All Railway Gazette International articles in February 2006 – Page 2

  • News

    Guangzhou grows as two lines open

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    TWO FURTHER sections of the growing metro network in Guangzhou were put into operation on December 26.Revenue services started on the first section of Line 3, six months ahead of schedule. Trains are operating between the Line 1 terminus at Guangzhou Dongzhan and the interchange with Line 2 at Kecun, ...

  • News

    KL plans to grow

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    PLANS TO expand both of Kuala Lumpur's urban rail networks were unveiled on January 3 by the Chief Executive Officer of the state-owned holding company Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd, which was formed to integrate the bus and rail network in the Malaysian capital. Shaipudin Shah Harun said work would get ...

  • News

    Finance

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    Canada: CP plans capital spending of C$810m to C$825m for 2006, down from C$920m in 2005. C$570m will go on infrastructure, C$160m on locos, C$50m on IT and C$25m to expand intermodal terminals.Croatia: Zagreb city council has agreed to guarantee financing for the purchase of 18 EMUs for HZ’s suburban ...

  • News

    Israel plans massive expansion

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    DURING 2005 nearly 27 million trips were made on the 853 route-km Israel Railways network, more than three times as many as in 1999. If that sounds a spectacular increase, consider what ISR envisages in the future: no fewer than 65 million trips are expected in 2010. The freight forecast ...

  • News

    Unbundling plan could end NRZ ’paralysis’

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    APPOINTED AS General Manager of National Railways of Zimbabwe on November 1, Mike Karakadzai was charged with ’turning around and possibly restructuring NRZ to make it a viable entity’ (RG 12.05 p760).Six weeks on, the retired Air Commodore announced in mid-December that he had come up with a restructuring package ...

  • News

    Edmonton extends light rail line

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    NEW YEAR'S Day saw the start of revenue operation on the first addition to Edmonton's light rail line in 14 years, although formal inauguration ceremonies were not held until the following day. Costing C$100m, the 600m extension from University to the Health Sciences station is the first part of the ...

  • News

    East London Line shortlists

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    MARCH 31 has been set as the bidding deadline for the £500m main works contract to build the East London Line extensions. Part B of the tender documentation was issued by Transport for London to four shortlisted consortia in December. The E-link consortium is led by Laing O'Rourke Civil Engineering, ...

  • News

    High speed lines will drive forward Refer's long-term strategy

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    Portuguese infrastructure authority Refer has launched a comprehensive review of rail's role in the national economy. This will guide development of the conventional network and the construction of standard gauge high speed lines

  • News

    VR unveils double-deck sleepers

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    THIS month VR is to put into service the first five of 20 double-deck sleeping cars being built by Talgo Oy. The €2·9m cars will enter revenue service between Helsinki and Rovaniemi from February 1. The entire fleet will be in service by August, allowing 33 older vehicles to be ...

  • News

    National database

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    LAST year SNCF introduced a unified computer system to manage the maintenance of its locomotive fleet. Known as Lionne, it replaced a system called Badem dating from 1987 to which several other applications had been grafted in an attempt to update it.Lionne was piloted at several sites before national launch, ...

  • News

    Switch out the dark

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    BNSF and the Federal Railroad Administration have begun testing wireless monitoring of switch alignment at 409 hand-operated turnouts on a 280 km section of unsignalled route between Tulsa and Avard, Oklahoma. US Secretary of Transportation Norman Y Mineta announced the start of trials on November 14.Dispatchers in Fort Worth are ...

  • News

    DaimlerChrysler sells MTU to EQT

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    PRIVATE equity fund group EQT is to buy the Off-Highway business of DaimlerChrysler AG, including rail, marine and military diesel engine maker MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH. The companies have agreed an enterprise value of €1·6bn, and DaimlerChrysler will receive a cash inflow of €1bn.The Off-Highway business has annual sales of around ...

  • News

    Finnish cut-off

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    Letter to the editor

  • News

    'Constructive debate' sought over DB sell-off

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    PRESENTING a study on options for privatising Deutsche Bahn AG to the Transport Committee in Berlin on January 17, Germany's Federal Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee called for 'a constructive debate' between the Bundestag, the Lãnder, transport associations and the railway. The government is anxious to take a decision by the ...

  • News

    Switching to a condition-based monitoring regime

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    UNTIL RECENTLY ProRail planned switch and crossing maintenance on the basis of elapsed time or reported defects, but the Dutch infrastructure manager has changed to a condition-based regime in order to maximise availability and reliability while minimising costs and possession times. This requires an understanding of the usage and loads ...

  • News

    Cleaner underground escalator

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    AUTOMATIC dust tray cleaners have been installed during the replacement of two escalators at London Underground’s Embankment station.Designed by RJC and installed by Otis, the rectangular metal dust trays are fitted under the escalator steps at both the top and bottom chambers. Debris and dirt is swept from the tray ...

  • News

    Chuo Line renewal

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    EAST JAPAN Railway has announced plans to order a new fleet of 10-car EMUs to operate Tokyo’s busy Chuo suburban lines. The first of 688 Series E233 cars are expected to enter service in December, starting the replacement of 710 Series 201 vehicles.The E233 trainsets are derived from the Series ...

  • News

    Door to China

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    GUANGZHOU Guangri Group and Knorr-Bremse have established a joint venture to produce platform screen doors in China.Knorr-Bremse has a 65% stake in Westinghouse Platform Screen Doors (Guangzhou) Ltd, which will initially employ around 70 staff and produce up to 3000 screen doors annually. The partners have previously won orders to ...

  • News

    Lok Ma Chau Spur Line offers a quiet route to China

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    Noise mitigation is integral to the design of the 7·4 km Lok Ma Chau Spur, a second rail link between Hong Kong and the mainland which will relieve congestion at the Lo Wu crossing point

  • News

    Premium rail and suspension changes could cut rolling contact fatigue

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    INTRO: Two methods of achieving economic benefits in the management of rolling contact fatigue were examined in studies carried out by TTCI for the UK railway industry during 2005. Both the use of premium rail steels and changes to vehicle suspensions have the potential to deliver cost savingsBYLINE: Steve Clark, ...