All Railway Gazette International articles in April 1999
All articles published this month.
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News
Quiet slab track
Hsc Deutschland has developed the Promak¨ PU range of embedding compounds specifically for use with slab track on light rail, metro and suburban systems. Suitable for injection by machine or pouring by hand, the elastic polyurethane compounds can help to reduce airborne and structure-borne noise as well as vibration.The thickness ...
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News
Publications
UIC Statistics 1997The latest edition of the UIC statistics covers, with a few exceptions, the period January - December 1997. Countries are grouped into areas such as EU, EFTA, Central/Eastern Europe/ North Africa and Middle East. The tables show network details such as electrification and double-track, traction, passenger and freight ...
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News
PEOPLE
Dr Heinz Dürr has stepped down as Chairman of Deutsche Bahn AG. Dr Dieter Vogel has been nominated as his replacement.Juhani Kopperi has taken over as President of VR Ltd, the operating arm of Finland’s VR Group. He succeeds Erkki Hämäläinen. James R Van Epps has become Executive Manager of ...
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News
Pandrol to be sold
ANNOUNCING its preliminary results for 1998 on March 16, British-based industrial and engineering congolmerate Charter plc revealed that it is to spin off its Pandrol Rail Fastenings subsidiary. Chief Executive Nigel Smith said ’a comprehensive strategic review focussing on the creation of shareholder value has resulted in the decision to ...
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News
RENFE to order rolling stock
SPANISH National Railways has been allocated Pts300bn for investment in rolling stock during the 1999-2003 Contract Programme, according to the Minister of Development. He told local representatives from Alstom, Siemens, Adtranz, CAF and Talgo at the end of February that the plan will encompass new funding sources, including leasing and ...
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News
Night train revamp
German Railway is spending over DM120m in a programme to refurbish its couchette and sleeping car fleet. From the start of the summer timetable at the end of May, overnight trains will be marketed as ’DB Nachtzug’. Marketing and management will be in the hands of DB AutoZug, a DB ...
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News
NEWS
CAPTION: A ceremony at Tokyo Central on March 13 marked the start of revenue services with the first production Series 700 shinkansen trains developed by JR Central and JR West (RG 10.98 p697). Four trains will work three Nozomi expresses each way between Tokyo and Hakata, cutting 7min off ...
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NEWS
March 10 saw the restoration of rail freight services between Yugoslavia and Bosnia-Herzegovina with the reopening of the line between Brasina in Serbia and Zvornik Novia in Bosnia. Common regulations for train operations were agreed by JZ and BHZJK on March 5 under the terms of a co-operation accord signed ...
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MTR sale
Presenting the region's budget to the Legislative Council on March 3, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen announced that metro operator MTR Corp will be partially privatised in the next two years. The administration plans 'to privatise a substantial minority share of MTRC through a public offering', ...
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News
A testing moment
ON March 22 Bombardier Transportation opened a US$5m test centre for passenger rail vehicles at its Plattsburgh plant in New York state. Plattsburgh engineers now have available an 800m outdoor test track fitted with a third rail power supply and two 90m indoor test sections. Among the first vehicles ...
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News
Millipede to the rescue
THE NEWS that the Italian government has come up with an R87m loan to help fund rehabilitation of the Matsapha - Mpaka - Goba line (p197) comes as a welcome relief to Swaziland Railways’ Chief Executive Officer Gideon Mahlalela. Freight volumes have been falling sharply, which he suggests may be ...
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News
Metros
Argentina: Metrovías has received 12 of 30 cars for Buenos Aires Line D from Nagoya Metro, costing 25m pesos. They have been refurbished for 1·5 kV DC overhead by Osaka Sharyo Kogyo Co Ltd with electronic traction equipment.China: On March 5 Hong Kong MTR Corp awarded an HK$1·1bn contract to ...
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Modern steam serves niche markets
A Swiss company has rebuilt a main line steam locomotive in an experiment to assess the viability of a marriage between the earliest and the latest traction technology
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News
Market
Argentina: Under its 1999-2000 investment programme, Ferrosur has signed an agreement to purchase four locomotives from General Electric. Wagon rebuilding is providing 120 additional container flats and 200 cement hoppers. Australia: National Rail Corp has ordered 10 side-tipping wagons from Evans Deakin Industries subsidiary Clyde Engineering at a cost of ...
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News
TRAX makes progress
ON MARCH 3 the Utah legislature agreed to provide up to $50m of operating assistance over 10 years for Utah Transit Authority’s proposed west-east TRAX light rail line in Salt Lake City. This clears the way for a Federal Transit Authority grant of $480m to cover the construction cost of ...
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News
Stockholm LRV ready
STORSTOCKHOLMS Lokaltrafik, Bombardier Transportation and Adtranz formally unveiled on February 25 the first LRV for a 10·2 km orbital light rail line in the Swedish capital which opens in August. The pre-series car was demonstrated on the Adtranz test track at Västerås prior to delivery.SL has ordered 12 cars to ...
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News
Seattle sets LRT routes
SOUND TRANSIT has selected final alignments for the light rail lines in Tacoma and Seattle, which are due to open in 2001 and 2006. On February 12 the ST board picked an L-shaped route for the 2·6 km Tacoma line between the Tacoma Dome commuter parking garage and the Theatre ...
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News
Operation Lifesaver is working
A SEMI-TRAILER laden with steel killed 11 passengers aboard Amtrak’s City of New Orleans when the driver apparently ignored flashing lights and drove around barriers at a level crossing in Bourbonnais, Illinois at 21.47 on March 15. More than 100 other passengers were injured. All the fatalities were in a ...
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News
Letters
New York, New YorkSir - I refer to Alan Levitt’s letter about Grand Central Terminal (RG 2.99 p78). Unfortunately, there are several factual errors which need to be corrected.The terminal was opened for service in November 1913 as the third station in that location. The first two stations were replaced ...
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News
Karaj opens
TEHRAN Urban & Suburban Railway Co has started revenue services on its 42 km outer-suburban feeder line linking Karaj to the Tehran metro Line 2 at Ayatollah Kashani. At the beginning of February TUSR announced that following trials the line would be open to traffic for 3h each day. Services ...