Train drivers on failing high speed line demand more training

DutchNews, March 14, 2019

A Dutch high speed train. Photo: Alfenaar via Wikimedia Commons

Train drivers on the Dutch HSL high speed train route say they are not getting enough training and are threatening to strike if the NS does not act, the AD reported on Thursday. 

The 400 train drivers currently employed on the HSL say their lack of adequate training is increasing the number of malfunctions on the Amsterdam to Antwerp route. Currently there are up to 10 breakdowns a week. 

This means the reliability of the HSL stands at 82%, which is below the legal standard. Other train services have a 92% reliability rate. 

The reason for the malfunctions is a not yet identified problem with the train’s software and, according to the drivers, a multitude of voltage and safety systems which they are ill-equipped to handle. 

Now the FNV train drivers union has drawn up a manifesto, which has been signed by 1,200 people and will be handed over to the NS on Friday. It calls for better training and a monitor on the trains. 

‘The NS has the world’s best drivers but they are given too little time to master the intricacies of the high speed line. And once they drive the train, the support they get is often far below par,’ union official Henri Janssen told the paper. 

The NS said it is taking the complaints of the drivers seriously. ‘Everything they say can be done to improve the situation will be taken into consideration,’ a spokesman said. ‘We have a help desk in place and a team of people to help on the ground. But the uncertainty among drivers shows how complex the line is. Not everything has been properly installed.’ The FNV said strike action may be on the cards if the NS does not listen to the drivers.

UN grants sanctions exemption for Korea railway survey

Yahoo – AFP, 24 November 2018

The two Koreas have agreed to start surveys on reconnecting railways across
the border between North and South

The UN Security Council has granted a sanctions exemption for the two Koreas to jointly conduct a survey on reconnecting railways across their border, a spokesman for the South Korean presidency said Saturday.

The two Koreas last month agreed to start the survey no later than late October and to hold the groundbreaking ceremony sometime between late November and early December, as the countries pursue a reconciliation drive.

But the possibility of the project running up against UN sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear programmes has caused delays.

"It is significant that this project has received support from the United States and international community", said Kim Eui-Gyeom, spokesman for the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Railway experts from both sides will criss-cross the country on survey trains together, Kim said in a statement, adding that the process will "bring inter-Korean cooperation to a new level".

Yonhap news agency said the South was expected to bring fuel for train locomotives, and other unspecified materials for the survey in the North.

Delivering fuel to North Korea could potentially have been in breach of a UN cap limiting imports to 500,000 barrels a year.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday any inter-Korean rapprochement had to move forward "in tandem" with efforts to denuclearise the peninsula, and could not come sooner.

US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a historic summit in Singapore earlier this year, signing a vaguely worded deal on denuclearisation.

But since then, talks on denuclearisation have stalled, with meetings either deemed unproductive, pushed back or cancelled altogether.

The US and South Korea have launched a working group to make sure that they don't "talk past each other", Pompeo said, as Seoul and Pyongyang appear to be moving ahead with their rapprochement more quickly than Washington and the North are making headway on nuclear disarmament.

A second leaders' summit is expected to take place in early 2019, according to Washington.

In the meantime, North and South Korea have made several concrete decisions on reconciliation and exchanges.

But the implementation of cross-border projects such as the reconnection of railways have been hamstrung by the lack of progress in denuclearisation talks.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) advocates talking to the North's leader
Kim Jong Un to push him to denuclearise (AFP Photo)

Related Article:

Seoul earmarks more than $260 mn for rail, roads in North

Amsterdam freight train link to China will cover 11,000 km and take 16 days

DutchNews, March 7, 2018

Amsterdam will have a freight train connection with China starting on Thursday. The rail link to Yiwu China from the port’s Amerikahaven is 11,000 km long and will take 16 days to traverse, Trouw said on Wednesday. 

The route passes through Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Kazachstan and then on to China. Rotterdam has had a dedicated China rail link for two years. 

Chinese president Xi Jinping is investing €400bn in strengthening rail ties to Western Europe to reduce reliance on ocean shipping.  The link – called the One Belt, One Road – follows Marco Polo’s old Silk Road which moved people and goods between the two regions for centuries. 

The train is being operated by Nunner Logistics of Helmond which expects it to be carrying baby and children’s clothing, alcoholic drinks, car parts and luxury textiles to China and largely clothing on the return trip. The container train making the journey will be at least 630 metres long.

Europe casts a wary eye on China's Silk Road plans

Yahoo – AFP, Jacques KLOPP, January 7, 2018

Is the New Silk Road simply a path to prosperity or a Chinese power grab
in disguise? (AFP Photo/NIKLAS HALLE'N)

Paris (AFP) - Depending on who you ask in Europe, China's colossal East-West infrastructure programme is either an opportunity or a threat -- and when French President Emmanuel Macron visits next week, Beijing will be watching to see how keen he is to jump on board.

Since China launched the New Silk Road plan in 2013, the hugely ambitious initiative to connect Asia and Europe by road, rail and sea has elicited both enormous interest and considerable anxiety.

"It's the most important issue in international relations for the years to come, and will be the most important point during Emmanuel Macron's visit," said Barthelemy Courmont, a China expert at French think-tank Iris.

