All Railway Gazette International articles in July 1998
All articles published this month.
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News
Track in the swamp
JULY 1 sees the formal launch of the Australian Rail Track Corp, the 'one-stop' infrastructure access body being set up following negotiations between the federal and state transport ministers. It will initially control the trans-Australia routes from Broken Hill and Wodonga (Victoria) to Kalgoorlie and Alice Springs, and market paths ...
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News
Storming to success
FIGURES released by French and Belgian National Railways suggest that the Paris - Brussels Thalys service has been a spectacular success. Back in 1994, rail’s market share on the inter-capitals route was just 24%. Although the final 71 km of high speed line into Brussels opened only in December, ...
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News
Sidetrack
Line BeePassengers on a Den Haag - Scheveningen tram route this spring had a nasty surprise at one of the stops. A swarm of bees had gathered around the waiting shelter, and as each tram stopped the bees poured in through the open doors.When operator HTM’s control staff realised what ...
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News
Territorial tussle in the Pilbara
With demand for iron ore holding up in China and Taiwan despite the financial crisis that hit Asian countries around the Pacific rim a few months ago, three heavy haul lines totalling some 450 km are under construction or planned in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.The most extraordinary aspect ...
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News
PEOPLE
Claude Boutté, Head of the UIC’s East-West Working Group, was elected President of the Union of European Railway Engineer Associations (UEEIV) on May 20 for a three-year term.Michael P Pracht has been named Vice President, Marketing and Sales for Siemens Transportation Systems Inc. Norberto Achille has been named President of ...
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News
PASSENGER PORTFOLIO
CAPTION: German Railway marked the completion of its DM300m refurbishment of Berlin’s 8·8 km cross-city Stadtbahn with an inaugural ICE2 special on May 22. With effect from the May 24 timetable changes, ICE services to Berlin were extended from Zoo to the modernised Ostbahnhof via Alexanderplatz (above)CAPTION: EAO has designed ...
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News
Ottawa takeover
CANADIAN passenger operator VIA Rail reached agreement on June 10 to take over parts of Canadian National’s network in the Ottawa Valley, forming part of its key Montreal - Ottawa route. CN’s Alexandria Subdivision runs from Coteau, Québec, to Hawthorne, Ontario, a distance of 92 km. Excluded from the deal ...
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News
PRODUCT NEWS
CAPTION: Trackside signVortok International has developed the Trackguard temporary signboard support, which clamps to the foot of the rail to avoid disturbing ballast and damaging trackside cabling. Manufactured from flexible GRP with a weather-protected metal clamp, Trackguard weighs 12 kg, can be carried and erected by one person, and has ...
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News
Spending mandated
BRITAIN’s rail operators face the prospect of substantial capital investment for unquantified safety benefits. On May 21 the Health & Safety Executive issued for consultation Draft Railway Safety Regulations which would require widespread installation of the Train Protection & Warning System (RG 1.98 p55) and withdrawal or modification of MkI ...
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News
Oil line study
MALAYSIAN national oil company Petronas has appointed Canarail to undertake design of an 80 km industrial railway along the country’s northeast coast. Scheduled to open in 2001, it would link processing plants around Kerteh to the port of Kuantan. Last year Canarail completed an initial feasibility study for the link, ...
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News
Keystone upgrade
A US$16m project to upgrade the Philadelphia - Harrisburg Keystone line is moving ahead rapidly this summer. The work, part of which was carried out last year, includes replacing life-expired wood sleepers and upgrading the station at Lancaster. As the work is completed and track conditions improved, speeds on some ...
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News
Joint venture to refurbish Riga station
REFURBISHMENT work is getting under way on the Central Railway Terminal in the Latvian capital Riga. The project is being undertaken by a Latvian-Norwegian joint venture at a cost understood to exceed US$6m.At the end of last year LDZ awarded a 10-year concession to the Varner Hakon Invest joint venture ...
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News
Railtrack invests
INVESTMENT in the British rail network rose by 30% in 1997-98 compared to the previous year, according to the Railtrack annual results presented on June 3. In the year to March 31 spending on asset renewal and network enhancement rose steeply to £1 254m, the highest rate in real terms ...
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News
Ore route wins investment
LAST YEAR Khutso Mampeule, Executive Manager of Spoornet’s iron ore business known as Orex, told us that export traffic on the 861 km Sishen - Saldanha iron ore line was on the way to recovery. Mampeule revealed at the end of May that the 1065mm gauge heavy haul route is ...
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News
LU investment up
LONDON Transport Chief Executive Dennis Tunnicliffe announced on June 11 that LT would invest £1bn in the Underground and bus services over the next two years. The bulk of this will go on stations, track and signalling improvements. £480m will come from operating surpluses and £500m from government grants.The LT ...
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News
INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: This month is due to see the start of overnight piggyback parcels services between London and Glasgow, using low-height trailers built for Parcelforce and two prototype four-spot Eurospine wagons operated by English Welsh & Scottish Railway. At a launch ceremony on May 18 EWS Marketing Director Randy Henke announced ...
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News
INTELLIGENCE
Argentina: UEPFP is to introduce Talgo rolling stock purchased from Renfe to the 399 km Buenos Aires - Mar del Plata route by the end of this year. Infrastructure improvements allowing a 2h 50min journey time include curve easements, welded rails and resignalling by Siemens.Ferrocarril General Belgrano is testing a ...
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News
Lorraine initiative
As part of the continuing improvement in customer care allied to regionalisation on SNCF, staff handed out information packs to travellers between Nancy and Epinal on May 23. Included were the new regional timetable book, a competition and details of a new bus link from the railhead at Remiremont to ...