to/from railway stations; timing Beer-Sheva University station. The con- Linom Ltd. coordination. tract is for 36 months, and proposals were (iv). Tender No. MS/RC/2012/5 for 3. Improving the transportation to be submitted by 22.10.2012. operating a Coffee and Pastry stand at Tel infrastructures at stations’ nearby, serving (ii). Tender No. MC/SR/25/12: Provision Aviv Savidor-Central station - to Strauss passengers; better access of buses to rail- of Rebuilding, Overhauling and Re- Café B.V. The value of the tender is about way stations, canopies for bus halts, park- pair services for EMD locomotives and $0.5M plus 12% of the income. ing arrangements, pedestrian lanes, etc. Deutz d.m.u. Motors. The contract is for (v). The Israeli advertising company 4. Improving the information 24 months with optional extensions of up Reuveni Pridan Ltd. won Tender No. SO/ provided to the public displayed near rail- SR/01/12 for providing advertising, plan- to additional 12 months after a 3-month way stations, regarding public transport ning, and media purchasing services. services. trial period. Submissions by 24.10.2012. (vi). The Israeli company Martens As an integral part of the im- (iii). Tender No. TK/KB/01/12: For Hofmann Management Consultants Ltd. provements regarding the combined smart carrying out Communications Works won Tender No. CA/MT/04/12 for provid- cards, a combined smart card of Isra-Rail by Sub-Contractors. Contract is for 12 Company Ltd.- Ta’avura (transpor- Cont’d foot of next page ,cfrv Page  99:06. 10 minutes. From 3:00 to 4:30 p.m., the However, the works were delayed due to will run every 6.5 minutesThe light the First World War. Following the collapse rail serves approximately 100,000 passen- of the Ottoman Empire the new Mandate LIGHT RAIL. gers per day. Last week, the municipality Power of Great Britain wished to give the released figures that pedestrian traffic has concession instead to a British contractor, A. JERUSALEM. increased by 41% in the downtown as a re- but it was prevented from doing this by a sult of greater accessibility from the light decision of the International Court at den (i). PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC ENCOUR- rail.” Haag on 30th. August 1924. In the end the AGED AND GROWING: tramway project was just left to moulder in From a press release of 13.09.2012 by (iii). SUKKOT SUCCESS. a drawer. the Transport, National Infrastructure, and From a press release of Theodor Herzl, the founder of Road Safety Ministry, together with the Je- 09.10.2012 by CityPass: “More than half a Zionism, had also devoted some thought rusalem Municipality and the Jerusalem million passengers used the LRV services to the solution of urban traffic problems in Transportation Master Plan team: during the Sukkot holidays; the record the Jewish state of Palestine he envisaged; A survey prepared by the Trans- number of 140,000 was on Wednesday In his utopian novel ‘Alteneuland’ of 1902 portation Master Plan Dept. has revealed 03.10, when tens of thousands went to he conceived of an electric suspended that since the LRV commenced operations the ; the LRV worked effi- monorail (‘Schwebebahn’) for Jerusalem in August 2011 the number of pedestrians ciently and was the only mode of trans- and other cities modelled on the pioneer using the city centre rose by an average of port not affected by traffic bottlenecks, such line in Barmen-Elberfeld. 10%, even though the city’s transportation thus the public preferred it. The company Between May and September system has not yet been completed. The reinforced maintenance teams as well as 1918 the British Army built a 30km. steam survey has been assisted by cameras in- teams quickly recruited to explain to the narrow gauge line from the southern Je- stalled at eighteen points over three main public the use of the various types of tick- rusalem suburb of German Colony via areas, thus monitoring pedestrian move- ets. Nevertheless, due to frequent failures Giv’at Ram, the Valley of the Cross, Giv’at ments. At the eastern end of Street of the vending machines, it is being con- Ha-Mivtar, , Shu’afat to Al-Bireh the rise reached 16%; at the ‘triangle’ (of sidered whether Alstom should be asked near Ramallah. Already by the end of 1918 Jaffa, Ben-Yehudah and King George V to improve or if necessary even replace the it was no longer required and was soon Streets) it reached 25%, at the entrance machines. thereafter dismantled. A part of its route to the famous Machaneh Yehuda market it Since the Sukkot holidays are later became relevant to the current tram- rose by 29% while at the market itself there characterized by the construction of tem- way. was a slight rise of 3%. This certainly re- porary huts, ‘Tabernacles’, in which the pi- In the 1990’s the tramway idea futes those sceptics who claimed the LRV ous sit during the week, the company built became relevant again. The number of would cause the end of pedestrians in the three such at the stops at Mt. Herzl, Egged cars had risen enormously in the mean- city! Central and Ammunition Hill. time; in 1980 76% of the inhabitants had used the city buses, but 20 years later it (ii). FREQUENCY DUE TO INCREASE: (iv). MAGAZINE ARTICLE ON was only 40%. The roads were accordingly (By Melanie Lidman, 23.09.2012) JERUSALEM TRAMS. congested, and the quality of the air was „Due to increased pressure on In ‘Strassenbahn Magazin’ becoming constantly worse. In 1995 the the light rail, trains will come with increas- 10/2012 Okt. 2012 pp. 38-41 is an article city decided upon the construction of a ing frequency starting this week. The by Martin Pabst entitled “A New Star over Light-Rail-System. At that point the inten- Transportation Ministry has renegotiated Palestine”. He covers a great deal of the tion was for it to open in 2006. the contract with CityPass so that trains will distant and recent past and the current The tramway is a part of the 1995 come every 5.5 minutes during rush hour, situation in a very readable style. (Transla- ‘Jerusalem Transportation Master Plan’ in- instead of every 7 minutesDuring non-peak tion by the Editor.) tended to cover the period until 2020. Part- hours until 4:30 p.m., the train will come ly due to the increased attacks on buses every 7.5 minutes, instead of the current “For some it is a dreadful waste of money, during the (2000-2005) and a security risk; for others it is a source the useage figures for public transport of immorality; for yet others it is an instru- went down even further, thus calling into question the economics of the project. ing bonuses calculation services. ment for the illegal Israeli occupation pol- icy in Palestine. Jerusalem’s new tram is During the period in office of Ehud Olmert (vii). The Israeli company Shavit & as Mayor (the later Prime Minister) in 2005 Sons Metal Works Ltd. won Tender No. controversial, but gradually it is convincing even the earlier sceptics. After major de- the Israeli-French consortium CityPass was MC/SR/12/21 for calibration of fuel gages awarded the right to build the first Light- and thermometers at the railways’ refuel- lays the tram began trial running on 19th. August 2011 and from 1st. December Rail line from Mt. Herzl through the city ling points. centre to Pisgat Ze’ev. Construction be- (viii). The Israeli company Max Keren 2011 it has been running to timetable. The ‘’ is the first modern gan in 2006, and opening was projected Transportation Company Ltd. won Tender for 2009. The idea was to use the ‘Build No. LG/SR/06/12 for providing transpor- tramway in the Middle East. The Lebanese engineer George - Operate- Transfer’ concept (BOT): the tation and transition services for the rail- constructing consortium would have the ways. Franjieh worked in 1892 on a project for a cross-country tramway from Jerusalem concession to operate the line for thirty (ix). The Israeli company Ashkenazi years after completion, following which it Zalzman Ltd. won Tender No. RC/SR/03/12 to Ein Kerem and Bethlehem. But noth- ing came of this. In 1910 the Ottoman would be handed over to the State. for purchasing announcements for the rail- It didn’t last long before this ways in the printed media. city administration issued a call for ten- ders for the construction of a tramway transportation project also became drawn (x). The Israeli company Alcatel into the Middle East conflict. A Palestinian Lucent Israel Ltd. won Tender No. TK/ network, and in 1914 the Greek citizen Mavrommatis obtained a concession for worker engaged in preparing the alignment SR/07/11 for supply and installation of a went amok on 2nd. July 2008 in the Jaffa low level multiplex transmitting system. the construction of a tramway as well as the laying of water and electricity systems. Road and, crying ‘Allahu Akhbar!’, used his (xi). Isotope Ltd. Won Tender No. MC/ digger to attack cars and a bus. He man- ,cfrv Page  aged to kill three people and injure at least had to be rebuilt. The works were held up sengers, since the line serves the Palestin- thirty more before a soldier on the scene repeatedly when archaeological finds were ian quarters of Shu’afat and Beit ‘Hanina. was able to shoot him. made. At one point the remains of a Jew- The operating company is using posters Nevertheless the tramway be- ish cemetery were uncovered - the line now in Arabic to convince the residents of the came increasingly a political issue. Jew- makes a short curve round this. Manage- advantages of the new means of transport, ish residents were concerned lest such a ment failures led to delays in completion for since the opening youths have been mass transit system would attract attacks and again and again there were disputes throwing stones at the silver vehicles. Rel- to it to a higher degree; Ultra-Orthodox between the consortium and the city ad- atively little concern was initially shown for Jews (Haredim), whose district of Me’a ministration regarding costs and dates. In Palestinian sensibilities; all the stops were She’arim would be connected to the rail the election campaign of 2008 the candi- to have Jewish names. Only after mas- system, demanded the physical separa- date for Mayor, Nir Barkat of the secular sive Palestinian protests was this measure tion of men and women in the tramcars, party ‘Yerushalayim Tazlia’ah’ (‘Jerusalem dropped. as already practiced in some Jerusalem will Win’) promised an immediate stop to The city administration and the bus lines. The Chairman of CityPass ap- the project, but on his election he never- operators are convinced that the line will peared amenable to this demand and of- theless continued to respect the contracts being advantages to the Arab population fered that every third or fourth tram could that had been signed. of . be ‘kosher’ - i.e. men would travel in one After extensive test runs without 90,000 Palestinians live less than of the twin cars and women in the other. passengers, on 19th. August 2011 pas- 500m from the tram line, as compared to But the city administration opposed this senger carrying commenced, albeit ini- 55,000 Jews. Palestinians should be able suggestion. Finally the Supreme Court of tially on a 21-minute interval and without to get to their places of work and to go Israel declared on 6th. January 2011 that any influence on the traffic signals. Instead shopping in the city centre faster and more separation of the sexes in public transport of the estimated 42 minutes the trains still comfortably as with the current private bus was illegal. required 70 to 80 minutes to traverse the lines. In addition Palestinians from the The Palestinians were also any- entire line. Journalists complained about West Bank can use the Park-&-Ride sta- thing but happy about the new mode of the ‘new crawling train.’ tions (assuming of course that they are transport. For the line runs from West able to pass Israeli control posts, which is Jerusalem into East Jerusalem. Twelve of The ‘Red Line’ begins in the far frequently not the case.) In addition the the twenty-three stops are either on the western part of Jerusalem on Mount Her- depot, situated in the East of Jerusalem, ‘Green Line’, the ceasefire line of 1949, or zl, where the Holocaust Museum of Yad will create jobs for Palestinians. A major- ín the Eastern part of the town unilaterally Vashem is also situated. It continues along ity of the Arab inhabitants has then spoken annexed by Israel in 1980. Here the tram the Herzl Boulevard through Beit HaKerem out in favour of the tram line in surveys. line links the Arab quarters of Shu’afat and to the Central Bus Station. Shortly before Beit Hanina, and the Jewish settlements of reaching this it crosses a 360m long sus- A line for both Jews and Arabs is Ramat Eshkol, Giv’at Shapira (French Hill) pension bridge ‘David’s Harp’ that crosses something new - until now the Palestinians and Pisgat Ze’ev. At the terminus there is a major traffic junction. The pylon is 118m in East Jerusalem have used a largely sep- also a Park-&-Ride installation which en- high and carries 66 steel cables. The arate bus system. Supporters of the new ables those who live in various Jewish set- structure, designed by the Spanish archi- transit mode argue that the tram can even tlements in the West Bank to change into tect Santiago Calatrava, cost around 50M provide a place for encountering the other. the tramway. Euros. Supporters praise the spectacular Many of the Jewish residents along the line In the eyes of many Palestinians bridge as a new symbol for Jerusalem; crit- see things differently; they are demanding the transport project existed merely to ics see instead an unnecessarily luxurious that the stops in Arab areas be closed or strengthen Israel’s annexation and settle- solution. that for security reasons separate trams for ment policies, and was therefore ‘against On leaving the busy Central Sta- Jews and Arabs be run. international law.’ For the UN Security tion the line runs for some kilometres along The line is also used by the many Council had decided in Resolution 465 the middle of the traffic-calmed tourists who can thereby reach the central on 1st. March 1980 that no steps might with its historic buildings. Today the noisy attractions such as the , the busy be taken that could lead to an alteration of and stinking rows of cars and buses have Jewish market at Macheneh Yehudah or the population in the occupied areas. vanished, and pedestrians wander casually the Holocaust Museum at . The PLO, the government of the past the many businesses and cafés. Over 3,500 trees have been Palestinian Autonomous Area, the Arab However, neighbouring streets planted along the line . Destination signs League and international NGO’s all placed now have to cope with the diverted traffic. and stop information is in three languages the participating foreign firms and their At the Machaneh Yehudah, Ha-Davidka (Ivrit, Arabic, English). Park-&-Ride places governments under great pressure, and and Jaffa Center ultra-Orthodox Jews with should make make it easier for car driv- legal steps were also taken. The campaign peyot, their wives with long skirts and wigs, ers to change. During the provisional op- centred on the accusation that Israel was meet their young secular fellow citizens eration travel was free, specially since the building a ‘Tramway of Apartheid’. Gradu- who frequent the numerous bars and café computer-operated ticketing equipment ally the campaign began to achieve ef- around the Jaffa Road. wasn’t working. Since 1st. December 2011 fects. A Netherlands bank pulled out of At the City Hall stop the line 6.60 Shekels (€1.30) is demanded for un- the financing of the project, and in 2007 a reaches the Old City of Jerusalem. Here limited travel for 90 minutes including the Solidarity Committee in Ireland managed it turns to the North-East and runs for a right to change to bus routes. to prevent Israeli technicians from being short stretch parallel to the historic City On 13th. January 2012 the bus trained on the Dublin tramway operated Walls. On this short section the line runs network was reorganised. Many lines were by Veolia. Eventually in 2009 the French on grass, whereas the rest of the route is changed to feed into the tram. By this Veolia management even decided to sell mostly laid on concrete. At the busy cen- means the rows of buses in the streets par- its share in the concern. tral stop at the line then allel to Jaffa Road that had been caused by Further annoyance was caused curves to the north in the direction of the their diversion there were reduced. by the lengthy delays in the construction terminus at Heil HaAvir (Air Force Street) Operating days are Sunday to and the problems this made for residents. in the Jewish quarter of Pisgat Ze’ev. On Thursday from 05.30 to 23.30, and Fri- The first tracks were not laid correctly and this section Arabs mix amongst the pas- days from 05.30 to 15.00. Following this ,cfrv Page  the system rests until 22.00 on Saturdays. B. TEL-AVIV. is the timing of decisions.” Alstom, one of The 2+2 seating doesn’t allow the West’s leading light rail rolling stock for a large central aisle, so the crowding at (i). TENDERS MAKING PROGRESS. manufacturers, was a partner in Metrorail, stops is substantial. Maybe a 2+1 seating From a press release of 24.09.2012 by which in 2006 bid in the tender to build and a higher proportion of lengthwise seat- NTA: “The tenders for TBM and under- the Tel-Aviv light rail’s Red Line, but lost to ing would have been better suited to local ground stations (boxes) are now reaching the MTS consortium (led by Africa-Israel conditions. A lack of discipline amongst the top gear stage. Two and a half months Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL)). Since the the passengers on embarking and disem- after dozens of companies from twelve decision to nationalize the project in 2010, barking also has an effect on extending countries participated in the RFQ confer- Alstom has prepared to bid in the tenders waits at tram stops. ence, seven international leading compa- for the project’s rolling stock and signals, Extension plans include initially nies from Europe and the Far East today electrical, and control systems. to the Jewish settlement of Neve Ya’akov submitted their proposals, part of which “Regrettably, we’re again seeing in the North-East and Ein Kerem in the will involve joint ventures with Israeli com- delays,” Alstom Transport South Europe South-West as well as a branch to Kiryat panies. The seven proposals will be thor- VP Gian-Luca Erbacci told “Globes”. “The Menachem in the South and to Hebrew oughly checked and within three months a systems tender is far advanced, but the University on in the North- decision will be made on who shall reach rolling stock tender was supposed to be East. In addition ‘Bus Rapid-Transit’ lanes the next stage, following which there can published last April, but there is no new are to be laid to feed into the tram routes. be open competition on the tender. The date.” Eventually there should be a network with winner is to commence work in the third Since the launch of the Red Line eight lines. In addition there is discussion quarter of 2013.“ project in its current format under NTA concerning the construction of a 1,300m Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd., it long aerial cableway from the Dung Gate (ii). ALSTOM BIDS. From ‘Globes’. has been battling the Ministry of Finance’s not far from the Wailing Wall at the Old City Thurs. 11.10.2012. Accountant-General Department, which and across the Kidron Valley towards the Alstom to bid in tenders. believes that the nationalization of the proj- Government Printing Office in the East.” The French company is pleased with its ect was a huge mistake. An Account Gen- role in the Jerusalem light rail, but is anx- eral official embarrassed NTA CEO Michael “The line will be operated by 5-section low- ious about progress in Tel Aviv. (by Ami- Ratzon, by freezing the rolling stock tender floor Alstom Citadis 302 trams, that were ram Barkat) a few days after Ratzon announced at an delivered from September 2007. The bi- “No transportation project in Is- infrastructures conference that the tender directional trams carry the numbers 001 rael has been eulogized as much as the Tel would be published “next week”. In Sep- to 046 and are 100% low-floor. All axles Aviv light rail project. Like a phoenix, the tember, NTA chalked up a victory, when are driven, in order to cope with the gra- project has been repeatedly buried, only to Deputy-Accountant-General Gil Shabtai dients of up to 9%. Top operational speed revive as the congestion in the first Hebrew unexpectedly announced his resignation. is 60km/h; power is delivered at 750V DC. city worsens. The latest version of Decem- But this has not ended the battle. NTA Due to risks of attack, bullet-proof glass ber 2010 is wholly financed by the state has professional problems as well. Two is fitted. Eight cameras are installed in budget. The initial estimate is NIS 10.7 bil- persons it approached to oversee the Red the interior of each car, and there are also lion and the deadline is 2017. Line project turned the offer down, and it cameras at the halts. In addition many uni- Almost two years have passed, and has been unable to find a candidate with a formed security personnel are constantly the project is still in doubt, not just among world-class reputation. “Since 1998, we’ve under way. greater Tel Aviv’s residents, but also among been busy in writing proposals for tenders Normally trains are formed of the foreign contractors which are supposed for this project,” the Israeli representative two coupled trams, which can provide 500 to build the first line. At the InnoTrans, In- of a foreign rolling stock manufacturer told places. The trams are maintained and sta- ternational Trade Fair for Transport Tech- “Globes”. “If the political infighting doesn’t bled at the 40,000 sq. m. depot area that nology, in Berlin in September, an execu- stop, we won’t see any tenders this year ei- is on a spur laid between Giv’at Ha-Mivtar tive of the contractors laughed out loud ther.” and Es-Sahl on the line to Pisgat Ze’ev.” when asked their opinion if the light rail Erbacci does not mention the be- “The line is standard gauge, would leave the station by the government hind-the-scenes battles and is careful not 13.8km. long, with 23 stops. Currently ser- deadline of 2017. to criticize NTA or the government. “The vices run every 8 minutes, every 4.5 mins. France’s Alstom SA (Euronext: ALO) customer is king for us, and decides which at peak hours, 10-12 mins. in off-peak pe- built the Jerusalem light rail and plans to systems best suit him,” he says. He warns, riods. Reversing sidings are situated at the bid in tenders for building the Tel Aviv line. however, that the light rail that the specifi- end termini and at Denia Square, at Cen- Alstom executive Jean-Pierre Gollot was cations the government wants to build for tral Bus Station, Damascus Gate, shortly the only person will to talk openly with greater Tel Aviv differ from the norm in the before Ammunition Hill and at Beit Chani- “Globes” on the matter. “When I came to competitive global light rail market. “This na.” Israel for the first time 20 years ago, I was is a rather unacceptable mix of light rail told that there were two major LRT (light and metro,” he says, adding, “It is liable to (v). JERUSALEM PUBLIC TRANSPORT. rail train) projects: Jerusalem and Tel Aviv,” raise the project’s cost and affect its profit- From a press release of 06.11.2012 by he said. “When I asked which of the proj- ability.” the Transport, National Infrastructures & ects would get underway soon, I was told, Please explain. Roads’ Safety Ministry, the Jerusalem Mu- ‘Look, Jerusalem is a very sensitive project. “The line planned for Tel Aviv is partly nicipality, and the Jerusalem Transporta- Tel Aviv is a relatively simple project, and underground and partly aboveground. The tion Master Plan Team: the government is very serious about it.’” aboveground section does not have a sep- „An additional stage of new deployment of “Globes”: Where is the problem, in arate route, but runs through a pedestrian bus lines will take place on 23.11.2012; it your opinion? road. The system therefore has to operate will include nine bus lines of which two are Jean-Pierre: “The problem on put- at two speeds: high speed below ground, new and the balance of seven improved ting dates on the projects is with you. We and low speed above-ground. Such sys- lines, of which three will be feeders to the see in Israel a lot of advantages and profes- tems exist in Germany and France, but LRV.