All Railway Gazette International articles in January 2000
All articles published this month.
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News
India to install ATP on 15000 route-km
A RECOMMENDATION from India’s National Railway Safety Commission that automatic train protection should be installed on some 15000 route-km of main lines over the next seven years has been accepted by the government. The cost is likely to be around US$1bn.The decision to install ATP follows the head-on collision at ...
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News
Brenner by 2015
ITALIAN State Railways and Brenner Eisenbahn GmbH have set up a joint venture called Brenner Base Tunnel EWIV to mastermind a two-year planning process that should culminate in a report setting out detailed design for the 54 km bore. Launched on November 17 in Brussels, the jv is based in ...
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News
Railways in the first decades of the 21st Century
INTRO: With the industry recently undergoing changes that few would have expected, it is perhaps foolhardy to predict the future of railways in any detail. But five broad ideas are likely to influence developments in the opening decades of the new centuryBYLINE: Louis S ThompsonRailways AdviserThe World Bank IN THE ...
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News
ETCS ready to go, but operators shun Level 3
’WE ARE STARTING to leave technical matters behind and move to commercial developments.’ This was the message with which Chief Executive Philippe Roumeguère opened UIC’s seventh annual conference on ERTMS/ETCS and GSM-R in Paris on November 25. Some 450 delegates were present. Certainly, the good news was mostly on the ...
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NewsRailtex 99 review
RAILTEX: We present a selection of news and products from the Railtex 99 exhibition held in London on November 30 - December 2
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News
EC tries again to revive rail freight
AS EXPECTED, the EU Council of Transport Ministers backed the Commission’s ’railway package’ when they met in Brussels on December 9 - 10. Even France voted in favour of a circumscribed form of open access; only Portugal abstained. Three draft directives, amending 91/440 and 95/18 and replacing 95/19, are now ...
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News
Nürnberg airport U-Bahn link opens
OBERBURGERMEISTER Ludwig Scholz and Bavaria’s Interior Minister Günther Becker were the guests of honour on November 27 when Nürnberg Transit celebrated the extension of U-Bahn Line 2 to the city’s airport. The 3·5 km extension northwest from Herrnhütte cost DM180m, including an intermediate station at Ziegelstein which lifts the network’s ...
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News
WCML cost almost trebles
RAILTRACK finally announced on December 15 that its flagship project to modernise the West Coast Main Line linking London with Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow by 2005 is going to cost £5·8bn. This is 176% more than the £2·1bn previously stated. The original total comprised £1·35bn of ’core investment’ (now ...
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News
ECO backs Asian links
THROUGH freight and passenger trains between Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are due to start next year, with the backing of the Economic Co-operation Organisation which groups 10 Central Asian countries. Meeting in Lahore, six of the transport ministers agreed to launch an Almaty - Toshkent - Mashhad - ...
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News
Skytrain takes off with a bang
Fireworks, a baby elephant, dancers carrying a royal barge mock-up, and two Russian ballet dancers joined forces in a spectacular celebration to mark completion of the world's first modern metro network to be totally funded by the private sector.
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News
Belgians to run CFR upgrade
MODERNISATION of Romania’s principal east-west rail corridor over the next three years is to be managed by a consortium of Belgian high-speed line promoter TUC Rail SA and Brussels-based consultancy Transurb Consult. CFR SA General Manager Viorel Simut signed a US$9·2m technical assistance contract on November 16, together with TUC ...
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News
Rolling stock innovations will bring commercial benefits
INTRO: Reliable information, quiet, attractive interiors and better ride quality are among the expectations of tomorrow’s passengers. Technical innovations offer commercial benefits, but they will only succeed if they are supported by a robust business caseBYLINE: David RollinManaging Director, Interfleet Technology LtdWHAT BETTER time to take stock of the rail ...
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News
Berlin plans expansion and driverless running
MASSIVE expansion of the U-Bahn network has been proposed by the Berlin Senate. If the plans go ahead, nearly 32 km would be added to the present 143 km by 2025, with alignments reserved for a further 53 km after that.In the short term Line U5 will be extended by ...
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News
Painful birth of the intelligent railway
INTRO: Roland Heinisch, Director for Research & Technology at German Railway, is renowned for the number of innovative ideas he has introduced there. In this discussion with Murray Hughes he suggests that tomorrow’s railways will make far more effective use of IT to manage operations, safety and maintenanceTHERE was perhaps ...
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News
Boom time
Spectacular growth in passenger traffic is forcing Israel Railways to shop around for quick fixes to raise capacity. Since the launch of a new timetable last March offering more trains and shorter journey times, traffic has been growing steadily with 35% more trips made in the first 11 months of ...
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News
Private finance brings the DLR to Lewisham
On November 22 Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott opened the 4·2 km Lewisham extension of London’s Docklands Light Railway, built and financed by a private-sector consortium that will maintain it until 2021. Providing direct access to the City of London, offices around Canary Wharf, and tourist attractions in Greenwich, ...
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News
Nexus next as Broadway opens
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Transport Minister Lord Macdonald launched Manchester Metrolink light rail services to Broadway in Salford Quays on December 6. The first half of a 7 km extension to Eccles due to be completed next year, the Salford Quays line is being built by a consortium ...
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News
Passenger trains can be good business
INTRO: Carrying commuters and inter-city passengers as a profitable venture looked all but impossible 30 years ago, but several companies are committed to achieving it in this decade. Chris Green spelled out to Richard Hope the conditions for successBACK IN THE 1960s, when motorway construction was at full throttle throughout ...
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News
CD restructuring ratified
The Czech parliament passed a new Railway Act on November 4, paving the way for the transformation of Czech Railways into a shareholding company from April 1 2000. Drawn up by Transport Minister Antonín Peltr
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News
NJ Transit starts commuter renewal
NEW JERSEY Transit’s board has confirmed an order for 230 push-pull commuter coaches valued at $233m. The first phase of a major re-equipment programme began on November 10 when Alstom Transportation Inc was selected to supply the Comet V fleet.The initial batch of 130 vehicles includes 50 driving cars and ...