The $1 trillion project is billed as a modern revival of the ancient Silk Road that once carried fabric, spices, and a wealth of other goods in both directions.

Known in China as "One Belt One Road", the plans would see gleaming new road and rail networks built through Central Asia and beyond, and new maritime routes stretching through the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

Beijing would develop roads, ports and rail lines through 65 countries representing an estimate 60 percent of the world's population and a third of its economic output.

Like traders on the old silk road, modern Chinese companies expect to profit 

handsomely from the $1-trillion revival of the route (AFP Photo/STR)

Macron, who heads to China for a three-day state visit on Sunday, will notably be accompanied by some 50 company chiefs keen to do business with the Asian powerhouse.

So far France has been cautious on the Silk Road plan, but Courmont said Chinese leaders were "waiting for a clear position" from Macron at a time when they view the young leader as an "engine" for growth in Europe.

"If Macron takes a decision on how to tackle the Chinese initiative, all of Europe will follow," Courmont predicted.

But, as Courmont acknowledges, Europe is divided on what to make of China's ambitions.

The continent could potentially benefit handsomely from increased trade over the coming decades, but in some corners there is suspicion that it masks an attempted Beijing influence grab.

"They are notably asking themselves about the geopolitical consequences of this project in the long-term," Alice Ekman, who covers China at the French Institute of International Relations, said of France and Germany.

Win-win?

In Central and Eastern Europe the programme has been met with altogether more enthusiasm, given the huge infrastructure investment that China could bring to the poorer end of the continent.

"Some consider the awakening of China and Asia as a threat," Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a summit in Budapest in November which gathered China with 16 Central and Eastern European countries.

Beijing plans to develop roads, ports and rail lines through 65 countries representing

an estimate 60 percent of the world's population (AFP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

"For us, it's a huge opportunity," he said, with Beijing using the summit to announce three billion euros of investment in projects including a Belgrade-Budapest railway line.

Bogdan Goralczyk, director of the Centre for Europe at the University of Warsaw, noted there were divisions even within eastern Europe, with Poland hesitant due to its right-wing government's "strong anti-communist stance".

Others to the west have made little effort to hide their concern.

Former Danish premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen fretted in a column for Germany's Zeit newspaper that "Europe will wake up only when it's too late, and when swathes of central and eastern Europe's infrastructure are dependent on China."

The former NATO chief noted that Greece -- a major recipient of Chinese largesse -- had in June blocked an EU declaration condemning Chinese rights abuses.

It came just months after Athens' Piraeus port, one of the biggest in the world, passed under Chinese control.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, is favourable to Chinese investment, but has reservations.

"If we do not develop a strategy in the face of China, it will succeed in dividing Europe," Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned in August.

France is meanwhile seeking to "rebalance" relations with China during Macron's trip, according to his office -- eyeing a trade deficit of 30 billion euros, its biggest with any partner.

"Our Chinese partners would prefer a win-win situation. Why not? On the condition that it's not the same party that wins twice," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday.

"It is not France's intention to block China," he said.

"But we should establish a partnership based on reciprocity when it comes to the opening of markets."

burs-jk/kjl/jh/kaf

China's "One Belt One Road" project is costing $1 trillion and has been billed as a modern revival of the ancient Silk Road --
that once carried fabric, spices, and a wealth of other goods in both directions https://t.co/nhVVYnFWqH pic.twitter.com/UGuZUkxMsw

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 7, 2018

First hydrogen-powered train set for northern Netherlands in 2018

DutchNews, October 12, 2017 

The Coradia iLint train. Photo: Alstom

The northern provinces of Friesland and Groningen and rail operator ProRail are hoping to test run a train powered by hydrogen next year, the Volkskrant said on Thursday.

The parties involved want to determine whether a hydrogen-powered train will prove to be a cheap and sustainable alternative for the diesel trains now operating from the provincial capitals of Leeuwarden and Groningen. 

Most trains in the Netherlands run on electricity but there are no electric overhead lines on the rail network in Friesland and Groningen where the trains are powered by diesel. To switch to electric trains would cost hundreds of millions of euros, hence the potential move to hydrogen. 

The hydrogen-powered train is a realistic alternative for tracks without overhead power supplies, said Wouter Wiersema of engineering consultancy Arcadis which is conducting a feasibility study of the new train. 

But major changes are needed if the diesel engines are to be retired. Storage facilities for hydrogen – a  very light, flammable fuel – will have to be created on trains and in stations. Strong safety measures are vital, said Wiersema. 

The French train manufacturer Alstom is experimenting with a hydrogen-powered train in northern Germany. Once this train, called the Coradia iLint, has been given full safety clearance, it will also be able to travel on the Dutch rail network and the trials can take place, the Volkskrant said.

Modi, Abe get India's first bullet train going as ties deepen

Yahoo – AFP, Jalees ANDRABI, September 13, 2017

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan's Shinzo Abe shake hands in front
of a Shinkansen bullet train during a 2016 meeting in Kobe (AFP Photo/JIJI PRESS)

New Delhi (AFP) - As India's premier Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe prepare to break ground on the country's first bullet train project Thursday, experts say the collaboration could signal a massive leap for its overburdened and deadly railways.