“ sionalism, but we’re a bit worried about ev- they require special adaptations.” erything to do with planning. The problem Alstom insists that it believes in the ,cfrv Page  Red Line, and that the tenders will attract sue CityPass for more compensation. Skytran will cost, according to developers, strong interest among international ven- “We’re ready for it.” 6 Million dollars per kilometre. The com- dors. “This is one of the top five projects of Published by Globes [online], Israel busi- pany is promising that the trains will be up its kind in the world, and everyone is talk- ness news - www.globes-online.com - on and running within a year and a half.“ ing about it,” says an Alstom officer. “Israel October 11, 2012 © Copyright of Globes A quick look on the Skytrans is a stable and functioning country with a Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012” website revealed indeed a fancy futuristic strong payments ethic compared with oth- (i.e. derived from science fiction) system er countries where Alstom operates.” (iii). From a press release of 29.10.2012 in California, seeking investors, and one Nonetheless, Alstom believes that by NTA (Tel-Aviv METRO/LRV project of the founders was in discussions in Tel in view of the Red Line’s complexity, there management): Aviv..... is greater logic in choosing one the Seven international companies (iv). NTA Tender 021/2012: world’s largest and most experienced have forwarded today their proposals re- A Consultant for managing, designing and light rail manufacturers, such as Al- garding participation in the tenders for implenting Furniture on the Red Line Sta- stom, Siemens AG (DAX: SIE; NYSE: SI), boring tunnels on the Red Line in the con- tions. Proposals by 30.11.2012. or Bombardier Inc. (TSX: BBD), to supply ventional NATM system along 3.5 km in the rolling stock and other systems. This each direction between Petakh-Tikva and (v). ROLLING STOCK PROCUREMENT message is mainly directed at NTA, which B’nei-Brak, including three halls and link- AT LAST. wants to include Chinese companies in the ing tunnels. From a press release of 08.11.2012 by project, even though they have negligible It is the first ever tunnel project NTA (project management): experience in projects outside China. The to be carried out not by a TBM through The project has made today a large number of companies that bid in the a soft soil, deep water, roads, and other significant step forward by publishing the prequalification stage in the rolling stock infrastructures at a depth of 15 m to 20 invitation for participation in bids for in- tender - 16 altogether - also worries the big m under street surface. All the participants ternational tender No. 019/2012 for the companies. are well experienced companies from Eu- procurement and maintenance of 90 LRV “The most complicated part that rope and the Far East. vehicles for the Red Line, with an option for is most liable to breakdowns in megaproj- The winners are supposed to be a further 30. ects like the Tel Aviv light rail is integrating selected at the 3rd quarter of 2013, after The tender was approved yes- the contractors carrying out different parts which works are to commence at 14 sites. terday by the Higher Steering Committee of the project, the tunnels, stations, sys- Next month, NTA is expected to receive which includes members of the Transport, tems, rolling stock, and so on,” a foreign the proposals from bidders of the systems, National Infrastructures, & Roads’ Safety trains expert told “Globes”. “The integra- to be followed by publishing of the rolling Ministry’s General Manager, Finance Min- tor has to make sure that all the systems stock tender. istry’s Accountant General, mayors of the meet the line’s complex specifications. For cities through which the Red Line runs (Tel- example, the volume of traffic in Tel Aviv, (iv). SKYTRAN - YET ANOTHER FANCY Aviv, Bat-Yam, Ramat-Gan, Bnei-Brak, and 12,000 passengers per hour each way, is SCHEME. Petakh-Tikva), and NTA General Manager. right at the upper capacity limit of light rail From Steve Waldenberg came this link on Both Minister Katz and NTA Gen- networks. NTA has already assumed the 22.10.2012: “There’s still no subway or eral Manager Mr. Yitzhak Zuchman said great responsibility of the project’s inte- light rail system in Tel Aviv, but the trans- that this is the biggest tender ever pub- gration, and for that reason it is especially portation of the future is on its way lished by NTA, and that the project had important to work with companies with ex- It’s the skytran, developed by NASA. The already passed its non-return point. The perience in such complex projects.” first pilot of this newfangled pod will be in winner is to be selected by the 3rd quarter Tel Aviv. of 2013. Jerusalem light rail is a success Developers say the cars drive on magnetic Alstom built the Jerusalem light strips. The cities electric power lines will be (vi). PETACH TIKVA WORKS. rail line together with Ashtrom Properties converted to support the lines. Every pod From an announcement in NTA newsletter Ltd. (TASE:ASPR) as part of the CityPass will carry two people, and will travel at high of 26.11.2012: consortium. Alstom still owns 20% of the speeds. Each ride will cost a dollar fifty. It NTA has completed recently all the infra- consortium, because the government has will be like getting on an elevator. All you structure works on the last section at Orlov not approved the sale of the stake to Israel have to do is press an icon and the car will street of Petakh-Tikva (the most eastern Infrastructure Fund (IIF) for NIS 24 mil- take you wherever you want to go in Tel point of the planned Red Line). The $13 lion, which the companies agreed to in late Aviv. Million works included renewal and re-lo- 2010. The Jerusalem light rail has been cation of infrastructures now embedded operational for a year, even as the govern- Artists impression under the street, as well as a new under- ment and CityPass continue to clash at the ground pedestrian passage to/from the lo- arbitrator. cal Central Bus Station, to be used later Nonetheless, Erbacci believes also by the LRV passengers. that the Jerusalem light rail is a success. “It’s true that there were problems with the (vi). JAFFA WORKS. traffic lights and the drivers, as well as tech- From an announcement in NTA newsletter nical glitches, but this was the first experi- of 28.11.2012: ment in operating such a system in Israel. NTA will complete next week the re- We also encountered new problems, such Sounds like science fiction? Tel Aviv will be locating of all the high voltage masts along as security issues, which require stopping the first place in the world that the project 4 km of Jerusalem Boulevard of Jaffa traffic at an intersection every time there is will be implemented. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron and embedding the cables underground a suspicious plasti bag. But, bottom line, Huldai congratulated the initiative, saying in order to create a free space for works we see that the trains are almost full and Tel Aviv has always been a hub of innova- on the Red Line to run there. All works the line has become a symbol of the city. tion. are being carried out between midnight Jerusalem can be proud of its light rail.” Whereas the light rail in Jerusa- and 05:00 to minimize disruption for the The government is preparing to lem cost 180 Million dollars per kilometre, neighbourhood. ,cfrv Page 10 99:07. The Felsenkeller Bräuerei in (iv). ANOTHER HOLOCAUST Herford had 20 ‘Cool Vans’, but during MEMORIAL GOODS VAN. NOTES AND the war many private wagon owners found In the ‘Daily Tribune’ of Oakland their vehicles requisitioned, and from 21st. County, Minnesota, on 23.09.2012 (www. Oct.1944 - despite hefty protests, for there dailytribune.com) was an article by Gina COMMENTS. was by this no time no fuel and no tyres Joseph: [I have retained the American for road transport - they were all forcibly orthography. Ed.] (i). BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVES. ‘rented’ to the Wehrmacht for 3 RM per “Construction of the Holocaust Chen Melling has been doing some wagon per day. By 2nd. Jan. 1945 only Memorial Center’s Henrietta and Alvin research – here are some comments and 17 were still listed, the fate of the others Weisberg Gallery - a permanent structure also a response from Ray Ellis:- is unknown. After the war, by 1949 only that will house an authentic World War “Recently it was pointed out to ten had been returned. Enquiries in 1950 II-era boxcar - is on track for uts official me that the DeGolyer Library has scanned revealed that three wagons had been opening in late Fall 2012. and published on-line the microfilmed located in the Ostzone, one of which “...’All of us at the Holocaust collection of Baldwin engine specification had been rented to a Berlin firm, two of Memorial Center are very grateful to cards - which had been very heavily damaged and the Weisbergs’ said Stephen Goldman, http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/all/cul/ located at Magdeburg but there had been executive director of the Farmington Hills rwy/pdfs/mf79_23.html . no response to enquiries about getting center. ‘This gallery will allow us to display These cards are the detailed these repaired and returned. an object of great significance and will help instructions upon which Baldwin built its Wagon no. Han 565 952 [P] had fulfil our primary mission to remember locomotives from the early 1870s, when originally been built by Bothmann in Gotha those who perished and survived the it standardized its work practice, and in 1927 as a cooled meat van for Turkey, Holocaust. The boxcar is a reminder that thus provide a wealth of information and but was instead bought by the brewery in the Holocaust was genocide organized as references about the relevant locomotives, 1928. It was one of those that were ‘hired an industrial enterprise.’ even including painting and decoration out’ in 1944. The boxcar was acquired last details. September with the cooperation of My first order of business with (iii). THE ‘JEW ENGINE’. the German National Railroad and the these was looking for the Jaffa & Jerusalem Technical (Railroad) Museum in Berlin and 2-6-0s (Nos. 1-5), and indeed both orders the Weisbergs’ donation. Since its arrival, were found, finally answering my query David Notarius sent a link: http://www. carpenters have replaced some of the regarding their livery (dark olive green as trainlife.com/articles/635/western- rotted wood in the floor and roof. On Sept. base body colour, gold leaf as base lining maryland-s-class-11-russian-decapod-2- 24, a crane will move the historical artifact colour). With some luck and patience, the 10-0-jew-engine This leads to a modelling from the grounds of the museum to its references in these cards would also lead magazine and the following intriguing permanent display indoors. me to the lining patterns and perhaps information: ‘I feel good about this’, Henrietta also to some engineering drawings, if “The term “Jew Engine” came Weiseberg said of her efforts in bringing the these survive. I would also love to find out up several times during the search for boxcar to Detroit. ‘Time passes and people whether other locos of the same type were information on these engines; it is a term forget. This way they will be reminded produced for other customers. that was commonly used in relation to the of the Holocaust and what one human While on the subject, I started WM’s Decapods. Popular theory has it that being is capable of doing to another. I’m a looking up the other Baldwins of the these engines were ordered in 1914, when survivor. I’m 83 years old. I was in Warsaw, Middle East, starting with the WD 4-6- it was thought people of the Jewish faith Poland. I lived in the ghetto and then I was 0s, and indeed both batches were found controlled the economy of Czarist Russia, sent to a concentration camp with my (Nos. 801-870 and 871-920), but for hence the nickname. mother and my sister (leaving her father some reason they appear under a different and two brothers behind.)’ Only she and purchaser – 871-920 are for “British War A total of 1,230 of these engines her sister survived and while it’s not 100 Mission “ but 801-870 are for “Egyptian per cent certain this boxcar transported State”. I would have thought this should were ordered from Baldwin and Alco. The Decapod was popular in Europe Jews bound for concentration camps, be reversed, as 871-920 actually went to Weisberg said it’s just like the one she was Egypt while 801-870 went to the Western because of its light axle loading. At the time of the Russian revolution in 1918 in. Front. Any thoughts about this? ‘I was nauseated when I saw it’ By the way, all are specified as there were about 200 of these engines still undelivered. All of them ended up said Ted Nickel of Oak Park, 70, one of painted dull black all-over, though the the carpenters working on its renovation. earlier order was originally specified as on various American roads. All of the Western Maryland Decapods were built by Nickel knows why the boxcar is considered “khaki colour with neat lining in black”, a symbol of evil. He believes the talent which conforms with the earlier Baldwin Baldwin; engine Nos. 1103-1109 around February, 1918, and, because of gaps in that has enabled him to reconstruct the locos supplies to the British Army in the wood floor and roof (despite having no war.” their builders numbers, it is believed that 1101 and 1102 were built shortly before background in train engineering) is a From Ray: “From my own study blessing - not to mention an obligation to of Baldwin matters, it was who placed and 1110 somewhat later (see Table I for builder number information). It follows that the many souls it carried. the order that is shown here, and not The Henrietta and Alvin Weisberg necessarily the buyer, the destination, the Western Maryland engines would be Baldwins because about three-quarters of Gallery will include the boxcar placed on intended, supposed or proposed. The De rails in a bed of wood and concrete, Golyer Library is a fascinating place (it is all Western Maryland steamers were built by them. Most sources put WM acquisition reminiscent of the station platform where in a Methodist Church-run university), Jews and other victims of the Holocaust with heaps of valuable and rare stuff (the in 1920. Superheaters were installed by the road sometime after their purchase. were gathered - often thousands or more then-young millionaire De Golyer made at a time - and then pushed and shoved his money in oil), ruled over, I believe, by a Baldwin built some similar Decapods in 1924, Strasburg’s No. 90 into similar cars. Visitors will be able to matronly ‘battleaxe’, with much knowledge approach it from all sides, and be close and know-how, but making access to is one of these. None of the WM engines are left. There are, however, a few of the enough to touch or allow for the Jewish their “library / collection” a tad somewhat custom of placing stones. The backdrop of difficult at times!” originals left, Baldwin’s 48522 at Ottawa, Kansas, 48420 at Kirkwood, Missouri, UNK this unique exhibit will be a mural showing No. at Atlanta, Georgia, and 47953 at the the ghostly figures of men, women and (ii). FATE OF A TURKISH MEAT / BEER children awaiting their unknown and WAGON: BREWERY WAGONS. Illinois Railway Museum, last run by Eagle- Pitcher in 1958, test fired by the Museum unimaginable fate. In ‘Eisenbahn Kurier’ 10/2012 ‘Every survivor who sees the p.50ff. is an article on the wagons formerly on October 30, 1972, and currently being restored to full operating condition by the boxcar will be reminded of the fear and used by a brewery in Herford - either atrocities they lived through,’ Henrietta for malt or for the transport of beer, in Museum at Union, Illinois, about 50 miles west of Chicago.” said. ‘I want the world to know what ‘cooled’ (i.e. not necessarily mechanically happened during the Holocaust so that ‘refrigerated’, but fitted with ice) wagons. such inhumanity will never happen again.’ (German ‘Kühlwagen’). ‘I don’t have the language to describe what ,cfrv Page 11 I felt when I saw the boxcar,’ Henrietta scheduled for the area. Medical supplies Iranian missions passed out of existence added. from the United States reached the area late in June 1942. They were replaced The Holocaust Memorial through three different channels: the by the United States Army Forces in the Center is at 28123 Orchard Lake Road, various contractors were responsible for Middle East (USAFIME), organized as a Farmington Mills, MI 48334-3738. Or: procuring supplies needed by civilians theater of operations under command www.holocaustcenter.org. employed by them; medical supplies for of General Maxwell. Headquarters was in The museum’s website indicates American civilian and military personnel Cairo. Under USAFIME, the North African that the van was located standing at under military control were requisitioned Service Command took over operations Cottbus. by the mission surgeon; British forces in in Egypt and Palestine, while the Iran-Iraq the area were supplied under the Lend- Service Command supplanted the existing (v). AMBULANCE TRAINS IN LIBYA. Lease Act. Entry of the United States into organization in the Persian Gulf area, now The website the war resulted in some interruption to commanded by Col. Don G. Shingler, http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/ deliveries until the future status of the without change of functions. At the same wwii/medsvcsinmedtrnmnrthrtrs/chapter2. various construction projects about to get time, a newly organized U.S. Army Middle htm ) under way could be determined, but no East Air Force, commanded by Maj. Gen. immediate change of medical plans was Lewis H. Brereton, former commander of leads to the following relevant required. the Tenth Air Force in India, was brought information. In Egypt, a headquarters under theater control. U.S. Army Medical Department, Office of dispensary was set up in Cairo in mid- Coincident with activation of USAFIME, Medical History. Chapter 2. December 1941 with Lieutenant Crozier as Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel‘s From pp.57f. The U.S. Military North attending physician. Another dispensary Afrika Korps broke through British African Mission in Heliopolis, a Cairo suburb where repair positions in Libya and drove to within The expanding needs of the and maintenance shops were under 70 miles of Alexandria. Work was hastily British forces in the Middle East were met construction, was established in February suspended on all U.S. Army projects in by the creation in September 1941 of 1942. Hospitalization for all U.S. personnel Egypt and Palestine. Civilian construction the United States Military North African continued to be provided in British workers and many military personnel were Mission, with Brig. Gen. Russell L. Maxwell hospitals, while native workers were cared moved to relative safety in Eritrea. The as its chief. The mission surgeon, Maj. for in Egyptian hospitals. North African Service Command shifted its (later Col.) Crawford F. Sams, joined the In Eritrea, where a naval base headquarters to Gura early in July, and the group in October and prepared a medical at Massaua, an air depot at Gura, and an theater headquarters staff began burning plan based on information available in arsenal and signal installations at Asmara its files in preparation for the evacuation of Washington before personnel of the were the principal projects, medical service Egypt. By August, however, Rommel had mission went overseas. The group traveled began early in February 1942 with the arrival been contained at El ‚Alamein and work by air across the Pacific, arriving in Cairo of Capt. (later Maj.) Thomas C. Brandon. was resumed in the Cairo and Palestine on 22 November. Major Sams was joined With a male nurse, an X-ray technician, Areas. there on the 27th by his assistant surgeon, and six hospital attendants - all civilians - After the resumption of activities 1st Lt. (later Maj.) Dan Crozier. Captain Brandon established dispensaries in Egypt, the theater was reorganized to Projects to be carried out under at Asmara and Gura in February and, the simplify the command structure. The control of the U.S. Military North African following month, at Massaua and at Ghinda, North African Service Command was Mission included construction of port where a large housing project for Massaua abolished, and the three existing areas facilities and establishment of shops for personnel was under development. Until formerly under its jurisdiction became the repair and maintenance of aircraft, additional medical officers arrived late service commands responsible directly to tanks, locomotives, and signal equipment. in April, Brandon made the rounds of all the theater headquarters. The Heliopolis Because the United States was not a four stations himself, covering a circuit of Area became the Delta Service Command, belligerent, the work was to be done under about 120 miles of mountainous country. including all of Egypt. The Palestine Area, lend-lease by civilian contractors, but the American personnel were hospitalized in with boundaries enlarged to include the mission surgeon was responsible for the British hospitals, while Italian hospitals Levant States, Transjordan, and a wedge- medical care of all civilians employed, as cared for Italian and native workers under shaped segment of western Arabia, became well as for the health of American military insurance carried by the contractors. the Levant Service Command. Boundaries personnel in the area. The War Department, meanwhile, of the Eritrea Service Command were had directed on 18 February that all drawn to include Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, (N.B.: Military personnel, although not projects sponsored by the U.S. Military Eritrea, French Somaliland, Aden, and all yet engaged in actual combat, were not North African Mission be converted from of Arabia south of the Persian Gulf. The immune to combat wounds. The first U.S. civilian to military status within six months. Iran-Iraq Service Command was renamed battle casualty in the Middle East occurred Two months proved sufficient. The mission the Persian Gulf Service Command, with less than a week after Major Sams‘s was completely militarized by 10 April. jurisdiction over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and arrival. S. Sgt. Delmar E. Park, a Signal By special arrangement, some 2,500 that portion of Arabia not included in other Corps observer and instructor with a civilian employees of the Douglas Aircraft command areas. A short-lived and never British combat unit, was killed by German Corporation were to continue operating important Army Ground Forces Command machine-gun fire near Sidi Omar, Libya, the Gura depot for another six months, was also added to the theater organization on 27 November 1941, ten days before the and about 2,000 employees of engineer in August to provide administrative United States entered the war. The Signal contractors were to remain on civilian supervision over U.S. tank crews operating Corps has erected a plaque to Sergeant status, but all projects were brought under with the British Eighth Army. Plans to Parks memory at Fort Monmouth, N.J.) military control. move an American armored corps into Within a few weeks, Major Following militarization, three the theater were dropped when invasion Sams had completed sanitary surveys of area commands were organized to of Morocco and Algeria received priority, Egypt, Eritrea, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, supervise construction work in the three and the Army Ground Forces Command and Palestine, using local civilian, British, main centers of activity. These were the was eventually inactivated. That portion of and captured Italian records as well as Heliopolis Area; the Eritrea Area, with Libya reconquered from the Axis forces was personal reconnaissance. The information headquarters at Asmara; and the Palestine set up as the Libyan Service Command in so developed was used to locate bases Area, with headquarters at Tel Aviv. Medical December 1942. for medical operations and to modify plans under the new organization called Organization at the theater preliminary plans in terms of actual for military hospitals in these areas with an level was completed early in November conditions. Port Sudan was eliminated as aggregate capacity of 2,450 beds. Since with the creation of a Services of Supply a hospital location, and plans