Asia – Page 129
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NewsHuawei wins Ashgabat – Turkmenbashi GSM-R contract
TURKMENISTAN: Huawei announced on September 18 that it had been awarded a contract to supply GSM-R, SDH, data communications and telephone systems for an upgrade of the Ashgabat – Bereket – Turkmenbashi route. The contract has been awarded by Jiangsu Guotai, general contractor for the telecommunications upgrade. To provide voice ...
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NewsGE Transportation enters the 1520 passenger market
KAZAKHSTAN: National railway KTZ and GE Transportation signed a contract for 110 Evolution series passenger locomotives at InnoTrans on September 19. The diesel locomotives are to be based on the successful TE33A freight locomotives used in Kazakhstan. Modifications for passenger service will include raising the maximum speed to 160 km/h. ...
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NewsTuran Express launches Almaty - Korgas passenger service
KAZAKHSTAN: Private sector operator Turan Express launched an overnight passenger train between Almaty and Altynkol on September 3, having run a trial on September 1. It uses the recently-completed 293 km Zhetigen - Korgas line, built by national railway KTZ to provide a second freight route to the Chinese border. ...
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NewsWork starts on Ho Chi Minh City metro Line 1
VIETNAM: Transport Minister Dinh La Thang and representatives from the Japanese embassy attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the future Ho Chi Minh City metro Line 1 on August 28. Completion is planned for late 2017, with six months of testing and commissioning to be followed by regular services in ...
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NewsADB provides US$150m to boost Bangladesh Railways
BANGLADESH: The Asian Development Bank is to provide a further US$150m for projects to increase capacity and improve safety on the Bangladesh Railway network, following the signature of a loan agreement in Dhaka on August 26. This should enable BR to complete double-tracking of the 64 km Tongi – Bhairab ...
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NewsEurasian Development Bank backs Kazakh rail industry
KAZAKHSTAN: Eurasian Development Bank has signed a 10bn tenge 10-year loan to support the development of an 18bn tenge factory in Astana which will assemble electric locomotives based on Alstom technology. The factory is to be built by national railway KTZ and operated by the EKZ joint venture of KTZ ...
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NewsLocal rail specialists needed
AFGHANISTAN: The government is keen to ‘eliminate the lack of rail experts’ in the country as it seeks to develop its embryonic network, according to Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, Minister of Trade & Industry. Speaking during a visit to the border town of Hairatan on June 22, ul-Huq said that ‘we ...
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NewsYuxi - Mengzi line completed
CHINA: Construction of 141 km line from Yuxi, south of Kunming, to Mengzi on the route to the Vietnamese border was officially completed on August 14. Just over half of the route is on viaducts or in tunnel, reflecting the challenging local topography, and the 4·5bn yuan ...
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NewsPPP model to fund Kalimantan coal network
INDONESIA: A declaration to pursue construction of a number of new lines in Kalimantan under a public-private partnership model was signed at a joint meeting of ministers held on July 17. The declaration was signed by representatives of a number of private companies and public authorities, including ...
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NewsCross-border line to reach Vientiane
LAOS: Within a budget of 495m baht, the cross-border railway between Nong Khai in Thailand and Tha Na Laeng in Laos is to be extended to the capital Vientiane, where a station and railway offices would be built. The 7·8 km extension should be completed ‘within two ...
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NewsKyrgyz Railways orders Evolution locomotives
KAZAKHSTAN: National railway KTZ's JSC Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty manufacturing plant has won its second contract to produce TE33A Evolution diesel locomotives for export. The contract for five locomotives was signed on July 3 by Argynbek Malabaev, Chief Executive of Kyrgyzstan's national railway KTJ. LKZ was established in ...
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NewsThree-year investment programme approved
VIETNAM: An investment programme worth US$9·5bn over the next three years has been approved by parliament, paving the way for state railway DSVN to undertake significant modernisation works on key north-south corridors. Due for completion by 2015, the package focuses on raising line speeds to 120 km/h ...
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NewsTram ticket lottery
KAZAKHSTAN: In an attempt to reduce the problem of discarded tickets around tram stops, and attract more riders, Pavlodar Tramways has launched a 'lucky ticket' lottery. Passengers are being encouraged to keep their tickets in order to check the numbers against a list of winning tickets to be published ...
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NewsHo Chi Minh City metro line 1 construction contract signed
VIETNAM: A contract for the construction of the first stage of Ho Chi Minh City metro line 1 was signed on May 16, paving the way for main works to begin in September. The 17·1 km elevated section between Ben Thanh Market and Suoi Tien Park with 11 stations is ...
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NewsKazakhstan plans its place on the New Silk Road
KAZAKHSTAN: Speaking at the 25th meeting of the Council of Foreign Investors on May 22, President Nursultan Nazarbayev set out his vision for a 'New Silk Road' strategy to exploit the country's potential as an east-west and north-south transit hub by 2020. Rail projects in the strategy include the completion ...
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NewsGE Transportation to build diesel engine plant to serve CIS region
KAZAKHSTAN: A memorandum of understanding setting out plans to establish a US$90m diesel engine manufacturing plant in Astana was signed by GE Transportation, TransmashDiesel and national railway KTZ on May 23. The parties plan to form a joint venture which would produce around 400 Evolution Series engines a year for ...
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NewsPakistan's private rail freight plan awarded US funding
PAKISTAN: Private-sector logistics firm Premier Mercantile Services has been awarded a grant to study the feasibility of acquiring its own locomotive fleet. The US Trade & Development Agency signed the US$628 000 agreement on May 15. A US contractor is to be selected to undertake a feasibility study which would ...
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NewsKTZ pledges to improve knowledge
KAZAKHSTAN: State railway Kazakhstan Temir Zholy has announced plans to offer additional training to 10000 employees over the next eight years. The focus will be on effective management skills, key to bringing extensive modernisation of the country’s railways to completion. Modular courses, led by rail industry experts and tutors from ...
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NewsPesa to establish tram assembly plant in Kazakhstan
KAZAKHSTAN: Polish rolling stock manufacturer Pesa Bydgoszcz signed a letter of intent to establish a tram assembly facility in Pavlodar when a delegation from the city's development agency visited its twin town of Bydgoszcz during April. An initial two low-floor trams based on Pesa's Twist family adapted to 1 524 ...
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News
Controversy at PR
Having succeeded Muhammad Junaid Qureshi as General Manager, Operations, at Pakistan Railways on March 27, Rana Saeed Akhtar (photo) was arrested two days later on embezzlement and corruption charges. The ongoing investigation into scrap disposal tenders also names Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and former railways secretary Samiul ...