India's colonial-era rail network carries some 22 million passengers daily, making it one of the busiest in the world. But it is also among the most dangerous.

A government report published in 2012 said almost 15,000 people were killed every year in rail accidents, describing the deaths as an annual "massacre" due mainly to poor safety standards.

Modi has pledged to invest billions of dollars to modernise the country's crumbling railway infrastructure, which is plagued by delays, and the bullet train was one of his key election promises ahead of a landslide victory in 2014.

As New Delhi and Tokyo seek to forge closer ties to combat China's growing regional influence, the project offers a diplomatic and economic boost.

The premiers will lay the foundation for the bullet train network in the western city of Ahmedabad -- connecting Modi's home state of Gujarat with India's financial capital Mumbai.

Japan is a pioneer in high-speed rail transport -- with its Shinkansen bullet train ranked among the fastest in the world.

With projected top speeds of up to 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour -- more than double the maximum speed offered by the fastest trains operating in India -- it will reduce travel time between the two cities from eight hours to at most three-and-a-half hours.

The new train, which will have a capacity of 750 passengers, is also expected to be safer than the country's creaking rail network, the world's fourth largest by distance.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi 

visit Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, on September 13, 2017 (AFP Photo/

PRAKASH SINGH)

'Balance China's hegemony'

Modi recently replaced his railway minister after a series of derailments, including one last month in which at least 23 people were killed in northern Uttar Pradesh state. Nearly 150 died in a similar accident in November.

The agreement for the 508-kilometre network was signed in 2016, with plans to make it operational by December 2023.

Nearly 85 percent of the total project cost of $19 billion will be provided by Tokyo in soft loans, with repayment over 50 years.

Abe's visit to Ahmedabad comes ahead of Modi's 67th birthday on Sunday and many have dubbed it as part of his practice of "birthday diplomacy".

The right-wing Hindu nationalist leader hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Gujarat on his birthday in 2014.

"India's relation with Japan is designed to balance China's hegemony," Rajrishi Singhal, a Mumbai-based independent policy consultant, told AFP.

India's crumbling rail infrastructure is in desperate need of modernisation, with 

a report in 2012 describing the 15,000 deaths on the network each year as a 

'massacre' (AFP Photo)

The two countries have close security ties and hold regular joint military exercises.

A proposed joint investment of billions of dollars in Africa is set to be the cornerstone of the relationship, Singhal said.

"India truly values the relationship with Japan and we look forward to further boosting our bilateral ties in a wide range of sectors," Modi tweeted Tuesday.

There are more than 1,500 Japanese companies in India, including auto major Suzuki, the largest car maker in the country.

The success of Suzuki and others transformed India's auto industry, which employs millions today.

Experts are pinning similar hopes on the bullet train project.

"Just like Suzuki changed India's car market and brought millions of jobs, the bullet train will change the entire industry," Singhal said.

India's ageing trains get green makeover with solar panels

Yahoo – AFP, July 19, 2017

Indian railways: years of under-investment but now a green initiative (AFP Photo/
NARINDER NANU)

India has added solar panels to the roof of a train in a national first as it tries to reduce its massive carbon footprint and modernise its vast colonial-era rail network.

The lighting, fans and information displays inside the train -- once powered by diesel -- will run off the sun's energy after the panels were fitted to the carriage.

The train has begun journeys around the capital New Delhi, helping move just some of the 23 million passengers who use India's rail network every day.

"We will be inducting at least four other solar-powered trains in the next six months," Anil Kumar Saxena, Indian railways spokesperson, told AFP on Wednesday.

Batteries charged by the solar panels during the day take over if there is no sunlight, Saxena added. Only as a last resort, if the batteries perish, would diesel be used.

Each train drawing on this green energy is expected to save around 21,000 litres of diesel every year, helping reduce India's enormous reliance on fossil fuels and huge output of carbon emissions.

Built by India's former British colonial rulers, the railway system is one of the world's largest and is still the main means of long-distance travel in the huge country.

But years of financial neglect and a populist policy of subsidising fares have hit the network hard. Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to revive it after coming to power in May 2014.

India's ageing trains get green makeover with solar panels https://t.co/SHfTZgy5jA pic.twitter.com/O7TpJQXomH

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 19, 2017

First 'Silk Road' train from Britain leaves for China

Yahoo - AFP, Robin MILLARD, April 10, 2017

The train, carrying whisky, soft drinks, baby products and pharmaceuticals,
will take 18 days to make the 12,000-km (7,500-mile) journey

The first-ever freight train from Britain to China started its mammoth journey on Monday along a modern-day "Silk Road" trade route as Britain eyes new opportunities after it leaves the European Union.

The 32-container train, around 600 metres (656 yards) long, left the vast London Gateway container port laden with whisky, soft drinks and baby products, bound for Yiwu on the east coast of China.

It was seen off on its 18-day, 12,000-kilometre (7,500-mile) journey with a string quartet, British and Chinese flags, and speeches voicing hope that it will cement a new golden age of trade between the two countries as Brexit negotiations loom.

The first train from China to Britain arrived on January 18, filled with clothes and other retail goods, and Monday's departure was the first journey in the other direction.

The rail route is cheaper than air freight and faster than sea freight, offering logistics companies a new middle option.

