Asia – Page 127
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NewsUnified railway law aims to boost Europe - Asia freight
INTERNATIONAL: A joint declaration expressing willingness to create a common legal regime for rail traffic across Asia and Europe was signed by 37 countries at a ministerial meeting in Genève on February 26. The aim is to establish 'a unified set of transparent and predictable' legal conditions for international rail ...
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NewsLegal framework to support Islamabad - Istanbul freight
PAKISTAN: The Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail expects that Pakistan will become its 49th member state in September, after the government deposited an application for accession to the COTIF convention on February 21. The convention sets out a legal framework for international rail transport, and Pakistan's accession is ...
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NewsKazakhstan plans 1 000 km high speed line
KAZAKHSTAN: National railway KTZ has awarded Systra a contract to oversee the design and construction of a 1 011 km high speed railway between Almaty and Astana. The proposed 1 520 mm gauge single-track line would be suitable for 250 km/h running. A 10 km bridge across Lake Balkhash ...
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NewsMinistry of Railways to be abolished under Chinese reform plan
CHINA: Proposals to abolish the Ministry of Railways and split its functions between the Ministry of Transport and a new railway operating body are included in a report on institutional reform of the State Council which was unveiled on March 10. The reform of the cabinet aims to clarify ...
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NewsRevenue and investment down in Indian Railways budget
INDIA: Revenue shortfalls and lower investment were the main themes of the Indian Railways budget, presented by Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on February 26. The year ending March 2013 saw freight and passenger revenue both fall short of target. Freight revenue was Rs859·76bn, compared with the budgeted Rs893·39bn, ...
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NewsAlstom/Kamkor joint venture to produce 10 000 point machines
KAZAKHSTAN: National railway KTZ has awarded the KazElectroPrivod joint venture of Alstom and local partner Kamkor a €90m contract to supply 10 000 point machines over the next 10 years. Alstom's share of the contract is worth €65m. The equally-owned point machine production joint venture was formed in January by ...
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NewsTitagarh-FreightCar wagon joint venture wound up
INDIA: The Titagarh-FreightCar joint venture which aimed to bring US wagon technology to the Indian market is being wound up, Titagarh Wagons and FreightCar America confirmed on February 22. The joint venture was formed following a 2008 agreement between the partners, with the Indian firm holding a 49% stake. Work ...
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NewsElectric multiple-unit factory to be built in Rajasthan
INDIA: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and Indian Railways have signed a memorandum of understanding on February 25 agreeing to establish a factory at Bhilwara in Rajasthan which would help to meet the growing demand for local and outer-suburban electric multiple-units The new plant in Bhilwara is to be funded by ...
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NewsJICA signs Dhaka metro project loan
BANGLADESH: Funding for the Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project is included in a ¥70·693bn official development assistance loan package signed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the government of Bangladesh on February 20. Development of a metro network forms part of the 20-year Dhaka Strategic Transport Plan approved ...
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NewsKuala Lumpur - Singapore high speed railway agreement
ASIA: An agreement to build a high speed railway between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore is included in the joint statement issued by the Prime Ministers of Malaysia and Singapore following their annual retreat on February 19. The Joint Ministerial Committee has been tasked with looking into 'the details and modalities' ...
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NewsSeries N700A Shinkansen sets enter service
JAPAN: JR Central has put its first Series N700A trainsets into revenue service on the Tokaido Shinkansen, with a ceremony to mark the departure of Nozomi 203 from Tokyo station at 07.00 on February 8. A second train operating as Nozomi 208 was ceremonially dispatched from Shin-Osaka at the same ...
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NewsPakistan Railways orders 50 locomotives
PAKISTAN: Chinese locomotive manufacturer CSR Ziyang announced on February 4 that it had received of letters of credit enabling it to go ahead with the construction of 50 passenger and freight locomotives ordered by Pakistan's Ministry of Railways in December at a cost of 640m yuan. Half of the 50 ...
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NewsFirst commercial application of Idrha+ rail treatment
CHINA: A thermal rail hardening process developed by Siemens Metals Technologies and Centro Sviluppo Materiali is to be brought into commercial use for the first time at the Baotou Iron & Steel rail mill in Inner Mongolia. The Injector Dual-Phase Rail Hardening process produces rails with improved contact fatigue and ...
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NewsWheel rolling machine
CHINA: German press manufacturer Schuler has developed a new design of wheel rolling machine for forging monobloc wheelsets. This forms a key element in a forging line currently being shipped to a Chinese manufacturer. With no mandrel, the wheel is turned using dynamic servo motors which transfer the torque from ...
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NewsMetre-gauge multiple-units for Bangladesh
BANGLADESH: The first of 20 diesel-electric multiple-units which CNR Tangshan is building for Bangladesh Railways under a US$58·3m contract signed in August 2011 has been completed. Based on CNR’s EMU technology but equipped with underfloor powerpacks, the three-car DMUs will have a capacity of 300 passengers and a top speed ...
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NewsChinese shunting locomotive assembled in Kazakhstan
KAZAKHSTAN: The first TEM-KZ shunting locomotive assembled by Kamkor Locomotive's Shu repair plant using components supplied by CSR Ziyang was unveiled last month. National railway KTZ and CSR signed a strategic partnership agreement in May 2012, and 14 Kamkor staff travelled to China for training. A locomotive production joint ...
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NewsIntegral Coach Factory aims to be 'multi-speciality production unit'
INDIA: Integral Coach Factory achieved its highest-ever output with the completion of 1 511 coaches during 2012, including the 45 000th vehicle since ICF was established in 1955. An expansion project which is nearing completion will increase production capacity to 1 700 vehicles/year, and according to General Manager Abhay ...
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NewsDedicated Freight Corridor construction contract awarded
INDIA: Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India Ltd has awarded the first major contract for construction of the Eastern DFC, an electrified high-capacity freight route suitable for speeds of 100 km/h and 32·5 tonne axleloads which is being developed to ease congestion on the Delhi - Kolkata axis. A joint ...
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NewsRail network proposed in Sulawesi
INDONESIA: The six provincial governments of Sulawesi have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Transport to draft a development plan for the construction of up to 2 000 km of railway under the government’s MP3EI national infrastructure programme. According to Deputy Transport Minister Bambang Susantono, the next ...