All Railway Gazette International articles in December 2012 – Page 2
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NewsDesign work starts on east-west Laos rail corridor
LAOS: Preparatory works are underway to construct a 220 km double-track electrified railway between Savannakhet on the Mekong river and the Vietnamese frontier at Lao Bao. The project is being undertaken under a PPP concession worth up to US$5bn, which the Laotian government awarded to Malaysian contractor ...
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NewsMTR awards East Rail upgrading contracts
CHINA: Hong Kong’s MRT Corp has placed two major contracts for new trains and signalling to modernise the former Kowloon – Canton Railway main line between Kowloon and the border station at Lo Wu, as part of the regional government’s US$2·9bn ‘Hong Kong 2020’ railway investment programme. The 41 km ...
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NewsRZD unveils wagon for piggyback or container traffic
RUSSIA: An experimental 'universal' flat wagon designed by JSC Ruzkhimmash to carry either articulated lorries or containers was unveiled in Moscow on December 14. The wagon was commissioned by RZD, which expects to obtain certification for operation by the third quarter of 2013 and envisages that any wagon manufacturer would ...
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NewsZaragoza extends tram network
SPAIN: Line 1 of the Zaragoza tram network grew by a further 844 m on December 20, with the opening of the section from Plaza de España to César Augusto and Plaza del Pilar. Extension of the network into the heart of the old city has also seen a further ...
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NewsMariazellerbahn commissions a stairway to heaven
AUSTRIA: More than 2500 people attended celebrations at the Mariazellerbahn's Laubenbachmühle depot on December 16 to mark the unveiling of the first of nine low-floor electric multiple-units which Stadler Rail is supplying for Austria's longest narrow gauge railway. Bishop of St Pölten Klaus Küng and Superintendent of the Evangelical Church ...
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NewsHitachi buys The Railway Engineering Company
UK: Hitachi Europe Ltd announced the acquisition of The Railway Engineering Company from James Fisher & Sons plc on December 20. The £25·5m deal is expected to be completed by the end of December. TRE was founded in 2000, and supplies signalling training and assessment simulators as well as automatic ...
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NewsSignalling Solutions wins Network Rail contracts
UK: Alstom Transport announced on December 19 that its Signalling Solutions Ltd joint venture with Balfour Beatty Rail had been awarded contracts worth a total of €43m by Network Rail. Under a package worth €27m, SSL is to design, supply, install, test and commission new signalling and associated power works ...
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NewsEBRD funds Ukrainian wagon renewal
UKRAINE: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is providing national railway UZ with a loan of up to US$62·5m to finance the purchase of general-purpose wagons under its rolling stock renewal programme. A similar loan was provided by EBRD in 2009. The bank says it has now committed more ...
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News
Michael Odenwald
Michael Odenwald has been appointed Secretary of State in Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport, succeeding Prof Klaus-Dieter Scheurle.
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NewsAlstom wins Coradia Continental train order
GERMANY: On December 18 Alstom announced contracts worth more than €100m to supply and maintain 20 Coradia Continental electric multiple-units, which from December 2015 are to be deployed on Elektronetz Niedersachsen Ost regional services from Hannover to Wolfsburg and Wolfsburg to Hildesheim via Braunschweig. There is an option for a ...
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NewsLublin airport rail link opens
POLAND: Rail services from Lublin to Lublin (Swidnik) Airport station began on December 17. This follows completion of a 2·2 km branch from Swidnik station, which was built by PRK Expol with KZA Lublin responsible for signalling and PKP Energetyka for electrification. The new airport has been developed from ...
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NewsTest runs start under Barcelona
SPAIN: RENFE began using the new tunnel between Sants and La Sagrera in Barcelona on December 17, as it commenced test running with Class 103 trainsets on the high speed line between Sants, Girona and Figueres Vilafant. Taking place between 08.00 and 18.00, the test runs are also being used ...
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News
Alistair Dormer
Alistair Dormer has succeeded Chiaki Ueda as Executive Chairman and CEO of Hitachi Rail Europe, while Hirofumi Ojima has become Chief Strategy Officer. Russell Hargrave has been appointed Head of Maintenance, reporting to the new Senior Vice-President & Head of Projects, Operations & Maintenance, Andy Barr.
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NewsFunding approved for Quito metro
ECUADOR: The Inter-American Development Bank announced on December 5 that it had approved a US$200m loan to fund construction of Quito's first metro line, due to be completed in 2016. The mass transit system is expected to generate savings of $68m through shorter journey times, lower transport operating costs ...
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NewsT2 completes Dijon tram network
FRANCE: Dijon's second tram route entered service on December 8, running for 11·5 km from Valmy in the northern suburbs to Chenôve Centre in the south and serving a total of 21 stops. Three stops in the city centre are shared with the 8·5 km line T1 from the ...
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NewsRailway test centre to boost Japanese competitiveness
JAPAN: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has announced plans to construct what it says will be Japan's 'first comprehensive railway transportation system verification facility', with the aim of strengthening the country's international competitiveness. The MIHARA Test Centre at Mihara Machinery Works' Wadaoki plant in Hiroshima prefecture is scheduled to open in the ...
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NewsParis extends orbital tramway
FRANCE: The 14·3 km extension of orbital tram route T3 following the Boulevards des Maréchaux ring road around the eastern side of Paris was opened for revenue service on December 15. This trebles the length of T3, which has been running for 7·9 km across the south of Paris from ...
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NewsRail Technical Strategy launched
UK: A 30-year vision for the evolution of railway technology was outlined on December 13 with the publication in London of the 2012 Rail Technical Strategy. Unlike the 2007 version which had been prepared by the Department for Transport, the document has been developed by the pan-industry Technical Leadership Strategy ...
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NewsElektriraudtee unveils first diesel Flirt
ESTONIA: The first diesel version of Stadler Rail's Flirt family of multiple-units was unveiled by Tallinn passenger operator Elektriraudtee on December 13. Elektriraudtee signed two contracts with Stadler for new trains in August 2010. An order for 12 three-car and six four-car electric multiple-units is worth €80m, of which 85% ...
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NewsAxle bearing temperature monitor
BEARINGS: SKF has launched the SKF Axletronic bearing temperature monitoring system, designed to be easy to install on new or existing locomotives, multiple-units and metro cars. It transmits condition data via CAN bus, offering continuous temperature monitoring and analysis with adaptive alarm levels. Flash memory is used for event recording ...