All Railway Gazette International articles in April 2012 – Page 4
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NewsAdelaide upgrade underway
AUSTRALIA: Electrification of Adelaide's 1600 mm gauge suburban network is underway as part of the South Australia government's A$2·6bn Building a Better Adelaide Metro project. A seven-month shutdown of the Gawler line between Mawson Interchange and Gawler will allow a major revitalisation including track and level crossing upgrades, 25 kV ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market April 2012
Australia: Western Australia PTA has awarded UK firm Volo TV a £1m contract to provide at-seat touchscreen entertainment on Perth – Kalgoorlie trains. Angola: CNR began shipping 120 coaches to Angola in late February. Canada: Export-Import Bank of the United States provided a C$83·1m loan guarantee to support ...
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NewsEU backs coach manufacturing revival
HUNGARY: The MÁV-Gépészet engineering business of national railway MÁV has restarted coach manufacturing at the Szolnok workshops, 18 years after production ceased. The EU is providing HF463m of support for the HF1·4bn project, which includes equipping the workshops with new tools. The plant will produce 200 km/h inter-city vehicles for ...
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NewsYard capacity increased by 20%
GERMANY: The Mayor of Mannheim officially reopened the city’s main marshalling yard on February 27, following a €100m project to increase throughput by up to 20% and cut maintenance costs. As well as renewal of the 170 km of track and 550 turnouts, modernisation has included full automation including remote-controlled ...
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NewsCoal line memorandum
INDONESIA: Having completed a feasibility study last year, Russian Railways has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Governor of East Kalimantan province to assist with the development of a proposed US$2·4bn coal railway on the island of Borneo. Construction could begin next year, with the 185 km first phase ...
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NewsWorld rail market April 2012
Australia: Transport for New South Wales has appointed Turner & Townsend to provide cost planning services for the Sydney light rail strategic plan. Arup, Hassell and Aurecon are engineering and design advisors. Zonegreen is to supply its Smart depot personnel protection system for the City Rail EMU maintenance centre ...
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News
Marcel Theis
Marcel Theis has been named Chief Operating Officer of Luxembourg’s CFL Cargo while Sven Mertes becomes Chief Commercial Officer.
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NewsWuxi metro Line 1 train order
CHINA: CSR Zhuzhou signed a contract to supply 23 six-car trains for the future Wuxi metro Line 1 on March 21. Deliveries are scheduled to run from March 2013 to June 2014, when trial running on the 30·5 km line is scheduled to start. The Type B ...
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NewsArad upgrading contract awarded
ROMANIA: Infrastructure manager CFR SA has awarded a €300m contract to upgrade the 41 km line from the Hungarian border to Curtici and Arad by June 2014. The EU-backed project includes installation of ETCS Level 2 and renewal of track and electrification equipment to enable passenger trains to run ...
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NewsRail road solution bypasses Stromeferry rock fall
UK: A rock fall which obstructed the A890 road near Stromeferry in the Scottish Highlands in December left communities isolated, with a 225 km round trip needed to bypass the blockage by road. A ferry service was introduced as a temporary alternative, but a better solution was needed until Highland ...
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NewsExpress tram service launched in Bremen
GERMANY: Limited-stop 'express' services are being operated during the morning peak on an 4·1 km extension of Bremen tram Route 1 which opened with start of city transport operator BSAG's new timetable on March 26. Route 1 has been extended from Züricher Straße, which has been renamed Schweizer Eck, via ...
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NewsTransmashholding sales up 38%
RUSSIA: Transmashholding has announced total sales of 106·3bn roubles for 2011, up 38% on the figure for 2010. The company said this growth was driven by fleet renewal programmes being undertaken by its customers, in particular Russian Railways. Products launched in 2011 included the EP20 electric locomotive for RZD and ...
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NewsBombardier opens traction electronics Powerlab
SWEDEN: Bombardier Transportation officially opened the Mitrac Powerlab at its Västerås plant on March 25. The centre of competence for medium-power technology including traction and auxiliary converters, motors and gearboxes is the company's second development and test laboratory, after the Zürich site which was opened in 2009. Bombardier ...
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NewsHealthcare train enters service
SOUTH AFRICA: A second healthcare train was launched last month. Built by Transnet Rail Engineering at cost of R82m, 'Phelophepa II' has 20 permanent staff and 40 students providing health, dental, optometry and psychological treatment and education services. It will travel 15 000 km a year, serving 100 000 ...
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NewsWabtec converts Mk III coaches
UK: Wabtec Rail Scotland is converting 15 Mk III catering vehicles owned by leasing firm Angel Trains into standard class cars under a project to add capacity to First Great Western's HST inter-city trainsets. The catering vehicles require extensive work, including stripping out existing interiors and kitchen equipment, treating corrosion ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market April 2012
Australia: Bombardier has awarded Balfour Beatty Rail an A$14m contract to supply overhead line equipment for the Gold Coast tram project (RG 2.12 p59). China: China Railway First Survey & Design Institute has begun construction of a 25 km line to serve Zangge Potash Co’s Qaidam Basin site in ...
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NewsDB places three orders for EMUs
GERMANY: DB has awarded Alstom, Bombardier and Stadler firm orders for the supply of electric multiple-units within the terms of a series of existing framework agreements. On April 3 DB Regio announced orders for EMUs which are to be used from 2014 on services operated under contract in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Stadler ...
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NewsNews in Brief - April 2012
According to the Association of American Railroads, US freight railways will make capital investments totalling a record $13bn in 2012. The Bulgarian government has dropped plans to award a concession for management of Sofia Tsentralna station, which is to undergo a €30m refurbishment in 2013. This year the Metrans subsidiary ...
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NewsCameroon rail master plan unveiled
CAMEROON: Economy, Planning & Regional Development minister Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi has announced details of a national railway master plan ‘to provide Cameroon with a low-cost, integrated and efficient transport network’. The programme was developed in partnership with South Korea firms Korpec and Chunsuk Engineering, and is to be followed ...
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NewsVIA Rail adopts condition-based strategy
CANADA: National passenger operator VIA Rail has appointed BMT Fleet Technology to develop a condition-based maintenance pilot programme and review its current maintenance strategies. VIA Rail hopes the results will help improve fleet performance and availability while reducing costs. The condition-based maintenance project runs to October and is focusing on ...