Roadside Real Estate Share Discussion Threads

[mike24] 28/11/2003 11:17

register
no doubt about it this is going to be a success,



34000 a day first wk, yearly estimates £25mln revenues
next target road out of dover

[maywillow] 28/10/2003 11:17

MADRID (AFX) - Grupo Dragados SA said the offer presented by its consortium
with Celtic Roads Group has been selected as the "preferred tenderer" for a 150
mln eur concession to construct Ireland's Dundalk Western Bypass.
In a statement, Dragados said the definitive agreement for the 30-year
concession to operate the toll motorway on Belfast-Dublin corridor is expected
to be signed before year-end.
[e-mail]
tr/jsa

[waldron] 27/10/2003 05:58

LONDON (AFX) - The UK's transport network is less extensive than that of
other major European countries, and government's current investment plans will
leave the UK further behind, the Confederation of British Industry said.
The CBI said its special report on UK transport amounts to a "stark warning
that government failure to improve the transport system is 'tarnishing' the UK's
reputation as a place to do business."
Transport infrastructure directly impacts business operations, and
influences investment decisions, the CBI said.
Over 85 pct of senior executives believe investment decisions are influenced
by the quality of transport, while almost 70 pct consider the UK transport
system to be poor.
"The existing system has been pushed to breaking point. Despite completion
of some individual schemes, we have not made enough progress expanding capacity
and encouraging more efficient use of our infrastructure," said John Cridland,
CBI director general.
The study compares UK infrastructure with that of France, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands and the US.
While France, Germany and the Netherlands are proceeding with major
high-speed rail projects that are notably shortening travel times between major
cities, the UK faces a 4,000-mile backlog of rail replacement, the report shows.
Meanwhile, UK rail reliability is bettered by every major competitor
surveyed other than the Netherlands.
The UK has a rating of 83 pct rail reliability, compared with 93 pct in the
US and 91 pct in France and Germany.
Despite the fact that UK motorways and trunk roads carry a
disproportionately large share of road freight and traffic, the UK's "strategic"
road network is less extensive than other countries', and has a lower density
than the EU average.
The UK has 7 km of roads for each 1,000 people. This is below the EU average
of 13 km.
Road congestion costs up to 20 bln stg each year, the CBI said, noting that
even the government accepts that congestion will not be eased before 2010.
[e-mail]
cxa/ak

[maywillow] 14/10/2003 11:42

The toll has been too much,and he has certainly been pummeled left,right and centre.

[maywillow] 14/10/2003 11:40

BERLIN (AFX) - DaimlerChrysler AG and Deutsche Telekom AG's Toll Collect
consortium, formed to set up a toll system for trucks on German motorways, said
its chairman Michael Rummel has stepped down and that a new management team is
being put into place.
The controversial system has been beset with major technical problems and is
now not expected to be up and running before next year after the launch date was
repeatedly put back.
Originally it was supposed to be functioning in August, and a dispute has
now reportedly broken out between the transport ministry and the consortium over
the responsibility for the hundreds of millions of euros in lost revenues.
France's Cofiroute is also part of the consortium.
dp/scs/rf

[maywillow] 12/10/2003 18:39

FRANKFURT (AFX) - German Transport Minister Manfred Stolpe does not want to
cancel the government's truck road toll contract with a consortium led by
DaimlerChrysler AG and Deutsche Telekom AG, despite uncertainties on when the
toll system actually starts, Welt am Sonntag said, citing government sources.
It said Stolpe only wants to clarify the financial liabilities of Toll
Collect consortium following the delay of implementing the toll system.
The new road toll for trucks was scheduled for Aug 31 but was postponed
until Nov 2, a date which now looks uncertain.
Germany's Haulage and Logistics Industry Assoction DSLV expects a realistic
date would be in six to seven months, Welt am Sonntag said.
mog/hjp

