All Railway Gazette International articles in August 2003
All articles published this month.
-
News
Tube transfers to TfL
AT 00.01 on July 15, responsibility for London Underground Ltd was transferred from the UK Secretary of State for Transport to Transport for London. The handover followed the award of 30-year concessions to Tube Lines and Metronet under the Public-Private Partnership, and saw the abolition of London Regional Transport, which ...
-
News
Visualisation software
MADRID Metro has begun using ILOG’s Solver software for its staff scheduling, and the same company’s Views package to display network data to aid the real-time supervision of depots and lines. In May French National Railways deployed ILOG Views to create visual displays which are used to show the location ...
-
News
Pyrenean project progress
MEETING on July 11, the Spanish cabinet approved bids from four consortia seeking pre-qualification for the concession to build and operate the 45 km route from Figueres to Perpignan in France. A second tender was issued after the intergovernmental commission announced on April 16 that no further progress could be ...
-
News
TENs programme is revised
FORMER Transport Commissioner Karel van Miert presented a report on the future development of the Trans-European Transport Networks to the European Commission on June 30. Compiled by a group of experts appointed by transport ministers of the 15 current and the 12 future member states, the report includes recommendations on ...
-
News
Polish takeover
ZIELONA Gora-based wagon builder and component supplier Zastal Wagony SA has been purchased by Tabor Szynowy Opole SA. Zastal Wagony SA became a Tabor subsidiary in May, with Robert Siwulski as General Director, Janusz Kapala as Technical Director and Janina Krol as Commercial Director. In addition to new general and ...
-
News
Weighing up your passengers
AEA Technology Rail has developed an electronic version of its Passenger Load Determination System, used to assess the number of passengers on a train at any given time. Developed from AEA’s existing PLD which already tracks around 2 million passenger-journeys a week, the updated e-PLD is expected to be simpler ...
-
News
Oslo ring opens
CEREMONIES will be held on August 20 to mark the opening of the first stage of Oslo Sporveier’s metro ring line, although revenue services are scheduled to start on August 17. The 2·9 km section from Ullevål Stadion to Storo will be served by an extension of Line 5 which ...
-
News
Managing maintenance on the Tokaido Shinkansen
INTRO: The infrastructure on Japan’s oldest high speed line has gradually been improved to allow operation at 270 km/h, with curve realignment, the introduction of composite sleepers and improved standards for maintenance work. Plans are being drawn up to strengthen major structures from 2017Dr-Eng Masaki SekiHead of Track Maintenance & ...
-
News
Madrid start
SPANISH Development Minister Francisco Álvarez-Cascos joined Mayor of Madrid Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón at Nuevos Ministerios on July 8 to mark the formal start of work on the second cross-city rail tunnel that will carry suburban services between Atocha and Chamartín. The project is expected to cost a total of €259m. Work ...
-
News
Luas still on track
Sir - Your report ’Luas lags behind’ (RG 7.03 p424) gives a pessimistic, and at times rather sensationalist picture of the progress of the Dublin light rail project.The original cost estimates you quote from the Dublin Transportation Initiative strategic study of 1991-94 (in Irish pounds, not euros) referred to the ...
-
News
Low-cost signalling on low-density lines
INTRO: An EU-funded research programme is developing cost-effective train location and signalling for secondary lines, using satellite positioning technology that may have future benefits in ERTMS applicationsBYLINE: Pierre Mertens, Jean-Pierre Franckart and Antonin Starck *BYLINE: * Pierre Mertens is Locoprol Project Co-ordinator at Alstom Transport Information Systems, Jean-Pierre Franckart is ...
-
News
Krakow upgrade
TURKISH civil engineering group Güris Insaat ve Mühendislik AS has been awarded a €31bn contract to rebuild a 3·7 km section of north-south tram route in Krakow as a segregated light rail line. Funded by EBRD and EIB, the contract was formally signed in Krakow on July 9. The work ...
-
News
IR safety plan
INDIAN Railways was due to adopt a 10-year Railway Corporate Safety Plan last month, allocating 4% of turnover for investment in safety equipment. The plan was discussed by the IR Board on July 14, following discussions with the railway unions. It will provide around Rs16bn a year until 2013, on ...
-
News
Lirex to test innovative transformer
BYLINE: Harry Hondius MScNEXT SPRING, the Lirex experimental diesel railcar developed for German Railway is to be converted into a hybrid electro-diesel trainset, with the replacement of one diesel generator set by a 15 kV 162/3Hz transformer. The new medium-frequency ’e-transformer’ is being developed jointly on an exclusive basis by ...
-
News
Simulating India’s trains
INDIAN Railways has awarded Corys TESS a contract worth over €20m to supply and maintain for 10 years locomotive driver training simulators. The project is part of a rolling programme to improve safety across the Indian rail network.Representing four different types of passenger and freight locos used by IR, the ...
-
News
Maglev lagging in high speed race
WHEN Peer Steinbrück, President of the Land of Nordrhein-Westfalen, sensibly decided on June 27 to dump plans to build a 79 km Transrapid maglev line between Dortmund and Düsseldorf, he was calling a halt to a project that had driven a deep rift in the local coalition of Social Democrats ...
-
News
Victoria line heads Metronet renewal
OVER THE NEXT 11 years, five of London Underground’s lines are to be resignalled by the Metronet consortium which has acquired the BCV and SSL infrastructure companies as part of the Public-Private Partnership. Work will start with the deep-level Victoria line, followed by the complex network of sub-surface lines - ...
-
News
Luxury unit ready to go
NEXT month French Railcruise plans to run its first luxury tour of southwest France using a heavily-refurbished X4500 two-car diesel multiple-unit. The original interior of the SNCF unit has been completely replaced, with luxurious fittings designed by MBD Design to give the train’s 22 passengers ’exceptional conditions of comfort, elegance ...
-
News
KNR to go private
WIDESPREAD industrial action halted services on Korean National Railroad at the end of June as employees staged protests against plans to privatise all or part of the 3125 km network. Back in January the South Korean government had softened its line on privatisation, saying that it would opt for a ...
-
News
SWT gets three-year franchise
THE UK Strategic Rail Authority announced on July 11 that it had signed a replacement franchise for South West Trains with incumbent operator Stagecoach Group. Originally planned as a 20-year deal, the franchise will now run for three years from February 1 2004, although there is an option to extend ...