to establish work had not yet been started in Palestine headquarters, to which the service a 100-bed unit at Port Elizabeth, near and medical personnel was at a premium, commands were thereafter responsible. Capetown on the long Cape of Good surgeons were named only for Eritrea and General Maxwell became commanding Hope route to India and the Far East, Heliopolis. general of the theater Services of Supply were indefinitely deferred. For the time (SOS), being replaced briefly as USAFIME being the British supplied hospitalization p.60-62. The Middle East as an Active commander by Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews. of all U.S. personnel, both civilian and Theater of Operations, 1942-43 In January 1943 Andrews was succeeded military, although 2,150 U.S. beds were Both the North African and the by General Brereton, who also retained his ,cfrv Page 12 command of the Ninth U.S. Air Force into generated effectively for nothing (once the enforced and permanent closure of the which the Middle East Air Force had been capital costs are paid off) as a by-product plant on 1st. Jan. 2012. merged. As in the European theater at for generating electricity using solar panels this time, the air mission was the primary (the Negev has plenty of sun, albeit little (xi). SCHÖMA LOCOS IN THE MIDDLE combat function of USAFIME between May water) to heat a generator boiler filled with EAST. 1942 and September 1943. water and driving turbines; it can then Thanks to Greg Martin for the excerpts be stored at 120-140 atmospheres. This from the Schöma (the Christoph Schöttler p.64. Libyan Service Command, means a steam or water temperature of Maschinenfabrik GmbH of Diepholz, established in early December 1942, did ca. 350° in the reservoir, though one can Germany) works list indicating locos not have a medical staff section until March install superheaters within the cylinders exported to specific countries:- 1943. The surgeons office was composed to economise further. Until now fireless of a surgeon, a medical inspector, a locos have been restricted in distance 1. For Hedjaz Jordan Railways, Jordan: veterinary officer, a Medical Administrative and therefore used only for shunting in In 1968, Four Type Klv 53 Works No. Corps officer, and a medical officer in charge installations where steam was already 3131-3134. of the headquarters general dispensary. available, but Hans Wendler, famous for 2. For Heitkamp, Saudi Arabia: In 1977, This command functioned only until the his work on coal-dust as a fuel, calculated Two Type Kla 03 and two Type Kla 03 V, end of active operations against the Axis that a range of 150-200km or so should Works in North Africa. In late May it was divided be easily possible. There is no pollution, 4220-4221, and 4222-4223. into Tripoli Base Command and Benghasi of course, and no dependency on external 3. For Egypt Railways: Base Command. The new commands fuel sources. In 1974, Five Type CS 423, Nos. 3940- were disbanded in the fall of 1943, and Henschel did some design 3944. their areas and installations were absorbed studies for 2-10-2’s in the 1950’s, and In 1976: Two Type Klv 53 Works Nos. by Delta Service Command. the Gilli system was used in Austria, but 4086-4087. (In the Middle East theater a base in the 1950’s diesel oil was so cheap that In 1983: Twelve Type CS 300 Nos. command was normally one step below a no-one pursued this line. However, the 4680-4691. service command. Since Libyan Service situation has now changed substantially. In 1983: Two Type CS 300 without Command no longer existed, Tripoli and SLM bought the rights and ÖMV used Gilli Crane. Nos. 4692-4693. Benghasi Base Commands dealt directly 0-6-0F’s. One can also collect used steam In 1983: Sixteen Type CS 299 Nos. with their next highest echelon, SOS in a condenser and use the accumulated 4694-4709. USAFIME.)” power as a form of booster when starting a In 1984: Two Type CS 299 with Ramp. train.” [Ed. Adds: The Gilli system is also Nos. 4710-4711. (vi). FILM FESTIVAL. referred to in designs for the proposed 3- In 1984: One Type CS 300, No. 4720. Programme note for an event metre gauge ‘Breitfernbahn’ network plan at the Jerusalem Cinémathèque on by the Nazis. Such fireless locos would (xii). 8F LOCOS FROM TURKEY IN 22.10.2010. have been used in stations and yards.] BRITAIN. “Jaffa-Jerusalem Railway Line – 120th In ‘Railway Magazaine’ Nov. 2012 Anniversary. (viii). ANOTHER MEMORIAL VAN. p. 81 is a news item. One of the pair of The Jaffa-Jerusalem Railway From Dr. Reinhard Dietrich came 8F’s repatriated from Turkey to Britain at Line was inaugurated in 1892. Though information on yet another Holocaust the end of 2010, No. 45170, was taken to the historic line is still in service on the Tel Memorial wagon:- at the ‘Illinois Holocaust the Weybourne workshops of the North Aviv-Jerusalem route, the old Jerusalem Museum & Education Center’ in Skokie, Norfolk Railway on Sept. 5th. railway station has been left vacant and near Chicago. He notes: “The van is In January 2011 this loco had neglected, waiting to be restored. Marking unfortunately built into the exhibition itself been moved to the Locomotion Museum the 120th anniversary of the first railway so that it is hard to see it from all sides. at Shildon, and at the time it as reportedly line in Israel, we will hold an evening of The inscriptions that I could decipher planned that after six months it would move stories and archival films. Films courtesy were merely ‘Bahnhofswagen’ and on to Ian Storey Engineering’s premises at of the Israel Film Archive. Edited by Yaacov ‘Lokschuppen’ – i.e. referring to its later Hepscott near Morpeth, to be restored by Gross. In cooperation with the Society for use as a departmental vehicle, used for the team that has been working to restore Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites and storage. In the accompanying information BR Standard 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76084, but ICOMOS Israel.” panel it is stated it came from Ruhr Chemie the plans have now changed. (i.e. it also belonged to the infamous ‘IG The 8F will remain stored at (vii). STEAM TRAINS TO EILAT? Farben’) and was of type G10.” Weybourne through the winter, with No - don’t get too excited. This is The museum’s leaflet states merely: stripping-down to start in Spring 2013, an idea which arose in discussion with Dirk “A German rail car of the type used in Nazi enabling an assessment of what will be Forschner, a teacher of Traction Systems deportation programs sits in the center of required to return it to steam. A decision at the HU and an engineer in Berlin, and the building. Visitors have the option to on whether to proceed will then be made. an enthusiast for steam power, former step inside or walk around the car.” If the decision is for work to go ahead, owner of a narrow-gauge ‘Slask’ 0-6-0T the NNR will undertake the restoration, and currently owner of a Burrel 2-cyl. road (ix). MORE OLD PHOTOS. then have the use of the locomotive on engine. His idea is to create solar-powered David Notarius sent the following links; the Sheringham-Holt ‘Poppy Line’ for five power stations that will produce high- Chen has already commented on each years. pressure steam, that can then be fed into picture. The second 8F imported from reservoirs of relatively-simple locomotives http://www.flickr.com/photos/ Turkey at the same time, No. 45166, went - they do not need their own boiler, though seadipper/3041820822/in/photostream/ to temporary accommodation at Barry Rail perhaps a ‘hybrid’ system with a small http://www.flickr.com/photos/ Centre (in Wales). diesel motor for use when necessary may seadipper/3041821996/in/photostream/ be an idea. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ (xiii). MORE FILMS ON INTERNET. He states: “The idea is by seadipper/3041816244/in/photostream/ From David Notarius come these links. no means new. Roman Gilli, a student http://www.flickr.com/photos/ The last one is to the famous 1956 film by of Loeffler at BMAG, did much of the seadipper/3040970855/in/photostream/ Haim Hefer on ‚70414‘. necessary research. They discovered that http://www.eretz.com/NEW/train101.shtml it was pointless to place a high-pressure (x). THE END OF THE EMD PLANT IN boiler onto a locomotive chassis, yet the LONDON, ONTARIO. http://www.youtube.com/ principle of using high-pressure steam to This factory, where several watch?v=xS753aNBdoQ power the mechanical part is realistic and IR locos were constructed, has been can be very economical - especially in a mentioned before, as workers undertook http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxqpY period when, as now, diesel fuel oil is rising industrial action to protest a major wages MAoBeo&feature=related in price and will run out in the foreseeable cut. According to ‘C.R.J.’ No. 171 p.31 future. EMD SD80ACc locos numbered 101 -107 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnCCsk Since IR intends to electrify were delivered in early January 2012 to a PcbnY&feature=related much of the system anyhow, some power mining company in Brazil and were the stations will be necessary. Steam can be last locomotives to be completed before ,cfrv Page 13 (xiv). MIDDLE EAST RAILWAY CLUB IN service introduced in 2009 between Iran inflated by the inclusion of government LONDON. and Pakistan became a regular working properties. Supporters and advisers to the For all London-based readers – David during 2011. Nevertheless, the big prob- king insist that the king does not receive Notarius has formed “The Hackney and East London Synagogue Middle East lems of the railways in Pakistan (e.g. short- commissions on the deals he mediates or Railway Club” - the idea being to create age of locos; poor maintenance on the promotes. He does not release tax returns, a forum for bi-weekly meetings for talks, Quetta - Zahedan line) mean that no more which he does file. But the king’s accumu- discussions, information exchange and than two train pairs per month (!) are pos- lated wealth appears to outstrip the annual also some modelling. It is located at 2A, sible. Normally the container train works royal budget....” Triangle Road, London E8 3RP. Nearest station ‘London Fields’. Your Editor has combined with the twice-monthly passen- “....Now as the monarch concen- been awarded Membership No. 0001!” ger train along this route. trates on promoting ‘Brand Spain’, some Contact is: press.hackneyshul@gmail. Passenger Traffic. allies consider him a source of economic com In 2011 the Iranian railways also salvation. The Saudi high-speed train is introduced through passenger services their case in point. ‘Without the king, this to Zahedan. An express works daily from 99:08. contract would not have gone ahead’, said Tehran via Kerman and Bam to Zahedan a former Spanish foreign minister, Miguel taking just over 24 hours: Train 720 dep. Angel Moratinos. ‘This kind of contract OTHER MIDDLE EAST Tehran 16.55, arr. Zahedan 17.45 next day; comes down to a personal decision by Train 721 dep. Zahedan 06.55, arr. Tehran King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.’ The Bo- RAILWAYS. 07.25 next day. tswana trip was subsidized by Mohamed At the beginning of 2012 pas- Eyad Kayali, a key adviser in Spain to A. IRAN. senger trains also began on the newly-built Prince Salman, the crown prince who line from Esfahan to Shiraz. A train works played a critical role in awarding the Saudi (i) From Internet: IRAN: President Ahma- between the capital and Shiraz twice per train contract. Mr. Kayali declined to com- dinejad officially inaugurated a locomotive week, Sundays and Tuesdays from Tehran ment...” assembly plant on July 17, saying the new and Saturdays and Mondays back, with a facility operated by industrial group MAP- travel time of some 16 hours. [sic. - this [Maybe the system should be renamed NA would support national self-sufficiency actually looks like out-and-back work- ‚Saudi Rialways‘ instead of ‚Railways‘? Ed.] and produce high-quality locomotives at ings from the Shiraz end! Ed.] The limited lower prices than imported equipment. service is claimed to be due to a shortage (ii). NEW METRO SYSTEM FOR JED- The factory has the capacity to produce up of passenger rolling stock.” DAH. to 150 locomotives a year, in addition to ‘Fahrplancenter News’ No. 48 p.27. “Fol- coaches and wagons. It is initially produc- lowing Mecca and Riyadh, it is now planned ing IranRunner diesel locomotives under a B. SAUDI ARABIA (i). A KING’S RANSOM.....