All Railway Gazette International articles in February 1998
All articles published this month.
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News
Reshuffle in Roma
ITALIAN State Railways is undergoing another phase of reorganisation, the ultimate aim being to introduce a measure of separation between operations and infrastructure to satisfy the requirements of European Union directive 91/440. The process sees an organisation known until now as TAV2 becoming the specialist operator of high speed and ...
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News
Rato ready
METROPOLITANO de Lisboa opened its short extension from Rotunda to Rato on December 26, diverting services from Campo Grande via Entre Campos into the new Rato terminus. On the same day through services between Campo Grande and Pontinha via Areeiro and the city centre were suspended to allow the disconnection ...
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News
PUBLICATIONS
Railway Directory 1998, Book and CD-ROMMarking the next stage of Railway Directory’s transformation to an information tool for the electronic age, the 1998 edition is available on CD-ROM, as well as in book format.The CD-ROM gives the user the same wealth of information and statistics as the book, together with ...
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News
Pre-coated tram rails
STREET running sections of Manchester Metrolink’s Salford Quays - Eccles extension will make use of track featuring polyurethane elastomer insulation that is bonded to the rails before they are laid. Installing the elastomer at the same time as laying the rails can lead to bad weather weakening the bonding and ...
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News
Pointers
n French National Railway plans to increase its order with De Dietrich and LHB for the joint Franco-German TERX73500 lightweight diesel railcars from the initial 40 vehicles to over 100 to meet growing demand from the régions.n Hongkong Tramways is planning a feasibility study into replacing its wooden double-deck cars ...
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News
Sydney’s trams in search of passengers
RUNNING from Sydney’s Central station to Wattle Street in Wentworth Park, the 3·6 km light rail route was inaugurated last August. Services are provided by a fleet of seven five-section articulated low-floor cars built by Adtranz at Dandenong in Victoria.During the start-up phase traffic has been lighter than the Sydney ...
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News
OPEN trials move to Utrecht
FOLLOWING trials at Rotterdam Blaak, NS Railinfrabeheer is to test the Orientation for Persons via Electronic Navigation (OPEN) system at Utrecht CS. Developed with funding from the EU’s Technological Initiative for the Disabled & Elderly (TIDE) programme, OPEN uses a small device carried by the passenger to receive signals from ...
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News
PR to split next month
PAKISTAN Railways is to be divided into four state-owned corporations next month, ready for privatisation from June. Rail Passenger Corp, Railways Infrastructure, Rail Freight Corp and Railways Mechanical Works Corp will be auctioned separately during the second half of this year.The existing Pakistan Railways Board has been split away from ...
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News
Stations to be modernised
THISYEAR German Railway will spend DM1bn on modernising 27 major stations. Around 60% of the funding is expected to come from private firms, which will be encouraged to buy or lease retail space. DB plans to offer a wide range of services, with lounges, cafés and play areas. Medical services ...
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News
Metros
France: On January 23 RATP was due to inaugurate its station on RER Line D serving the Stade de France stadium.RATP has announced plans to provide mobile telephone coverage at all main interchange stations, and all metro Line 1 stations, by the end of the year; stations are being fitted ...
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News
MARKETPLACE
Bangladesh: Canarail and Systra have won a US$14·5m construction supervision contract for 99 km of new line and the upgrading of 250 km more for the Jamuna Bridge Railway Link Project, funded by the government, the Asian Development Bank, POEC, Spain and France.Brazil: Demetr
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News
LETTERS
LRV designsSir - Having read your latest issue regarding light rail transit activity on the West Coast of North America, I found that William D Middleton gave an excellent overview of the present situation.Unfortunately, however, he seems somewhat less well informed about available light rail vehicles for the proposed systems. ...
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News
Keeping viaducts level
ENSURING that track on seven viaducts does not move because of ground settlement was one of many challenges facing engineers designing Hong Kong MTR’s airport line, now due to open on July 6. The answer was to use Hydratight’s lifting and jacking equipment controlled by a lift management system. An ...
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News
Japanese Maglev sets new world record
ON CHRISTMAS EVE, engineers at Japan's Tsuru - Otsuki Superconducting Maglev test track in Yamanashi prefecture completed their current series of very high speed trials by setting a new world record for an unmanned trainset. Following the achievement of a new manned record of 531 km/h on December 12, the ...
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News
Investing in punctuality
NS Reizigers has announced a package of measures to improve punctuality that will require the investment of an additional 50m guilders a year. Punctuality figures have not been published for several years, and some consumers’ organisations believe that on-time performance has dropped as low as 50% on some routes during ...
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News
INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: Pierino Piffaretti (left), Managing Director of Switzerland’s Schindler Waggon, hands over a symbolic key for the company’s Pratteln works to Swiss Adtranz chief Beat Müller, to mark the change of ownership of the rolling stock business at the beginning of January CAPTION: BAA director Michael Maine (2nd from left) ...
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News
INTELLIGENCE
Via Rail Canada. Although management had done an excellent job in downsizing, he said he would find it difficult to ask the federal cabinet to fund new rolling stock.CN signed an agreement on January 19 for GEC Alsthom AMF Transport Inc of Montreal to maintain 50 rebuilt SD40-3 locos used ...
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News
Influence spreading
THERE IS increasing evidence that Spoornet’s drive to supply its expertise to other African railways is paying off. Apart from earning hard cash, it should also bring benefits to those railways in need of technical and managerial know-how.Among recent moves is the establishment of a joint venture with Belgian National ...