After the last three containers were lifted onto the wagons, the driver gave a thumbs-up and tooted his horn as he got the train rolling at the port in Stanford-le-Hope, east of London.

"Restoring the ancient Silk Road as a means by which China, north Europe and now the UK can exchange goods is an important and exciting initiative," said Xubin Feng, the chairman of Yiwu Timex Industrial Investment, which is co-running the service.

"We have great faith in the UK as an export nation and rail provides an excellent alternative for moving large volumes of goods over long distances faster."

Nine countries in 18 days

The train will go through the Channel Tunnel before travelling across France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan before heading into China.

The containers, which also contain vitamins and pharmaceutical products, will be taken off and put on different wagons as they leave Poland, as the former Soviet Union countries use a wider rail gauge.

The containers switch back to standard gauge wagons at the Chinese border, an operation that typically takes around two hours.

Boosting trade with China is a top priority for Britain as it leaves the EU and becomes free to strike its own trade deals.

London was hailing the first export train as part of its "global Britain" plan, recalibrating its post-EU trading outlook.

Rupert Soames, Prime Minister Theresa May's business ambassador for infrastructure and transport, told AFP that the new route was "positive and timely".

"I genuinely think that this is quite an historic day," said Soames, a grandson of World War II prime minister Winston Churchill.

"In some quarters now, globalisation is seen as a bad word. But here you see trade in all its glory and possibilities."

China was Britain's seventh-biggest export market last year, behind the United States, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Switzerland.

Some £13.5 billion of trade headed to China, according to UK government statistics, with an average annual growth rate of 12.9 percent since 2006.

In terms of imports, China is Britain's third-biggest market after Germany and the United States, with trade worth £35.8 billion last year.

The freight train is part of China's "One Belt, One Road" programme announced in 2013, reviving the ancient Silk Road trading routes to Europe. 

Dutch trains now all powered by wind energy

Yahoo – AFP, January 10, 2017

Eneco and NS said on a joint website that some 600,000 passengers daily are
"the first in the world" to travel thanks to wind energy (AFP Photo/REMKO DE WAAL)

The Hague (AFP) - All Dutch trains are now 100 percent powered by electricity generated by wind energy, the national railway company NS said Tuesday, calling it a world first.

"Since the first of January, 100 percent of our trains are running on wind energy," NS spokesman Ton Boon told AFP.

Dutch electricity company Eneco won a tender launched by NS two years ago and the two firms signed a 10-year deal setting January 2018 as the date by which all NS trains should run on wind energy.

"So we in fact reached our goal a year earlier than planned," said Boon, adding that an increase in the number of wind farms across the country and off the coast of The Netherlands had helped NS achieve its aim.

Eneco and NS said on a joint website that some 600,000 passengers daily are "the first in the world" to travel thanks to wind energy. NS operates about 5,500 train trips a day.

One windmill running for an hour can power one train across some 200 kilometres (120 miles), the companies said. They now hope to reduce the energy used per passenger by 35 percent by 2020 compared with 2005.

World's longest tunnel opens regular service in Switzerland

Yahoo – AFP, December 11, 2016

The 57-kilometre (35.4-mile) new Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT)in Switzerland,
which runs under the Alps, was first conceived in sketch-form in 1947 but
construction began 17 years ago (AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

Geneva (AFP) - Regular rail services through the world's longest tunnel began on Sunday, carrying passengers deep under the Swiss Alps from Zurich to Lugano.

The famed Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) had a ceremonial opening in June, attracting European leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande for its maiden ride.

The Swiss national rail service (SBB) had announced that Sunday would mark the start of normal commercial traffic through the 57-kilometre (35-mile) GBT, which took 17 years to build, at a cost of over 12 billion Swiss francs ($11.8 billion, 11.2 billion euros).

The Swiss news agency ATS reported that the first regular passenger train to use the GBT pulled out of Zurich at 6:09 am (0509 GMT) and arrived in Lugano at 8:17 am, with the tunnel passage shaving a full 30 minutes off the previous travel time for the same route.

"It's Christmas," SBB chief Andreas Meyer was quoted as saying by ATS after the journey was over.

The Gotthard rail tunnel (AFP Photo/Simon MALFATTO, Philippe 

MOUCHE, Frédéric GARET)

The ambitious GBT project has won praise across Europe for its pioneering efforts to improve connectivity from Rotterdam to the Adriatic.

The Swiss funded tunnel was largely made possible by technical advances in tunnel-boring machines, which replaced the costly and dangerous blast-and-drill method.

The GBT has surpassed Japan's 53.9-kilometre Seikan tunnel as the world's longest train tunnel.

The 50.5-kilometre Channel Tunnel connecting Britain and France has been bumped into third place.

Video: 8,400 tonne railway bridge moved into place overnight

DutchNews, May 7, 2016

Photo: Rijkswaterstaat

A massive operation to place 255 metre long railway bridge over the A1 motorway near Muiderberg has been completed three hours ahead of schedule, the transport ministry said on Saturday. 

The 8,400 tonne bridge had to be moved 400 metres from the location where it had been assembled to the correct site over the highway. The A1 was closed at 20.00 hours on Friday night to enable the work to take place and reopened at 09.00 on Saturday morning. 