(AND HOW to build an underground railway in Jeddah. 2008 technology transfer agreement with DEALS ARE DONE) The network will be 108km. long and have Siemens which covered 150 locomotives, In the ‘International Herald Tri- 39 stations, and the bus network will be re- the first 30 of which were supplied from bune’ of 29-30.9.2012 p.1 is an article on planned to feed the underground. By this Germany. the troubled monarchy in Spain, where means some 96% of the city’s population According to MAPNA, the single- taxpayers are bearing the brunt of drastic should have easy access to public trans- cab 160 km/h locomotives are 25% more economic measures and King Juan Carlos port.” fuel efficient than RAI‘s existing fleet of has come under criticism for his luxuri- mostly US designs. ous lifestyle. But apparently this has been C. LIBYA In January 2010 Siemens largely financed by private income made In ‘Fahrplancenter News’ Nr. 48 (Dec. announced its withdrawal from the Iranian from business deals on behalf of Spanish 2011-Sept. 2012) p.15f.: market once it had completed existing business. From this article:- “The war against the dictator contracts.“ “The king’s peripatetic role as Ghaddafi has left many traces in the whole a business diplomat - and how deals are of Libya. Many people fled the country (ii).And on 25 September 2012 forged - were brought under a spotlight and it is mostly only Libyans who have re- IRAN: Industrial group MAPNA is develop- after the safari (in Botswana), which was turned. The damage to the infrastructure ing plans for a domestically designed and subsidized and organized by a Syrian-born has been enormous. The transitional gov- manufactured diesel locomotive. businessman in Spain. ernment has had to make decisions as to At InnoTrans, Dr Reza Javaheri The two men, longtime friends, how to get the country moving again. The of MAPNA‘s Railway Transportation Divi- were linked by a $9.9 billion bullet train first priority was to get air traffic working sion told Railway Gazette International that contract that the monarch helped broker again, for the airports, the air traffic control production could begin once the company last autumn for a Spanish consortium in installations and the aeroplanes had to be completes 150 locomotives to a Siemens Saudi Arabia, where he used diplomatic repaired for large sums. In the same way design which are being assembled under savvy to triumph in what some local news- the extensive road network swallowed up licence. papers called the ‘contract of the century.’ enormous sums. As well as encouraging self-suf- Leveraging his friendship with the Saudi In March 2012 the state then ficiency in the domestic rail industry, MAP- king and other royals, he outmanouevered carried out a survey of the railway installa- NA hopes to win export orders for its future a French bid. tions. Here also there was extensive dam- locomotives; Africa is seen as a potential The style was typical of the con- age to be recorded. The foreign partners market.“ nections the king has parlayed not only on were however first consulted as to whether behalf of private Spanish companies and they were interested in a continuation of (iii). Traffic and Developments. the state but also, apparently, himself, as the railway construction projects - but In ‘Fahrplancenter News’ Nr. 48 (Dec. he built a vast personal fortune over de- the responses were extremely negative. 2011-Sept. 2012) p.18. cades. The Spanish royal family’s wealth The railway construction firm from China “Freight Traffic. has been variously estimated up to $1.79 had no interest any further, and was not The experimental container train billion, a sum that supporters contend was even prepared to send a representative to Tripoli to survey the actual situation on the ,cfrv Page 14 ground. The Russian Railways SZD esti- serve the land that has been already ac- (iii). REGIONAL SERVICES. mated their losses from the ‘Libya Adven- quired for the project. It is not yet clear The TCDD is also investing in lo- ture’ at $US 610M, and does not see itself what will happen to the rails that have cal trains. The number of trains in the Izmir in a position to return to the construction already been laid, the existing completed region has been raised with the introduc- sites. Ansaldo from Italy had been respon- and semi-completed buildings and even to tion of new Diesel railcars in August 2012. sible for the delivery and construction of the existing items of rolling stock (of which The number of trains from Izmir to Catal, the telecommunications networks and the there is no report concerning their condi- Tire, Ödemis, Aydin and Denizli has been signalling centres, with a contract worth a tion).” increased and all trains halt at the Adnan total of $90M, but this firm also sees no Menderes Airport in Izmir. possibility of continuing from where it left D. TURKEY. In spite of the war situation in off. Vossloh in Germany could only write In ‘Fahrplancenter News’ Nr. 48 (Dec. Syria the mixed freight and passenger train off its 2011 contract for delivery of point- 2011-Sept. 2012) p.17f. between Gaziantep and Nusaybin operates work and rail fastenings worth $93.9M. (i). ISTANBUL DEVELOPMENTS. as before, three times a week. Over lengthy The situation is no better for the American “Since the tunnel under the Bos- stretches the railway line itself forms the locomotive builders, who had begun with phorus is being constructed, rail traffic in national boundary between Turkey and the construction of 244 locomotives. and around Istanbul is being severely af- Syria, but since the TCDD is the sole user 3,500 Russian and Libyan work- fected, for the approach routes at both of the line the actual border control instal- ers, who had been working on the 554km. sides are being completely renewed and lations are situated just on the Syrian side long section from Sirte to Benghazi, had widened to three tracks. At the same time of the tracks. During the occasional armed lost their places of employment, as did other modernisation measures are being attacks against Turkish territory the railway ‘many thousands’ of Chinese - the exact undertaken throughout the country. All line has until now fortunately remained number is unknown - who had been work- this means that Istanbul has been very undamaged. Many times Syrian refugees ing on the 172km. section Tripoli - Ras hard to reach by train since 01.02.2012. have managed to get over the dangerous Ejder and 352km. line Al Khums - Sirte, as On the European side the inter- (it is presumed to be mined) border strip to well as the 800km. line Wadi Shati - Mis- national trains from Bucharest and Sofia climb onto this train. rata. Construction of most of the sections end in Kapikule, the Turkish border station. was already well advanced. of the 95 sta- Replacement buses operate at roughly the (iv). INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC IN THE tions, over 50 were ready in terms of basic train times. A local train is run on those NEAR EAST. structure, and 22 were apparently already days when building works allow it. De- The ‘Transasya Express’ runs at complete. In Ras Lanuf an entire ‘railway pending on the rate of construction works the moment between Ankara and Tehran, village’ had been built, and when the war the intermediate stations on the section and there is no connecting bus to Haydar- began was ready for inhabitants to move Sirkeci - Halkali are however not served. pasa. The train from Tehran to Damascus in. It is now 70% destroyed. On the Asian side some trains has been suspended by the Iraqi authori- The new government sharply work between Haydarpasa, Gebze and ties. In the meantime the local train be- criticised Ghaddafi’s very generous, even Adapazari in the main rush hours, although tween Van in Turley and Tabriz in Iran still extravagant project, for in many places it even here it is possible for services to be runs. Also suspended for some unspecified was so planned as not to meet the real disrupted from time to time between Hay- period is the link between Gaziantep and needs of the country. For example, the darpasa and Gebze due to construction Aleppo in Syria via Karkamis. The conflict station for Tripoli was built 10km. from activities. The long-distance trains from in Syria also prevents any railway traffic be- the city. It is true that early plans from the Haydarpasa to Ankara and further are re- tween Turkey and Iraq, since the only link 1980’s had envisaged a tramway from placed by buses between Haydarpasa and traverses the eastern tip of Syria. the city centre to the station to provide Eskisehir, with connections at Eskisehir to access, but the planning for this line was conventional trains and to the high-speed (v). THE MARMARAY. never completed and also no call for ten- trains; the connections are maintained. All This is another term which is ders for it was ever issued. The stations of these restrictions will, according to TCDD, gaining international recognition. The Misratah and Benghazi are no better situ- continue at least until Spring 2014. word ‘Marmaray’ is a combination and ated. On the line Ajdabiya - Tobruk, in the comes from ‘Marmara’, the name of the north-east of the country, earthworks had (ii). YHT - THE HIGH SPEED TRAINS. sea around Istanbul, and the Turkish word been commenced for three different route The abbreviation YHT stands ‘Ray’ for Rail. The term is used to cover the alignments, for only the inland line could for ‘Yüksek Hizli Trenler’ - and these High entire rail project in and around Istanbul, really be built with a reasonable amount of Speed Trains have become the modern the central section of which is the Bospho- effort, yet this did not meet the wish of the face of TCDD. Traffic is developing well. rus Tunnel. The underground railway sec- dictator. It would have required almost a Between Ankara and Eskisehir there are tion is 13.6km. long, of which 1.4km. is half of the total of 554 bridges envisaged now ten daily train pairs, some of which passing under the water. The tunnel tubes for the network. It was also revealed that of halt also at Sincan and Polatli. Seven trains are 60m under the sea level, and about the total of 240km. of access roads for the have bus connections from and to Bursa, 4.5m below the sea bed. The underwater various stations, only 50km. were already others have connections to conventional section is formed from 11 pre-fabricated under construction. The concrete sleeper trains to Afyon, Kütahya and Tavsanli. tube segments, of 98.5, 110 and 135m factory in Misratah had not yet been com- The YHT line from Ankara to length, which are laid into the sea bed - pleted by the beginning of the war, and so Konya is now served by eight daily train and due to the high risk of earthquakes every sleeper, and 6.8M of these will be pairs. Four of these have guaranteed con- Japanese technology is used for this. The needed, would have to be imported. nections into or from trains to Karaman, tunnel section begins in Kazlicesme on the Since the entire railway project which are worked with modern Diesel mul- Asiatic side, and along the tunnel section was still very much associated with “The tiple unit sets. are stations at Yenikapi, Sirkeci and Üskü- Wishes of the Dictator”, and since the All YHT trains offer Business dar - this latter in the Asiatic part of the country had so many other important and and Economy Class and have a Cafeteria city. urgent projects to deal with, the railway coach. In total 76.3km of railway line construction was suspended ‘indefinitely’. between Halkali and Gebze is being mod- The government will only continue to re- ernised and widened to three tracks. Two ,cfrv Page 15 of these will be used for a high-capacity Konya. “Normality is slowly returning to the IRR, ‘S-Bahn’-type urban service, the third track With multiple units of type HT Iraq Republic Railways. is reserved then for the long-distance and 65000 built by the Spanish firm CAF the In January 2012 fairly extensive the high-speed train services from Ankara. TCDD currently offers 10 trains each way and detailed statistics were issued for the In Yenikapi there will be a direct link to the daily between Ankara and Eskisehir and 8 year 2011. From 01.01.2011 to 31.12.2011 Underground railway and the trams. The between Ankara and Konya. the IRR had transported 669,000 tons of signalling system on the line is being in- Public reaction to the new services exceed- freight. The most important commodities stalled so as to allow 2-minute headways ed all expectations, so that the initially- are oil products, phosphates, liquid gas, for passenge trains. The freight trains will modest order for only twelve such units is stone and grain. 