Veolia Transport
Veolia Transport (formerly Connex) was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia Environnement until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev. Veolia Transport traded under the brand names of Veolia Transportation in North America and Israel, Veolia Transport, Veolia Verkehr in Germany and with the former name Connex preserved in Lebanon and Jersey.
On July 23, 2009, the merger between Veolia Transport and Transdev was announced.[1] Transdev was then a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts. The merger was completed in March 2011. Veolia Transdev became the world's private-sector leader in sustainable mobility with more than 110,000 employees in 28 countries.[2]
In July 2011, amid disappointing financial results, Veolia Environnement announced the launch of new restructuring plans and redeployment of assets and businesses.[3] In December 2011, Veolia announced a €5bn divestment program over 2012-2013. [4] As part of this programme, Veolia would divest its participation in Veolia Transdev and exit the transport business altogether.
Until 2011, Veolia had diverse road and rail operations across the globe, employing 72,000 workers worldwide and serving completely or partly about 40 metropolitan areas with more than 1,000,000 inhabitants, including:
- Africa: Rabat
- Asia : Mumbai, Seoul, Nanjing, Huainan, Hong Kong, Israel
- Europe : Paris, Marseille, Lyons, Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, Belgrade, Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, The Hague/Haaglanden, Helsinki, Prague, Warsaw, Dublin, Tyne & Wear,
- North America : Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Sacramento, San Diego and Toronto (York) Region,
- South America : Bogota and Santiago,
- Oceania : Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland.
In 2007, the group posted revenues of €5.6 billion.[5]
The rail freight branch of the organisation Veolia Cargo was sold in 2009 to SNCF and Eurotunnel.[6]
In March 2011 the holdings merged into Veolia Transdev.[7]
Asia
China
- Huaibei : Bus network operated as a joint venture into a city of 2 040 000 inhabitants (932 185 hab. urban in 2006) in Anhui province,
- Huainan : Bus network operated as a joint venture into a city of 1 076 000 inhabitants (1 075 754 hab. urban in 2006) in Anhui province,
- Nanjing : 2 bus networks into Pukou and Luhe Districts in the western part of the city on the other side of the Yangtze,
- Ma'anshan : Bus network operated as a joint venture into a city of 1 243 900 inhabitants (545 534 hab. urban in 2006) forming part of outer suburban Nanjing,
Hong Kong
Macau
- Macau: Veolia had successfully secured a bus operating contract effective October 2010 to operate two of five sections of bus routes in the city.
Israel
- Jerusalem: Veolia won a $500 million contract in 2003 to build and maintain the Jerusalem Light Rail system, which will comprise of eight lines running across the city. It is expected to be completed by 2020. The first line will run from the Israeli settlement of Pisgat Ze'ev to Beit HaKerem; it started operating in 2011. The controversial nature of the project has led Veolia to become a target of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.[9] Veolia in September 2009 agreed to sell part of its share in the project to the Dan Bus Company for $15–20 million.[10] The sale was however unsuccessful, and Veolia agreed in October 2010 to sell its stake to Egged instead. As a result, Dan sued Veolia.[11] As of December 2011, the sale to Egged was reported to have been held up by the Israeli state; the press reported that Veolia was exiting Israel altogether as a result of political pressures from the BDS movement [12] Egged will however need Veolia's expertise for at least five years to run the light rail successfully.
- Some of the buses operated by Veolia are designed to serve Israeli settlements; these are the lines 109, 110, 7 and 19. Bus service 7 runs from Modi’in to the settlements of Hashmonaim and Kfar Ha’oranim; bus 19 runs between Modi’in and the settlement of Mevo Horon.[14]
India
- Mumbai: Veolia is part of a consortium which is led by Anil Ambani's Reliance Energy Limited. They will build the first corridor of the Mumbai Metrorail on the 11.4 km stretch between Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar on the east-west corridor. The project is expected to begin by end of 2006, to be completed by March 2011. It is projected that the line will serve about 600,000 people during weekdays.[15]
South Korea
Lebanon
Europe
Belgium
- Autocars De Polder has been part of the Veolia Group since 1995.[16]
- Veolia operates some de Lijn routes under contract.
