Cattala Rail

Cattala Rail (CR, National Rail) is the Cattalian railway company, an independent public company wholly owned by the Ministry of Transport with its headquarters in Jennai. It was founded in 1945 as the National Railway Service but was instituted by Royal Charter in 1951 as Cattala Rail as the successor to the defunct National Rail Foundation that had been closed down during the Second World War.

It maintains 2,957 km of railway track and 538 stations as well as serving 6.353 billion passengers per year on its network, making it the largest independent railway operator in the southern Mediterranean.

History
After the Second World War, Cattala's railways were in ruins. Entirely operated for German and Italian military use through the war, no passenger services ran during the occupation years. They were prime targets of the militia and guerilla forces operating under the broad banner of resistance and were heavily bombed ahead of Allied invasion in 1943.The South Coast Main Line, Transmonte Eastern, Albert Line and West Coast Main Line were bombed to destruction.

The National Railway Service (NRS) was founded in 1945 and became the sole, state-owned operator of the railway infrastructure and services from then on, although for the first ten years almost all of its spending went on reconstruction and restoration efforts. In 1951 it was formally established by Royal Charter as "NRS".

Sweeping changes occurred on the railways during its period of management, with the introduction of a fleet of diesel and electric trains in the 1960s and 1970s to replace aging steam trains and heavy investment in new routes and services despite falling passenger numbers and more people using cars. By the mid-1980s NRS had fallen deep into debt and the Ministry for Transport took over direct control and began preparing a major Parliamentary bill to reform the NRS business model.

Railway Bill 1990 - present
Main Article: Future Railway Projects in Cattala

The Railway Bill as a scathing attack on NRS' financial failings. It emerged that large numbers of diesel trains were left idle after the electrification of the West Coast Main Line and the South Coast Main Line and costs of running four of the nine main lines were significantly higher than income. The NRS was split into two divisions, the "Cattala Rail" group, which would maintain the lines and operate services, and the Railway Office, which would be a government body regulating the railway provider and assessing its financial obligations and quality of service.

The railways were also to be restructured by the bill, which was the first time Parliament had directly intervened in rail policy since 1951. The flagship policy was the merger of the West Coast Main Line, Transmonte Express, Southport Line and part of the South Coast Main Line to form an InterCity line between Calora, Celeste and Jennai and the purchase of new Rapido 1 trains to operate on the line. The upgrade of Jennai Airport station, an expansion of services on the shortened South Coast Main Line and the splitting of the Transmonte routes were also put before Parliament.

A more conservative, long-term approach to investment has been taken by Cattala Rail and the Railway Office, who have sought to keep costs down and make greater efficiency improvements than under NRS. Branch lines have seen service reductions and a fall in investment as main routes were prioritised, and major projects like the 10-year rebuilding and expansion of Seina Central station took up large amounts of funding. Fleet modernisation began in 2000, and all lines except the InterCity now operate post-millenium trains.

In 2011 Cattala Rail and the Ministry for Transport announced in the Railway Review a number of future projects, including their 10-year and 20-year plans for the railway network.

Corporate subdivisions
Cattala Rail is organised as a business group and is split into six main operations groups, each company running part of the railway operation in the country. Branding is either in the distinctive Cattala Rail roundel or a localised variant.

CR Network
CR Network was formed in 1990 as CR the department responsible for the railway operations, akin to SNCF Infra in France. It works closely with the Ministry of Transport to coordinate the delivery of infrastructure programmes in order to provide long-term transport systems. It owns the infrastructure, including the railway tracks, signals, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and most stations, but not the passenger or commercial freight rolling stock, which is owned by the regional service providers.

In 2003 it bought out NEG Rail, which had previously provided electricity and diesel for the rail network, at a cost of $85 million. NEG Rail was subsequently merged into the CR Network group. In 2008, plans to divest the station management business to the service providers were revealed but abandoned by the time of the 2011 Railway Review.

InterCity Rail Group
InterCity Rail Group was formed in 1988 during the final years of NRS as a separate body ahead of the release of the Railway Bill. IRG operates all rail services on the InterCity franchise, and controls all railway operations on the West Coast. It is the largest of the five rail service providers (RSPs), with a net capitalisation of $1.4 billion and a core route of 598km, with additional operations management responsibility for a further 300km.

Albert Trains
Albert Trains operates on the secondary main line franchised between the southern Amosseri town of Albert Hall and the city of Celeste, which is managed by IRG. It owns a fleet of 12 Electrostar trains that have extended operations to Jennai Victoria for the first time. Albert Trains operations were put out to tender in 2010 to pay for a significant investment in new trains and station facilities by Cattala Rail. It is now managed on a 15-year lease by Abellio Cattala.

Regional Rail Group
The Regional Rail Group was first created in 1975 by NRS and dissolved in 1978 after the construction of the Lessito Link rail project was completed. It was re-established in 1990 after the creation of Cattala Rail to manage the Lessito Link and Transmonte Eastern franchises. It is the smallest publicly operated division of Cattala Rail. It has a partnership with Stagecoach Group, who operate bus services in Cattala and rail services in the UK. The Railway Office has previously suggested putting the Regional franchise out to tender, although the current Alliance government has no plans to expand the private lease programme beyond Albert Trains until a review is conducted in 2015.

CR Northern
CR Northern operates over the largest area of any Cattala Rail subsidiary, controlling the Northern Railway franchise between Calora and Cape Point. It was established in 1990 as the department responsible for all railway operations in the north of the country from its main offices in Seina. CR Northern is the focus of a multi-billion dollar investment by Cattala Rail and the Ministry of Transport, who are building the Pendolino 1 line parallel with the Northern Railway up to Rosebrenne Junction between 2014 and 2018. Pendolino 2 will include the rebuilding and addition of further lines to the entire Northern Railway beyond the Pendolino 1 junction. CR Northern and CR Network are jointly planning and operating the works, which will cause significant disruption to the railway in the north for 11 years.

CR Southern
CR Southern operates the rail network in south eastern Cattala, primarily the South Coast Main Line and the Ontano Line. It was established in 1990 as the department responsible for all rail services in the south-east of the country, from its main offices in Santa Cecilia. Past proposals to merge it with Transport for Jennai have been resisted by activists in Lessito.