All Railway Gazette International articles in February 1998
All articles published this month.
-
News
CPR to spend C$1bn in 1998
CANADIAN PACIFIC Railway is to invest C$1bn on capital projects during 1998, under a spending plan announced on December 17. This comfortably exceeds CPR’s previous record spend of C$700m in 1997, and will bring the total investment since 1995 to almost C$3bn. Almost half of the money, C$450m, will pay ...
-
News
X2000 to China
A SEVEN-car X2000 tilting trainset was dispatched from the Adtranz works in Västerås on January 14 for a two-year demonstration programme in China. Due to arrive next month, the train is being sent under an agreement between Adtranz and the semi-autonomous Guangshen Railway Corp. After commissioning, the X2000 is ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
Angel worth £395m
BRITISH rolling stock leasing company Angel Train Contracts was sold on December 19 to Royal Bank of Scotland by the GRS Holdings consortium of Nomura International, Babcock & Brown and Prideaux & Associates which bought it debt-free from the government in November 1995 for £696m. Debt funding worth £690m for ...
-
News
Iranians to build AC diesels
ISLAMIC Iranian Republic Railways (RAI) has ordered 100 diesel locomotives from GEC Alsthom to haul 140 km/h passenger trains and freights at up to 110 km/h. The 4300hp AD43C Co-Cos will be powered by Ruston 16RK215 diesel engines using Onix IGBT-based asynchronous traction drives. Under the US$125m contract announced on ...
-
News
Open access freight
ON JANUARY 16 Australian operator Great Northern Rail Services Pty Ltd of Gisborne launched the first fully-independent intrastate train on the tracks of the Victoria state rail network, hauling infrastructure materials from Melbourne to Newport via Tottenham. With a fleet of nine regaugable broad/standard-gauge diesel locos, GNRS has achieved full ...
-
News
Adding capacity in QR’s coal corridors
INTRO: With coal from central Queensland in demand from over 30 countries, QR is investing to raise throughput on its busy heavy haul routes linking mines and portsDISCUSSION about the environmental problems caused by burning fossil fuels is not exactly taboo at Queensland Railways’ Coal & Minerals Group, but it’s ...
-
News
Russia adopts the European model
THE COUNCIL of the Federation, the upper chamber of Russia’s Parliament, held hearings on December 22 at which the government’s latest strategy for restructuring the national railway was endorsed. It follows the European model of a state infrastructure authority providing track access to competing train operators. Formal adoption of the ...
-
News
Advertising ambassador
EUROSTAR (UK) Ltd has appointed Sports & Outdoor Media to market sponsorship of its trains, including external and internal branding and complementary promotional opportunities on-board and at terminals. Managing Director Hamish Taylor believes ’high-profile, international organisations’ may be interested in using what Eurostar calls ’the longest billboard in Europe’. Eurostar ...
-
News
The year of the electronic air brake
INTRO: North America is grasping the benefits of electronic brake application on long freight trains; with over a dozen pilot projects clocking up more than 160 million wagon-km in revenue service, 1998 may be a turning point in braking technologyBYLINE: Doug KlinkVice PresidentTSM IncElectric control from the driver’s cab of ...
-
News
Double-deck air-con
FAIVELEY has begun delivering roof-mounted air-conditioning equipment for the 76 TER2N double-deck EMUs for SNCF regional services in Provence-Alpes-C
-
News
Airport link bids
FEBRUARY 21 is due to see the selection of a preferred bidder for the concession to build a high-speed rail link between Taipei and Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport, with a contract to be signed by the end of April. Five prequalified consortia presented proposals to the Bureau of Taiwan High ...
-
News
Ankara opens
REVENUE services on Ankara’s 14·6 km metro serving the western portion of the capital began on Monday December 29, following inauguration ceremonies the previous day. The first heavy metro in Turkey, the US$1bn line started in 1991 was completed almost a year late.Running below Atatürk Boulevard, the metro links the ...
-
News
Gel applicator
LAYING a gel to combat wheel-slip or slide on slippery rail surfaces is now possible using a portable applicator weighing just 5 kg. Available from Chipman Rail, the Handite applicator is pushed manually along the rail to distribute a Sandite gel evenly on the rail surface.The gel is supplied in ...
-
News
Next shinkansen approved
ON JANUARY 9 the Japanese government announced a go-ahead for construction of three further sections of shinkansen high-speed line. The decision was taken by an executive committee of the ruling LDP and their coalition partners, which had commissioned a report last year into future shinkansen priorities (RG 2.97 p69).The government ...
-
News
Ma On Shan link approved
THE HONG KONG regional government has given the go-ahead for construction of a 10·3 km elevated rail line to serve the Ma On Shan development area in the east of the Kowloon peninsula. Costed at HK$6·7bn, the ’medium capacity’ link will interchange with Kowloon - Canton Railway Corp’s East Rail ...
-
News
Aqaba concession
THE GOVERNMENT of Jordan has invited prequalification bids by January 25 for a concessionaire to run the 292 km Aqaba Railway. This follows the appointment of CPCS Transcom of Canada to assist with the process. Secretary-General for Transport Issa Ayyoub said in December that a 20 to 25 year concession ...
-
News
Upgrading QR’s North Coast artery
INTRO: Faster journey times, higher axleloads and lower maintenance costs will all follow from a A$590m upgrading programme between Brisbane and CairnsAROUND 118 km of new alignment have been laid on QR’s 1681 km North Coast line from Brisbane to Cairns. A series of deviations has been built to ease ...
-
News
Welsby asks crunch questions
’AN OBJECTIVE assessment of the performance of the privatised railway today shows that, in general, it is hardly better than it was in the last years of public ownership. That is a great disappointment.’ Giving the Sir Robert Reid lecture to the Chartered Institute of Transport in London on January ...
-
News
Australia
INTRO: New lines planned, proposed orunder construction in Australian New South WalesSydney - Canberra Very High Speed Train: bids sought from private sector with contract due to be announced by June 15.Jerrys Plain - Mt Thorley: NSW Rail Access Corp signed agreement in September 1997 for Jerrys Plain Terminal Pty ...