June Cover_Layout 1 21/05/2020 18:05 Page 1 June 2020 | Volume 60 Issue 6 www.railjournal.com | @railjournal IRJInternational Railway Journal IntermodalPKP Cargo eyes new strategy innovator post Covid-19 Coronavirus lockdowns ease = Czech HS plans advance Progress_Layout 1 19/05/2020 13:09 Page 1 innovation.Renovation by We renew your your fleet. We go thee extra mile. Wee keep our customers rolling. +1 800-476-8769 • progressrail.com • @progressrail • @Progress_Rail June contents_Layout 1 22/05/2020 14:20 Page 3 Contact us ContentsJune 2020 Volume 60 issue 6 Editorial offices Post 46 Killigrew Street News Falmouth 4 This month Cornwall, TR11 3PP, UK 6 News - Covid-19 pandemic Tel +44 1326 313945 8 News analysis Web www.railjournal.com 10 News headlines Editor-in-Chief 14 Transit news Kevin Smith 16 Financial news [email protected] Consulting Editor/ Associate Publisher 8 David Briginshaw [email protected] News & Features Writer Poland and Czech Republic David Burroughs 18 Embracing intermodal [email protected] PKP Cargo transitions into a logistics specialist Production Manager Sue Morant 22 Reopening the Plum Railway [email protected] Upgraded line a testbed for AZD Praha technology IRJ Pro Account Manager Chloe Pickering [email protected] 18 IRJ Pro Market Analyst Oscar Sinclair High speed [email protected] 26 Momentum builds for Czech high-speed network Improving domestic and international connections Advertising sales office 30 Mumbai - Ahmedabad project takes stock Post 88 Pine Street, 23rd Floor India’s high-speed line faces complex challenges New York, NY 10005 United States Tel +1 732 887 5563 Business development manager Jerome Marullo [email protected] Train maintenance 22 Tel +1 732 887 5562 32 Digital strategy improves SNCF’s systems Subscriptions hotline Condition-based maintenance proves its worth Tel (US only) +1 800 553 8878 (Canada/International) +1 319 364 6167 Fax +1 402 346 4740 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 32 B4, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Piscataway, NJ and additional mailing offices. J 21/05/2020 18:05 Page 1 June 2020 | Volume 60 Issue 6 COPYRIGHT © Simmons-Boardman Publishing Cor- Also in this issue www.railjournal.com | @railjournal poration 2020. All rights reserved. Contents may Front cover IRJInternational Railway Journal not be reproduced without permission. For reprint 36 Rendezvous information please contact Editor-in-Chief. For sub- PKP Cargo has taken a scriptions & address changes, please call +1 319 364 37 Full contact list hit from the 6167, Fax +1 319 364 4278, Email: internationalrail- coronavirus pandemic, [email protected] or write to: International 37 Advertisers index Railway Journal, Simmons-Boardman Publishing but remains focused Corp, PO Box 1407, Cedar 37 Fresh faces on delivering a new Rapids, IA, 52406-1407. POSTMASTER: Send address 38 The last word strategy based on changes to International Rail- intermodal rail freight Intermodal innovator way Journal, PO Box 1407, PKP Cargo eyes new strategy post Covid-19 Cedar Rapids, IA, 52406-1407. and logistics services. Coronavirus lockdowns ease = Czech HS plans advance IRJ June 2019 3 June TM_Layout 1 22/05/2020 13:52 Page 4 This month | Kevin Smith as in past crises, demand will creation, social inclusion, return and with it the capacity health and sustainability. The constraints which restricted signatories are also right to New normal progress in the recent past. emphasise public transport’s For this reason, it is environmental credentials. imperative that decision While SCI predicts that rail presents risk to makers continue to take the is set to benefit from the EU’s long-term view and use this Green Deal programme, the time wisely. Indeed, they sector cannot take its green would do well to note PKP status for granted, particularly rail transport Cargo’s approach (p18). if ridership remains suppressed. S Covid-19 lockdowns In this scenario, SCI assumes Instead of making The road sector is making begin to ease, a new that more people will change “impulsive” decisions to fire rapid progress with electric normalA is emerging for rail their travel behaviour in the employees and respond to the vehicles and has a real chance transport. long-term at the expense of here and now, as CEO, Mr of ending rail’s hegemony China’s employment of rail. This situation will worsen Czeslaw Warsewicz, told me, over the argument within the social distancing at stations the longer the crisis lasts, and the freight operator is using next 10 years. In addition, and onboard trains, which we it will become harder to the Polish government’s while delivering truly automated reported last month, is steadily convince those using their cars economic relief package to buy road vehicles in congested becoming established practice to return to trains and buses. time to reflect on and