First export train from Turkey to China departs today from Istanbul. The train will follow the Trans Caspian East-West Middle Corridor via Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, covering 8.693 kms, passing two continents, two seas, five countries and forwarding its freight to China in 12 days, according to Foreign Ministry of Turkey, Qazet.az reports.
“After the transit train which moved from China and reached for the first time to Europe, Prag in November 2019 following the Turkey-pioneered Trans Caspian East-West Middle Corridor and Marmaray, ten train blocks have been successfully operated on China-Turkey-Europe line. This time, the first train carrying export cargo is travelling from Turkey to China.
Turkey will continue taking necessary steps to further enhance connectivity between the East and the West and to consolidate its central position in its region,” the information of Turkish Foreign Ministry reads.
Switzerland’s Stadler sells FLIRT trains to Azerbaijan for 115 million euros
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Azerbaijan has purchased two new two-storey passenger trains from Switzerland's Stadler Rail Group company and the trains have already been delivered to Baku, the spokesperson for Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Natavan Bayramova has told local media.
She said the new trains will operate in the direction of Baku-Sumgayit and Baku-Pirshagi. The commissioning of one of the trains is expected in late December 2019, the second - in early January 2020.
The trains have been produced in accordance with the latest technologies and fully meet all modern standards.
Bayramova noted that the new trains have 371 seats, of which 307 are standard seats 62 - business class and nine are first class seats. The reason for the acquisition of new trains is the increase in passenger traffic. The number of Stadler’s trains will increase to nine in the future.
Azerbaijan has signed an agreement to buy six more FLIRT single-storey trains from Stadler. These trains will also be delivered to Baku within the next three years.
Moreover, 10 more trains belonging to the Swiss Stadler will be brought to Baku by 2020 on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars route.
Azerbaijan Railways received 20 carriages for passenger transportation on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, 10 of which are already in Baku.
Stadler builds trains which are tailored to meet the needs of customers. The company’s trains are reliable and safe, with optimum comfort for the passengers' travels.
Azerbaijan Railways has been cooperating with Swiss Stadler Rail Group since 2015. The Stadler Rail Group focuses on regional and suburban traffic, light S-rail traffic, the tram and rack railway sectors.
A passenger train of 10 wagons intended for operation on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is intended to transport one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of freight at the first stage, arrived in Baku on March 29.
The train includes nine passenger cars and a dining car. The train is designed to carry 246 people in one direction and is able to run at a speed of 160 km/h.
Railway departments of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have to make decisions on the days of the week and hours of movement of the trains and on the tickets prices.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was commissioned on October 30, 2017. Currently, this route carries freight. At the initial stage, BTK is expected to carry up to one million passengers.
Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
In related information...
Stadler Rail AG, a leading Swiss manufacturer of railway rolling stocks signed an agreement with Azerbaijan Railways, the country’s national railway company (ADY) for the sale of its state-of-the-art FLIRT rolling stock units.
“We are very pleased that ADY has added the FLIRT to its fleet after several orders for different vehicles from Stadler. ADY will have a state-of-the-art vehicle thanks to the five-car trains from the FLIRT family,” Sales Ansgar Brockmeyer, Stadler’s head of sales said in a statement, adding that the FLIRTs will be designed to meet the Russian GOST requirements which are in place in the country.
“The order from the Caspian Sea underlines once again how Stadler can respond to individual customer needs – and demonstrates the versatility of the FLIRT,” the company added.
According to the agreement, ten five-car FLIRT trains will be supplied to ADY for 115 million euros, including four interregional trains that will be configured as interregional trains with diesel-electric propulsion and six electrically-driven trains, with three of them designed for interregional traffic while the remaining three will be used as regional trains for suburban transport.
The contract marks the first time Stadler will deliver FLIRTs for Azerbaijan. Since 2014, ADY has made several orders from the Swiss company, including that of sleeping cars for a train route between Turkey and Azerbaijan, as well as double-decker KISS trains.
This development shall boost Azerbaijan'n economy to another level as strategic way fro Turkey to China trading partner
Reference
https://emerging-europe.com/business
AZERBAIJAN OVERVIEW BY WORLD BANK
Azerbaijan’s economy grew by 2.2 percent in 2019, its best performance since 2014. On the supply side, the hydrocarbon sector stagnated, as surging natural gas output, up by 27.7 percent year on year, was offset by a 3.3 percent decline in oil production. At the same time, non-energy GDP grew at a solid 3.5 percent, with agriculture and services driving the expansion. On the demand side, investment remained anemic while rising real incomes, as a result of higher government spending, supported consumption. Azerbaijan's official national poverty rate is low, standing at 5.1 percent in 2018. Given the recent increase in private consumption, the poverty rate is estimated to have fallen further in 2019. Inflation remained low in 2019 and early 2020, with annual consumer prices edging up to 2.8 percent year on year in February 2020. With inflation within the Central Bank of Azerbaijan's (CBA) target range of 4.2 percent, the CBA continued to lower the policy rate throughout 2019 and early 2020, cutting it to 7.25 percent.
