Please note that from 19th May to 1st June, I've got to be out of the country to give training courses.  Such is the way I earn my living ....

I will be on line as and when I can be, but it looks like that may be patchy.   I can certainly send / receive emails most days (Fridays may be a problem as it's the Holy day here), and check the forum from time to time.  And I've got plenty of time in the evening to compose letters ;-)

Good news about the new Saudi lines. Unfortunately there was less good news from elsewhere. North Korea has cancelled a trial run of trains across the border with the South. The first test of the rail link had been scheduled for today.

Here are a couple of articles on this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5010958.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/25/wkorea25.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/05/25/ixnews.html

Lee, I see the Telegraph comments:

"Britain spends £140,000 per kilometre of track on maintenance and renovation compared with France's £35,000. Italy, Spain and Switzerland spend somewhere in between.".

I find myself wondering what proportion of the 140k is spent in keeping tracks in conditions above what's needed in standard (e.g. through Melksham for heavy freight, even though there is very little freight at the moment) and what proportion of the 140k is in admin costs and profit for organisers and contractors.

Graham

P.S.  I'm not sure of the time period for these figures.  They can't mean every year , surely?

Well they keep saying that there is a tidal wave of work to be done due to lack of investment during the 70'a and 80's