All Railway Gazette International articles in August 2007 – Page 3

  • News

    Third Railway Package agreed as mega-truck battle hots up

    2007-08-08T09:31:00Z

    AGREEMENT between Europe’s Council of Ministers and the European Parliament has been reached on the Third Railway Package, and ratification is anticipated in a vote during a plenary session in Strasbourg in September. A ‘conciliation agreement’ was confirmed by an exchange of letters on June 20. Implementation of the Third ...

  • News

    Latvia completes rail restructuring

    2007-08-07T08:47:00Z

    A TWO-year programme to restructure Latvian Railways was completed on July 4 with a formal registration of three new companies in the national Register of Enterprises. Started by a government decision on May 10 2005, the process has been led by a steering group chaired by Transport Minister Ainars Šlesers ...

  • News

    Fehmarn Belt bridge approved

    2007-08-06T09:00:00Z

    DANISH Transport Minister Flemming Hansen and his German counterpart Wolfgang Tiefensee announced on June 29 that they had reached agreement on the construction of a fixed link across the Fehmarn Belt, following a meeting in Berlin. Work on the 19 km bridge between Puttgarden on the German island of Fehmarn ...

  • News

    Bangladesh - India order reopens

    2007-08-05T08:49:00Z

    AUGUST is expected to see the launch of through passenger services between Kolkata and Dhaka, according to the Director-General of Bangladesh Railways Belayet Hossain. This will see the restoration of cross-border passenger services between India and Bangladesh after a suspension of 42 years. Hossain's announcement followed the running of ...

  • News

    Six on Western Railway shortlist

    2007-08-04T08:51:00Z

    SAUDI Railways Organisation announced on June 25 that six of the seven bidding groups had been shortlisted for a BOT concession to build the 444 km Western Railway high speed line linking Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah. Transport Minister Dr Jobara Al-Suraisry expects that tenders will be invited in the next ...

  • News

    More Swiss tunnels to take double-deckers

    2007-08-03T08:30:00Z

    SWISS Federal Railways is to spend SFr626m on a 10-year programme to improve tunnels on its 3 087 km network. Signed off by the board of management in July, the package will see work carried out on 84 tunnels with a total length of 105 km. Around half the money ...

  • News

    TGV PPP bids

    2007-08-03T08:00:00Z

    THREE CONSORTIA have submitted prequalification bids for the public-private partnership to build and operate the TGV Atlantique extension from Tours to Poitiers, Angoulême and Bordeaux. The 302 km line, which is intended to bring Bordeaux within 2 h of Paris by 2016, is one of the three pilot PPP concessions ...

  • tn_eg-pyramid_01.JPG
    News

    Egyptian investment will raise safety standards

    2007-08-02T15:32:00Z

    Several high profile accidents have drawn attention to the neglected state of the Egyptian rail network, triggering a programme of investment in track, trains and signalling. Murray Hughes finds that the planned spend includes new lines to serve three rapidly growing new cities

  • News

    Bolivia renationalises

    2007-08-02T14:09:00Z

    PRESIDENT Evo Morales of Bolivia announced on July 15 that his government would be ‘nationalising’ the two concessions to operate the former ENFE network that were awarded in 1996. The necessary legislation had been promulgated by the president three days earlier. One of the aims of the ...

  • tn_hk-expressraillink-aerial-photo_02.jpg
    News

    Express Link moves ahead

    2007-08-02T14:03:00Z

    FEASIBILITY studies for the planned Express Rail Link between Shenzhen and Kowloon were submitted to the Hong Kong government at the end of June. The project covers a 28 km alignment from Futian in Shenzhen to a terminus in West Kowloon. Outline details of the project were ...

  • News

    Velaro E enters service

    2007-08-02T13:52:35Z

    ON JUNE 22 Spanish national operator Renfe put into service the first of its Series 103 high speed trainsets on the routes from Madrid to Sevilla and Camp de Tarragona. This follows over 300?000 km of test running on both lines with the sets that are equipped ...

  • News

    Pointers August 2007

    2007-08-01T12:16:00Z

    In June Air France's Vice-President, Development, Gille Bordes-Pages told Airline Business magazine that the company is looking for foreign partners to co-operate in the launch of rail services between Paris and French cities not served by air or high speed rail. 'We will do this as soon as deregulation occurs, ...

  • News

    Capacity expansion builds on a decade of renaissance

    2007-08-01T11:19:00Z

    Brazil's railways have reached the 10th anniversary of privatisation with an impressive rise in freight traffic – some individual operators are now exceeding the whole tonnage moved by the former state railway in 1997. John Kolodziejski looks at their progress and the prospects for further growth

  • News

    Sleeper EMU to be developed under co-operation deal

    2007-08-01T11:16:00Z

    ALTHOUGH plans for deployment of its fleet of high speed trains have slipped compared with the original proposals, Chinese Railways is on course to have all the CRH1, CRH2 and CRH5 trainsets in service during 2008. The CRH1 sets built by Bombardier's Chinese joint venture company Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation ...

  • News

    China's high speed fleet expands steadily

    2007-08-01T11:04:00Z

    AS WELL as the 300 km/h CRH3 Velaro trainsets, which are due to enter service during 2008, Chinese Railways is currently putting into service 160 trainsets of classes CRH1, CRH2 and CRH5. Designed for operation in the 200 to 250 km/h speed range, these are the first tranches of an ...

  • News

    Market August 2007

    2007-08-01T11:01:00Z

    Canada: CN has ordered 40 ES44 DC locos of 4 400 hp from GE, and 25 SD70M-2 locos of 4 300 hp from EMD. Deliveries will be completed by August 2008. All will be equipped with distributed power capability for operation by remote control in the middle of trains. Croatia: ...

  • News

    China's first 300 km/h trainsets are taking shape

    2007-08-01T10:41:00Z

    Next year is due to see the delivery of the first 300 km/h trainsets for Chinese Railways, which are scheduled to enter service on the Beijing – Tianjin line in time for the 2008 Olympic Games

  • News

    Rail Maps: Europe and Britain & Ireland

    2007-08-01T10:19:00Z

    Book review

  • News

    Fahrwege Der Bahnen

    2007-08-01T10:17:00Z

    Book review

  • News

    Delhi orders 340 Movia cars

    2007-08-01T10:15:00Z

    BOMBARDIER Transportation has won a €427m contract to build 340 of its Movia cars to operate Phase 2 of the Delhi Metro. The deal was announced on July 19, and deliveries are due to start towards the end of 2008 with completion of the order in 2010 before the Commonwealth ...