[grupo guitarlumber] 06/10/2003 17:08

BLACKPOOL, England (AFX) - The Conservative party today unveiled plans to
give train operators longer franchises and more freedoms in return for a better
service.
In a speech to the party's annual conference here, shadow transport
secretary Tim Collins said the Tories would also heavily reduce staffing at the
strategic rail authority.
Collins gave no further details of his intentions for the train operators in
a speech that was clearly aimed at winning the vote of the motorist.
Collins said the Conservatives would devote large amounts of time and money
to improving road safety, saying that improvement in this area was a higher
priority than the railroads.
"It is much safer to travel by rail than by road. Very often the opposite
impression is given. This distortion has got to stop," Collins said.
"Because of it, we spend far more public money on rail safety than on road
safety, putting a small chance of saving a few lives ahead of much bigger
prospects of saving far more."
"That's why will on entering office immediately start a swift and
comprehensive review of speed limits. It's likely to mean raising the motorway
limit to 80 miles per hour while providing lower limits of 20 mph or below near
schools or in small communities."
Collins also said the Conservatives are opposed to congestion charging and
any form of road pricing and if elected would make a reduction of journey times
a priority for the Department of Transport.
[e-mail]
fp/lam

[waldron] 03/10/2003 08:01

LONDON (AFX) - Shares in Capita Group made solid progress among second-line
issues amid hopes that the support services company, which runs London's
congestion charging system, is on track to hit its earnings and revenue
forecasts for next year. Yesterday's 'buy' reiteration from Deutsche Bank also
provided support, dealers said.
Capita shares were 3/4 pence firmer at 255-3/4 by 8.02 am.
fjb/rn

[maywillow] 01/10/2003 15:51

BOURNEMOUTH, England (AFX) - Congestion charging is unlikely to be
introduced across the country in the near future, despite the success of the
scheme in London, said Transport Secretary Alistair Darling.
Speaking at the Labour Party's annual conference here, Darling said he did
not see local authorities pressing forward with proposals to implement such
schemes.
"London's congestion charging scheme has worked far better than many people
thought, but 85 pct of people travelling into the capital use public transport
and there is nowhere in Britain that approaches anything like that sum," he
said.
"At the moment it is entirely up to local authorities whether they come
forward with a scheme," he said.
Darling said the only scheme "remotely near coming to fruition at the moment
is in Edinburgh".
"The government is looking at the feasibility of road pricing across the
whole network moving from a system where you are charged on fuel duty to one
where you are charged on the basis of the distance and time that you travel," he
said.
This will apply to trucks in three to four years, he added.
fp/pp/rf

[grupo guitarlumber] 31/8/2003 18:12

BERLIN (AFX) - Germany today began a two-month trial of a controversial new
toll system for heavy vehicles using the country's roads ahead of its planned
introduction in November.
The test began at midnight and while the Toll-Collect group running the
system said everything was going according to plan, a Sunday ban on truck
traffic means it will not really be put through its paces before Monday.
Toll-Collect is a consortium made up of DaimlerChrysler AG, Deutsche Telekom
AG, and France's Cofiroute.
From Nov 2, trucks using the roads in Germany, a transport gateway to
eastern and southern Europe, will pay on average 12.4 cents per kilometre,
depending on their size and the gas emissions they produce.
Thousands of so-called 'On Board Units' will be fitted to heavy vehicles to
track their progress while foreign companies will be able to pay Toll-Collect
via the internet or at service stations.
Infrared detection systems on autobahns will read the license numbers of
heavy vehicles and check whether they have been registered with the transport
computer data base. Police patrols will also carry out regular spot controls.
The toll will be used to maintain and build roads, bridges, railways and
waterways and is also aimed at persuading transport companies to opt for
less-polluting rail and river systems.
The government hopes it will bring in more than 2 bln eur a year.
The system has been hampered by technical problems and delays, and was
recently subjected to an EU investigation into whether it would be detrimental
to foreign trucking firms.
The EU ruled out action after the German government agreed to decouple
compensation for certain trucking companies from the toll system.
FP/loc/sjw/das/ak