Czech Republic
Veolia Transport is one of the largest bus operators, operates also one regional railway line and one trolleybus network. Main acquisitions carried out (as Connex) in 2002–2004 (ČSAD Ostrava, Třinec, Praha-Vršovice, Příbram, DP Teplice), smaller in 2005 (MAD Kolín), 2008 (Nerabus), 2010 (Spojbus) etc. In summer 2008, it changed its trademark from Connex to Veolia Transport. In 2004–2007, several times competed or offered for passenger railway transport, however have got no new job yet.
- Veolia Transport Česká republika a. s. (since 2006 a daughter of German company VEOLIA Transport Central Europe GmbH) has 4 operator subcompanies:
- Veolia Transport Morava a. s. (based on former companies ČSAD BUS Ostrava→Connex Morava and ČSAD Třinec→BUS Slezsko), operates regional bus transport in Moravian-Silesian Region and Olomouc Region, urban bus networks in 7 cities, e. g. Třinec, Český Těšín, Šumperk and Krnov, many long-distance bus lines, some skibus and cyclobus lines etc. Operates the local railway line 293 (Desná Railway).
- Veolia Transport Východní Čechy a. s. (based on the former companies ČSAD AUTOBUSY CZ Chrudim→Connex Východní Čechy and Městská autobusová doprava Kolín, s. r. o.), operates regional bus transport in the east Bohemia (east part of Central Bohemian Region, Pardubice Region, Hradec Králové Region etc.), urban bus networks in Chrudim, Kutná Hora and Kolín and some long-distance bus, skibus and cyclobus lines.
- Veolia Transport Praha s. r. o. (based on the former companies ČSAD Praha-Vršovice→Connex Praha, ČSAD Příbram→Connex Příbram, NERABUS s. r. o. and SPOJBUS s. r. o.), operates regional bus transport mostly south and south-east of Prague, including several bus lines of Prague city transport and urban bus networks in Příbram, Neratovice, Roudnice nad Labem, Říčany etc.
- Veolia Transport Teplice s. r. o. (based on the former city enterprise DP Teplice), operates urban network of bus and trolleybus lines in Teplice.
Denmark
- Veolia ran half of the transport operations of the privatised Combus especially around Copenhagen. These operations were sold to Arriva in October 2007.
Finland
- Helsinki: Veolia owns Helsinki Metropolitan Area's bus company Veolia Finland, which was previously Linjebuss and operates essentially in Vantaa, a northern suburb of Helsinki.
- Tampere: Veolia owns the regional bus company previously known as Alhonen & Lastunen
- Seinäjoki: Veolia owns yet another local bus company, now known as Veolia Transport West Oy, operating both local and long-distance routes.
France
- The company is the third largest private sector operator of public transport and operates:
- 7 tramway networks across the country: 5 in service (Bordeaux, Nice, Rouen, Nancy) ; 1 in construction in suburban Lyon, (Lesly) and two in project (Le Havre and Toulon)
- 77 bus networks (January 1, 2009), especially in Bordeaux, Nice, Rouen, Saint-Étienne, Toulon, Le Havre and Nancy
- More than 25 suburban networks in suburban Paris : (Seine-St-Denis "TRA", Melun "Tram", Sénart "Sénart Bus", etc.)
- 4 tourist railways (Petit train de la Rhune, Vapeur du Trieux, Chemin de Fer de La Mure and Chemins de Fer de Provence)[17]
- Ferry services in Mediterranéa: Veolia recently bought 28% of the Société Nationale Maritime Corse Méditerranée, a previously state-owned ferry company.
Germany
- Veolia Verkehr, former Connex Verkehr, offers train services, several of a regional character such as the Bayerische Oberlandbahn from Munich, and two long-distance services. Veolia owns a number of bus companies, mostly in suburban areas. It also operates tram systems:
- Aachen: Suburban buses,
- Berlin: Suburban tram line linking to the S Bahn,
- Frankfurt: Suburban buses,
- Hagen: Urban network,
- Pforzheim: Urban network won by Veolia in August 2006. Network included in "Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund GmbH" (KVV) and linked to it by Tram-Train line,
- Schwäbisch Hall: Urban network,
- Stuttgart: Suburban buses,
- ...and also into rural areas.
