Single Bus Scheme will be Supported: LTC

LAHORE, Sept 29: The Lahore Transport Company (LTC) has decided to recruit 100 transport enforcement inspectors (TEIs) to strengthen the regulative mechanism system for the public service transport at the provincial capital. In a meeting of the LTC’s board of directors, headed by chairman Tasneem Ahmad Noorani, on Wednesday, officials finalised the criteria to recruit TEIs on urban routes. “Candidates holding graduation degree will have to go through written and physical fitness tests. After recruitment, the TEIs are required to complete compulsory training at the police training school,” spokesman for LTC Amjad Husain told Dawn. He said the BoD had approved to introduce a “Single Bus Scheme”, allowing every person having some transport-related experience to start the transport business by purchasing a new bus to get it run on city routes under LTC rules and regulations. He said the purpose to introduce this scheme was to encourage small investors seeking initiation of transport business in a prestigious manner. “The government will award 20 per cent subsidy to all applicants desiring to purchase buses for joining the LTC under this scheme,” he added. Mr Husain said any person seeking entrance in the business under this scheme would have to sign a memorandum of understanding with the LTC. “The BoD has also decided to instruct all private bus operators to get fitness certificates of their buses under the Motor Vehicle Ordinance, he

London Bus of 2012

Wow ........ Amazing design and fuel efficiency ...........

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11336395

Schwarzenegger Rides Bullet Train

alifornia governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took a ride Tuesday on the latest model of Japan’s high-speed bullet train as his US home state looks to modernise its rail system.

The Hollywood action star is on an Asian tour with nearly 100 technology, tourism and entertainment industry leaders, in a trip aimed at boosting the state’s economic links across the Pacific.

At a busy Tokyo Station, the governor boarded the operators’ cabin of the latest Series E5 bullet train prototype — a sleek, metallic green vehicle with a massive 15-metre (50-foot) nose dubbed “arrow-line”.

He took a 60-minute round trip on the train, which has a maximum speed of 320 kilometres per hour, to Tokyo’s northern suburb of Omiya.

“Very quiet and it’s very futuristic,” said the governor. “I’m very impressed with the technology and also with the infrastructure itself.”

Japanese transport minister Seiji Maehara, who took time in the midst of his ruling party elections to welcome him at the platform, later told reporters: “Governor Schwarzenegger seemed very satisfied.”

Japan hopes it will win a contract to help California with its plan to build a high-speed rail system by 2030 expected to carry 90 million passengers a year, centred around a Los Angeles-San Francisco line.

Speaking at a breakfast meeting with the local American chamber of commerce before his “Shinkansen” train ride, the governor said: “Infrastructure, as you all know, is the most important thing when it comes to economic activities.”

“But it has to be a two-way street. We also like to help the Japanese because both of us right now are stagnant when it comes to the economy, and both can help each other,” said the former body-building champ.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Checks Out China's High-Speed Rail

SHANGHAI: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is engaging in a little window-shopping of China's new high-speed train lines while peddling Californian exports and tourism in the world's second-largest economy.

His own state budget $19 billion in the red, Schwarzenegger says he is hoping for some "creative financing" from Asia to help lower costs and get California's proposed high-speed rail lines up and running.

Industry experts say cash-rich China may be best placed to help with funding, and less risk averse than others whose banks are still recovering from the financial crisis. That could prove a key competitive advantage as it goes head-to-head against better established high-speed rivals rail in Asia and Europe.

"That is something very attractive about the Chinese which the Europeans will find very difficult to compete with," said Michael Clausecker, director general of Unife, the Association of the European Rail Industry. "Even in America, finance is a scarce resource. Rail investments need a lot of investment up front."

China has invested huge prestige, and tens of billions of dollars, in its high-speed rail industry — building on mostly European know-how acquired in joint ventures with Siemens AG, Alstom SA and to a lesser extent Japan's "Shinkansen" bullet train operators. It is gearing up to fight for a chunk of what Unife estimates to be a 122 billion euros ($155 billion)-a-year global market for railways.

