All Railway Gazette International articles in February 1998 – Page 4

  • News

    Ankara opens

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    Airport link bids

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    Double-deck air-con

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    The year of the electronic air brake

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    Advertising ambassador

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    Russia adopts the European model

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    Adding capacity in QR’s coal corridors

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    Open access freight

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    Iranians to build AC diesels

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    Angel worth £395m

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    Royal Thalys pioneers first 300 km/h inter-capitals route

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    X2000 to China

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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

    CPR to spend C$1bn in 1998

    1998-02-01T11:00:00Z

    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 ...