By Y. Sulaiman

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (eTN Asia) -- The Malaysian government will study a private sector proposal to build a high-speed 'bullet train' service pegged to cost some US$2.9 billion.

The company, YTL Corporation, is the major consortium partner of the company that built the dedicated Express Rail Link (ERL) 'rapid train' service from the Kuala Lumpur Central Station to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

"This is a major project," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said. "We would like to see a proper submission made."

The government, however, has approved a feasibility study for the project that was first proposed two years ago.

As the country’s present railway track is not built for high-speed train service, a new standard gauge railway line will have to be built to accommodate the new trains which will travel at a speed of up to 350km per hour.

"They have told us the project is feasible," added Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy.  "We are waiting for a detailed proposal from the consortium partners. It is a private sector proposal and it will be funded privately."

By Nelson Alcantara

Following last weekend’s resignation of Gustav Humbert over the delays in the production of the company’s A380 super jumbo, Europe's leading commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus has hired Chirstian Streiff as Airbus president and chief executive officer, it was announced.

The new appointment follows Streiff’s July 2 nomination to the position, now ratified by the Airbus Shareholder Committee made up from representatives of Airbus shareholders, EADS and BAE Systems.

Prior to his appointment at Airbus, Christian Streiff was Deputy CEO of Saint-Gobain Group, a position he held until 2005, Airbus said in a release.

Streiff has a degree in civil engineering and has had ample experience in manufacturing and as corporate planning manager.  From 2001 till 2003, Streiff has carried out functions as senior vice president of the Saint-Gobain Group and president of the Abrasives and Ceramics & Plastics Division (formerly Norton), a very international US-based division, before being named deputy CEO of Saint Gobain.

Christian Streiff is a supervisory board member of the German companies Thyssen-Krupp AG and Continental AG as well as of Prysmian SpA (Italy).

The jet hit a building, broke up and burst into flames

Nearly 150 people, including many children, are feared dead after a Russian airliner crashed in Siberia.
The S7 Airlines Airbus was flying from Moscow when it crashed on landing at Irkutsk airport.

The plane reportedly slid off the runway and hit a building at about 0800 on Sunday (2300 GMT Saturday).

Both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder have been recovered and will be analyzed in Moscow, Transport Minister Levitin said.

"Experts have started their work on the two flight recorders found at the site," Levitin said. "On the instruction of President (Vladimir) Putin, a governmental commission has been formed with me as head to investigate the causes of the crash and to provide necessary assistance to the relatives of the dead."

The plane was carrying eight crew members and 193 passengers at the time of the crash, a Sibir Airlines spokesman Konstantin Koshman told "Russia Today" English language news service.

Many of the passengers were reported to be children travelling to the nearby popular holiday destination of Lake Baikal.

By David Browne eTN London

A shock report has cast doubt on the value of the Olympic Games for tourism. It says cities that have put on the Olympics in recent years have suffered a slump in tourism and the recovery was no better than in comparable destinations that had not been involved in the event.

The report says there is no long-term boost to tourism, as has been widely asserted. It concludes that there is little evidence of any benefit to tourism from hosting an Olympic Games, and considerable evidence of damage.

The report was released by the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) as part of the debate into plans for the 2012 Olympics in London. “The Olympic Games do not turn tourists into sports fans or sports fans into tourists,” said Tom Jenkins, ETOA executive director. “The presence of the Olympics deters tourists; they perceive that the city will be full, disrupted, congested and over-priced. A reduction in the numbers of regular tourists halts the conveyor belt of satisfied customers bringing more visitors.”

The report’s findings are hotly contested by VisitBritain, which predicts that the 2012 Olympics will attract additional visitors and add at least £2 billion in tourist revenues to London.