Gov’t still interested in privatisaion of the railway

[Lazie]

Monday, 22 October 2007

The Government is to modify arrangements made by the previous administration for the privatisation of the country's railway system.

However, it says it is still interested in continuing negotiations with a group of Chinese investors.

Transport Minister Mike Henry says the first step will be to appoint a new Board for the Jamaica Railway Corporation (JRC).

Mr. Henry told RJR News that an assessment will then be carried out on the progress made by the former Government in wooing investors.

The former government had announced several plans to restore the rail service.

Four years ago a deal with an Indian consortium for the sale of the railway fell through.

Since then there has been talk of the Chinese Government giving assistance for the privatisation of the JRC.

[Pepsi]

The chinese are very much interested in the development of the JRC.My opinion is that;they are the only ones that can make this historical train service profitable.

[Lazie]

Profitable? I think you jumping the gun there. Lets see if dem get it off the ground first nuh? Then we see how they go about getting the likes of Sickko, Mosiah and Maudib to park the Q45, Escalade and the Tahoe and travel by either JUTC or the railway.

But as Maudib will tell yuh, "more man have cyar!"

[Pepsi]

Profitable? I think you jumping the gun there. Lets see if dem get it off the ground first nuh? Then we see how they go about getting the likes of Sickko, Mosiah and Maudib to park the Q45, Escalade and the Tahoe and travel by either JUTC or the railway.

But as Maudib will tell yuh, "more man have cyar!"

Good fi carry tourist if dem offer safe ride(with security).My self woul'nt mind riding the train in jamaica.Never had that experience,to see the natural landscape,flora and fauna.This venture can get off the ground,only if Mr Smith desire.

[TDowl]

The last time I post about Kingston need for light rail, you did agree with Ben that ounno nah give up de Big Ride and "more man have cyar!", I was just trying to create more space on the road fe ounno LOL.

[Lazie]

The last time I post about Kingston need for light rail, you did agree with Ben that ounno nah give up de Big Ride and "more man have cyar!", I was just trying to create more space on the road fe ounno LOL.

Moi!!!? If anything it would be sarcasm.

[Jawge]

I love this statement:
My opinion is that;they are the only ones that can make this historical train service profitable.

Yes Iyah.

[Muadib]

Tek time wid di drugs.


Yuh confusing me for a comrade.

[Assasin]

I will say this now, railway will not work.

Jamaica has gotten used to the robot and minivan culture where the car or van only carry 5 to 10 people and brake up a them yard gate. A dat kill the big bus them and the railway but we don't want to admit it.

The train don't stop close to people home and was seen as inconvienent and the bus them stop too much. We are impatient for most part don't want to stop and join lines. As much as we want to put down the mini bus culture we same one support it.

The only way train will work is if the government can put togather a comprehensive package where taxi stop compete against train and buses and have the business and train stop in a town transportation hub and taxi take the people from their to their home location within a 2 mile radius.

Yes the taxi culture ingrain in us, we export it to Brooklyn and other places. It also kill the bus route in certain part of Brooklyn and Queens with the dollar van.

[Assasin]

by the way I don't think the government can put this plan togather. It is costly and it will step on too many men foot.

[Willi]

I will say this now, railway will not work.

Jamaica has gotten used to the robot and minivan culture where the car or van only carry 5 to 10 people and brake up a them yard gate. A dat kill the big bus them and the railway but we don't want to admit it.

The train don't stop close to people home and was seen as inconvienent and the bus them stop too much. We are impatient for most part don't want to stop and join lines. As much as we want to put down the mini bus culture we same one support it.

The only way train will work is if the government can put togather a comprehensive package where taxi stop compete against train and buses and have the business and train stop in a town transportation hub and taxi take the people from their to their home location within a 2 mile radius.

Yes the taxi culture ingrain in us, we export it to Brooklyn and other places. It also kill the bus route in certain part of Brooklyn and Queens with the dollar van.

Sass, its about hub and spoke. The road transp. need to be reassigned to suppot the rail backbone. Rail will be useful for long haul AND FREIGHT. Heavy truck mashing up the roads. When the GOJ gets serious and start lashing economically deleterious fines on trucking abusers, then you will see the incentive to use rail. Is Govt that have to pay to repair the track destroyed roads.

