Iran: National Strategic Rail Plan 2004-6

Detailed study and analysis of existing operations, preparation of short and long term action plans covering operations, equipment, train service patterns, investment criteria and management structure: planning of new international traffic corridors and measures to attract private finance.

M25 Zone Multimodal Study 2002.

A major government sponsored study affecting a large area of the London and South East Region, designed to address increasing road congestion along this major artery. Passenger and freight considerations differ: rail loading gauge and capacity issues being a disincentive to throughout use of rail for continental freight, with the need for remedial investment to be carefully targetted: passenger resources need reallocation to create imaginative orbital links, relieving Central London congestion.

Options for new / improved rail orbital services were examined to reduce use of the M25 as a distributor as well as a trunk route. Opportunities to optimise use of the current network were recommended involving minimum expenditure: new investment proposals being limited to likely funding levels.

TACIS, PHARE AND ISPA Projects in Russia, CIS Countries / Eastern Europe: 1998 - 2003

These EU funded programmes provide investment assistance for improved transport links between the East and West across the Asian Continent. Since the end of Soviet Russia, rail networks in Eastern Europe had lost considerable market share, and radical updating of the system along the following lines had become necessary to ensure survival in a market economy:

Management re-organisation to separate infrastructure from operating costs, eliminate rail business cross-subsidy, and drive down costs

Adoption of modern marketing and selling techniques appropriate for each business

Up-speeding of services to attract intermodal and higher rated traffic, adoption of EDI and vehicle tracing support systems

Re-equipment of freight services with vehicles designed for high utilisation/mechanical loading

Adoption of joint ventures and risk-sharing measures to attract private finance

Border overhaul to improve transits, harmonisation/elimination of procedures and replacement of paperwork by EDI