The surpluses on Azerbaijan's external accounts narrowed in 2019. Flat exports and an acceleration in imports reduced the goods trade surplus to 12 percent of GDP in 2019 (from 17 percent in 2018). Similarly, the current account surplus eased to 12 percent of GDP in the first three quarters of 2019.
LRT Ampang KJ9 -Future Connectivity with Putrajaya Line
Economic growth must have environmentally sustainability (OECD). Use public transport regularly for better future. The more rail connectivity build up the better economic growth. Government through Agensi Pengangkutan Darat (APAD) and Ministry of Transport (MOT) have target must be achieved as stated in NKRA by 40%. By having more rail system develope, the target is become more realistic.
GOVERNMENT’S INITIATIVE ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT RESULTS IN INCREASED RIDERSHIP
6 October 2017: Since 2010, the Government invested heavily in improving public transport infrastructure under the Urban Public Transport (UPT) NKRA. The modal share of public transportation within the Greater KL/Klang Valley in 2010, was only at 10%. Guided by the National Land Public Transport Master Plan (NLPTMP) established in 2013, we have set ambitious goals to achieve a modal share target of 40% for land public transport in urban areas by 2030. With concerted effort, in 2015, the modal share had grown to 20%, marking a significant progress.
In 2015, an urban rail fare review exercise was undertaken as it had not been reviewed over the past 19 years. The immediate impact was a decline of 9% in ridership in 2016, however this normalised with a significant pick up of 12% in ridership in 2017 i.e from 570,021 to 638,605. This numbers does not include the MRT Line ridership. The full opening of the MRT Line 1 alone, recorded a daily ridership of 101,024.
Daily Ridership for Urban Rail on upward Trend: 2016 vs 2017 (Pax/Daily)
The LRT Kelana Jaya Line led the growth, with an increase of 26% or 271,250 daily ridership for the said period in 2017 compared to 215,855 in 2016.
Adding to this growth was the LRT Ampang Line which recorded an increase of 14% which translated to 184,931 daily ridership in 2017.
The KTM Komuter services has suffered a dip in ridership in 2017 due to the Klang Valley Double Track (KVDT) rehabilitation project, which saw the frequency impacted. This reduced the average daily ridership by 5% to 103,074 in 2017 compared to 108,023 in 2016. However, we expect ridership to stabilize and pick-up once the KVDT rehabilitation work which covers the upgrading of track and signaling systems is completed in 2019 to modernize the 42km KTM Komuter network.
In the case of the KL Monorail ridership, the numbers have also hit a downtrend in 2017 with a reduction of 11% compared to 2016 bringing ridership to 53,337 due to the removal of the 5 four- car Monorail train sets due to safety concerns which resulted in reduced frequency. Prasarana is taking the necessary actions to resolve this technical issue in stages.
KL Monorail 4 Coach
Commuting via public transport today has also become relatively cheaper than owning a car, especially if one factors the cost of ownership, insurance, road tax, maintenance and related expenses including parking, fuel, toll and not to mention unproductive hours spent in traffic. For example, a commuter can take an MRT Feeder bus to the Sg Buloh station for RM1 and take the MRT to Pasar Seni for RM3.70 and switch to an LRT ride to KLCC for RM2.10, at an affordable RM6.80, one way. This does not take into account the further reduction on Touch ‘n Go and 50% concession rates enjoyed by students, senior citizens and the disabled.
The Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) an independent survey carried out by SPAD indicated that 84% of respondents are satisfied with the urban public transport in 2016, an increase of 10% from 2015. These findings reflect the Government is on the right track in planning and implementation of initiatives under the National Land Public Transport Master Plan. To continue to attract more ridership by making transit more seamless, SPAD will soon launch the Journey Planner in quarter 4, 2017 and implement the integrated ticketing system by 2019.
Go Green (YouTube OECD)
BEST RAILWAYS CONNECTIVITY / IN MALAYSIA
Similar to other big city like Shinjuku, Tokyo , London, New York - connection and interchange stations, Kuala Lumpur also have connectivity between the operators. There are connections terminal around rail network. Below list as reference;
There are talking about rail system generally and comparison made with another rail performance in another country such as US and UK. However, in Malaysia rail industry are growth gradually.
As for now KTM is the 'pioneer' in the industry, later on is STAR LRT (Ampang/Sri Petaling line-1996) and PUTRA LRT2 (Kelana Jaya line- 1998), KL Monorail (Aug 2003) and the latest is Mass Rapid Transit (MRT- 2016)) Kajang line and Putrajaya line is in progress and shall be start their revenue in mid of 2021 for first phase
Few years ago, Ampang/Sri Petaling line had replace old train (Adtranz-Walkers) with the new set of train with SATO CBTC (communication_based control control) system as evolution of rail industry in Malaysia.