310,000 tons was trans- be run outside the main busy periods and already proving to be a problem. ported between Baghdad, Basra and the will normally be sent throught he tunnel Both the lines in use form how- harbour at Umm Qasr, 70,000 tons on the during the night. 37 stations outside the ever only the initial stage of the extensive line Baghdad - Mosul - Rabia, of which tunnel section are being fully rebuilt and plans for a Turkish high-speed railway about a half was import- or export traffic modernised to the latest standards. For network. At present the most important with Syria transferred to the CFS. The re- the ‘S-Bahn’ Hyundai-Rotem is delivering, construction project is the completion of maining freight was mostly conveyed on in co-operation with the Turkish builder the link from Ankara to Istanbul and the the north-west line on the route Baghdad Tüvasas, 440 new carriages with a value of linking of the Asiatic section of the network - Akashat. In total 2,055 freight trains oper- $580M. With these, 5- and 10.coach trains with the European section through the new ated in 2011. will be formed. Bosphorus Tunnel. As a consequence of The 932 passenger trains trans- The planned timetable envisag- this project the metropolis on the Bospho- ported 273,000 passengers. The entire rail- es a timing of 104 mins. for the 76.3km. rus is currently almost completely cut off way operation brought costs of 10,674M long route, with a halt at each station, and from rail facilities! IQD (Iraqi Dinars = ca. 7.4M Euros), and it should be possible to transport 75,000 From Ankara eastwards con- the revenues totalled 15,977M IQD (rough- passengers per hour in each direction. The struction works began on 13th. March ly €11.12M). That means the railway actu- whole line will be electrified at 25kV. 2009 on a new section towards Sivas. This ally made an operating profit. Nevertheless For the YHT long-distance trains will be, similarly to the Konya link, totally this can not be laid aside for the future; a service at two-hourly intervals is planned, separate from any previous alignment and Instead, substantial State help is still very with eventual extension of trains through to will reduce the length of the route from the much needed, for the maintenance and re- Konya. It is planned that the Night Trains current 603km. via Kayseri to 467km. The construction works cost large sums. The from the East of Turkey will also in future line when complete will have six viaducts, rail network is now some 1,900km. and in work to Istanbul. The TCDD hopes to be eleven tunnels and sixty-seven bridges. 2011 work began on refurbishing the ex- able to attract so much international freight This year will also see the com- ternal areas of the Baghdad Main Station. traffic to the rails that the number of freight mencement of works on the 75km. long The platforms had to be newly asphalted, trains through the tunnel will be around 30- section from Bielcik to Bursa, which should whilst under the tracks new drainage had 35 pairs per day at the outset; the capacity be brought into operation in 2015. to be laid so that the whole area of the will however be sufficient for almost double Further sections are already at tracks does not become transformed into that number. This link is a significant seg- the stage of advanced planning, and these a lake during the (infrequent) rainfalls. ment in the envisaged railway link from In- include especially the line from Ankara to In the first half of 2012 six large dia to Europe, although still missing is also Izmir. Eventually there should be a high- contracts were advertised for international the line around Lake Van in eastern Turkey, capacity East-West high-speed rail corridor tenders. These include: glass fibre cable albeit the alignment for this has now been from Istanbul via Ankara, Sivas, Erzurum for the reconstruction of the telecommuni- established and decided upon. The line is through to Tiflis in Georgia. cations between the stations; the provision to go for 250km. around the northern side In this connection the direct link of fastenings for rails; spare parts; bogies of Lake Van. Nevertheless, no date has yet between the railway systems of Turkey and couplings for freight wagons and pas- been set for commencement of construc- and Georgia, which should theoretically senger carriages; The ordering of 400 new tion, let alone the line’s inauguration. For be already under construction, is a hotly- goods wagons, as well as various depart- the coming years improvements in the fer- discussed topic. In terms of operation it mental track maintenance vehicles, includ- ry capacity on the Lake Van are planned, is questionable if this line is necessary as ing a breakdown train and rerailing equip- so that Turkey can fulfil her commitments the topography is more difficult than over ment. In addition 15.000 rails of 60kg./m. to the TAR (Trans-Asia Railway). the existing line via Armenia (which is cur- weight were ordered. Following several delays the inau- rently not in use, due to political tensions). In January 2012 the IRR modi- guration of the Marmaray is now planned In total a gap of 105km. would need to be fied the timetable for the trains between for 16th. June 2015, some 20 months filled between the Georgian and the Turk- Baghdad and Basra, to take account of the later than originally intended.” ish systems, of which 76km. would be on frequent delays: Turkish territory. Originally opening was Train 20: Dep. Baghdad 17.00, (vi). TURKEY. envisaged for 2010 but various difficulties arr. Basra 05.20. MORE ON THE HIGH-SPEED PLANS. have constantly delayed continuation of Train 21: Dep. Basra 18.00, From ‘Eisenbahn Kurier’ 12/2012 the construction works. arr. Baghdad 06.15. p. 32:- For operation on the new lines, in Both trains are for the present the only “On 13th. March 2009 the TCDD addition to further multiple units by Hyun- ones which run daily. The single fare for (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryollari) dai-Rotem a further 80 electric locomotives the 553km. line is ca. $US20.00. This tariff opened their first high-speed line to traffic, have been ordered. This is the first export was introduced on 7th. Sept. 2011, being the section Ankara - Eskisehir of the Ankara success for the Korean firm in this area.” reduced on this date from $25, in order to - Istanbul line. On 17th. December 2010 allow also the socially-weak segment of the followed the 306km. link from Ankara to E. IRAQ. population an opportunity to travel. A free Konya, on which commercial traffic actu- STATISTICS AND CURRENT EVENTS. drink is included in the fare. ally began from 24th. August 2011. This is Also from ‚Fahrplancenter News‘ Once a week passenger trains a totally new line, for before this there was No. 48: run from Baghdad to Al Haqlaniya, Bagh- no direct railway line between Ankara and dad to Samarra and between Basra and ,cfrv Page 16 Umm Qasr. The link Baghdad - Mosul is G. OMAN: with wild animals the cabs were especially served by a night train when required, and ‘Fahrplancenter News’ No. 48 p.27: reinforced, with the pointed form classed this occurs for especially important festi- Nine firms or consortia have at this point as very modern, and heavy vals. applied to tender for the planned new chromed strips and a skirting. Although the station in Kirkuk has 1,000km. railway network. The locos had cabs only at one end and been completely renovated, no passenger could be worked in multiple coupled back- trains at all run at present in the Kurdish to-back or operated singly and turned at province and also the freight traffic on the H. ETHIOPIA. the end of each trip. (i). Not really fully in Harakevet’s Baiji - Kirkuk line is very sparse. The three-axle bogies were so region of interest, but included here partly On 27th. July 2012 the Railways constructed that they could have the cen- because of the Turkish link... In ‘Continen- in Iraq celebrated their centenary. tre axle removed at some point to increase tal Railway Journal’ No. 171, Autumn 2012 Since the reconstruction of exist- adhesion; this was done in 1963-64, when p. 17 is an entry:- ing lines and of the rolling stock is costing the CGE tracks allowed higher axle loads. “The Ethiopian Railway Corpora- large sums, projects for new lines are be- [This implies the locos were originally A1A- tion has awarded a $US1.7 Billion contract ing held back:- A1A and became Bo-B0. Ed.] The twelve to Yapi Merkezi, Turkey, for the construc- - Basra - Khorramshar (Iran): The locos were considered reliable and robust, tion of the first phase of a 447km. north- Iranian part of the line is ready, whereas in and were heavily used. From 1972 on- south line, the contract being signed in Iraq earthworks are still being prepared. wards they began to look rather ‘tired’ and Addis Ababa on 27th. June 2012. A new - Husabiah - Deir-ez-Zor (Syria): initial withdrawals began. 3M, 6M and 10M single-track electrified line will run from The Syrian section is ready; on the Iraqi lasted until the 1990’s on lighter duties. Awash, on the Addis Ababa - Djibouti line section the rails are laid, but there is still a A re-engining proposed in 1990 was not currently under construction, via Kombol- major bridge over the Euphrates necessary carried out due to poor financial situation. cha to Hara Gebeya. Construction will take and due to the political situation in Syria Now in 2012 the empty shell of 3M still re- 42 months and Yapi Merkezi will be respon- the completion of this line is probably still mains in Diré Daoua as ‘State Property’ for sible for constructing the line, a depot and in the distant future. a planned national museum. yards, and an operating control centre, - Ar Ramadi - Aqaba (Jordan). Following collapse of a bridge in and for procuring equipment including This line, which will enable Iraq to have a 2009 traffic on the 450km. section Dire signalling and telecommunications. Clari- direct link to the Red Sea, has been under Daoua - Addis Abbeba was suspended. fication is required as regards Addis Ababa construction since August 2011, albeit so Sporadic trips were run between Djibouti - Djibouti, between which points where is far only on the Iraqi territory, and even here and Dire Daoua un Spring 2010 insofar already a long-existing railway. Should the it is mainly land acquisition and earthworks as the condition of the line and the stock reference to ‘currently under construction’ that have been undertaken. As to when permitted. A full overhaul and reconstruc- perhaps refer to ‘reconstruction’? At an rails will be laid, the authorities in Baghdad tion was due to follow, but for various rea- earlier date, ERC had awarded a $US1.5 say that this is dependent on the progress sons work was suspended soon after it had Billion contract to a Chinese civil engineer- made by the Jordanians, but there no work commenced and has not been resumed. ing firm for the construction of the north- has really begun at all.” In the meantime there is talk of a new line ern section of the line from Wolfiya / Hara to standard gauge and following a different Gebeya to Makelle. A final phase involves alignment. F. SYRIA. constructing a line from Wodiya east via On 10th. Nov. 1953 SLM also SUSPENSION OF SERVICES. Semera and Elidar to the Djibouti port of sketched out a proposal for a 950mm ‘Fahrplancenter News’ p.19. Tadjourah to carry export potash.” “The substantial civil war in Syr- gauge Bo-Bo version of these locos for Er- itrea but the order was never placed.” ia has gradually brought rail traffic to a (ii). SLM DIESELS. standstill. Since July 2012 it appears that In the Swiss magazine ‘Sema- The article also carries links to no trains at all run, afer a period in which phore’ issue ‘Herbst 