[maywillow] 31/7/2003 07:24

LONDON (AFX) - Capita Group PLC, the company running the London congestion
charge scheme, is making no profits from the project as a result of drivers
failing to pay fees and fines, and cannot expect to do so until significant
changes are introduced, The Daily Telegraph reported citing a Transport for
London document.
Doubts are also growing about London mayor Ken Livingstone's claims that the
congestion charge is a huge success. The scheme is groaning under numerous
problems, of which the most critical is 103,000 outstanding penalty notices sent
to drivers who have not paid the charge, the newspaper said.
About half are expected to settle when they receive a second 80.00 stg
reminder. But the rest are either appealing against their fines or ignoring
notices altogether and jamming up the enforcement regime.
The congestion charge's difficulties could undermine Capita's hopes to
profit by setting up similar schemes in towns and cities up and down the
country, the paper said.
It said the document also apparently contradicts the statement made by
Capita last week with its interim results. Rod Aldridge, chairman, said the
congestion charge was worth 280 mln stg to Capita over the next five years and
the charge was "the beginning of a major new business area for the group".
But buried in a statement from Transport for London on Tuesday was the news
that a confidential report by accountants Deloitte & Touche had found "Capita
will not make a profit on the congestion charging scheme under the current
contract and existing traffic conditions", the paper said.
As a result, Transport for London has agreed to bail out Capita with 31 mln
stg over the next four years. But even this will not guarantee Capita a profit
as it is conditional on tough performance targets being met, the newspaper said.
ml/ak

[waldron] 22/7/2003 06:01

All for one,And one for all. The 3 Busketeers.

[waldron] 13/7/2003 08:29

WIDER MOTORWAYS

[waldron] 13/7/2003 08:26

A Darling of a U-Turn

[maywillow] 09/7/2003 15:34

LONDON (AFX) - The government is looking at plans to introduce nationwide
road tolls in an effort to tackle congestion, but has admitted defeat in the
battle to beat traffic jams by allowing several motorways to be widened.
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling told parliament a feasibility study on
charging the 26 mln users of Britain's roads has started.
"Our objective must be to provide a better deal for the motorist. Road
pricing would be a radically different approach," he told MPs.
"But it could have huge potential to reduce congestion, to allow faster more
reliable journeys, giving motorists a better choice about how and when they
travel."
Under yet another transport plan that will cost the taxpayer 7 bln stg, most
of the three-lane sections of the M25 around London are to be widened to four,
while parts of the M1, M62, A1(M) and M18 in South and West Yorkshire will also
be widened.
Britain will get its first major toll road next January when the M6 north of
Birmingham opens to traffic.
Car drivers will pay 2 stg per trip while trucks will be charged 11 stg.
Other measure being investigated are a trial of using motorway hard
shoulders as extra lanes during peak hours based on a management scheme in the
Netherlands.
fp/leb

[maywillow] 08/7/2003 16:19

PARIS (AFX) - Alcatel SA said it won a multi-million dollar contract from
the Indiana Department of Transportation in the US to build a toll road network
using Alcatel's microwave radio systems and transmission equipment.
The network is scheduled to be operational in the Autumn, Alcatel said.
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sr/jc

[ariane] 25/5/2003 14:35

Gridlocked

[waldron] 06/5/2003 14:31

LONDON (AFX) - Lorry drivers will be charged 11 stg a day to use the UK's
first private motorway, the M6 Toll road, a figure that is double what the
industry expected.
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) said, set at this level, choosing to
use the Midland Expressway operated road is effectively "a distress purchase"
for lorry operators.
The association, which represents 11,000 companies, had hoped for a lower
rate which would have made the 27-mile road, which allows drivers to avoid the
heavily congested M6 in the Birmingham area, a route of automatic choice.
"With HGV operating costs at 30-35 stg per hour, lorry fleet managers will
be making judgements on competitive vehicle flows on the 'free' road and on the
11 stg toll road."
The FTA also noted that at a cost of 32 pence per mile the M6 Toll compares
very unfavourably with rates of 16 pence per mile in Spain and 18 pence per mile
in France.
The M6 Toll is expected to open at the end of the year.
The 11 stg charge for lorries and 3 stg for cars will be discounted by 1 stg
until the road carries 10 mln vehicles.
Midland Expressway is 75 pct owned by Macquarie Infrastructure Group of
Australia.
jdd/kl