Jamaica needs an INTEGRATED transport plan.

As to Kingston, the nicest solution I have ever heard is light rail network over the gullies. It is technically feasible and the gullies intersect in important juncures. The only problem is the existence of ghettos. We need to lift up our people first, so that we have no fear of anywhere in Kingston.

The advantage of this solution (gully rail) is that it does not adversely impact the existing road network.

[Jawge]

So willi who do you recommend
to restart the railroad? Local Ja expertise or foreign?

[Assasin]

While you talking a lot of sense too many politicians and former drug dealers have invested in trucking and heavy duty equipment. This is going to mash up that dolly pot.

I am thinking about the rail in Kingston and it is hard to see how they would do it but if it would help the traffic a lot if say there was some line from constant spring to downtown and from six miles to downtown as well as St. Thomas and Papine.

the rail may cost less to maintain than these JUTC buses.

[Willi]

So willi who do you recommend
to restart the railroad? Local Ja expertise or foreign?

There IS not much local expertise left. THAT is the problem. These things atrophy. People die, become ill, migrate and have skills eroded!

On top of that, we have alwas relied on outside tech, so unless you have locomotive engineers at Utech, we HAVE to look outside for equipment.

Ideally though, we need to partner up and rebuilt our local capacities..ie we have to ensure the partners train our people.

Yuh think me a prekeh to this?? My Grandfather was Jamaica's FIRST black station master...so railway in my blood, as it is in Beverley Manley's blood!

[Mosiah]

Meanwhile:

Minister to Review Logistics Pertaining to Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre

KINGSTON (JIS)
Thursday, October 04, 2007

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Minister of Transport and Works, Mike Henry, has said that the Ministry will be reviewing certain logistics pertaining to the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre, and seeking Cabinet support on a number of issues, before the bus terminal, which is ready for handing over, can be opened.
"Basically, we're going to sit and review, re-look, reassess," he told the press during a tour of the facility on (Oct. 3), while noting that a new assessment of expenditure, implementation and costing, will also be done.
Among the issues to be looked at are: security; how the disabled person can be best accommodated; how the centre can maximize earnings from commercialization; and the colour-coding of bus route identification signs.
The Transport Minister said he will be reviewing the decision not to allow taxis to use the centre and will seek Cabinet support for the colour-coding of license plates on taxis, to be differentiated according to parish. "I don't understand why we are not allowing taxis to come in. Nobody has told me why. I am assuming there has to be some kind of reason for it, so I have to look at that," he said.
The Minister recommended that maps of the Transport Centre be available to the public and said he will be looking at the possibility of building an overhead pedestrian bridge linking the facility to bus stops at Mandela Park, and will be pushing for a simulation traffic system to inform and provide guidance on traffic flow in the vicinity.
With regard to the opening date, the Minister informed that while the terminal was ready for opening, this would have to be deferred as there is outstanding road resurfacing to be done, for which some $150 million will have to be found. "Right now .we still haven't finalized the contracts for the resurfacing of the road around and we can't open it without that being done," he pointed out. He said however, that he would aim for a date "before Christmas".
Mr. Henry commended the Belgium contracting company for finishing the centre one week early. "We owe the Belgium government a great deal of thanks," he stated.
In the meantime, Project Manager and Resident Engineer, Andrew Watt, told JIS News that the centre had 29 bus stops created for 60 bus routes and could accommodate taxis and buses, other than those of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), which will be the sole bus service using the Terminal.
Other facilities include 17 commercial shops; a 900 feet food court; four commercial kiosks; 17 public toilets with two equipped for the disabled; and an office building to accommodate staff from the JUTC, and the Port Authority of Jamaica, which will be managing the terminal.
There is also a ticketing booth for the sale of tickets; a control room, which contains a monitoring console equipped with cameras, while an Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) system to locate buses along a route, which will be integrated with the security and public address systems, will be installed at a later date. Public information screens will also provide passengers with data on scheduled trips.