All Railway Gazette International articles in April 1997
All articles published this month.
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News
Sidetrack
Subway legal twistsSidetrack reports more strange goings-on in the New York subway. Passengers at 50th Street can now stop off for a beer at the Siberia bar - which dodges MTA’s policy of not renting space to alcohol-vendors by being, technically, in the building upstairs.While the Siberia may be getting ...
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Transformers shrink by switching
INNOVATIONS in ferrous alloys are giving rolling stock designers valuable weight and space savings through improvements in transformer technology. Siemens’ subsidiary Vacuumschmelze (VAC) is offering a range of high-power transformers aimed at railway applications, including a cluster of units delivering 70 kW on ICE2 vehicles for air-conditioning and lighting power ...
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News
Publications
The Railways Act in practiceby Paul FawcettPrivatisation of British Rail converted an integrated state railway into nearly 80 independent companies. This reorganisation, and the subsequent contractual relationships between the track authority, train operators and other players is governed by the Railways Act 1993. This 68 page A5 booklet provides a ...
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News
Siemens restructures in search for profits
FURTHER rationalisation of rail activities was announced in Wien on March 11 by the President of Siemens Verkehrstechnik Dr Wolfram Martinsen. Although the division’s results improved from a DM120m loss in 1994-95 to a DM19m profit in 1995-96, on constant turnover of around DM4·3bn, he forecast losses of around DM80m ...
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News
Talent order
Talent orderGERMANY’s regional Ostmecklenburgische Eisenbahn has become the first independent railway to place a series order for the Talent lightweight diesel railcar developed by Bombardier Eurorail. The prototype built last year by Waggonfabrik Talbot in Aachen is currently undergoing a four-month revenue service demonstration on Netherlands Railways’ Leeuwarden - Sneek ...
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Market
Australia: Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co (Australia) Ltd has won a A$4m contract for signalling equipment on Sydney’s Homebush Bay Olympic branch.Bangladesh: The Asian Development Bank has commissioned Rendel Palmer & Tritton to examine the potential for the Jamuna road bridge to accommodate track wider than the 1000mm gauge line ...
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News
Letters
Setting a standard for autocouplersSir - It is good to see attempts being made again to introduce autocouplers into Europe on a large scale. The pattern described in your March issue (RG 3.97 p135) appears to be an unhappy compromise. It seems to have all the excessive weight and complexity ...
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Intelligence
CAPTION: German diesel engine manufacturer MTU has repowered this Russian-built Class TU7 loco for Vietnam Railways with a 12V 183 engine; further power units have been supplied for conversion of seven more TU7s and 15 Romanian-built D11HsCAPTION: China’s Dalian locomotive works has rolled out the first of 50 Class 2101 ...
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Intelligence
CAPTION: US Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene Molitoris boarded Japan’s experimental maglev train during a visit to the test site at Yamanashi prefecture on March 11CAPTION: German Railway and Foster Yeoman Ltd have set up a joint venture, DB Yeoman GmbH, to operate a General Motors Class 59 diesel to ...
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News
Intelligence
Brazil: Ferrovia Sul Atlântico, private operator of Rffsa’s former SR5 and SR6 regions (RG 2.97 p72), has announced a two year rebuilding programme for 100 diesel-electric locos.Europe: Eurotunnel’s Le Shuttle services show continuing recovery after last year’s fire disruption, with 123915 private vehicles carried in February, 48% more than the ...
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Industry
Czech Republic: CKD Praha Holding Co took over MSV Studénka on February 25, adding it to the CKD Transport Systems group.Europe: Following the merger of Cardo Group of Sweden with Thyssen Industrie of Germany to create the holding company Cardo BSI Rail, the SAB Wabco Group now comprises SAB Wabco, ...
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Open skies will hit high speed
APRIL 1 marks the long awaited liberalisation of civil aviation in the European Union. In theory, any EU airline will be able to fly between any cities charging any fare. When this happened in America a decade ago, the results were dramatic. As Jack Duchemin, a manager with SNCF, pointed ...
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Finance
Europe: Eurotunnel announced on February 24 that the syndicate of 225 banks had approved a nine-month extension of the suspension of interest payments until December 14 this year.Lithuania: The European Investment Bank is to lend Ecu22m to fund upgrading of the Sumskas - Klaipeda and Kaisiadorys - Kybartai lines.New Zealand: ...
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Fast food-cars lose weight
THIS MONTH sees the first catering cars enter service in German Railway’s ICE2 trainsets. The trains were commissioned last September, but catering was restricted to a trolley service. Changes to the specification of the catering cars had delayed construction, and only now are complete ICE2 formations being used.In contrast to ...
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News
KTT expresses to link Kowloon and Guangzhou
INTRO: Deliveries are due to begin this month of rolling stock for Kowloon - Canton Railway Corp’s 160 km/h KTT service, which will start running between Kowloon and Guangzhou later this year THIS MONTH is due to see the delivery of the first rolling stock to work 160 km/h inter-city ...
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Tilt no longer a novelty in Europe
INTRO: Roger Ford believes that body tilting has become a low risk bolt-on extra with provision for future retrofitting adding little to initial costsA CONFERENCE hosted by Britain’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers in January brought together presentations on all the European tilt technologies. While aimed at the renewed interest in ...
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Prism picks LTS EMU suppliers
BRITISH passenger train operator Prism Rail PLC announced on March 4 that it had selected Porterbrook Leasing and Adtranz to supply 44 four-car EMUs for its LTS Rail Ltd subsidiary operating the London - Tilbury - Southend route. The 160 km/h air-conditioned units are expected to cut journey times by ...
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News
Evaluating the economics of heavy haul railroading
INTRO: Global market pressures are continuing to push down heavy haul revenues, forcing operators to seek cost savings through technical innovationBYLINE: Thomas S GuinsManager, Engineering Economics,Association of American RailroadsOVER THE PAST 25 years, the world market for all bulk commodities has become less a function of geopolitics and more determined ...