The new Ampang Line train - video from Prasarana Malaysia Berhad , click here
1996-Old STR-LRT train
TV3's doing the coverage on MRT SBK train system is showing that how important rail industry and something that must be proud of.
In October 2012, the consortium SSSCwas awarded the contract to supply 58 new driverless four-car metro trains for the Metro Klang Valley MRT project. The fully automatic system, which went into service in December 2016 has since changed the way urban and suburban Malaysians commute.
'Each four-car train set has a capacity of 1,200 passengers. MRT Corp has set itself a daily ridership target of 400,000 commuters. The Inspiro trains are able to accommodate such loads as they are much more spacious than the light rail transit (LRT) trains that are in operation at the moment. The interior of the driverless trains is designed by DesignworksUSA, a subsidiary of the BMW Group'-
The Edgemarket.com
Kajang line (formerly known as SBK) has started their operation in 2016 and the expansion project to complete Putrajaya line phase 1 is in progress
Debate on MRT Malaysia is better than New York City Subway or London Underground are always written in social media. However, as Malaysian shall be proud of it as mention in the New Straits Time on July 27, 2017 wrotes by NOORSYAZWAN NAZRI, Final-year student of Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey
Sources from Youtube: Secret of New York City Subway System
As for conclusion, Malaysia are on the right track to become efficient rail service provider in future with the right mindset of people who run the country. It is work in progress ...
In previous posting, I has mention about tourist attractions at Masjid Jamek area.
Interesting part is both line are available as we call it integration (INTERCHANGE -from the map) station whereby there are 2 pathway to Ampang /Sri Petaling line (3/4). Pathway number 1 is to Sentul Timur (number 4) and pathway number 2 is to Ampang/Sri Petaling line (number 3)
Interchange and Connecting Station Concept
INTERCHANGE station - you can use the same ticket/token/smart card to reach your last station, however CONNECTING station is different.
CONNECTING station - Passenger need to exit through auto gate at station, then need to enter again like your first journey
New LRT Kelana Jaya KLAV 27 Train
LRT Masjid Jamek 13
Masjid Jamek Kelana Jaya line platform - Interchange
Vice versa Interchange Pathway
Connecting and Interchange Concept
After reach at Masjid Jamek platform, there is escalator, staircase or lift to concourse level where you can see another signage as below picture
Signage to Ampang & Sentul Timur - Interchange
Integration Maps at concourse -see the INTERCHANGE and CONNECTING
Below point is whereby users need to be careful of the direction - to Ampang & Putra Heights ot tp Sentul Timur ( towards lLRT PWTC )
Very Important Signage at Concourse - Interchange
Escalators to Jamek Plaza (#3) - Interchange
Another Pathway to Ampang / Sentul Timur Underpass - Interchange
Pathway From Sentul Timur to Kelana Jaya (#5) - Interchange
Masjid Jamek Underpass
LRT Masjid Jamek Concourse and vice versa pathway
Plaza Jamek Pathway to Ampang/Sri Petaling Line - Interchange
And you if come from Sentul Timur line, you will see another (opposite) signage to Kelana Jaya line
From Sentul Timur to Kelana Jaya - Interchange at Jamek Plaza
You shall see Ampang/Sri Petaling line train is known by AMY. This route can feeds to another important stations such as;
Hi rail and bus users at Klang Valley and under RapidKL
Today there is good news for Rapid KL users as they embarked Moovit application. You can download it a very good improvement that they finally have this application RapidKL Journey Planner. So that you can plan your journey and manage your time efficiently. More info click RapidKL
RapidKL new journey planner application PULSE is a very good improvement in public transportation in Klang Valley, Rapid Penang, and Rapid Kuantan Malaysia.
PULSE on Ios sample
In other major city in the world, the journey planner is a government initiatives to provide it. For example in London gov.uk plan-a-journey. However in Japan, there are multiple owner of the journey planner. For example Japan navitime is a popular for tourist
Another additional information on rail and bus service under RapidKL is Moovit
There are bright future for rail industry especially in Asia. It is look like Thailand are progressing more compares to other South East Asia country
RAIL Asia Expo is the most important platform for rail professionals in Southeast Asia. RAIL Asia 2020 is expected to attract over 3,000 key stakeholders from throughout Asia's rail industry to include operators, government, contractors, institutes, consultants, suppliers, investors and other rail and metro professionals. Alongside the RAIL Asia Expo is a full programme of Technical Tours, Networking Reception, Product Launches, Workshop, Seminars and the International Conference
Date: Nov 25 - 26, 2020
City: Bangkok
Venue: Makkasan Airport Rail Link Expo Halls
Many rail industry player were involved in the latest Rail Asia expo