The bridge was put in place by 03.00 but then had to be adjusted millimeter by millimeter to make sure everything joined up. 

Transport ministry spokesman Henk Voerman said the entire operation had proceeded smoothly. ‘It was really imposing to watch, particularly from close up when those enormous wheels began to move,’ he told RTL news. 

Work will now continue on the bridge and it will be opened in August when the old railway bridge will be demolished.

Time lapse of the entire operation

China, Indonesia sign $5.5 bn high-speed rail deal

Yahoo – AFP, 16 Oct 2015

China and Indonesia have officially sealed the deal for a medium-speed

railway project connecting Jakarta and Bandung. (AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)

Chinese and Indonesian state-owned companies Friday signed a $5.5 billion deal to build the first high-speed railway in Southeast Asia's top economy, after Beijing beat Tokyo to win the construction project.

The line will connect the Indonesian capital Jakarta with the mountain-fringed city of Bandung, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) away, and is a key part of President Joko Widodo's plans to overhaul the archipelago's infrastructure and attract investors.

Japan was long expected to build the railway but China entered the contest earlier this year, and Tokyo's bid was rejected last month after a chaotic bidding process that infuriated the Japanese.

On Friday the chairman of state-owned China Railway International, Yang Zhongmin, signed a deal with a consortium of Indonesian state companies to form a joint venture to build the railway, with construction set to start next year and the line to begin operating in 2019.

"This high-speed train will make it easier for the public to travel," he told reporters in Jakarta, where the deal was inked. "This major project will also provide major employment opportunities and boost the economy."

State-owned China Development Bank will provide 75 percent of the funding, with the rest coming from the Chinese railway company and Indonesian consortium.

The railway line will not need any financing from the Indonesian government, nor a government guarantee. One reason that Indonesian officials gave for rejecting the Japanese bid was that it would require government funding.

The high-speed train route will cover eight stations from Jakarta to Bandung, and the train will travel at around 250 kilometres (150 miles) an hour.

The Indonesian government repeatedly changed its mind about the railway project, before eventually agreeing to accept China's bid for a high-speed line.

The chaotic bidding process and final decision angered Tokyo, which is increasingly competing with Beijing for influence in Asia, with chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga slamming it as "extremely regrettable".

Japan's loss came despite its reputation as a world-class train maker, famed for its "shinkansen" bullet trains.

China has built thousands of kilometres of high-speed railway in recent years, but its safety standards have come under scrutiny -- a 2011 crash killed at least 40 people and injured about 200.

All aboard the Vatican train for pope's summer castle

Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere, 14 Sep 2015

A steam locomotive prepares to depart from the Vatican's train station to the

pope's summer home of Castel Gandolfo (AFP Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Castel Gandolfo (Italy) (AFP) - It was once used exclusively by popes, but the Vatican's train line can now be ridden by all from the Holy See to the papal summer palace.

Each Saturday, tourists can climb aboard for an express trip to Castel Gandolfo, a lavish estate Pope Francis has never used but wanted to share with the public in a gesture which will also boost the Church's coffers.

From San Pietro, to Trastevere and Ostiense, the train chugs through the Italian capital and its green suburbs, down past the Roman ruins on the Via Appia, before climbing through the Alban hills to the picturesque Lake Albano.

The crew of a steam locomotive prepare

 for its departure from the Vatican's train

 station to the pope's summer home of

 Castel Gandolfo (AFP Photo/Filippo

Monteforte)

Some 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Rome, it pulls to a stop at the castle town, a former summer favourite with popes hoping to escape the heat of the capital, and still frequented occasionally by Francis's predecessor, Benedict XVI.

The villa and gardens, owned by the Holy See since 1596, expanded over the centuries to include other properties and now sprawl over 55 hectares (135 acres).

Inside the grounds, there are views down to the lake or glimpses of the sea beyond gardens decorated with sculptures. There are also orchards of apricot, peach and olive trees, and greenhouses of ornamental flowers.

The estate's gardens first opened to the public in 2014, with tours organised for groups and by reservation only.

But workaholic Francis, who does not take vacations and has only been to the summer palace twice, urged his Museum's director to go further, opening up the entire estate and setting up a new museum.

'Closed for centuries'

Visitors to the villa can stand where popes down the centuries stood to bless summer Sunday crowds -- the very window from which Benedict XVI said his last goodbyes before retiring from the papacy.

As well as a papal portrait gallery, visitors can pore over embellished vestments worn by the holders of Saint Peter's Chair down the ages, including elegant papal slippers of the type shunned by down-to-earth Francis.

For 40 euros ($45), tourists get the full package: they can skip the queue in the morning to see the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel in Rome, before walking through the Vatican's gardens to the train station.

Once at Castel Gandolfo, they hop on a special white tourist train which takes them around the papal villa, including past the pope's organic farm, which houses cows, free-range hens, cockerels and pontifical bees.

From the train's windows they get a glimpse at the makings of the papal menu: freshly laid eggs, milk, vegetables, fruit, honey and fat rounds of caciotta cheese from the farm often end up on the pope's table back in the Vatican.

