All Railway Gazette International articles in April 2003
All articles published this month.
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News
Tamping tine tips
RE-TECH HandelsgesmbH and BTI-USA have jointly developed two designs of tamping tool tips, Speed Tip and Xtreme Tip. The carbide parts are designed to offer high availability and lower costs. The height and width can be made to suit a customer’s requirements, with the pad position selected to suit different ...
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News
Sidetrack
No ordinary weedYORK station car park is an unlikely location for botanical discoveries, but Dr Richard Abbott of St Andrews University has discovered a new species of plant there. He first spotted the ’scruffy-looking weed’ on a visit in 1979. On a more recent trip he noticed it had spread, ...
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News
Publications
Rail Freight Handbook 2003This A4 softback annual provides a comprehensive listing of the many organisations involved in Britain’s rail freight industry, including operators, infrastructure providers, customers and political organisations. Introductory articles by authors including Rail Regulator Tom Winsor and Network Rail Deputy CEO Ian Coucher look at issues affecting the ...
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News
Sumatra scheme proposed
THE INDONESIAN province of Riau has announced plans for a 1350 km network in northern central Sumatra. The province has allocated US$1·1bn, and commissioned a feasibility study.First phase would be a 225 km line from the terminus of the existing 1067mm gauge North Sumatra railway at Rantau Prapat to Riau’s ...
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News
Safety prioritised
AROUND 60 % of safety and security problems caused by users of Netherlands Railways are attributed to people without tickets. With a view to tackling this situation, fines for fare dodging are to be increased, and access to platforms at some stations is to be controlled by barriers operated by ...
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News
Pointers
n Queensland Railways is to put its tilting diesel trainsets into service between Brisbane and Cairns on June 15, state Transport Minister Steve Bredhauer announced on March 13. The existing Queenslander and Sunlander services were to be merged with effect from April 1. n An intergovernmental agreement for construction of ...
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News
Salzburg plans U-Bahn
AS PART of its bid to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2010, the Austrian city of Salzburg unveiled on March 7 a plan to develop a U-Bahn over the next six years. The idea is to extend the existing Lokalbahn from Lamprechtshausen, which now terminates beneath ÖBB’s main station, ...
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News
PEOPLE
Having first taken up the post in 1996, Louis Gallois has been reappointed as President of SNCF for a third term, lasting five years. He represents the state on the SNCF board, together with Christian Brossier, Jean-Didier Blanchet, Bruno Bézard, Pierre-Mathieu Duhamel, Nicolas Jacquet and Didier Bureau. Jacques Maillot represents ...
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News
Siemens wins Zürich order
SWISS FEDERAL Railways has ordered 35 double-deck EMUs from Siemens Schweiz AG for the next phase of the Zürich S-Bahn network, at a cost of SFr447m. The first unit is scheduled for delivery in October 2005, and all should be in traffic by January 2008. The air-conditioned four-car sets will ...
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News
Rolling news
AMSTERDAM tram passengers are now able to watch travel reports, news and information on the move. Since February 20, Mobil Info has been installed on 20 Combino trams. Eight 15 in video screens on each vehicle show ’infotainment’ programmes in 20 min cycles. Developed by Viacom Outdoor, Trend Network and ...
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News
Missouri Mule reprieved
THE Missouri legislature has approved an extra appropriation of $800 000 to support a twice daily passenger service between St Louis and Kansas City. Amtrak had served notice it would cease running the Missouri Mule from February 28 unless it received an additional $1·2m to cover its expenses for the ...
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News
Riders missing
LATER this year New Jersey Transit will open its 54·7 km South Jersey diesel light rail line. Sadly, the project looks set to be a serious drain on NJT’s finances, with farebox revenue expected to cover just 11% of estimated annual operating costs of $21·5m. Despite a planned bargain one-way ...
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News
Mid-Coast trolley
SAN DIEGO Metropolitan Transit Development Board voted on February 27 to build a further light rail line, serving the La Jolla area north of the city. The 17·2 km Mid-Coast line will start at the Old Town Transit Center and run north to the University of California-San Diego campus and ...
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News
Metros
Canada: Montréal Metro is planning to open a C$130m surveillance and control centre in 2005 to improve security.China: COWI is to assist Scott Wilson in preparing a tender design for the 1·7 km immersed tube tunnel which will carry the Sha Tin - Central line under Victoria Harbour in Hong ...
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News
Locos sold
AUSTRALIAN open access freight operator Silverton Rail announced last month that it had purchased 99 locomotives and 372 wagons from Pacific National. The locos form the bulk of the locos which PN was required to sell following the merger of National Rail and Freightcorp (RG 9.02 p455).Silverton has bought nine ...
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News
Lint orders
GERMAN Railway subsidiary DB Regionalbahn Westfalen has ordered 28 two-car Lint 41 diesel railcars from Alstom LHB, under a €60m contract which includes the refurbishment of 19 existing VT 640 single-car units. From December 2004 a batch of 21 units designated VT 648.1 will operate the Sauerland routes from ...
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News
Letters
Harbour tunnelSir - Hong Kong’s fourth cross-harbour rail tunnel (RG 3.03 p123) will form part of the Sha Tin to Central line, not the East Kowloon line. The SCL alignment through Kowloon is very similar to MTR Corp’s earlier East Kowloon line proposal, although SCL will now extend through to ...