2010 in review
Tuesday, 04 Jan 2011 02:50
(For comparison our monetary values are quoted in US$.)
Successful Openings
Built for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada Line provided a success for North America in relieving the bottleneck of YVR airport ground access and serving stations from Richmond through to the Waterfront of Vancouver. This $2.1bn PPP not only opened 3 months early but is exceeding its ridership forecasts. This appears to be a model PPP and with a claimed 15% share of airport travel also appears to be the best market share in North America. Quirkily, only 58% of those using the train to get to YVR seem to be catching a flight.
Another roaring success was Gautrain, which opened early to serve the Football World Cup thanks to a $19m grant to make sure it was open in time, and to worldwide acclaim. This was also built using the PPP model. The concession company Bombela, which includes Bouygues and Bombardier are currently working hard to open the remainder of the system in addition to the Airport to Sandton link that is already operational. Anyone wanting a lesson in public relations by turning a hostile community into fans of their train service need look no further then here.
Vinci and Veolia were major players in the French PPP that delivered the Lyon super tram PPP serving Saint Exupéry airport. Yet another private venture that seems to be doing well, although it is early days. By our estimations it needs 1m passengers per annum to break even and it saw 100,000 in its first 6 weeks; a good start.
Building on success
Congratulations go to Brisbane Airtrain. Opening 10 years ago on a 35 year concession it reported this year that it has paid back its debt 10 years earlier than expected.
In Tokyo we saw express competition on competition. The Narita Sky Access service now competes with the Narita Express, a full 15 minutes quicker than the N’EX and at $27 it look like good value to us; we welcome reports on the relative shares between the two.
Scope for improvement?
After an interminable wait the Bangkok air rail link opened in August 2010. A price of $3 seems not enough to attract the masses although the stopping service appears to be doing very well. The lack of an operating company may have something to do with the ghost trains as well as the lack of easy interchange downtown. We understand moves are afoot to resolve these issues.
Another miss was the Delhi Airport Express Train, due to open in time for the Commonwealth Games. Contractual disputes between the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation and the concessionaire, a consortium led by Reliance appear to be at the heart of the problem with DMRC serving an initial round of fines amounting to $2.5m. Reliance is also cited as a reason for the in town check-in facilities being far from resolved with the airlines in dispute over costs.
Market freezing over?
A no-bid situation in Sao Paulo where the concessionaires took the full revenue risk (yet we’re told that the fare cap was $20) was followed by the inexplicable collapse of the long planned private management of the Toronto air-rail link; this link will go ahead as it is a commitment of the city to the hosting of the Pan-Am games in 2016. The situation is Sao Paulo is less clear. Another long planned concession is the Vinci Keolis CDG Express; yet another year goes by without financial closure being achieved, seemingly on account of issues with competition with RER trains and the forecasts for CDG being down generally.
Innovations
No matter what difficulties the financial markets may deliver to future airrail links the existing ones have always been at the leading edge of innovations in rail and showing a good understanding of integrated transport and strong commercial acumen.
App, app and away
First out of the blocks with adapting mobile apps to their needs were Moscow’s Aeroexpress and Brisbane Airtrain, in very different ways.
S7 airlines, Russia’s fastest growing and largest domestic airline warmed up with an Aeroexpress tappable button that provides electronic Aeroexpress tickets sent via SMS and email with barcode.
Brisbane Airtain has exploited the app for different reasons. With a 30 minute interval between trains then next train information becomes valuable to people in a hurry; and what better way to provide it, straight to your palm in one tap.
Invisible tickets
Contactless ticketing has also moved on. Building on the principle of Flytoget’s own Swipe‘n’Go system, now used by well over 50% of their travellers, in August, KLIA Ekspres adopted a Visa PayWave system for instant fulfilment.
Netting more customers?
On- train developments are well and truly in Arlanda Express’s court. Having served up Björn Borg interiors in the past; their ‘Train of the Future’, unveiled in 2010, features, as well as more legroom and luggage space, a lounge area, laptop connections and bar-style stools.
We look forward to hearing the customer feedback.
In conclusion
We have seen yet another good year in an industry section that excels. In a market that is prime for PPPs and concessions we also note that the market appears to have stalled; if banks are not lending for infrastructure projects with long lives and strong revenues we wonder where they are lending.
It is also pleasing to note that the leading edge innovations are again being introduced by this dynamic sector. In 2011 we see the first Global AirRail Awards and we look forward to seeing all who have led the way and those that wish to share the experience with them in the beautiful and fast growing city of Riga in May.
