All Railway Gazette International articles in August 2006 – Page 4

  • News

    Arriva expands in Europe

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    ON JULY 4 Arriva announced that it had won a contract to operate trains between München and Oberstdorf in the Bavarian Alps, and also to Lindau in southern Germany. The contract starts from December 9 2007 and is expected to generate total revenue exceeding €150m over the following 10 years.In ...

  • News

    SBB funding package approved

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    ON JUNE 21 Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenburger confirmed that Parliament had approved SFr5·88bn of state funding to support Swiss Federal Railways over the next four years.The budget allocation had been passed by the Bundesrat in March, but was the subject of fierce debate in the Ständerat before it was ...

  • News

    SSB announces midlife car refit

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    STUTTGARTER Straßenbahn AG announced on July 5 that it intends to start a mid-life refit for around a third of its 164-strong fleet of LRVs.The 60 cars in the DT8.4 to DT8.9 series, which are coming up to 20 years old, will be fully refurbished and brought up to the ...

  • News

    Reims and Angers choose APS

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    ON JULY 13 the Communauté d'agglomeration Reims Métropole signed a €1·4bn turnkey contract with the Alstom-led MARS consortium for construction of an 11·2 km light rail line, and for the operation of trams and buses in the city over 30 years from January 1 2008. The Mobilité Agglomération Rémoise ...

  • News

    Always informed

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    STAFF in ticket offices and depots need to be kept informed of unexpected incidents which bring changes to service patterns, and this requires near-instant communication across an operator’s business. But pagers and mobile phones get turned off if staff see the messages as a low priority, multiple text messages go ...

  • News

    Airport rail links must focus on service

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Germany is world leader in terms of connecting its major airports to the national rail network, but Dr-Ing Edmund Krieger argues that the investment in hardware is not yet being matched by 'software' improvements in terms of services and passenger handling

  • News

    Sendai airport line nears completion

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    EAST JAPAN Railway plans to open the 7·1 km rail link to Sendai airport early in 2007 - before the end of the current financial year. Seen as a key element in plans to open up the Tohoku region, the scheme takes the form of a public-private partnership which is ...

  • News

    Buenos Aires branches revived

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    UNDER A 180m pesos investment programme funded by the Argentinian government, work was expected to begin this month to renew track on four diesel-worked sections of the Buenos Aires commuter network. On TBA’s Sarmiento route, the Moreno - Mercedes and Merlo - Lobos sections are to be upgraded, together with ...

  • News

    Spie sale terms agreed

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    AMEC has agreed terms for the sale of AMEC Spie to a new company controlled by private equity firm PAI. The £707m sale was expected to be completed last month, with AMEC to record an exceptional profit on disposal of £295m which will be used to pay down debt.AMEC Spie ...

  • News

    Granada light rail funding agreed

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    CONSTRUCTION of a 15·5 km light rail route in the Spanish city of Granada is expected to begin this autumn, following the signature of funding agreements by the Andalucía regional government and the municipalities of Granada, Armilla, Albolote and Maracena on July 12.Excluding rolling stock, the project is expected to ...

  • News

    Africa needs to cut border delays

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    ACCORDING TO Spoornet CEO Siyabonga Gama, delays to freight trains at international borders on the Cape gauge network serving southern Africa are costing the region US$48bn a year. Gama told the ninth AfricaRail conference near Johannesburg on June 28 that it could take up to 12 days to get a ...

  • News

    Tough times at AEA

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    REPORTING its results for the year to March 31, on June 8 AEA Technology announced an adjusted operating loss of £2·1m at its Rail division, compared with a loss of £0·6m in 2004-05. Turnover was £46·7m, down from £59·8m in 2004-05.’Significant and necessary change’ in the Rail business over the ...

  • News

    US$47m Belgrano spend proposed

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    THE GOVERNOR of Argentina’s Salta province, Juan Carlos Romero, has presented a plan that would see US$47m invested in the metre-gauge Belgrano network (RG 7.06 p376) to restore key routes over a 16-month period. The 500 km identified as priority routes under the plan include Embarcación - Formosa, Joaquín V ...

  • News

    Iris 320 casts an expert eye over the French network

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    SNCF has completed a €33·5m programme to convert a TGV Réseau trainset for inspecting track, overhead electrification, signalling and telecommunications systems at speeds up to 320 km/h. Laurent Charlier reports

  • News

    Intelligence August 2006

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Bangladesh: Work will begin this month to convert the metre gauge line between Joydepur and Kamlapur station in Dhaka to dual metre and 1676mm gauge by October 2007. A contract awarded to Chinese company First Metallic Construction Co in January 2000 failed because of financial complexities, so BR ...

  • News

    Metros August 2006

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Algeria: Alstom is to supply 29 Citadis trams for the 16·3 km light rail line planned for Alger (RG 7.06 p378). Brazil: São Paulo state governor Claudio Lembo inaugurated Chacara Klabin station on Line 2 of the city's metro on May 9. Designed by Semaly to provide an interchange with ...

  • News

    Line 15 proposed

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    SHANGHAI’s city planners have announced their intention to develop another north-south metro line across the rapidly-growing conurbation.Due to be completed after 2010, Line 15 will connect the Shanghai University campus in Baoshan with the Purple Bamboo Industrial Park in Minhang. The final alignment has not been settled, but the line ...

  • tn_eu-euro-bank-notes_a4ff8d.jpg
    News

    EIB provides €10bn for PEIT

    2006-08-01T10:00:00Z

    UNDER AN AGREEMENT signed in Madrid on July 4 by its President Philippe Maystadt, the European Investment Bank is to provide up to €10bn in 2007-13 to support the Spanish Ministry of Development's PEIT strategic infrastructure and transport investment plan. PEIT has a total budget of €249bn for 2005-20, of ...