All Railway Gazette International articles in August 2013 – Page 5
-
NewsSNCF awards onboard catering contract
FRANCE: SNCF has awarded a joint venture of Newrest (65%) and Elior (35%) a contract to provide catering services on long-distance passenger trains from November 2013. The contract announced on August 6 covers domestic TGV services, Intercité trains on the conventional network and international services on LGV Est operated ...
-
NewsMontreal, Maine & Atlantic files for bankruptcy protection
CANADA: Following the devastating derailment and explosion at Lac-Mégantic in Québec on July 6, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Canada Co announced on August 7 that it had sought relief under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in the Superior Court of Québec. Simultaneously, US-based sister company Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway ...
-
NewsThales to support signalling skills in Malaysia
MALAYSIA: Thales and the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology has signed a memorandum of understanding setting out plans to promote the development of rail industry skills. The memorandum signed on July 29 is intended as the first in a series of initiatives planned under the National Rail Industry ...
-
NewsFerronor takes delivery of EMD locomotives
CHILE: Electro-Motive Diesel has delivered six GT46AC freight locomotives to metre-gauge operator Ferronor. The 4 500 bhp locomotives built in the USA at EMD's plant in Muncie, Indiana, have 16-cylinder 710G3C engines with electronic unit injection, a split radiator system and variable-speed cooling fans and traction motor blowers that optimise ...
-
NewsHohenzollerische Landesbahn retains operating contract
GERMANY: Following a competitive tender, on August 1 the Land of Baden-Württemberg announced it had selected incumbent Hohenzollerische Landesbahn for a contract to operate Zollernbahn local services between Tübingen and Sigmaringen. The recently-modernised Regio-Shuttle RS1 diesel railcars are to be retained to operate the route, but the new contract requires ...
-
NewsRecruiting a cast of thousands
CHINA: MTR Corp held a two-day Career Expo on June 29-30 with the hope of recruiting up to 2400 staff for a range of construction and civil engineering posts working on five ongoing and 10 planned rail projects across Hong Kong. Opportunities were offered in various disciplines including 40 frontline ...
-
NewsFinal section of Stockholm Citybanan tunnel sunk into place
SWEDEN: The third and final section of the Söderström immersed tunnel was lowered into place in central Stockholm on August 6. The tunnel connecting the islands Riddarholmen and Södermalm forms part of the SKr16·8bn Citybanan, a 6 km deep-level line being built to carry suburban rail services beneath central Stockholm. ...
-
NewsFirst test train through the Marmaray tunnel
TURKEY: A ceremonial first test train ran through the Marmaray tunnel between Kazliçesme on the European side of Istanbul and Ayrılıkçesme on the Asian side on August 4, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the controls. 'This project is not the project of the century, but it is the ...
-
NewsSiemens awarded Gurgaon metro extension contract
INDIA: IL&FS Rail has awarded Siemens a €70m turnkey contract to supply electrification, signalling and rolling stock for the 6·5 km Gurgaon metro Phase II extension. The six-station extension to the standard-gauge line is due to open in late 2015 or 2016. It will have a capacity of 30 ...
-
NewsDB launches mentoring programme
GERMANY: Following a trial underway since 2011, Deutsche Bahn has launched a mentoring programme for younger female staff in technical roles across the infrastructure and technical divisions of the business. The programme is intended to demonstrate to young women in engineering roles that a future at leadership level is open ...
-
NewsSaudi Landbridge design contract awarded
SAUDI ARABIA: The Ministry of Finance's Public Investment Fund has appointed the Italferr engineering consultancy subsidiary of Italian national railway group FS to undertake design work for the US$7bn Landbridge project. Development of the planned 950 km double-track mixed traffic line between Riyadh and Jeddah Islamic Port is being managed ...
-
NewsDB signs contract for Škoda Transportation push-pull trains
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn signed a €110m contract for Škoda Transportation to supply six double-deck push-pull trainsets on August 5. The trainsets are to be used on regional services linking Nürnberg, Ingolstadt and München which DB Regio is to operate on behalf of the Land of Bayern for 12 years from ...
-
NewsBydgoszcz selects preferred bidder for tram extension
POLAND: The Tramwaj Fordon subsidiary of Bydgoszcz city council has named a Gotowski-led consortium as preferred bidder to build a new 9·5 km tram line to the Fordon district. The mostly Polish consortium comprises Gotowski, Mosty Łódź, Feroco, Tor-Krak, Kobylarnia and Czech construction company Metrostav. Its bid of 290m ...
-
NewsFurther safety measures follow Santiago de Compostela crash
SPAIN: The Ministry of Development announced on August 2 that the ASFA train protection system is to be installed to enforce speed limits on the national network, following recommendations made by rail accident investigation commission CIAF in advance of its report into the derailment at Santiago de Compostela on July ...
-
NewsRemote control console
SHUNTING: Höft & Wessel has developed a hand-held control unit for remote control of shunting locomotives and associated equipment. Enclosed in a ruggedised plastic casing with a fold-out data terminal, the almex.cargo unit weighs 600 g including batteries, and can operate for up to 10 h on a full charge. ...
-
NewsGeorgian Railway aiming to grow
GEORGIA: Georgian Railway has set out its plans for future development, saying it aims 'to become one of the companies promoting growth of the national economy.' The national railway said a close relationship with freight shippers is a priority. Freight income in the Q1 2013-14 was up 13% on the ...
-
NewsTalking technology for UKlight locomotives
UK: The Class 68 UKlight locomotives Vossloh is building for British freight operator Direct Rail Services are to incorporate cab audio warning systems developed by Lütze. Designed to be used in place of piezo buzzer modules, the Lütze Audio Signal Transducer can record and play spoken alerts as well as ...
-
NewsProducts & Technology in Brief
Wagon leasing company VTG has developed an anti-climb system which can be retrofitted to tank wagons, protecting the tank floor and the tank itself from damage in the event of a collision. East Japan Railway and Hitachi are to sell anonymised statistical data on users of Suica smart ticketing to ...
-
NewsZhengzhou to Hamburg freight train arrives
INTERNATIONAL: An inaugural freight from Zhengzhou in China arrived at Hamburg-Billwerder yard in Germany on August 2. The train was operated on behalf of Zhengzhou International Land Port Development & Construction Co, with DB Schenker responsible for the logistics services outside China. The 10 214 km route through China, Kazakhstan, ...
-
NewsDetroit streetcar construction contract awarded
USA: Project promoter M-1 Rail Corp selected Stacy & Witbeck as construction manager and general contractor for the M-1 light rail project in Detroit, it was announced on July 31. The company beat four other bidders. Also known as the Woodward Avenue Streetcar, the 5·3 km line would run ...