Big time fumble. I come from a railway family. That is part of my personal heritage.
Read this:
News
Railway still off track
Friday, June 12, 2009
Restoring Jamaica's once vibrant railway service was one of the issues prominently placed in the manifesto of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) going into the September 2007 general elections.
A rotting Jamaica Railway Corporation locomotive sits on the company's track downtown Kingston in this February 2007 photo. (Photo: Observer library)
After all, the then People's National Party Government had procrastinated on the project, so much so that in February that year, five years after investors - first the Indians, then the Chinese - submitted impressive plans to put the mothballed railway back on track, the country was still without a passenger rail service.
Interestingly, in February 2006 the Chinese ambassador to Jamaica, Zhoa Zhenyu, said that his government was awaiting the approval of a technical proposal submitted to the Jamaican Government before it could begin the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the railway, which was estimated to cost US$300 million.
Jamaica had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China the previous year to facilitate the venture.
Under the agreement, signed between the Ministry of Transport and Works and the China National Machinery and Equipment Corp Group, China was to provide a number of passenger coaches, cargo, wagons and locomotives.
"My hope is that Minister (Robert) Pickersgill (the minister of transport and works) will get it approved by Cabinet. Work will start sometime this year if it is approved," Ambassador Zhoa told reporters at the time.
"I was told that very soon, Cabinet will discuss the approval of the project," added the ambassador. "It has been agreed that 15 per cent of the money will be paid by your Government, then 85 per cent will be contributed using Chinese preferential buyers' credit."
However, a Sunday Observer story published on February 25, 2007 reported that both the Indians and the Chinese had blamed the Jamaican Government for foot-dragging, and officials at all the relevant state agencies skilfully ducked Sunday Observer efforts to determine what, if any, was the future of the rail service.
As was expected, the then Opposition JLP took up the issue and, in its manifesto, promised to:
. pursue negotiations with potential investors to establish a modern rail service on the existing rail network for passengers and freight;
. develop railway stations as commercial centres as part of the revenue stream to lower passenger fares;
. renegotiate the terms of the contract with the operators of Highway 2000 to allow an extension of rail service into Portmore; and
. use tariff measures and appropriate incentives to encourage investors to establish major warehouse and redistribution centres at strategic locations to facilitate the haulage of goods to these centres by rail and sea in order to relieve congestion on major thoroughfares.
Four months after taking office, current Transport Minister Mike Henry told the Observer that he would be meeting with the Chinese on January 24, 2008 to continue talks on privatising and revitalising the island's railway system, with hopes of having passenger trains rolling again by the end of 2008.
Henry also said that he had held talks the week before with a group of Belgian investors, who had also expressed an interest in the assets of the Jamaica Railway Corporation (JRC).
"I met with the Belgians to show them the plans and we are waiting on them to come back with an offer," Henry told the Observer at the time.
He said he had also met with the new board of the JRC so he could begin analysing the economic plan to show how the railway system could be structured and how it could be done on a phased development.
"The first phase will be to analyse cargo and personnel to May Pen from Kingston because half of that line is right now operational and carrying bauxite," he explained, adding that the next stage would be the development of the attractions.
"I am developing in segments because the railway is a capital ownership that can be leased over time," he said.
The passenger train, he said, would precede all the other rail functions, and would initially focus on the route from Kingston to Spanish Town, and then Old Harbour to May Pen.
Since then, the country has not heard a word on this project from the Government and the
JRC's coaches still lie rotting at its downtown Kingston station.
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Willi, to get back on track (pun intended) with your lead post, it truly is a blunder to have wound down the railway system; can it not be rehabilitated? was/is there a plan to do so? We mis out BIG TIME on the tourist $$ that train travel could bring, not to mention simply moving people back and forth in these times of global warming etc etc
As a youth I took the train from Kgn to Williamsfield (closest spot to Mandeville (my country)) and the last part of the trip up Melrose Hill always provided great scenery and i enjoyed that part of the ride very much. I never took it to MoBAy but I could just imagine what that part of the trip would be like.
I have to agree with you; we (PNP/JLP/ whoever), really dropped the ball.Leave a comment:
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And the PNP ran with it and what they lacked in quality, they made up with quantity. 12 to 2 is the score, nuh?
Poor Jamaica, so far from God, so close to the United States.Leave a comment:
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Yes the future was indeed bright!Originally posted by Maudib View Post
Seaga probably spent too much time with the Tivoli militia building that Independent Republic of Tivolia... his gentle power base.
A state within a state where the Jamaican authorities hold no sway.... with private prisons the CIA would be proud of and... even more private execution rooms, cemeteries and arms caches.
Tivoli: Seaga's most significant contribution to national socio economic development... that stellar legacy continued today by Hon Bruce Golding.
Good job guys.... The Tivoli National development model is on the right track!
No need to change course.
Last edited by Don1; June 12, 2009, 11:40 AM.Leave a comment:
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Too much trouble inserting pictures.. this one is a bit above your literacy level..Leave a comment:
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Pet tuh.. nuh figget di petting...
At least I am discerning... some here cannot tell a $1 dollah Port..I mean hooker from a high priced Escort.. (not the car)
Some jump at the first black ting dem si...
LOL !Leave a comment:
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Suh yuh nuh si mi agree wid yuh.. Seaga did make blunders, yuh nevah read di post ?
His FIRST blunder actually was giving up his US Citizenship and tying himself to this albatross... for what ? An Observer Award ?
Mi hear seh when him guh China in the mid-nineties him realize him was wasting him time down here...
My cyaan figget dat black and white picture of him looking over a 3d model of the Port of Kingston.. future did look bright.. little did he know..
LOL !!Leave a comment:
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Video: The Future Rail Jamaica
Railway Employees Whip Passengers - NothingToxic.com
In Brazil, railway employees use whips to pack passengers into trains.
WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC
Shocking Video - Indian Man Electrocuted to Death on Top of Train - NothingToxic.com
An Indian man climbs on top of a train, then is electrocuted when he graps a live overhead wire.
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Is not a comparison.
Seaga did make blunders, you know.
Truth is the only thing that matters now, I hold no sacred cows. Notice that I blast PNP to hell often, as I dont powder them at all and I wont powder the JLP either. Jamaica mi a deal with. Right now mi shame bag buss, with all dem micro-states tekking step wid us. Imagine likkle Cayman bullying us. How hath the mighty fallen!
Mi soon si Bruce and if I get the chance, I will impart the passionate feelings. Dont mek mi start preach!!!Leave a comment:
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