All Railway Gazette International articles in August 2001 – Page 2

  • News

    More productivity gains in prospect

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    SINGLE COMMODITY railways have several advantages over mixed traffic railways when it comes to productivity comparisons. All trains, for example, may be of the same formation and same weight, allowing the best use of line capacity. Nonetheless, it is instructive to see just what is being achieved by the iron ...

  • News

    Learning to live in a free market

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: In the 10 years after Romania’s December 1989 revolution, the volume of rail traffic slumped to just 35% of its former level. Following the restructuring of SNCFR into five independent companies in October 1998, the slide has been halted, and international loans are funding much-needed modernisation. Chris Jackson asked ...

  • News

    Low-floor fleet

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    ON JUNE 27 Istanbul Ulasim AS awarded a €86m contract to Bombardier Transportation for supply of 55 low-floor cars, to be delivered from September 2002. Derived from the K

  • News

    Finance

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Estonia: In June parliament voted to increase passenger operator Edelaraudtee’s funding to 148m kroons this year, 159m kroons in 2002 and 140m in 2003. State subsidies will cease in 2004.Great Britain: Porterbrook Leasing is to finance 845 coal hopper wagons for EWS. They will be built at York by Thrall ...

  • News

    Kiley sacked in PPP fiasco

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    ON JULY 17 Britain’s Secretary of State for Transport Stephen Byers dismissed Bob Kiley as Chairman of London Regional Transport, parent company of London Underground. In his place Byers reappointed Sir Malcolm Bates, who had held the post until Kiley was named as his successor on May 10 by Deputy ...

  • News

    Ghan extension

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    WITH construction of the Alice Springs - Darwin line scheduled to start in July, Great Southern Railway has formulated plans to extend The Ghan cruise train beyond Alice Springs. GSR Chief Executive Officer Stephen Bradford said that The Ghan would run weekly to Darwin between December and February and twice ...

  • News

    Mail & Express

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Sir - I was interested to read the letter from Christophe Boisseau about mixed passenger and freight traffic (RG 6.01 p382). However, I expected a more detailed exposition of Amtrak’s experience with non-passenger operations. Amtrak has been handling small, time-sensitive freight on much of its passenger network for several years, ...

  • News

    In seat entertainment

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    AEROVISION Avionics is supplying in-seat entertainment equipment for Queensland Rail’s Cairns Tilt Train (p523). Originally developed for airline use, it offers six video and six audio channels, with sound delivered through headphones.When not in use, the TFT screens are stored in the seat armrests. The system is controlled via a ...

  • News

    Refurbished stock heads east

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    ITALIAN RAILWAYS’ rolling stock maintenance arm UTMR - now a Trenitalia subsidiary - is offering a range of refurbished coaches to railways in eastern Europe. The basis for the conversions are UIC-standard Type X vehicles dating from the early 1970s which have been replaced on Italian domestic inter-city services by ...

  • News

    Dutch Sprinter refurbishment

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    NETHERLANDS Railways awarded a 200m guilders contract to Bombardier on July 3 for the mid-life modernisation of 60 three-car Class SGM III Sprinter EMUs.The interiors of the Randstad commuter trains will be completely renovated, with new ceilings, floors, glass partitions and seating. An extra vestibule will be fitted to the ...

  • News

    Dieter

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Over 500 passengers were left wandering on the concourse at Marseille when staff forgot to put a TGV service to Paris on the departure board. The empty train was stopped at Aix-en-Provence TGV, and the passengers taken there by coach, finally arriving over three hours late. A run of bad ...

  • News

    Swedish cut-off

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    AUGUST 20 will see the completion of a new double-track cut-off to boost capacity and shorten journey times on the Stockholm - Västerås line. Banverket inaugurated the SKr1·6bn route on June 5, although with only one track at first. Replacing a tortuous single track along the shores of Lake Malaren ...

  • News

    C-Train growing

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    THREE of 32 new Siemens SD160 LRVs entered service in Calgary on July 4. Equipped with IGBT controls and AC drives, they are to be delivered in two batches, 15 this year and 17 in 2003, at a cost of C$112m. The bodyshells are being built in Siemens’ Carson plant ...

  • News

    Delhi on course

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    THE FIRST section of Delhi’s northwest line is to be ready by December 2003. Delhi Metro Rail Corp announced on July 8 that it was starting utilities diversion for the route, which will run entirely on viaduct 12m above ground. The 8·5 km first section links the junction at Tri ...

  • News

    Restructuring cuts FS costs

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    THE RESTRUCTURING of Italian State Railways took a further step on July 1, with the legal formation of infrastructure company Rete Ferroviaria Italiana. Part of the process to meet European directives on the separation of infrastructure and operations, the move also paves the way for wider implementation of open access ...

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    News

    Tilt technology still evolving as the cost falls

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    With trains operational in more than a dozen countries and two more fleets about to enter service in Britain, the commercial case for tilt is firmly established. While there is still diversity of actuation techniques, the cost is falling and side effects such as nausea are being overcome

  • News

    Loans fund corridor upgrades

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    CFR has negotiated several international loans to fund the modernisation of its two main international corridors. European Investment Bank financing worth €200m was negotiated in 1998 for the 160 km core section of Corridor IV between Bucuresti and Brasov, which is shared over the 59 km to Ploesti by Corridor ...

  • News

    Czech corridor energised

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    ELECTRIC services began running between Ceske Budejovice and the Austrian border at Horni Dvoriste in southern Bohemia on June 10, following the inauguration of the 25 kV 50Hz wiring three days earlier (below). Part of Czech Railways’ north-south Corridor 4 linking the German and Austrian borders (RG 6.95 p377), the ...

  • News

    High speed contracts

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    THESPANISH cabinet has given its approval for tenders to be called for civil works on the 12·8 km Santaella - Puente Genil section of the Córdoba - M

  • News

    Door contract

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    A partnership of Parker Pneumatic and Fersystems has been selected to supply complete automatic internal door operating mechanisms for the upgrading of SNCF regional trains.Reader Enquiry Numbers Parker Pneumatic148Fersystems149