Asia – Page 133
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Armenian concession starts
ARMENIA: South Caucasus Railways officially took over the management of Armenian Railways on June 1 under a concession agreement signed on January 16.
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Pyongyang buys Czech trams
NORTH KOREA: Pyongyang Transport Authority is to buy 20 second-hand Type T3 CKD-built single-ended trams from Praha transport authority DPHMP in a contract worth KC13m. Pyongyang already operates 129 Type T6B5K single-ended trams delivered in 1991 and 45 Type KT8D5K bi-directional articulated trams supplied in 1990. A further 50 ...
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KTZ announces wiring plan
KYRGYZSTAN: Work is to begin this year on the US$100m electrification of the 154 km main line linking the capital Bishkek with Lugovoy in Kazakhstan, KTZ Chief Executive Nariman Tuleev announced on January 31. Logovoy is on the route from Toshkent in Uzbekistan to Almaty in Kazakhstan, and the line ...
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Ho Chi Minh City breaks ground
VIETNAM: A ceremony at Long Binh in Ho Chin Minh City's District 9 on February 21 marked the start of ground clearance works on the site chosen for a US$28m depot for the city's first metro line. Bids are due to be called imminently for four construction contracts, ...
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Armenia confirms RZD as concession winner
PRESIDENT of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin was in Yerevan on January 16 for the official award of Armenia's 30-year national rail operating concession to sole bidder RZD. The contract is expected to be signed during February, with Russian Railways' specially-formed 100% subsidiary South Caucasian Railway scheduled to take over Armenian ...
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Opening up Afghan trade route to Iran
Construction of a 191 km railway from Iran to Herat in Afghanistan, with the prospect of an extension across Afghan territory to Sher Khan Bandar, promises to stimulate trade with Central Asia. Murray Hughes reports
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Armenia confirms rail concession award
PRESIDENT of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin was in Yerevan on January 16 for the official award of Armenia's 30-year national rail operating concession to sole bidder RZD. The contract is expected to be signed during February, with Russian Railways' specially-formed 100% owned subsidiary South Caucasian Railway scheduled take over Armenian ...
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Armenia looks to the private sector
IN SEPTEMBER, the government of Armenia invited bids for a concession to renovate and operate the country's rail network, following an initial prequalification announcement in June. Armenia is currently implementing a wide range of economic reforms, supported by the US government, the World Bank, the European Union and the Asian ...
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Freight crosses the Korean divide
DECEMBER 11 saw the first commercial freight service cross the Demilitarised Zone between North and South Korea when a train loaded with construction materials from Munsan in the south reached an industrial complex at Kaesong in the north. It returned south carrying footwear and clothing. Operation of the train followed ...
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Afghan rebuild underway
AFGHANISTAN: Ceremonies were held at Towraghondi in Afghanistan and Serhetabat in Turkmenistan on July 11, marking the start of work to rehabilitate 2 km of cross-border railway. The cost of the reconstruction is put at US$550 000, which Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov told Afghan President Hamid Karzai his country will ...
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Hong Kong merger bill approved
THE PLANNED merger of Hong Kong’s metro operator MTR Corp and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp moved a step closer on June 8, when the Rail Merger Bill was approved by the region’s Legislative Council. The bill puts in place the legal framework needed to implement the merger of the state-owned ...
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Laos link launched
WORK to link Laos to Thailand's rail network officially began on January 19, when Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh and Thai Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula attended a ground-breaking ceremony in Dongphosy. This will be the site of the future Tha Naleng passenger and freight rail terminal, close to ...
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Golmud – Lhasa railway inaugurated
CHINA: Premier Hu Jintao presided at ceremonies on July 1 to mark the official opening of the 1 142 km line from Golmud in Qinghai to Lhasa in Tibet. Cutting the ribbon at Golmud station, Hu told an audience of 2600 people gathered in the station square that ‘the project ...
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GE plans Kazakh assembly plant
GENERAL ELECTRIC announced on May 16 that is to build a plant in Kazakhstan with the capacity to assemble up to 150 Evolution Series locomotives a year for countries in the former Soviet Union. The following day the Kazakh Prime Minister and the US ambassador laid a ceremonial first brick ...
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NewsDeveloping local capabilities in Malaysia
ELECTROCUTED monkeys are rarely a problem on German commuter railways, but Kuala Lumpur’s Express Rail Link and the operators of similar trains and infrastructure in Europe do have other sources of disruption in common. Sharing knowledge has brought performance benefits. ERL’s four-car articulated ET425M Desiro EMUs ...
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Disneyland Resort Line ready to open
CHINA: September 12 sees the opening of the Hong Kong Disneyland park at Penny’s Bay, served by a 4 km branch from Sunny Bay on MTR’s Tung Chung Line. Revenue service on Hong Kong’s first fully-automated metro began on August 1, attracting an average of 10 000 passengers/day in the ...
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DaQin line strengthened
Traffic on the 632 km Datong - Qinhuangdao heavy haul coal line increased from 123·7 million gross tonnes in 2003 to 150 MGT last year, according to Liu Zhengjie of the China Academy of Railway Sciences. He told the Railway Engineering conference in London on June 30 that this year ...
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Istanbul railway upgrading bids in
TURKEY: Eight consortia have submitted prequalification bids for a contract to upgrade TCDD's existing railways in Istanbul as part of the Marmaray cross-Bosporus project (RG 5.04 p251). Five bidders are due to be shortlisted this month to tender for Contract CR1, which covers upgrading of the Sirkeci - Halkali and ...
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Automation by stealth
CHINA: This year Hong Kong MTR Corp will open its seventh line, and the first to be fully-automated. The 3·4km Disneyland Resort Line (DRL) will connect the Hong Kong Disneyland theme park at Penny’s Bay on the south coast of Lantau Island with the new Sunny Bay station on the ...
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NewsUpdate from Myanmar
Due to open this month, the Thanlwin River bridge will help to complete a missing link in Myanmar's rail network. Despite international isolation, the railway continues to expand, reports Dieter Hettler, a mechanical engineer who has been involved with the delivery of diesel locomotives to Myanma Railways