Asia – Page 131
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NewsArmenia looks to end rail isolation
ARMENIA: OTIF agreed to the accession of Armenia on April 11, with the result that the Bern-based body which provides a legal framework for international rail traffic will gain its 47th member with effect from July 1. OTIF said the accession is 'an important step in the process of linking ...
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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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NewsADB loan supports Hanoi metro Line 3
VIETNAM: The Asian Development Bank has agreed to provide US$293m in funding to support construction of Line 3 of Hanoi’s urban rail master plan. The decision adds to loans already in place from EIB and Agence Française de Développement. The 12·5 km first phase of the heavy metro line will ...
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NewsUnbundling of Pakistan Railways proposed
PAKISTAN: The Planning Commission published a paper in January proposing the 'unbundling' of Pakistan Railways, with the outsourcing of activities such as station management. Intermodal and suburban trains could be operated independently, and the Ministry of Railways is considering a plan for a Lahore - Karachi business train. The Ministry ...
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NewsEIB supports Ho Chi Minh metro Line 2
VIETNAM: Magdalena Álvarez Arza, Vice President of the European Investment Bank, signed a finance contract worth €150m with Vietnamese Deputy Finance Minister Tran Xuan Ha on December 6. The loan is part of a funding package for the first phase of metro Line 2 in Ho Chi Minh City. The ...
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NewsNorthern Railway revival funded
SRI LANKA: Ceremonies were held on November 27 to mark the start of work on the first phase of a programme to refurbish the war-damaged railways serving the island’s Northern Province, following the signing of a credit agreement under which India will provide US$416m towards the cost of the work. ...
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PR restarts tourist operations
PAKISTAN: Having been instructed by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani that it needs to become 'more commercial' and profitable ahead of its planned restructuring and possible privatisation, Pakistan Railways has decided to relaunch tourist services. The Ghandhara Heritage Steam Safari was officially inaugurated at Rawalpindi in October by ...
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NewsTalgo to renew Kazakh inter-city train fleet
KAZAKHSTAN: Talgo announced an order to supply KTZ with 420 coaches on November 11, part of an agreement signed the previous week which could see the national railway's fleet of 3 000 inter-city vehicles replaced. The initial contract is worth more than €300m for the Spanish firm, with further revenue ...
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NewsKazakhstan signs contract for 295 Alstom-TMH locomotives
KAZAKHSTAN: The Chairman of state railway Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, Askar Mamin, signed a €1·3bn firm order for 295 electric locotives with Alstom and Transmash Holding when President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on October 27. The order covers 200 KZ8A twin-unit freight locomotives and 95 KZ4A ...
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NewsRail revival to replace Cambodia's bamboo trains
CAMBODIA: Rehabilitation of the run-down and war-damaged railway network reached a milestone when the initial section was officially reopened on October 22. The first cement traffic was carried in early October on a 117 km stretch between Phnom Penh and Touk Meas, and passenger services are planned for the ...
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NewsEIB supports Hanoi metro
VIETNAM: The European Investment Bank extended its first loan for a metro line in Asia when it signed a €73m finance contract with Vietnam on October 4.The loan is part of a package from Asian Development Bank, Agence Française de Développement and EIB to fund construction of the first phase ...
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NewsAgreement signed for north-south corridor
AFGHANISTAN: An agreement to undertake detailed surveys for a railway linking Kabul with Uzbekistan and Pakistan was signed by Afghanistan’s Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani and China Metallurgical Group Corp (MCC) on September 22. The contract specifies that MCC will construct a railway, if feasible, from northern Pakistan to Hayratan ...
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NewsWires going up in Toshkent
UZBEKISTAN: Last month UTY completed electrification of the 114 km Toshkent Tukimachi – Angren line, the last diesel-worked route in the Toshkent area. Wiring was undertaken at a cost of US$85·4m funded by UTY and foreign sources including Germany’s KfW and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. Russian firm ...
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NewsTrack machine exports
INTERNATIONAL: US on-track plant manufacturer Harsco Rail announced on August 30 that it had received orders worth US$13m to supply tamping and grinding machines to Bangladesh and Liberia. Bangladesh Railway will receive a Mark VI ballast tamper to support the upgrading of its 1 676 mm gauge ...
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NewsCeremony launches work on Ho Chin Minh City metro Line 2
VIETNAM: Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai attended a ceremony on August 24 at which the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee formally marked the start of work on metro Line 2. Opening is scheduled for 2016. The first phase of Line 2 will be 11·2 km long, linking Tham ...
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NewsTrans-Asian ECO train returns to Islamabad
INTERNATIONAL: The first eastbound ECO freight train is due to arrive in Islamabad on August 13, having left Istanbul on August 2 with cargo for Tehran and Islamabad. Six container flats each carried a 40 ft container destined for Pakistan, while five vans had consignments for the Iranian capital. Operations ...
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NewsSri Lankan contracts placed
SRI LANKA: The government has signed a contract for China National Machinery Import & Export Corp to build the first phase of the 110 km Matara – Kataragama line along the south coast. The initial section will run 30 km east from Matara to Beliatta, with four stations, and is ...
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NewsLocomotive plant aims to create a domestic rail industry
KAZAKHSTAN: The foundation stone was laid on June 26 for an electric passenger and freight locomotive plant in Astana which Alstom sees as 'the jewel of a modern rail industry' supplying Kazakhstan and the wider 1 520 mm gauge region. The factory is being developed by a 50:50 joint venture ...
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NewsAfghan rail strategy takes shape
AFGHANISTAN: As work progresses rapidly on Afghanistan's first substantial railway, plans are firming up for a 1000 km standard gauge corridor running across the north of the country. This would give Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and potentially China access to world markets via the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas without requiring transit ...
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NewsRail modernisation plans signed at Kazakh investment summit
KAZAKHSTAN: Major supply contracts and rail-sector co-operation memoranda were among the agreements signed at a national investment summit held in Almaty on June 3-4. A €70m contract to design and supply signalling and telecoms for the 293 km Zhetigen - Korgas 'China Gateway' railway was signed by state railway KTZ ...