Schwarzenegger posed for photos Sunday on a high-speed train in Shanghai, after spending Saturday, the first day of his weeklong trade mission of nearly 100 business leaders, hobnobbing in Hangzhou with Jack Ma, founder of Internet trading behemoth Alibaba.com, and other Chinese entrepreneurs.

"Today what I have seen is very, very impressive. We hope China is part of the bidding process, along with other countries around the world, so that we can build high speed rail as inexpensively as possible," he told reporters.

He also announced a plan for Silicon Valley to bid for the 2020 World Expo, which would be California's first time to host the event since 1940.

The governor will also check out high-speed rail in Japan and South Korea — two others among at least seven countries that have officially shown interest in helping develop California's system — assuming the state can find the money.

"There is great potential over there and in Japan and Korea, when it comes to building our high-speed rail and also providing the money for building the high-speed rail," Schwarzenegger told reporters before leaving California.

The fact-finding mission is also aimed at better understanding the technologies on offer.

"He will learn a lot from that," said T.C. Kao, director of the Railway Technology Research Center at National Taiwan University, who has introduced many U.S. delegations to the technology.

"They get the impression, 'We need it.' They feel behind," he said. "You have to experience it to understand."

The U.S. is the world leader in freight railway technology but has almost no high-speed rail expertise. It will have to import the technology for the 13 regional projects that have won $8.5 billion in initial federal funding, with $2.5 billion more to come this year and hundreds of billions needed before lines are up and running.

China already has the world's longest high-speed rail network, about 4,300 miles (6,920 kilometers) of routes, including nearly 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) that can run at top speeds of 220 miles per hour (350 kph). It aims to develop 9,900 miles (16,000 kilometers) of such routes by 2020.

All of that construction involves "highly sophisticated work on infrastructure, on rails and design of track structure," says Chris Barkan, director of the Railroad Engineering Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, who recently toured facilities in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

A visit to a mammoth manufacturing plant in the eastern city of Qingdao "absolutely blew me away," he says.

Having already build up a huge capacity for manufacturing trains and the systems to serve them, China is looking for a chance to prove it has the wherewithall to export the most advanced technology.

"China now owns the most advanced high-speed rail technology and winning contracts in the U.S. would surely help it to sell more to other countries," said He Xin, an industry analyst at Donghai Securities in Beijing.

Other industry experts say it is difficult to know just how much China has achieved on its own. Both European and Japanese industry officials have expressed skepticism.

But Chinese officials insist the technology they plan to export is truly their own. They also have hired American lawyers to check for potential intellectual property problems, says T.C. Kao, director of the Railway Technology Research Center at National Taiwan University.

"China is probably pretty sure it can pass the test on IP," says Kao, former vice president of Taiwan's high speed rail company. "China has copied, yes, but it has improved on the technology. Many things have been altered."

Kao and other experts say that as newcomers, the Chinese would face logistical and regulatory challenges in entering a brand new market, compared with companies like Siemens, Alstom SA and Canada's Bombadier Inc. which already have train factories in the U.S.

But China's experience in gradually raising the speeds of its train systems and then adding high-speed rail, sometimes on dual-use tracks, may give it an edge in designing systems suitable for the U.S., which in most areas plans a similar incremental approach.

South Korea's KTX high-speed rail, which is based on France's TGV technology, shares the same advantage, said Kim Seok-gi, director of the international railroad division at South Korea's Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

South Korea is "absolutely interested" in California's projects and meanwhile is preparing a bid for a high-speed rail project in Brazil linking Rio de Janiero, Sao Paulo and Campinas, he said.

For Japan, which pioneered high-speed rail in 1964, billions in contracts would be a welcome boost to the faltering economy. But its bullet trains, despite their impeccable record for safety and efficiency, run on dedicated tracks.

California and other states will eventually have to adapt whatever systems they choose to local conditions, and step up training of engineers and other personnel needed to build and run those trains by "orders of magnitude," said Barkan from the European rail industry group.