Ireland
- Dublin: Veolia operates the Luas tramway which started operations in June 2004.
- Galway: Veolia owned the Nestor Airlink bus company which operates between Galway and Dublin Airport. However Jim Burke & Sons own and run it as of March 2009.
Jersey
Netherlands
- Veolia Transport Nederland consists of:
- Veolia Transport Veluwe, operating in "De Veluwe" region in Gelderland,
- Veolia Transport Brabant, operating in middle and western Noord-Brabant with 4 urban networks in Breda, Tilburg, Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal,
- Veolia Transport Limburg, operating in the whole province of Limburg, including city buses in Maastricht, Parkstad (Heerlen-Kerkrade-Landgraaf-Brunssum), Venlo, and Roermond and the Roermond–Nijmegen and Maastricht–Kerkrade train routes.
- Veolia Transport Fast Ferries Zeeland (Westerschelde ferry).
- Veolia Transport Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen, in the southern part of Zeeland province.
- formerly Veolia Cargo Nederland – freight trains. (Veolia Cargo sold in 2009)
Norway
Poland
- Veolia owns a number of bus companies and operates an urban network:
- Tczew: Urban city network.
Serbia
- Veolia owns a number of bus companies and operates 2 urban networks:
Slovakia
- Nitra: Urban network and bus station.
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
- Gothenburg: Veolia owns the ferry company Styrsöbolaget that operates the cross-river ferries (Älvsnabben) as well as the ferries to the south archipelago. Veolia also operate some local city bus networks or interurban lines on contract to the local authorities (Västtrafik).
- Norrköping: Veolia operate the Norrköping tramway on behalf of Östgötatrafiken.
- Stockholm: Veolia runs three tram (Lidingöbanan, Nockebybanan and Tvärbanan) or local rail networks (Saltsjöbanan) in the city on behalf of SL. It also runs the long distance trains from Gothenburg and Stockholm to northern Sweden, as well as several local city bus networks or interurban lines on contract to local authorities. Veolia ran the Stockholm Metro contracted by the Stockholm County Council until 2009, after which the contract was taken over by Hong Kong's MTR.[18]
United Kingdom
- Connex South Eastern - A train operator on the southeastern of England ran from 1996 to 9 November 2003, the contract being due to run to 2011. It was stripped of its contract early due to poor financial management after repeated warnings from Government.
- Connex South Central - A train operator on the southern of England ran from October 1996 to mid-2001, the contact being due to run to 2003. It lost out in the competition for a new longer contract, being beaten by the GoVia consortium.
- Dunn-Line – A National Express franchisee. Veolia sold its Nottingham bus and private hire coach operations to Premiere Travel from 31 January 2011; on 6 January 2011, its National Express coach work from the city passed to Yourbus.[19]
- Veolia Transport Cymru, which has bought up the following:
- Pullman Coaches.
- Bebb Travel – A National Express franchisee,
- Shamrock Coaches are seen with Veolia address and contact details as well as their own and vice versa.
- Hawkes
- Longs
- Astons Coaches (Kempsey, Worcester)
- Paul James Coaches Taken over by Centrebus Autumn 2011
- Veolia Transport – Running a number of local services in Tyne & Wear. (Veolia local and sightseeing services in York were taken over by Transdev York in Summer 2008.)
Despite the merger with Transdev, the former Veolia operations are to be disposed of, with all but one of the South Wales depots due to close before July 2011. Notification has been made with the regulator VOSA for the deregistration of most South Wales services. As of May 2011 there is no news regarding the future ownership of the remaining English Midlands and North East Veolia operations.
North America
Veolia Transportation is the North American business unit of Veolia Transport[20]
Canada
In April 2005 Veolia were awarded the contract in York Region in suburban Toronto, Ontario, Canada running the bus rapid transit (BRT) naming the routes VIVA and joining with York Region Transit (YRT) as a one fare transit system.[21]
Veolia also operates transit services in the Greater Montreal Area
United States
Veolia arrived in the United States in 2001, with the acquisition of Yellow Transportation in Baltimore, Maryland. On September 1, 2005, Veolia (then "Connex") acquired ATC, making Connex-ATC the largest privately owned public transportation company in North America. In 2006, Connex-ATC changed its name to Veolia Transportation, acquired ShuttlePort, and won several contracts in the USA, including:
- Antelope Valley Transit Authority in Los Angeles County, California,
- Atlanta : In suburban Gwinnett County, Georgia, Gwinnett County Transit operates bus routes within as well as Express Bus routes to Atlanta.
