All Asia articles – Page 8
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High speed line approved
CHINA: Construction of the 176 km Chengdu – Zigong Yulin Passenger-Dedicated Line has been approved, with a budget of 35·9bn yuan and opening planned for 2023. The Chengdu – Tianfu section will be built for 250 km/h operation, and the Tianfu – Zigong section for 350 km/h. There will be ...
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Chaoma inter-city railway agreed
CHINA: An agreement for the construction of the Chaoma inter-city railway was signed by municipal authorities in Hefei and Ma'anshan and the Anhui Province Investment Group on January 27. The 76 km line will start at Chaohu Dong station in Hefei city, pass though Hanshan county and Zhengpugang Xinqu in ...
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ADB grant to help CAREC countries move from landlocked to land-linked
ASIA: The Asian Development Bank has awarded a US$2m regional technical assistance grant to support the development of railway strategies and institutional capabilities in the Central Asia Regional Economic Co-operation countries. CAREC comprises Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and six multilateral institutions. ...
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Ziyun freight railway opens
CHINA: The Ziyun local freight railway at Zhijiang in Hubei's Yichang region opened on January 18. The 36·7 km line runs from Zhijiang station on the Jiaozuo – Liuzhou line to serve four River Yangtze ports at Yunchi, Baiyang, Tianjiahe and Yaojiagang, and adjacent industrial parks. The line will also ...
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Digital payment launched on Guangzhou – Shenzhen line
CHINA: Guangshen Railway Co says it is the first inter-city operator in China to introduce digital payment for travel on its services, which link Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The system uses Alipay’s e-wallet payment technology. Users register on the Alipay app, and generate a QR code which is scanned on ...
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Turkmenistan combines transport ministries
TURKMENISTAN: President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has signed an order establishing a Ministry of Industry & Communication. This brings together the formerly separate ministries of industry, railways, motor transport and communications, as well as the state’s maritime, river and air transport services. The former ministries are now sector agencies within the ...
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Little change in Indian railway results
INDIA: With parliamentary elections due to be held in around three months, the national budget presented on February 1 offered little prospect of significant steps being taken to address the structural deficiencies afflicting the national railway, reports Raghu Dayal. Presented by Railways Minister Piyush Goyal in the absence of ...
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PT Inka exports coaches to Bangladesh
BANGLADESH:· The first 15 of 250 coaches which Bangladesh Railway has ordered from Indonesian rolling stock manufacturer PT Inka were shipped from the Port of Tanjung Perak in Surabaya on January 20. The US$101m order placed in 2017 with financing from Indonesia Eximbank includes 50 coaches for BR’s 1 676 ...
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Rajasthan test track plan endorsed
INDIA: The national government has approved plans to develop a 40 km dedicated test track in Rajasthan for railway research and testing. This is expected to reduce the requirement for new and experimental trains to be tested on the increasingly busy national network. IR’s Research, Design & Standards Organisation had ...
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Series 2700s to refresh Shikoku express services
JAPAN: Regional operator JR Shikoku unveiled its two pre-series Series 2700 diesel multiple-units on January 23. Now undergoing test running, the two-car units are expected to enter service later this year, working Limited Express services on the island’s principal non-electrified main lines. Serving Japan’s fourth-largest island, the JR Shikoku network ...
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Bogies ordered for Sakhalin gauge conversion
RUSSIA: Transmashholding’s Tver plant has been awarded a contract to supply 138 broad gauge bogies to Sakhalin to facilitate the regauging of passenger rolling stock. This forms part of the programme to convert the island’s rail network from 1 067 mm narrow gauge to the 1 520 mm broad gauge ...
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Expanding the railway legal framework in southeast Asia
ASIA: The Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail and the United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia & the Pacific have signed a five-year memorandum of understanding to co-operate to develop rail transport in Asia, particularly southeast Asia where most states are not signatories to the COTIF uniform ...
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Machine vision to support autonomous trains
CHINA: US-based visual perception technology company PerceptIn has worked with rolling stock manufacturer CRRC to develop a long-range machine vision device for high speed trains which it says can automatically detect obstacles up to 1 000 m ahead, providing autonomous driving systems with the time needed to react. PerceptIn is ...
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Modi inaugurates Odisha enhancement works
INDIA: Visiting the eastern state of Odisha on January 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inaugurated the recently-completed electrification of two lines totalling 813 route-km. Undertaken at a cost of Rs10·9bn, the 25 kV 50 Hz wiring programme covered the north-south corridor connecting Jharsuguda to Vizianagaram via Sambalpur, Titlagarh and ...
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Taiwan orders 50 inter-city trainsets
TAIWAN: A NT$44·3bn contract for Hitachi to supply 50 12-car inter-city trainsets was signed by Taiwan Railway Administration and its procurement agent Bank of Taiwan on January 15. The contract covers half of the new trains to be ordered under TRA’s development plan for 2015-24. The 1 067 mm ...
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State approves Bangalore suburban rail network
INDIA: The Karnataka state cabinet has approved a four-route suburban railway network planned for Bangalore. Services would use dedicated tracks to serve 81 stations, including 30 elevated. The estimated Rs230·1bn cost would be funded by the central government (20%), the state government (20%) and loans from multilateral or domestic ...
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Bangladesh Railway orders Progress Rail locomotives
BANGLADESH: A contract for Progress Rail to supply 40 diesel locomotives was signed by Bangladesh Railway in Dhaka on January 14. The 1 676 mm gauge locomotives are to be supplied from the Progress Rail plant at Muncie in the USA, with deliveries scheduled to start in 24 months and ...
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Work starts on Mandalay – Kunming study
MYANMAR: A joint team of local and Chinese engineers has started work on ground surveys to finalise the alignment for the planned 431 km rail link from Mandalay to the Chinese border at Muse. Intended to link Myanmar with Kunming, the line is being promoted as part of the China-Myanmar ...
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Co-operation to promote Eurasian rail freight
INTERNATIONAL: The International Union of Railways and freight association FERRMED signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at promoting a more efficient and sustainable Eurasian logistics chain during the 23rd UIC general assembly which was held in Paris last month. The two organisations aim to exchange knowledge and best practice to ...
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Export drive expected as Chinese market loses momentum
CHINA: While the demand for railway technology is expected to continue at a high level for the next five years, the Chinese market has lost momentum and is not expected to grow, according to a new study by German consultants SCI Verkehr. This may put pressure on Chinese suppliers to ...