All Railway Gazette International articles in February 2004
All articles published this month.
-
NewsThird-rail trams across the Garonne
France's ninth modern tram network began carrying passengers in December, and work is getting underway on the first of seven extensions. Chris Jackson looks at Bordeaux's innovative surface-contact power supply
-
News
Line 11 opens
ON DECEMBER 14 Line 11 of the Barcelona metro was officially opened, running from Line 4 at Trinitat Nova to Can Cuiàs via Casa de l’Aigua, Torre del Baró-Vallbona and Ciutat Meridiana. The line has 1·5 km in tunnel and 459m on the surface; there is an interchange with Renfe ...
-
News
MF2000 to start trials this year
The first of 805 steel-wheeled cars for the Paris metro is nearing completion at Alstom's factory in Valenciennes, and operator RATP expects to take delivery of a pre-production MF2000 trainset at the end of this year
-
News
Shenzhen signs Line 4 deal
HONG KONG metro operator MTR Corp signed a 30-year agreement in principle on January 15 to extend and operate Line 4 of the metro network in neighbouring Shenzhen. The BOT deal was signed by MTR Chief Executive Chow Chung-Kong and Liu Jiasheng of the Shenzhen Municipal Development Planning Bureau. Under ...
-
News
Suica card to be used across Tokyo
BYLINE: Shinobu NoguchiDeputy General Manager, Suica Project,East Japan Railway CoINTRO: Adoption of Suica-compatible cards by 53 operators in the Tokyo area in 2006 will form the world’s largest public transport smart card network, doubling the number of Suica users to around 15 millionBY the end of November 2003 over 7·5 ...
-
News
East Africa tests the waters
SERIOUS moves are afoot to take the metre-gauge networks of East Africa into the private sector. Last November CPCS Transcom and its local partner Kisarika & Malimi won a C$1·7m contract from the Tanzanian government to act as lead transaction advisors for the privatisation of Tanzania Railways Corp. The contract ...
-
News
AGC to revitalise regional routes
SNCF has ordered up to 500 Bombardier-built AGC multiple-units to replace life-expired DMUs and EMUs on regional services. Funded by regional authorities, the family will include diesel, electric and dual-mode versions
-
News
Regauging pushes ahead
INAUGURATING broad-gauge services on the reconstructed line between Mangalore and Kabakaputtur, Indian Railways Minister Nitish Kumar announced on December 28 that trains would be running on the whole Bangalore - Mangalore corridor by January 1 2005.Construction of the 166 km new line between Bangalore and Hassan has been completed (RG ...
-
News
NEG wins Greater Anglia
LATE DECEMBER saw the UK Strategic Rail Authority make significant progress with negotiating replacements for several passenger train franchises. On December 22 SRA named National Express Group as preferred bidder for Greater Anglia. This combines the Anglia and Great Eastern franchises with the West Anglia portion of WAGN, bringing almost ...
-
News
Australia's last frontier is conquered
John Kirk was in Adelaide to watch the departure of the first train to Darwin
-
News
Lausanne to join the automated metro club
Construction of Switzerland's first driverless metro is now expected to start in the spring
-
News
Perpignan - Figueres award
ON DECEMBER 26 the governments of France and Spain announced that TP Ferro has been selected as preferred bidder for the concession to design, finance, build and operate the 44·4 km route between Perpignan and Figueres. It was hoped to sign the 50-year concession contract within a matter of weeks, ...
-
News
Ballastless track design
ON DISPLAY at the Mena Rail event in Dubai in December was a slab track design developed by two German companies, Naumburger Bauunion and ThyssenKrupp GfT Gleistechnik. The suppliers said that NBU track was suitable for speeds of up to 220 km/h and also for light rail projects.The NBU track ...
-
News
Bangkok Blue line ready
PRINCESS Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand formally 'opened' the Blue line of the Bangkok metro on January 11, following successful completion of trial runs with a Siemens-built three-car trainset. Linking Hualampong and Bang Sue, the 22 km route is officially known as the Chaloem Ratchamongkhon line. Transport Minister Suriya ...
-
News
BDZ faces change
LASTMONTH Bulgarian Transport Minister Nikolai Vassilev unveiled a package of 50 measures to revitalise the national railway operator BDZ. Restructuring of the railway’s management will result in 1280 redundancies among administrative staff this year. Routes totalling 308 km will be offered as concessions, and private operators will be allowed to ...
-
News
Bergen to start light rail tendering
BERGEN city council’s light rail project office, Bybanekontoret, expects to start prequalification next month for supply of vehicles to operate a projected two-line network in Norway’s second city. Subject to approval of funding by the national parliament, a contract should be awarded at the beginning of 2005. Plans for four ...
-
News
Passenger News in Brief
On December 15 French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien, SNCF President Louis Gallois and RFF President Jean-Pierre Duport signed an agreement to make rail travel easier for disabled people. By 2007 access is to be improved at 70% of stations in France, and accommodation for wheelchair travellers on trains is ...
-
News
Ticketing in Brief
DB and VDV have introduced City-Ticket, allowing passengers travelling over 100 km using a BahnCard to complete their journey by bus, tram and metro in 46 German cities without further payment. It is hoped to expand City-Ticket to all cities of over 120000 residents. The Ontario provincial government has allocated ...
-
News
Industry News in Brief
Australia:Oz-Tek Solutions Pty is to manufacture under licence from North American Technologies Group a range of composite plastic sleepers up to 5·5m long, using a production line at a New South Wales factory owned by Nepean Rubber & Plastic.China:Sinopec Corp and China Railway Material & Supplies Corp have established Sinopec ...
-
News
Broadband sound
A TRAIN horn producing closely-confined broadband sound has been developed by Brigade Electronics. It is currently on test fitted to an Electrostar EMU based at South Central’s Brighton depot, where local residents have complained about frequent disturbance from horns.Based on the firm’s bbs-tek reversing alarm, the broadband horn meets UK ...