"We're not going to be able to pick up train technology from elsewhere, drop it down in the United States and expect it to work perfectly," he said. "The question is where is the intellectual talent to build all these systems?"

Korean Firm interested in Bus Rapid Transit System & Mono-Rail Projects for Lahore

Must be a great presentation, but unable to understand when and who is willing to implement it. First there was a similar discussion with Chineese firm Norinco Intl., than comes a Swedish firm Bombardier, and now these Korean Companies ....................... Who is going to materialize the main Lahore Mass Transit Project ............... Nothing's clear ................. Let's keep the hopes

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LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that government is attaching top priority to the provision of modern and affordable transport facilities to the masses and solid measures are being taken for this purpose.

This was stated by him during a meeting with a Korean delegation regarding revamping of public transport system in the provincial metropolis here on Tuesday.

The delegation included representatives of Korea Express Corporation, Doha Consulting Engineers Company Ltd., HANA Financial Group, Green Pakor and other companies. Members Provincial Assembly Mehr Ishtiaq Ahmed, Mian Mohsin Latif, Khawaja Ahmed Hasaan, Secretary Transport, Chairman Lahore Transport Company and other officers concerned were also present on the occasion.
The CM said a comprehensive system had been devised for the improvement of transport system and investment in this sector is being fully encouraged.

He said that Lahore Transport Company had been set up for the revamping of transport system and provision of better transport facilities to the citizens in the provincial metropolis.
He said that a memorandum of understanding will be signed with a Korean company for rail and bus rapid transit projects in the city.

Shahbaz said that measures were being taken for the improvement of public transport system for providing modern and comfortable transport facilities to the masses and all out facilities were being given for investment in transport sector.

He said that the Turkish city of Istanbul and Korea had an excellent transport system and agreement with a Korean company in this regard will be a positive step. He said that a MoU will be signed with the Korean company next month for bus and railway transit system in Lahore which will be given the shape of an agreement.

He said that the Korean company had evolved a project for launching rapid bus service from Shahdarah to Gajju Mata as well as six other routes of the city and the company should also consider plying buses on other routes of the city.

Earlier, Deputy General Manager of Korean Express Corporation, Jae Woong Kim gave a detailed briefing regarding improvement of public transport system in Lahore and said that the company has conducted a survey for the project from Shahdarah to Gajju Mata.
He said that the company has also considering launching of railway service between Lahore-Sheikhupura, Lahore-Kasur and Lahore-Wahga.

Settlement of Land Issue for KCR Victims Delayed

The revival of Karachi Circular Railway is believed to have hit snags again as officials of the Malir Development Authority and of the Pakistan Railways have seemed to be “reluctant” in appearing before the Sindh High Court for an “amicable settlement” of a suit to hand over 300 acres of land to the KCR for the rehabilitation of the affected people, according to the official sources and documents obtained by The News on Sunday.

The availability of the land for the resettlement of the affected people is a condition set by the donor, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, for its financial assistance for the project. The sources said that the PR and the MDA had agreed to withdraw the suit and to settle the land dispute out of the court.

A court order to this effect had been expected to be issued on August 17, 2010, but the officials of the PR and the MDA, who had signed the withdrawal application, were not present in the court and so the matter was adjourned.

Subsequently, an application was moved by the Karachi Urban Transport Corporation, which is running the KCR project, and the case was again fixed for orders on August 24.

However, the officials concerned again failed to turn up at the hearing despite the fact that they had confirmed to the Managing Director of KUTC, Ijaz Hussain Khilji, to be present in the SHC on August 24.

The judge of the SHC dismissed the urgent application due to the non-appearance of the officials. The case will now be taken up by the court only when both the officials consented to their appearance before the SHC, an official familiar with this development told The News on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the KUTC MD had urged the Sindh government to ensure the appearance of the officials in the court.

A team of the Japan International Cooperation Agency visited the city on September 1 and held discussions with the stake-holders of the project.