Tourists can now take a train trip to Castel Gandolfo, a lavish estate Pope Francis

has never used but wanted to share with the public (AFP Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Visitors can then wander around the town of Castel Gandolfo, a mediaeval borough listed among Italy's most beautiful, before getting the train back to the Vatican in the afternoon.

There is also a 16 euro option for those who want to skip the Vatican Museums and just do Castel Gandolfo.

Frugal Francis, who has shunned the Holy See's papal apartments for life in a Vatican hotel, has said he has no time to visit the estate -- a decision, however, which has seen local shopkeepers hit by a drop in tourism.

The Argentine hopes that by launching the new link with the summer palace it will revive the struggling businesses.

"Seeing as he's unable to spend time at Castel Gandolfo because of his numerous engagements, Francis wanted to make a generous gesture so that we can all visit a place which has been closed for so many centuries," Osvaldo Gianoli, director of the Castel Gandolfo villas, told AFP.

Thalys shooting passengers in Paris; gunman being questioned

DutchNews, August 22, 2015

The passengers caught up in the shooting on the Amsterdam to Paris high-speed Thalys on Friday evening have arrived in Paris.

The last of them arrived at Gard du Nord around 01.45 hours. They were met by Thalys staff who arranged accommodation and changes to onward travel arrangements. 

No Dutch passengers were in the carriage where the shooting took place, Dutch media report. 

A gunman armed with a Kalashnikov had opened fire at around 17.50 on the high-speed train, carrying more than 550 passengers. He was overpowered by three Americans, two of them off duty soldiers. 

Two people were injured in the attack, including one of the Americans who was hospitalised with ‘serious injuries’, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. 

The train was diverted to the northern French town of Arras, where police arrested the shooter, described by French investigators as a 26-year-old from Morocco or of Moroccan origin, who was also armed with an automatic pistol and razor blades. 

Thalys said it is running its normal service on Saturday.

Americans Alek Skarlatos (R) and Anthony Sadler helped halt a train attack in France. Story: http://t.co/IpSoH71tdr pic.twitter.com/S0DYl9qSW2

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 22 augustus 2015

The five who foiled an attack on a European train http://t.co/FT96y05yLg pic.twitter.com/DJm9ESPOQe

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 22 augustus 2015

US soldiers praised for grappling gunman on Amsterdam-Paris train

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Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, July 19, 2015) - (Ziggo?)
Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Aug 3, 2014) - (MH17)


Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, July 19, 2015)

Matthew Ward - July 19, 2015

Matthew Ward

With loving greetings from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. Many of your analysts think that the Greek people’s resounding “No” on the recent referendum put their country on the road to irreversible economic ruin. The country will manage. “No” put the Illuminati on the road to irreversible economic ruin.

Going back a long, long ways, bartering worked splendidly in communities, but the expanding borders of commerce required a different means of exchange; and with the introduction of coinage, money became the axis on which your world turned. The forerunners of the Illuminati and later that group itself controlled the turning by devising taxation, banking and lending systems; and, as centuries passed, “numbered” bank accounts, stock markets, Federal Reserve System, International Monetary Fund, regulating agencies and credit cards with usurious interest rates. Everything they established was specifically designed to add to their fortunes, tighten their economic control over the peoples, and increase their influence within national governments.

The Illuminati began as a cohesive group of like-minded individuals whose objective was world domination. As time went by, egos grew and tempers flared, and eventually two competitive factions with that same goal emerged. Later, the Rothschilds and their adherents, who operate out of London and the Vatican, came up with a plan to solidify their control throughout Europe—the European Union, European Central Bank and euro currency. Let us borrow your expression, “How’s that working for you?” There is no bandage large enough to patch the crack the Greek vote made in the Rothschild network. The crack will spread like a spider web around the world and into it will fall the Rockefeller faction headquartered in Washington, DC, and on Wall Street.

As if that isn’t enough for both factions to deal with—and Pope Francis’ goodness and wisdom keeps upsetting their apple cart—now there’s the agreement between negotiators from several major nations and Iran’s leaders that their country will not pursue development of a nuclear weapon. It is no surprise that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, a top-ranking Illuminati, denounced the agreement or that Illuminati in the United States Congress and members whose election campaigns were funded by that group are opposing President Obama’s efforts to get congressional approval. They want to invade Iran and, along with taking over that country’s oil, reap the riches that come from producing the machinery of war.

The vibrations of intensifying light that led to those reversals for the Illuminati will keep increasing as the planet continues on its ascension course. If we could tell you when their total undoing will be, we would do so joyously; but activity in Earth’s energy field of potential indicates that their inevitable demise will come in stages, not one fell swoop. They still have some power, dwindling though it is, in their “black ops” branch of the CIA; other intelligence sources, including Mossad; high-ranking personnel in some military forces; leverage within mainstream media and some governments; and huge caches of monies to initiate or exacerbate uprisings, fund the Islam State, and pay their minions to hack computer systems, oversee the street drug trade, fill your skies with chemtrails, deny pollution’s contribution to climate change, or disseminate false information on the Internet.

While a few within the higher ranks of both Illuminati factions are talking with principals in reform movements, the hardliners are talking about joining forces; some have abandoned their fast-sinking ship, died of natural causes or by their own hand, or been arrested. You would recognize some names, most you would not, and it is unlikely that any of the Illuminati will be identified as such in mainstream news reports.

