Kennebec river rail trail

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's government on Tuesday (Sep 8) said it will seek to reroute a US$10.6 billion rail project being built across the peninsula under China's "Belt and Road" trade initiative, and as a result will reassess the cost and schedule with the Chinese contractor. The government revived the 640km East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) last year with a budget cut by a third to RM44 billion (US$10.6 billion) after halting the project in 2018. It contracted the Malaysian unit of China Communications Construction, CCC-ECRL, to build the line. Deputy Transport Minister Hasbi Habibollah in parliament on Tuesday said the government plans to revert to the original route detailed in 2017 but with minor changes around the south of the capital Kuala Lumpur. "The government will renegotiate with the Chinese government and the main contractor of the project to ascertain the cost implication and project implementation schedule," Hasbi said. He said the results of the renegotiation will … [Read more...] about Malaysia seeks to reroute US$10.6 billion belt and road rail project

Commuters will be offered flexible season tickets by June 21 as the Government tries to get workers back to the offices during the easing of the lockdown, it is reported. It is said workers will be able to use the new rail flexi-tickets for two or three days a week, potentially saving them hundreds of thousands of pounds. The tickets are designed for the many office workers who are likely to continue to work from home for at least part of the week as restrictions are lifted over the coming months. Speaking at a rail industry conference via video call, Boris Johnson on Friday predicted commuters will return to offices "in a few short months". Get the day's biggest stories delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the Mirror newsletter here. It is expected the flexi-tickets will be introduced by June 21, the Sunday Telegraph reported. That is the earliest date the fourth and final phase of the Prime Minister's lockdown exit strategy could happen, with all … [Read more...] about Commuters to be offered flexible rail season tickets ‘by June’ as lockdown eased

POCONÉ, Brazil: A fire has been burning since mid-July in the remote wetlands of west-central Brazil, leaving in its wake a vast charred desolation bigger than New York City. A team of veterinarians, biologists and local guides arrived in late August to prowl the bumpy dirt road known as the Trans-Pantanal Highway in pickup trucks, looking to save what injured animals they could. Jaguars were wandering the blackened wasteland, they said, starving or going thirsty, with paws burnt to the bone, lungs blackened by smoke. They saw bodies of alligator-like caiman, jaws frozen in silent screams, the last act of creatures desperate to cool off before being consumed by flames. This massive fire is one of thousands of blazes sweeping the Brazilian Pantanal - the world's largest wetland - this year in what climate scientists fear could become a new normal, echoing the rise in climate-driven fires from California to Australia. READ: Search crews scour charred Oregon landscape, … [Read more...] about Burned jaguars, fire tornadoes: Blazes in Brazil wetland deliver climate warning

HOUSTON: Offshore platforms and one refinery along the U.S. Gulf Coast shut down on Sunday as they prepared for a second hurricane strike in less than a month. Phillips 66 began shutting its 255,600 barrel-per-day (bpd) Alliance, Louisiana, refinery as Tropical Storm Sally was forecast to pass just west of the plant, 24 miles (38 km) south of New Orleans. Other refineries in east Louisiana were monitoring the storm, forecast to become a category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph (161 kph), early on Tuesday. From Saturday, energy companies began shutting offshore production as they evacuated workers in the path of the storm, located 195 miles (315 km) east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Chevron Corp shut the Blind Faith and Petronius platforms and evacuated the workers, it said on Sunday. Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it began shutting some of its offshore drilling operations on Sunday. Its offshore production was … [Read more...] about Oil companies idle production as US Gulf Coast braces for hurricane

HOUSTON: Royal Dutch Shell began shutting some of its offshore drilling operations on Sunday (Sep 13) in preparation for Tropical Storm Sally, forecast to become a hurricane before making landfall on Tuesday, the company said. Shell's offshore production was unchanged and all personnel remained on production platforms, company spokeswoman Cynthia Babski said. Energy producers and communities along the US Gulf Coast organised evacuations of residents and offshore workers on Sunday as they prepared for the second hurricane strike in less than a month. However, one firm, BHP does not plan to take workers from offshore facilities, a company spokeswoman said on Sunday. Tropical Storm Sally strengthened as it crept up the warm waters of the US Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, carrying winds that could reach 145 kilometres per hour ahead of landfall on Tuesday, forecasters said. It was about 450km east-southeast from the mouth of the Mississippi River and moving at 13 mph, according to … [Read more...] about Shell halts offshore drilling as US Gulf Coast braces for hurricane