All Railway Gazette International articles in February 2005
All articles published this month.
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News
Automation will meet the demands of the modern city
Raising line capacity on the Paris metro by 30% is the prime objective of a comprehensive modernisation programme that includes cutting headways to 90sec on many lines. Most ambitious of all is conversion of Line 1 to driverless operation
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News
Automation by stealth
CHINA: This year Hong Kong MTR Corp will open its seventh line, and the first to be fully-automated. The 3·4km Disneyland Resort Line (DRL) will connect the Hong Kong Disneyland theme park at Penny’s Bay on the south coast of Lantau Island with the new Sunny Bay station on the ...
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News
Shinkansen construction to be stepped up in 2005-06
AN AGREEMENT announced on December 16 between the government and ruling coalition parties means that investment in the construction of Shinkansen lines will rise by ´2bn in the fiscal year commencing April 1 2005. In the three previous years from 2001-02 to 2004-05 the trend has been downwards. Total ...
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News
Line 2 expands
CATALUNYA REGIONAL government’s construction authority GISA has awarded a contract worth €31m for civil works, tracklaying and electrification on the extension of Barcelona metro Line 2 from Pep Ventura to Badalona Centre. Work is due to start in the first quarter of 2005 for completion within 26 months. Signalling, station ...
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News
Lyon awards T4 and Lea contracts
FRENCH engineering consultancy Systra announced on January 14 that it had been awarded a contract for project management on the first two sections of Lyon tram line T4. Totalling 9·5 km, these sections are expected to cost €177m.The contract has been awarded by Lyon transport authority Sytral. Detailed design is ...
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News
Line 5 goes further
UNDER AN agreement signed on December 28 with the Ministry of Development and the regional government, Renfe’s suburban route between Valencia and Riba-roja de Túria is to become part of the FGV metro network. Involving the removal of 16 level crossings, conversion of the route from Quart de Poblet to ...
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News
FGC plans €602·9m spend
CATALAN regional operator FGC has unveiled a 2005-07 investment plan costed at €602·9m. On its main network serving Barcelona, €387m is to be spent on infrastructure by the regional government’s public works department, while half of the €166m allocated to operations has been earmarked for new trains and rolling stock ...
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News
Long-stroke buffers absorb shock
IMPACT speeds of 12 km/h or less will produce a maximum acceleration of 10m/s2 using the 1g buffer from Schwab Verkehrstechnik. Designed to UIC standards, the buffer is designed to be used instead of long-stroke impact absorbers, which can increase the cost of rolling stock by requiring heavy mountings.The buffer ...
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News
Kenya-Uganda accord
TRANSPORT Ministry officials from Kenya and Uganda signed an agreement at the end of December to form a dedicated fleet of container trains to operate ’seamless services’ between Mombasa and Kampala.The accord was signed in Kampala by the Permanent Secretary of Uganda’s Ministry of Works, Transport & Communications Charles Muganzi ...
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News
Joetsu Shinkansen fully restored after earthquake damage
THROUGH services between Tokyo and Niigata on JR East’s Joetsu Shinkansen resumed on December 28, more than two months after a train travelling at around 200 km/h was derailed by an earthquake (RG 12.04 p826).JR East has now released further details of what happened and the measures it has taken ...
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News
Traffic to treble again
RECORDS have been shattered again as Israel Railways Ltd clocks up yet another huge increase in passenger travel. Our correspondent reports that the total of 23 million passengers carried in 2004 was 15·3% higher than in 2003, exactly as predicted. At a press conference called to announce the 2004 figures, ...
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News
Software agreement
AUTOMATIC fare collection technology supplier Cubic Transportation Systems has signed an agreement to resell CODA e-Finance and CODA-XL accounting software with its Nextfare ticketing equipment. The CODA back-office software can cope with different national accounting practices, languages and currencies. According to Cubic’s Senior Vice-President of Engineering James Karam, ’e-Finance will ...
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NewsAlice - Darwin freight beats target
FREIGHTLINK, operator of the Adelaide - Darwin route in Australia, celebrated its first anniversary of hauling traffic to Darwin on January 15. Traffic in the first year amounted to around 600000 tonnes. 'We hoped to carry about 380000 tonnes in our first 12 months, so we are delighted with our ...
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News
AlpTransit costs rise as tracklaying starts
IN THE next few weeks tunnellers working on the 34·6 km L
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News
Out of the arc
NEXT month Metronet Rail will complete the installation of 30 arc suppression ramps which have been developed to cut the number of track fires in tunnels on three London Underground lines.The ramps are designed to minimise the duration of arcing on the conductor rails at locations where fires have occurred. ...
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News
Barcelona prepares for AVE arrival
THE SPANISH Ministry of Development has given its approval for tenders to be called for three contracts to undertake civil works on 8·9 km of the Madrid - Barcelona high speed line on the western approach to Barcelona. A budget of €316·4m has been set for the works, comprising Sant ...
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News
Customers stand to benefit most from metro automation
With 19 fully-automatic metros now in operation, the technology is well-proven and mature. The next step will be to justify the conversion of existing networks, based on flexible operation, lower costs and better customer service. Chris Jackson reports from Nürnberg
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News
The man who never returned is back
MASSACHUSETTS Bay Transportation Authority's smart card has been named CharlieCard in honour of a fictional passenger who was trapped in the metro when he did not have an extra 5 cents to exit the station after a fare increase while he was travelling. The song 'Charlie on the MTA', was ...
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News
Bearing share sold
TIMKEN South Africa announced on January 5 that the Bokamoso Investments black economic empowerment consortium had acquired a 26% share in Timken Bearing Services South Africa for R38·6m. The transaction is being funded by a loan from First National Bank. Under the agreement, all the assets of Timken South Africa’s ...
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News
Blast off
BOMBARDIER is using a Vacu-Blast mobile abrasive blasting system to prepare the surfaces of complex aluminium formed panels used in the construction of multiple-units and light rail vehicles.The SHA03 and the larger SHA04 machines are installed at Bombardier’s Litchurch Lane plant in Derby, where they are used to produce an ...