Upheavals will keep popping up as the ages-old light vs dark battle for Earth’s civilization at last is nearing its end. You have waited a long time to see the light triumph as predestined, and you can welcome the bumpy ride through the last phases. However, most of the populace don’t know about that long conflict or that everything transpiring and what is ahead is about planetary and personal ascension out of millennia of dark bondage.

Many people are fearful or angry, and with each new bump, others will have the same reactions. Your calmness, yet excitement, and explaining to the extent individuals are receptive can encourage them to have an optimistic outlook. But please do not be disheartened if family and friends don’t respond positively—they will waken in their own times of readiness.

And, we ask that you keep foremost in your thoughts that every person in your world is a part of God, by whatever name the Supreme Being in this universe is called. Every person is inextricably connected at soul level with all others, and God’s love for each and every one is unconditional. Seeing “offenders” through God’s eyes doesn’t mean wanting them to forego justice by your world’s standards—already this has come to some and shall befall others. What it does mean is, you will uplift yourselves and your world by envisioning those individuals within the light rather than focusing on their punishment. The impartial, nonjudgmental and unavoidable laws of the universe will serve them justice in a spirit world according to their lifetime deeds.

This is an appropriate place to answer a reader’s questions: “What will happen to Nirvana after Earth reaches 5th density? Can there still be reunions with our loved ones?” Nirvana will accompany Earth to her destination in fifth density and continue to be her spirit realm, but with grand differences. The tiny dense orb that houses the basest individuals and is the only part of the realm separate from the rest will be transported to some third density civilization and incorporated into their spirit world, or it will be dematerialized after its inhabitants are moved to a spirit world of equal density. Nirvana’s lower layers—learning centers for people who want to outgrow their negative tendencies such as bigotry, anger, apathy, envy, miserliness, bitterness, disloyalty, dishonesty, manipulativeness, closed minds and desire to control others—also will disappear. Those traits served well when they were aspects of karmic lessons souls chose to attain balanced experiencing, but your society will have advanced consciously and spiritually and no longer need to experience negative characteristics.

Indeed, reunions of loved ones can take place in Nirvana when that realm and Earth are in fifth density, but then just as now, meetings can be in any placement in this universe where energies are compatible. Actually, these visits have been happening all along during your sleep time, but your bodies’ density can’t retain memories of those visits—when you waken and have fragments of memories of being with a loved one, you attribute them to dreams. As your consciousness expands with light absorption, you will start to clearly remember your joyful reunions.

With reference to our stating that “everything in your world is purposeful,” a reader asked, “What purpose is served by rats, roaches, fleas, mosquitoes, etc.” It started eons past in linear time, when the darkness manipulated the DNA of some weaker civilizations and programmed their bodies for aging and disease. A civilization at third density conscious and spiritual level, which Earth’s peoples and other life forms have been for many millennia, has bodies that are susceptible to the diseases that some insects and rats can cause or spread; and, given the flexibility in soul contracts, physical death by that means can satisfy contracts’ cause and longevity provisions.

Insects also serve the purpose of souls whose lifetime energy consigned them to the basest part of third density spirit realms. When they are willing to receive sufficient light to embody, they do so in a short-lived form without cellular memory patterning that could influence behavior as they start back up the ladder of evolution. You will welcome knowing that insects cannot survive in the higher vibratory levels where Earth is heading, and their place in the food chain no longer will be needed.

Rats are intelligent, emotional rodents, and those that are well-treated pets respond in kind; the hordes that run wild simply are trying to survive in a world where they are detested. As a civilization grows in consciousness, so do all other life forms in that world. With that advancement comes humankind’s respect for all animal life, and “wild” rats, like other species now considered obnoxious, will be elevated in behavior and popular acceptance. Have no concerns that your world may be overrun with rats or rabbits or any other animals that produce litters quickly! They will reproduce less often and in smaller numbers as long as they decide to embody on the planet—these species, like all others, evolve and at some point incarnate as higher-order beings.

Citing numerous ways that Earth’s animals are being treated inhumanely, a reader asked, “Can the galactics not help with ending this horrendous treatment of animals?” Your universal family is helping by beaming light in abundance to Earth, but they cannot interfere with the free will of individuals who cause suffering and merciless death to your animals. It is up to your society to stop abhorrent practices, and thanks to the dedicated efforts of many souls, this is happening. Countries are setting standards for treatment of animals and repercussions for violators; there are boycotts of food, other products and entertainment derived from animal exploitation; poachers of wild animals are being taught other livelihoods; education is expanding about the importance of preserving wildlife and their habitats on land and in the seas; the numbers of wildlife reserves and no-kill shelters of pet species continue growing and so do the numbers of homeless pets who are adopted.

Participating in or financially supporting these encouraging activities is vital, to be sure, but an invaluable contribution that everyone can make to improve animal life is to not agonize about their plight, but instead send love-light to all of Earth. The law of attraction brings back the very same energy sent forth in thoughts and feelings, thus agonizing about any situation brings back still more circumstances to evoke that feeling.