2012’ is an article by other items about Ethiopia in ‘Semaphore’ at least some minimal service had been Daniel Ammann on the diesel locomotives Spring 2008 pp. 32-42 and Autumn 2008 maintained between Deir-ez-Zor and Al- built for the metre-gauge ‘Compagnie du pp. 23-24. The ‘Companie Impérale du Qamishli. Even at the end of June some Chemin de fer Franco-Ethiopien’ (CFE) by Chemin de fer Ethiopien’ (CIE) was formed trains reached Aleppo from the north-east. SLM in Winterthur. in 1897. It went bankrupt in 1907 and a Passenger traffic has been suspended for a “The initial order was in Decem- year later the ‘Chemin de fer Franco- lengthy period already on the coastal line ber 1946, for six double locos; by 15th. Ethiopien de Djibouti à Addis Abeba’ was between Al-Ladiqiyah and Tartous, after July 1948 detailed specifications were for formed in Paris. In 1981 the CDE ‘Chemin the Syrian Army had suppressed the ‘Re- five express locos to be numbered 1V to 5V de fer Djibouti - Ethiopien’ was formed with sistance’ at Banyas with tanks and air at- (‘V’ stands for ‘Voyageurs’) and seven for involvement by both states Ethiopia and tacks. According to television pictures the mixed traffic 6M to 12M (‘M’ here standing Djibouti. From 1899 to 1951 SLM Winter- railway tracks were also destroyed. for ‘Marchandises.’) Later the planned top thur delivered a total of 24 steam and 12 Whether and to what extent the speed of 90km/h for the ‘V’ version seemed Diesel locos to Ethiopia (a 1951 advertis- Hedjaz Railway line in the Damascus area to be rather optimistic (‘M’ had a top speed ing brochure refers still to ‘Abyssinia’.) has been damaged was at press date (Au- of 65 km/h) and following the last altera- gust 2012) still unknown. According to tions on 14th. July 1949 in the end in (iii). HENSCHEL MALLET Lebanese sources Syrian tanks used the 1950-51 only one loco was delivered as an LOCO. railway from the Lebanese border along express engine - and only as No. ‘1’ (no On p.44f. of the same issue another article the section Umm Qameh - Tall Kalakh near letter) and the remaining eleven as ‘2M’- by the same author casts light on a shaded the border in order to prevent the flight of ‘12M’. A spare pair of bogies geared for ‘M’ part of narrow gauge history. Syrian citizens over the border to Lebanon was also delivered and, following a derail- “In 1917 Henschel delivered in this regon between Hims and the coast. ment during trials, No. 1 was given these twenty metre-gauge 0-6-6-0T 4cyl. su- It is clear that this conflict has bogies and so the whole series became 1M perheated compound Mallet locos to thrown the Syrian ralways many years to 12M. theMilitär-Eisenbahn-Direktion (MED) backwards in their development.” As a protection against collisions Brüsel. They were numbered H.K. (Heere- ,cfrv Page 17 sprüfkommission’) Nos. 11 - 30. Almost contrast to the opinion on the AB G 4/5, stan. Additionally the NLC is strengthening all were put into operation in the Verdun the loco was considered as ‘almost un- its position by signing an agreement with region, and following the end of the war useable’. It was therefore withdrawn in the Korean Railways (Korail) to supply ten re- most remained stored in Montmédy in same year, 1946, following delivery of six furbished and regauged GMU-30 locos at France. One of these, however, H.K. No. MacArthur 2-8-2’s No.s 421-426. For many a cost of $11.1 M. with a two-year war- 23 was put to use as No. 6.001 of the So- years it has been considered that this loco ranty and spares back-up. An option to ciété d’Exploitation des Chemins de fer never turned a wheel under steam in Af- purchase a further 36 locomotives in two Secondaires (S.E.), réseau de la Woevre. rica but recently-discovered photographs years’ time has also been signed. Korail is The machine turned out to be too large for reveal that it did actually work, but only for providing a maintenance and supervisory here and was seldom used. In 1928 it was a very short time.” consultancy team of five engineers for the sold to the Yverdon - Ste. Croix (YSteC) first two years of the locos’ service with the railway in Switzerland and renumbered G I. LEBANON NLC at an additional cost of $1.4M. During 2x3/3 No. 5. The same issue of C.R.J. p. 3 this period it is planned that the NLC will Here also it was considered to be refers to Elias Maalouf, who is connected establish a workshop facility to maintain its a coal-eater and after 1930 mostly stood with a proposed railway museum at Rayak, fleet in conjunction with PR.” So at least unused. From 1941 to 1945 it was at Lebanon, is making a film about Lebanese Someone in Pakistan thinks that railways Montbovon as a wartime reserve loco for railways, particularly the Beirut to Rayak are important and necessary! the MOB/GFM for use should the electric rack line. If anyone has any material please overhead fail, and in 1946 it was sold to contact him on [email protected] or K. EGYPT. Ethiopia. It is no longer possible to find out [email protected] In a level-crossing smash on who aranged this. In view of the experience Saturday morning 17.11.2012 at Manfa- the CFE had had with other second-hand lut some distance south of Cairo some 47 Swiss locos, Appenzeller Bahn G4/5 No. J. AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN. In ‘C.R.J.’ No. 171 p.26 is noted young children in a school bus were killed. 7 and 8, which had been rebuilt to tender The Transport Minister resigned promptly locos, the CFE workshops also rebuilt the that “Worried that Pakistan Railways are becoming increasingly inefficient, with an and the Prime Minister also became in- Mallet in their workshops and provided it volved. A TV clip showed a Henschel loco with a tender. The coal bunker and the increasingly poor locomotive availability, the National Logistics Cell (NLC) of the involved. German TV immediately drew at- cab rear had to be modified to enable ac- tention to the poor state of the Egyoptian cess to the tender. It was numbered 61 but Pakistan Army has signed a deal with Paki- stan Railways (PR) to refurbish its fleet of rail network and referred to the 2002 fire also turned out to be hard to operate, with catastrophe when several hundred passen- a heavy appetite for fuel and expensive to 30 locomotives. The poor availability of PR locos has put in jeopardy freight move- gers were burned because coach windows maintain, and the long way from the cab were barred. What this has to do with the to the tender was also a factor that led to ments within Pakistan and, in particular, is delaying equipment in transit to Afghani- total idiocy of a bus driver was unclear. excessive labour. In consequence, and in 99:09

The Sukkot festival being celebrated on the new Jerusalem Tramway. unlike Blackpool, the system does not (yet?) have any open-top tramcars onto which such a booth could be built... Photos: Aharon Gazit

,cfrv Page 18 99:10THE FRANCO-CROSTI 99:11 PREHEATER SYSTEM & SOME NOTES ON ‘ABDUL NASSER’. ISRAEL RAILWAYS: A By Paul Cotterell. SHORT STORY. Practically nothing is known about the ESR Jung 0-6-0 diesel No.4239, cap- By Paul Cotterell. tured in 1956, during its service on Israel Railways. ‘Abdul Nasser’, as it was nicknamed on IR, was used, apparently intermittently, for shunting in and around Haifa, but seems In May 1950 the Italian company to have kept a very low profile indeed. I have the feeling that it was probably looked upon Locomotive a Vapore Franco was evidently as more trouble than it was worth, and the following extracts from two documents in the touting around for business. A letter from IRM Archives hint at recurring problems which would have exasperated those who had to its Sole Representatives, The International maintain the loco. Agency of Frankfurt/Main in Germany, landed on a highly polished desk at the 1). On 21.2.57 the loco’s “oil radiator” [sic - see Note a] was leaking and sent to the Ministry of , from “Michael” garage for repair and was returned on 25.2.57. where it was passed along to the IR Gen- Between 5.3.57 and 5.5.57 the radiator had to be stripped on six [!] separate occa- eral Manager Paikovitch. He courteously sions for repairs to leaks “by us” (ie. at the Haifa diesel depot). acknowledged receipt and asked The In- On 27.5.57 the radiator, leaking once more, was sent to Qishon Workshops for repairs ternational Agency to send him pamphlets and returned on 18.6.57. On the same day, and immediately after the loco was started with technical details about the Franco- up, it began leaking again! Crosti Preheater. Two pamphlets arrived On 3.7.57 the radiator was received from Qishon again and fitted. in July. Paikovitch again acknowledged On 10.7.57 it was leaking again, was stripped and sent to Qishon. receipt. And with that little flurry of corre- “In light of the above details”, it was wearily remarked by the diesel depot to the CME, spondence File Peh/82/42 was closed with “I suggest that a new radiator be fabricated with a period of warranty [guarantee]”. the pamphlets nowhere to be found. 2). There were more troubles with the “oil cooler” [sic - presumably radiator]. In Sep- The Franco-Crosti Preheater tember 1957 it was reported by the Economic Department Manager that “The Shilumim was a form of feedwater heater, designed Corporation in its letter of 27.8.57 informed us that it had contacted the delegation in to heat up the cold water from the loco Köln with a request for an urgent estimate for the purchase of the above oil cooler. On tender before it entered the boiler. Other 4.9.57 we received an estimate from the firm of Langerer [?spelling] und Reich for the types of feedwater heaters had been suc- supply of a cooler at the price of DM859 FOB. Delivery time 4-5 weeks. The estimate cessful in, for example, North America and was forwarded for checking by the Chief Mechanical Engineer. After receiving his verbal were widely applied there. The Franco- approval I sent a telegram on 9.9.57 to the delegation to place an urgent order for the Crosti system had quite notable success cooler as per the above estimate”. (as much as 20% reduction in coal con- sumption) in Italy where steam loco devel- Notes: opment came to an end at an early date, a) Confusingly two Hebrew terms are used in both items 1 and 2. I’m fairly certain the locos were relatively inefficient, and the they both refer to the radiator. preheater therefore showed a marked eco- b) Shilumim is Hebrew for reparations. These were the reparations paid to Israel nomic gain. No such economies were to by Germany for the genocide of Jews in World War Two. be had with it in countries where the steam c) Despite any dislike by the maintenance people it is obvious that ‘Abdul Nasser’ engines were more efficient to begin with. was very much needed at this period, otherwise all this time, energy, cash and frustration Nevertheless, British Railways tried out the would not have been expended on it. I imagine that completion of delivery of the Esslin- Franco-Crosti Preheater on some of their gen 0-6-0D shunters the following year would have considerably lessened the need for nice new, and distinctly capable, Class 9F it. 2-10-0s in the mid-1950s, and quickly 99:11a“Copies of ‘Harakevet’ being came to rue the day they agreed to give unloaded in the Sinai? British soldiers at work on a Decauville line dur- the nasty foreign thing a trial. The Franco- ing World War 1.” (Photo via Chen Melling). Crosti 9Fs on BR were loathed by their crews, and mostly spent an awful amount of time dumped out of use before being rebuilt as conventional 2-10-0s which, even then, could not quite match up to their sisters. Among its other offences, the Franco-Crosti Preheater on BR produced large quantities of sulphuric acid that rap- idly caused corrosion.

There is nothing in File Peh/82/42 to hint at the reason for its early closure. Paikovitch might have been mildly curious or simply polite in asking for pamphlets, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had made a phone call or two and found out that Israel Railways were really not in need of something very expensive that would only complicate life and, anyway, would be ob- solete in the very near future. ,cfrv Page 19 Permanent Way Klv 53 trolleys by Robel on the Hedjaz Railway in Amman Permanent Way Klv 53 trolleys by Robel on the Hedjaz Railway in Amman