All Railway Gazette International articles in February 2008
All articles published this month.
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NewsIndependence day inauguration of Santo Domingo metro
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: President Leonel Fernández joined representatives of the government and local businesses to ride a ceremonial 'first train' on the Santo Domingo Metro on February 27. After his independence day address to the national assembly, President Fernández walked to Centro de los Héroes metro station to board one of ...
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Sell-off squad soldiers on
GERMANY: The coalition government in Berlin appears determined to make one final effort to sell off part of the national railway before the forthcoming 2009 general election. Previous attempts to privatise Deutsche Bahn AG have collapsed in the face of political opposition focused mainly on the possibility of the national ...
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Bombardier opens Bautzen test ring
A LIGHT RAIL testing circuit at Bombardier's Batuzen plant in Germany was formally inaugurated on February 1 by Thomas Jurk, Minister of Economic Affairs & Labour for the Land of Sachsen. The 850 m circuit will be used for the testing and approval of new vehicles, supplementing a 800 m ...
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Ho Chi Minh City breaks ground
VIETNAM: A ceremony at Long Binh in Ho Chin Minh City's District 9 on February 21 marked the start of ground clearance works on the site chosen for a US$28m depot for the city's first metro line. Bids are due to be called imminently for four construction contracts, ...
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RFI installs low-cost ATP
This year should see the completion of a three-year programme to fit automatic train protection on around 5 700 km of regional routes in Italy
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Pepy to take the top job
FRANCE: Guillaume Pepy was nominated on February 20 as the next President of SNCF. Replacing Anne-Marie Idrac, who was appointed in July 2006 to take over from Louis Gallois when he left for a post in the aerospace industry, Pepy was due to have his appointment confirmed at a cabinet ...
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Greenbrier buys American Allied
THE GREENBRIER Companies announced an agreement to acquire the operating assets of American Allied Railway Equipment Co for $83m in cash on January 28. American Allied supplies new and reconditioned wagon wheelsets from plants in Georgia and Illinois, where it also has a coupler and running gear component refurbishment business. ...
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Serbia signs €57m wagon order
SERBIA: International Railway Systems has been awarded a €57m contract to supply Serbian Railways with 750 wagons by the end of the year. The contract signed on February 21 is funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development. Luxembourg-headquartered IRS said the Eanoss wagons will be produced at ...
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NewsKnorr-Bremse growth
BRAKE?maker Knorr-Bremse has reported an 4·1% increase in sales for 2007, up to €3·25bn from €3·12bn in 2006. Adjusting the figures for currency effects shows an operation growth of 6·6%. The European activities of the Rail Vehicle Systems division have recovered from stagnation in 2006, with growth of more than ...
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Stafford bypass could slash London - Glasgow times
TWO sections of new line are among options Network Rail is considering to raise capacity at Stafford on the UK's busy West Coast Main Line. The route through Stafford is handicapped by sharp curves and conflicting movements, and NR expects to have £483m available to remodel the area in 2009-14. ...
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NewsOperating rules pose a major challenge to ETCS implementation
Although common technical and functional specifications for the European Train Control System are laid down in the Technical Specifications for Interoperability, the lack of common operating rules could hinder the development of international corridors, suggests Chris Jackson
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TZV Gredelj on the move
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader laid the foundation stone on January 30 for a factory which will enable TZV Gredelj to switch rolling stock production from central Zagreb to a modern plant in the Croatian capital's suburbs. The company currently operates from two sites in Zagreb. Rolling stock and trams are ...
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NewsMore pressing matters
MILLIONS of wheels have been forged on the press at Valdunes' Dunkerque plant since the machine was commissioned in 1956, at a rate estimated by manufacturer DavyMarkham to be one wheel a minute. Following half a century of use, the 600 tonne press has recently undergone a three-week refurbishment ...
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NewsLibyan links back on track
CONSTRUCTION of two long-planned rail links in the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is to go ahead following the award of two contracts to China Railway Construction Corp. Work is expected to start in June on a 352 km route parallel to the Mediterranean coast between Al Khums and ...
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Wheel makers merge
EUROPE: The merger of wheel, axle and running gear component makers Gutehoffnungshütte Radsatz International Holding GmbH and Valdunes Entreprises was completed on February 1. The new GHH Group brings together production sites at Oberhausen in Germany, Dunkerque and Valenciennes in France and Liège in Belgium to give a combined capacity ...
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High speed reaches Barcelona
SPAIN: The completion of high speed infrastructure from Camp de Tarragona enabled Spanish national operator RENFE to increase the number of direct services between Madrid and Barcelona each day from seven to 17 each way on February 20. With Class 102 and 103 trainsets replacing gauge-changing Class 120 units (RG ...
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Zimbabwe powered down
DESPITE the growing environmental argument in favour of electric traction, news reaches us that electric working has been suspended on Zimbabwe's only electrified line. Diesel locos are now hauling all trains on the 313 km single-track route between Harare and Dabuka. According to NRZ General Manager Air Commodore Mike Karakadzai, ...
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Swiss to help with wires to Lindau
ELECTRICALLY-powered tilting trains will link München and Zürich in 3 h 15 min by 2015. Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger and his German counterpart Wolfgang Tiefensee signed up to this objective on February 15 in Memmingen, roughly midway between the two cities. Upgrading and electrification of the route at 15 ...
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Derailment detection demonstration
THE EFFECTIVENESS of the latest version of Knorr-Bremse's wagon derailment detector was demonstrated during full-scale trials at the former Berlin-Schöneweide marshalling yard. SBB Cargo has also been undertaking field testing of the EDT101 detectors, which are installed at each end of the vehicle. A spring-mass valve automatically opens the main ...