All Railway Gazette International articles in February 2000 – Page 3
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News
Fu boosts Chinese expansion
ON JANUARY 7 Chinese Minister of Railways Fu Xhihuan announced plans to invest 56bn yuan this year on 15 new and 38 ongoing rail projects. He said that this year should see completion of 1300 km of new line, 750 km of double-tracking and 1000 km of electrification. Several schemes ...
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Tax breaks revive Bondi branch
AUSTRALIA’s Federal government has backed proposals to extend Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs Railway to Bondi Beach, by approving tax concessions worth A$15·6m over five years. The move was announced on December 19 by Transport Minister John Anderson, and should allow construction to get under way this year. A consortium of Lend ...
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News
CN to merge with BNSF
On December 20 Canadian National and Burlington Northern Santa Fe announced plans to merge, creating the largest railway in North America. The two companies have over 80000 route-km and employ 67000 staff. Combined turnover is approximately US$12·5bn. Based on the closing prices on December 17, the two companies had an ...
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News
Berlin revival continues
A FURTHER 3 km section of Berlin’s S-Bahn ring was reopened to traffic on December 19. Completion of renewals in the northeastern sector has allowed the extension of route S4 from Jungfernheide to Beuselstrasse and Westhafen, where the station has been resited to provide convenient interchange to U-Bahn Line U9. ...
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Beijing light rail start
BEIJING Mayor Liu Qi and local Communist Party chief Jia Qinglin were guests of honour at a ceremony on December 11 marking the start of light rail construction in the Chinese capital. Costing 5·8bn yuan, the initial 40·8 km line is due to be completed by the end of next ...
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News
Shinkansen choice stings Eurotrain into legal battle
FOUR civil engineering contracts were initialled on January 10 for construction of around a third of the 345 km Taipei - Kaohsiung high speed line. They will come into force when the financial package for the project is agreed, which is expected before the Chinese New Year starting on February ...
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Ballast evaluation using ground-penetrating radar
Capable of surveying long sections in a short time, ground-penetrating radar can detect trackbed anomalies earlier than is possible with visual inspection methods. Maintenance can therefore be prioritised to reduce unnecessary cost and increase effectiveness
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News
Mexico City opens Line B
THE FIRST PHASE of Mexico City’s latest metro line began carrying passengers on December 15. The 23·7 km Line B links Buenavista in the city centre with Ciudad Azteca in the northeastern suburbs, with 21 stations. Services are currently operating on 13·5 km serving 13 stations, but metro operator STC ...
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News
Ministers seek safety in audits
IN THE WAKE of the fire in the Mont Blanc road tunnel on March 26 last year in which 39 people died, the French Ministry of Transport commissioned a safety audit of all tunnels over 300m long, both road and rail. France has 1300 rail tunnels, of which 116 are ...
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News
Market opportunities attract seat suppliers
JUDGING by the level of interest shown at December’s Railtex exhi- bition in London, seating suppliers are very interested in the British market, where there are prospects for substantial new train orders as the franchise renegotiation process moves ahead. Low weight, vandal resistance and low life-cycle ...
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News
Årsta fuels crashworthiness concerns
REMARKABLE parallels have emerged between the collision at Årsta in Norway on January 4, in which 19 people died, and the Ladbroke Grove collision near London Paddington on October 5 1999 which killed 31 (RG 11.99 p703).In both cases, a train headed by a diesel locomotive met a DMU head-on ...
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News
Ben Gurion airport rail link construction agreed
ISRAEL Railways has reached agreement with the Ministry of Finance and the Airports Authority for construction of the long-planned rail link to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. The government will fund the US$25m cost of the 2 km branch, and the Airports Authority will provide the station and connections to ...
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News
Greenbrier takes Adtranz wagon business
ON JANUARY 11 Adtranz announced that it had agreed to sell its Freight Wagon Division to The Greenbrier Companies of the USA. Under a transaction expected to be completed within 30 days, Greenbrier will acquire ’a comprehensive portfolio’ of wagon designs approved for European operation. The order book is worth ...
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News
Adtranz threat boosts orders
FOLLOWINGlast November’s announcement that Adtranz planned to shut six production plants, several European railways have rallied round to save their local suppliers.Portuguese Railways has selected a Siemens- Adtranz consortium to supply 34 suburban EMUs, with a stipulation that they must be assembled in Portugal. Adtranz is to build the stainless-steel ...
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News
Frame sleepers adapt ballasted track to modern needs
INTRO: Replacing single sleepers with closely spaced double-H prestressed concrete frames provides better support for the rails, while their stiffness allows eddy current braking by eliminating lateral buckling BYLINE: Prof Dipl-Ing Dr techn Klaus RiessbergerTechnical University of GrazTRADITIONAL BALLASTED track has developed over many decades, displacing more sophisticated early designs ...
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News
Franco-German accord
ON December 16 German Railway and French National Railways signed an agreement in Strasbourg to co-operate on several joint projects. The accord was initialled by SNCF President Louis Gallois and DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn, on his first day in office.Among rolling stock proposals were plans to draw up a common ...
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News
ICF plans open access
PAN-EUROPEAN intermodal operator Intercontainer-Interfrigo is applying to the Belgian Ministry of Transport for registration as a licensed train operator. This would enable ICF to bid for paths under EU Directive 91/440, although it would probably lease locomotives and crews rather than acquire its own. ICF Chairman & Managing Director René ...
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News
Euro-Interlocking starts Project 2
A CORE TEAM of signal engineers assembled in Zürich on January 17 charged with drafting common railway requirements for standardised interlockings. This is the second of five projects that should see life cycle costs reduced significantly by 2005 through the standardisation of interfaces and functionality. This in turn is expected ...
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News
Connex offers £1bn spend
ON JANUARY 18 Connex Rail unveiled its ’vision’ for an extended 20-year South Central franchise, comprising £1bn of investment in rolling stock, stations and infrastructure to deliver a ’complete step change’ in the quality of its services. Local authorities in southern England and other stakeholders are being consulted over the ...
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