- Austin : Capital MetroRail and bus routes throughout Austin and surrounding communities. In March 2009, employees of Veolia Transportation were said to have tested trains on rail sections without prior approval and hence the Capital MetroRail was delayed.[22]
- Boston : Veolia operates the MBTA's regional commuter rail operations in conjunction with Bombardier Transportation and Alternate Concepts, Inc.[23] as the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad.
- Charm City Circulator operates service throughout Downtown Baltimore.
- Denver, CO : Regional Transportation District (RTD) routes throughout the metro-wide District.
- Las Vegas: RTC Transit in Las Vegas including The Deuce & MAX (Contract expires September 25, 2011)
- Los Angeles : Metrolink, 2005-2010. A Connex/Veolia engineer texting on-duty was responsible for a head-on collision causing 26 deaths and 135 injuries, the deadliest incident in Metrolink history, leading the Metrolink board to return to the previous contractor, Amtrak.[24]
- Miami : Tri-Rail, a train system won in 2007 in the Miami metropolitan area of Florida.
- Nassau County, New York: Veolia won a contract to operate Nassau Inter-County Express in place of the MTA on June 10, 2011, effective January 1, 2012.[25]
- New Jersey : Certain bus routes in Monmouth County as part of New Jersey Transit Bus Operations.
- New Orleans : New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, won in 2008
- Phoenix : the Valley Metro bus system serving the Phoenix metropolitan area of Arizona with contracts in Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe,
- Redding: Redding Area Bus Authority
- Sacramento : In suburban Yolo County, California, Yolobus provides public transportation.
- San Diego : San Diego Metropolitan Transit System bus routes and the SPRINTER DMU rail system in San Diego County, California,
- Victor Valley transit serving the Victorville, California area.
Veolia now employs over 16,000 employees with 6,500 vehicles and a revenue of over $1 billion. in 2005 in North America. Its executive team includes Mark Joseph (CEO of VTNA). It is headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois.
Veolia also owns the SuperShuttle shared-ride airport shuttle service, as well as the ExecuCar black car/sedan service. Veolia also operates taxicab services across the country under various brands.
Oceania
Australia
- Connex changed its name to the same as its French parent company's, Veolia, in January 2006. Branding on buses and trains is being changed to reflect this position, with the exception of Connex Melbourne. Turnover for Australia is over $635 million Australian dollars.
Former Operations
New Caledonia
- Nouméa: Veolia created and runs the Noumea suburban bus network.
New Zealand
South America
Chile
- Santiago: Veolia operates feeder services to the Metro and "Troncales" in northern suburban Santiago.
Colombia
- Bogotá: Veolia, in conjunction with three other operators, runs a 90 km right-of-way bus line called the TransMilenio system used by more than 1,400,000 persons a day.
Controversy
In Israel, Veolia has been contracted, among other contractors, to develop and operate the Jerusalem Light Rail [1] running from Mt. Herzl in the South Western section of Jerusalem to the North of the city, where neighborhoods that their annexation by Israel is contested by some are located. In November 2006, ASN, a Dutch bank, broke off financial relations with Veolia on account of the light rail contract.
According to Al-Jazeera "Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR) has overseen significant research that makes a strong legal case for local authorities to exclude Veolia Environmental Services from bidding for local authority contracts. This will enable campaigners to challenge UK local authorities which hold a contract with, or invite, Veolia to tender for a contract. If no satisfactory response is given, legal action could be the next move."[27]
It should be noted that since the light rail is set to provide services also to the residents of Arab neighborhoods of East and North East Jerusalem (Shuafat, Bab a-Zahara and Beit Hanina), as seen in the light rail route map [2], the allegations are disputable, especially considering the reaction to the alternative in which these neighborhoods would not have been included in the route plan.
References
External links
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