tweak its cities is a monumental task, on networks around the world. While understandable given long-term strategy. long distance ‘smart’ In many countries the advice the risk, the British government’s The wider sector should also automated motorways are remains to travel only when looking feasible a lot sooner. necessary and to wear a mask. Offering the time to relax and Passengers must maintain a work as you would on a train distance ranging from 1-2m journey but within the depending on the country, and As the recession takes hold, there is sanctuary of an individual increasingly many governments a risk that politicians and decision private vehicle is a real threat and authorities are tracking to long-distance rail. movements using smartphone makers become blind-sided by For rail to maintain the apps. short-term trends. upper hand, and to remain the While essential to safeguard sustainable mode of choice, the population’s health, this is the new normal must work for a potentially calamitous policy to advise people to use this time to adapt to the and not against public transport. situation for operators. The avoid public transport is not new normal so it works in its To do that, people must be International Association of the right message for the new long-term interest. For encouraged to travel by train. Public Transport (UITP) normal. Encouraging people to example, some infrastructure projects a É40bn hit at the use private transport heightens managers have already taken farebox for European public congestion and extenuates air the opportunity to increase transport operators in 2020 pollution. In addition, many maintenance or bring forward (p14). US transit providers are cities are simply not geared up upgrades while there are less similarly facing a $US 23.8bn for a huge influx of cars. trains running. Perhaps others [email protected] shortfall by the end of 2021 in Thankfully this negative could do the same? addition to the $US 25bn approach appears to be the Of course, with a limited pot already covered by the US exception rather than the rule. of money available, and with government’s Covid-19 relief In cities across Europe, leaders governments already package. have been actively using committing billions to keep Rail market analysts at SCI public transport services while passenger operators afloat, Verkehr (p8) do not foresee a following the new protocols to rail, as always, will have to return to pre-Covid-19 traffic emphasise that it is safe and fight to secure the investment levels before 2024 in their most inviting citizens to do the it needs. likely outcome scenario for the same. Trenitalia is also A letter to the EU signed by current crisis, in which more reassuring high-speed 80 public transport company localised public lockdowns passengers by providing CEOs and city representatives, return. In the most optimistic complimentary personal which was presented by the scenario, where the virus is protective equipment (PPE) UITP, urged European eradicated by the middle of kits to maintain personal institutions to include urban next year, rapid recovery is hygiene while travelling. public transport as one of expected by the end of 2021 As the recession takes hold, the strategic sectors in following a 50% reduction in there is a risk that politicians the EU’s plan for traffic in 2020. However, in the and decision makers become recovery from the most pessimistic case, where blind-sided by short-term Covid-19 pandemic. economies are hit hard and trends when deciding where This display of unemployment increases by to direct recovery funds. unity is encouraging. 30-40% in 2020, SCI says that Demand for travel might be As the letter states, rail transport performance will reduced now and in the public transport is a not reach pre-crisis levels immediate future. But even in key accelerator of the before 2025. SCI’s most pessimistic forecast, economy, job 4 Liebherr_Layout 1 19/05/2020 13:01 Page 1 Components forr YYoour Equipment. Liebherr Engines – The KKeey to your Power and Performance The D98 engine is our answer to your success. Designed to last in heavy-duty applications, we provide the best efficciency and reliability. The continuous performance of your locomotive is our priority. Beinng a trustworthy partner, our cust omer service team is there for you, whenever and wherw ever needed. Liebherr-Components AG Postfach 222 5415 Nussbaumen AG, Schweiz Tel.: +41 56 296 43 00 E-Mail: [email protected] components.liebherr.com June coronavirus_Layout 1 21/05/2020 19:42 Page 6 News | Covid-19 pandemic Operators cautiously relaunch services as national lockdowns ease After drastically cutting back services in response to dwindling passenger numbers in March and April, rail operators have begun the process of returning to normal, albeit with social distancing and other preventative measures in place.