All Railway Gazette International articles in February 2005 – Page 3

  • Hamburg Hochbahn.
    News

    Industry divided by screen door debate

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    ONE OF THE biggest questions facing metro operators considering the conversion to automation is how to ensure safety at station platforms and/or detect obstructions on the track. The UITP metros conference in Nürnberg included a round table on the use of platform screen doors. Opening the debate, Holger Albert from ...

  • News

    Delhi goes underground

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    INDIAN Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh formally opened the first section of Delhi Metro’s underground Line 2 on December 19, when he was presented with the first copy of a new book commemorating construction of the network over the past six years.Delhi Metro Rail Corp began revenue services on Line ...

  • News

    Spoornet expansion plans marred by domestic woes

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    SPOORNET in South Africa continues to nurse ambitions for expansion elsewhere on the African continent, but these may well be hampered by trouble at home. During December, the Ministry of Public Enterprises indicated that Spoornet could be involved in two ambitious rail networks proposed in west and southern Africa. One ...

  • News

    Gauge-convertible electric loco

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    AT THE end of December, Patentes Talgo unveiled a prototype for the series of 44 gauge-convertible electric locos that Renfe has ordered to operate through services off its AVE network. To be designated L-9202, Virgen del Buen Camino is 19·4 m long and weighs 74 tonnes. It is equipped with ...

  • News

    Europe's latest S-Bahn EMUs go head-to-head in the race for orders

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    The Swiss Flirt, Austrian Elektro-Talent and Polish EN95 are all intended to operate suburban services. Harry Hondius MSc offers a technical comparison

  • News

    Singapore extends

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    ON DECEMBER 29 Singapore’s Land Transit Authority announced the go-ahead for a further extension of the island’s existing east-west metro line.Serving the Jurong West town area and Tuas industrial estate, the 3·8 km Boon Lay Extension will be elevated throughout. There will be two new stations at Jurong West Street ...

  • News

    Fares in San Francisco

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    CUBIC Transportation Systems announced a $3·4m expansion of its fare collection contract with the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District on November 9.Cubic will embed its Tri-Reader smart card readers in BART access gates and ticket vending machines, allowing passengers to use and top-up the TransLink stored value smart ...

  • News

    Stock firms merge

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    DERBY-based spot hire, fleet management and engineering firm Fragonset Railways and train operating and planning business Merlin Rail announced on December 7 that they were merging to form Fragonset Merlin Railways with immediate effect. FM Rail has a combined turnover of £7m, and an operational fleet of 20 locomotives and ...

  • News

    Free riders

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    FROM the start of this year private-sector companies throughout Belgium have been allowed to set up arrangements for their employees to travel to and from work without charge. This option had previously been open only to public-sector enterprises.As many as 500 firms signed agreements with the transport ministry in January ...

  • News

    Past linked to future

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    THE CITY of Toulouse has awarded Ascom a contract worth €24m to supply a replacement ticketing system for the VAL metro and local buses, and Norwegian train operator NSB A/S has awarded the company a contract for smart card ticketing at 159 stations. The biggest challenge of the French project ...

  • News

    Still growing

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    SHANGHAI Metro Corp opened the northern extension of Line 1 on December 28, adding 12·4 km and nine stations.Linking Shanghai Main station to Gong Fu Xin Cun, the line runs underground for the first 4·2 km serving three stations, and then on elevated alignment. SMC offers 3min headways on the ...

  • News

    High speed line programme

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    PLANS TO build 3000 km of high speed line have been unveiled by China’s Ministry of Railways. The ministry is seeking bids from foreign consultants to advise on the development of lines for operation at between 200 and 300 km/h.According to Vice-Minister of Railways Lu Dongfu, the high speed network ...

  • News

    Panel laminates

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    GE ADVANCED Materials is to work with Schneller to produce coach interior components which combine Schneller’s Indura GTform decorative laminates with the Rail-Lite composites made by the Azdel joint venture of GE and PPG Industries.The Indura GTform fluoropolymer laminates will be used in the production of window masks, ceiling panels, ...

  • News

    Trams to Lancy

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    DECEMBER 12 saw the opening of a further extension of the Genève tram network and the introduction of a new route.Serving six stops, the 2·1 km branch diverges from the existing network at Plainpalais and runs along the Route des Acacias to the SBB station at Lancy-Pont-Rouge, where interchange will ...

  • News

    Shenzhen opens two lines

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    CONFETTI-GUN salutes and loud cheers greeted the opening of China's latest metro on December 28, when Guangdong Party Secretary Zhang Dejiang inaugurated the first two lines in Shenzhen. Under construction since March 2001, the 21·8 km first phase has cost 11·5bn yuan. Line 1 runs east-west from the KCR border ...

  • News

    Work starts on trans-Andean link

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    THEARGENTINIAN province of Neuquén has started work on the first 13 km of a route from Zapala that it hopes will form part of a 220 km southern rail crossing of the Andes to Lonquimay in Chile. Construction is being undertaken by Patagonia Ferrocanal SA, formed and funded by the ...

  • News

    Logistics terminals

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    INDIAN Railways confirmed last month that it was drawing up plans for public-private partnerships to improve and operate many of its 7000 freight depots.Under the proposal, IR would lease its existing yards and goods sheds to private developers who would build and operate state-of-the-art logistics terminals. The railway believes that ...

  • News

    TTCI opens London office

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    Transportation Technology Center Inc has launched a company to handle engineering consultancy in Europe. A subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads, TTCI operates the testing facility at Pueblo, Colorado. President Roy Allen said on January 5 ’we will be able to better meet the needs of our growing customer ...

  • tn_de-nuernberg-rubin-train_01.jpg
    News

    Rubin moves into testing phase

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    Germany's first fully-automatic metro is on course to open in 12 months' time. After seven years of studies and development work, the first trainset has already started trial running in Nürnberg

  • News

    Ticket offices overtaken

    2005-02-01T11:00:00Z

    VIRGIN Trains passengers’ growing confidence in electronic, online and telephone purchasing means that these methods now account for more than one-third of ticket sales for the company’s West Coast services. Around 16 million passengers used Virgin’s West Coast services in 2004, and combined sales through the operator’s website, call centres ...