All Railway Gazette International articles in April 2011 – Page 4
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NewsPRASA to order 6 000 vehicles under fleet renewal plan
SOUTH AFRICA: Details of a R97bn large-scale rolling stock renewal plan were set out when Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa held an industry day on April 5 to gauge interest from potential suppliers and financiers. There is an 'urgent' need for new trains to replace life-expired vehicles based on ...
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NewsChengdu Metro orders more cars
CHINA: CSR has signed a 520m yuan contract to supply Chengdu Metro with a third batch of trains, taking its total orders for the city’s metro network to 354 cars. The vehicles are required for the 19·5 km second phase of Line 2.Line 1, which entered trial operation on September ...
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NewsADB supports Bangalore metro
INDIA: The Asian Development Bank has approved a loan of up to US$250m over 18 years for the US$2·7bn metro project currently under construction in Bangalore. Bangalore Metro Rail Corp is building a 42·3 km standard-gauge network in the capital of Karnataka, comprising an 18·1 km east-west line with 17 ...
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NewsNortheast Corridor tops bidding for US high speed funding
USA: There has been overwhelming demand for a share of the $2·4bn of federal high speed rail funding rejected by the Governor of Florida, according to US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. He said on April 6 that 90 applications totalling more than $10bn had been received from 24 states, ...
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NewsPTC scaled back to save $500m
USA: The Federal Railroad Administration has agreed to put forward revised requirements for the roll-out of Positive Train Control, after the Association of American Railroads launched a legal challenge to the original scope (RG 3.11 p31). The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 requires more than 40 railway operators to ...
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NewsTramlink Nottingham named preferred bidder for NET Phase 2
UK: Nottingham City Council announced on March 29 that the Tramlink Nottingham consortium had been chosen as preferred bidder for the Nottingham Express Transit Phase Two concession, which covers construction of two extensions to the light rail network and operation of the network including the existing Line 1. The government ...
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NewsWork starts on passenger lines
CHINA: Work is underway on the first Passenger-Dedicated Line in Inner Mongolia, a 286 km route linking provincial capital Hohhot with the eastern city of Zhangjiakou. A ceremony on February 28 marked the start of construction on the line, which is designed for 250 km/h running and will have ...
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NewsToronto unveils revised transit plan
CANADA: Top officials of the City of Toronto and the Province of Ontario announced a new C$12·4bn transit plan on March 31. This envisages a fully-underground 25 km Eglinton Avenue light rail line and two extensions of the Sheppard subway totalling 13 km. The province will contribute C$8·4bn towards the ...
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NewsPortland light rail extension starts final design
USA: The Federal Transit Administration has approved the start of final design for the $1·5bn MAX light rail extension to the Portland suburb of Milwaukie. The 11·7 km project, dubbed the Orange Line, is already at the 30% design stage. TriMet had previously received FTA permission to start building the ...
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NewsBursa light rail receives international funding
TURKEY: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development has approved a 15-year loan worth €50m towards construction of the second phase of the light rail network in Bursa. The loan is part of a financing package which also includes €100m from the European Investment Bank. The BursaRay light rail network ...
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NewsGauge-enhancement work completed
UK: The completion of a £71m programme to allow 9 ft 6 in containers to be carried on conventional flat wagons from the UK's second-largest container port was marked with a ceremony at Southampton Central station on April 4. The enhancement of the loading gauge on the key artery between ...
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John Fullerton
John Fullerton took over as Chief Executive of Australian Rail Track Corp at the end of February, succeeding David Marchant. He was previously Chief Executive for Asia Pacific Transport and Freightlink, and before that Divisional General Manager of Operation Services at Pacific National.
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NewsRhein-Neckar Verkehr orders more supercapacitor trams
GERMANY: Rhein-Neckar regional transport operator RNV has ordered a further 11 low-floor Variobahn trams for €33m, Bombardier Transportation announced on April 4. They will be fitted with Bombardier's Mitrac Energy Saver technology, which uses roof-mounted double-layer supercapacitors to store electricity regenerated during braking for reuse when accelerating. Trials in ...
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NewsFyra shuttles run through to Breda
NETHERLANDS: NS Hispeed finally began running Fyra services between Amsterdam and Breda on April 4, when the interim locomotive-hauled shuttle was extended from Rotterdam to Breda. Operating at half-hourly intervals, the trains take 67 min from Amsterdam Centraal to Breda, including intermediate stops at Schiphol Airport and Rotterdam Centraal. The ...
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Akhtar returns to Pakistan Railways
Pakistan: Saeed Akhtar has returned to Pakistan Railways as General Manager, Operations, replacing Ashfaq Khattak who has been moved to General Manager, Development. Akhtar had been GM Operations before being appointed Federal Government Inspector of Railways. The former General Manager, Development, Shahid Ahmad has been named Managing Director of Pakistan ...
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NewsAlaska Railroad tenders Port MacKenzie extension works
USA: Tenders are to be invited this month for construction work on the first section of Alaska Railroad’s 51 km Port MacKenzie Extension, following the publication of the final Environmental Impact Statement by the Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis on March 25. The line is intended to connect ...
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NewsAlstom and CNR exhibiting at SIFER
FRANCE: Held every two years, the Sifer trade exhibition returns to its accustomed venue at Lille's Grand Palais on April 5-7 with more than 200 exhibitors from 13 countries already finalised. Two headline names stand out. Alstom will be exhibiting for the first time as part of the Northern France ...
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NewsSpeedier data collection
GERMANY: Trimble has added to its rail data product range with the acquisition of the GEDO CE Trolley from German firm Vermessungsbedarf. The trolley is designed to speed the collection of track alignment and loading gauge data for maintenance purposes; it is particularly suited to measuring older infrastructure. The vehicle ...
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NewsExpo branch revived
SPAIN: ADIF has awarded a joint venture of Iberovías, Sando and Elecnor a €324m contract to convert the branch to La Cartuja into route C2 of the Sevilla suburban network. Covering a total of 12 km, the project includes conversion of 53 km originally built for high speed ...
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NewsGO Transit tracks change hands
CANADA: Metrolinx, the regional transport agency for Greater Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, confirmed on March 30 that it had completed the purchase of a section of CN's Kingston Subdivision for C$299m. Running eastwards from Toronto’s Union station to Pickering, Ontario, the two and three-track line is primarily used by GO ...