All Railway Gazette International articles in August 1998
All articles published this month.
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News
Transnet still in trouble
Further improvement in the financial position of South Africa’s transport holding group Transnet has increased the prospect of partial or complete privatisation. The multi-mode corporation is being focused into business groups, with restructuring likely to lead to sweeping job cuts across many sectors, including senior management. So drastic have the ...
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News
Sidetrack
All steamed upOne of the world’s most famous railways now has its own international support group. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society has been established with the support of Indian Railways to help keep trains climbing 2135m up the 88 km, 610mm gauge line. Each monsoon season results in numerous trackbed ...
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News
Track rules revised
THE US Federal Railroad Administration has revised its track safety regulations to incorporate the latest data on dynamic performance of vehicle and track systems. Major changes include new standards for installation and maintenance of continuous welded rail, with related staff training.More frequent inspection of track for internal flaws will see ...
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News
People
Pakistan Railways has designated Managing Directors for the three business units which are being formed as part of a restructuring ahead of privatisation (p500). Chaudhry Abdul Qayyum has been named head of the Passenger business, with Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam as head of Freight and Nasir Amin as head ...
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Paris projects
IN A CEREMONY at Madeleine station on June 24, Paris Transport Authority President Director General Jean-Paul Bailly officially launched the construction of the second phase of the Météor automated metro Line 14. He was joined for the event by Ile de France and Paris Préfet Jo
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Product News
OLE inspection equipment India's Research Designs & Standards Organisation has awarded two contracts totalling £1·6m to SMIS of Guildford, Britain, for overhead line inspection equipment using instrumented pantographs. 16 units will be installed in new vehicles built by the Integral Coach Factory and another ...
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News
MARKETPLACE
Argentina: Ferrocarril General Belgrano SA has called bids for renewal of 100 km of track, including material supply.Australia: Bowditch & Partners has won a n A$300000 contract to provide earth-moving plant to the Railway Services Authority of NSW. The five-year deal covers the northwestern part of the state.Bangladesh: Wagon Pars ...
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News
St Louis speed-up
ILLINOIS Department of Transportation has signed a $3·75m contract with Gateway Western Railroad to build a cut-off line parallel to the Mississippi River, eliminating many conflicts between passenger and freight trains on the approach to St Louis. The link through East St Louis will cut 20 min off the timings ...
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News
INTELLIGENCE
Argentina: Ferrocarril General Belgrano SA has contracted out locomotive maintenance and depot operations to Co-operativa Talleres Alta Córdoba.Metropolitano was to begin track renewal between Libertad and Aldo Bonzi on its Belgrano Sur network, following completion of the Libertad - Marineros del Crucero General Belgrano section. Work between Buenos Aires and ...
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News
Unbinding Prometheus - systems integrators in search of profitability
INTRO: Andrew F Saxe* takes an incisive look at the performance of the major railway suppliers in the last yearWHEN IT rains it pours. The railway supply industry was still slogging through another year of restructuring when news broke on June 3 of the catastrophic ICE accident at Eschede in ...
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News
Palm-top help
DB has issued inspection staff with Psion Workabout hand-held computers running software developed by Mobile Systems & Solutions to improve monitoring of train cleaning contractors.The results of 10 or more checks on each of a number of different trains is keyed-in during inspection, and directly downloaded each day - avoiding ...
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News
Tribasa grouping takes Sureste
THE MEXICAN government on July 1 awarded a 50-year concession to Triturados Basalticos y Derivados SA to operate the 1 479 km Ferrocarril Sureste in the southeast of the country. Also included in the package is an option for the Mayab line, connecting Coatzacoalcos with Merida in Yucatan (RG 4.98 ...
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News
Glatt valley to get light rail
PROPOSALS have been published for a 17 km three-line light rail network serving towns in the Glatt valley and the northern sector of the Zürich conurbation. Announcing the results of nine years of planning, Project Manager Andreas Fleury unveiled a project that should see light rail services running on the ...
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Mine the gap
LAST MONTH saw the start of work on the second phase of reconstruction of Angola’s 1304 km Benguela Railway, following a 15-year closure because of the civil war. Italy’s Tor di Valle company is just over a year into its barter deal to undertake a US$500m 14-year renovation for 37500ha ...
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News
Orders galore
WITH German Railway exercising an option for 400 freight locos on July 10 (p499), French National Railways clearly did not wish to be left behind. On July 21 it announced an Ecu272m order for 120 units to be built by Alstom for delivery from 2001; 90 will be dual-voltage (25 ...
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News
ICEs to replace short-haul flights
’GERMAN Railway and Lufthansa are agreed that rail will in the future largely replace domestic air services.’ Speaking on July 13 after signing a strategic co-operation agreement with Lufthansa chief Jürgen Weber, DB Chairman Dr Johannes Ludewig was highlighting a policy change that could have a major impact on ...
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News
Prescott puts public transport first
BRITAIN’S long-awaited White Paper, unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on July 20, heralds a major shift in transport policies: from fragmentation to integration; from car to train, bus, cycling and walking; and from road to rail freight. It does not reverse privatisation, but it does set out to ...
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News
Optic fibre links
INDIAN Railways has announced plans to modernise its telecommunications network as a partnership with the private sector. Optic fibre cables will be laid on the trunk routes under a series of build-own-operate-lease concessions which will allow IR and its partners to market spare capacity to telephone companies and internet service ...
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News
Heathrow Express off to flying start
INTRO: Murray Hughes reports from the 160 km/h rail link serving Europe’s busiest airportBRITAIN’S Prime Minister Tony Blair inaugurated the Heathrow Express service between London Paddington and Heathrow airport on June 23. Riding the 10.10 from Paddington, he was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Environment, ...
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Sunrise Express
INTRO: JR West, in co-operation with JR Central, has introduced a novel design of EMU on overnight services from Tokyo to Izumoshi and Takamatsu. These innovative trains offer a range of stylish accommodation varying from hotel quality bedrooms to simple bunksBYLINE: Masayasu MatsuokaChief ManagerRolling Stock DepartmentWest Japan RailwayON JULY 10 ...