All Railway Gazette International articles in August 2007
All articles published this month.
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News
Leasing finance
BABCOCK & Brown announced on August 1 the establishment of a new company to develop CBRail, the European operating lease financing company it formed in September 2004 as a joint venture with Bank of Scotland Corporate Asset Finance. The new company has a €390m long-term financing platform to enable the ...
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News
AGV tailors capacity and performance to the market
Nearing completion at Alstom's factory in La Rochelle are the seven cars of the prototype Automotice à Grande Vitesse. Alstom's Technical Director François Lacôte briefed Murray Hughes on the train's design and target market
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News
Not a wheel is turning on the Betuwe Route
TWO MONTHS ago we reported the formal opening of the Betuwe Route by Queen Beatrix on June 16 (RG 7.07 p419). By July 15 just 10 freight trains had passed over the line each way. That's 10 a month, not 10 a day. And infrastructure operator Keyrail imposed a three-day ...
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News
Armenia starts concessioning
THE GOVERNMENT of Armenia has invited prequalification bids for a 30-year concession to modernise and operate the country's rail network, with an option for a further 20-year extension. Minister of Transport & Communications Andranikl Manukyan says expressions of interest are due by September 14, with shortlisted bidders to be announced ...
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News
Tangula Railtours launching luxury train to Tibet
Tangula Railtours has placed contracts for three five-star cruise trains offering luxury travel over the world's highest railway
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Tehran Line 3 funded
CHAIRMAN of Tehran Urban & Suburban Railway Co Mohsen Hashemi signed an agreement covering the financing of Tehran Metro Line 3 with the Bank of Industry & Mines on July 25. The bank will provide US$100m to permit work to begin this year on the 7 km first phase of ...
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Cádiz progress
TWO new double-track sections on the Sevilla - Cádiz route were officially brought into service on July 27 in the presence of Spanish Development Minister Magdalena ?lvarez. In addition to track doubling, under a €700m project level crossings are being eliminated, with new alignments constructed in certain locations. The power ...
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CD Cargo to split
ON JULY 25 the Czech cabinet approved plans to hive off CD's freight business as an independent subsidiary CD Cargo. Target date for the split is April 1 2008, subject to the legislation being passed by parliament in November. The move will complete a railway restructuring programme started in ...
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News
Sensolab drives interior experimentation
Sound, touch and smell are the focus of a research programme being undertaken in France as designers seek to create a more comfortable travelling environment for passengers
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SBB lifts ETCS speed limit
UP TO 180 trains a day are now running at 200 km/h on Swiss metals thanks to the introduction of cab signalling with ETCS Level 2 on the new line between Mattstetten and Rothrist. Swiss Federal Railways had intended to operate at 200 km/h with Level 2 when the 45 ...
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News
KCRC Lok Ma Chau branch opens
OFFICIALS from Hong Kong and Shenzhen, including Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen and Kowloon–Canton Railway Corp Chairman Michael Tien Puk-sun, participated in the celebrations on August 15 to mark the opening of KCRC's 7·4 km East Rail branch from Sheung Shui to Lok Ma Chau. Served by through trains from ...
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News
Strasbourg light rail network grows
THE FIRST extensions to open under Strasbourg's 2007-08 light rail expansion programme (RG 4.06 p202) were due to carry their first passengers on August 25. Line C was due to grow by 5 km from Esplanade to Neuhof Rodolphe Reuss, sharing track between Landsberg and Jean Jaurès with a ...
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News
Limited vision in white paper's growth plans
'IT IS THE most ambitious strategy for growth on the railways in over 50 years', claimed UK Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly, when she launched the white paper Delivering a Sustainable Railway on July 24. Together with an accompanying Rail Technical Strategy, the white paper outlines the government's ...
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News
Georgian Railways concession announced
ECONOMIC Development Minister Giorgi Arveladze announced on August 16 that the cabinet had approved the transfer of Georgian Railways from the government to UK-based Parkfield Investments Ltd. The concession period was originally announced as 89 years, but amended to 99 years when the Prime Minister signed the decree. Arveladze ...
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Product news
Low-emission engine certified MTU'S low-emission 12V4000 R33 locomotive engine has received US Environmental Protection Agency Tier 2 emission standard certification. The 2 250 hp engine is optimised for rail use, and equipped with MTU's second-generation common fuel injection, water-cooled exhaust and turbochargers, and advanced ...
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News
Mendoza bids
THE ARGENTINIAN government has invited bids for a turnkey contract to build a high speed line between Buenos Aires and Mendoza, currently 1 058 km by rail from the capital. As with the route to Córdoba where the Veloxia consortium has been selected (RG 8.07 p504), bidders have been asked ...
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Hitachi Class 395 EMU arrives in Britain
UK: The first of 29 Hitachi trains ordered for domestic services on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link was unloaded at the Port of Southampton on August 23. The vehicles were shipped from Kobe onboard MV Tarago, a roll-on, roll-off vessel operated by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, the company responsible for delivering ...
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News
Passenger Dedicated Lines will spearhead CR's inter-city speed-up
With a design speed of 350 km/h, the Wuhan – Guangdong Railway PDL is the world's longest high speed line currently under construction, at nearly 1 000 km
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Ballastless track harnesses technology transfer
THE MINISTRY of Railways has decided to adopt the Rheda 2000 KH ballastless track design for around 95% of the Wuhan – Guangzhou Passenger Dedicated Line. Design, supply and construction are being supported by Beijing Rail.One, the local Chinese subsidiary of the Rail.One group. Rail.One is responsible for the overall ...
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Voestalpine buys into recycling
ON JUNE 29 Voestalpine Railpro signed an agreement to acquire 49% of René Prinsen Spoorwegmaterialen, with retrospective effect from January 1. A complete take-over of the firm will come into effect in two years. Based at Woudenberg in the Netherlands, René Prinsen Spoorwegmaterialen specialises in the removal and recycling ...