The donor agency urged the officials concerned to expedite the work and avoid further delays, a participant of the meeting told The News. The KUTC had also held a meeting with the managing director of the Karachi Electric Supply Company on August 31 on the electricity needs of the project. The resettlement plan would be carried out on the pattern of the Lyari Expressway resettlement, which meant that Rs50,000 and a plot of 80 square yards would be given to each affected person, according to the decisions taken at the 5th meeting of the board of directors of the KUTC.

The cost of the project has gone up from over 872 million dollars to over 1.5 billion dollars. The route length of the KCR was stated to be over 43 kilometres.

LTC Fails to Provide Better Transportation

Indeed very right .............. Since the inception of this department ......... Just news and ads ....... that's all ...............

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PUBLIC transport in the provincial metropolis will have to wait further for any addition of buses as funds for providing subsidy on buses have been withheld due to flood relief operations.

Lahore Transport Company has till now failed to bring any significant betterment or contribute to the depleting public transport system in the provincial metropolis and this current predicament has dampened any hopes of improvement in near future.

There are around 700 large size buses operating in Lahore. This fleet is not only insufficient but the buses are old and poorly maintained. Most of the times, these buses are off road for repairs. Recently one of the major players in the city, Niazi Transport Service took more than 50 busses off the road due to unbearable losses due to government’s unfriendly policies towards transport owners.

Only in Lahore, the maximum daily estimated trips of all modes of public transport, legal and illegal, are around 18.668 million trips/day. The current demand is almost 8 million per year in addition to the aforementioned demand which is expected to rise to more than 11 million by the year 2021. The current demand is highest for the public transport constituting 50 per cent of the total demand.

An LTC spokesperson said that the primary reason for the delay in acquisition of busses was not the incompetence of LTC but because the government was having trouble providing the one billion rupees allocated in the budget for the subsidy on procurement of new busses.

Apart from the cosmetic therapy of the Ferozepur Road, LTC has little to its credit as its ‘enforcement staff’ too has not been able to uproot the illegal public transport, which has not only messed up the city traffic flow but these motorcycle rickshaws and vans have also been a consistent pain in the neck for public transport owners.

On the other hand, public transport is being provided by overcrowded, poorly managed and rashly driven mini-buses and vans. There is a need to replace this kind of informal and dangerous transport service with properly organised, safe, efficient and affordable bus transport service.

Due to several reasons, principal among them is the non-existence of a proper mechanism for bus-financing and bus service monitoring. The number of buses has been decreasing over the years and the quality of service provided is also getting poorer day by day. In the past, private sector initiatives for inducting new city buses were dampened due to absence of proper environment and government support in the form of concessions/incentives to the bus operators, sponsors and financiers.

The setting up of LTC was intended as a remedy for this situation and raise comfort level of private sector to come forward and become partners with LTC. however, over the past two years of its establishment, LTC officials who are being paid millions of rupees has not been able to broker a single major deal with any investor.

At the moment, the Bus transport service in Lahore district is planned over 53 routes, which are based on 2006 survey of passengers, published in Punjab Gazette 2006. Out of these 53 routes, only 30 are operational.

The non-operational bus routes are being serviced by non-permitted vans. coasters, wagons, rickshaws and motorcycle rickshaws. The low cost of these informal and poorly maintained service vehicles has literally driven out the bus service from these routes. Despite repeated pleas by the transport owners for the reclaiming of all these routes, the government and LTC have not been able to provide any solution to the issue and have backtracked from disbanding motorcycle rickshaws from the roads.

One of the major reasons behind the non-implementation of this ban is the fact that these illegal passenger service vehicles and their owners require to be adjusted to alternate roads. Although, the government has allocated money for alternate measures for the illegal transport in this year’s budget yet any concrete measure are yet to be taken to utilise this amount.

www.ltc.gop.pk

Korean Firm Brief about Mono-Rail & BRT Projects

All eyes towards its implementation

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