January Cover_Layout 1 23/12/2020 19:37 Page 1 Featuring: Katie Farmer BNSF Josef Doppelbauer ERA Mohamed Mezghani UITP Dyan Crowther HS1 Monica Lingegård SJ Tony Coscia Amtrak François Davenne UIC Kumar Keshav Uttar Pradesh Metro Caroline Wilkie ARA Jürgen Wilder Knorr Bremse Enoch Kavindele North West Rail Sigrid Nikutta DB January 2021 | Volume 61 Issue 1 www.railjournal.com | @railjournal IRJInternational Railway Journal The Railway in 2021 Rail leaders plot the industry’s Covid-19 recovery IRJJANXX (Siemens)_Layout 1 14/12/2020 11:17 Page 1 Moving beyond Transport solutions driven by a passion for mobility The future of mobility in our globally networked world calls for seamless, sustainable, reliable, and secure mobility solutions. We’re leveraging the benefits of digitalization, engineering excellence, and our entrepreneurial spirit to master this challenge. 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And we always go the extra mile to help transport services all over the globe move beyond the expected. siemens.com/mobility Jan Contents_Layout 1 23/12/2020 19:21 Page 3 Contents International Railway Journal The Railway in January 2021 Volume 61 issue 1 2021 The Railway in 2021 Asia 4 Rail must prioritise bringing passengers back 32 Restructuring brings difficulties for Indian Railways Global trends Covid-19 is adding another layer of complexity to the railway’s plans 33 Lucknow lessons feed into Uttar Pradesh MRT strategy 6 21 rail projects for 2021 Kumar Keshav, managing director, Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation The big projects expected to make the headlines 35 China focuses on connecting city clusters 10 Public transport gears up for recovery The country is planning 10,000km of new lines over the next five years Mohamed Mezghani, secretary general, UITP 13 Breaking down barriers to Mobility as a Service France looks to use regional transport authorities to offer MaaS South America 14 Preparing rail’s vision for the ‘New Normal’ 36 Mixed bag for freight and passenger operators François Davenne, director general, International Union of Railways (UIC) Freight gears up for investment as passenger numbers drop Europe Australia 16 2021: Europe’s Year of Rail 38 Pandemic highlights the importance of railways EU event to put spotlight on rail’s biggest challenges Caroline Wilkie, CEO of the Australasian Railway Association 18 Connected and efficient rail system within reach Josef Doppelbauer, executive director, EU Agency for Railways Africa 19 New fleets and funding aids German Covid-19 recovery 40 Northwest Rail due to begin construction What is in store for Germany post-Covid Enoch Kavindele, founder, North West Rail 20 Eurostar’s troubles leave HS1 in uncertain position 41 Standard gauge development stalls in East Africa Dyan Crowther, CEO, HS1 Focus moves to metre-gauge railways as funding dries up 22 SJ bullish on riding out Covid storm Monica Lingegård, CEO, SJ News 24 No silver bullet to increase rail’s freight market share to 30% Technology to play an important role, but who pays to install it? 42 News headlines North America Also in this issue 26 New CEO looks to create lasting legacy at BNSF Katie Farmer, president and CEO, BNSF 45 Full contact list 28 Developing a scalable, digital PSR 45 Advertisers index Making the case for the next generation of Precision Scheduled Railroading 45 Fresh faces 30 Rethinking infrastructure investment 46 The last word Norman Anderson, CEO, CG/LA Infrastructure 31 Defining Amtrak’s true mission: connecting America Tony Coscia, chairman, Amtrak board of directors Contact us Editorial Offices Advertising Sales Offices Post 46 Killigrew Street, Falmouth Post 88 Pine Street, 23rd Floor Cornwall TR11 3PP, UK New York, NY 10005 Tel +44 1326 313945 United States Web www.railjournal.com Tel +1 212 620 7200 Business development manager: Editor-in-Chief Kevin Smith [email protected] Jerome Marullo Consulting Editor/Associate Publisher Tel: +1 732 8875562 = [email protected] David Briginshaw [email protected] News and Features Writer David Burroughs [email protected] Subcriptions hotline News and Features Writer Oliver Cuenca [email protected] Tel: +1 800 553 8878 (US only) Production Manager Sue Morant [email protected] + 1 319 364 6167 (Canada and International) International Railway Journal (Print ISSN 2161-7376, Digital ISSN 2161-7368), is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp, 88 Pine Street, 23rd floor, New York, NY 10005, USA. Printed in Great Britain by Buxton Press and distributed in the USA by Mail Right International, 1637 Stelton Road B4, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Piscataway, NJ and additional mailing offices. COPYRIGHT © Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation 2021. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without permission. For reprint information please contact Editor-in-Chief. For subscriptions & address changes, please call +1 319 364 6167, Fax +1 319 364 4278, Email: [email protected] or write to: International Railway Journal, Simmons- Boardman Publishing Corp, PO Box 1407, Cedar Rapids, IA, 52406-1407. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to International Railway Journal, PO Box 1407, Cedar Rapids, IA, 52406-1407. IRJ The Railway in 2021 3 Jan TM_Layout 1 05/01/2021 14:24 Page 4 The Railway in 2021 | Kevin Smith Safety and Standards Board customer-friendly strategy. The (RSSB) study reported in British government’s policy to Rail must prioritise August that the risk of increase rail fares by 2.6% contracting Covid-19 onboard from March is the wrong a train was 1 in 11,000 journeys. approach. bringing passengers back This was based on an hour- Any PR strategy encouraging long journey with no social passengers to return should T’s the million-dollar prospects look difficult, many distancing and where masks also emphasise rail’s green question,” was the operators retain ambitious were not worn. Wearing masks credentials. Lingegård says a response“I of SJ CEO, Ms plans to relaunch or provide is similarly proven to reduce growing desire to use the train Monica Lingegård, when I new services in 2021; Sweden’s the risk of infection. Operators due to environmental concerns asked whether she believes Snälltåget has begun selling should be shouting such is encouraging for SJ and it is passengers will return to trains tickets for Stockholm - Malmö messages from the rooftops as this trend that the European in the same numbers as before - Copenhagen - Hamburg - they urge their passengers to Union is banking on to deliver the Covid-19 pandemic once Berlin cross-border overnight come back. modal shift to rail, a key the vaccine is widely deployed. trains, which it will launch in New ticketing platforms could component of its Green Deal The pandemic situation took March. RegioJet, another open- also help to reinforce this programme. another downward turn at the access operator, is also planning message. For example, Mr The EU’s Year of Rail end of 2020 as restrictions an expansion of its overnight Laurent Mezzini of Systra says initiative (p16) is an exciting tightened following a surge in services while Leo Express is Mobility as a Service (MaaS) prospect for the sector. It has cases. A new strain of the virus eyeing entry into the German could inform prospective the potential to offer a roadmap added to the sense of alarm. market. passengers of how busy a for the future development of However, the start of vaccine However, the future prospect specific service is, which could rail, which combined with the rollout programmes in the objectives of the European final weeks of December hints Commission’s Sustainable and at the beginning of the end of Smart Mobility Strategy (p42), the pandemic and brighter Operators must be prepared to be could help the sector finally days ahead. overcome the issues of poor For rail operators this cannot flexible. They must also embrace a connectivity that have held it come soon enough. Scenes of customer-friendly strategy. back for decades. empty stations and sparsely “ However, such unprecedented loaded trains became all too goodwill will only remain if common in 2020 as people rail is still relevant and worthy were encouraged to stay at of investment. The declines of home. While Lingegård says SJ of these operators and those encourage them to use it 2020 must only be a blip, not is riding out the storm due to which have benefitted from instead of taking the car (p12). the start of new trends. For the operator’s strong financial government support depend The relative success of this to happen, passengers position (p22), the situation for on the return of passengers. working from home is likely to must return. other operators is not so good. This should be priority number prove one of the legacies of the As Ms Dyan Crowther, CEO one for the railway in 2021. pandemic. As Crowther notes, of HS1 reveals (p20), Eurostar, The first step must be to studies she has seen indicate the international high-speed convince the public that using that the need to travel to the operator, has fallen between public transport is safe. Despite office every day is unlikely to the cracks. The operator is great efforts to improve cleaning return. Other studies project a [email protected] exempt from the Emergency and to introduce social return to previous passenger Recovery Measures distancing, misconceptions numbers by 2025. Agreements (ERMAs) which persist. However, as those of us who are propping up Britain’s Ms Katy Taylor, chief have worked or attended a franchise operators. Eurostar strategy and customer officer conference remotely in the was reporting loadings of 5% at GoAhead, told the IT Trans past nine months can attest, and only operating four services conference on December 3, there is no substitute for face- per day as IRJ went to press.