We would like to wish everyone a happy and exciting new year.
Successful Openings
Built for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada Line provided a success for North America in relieving the bottleneck of YVR airport ground access and serving stations from Richmond through to the Waterfront of Vancouver. This $2.1bn PPP not only opened 3 months early but is exceeding its ridership forecasts. This appears to be a model PPP and with a claimed 15% share of airport travel also appears to be the best market share in North America. Quirkily, only 58% of those using the train to get to YVR seem to be catching a flight.
Another roaring success was Gautrain, which opened early to serve the Football World Cup thanks to a $19m grant to make sure it was open in time, and to worldwide acclaim. This was also built using the PPP model. The concession company Bombela, which includes Bouygues and Bombardier are currently working hard to open the remainder of the system in addition to the Airport to Sandton link that is already operational. Anyone wanting a lesson in public relations by turning a hostile community into fans of their train service need look no further then here.
Vinci and Veolia were major players in the French PPP that delivered the Lyon super tram PPP serving Saint Exupéry airport. Yet another private venture that seems to be doing well, although it is early days. By our estimations it needs 1m passengers per annum to break even and it saw 100,000 in its first 6 weeks; a good start.
Building on success
Congratulations go to Brisbane Airtrain. Opening 10 years ago on a 35 year concession it reported this year that it has paid back its debt 10 years earlier than expected.
In Tokyo we saw express competition on competition. The Narita Sky Access service now competes with the Narita Express, a full 15 minutes quicker than the N’EX and at $27 it look like good value to us; we welcome reports on the relative shares between the two.
Scope for improvement?
After an interminable wait the Bangkok air rail link opened in August 2010. A price of $3 seems not enough to attract the masses although the stopping service appears to be doing very well. The lack of an operating company may have something to do with the ghost trains as well as the lack of easy interchange downtown. We understand moves are afoot to resolve these issues.
Another miss was the Delhi Airport Express Train, due to open in time for the Commonwealth Games. Contractual disputes between the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation and the concessionaire, a consortium led by Reliance appear to be at the heart of the problem with DMRC serving an initial round of fines amounting to $2.5m. Reliance is also cited as a reason for the in town check-in facilities being far from resolved with the airlines in dispute over costs.
Market freezing over?
A no-bid situation in Sao Paulo where the concessionaires took the full revenue risk (yet we’re told that the fare cap was $20) was followed by the inexplicable collapse of the long planned private management of the Toronto air-rail link; this link will go ahead as it is a commitment of the city to the hosting of the Pan-Am games in 2016. The situation is Sao Paulo is less clear. Another long planned concession is the Vinci Keolis CDG Express; yet another year goes by without financial closure being achieved, seemingly on account of issues with competition with RER trains and the forecasts for CDG being down generally.
Innovations
No matter what difficulties the financial markets may deliver to future airrail links the existing ones have always been at the leading edge of innovations in rail and showing a good understanding of integrated transport and strong commercial acumen.
App, app and away
First out of the blocks with adapting mobile apps to their needs were Moscow’s Aeroexpress and Brisbane Airtrain, in very different ways.
S7 airlines, Russia’s fastest growing and largest domestic airline warmed up with an Aeroexpress tappable button that provides electronic Aeroexpress tickets sent via SMS and email with barcode.
Brisbane Airtain has exploited the app for different reasons. With a 30 minute interval between trains then next train information becomes valuable to people in a hurry; and what better way to provide it, straight to your palm in one tap.
Invisible tickets
Contactless ticketing has also moved on. Building on the principle of Flytoget’s own Swipe‘n’Go system, now used by well over 50% of their travellers, in August, KLIA Ekspres adopted a Visa PayWave system for instant fulfilment.Netting more customers?
On- train developments are well and truly in Arlanda Express’s court. Having served up Björn Borg interiors in the past; their ‘Train of the Future’, unveiled in 2010, features, as well as more legroom and luggage space, a lounge area, laptop connections and bar-style stools.
We look forward to hearing the customer feedback. In conclusion
We have seen yet another good year in an industry section that excels. In a market that is prime for PPPs and concessions we also note that the market appears to have stalled; if banks are not lending for infrastructure projects with long lives and strong revenues we wonder where they are lending.
It is also pleasing to note that the leading edge innovations are again being introduced by this dynamic sector. In 2011 we see the first Global AirRail Awards and we look forward to seeing all who have led the way and those that wish to share the experience with them in the beautiful and fast growing city of Riga in May.
We would like to wish everyone a happy and exciting new year.
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