A reader in New Zealand asked why teen suicides in her country and elsewhere are becoming more frequent. Perhaps because of religious teachings, dying by one’s own hand at such a young age—at any age—is viewed as more tragic than death by disease or fatal injury. So first we say, there is no judgment or penalty and no such place as limbo or hell for people who end their lives.

Their reasons differ just as the individuals themselves do; however, according to our colleagues in Nirvana, most teenagers who commit suicide are gay or lesbian or they know that their body and gender are mismatched, and they enter spirit life with tormented psyches that need customized care for healing. They were emotionally drained from struggling to conform to familial expectations, societal standards and religious orientation, or they had been cast out after declaring their true selves—either way, they saw death as the only escape from hopelessness and despair. As your society continues growing consciously and spiritually, honoring the divinity and genuineness of all soul-selves will replace discrimination and rejection.

“I have noticed a lot of fear-based information on the Internet surrounding ingesting monatomic gold. Can you please elaborate on how it actually works within our bodies?” The intention of that information—and it is a good example of DISinformation on the Internet—is to steer you away from one of the most valuable substances you can ingest. In addition to fortifying immune systems, monatomic gold contributes to health by rapidly regenerating cells; raising bodies’ frequencies; improving organs’ functioning;accelerating the transformation of carbon-based cells into crystalline; and helping to increase DNA strands. All of those physical benefits enhance brain power and that leads to expanded consciousness, spiritual clarity and overall balance. Individuals who are influenced by darkness don’t want you to have any of those advantages so they disseminate blatantly false, fear-based information about monatomic gold.

To readers who asked if signing petitions really does any good: Yes. You may or may not see prompt effects in the specific areas the petitions cover, but the energy you put forth to support endeavors you deem worthy contributes to the overall light on the planet.

“Please ask Matthew to speak about people suffering from depression. I am fearful I may not be following my soul contract and more so failing to do my part to promote positive loving thoughts to myself and others so as to assist Earth's transition.” Our understanding and compassion go out to this dear soul and to all others who are dealing with depression, an emotionally painful condition that has become almost commonplace in your world, and we hasten to say that none of you is failing self or others! You are not lacking light, but light-heartedness. Even if depression is a karmic choice for balance, it needn’t be long-lasting, and discovering and alleviating the cause is possible.

The cause may be physical. Consult a trusted healthcare practitioner about testing for hormonal imbalance, which is treatable without pharmaceutical drugs that don’t eliminate the cause and do lead to other maladies. We have mentioned the benefits of monatomic gold, and suggest as well that you eat nutritious food, drink a great deal of pure water, get sufficient sleep, listen to melodic music, and spend as much time as possible with Nature. Especially during these times when body, mind and spirits are adjusting to ever-heightening vibrations, those are wise suggestions for everyone.

In many cases, depression is circumstantial, due to one’s own or loved ones’ situation or perhaps the state of your world. When you start thinking about something sad or worrisome, change to a positive thought about that situation and visualize it dissolving into beams of light—here again the law of attraction plays a crucial role. Take one step at a time to overcome feeling depressed—this can be as simple as the satisfaction of completing a small task or as uplifting as knowing that you are contributing light to the world via compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, generosity and kindness.

Dear ones, apply those light-filled feelings to yourself, too, and ask for help! Angels, spirit guides, souls in Nirvana and other spirit worlds—all are God’s emissaries—are ever-ready and eager to help lift you out of depression’s heavy-heartedness.

Yes, planetary cleansing will continue a while longer because Earth needs to rid herself of negativity as it is produced. But we say to readers who asked about earthquakes that will devastate entire major cities, tsunamis of epic proportions, dramatic changes in land masses, and temperatures that will continue rising until they snuff out all life: Not only are those concerns needless, but they emit low vibrations that add to the negativity Earth has to deal with.

Many who requested our comments about the Trans Pacific Partnership feel this is an Illuminati-made bill that will benefit only the wealthiest. Several also questioned much the same as the reader who wrote: “If President Obama really is a light being, why is he pushing Congress to get this bill passed?” and others wrote that his efforts prove he is either Illuminati or their willing puppet or is being mind-controlled by them.

Indeed, TPP provisions have the potential to favor only the wealthy—whatever can be used beneficially also can be twisted into malevolent directions—and we shall tell you what we have been told about President Obama’s position. He is acting upon the advice of our “space” family members living among you to not make waves at this stage of behind-the-scenes talks with individuals in the Rockefeller faction. They are not defectors per se, they are pragmatists who know their aim of world control is doomed, and because their interests are better served by economic stability than global collapse, they are amenable to discussing reforms that will have far-reaching effects.

These individuals, whose cooperation can expedite the reforms, wield considerable influence in the corporate world; and their bargaining point is that by acting in good faith on TPP’s provisions, workers in the off-shore countries will reap benefits that currently are nonexistent and would not adversely affect workers in the United States. Our perspective is, as vibrations continue increasing, improvements will come in every aspect of life in your world, so with or without TPP, beneficial changes are ahead for people everywhere.

We honor you, our beloved family, for your perseverance as lightworkers. You are adding immeasurably to the light that is propelling ongoing and forthcoming changes throughout your world.

LOVE and PEACE

Suzanne Ward

Website: The Matthew Books

Email: suzy@matthewbooks.com

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)