Features & Analysis – Page 66
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Two railways grapple with rolling stock modernisation
The national railways in Belgium and the Netherlands are modernising their passenger rolling stock fleets, but commercial and political objectives complicate the task. Harry Hondius MSc Eng compares the two railways' traction policies
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'We must create our own core competences'
JR East Chairman Shuichiro Yamanouchi challenges current thinking on research, suggesting railways can no longer rely on suppliers to develop new products and processes. In this interview with Murray Hughes, Yamanouchi outlines a three-pronged strategy for survival while Japan's economy bounces on the bump stops
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World Speed Survey 1999
Quantity not quality as high-speed operators mark time The closing years of the 20th century have seen a consolidation in high-speed train performance, with more trains in the top categories but no services faster than in 1997. In our regular biennial survey of the fastest timetabled point-to-point journeys, Dr Colin ...
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Express Rail Link brings the train to the plane
Construction of a 57 km electrified route between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and the city centre is now under way. Under a 30-year concession awarded to the private sector, express and commuter services are due to begin operating in 2002
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Building Britain's first high speed line
Section 1 only impinges on the urban fabric at Ashford, but Section 2 penetrates to the heart of London where driving 36 km of single-track bored tunnel through some difficult ground beneath existing railways and other structures presents a major engineering challenge
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Modern steam serves niche markets
A Swiss company has rebuilt a main line steam locomotive in an experiment to assess the viability of a marriage between the earliest and the latest traction technology
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Crossfleet to maintain VCC trains
Under the terms of a £1bn contract for a fleet of new tilting and non-tilting diesel multiple-units, Bombardier Transportation has taken over responsibility for maintenance of the entire Virgin CrossCountry fleet for the rest of the 15-year franchise to 2012
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Gauge-changing EMU on the road to success
Last November, Japan's Railway Technical Research Institute unveiled the world's first multi-voltage gauge-changing trainset. Following tests on JR West, the unit will be run at up to 250 km/h in Pueblo from April
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Deregulation changes the face of Canadian railroading
Since the Canada Transportation Act came into force in 1996, the country's rail industry has undergone a dramatic transformation, with modernisation and restructuring at the two big national operators matched by a mushrooming of small and medium-sized feeder railways
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'I don't want to privatise, and I don't believe we need it'
Etienne Schouppe, Managing Director of Belgian National Railways, is treading a delicate path of reform in a country where performance of the national railway is a deeply political issue. The restructured company lends itself to privatisation, but Schouppe told Murray Hughes in Brussels that the changes were needed to put ...
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LKAB invests in 30 tonne axleloads
Swedish mining giant LKAB is investing SKr1·1bn in three new trainsets and nine locos for the Malmbanan iron ore corridor. Heavier axleloads to boost rail capacity and cut transport costs form a key element in the company's strategy to boost production from 20 to 30 million tonnes a year
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NewsBHP tries radio-controlled ECP braking
Australian's largest iron ore producer BHP is experimenting with the latest heavy haul technology by fitting radio-controlled ECP brakes to four locos and 240 wagons
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SJ seeks opportunities at home and abroad
Director General of SJ Daniel Johannesson described to Andrew Hellawell his plans to strengthen the railway’s role as the driving force of reform among Europe’s railways, to expand beyond its existing domestic market, and to exploit changes which have wiped out track access charges
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Links drive Danish upgrading
Within a couple of years Banestyrelsen will form the key section of an unbroken rail corridor between Scandinavia and mainland Europe. Director General Erik Elsborg told Andrew Hellawell how he plans to expand capacity for growing domestic and international traffic while encouraging both new and established rail operators
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DB grounds ICE1 fleet after Eschede disaster
GERMAN Railway's carefully cultivated image of speed, safety and luxury built up since it launched IC-Express services on June 2 1991 is in tatters. The derailment at 10.59 on June 3 of ICE884 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen at Eschede on the Hannover - Hamburg main line and its disastrous aftermath shocked ...
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Görlitz launches third ICE generation
WELL OVER 1500 people were present at an emotional ceremony on April 3 in the DWA works in Görlitz to mark completion of the first two series-built end cars for German Railway's 230 km/h ICT tilting train fleet (RG 5.98 p279). The Görlitz factory had turned out the legendary Fliegender ...
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Bombardier targets market leadership
Two international units will centralise control of Bombardier Transportation's recently acquired European operations. Chris Jackson spoke to President Jean-Yves Leblanc about his strategy
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Privatised Carajás Railway targets productivity
In May 1997 the world's biggest iron ore exporter was sold by the Brazilian government. CVRD operates two heavy haul railways which were already efficient, and are now striving to reduce unit costs even further
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Royal Thalys pioneers first 300 km/h inter-capitals route
The final piece of the TGV Nord-Europe jigsaw was slotted into place on December 10 when an inaugural Royal Thalys carried King Albert II and Queen Paola from Brussels to Paris and back to mark completion of the 71 km Belgian section of the 314·6 km high speed route. Murray ...
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World Speed Survey: Shinkansen regains speed honours as French cut back
In his biennial survey of the world's fastest timetabled start-to-stop trains, Dr Colin Taylor finds that Japan has regained the Number 1 spot it first won in 1965. Despite losing the lead, France continues to accelerate, with its best timings now well over 250 km/h