All Railway Gazette International articles in July 1999
All articles published this month.
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News
Tense time in Taiwan
Council for Economic Planning & Development to seek ways to resolve THSRC’s problems, and that if the government received a formal request for funding, ’we would consider it carefully’.Given that a presidential election is due next March, the government is keen to keep the project moving forward, and Siew stated ...
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News
Sidetrack
INTRO: Barak building bridges OVER the last few years Israel Railways has recorded a marked increase in patronage, which has been attributed in part to the risks of terrorist attacks on buses in the region. Following the election of a new Labour government in May, IR General Manager Uzani is ...
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News
Publications
Schriftenreihe für Verkehr und Bahntechnik. Band 1. Feste Fahrbahn The first of a series of VDEI handbooks, this 156-page softback looks at all aspects of slab, grass and embedded track. Liberally illustrated with monochrome pictures and diagrams, it covers general construction methods and techniques, and the application of slab track ...
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News
Pointers
n Australia’s federal government has agreed that from July 2000 the railways will no longer have to pay the diesel fuel excise levy used to fund road maintenance and construction; this will cut A$70m from the railways’ tax bill in 2000-01 (RG 3.99 p127).n The Nigerian government has signed a ...
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News
PKP poised to take the privatisation plunge
Jan Janik, President of the Management Board and Director General of Polish State Railways, discussed with Murray Hughes in Warszawa how he is preparing the network for a rapid process of transition, first to a restructured business-led railway and then truly into the private sector.
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News
PEOPLE
Swiss Federal Railways’ Infrastructure Director Pierre-Alain Urech has joined the board of DB Netz AG. Anna Ottavianelli of FS has been named Secretary-General of the Community of European Railways, replacing Trevor Halvorsen. Carl-Henrik Lundstrøm of DSB been appointed to the newly created position of Deputy Secretary-General.As part of the latest ...
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News
Penn rebuild
US PRESIDENT Bill Clinton has formally inaugurated a US$484m project to develop a new main building for New York’s Pennsylvania Station, which currently handles almost 160 million passengers a year. In the ceremony on May 19 plans were unveiled to convert the neo-classical Farley Building, which was built for the ...
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News
Trackwatch for Metrorail
South African commuter operator Metrorail has ordered a Trackwatch system from Solartron to monitor signalling equipment at the Maitland interlocking in the Cape Town suburbs. Data prepared using the system’s PC-based analysis software will be exported to assist with the implementation of a condition-based maintenance strategy.Within the modular Trackwatch system, ...
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News
Merger signed
ON JUNE 22 Netherlands Railways President Rob den Besten and German Railway Chairman Dr Johannes Ludewig signed an agreement in Frankfurt which seals the merger of the two railways’ freight businesses, DB Cargo and NS Cargo. German Transport Minister Franz Münterfering was present, as were DB Cargo chief Dr Eberhard ...
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News
MPI and WAB to merge
US railway equipment suppliers MotivePower Industries and Westinghouse Air Brake Company announced on June 3 that they had signed a definitive agreement to merge. Subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, the ’merger of equals’ is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year. WAB shareholders will receive ...
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Market
Marketal six Class 57 conversions of Class 47 locos from autumn this year, with both orders financed by Porterbrook Leasing.Connex Rail has extended to 2011 a 10-year lease on 93 Networker EMUs owned by Angel Train Contracts, due to expire on March 31 2004. Under the new contract, the leasing ...
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News
Signatur strives to make Norway smaller
INTRO: Later this year Norwegian State Railways will put into service the first of 16 tilting trains on routes from Oslo to the north, south and west of the country. Cutting journey times by around 1h on four long-distance corridors, they will help improve NSB’s competitive edge over buses, cars ...
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News
SJ loses sleepers
SWEDISH State Railways has lost another tender for the operation of subsidised passenger services from January 1 2000. On June 1 the state rail traffic office Rijkstrafiken selected the newly-formed Svenska Tågkompaniet to operate overnight services to the far north of Sweden and local services on the Luleå - Kiruna ...
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News
Pilbara lines in a tangle
Confirmation on June 15 that Rio Tinto and BHP are negotiating a joint venture to merge their iron ore operations in Western Australia has introduced a new dimension to the increasingly bitter dispute with North Ltd over access to Rio Tinto’s Hamersley Iron Railway. The news followed a May 27 ...
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News
Midland Metro opened at last
BRITAIN’s third modern light rail line was formally opened on May 30 by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Birmingham Sue Anderson. Public services on Midland Metro Line 1 between Birmingham Snow Hill and Wolverhampton St George’s (right) began the following day. Trams initially run every 10min, but operating concessionaire Travel ...
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News
INTELLIGENCE
Argentina: Following government approval, Industrias Metalúrgicas Pescarmona SA has sold its 70·5% stake in the Mesopot
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News
ZSR struggles with the yoke of independence
INTRO: Neglect is taking its toll on Slovak Republic Railways, as Murray Hughes found in Bratislava. General Director Andrej Egyed believes KS3·5bn a year needs to be spent to regain lost ground, with corridors for transit freight taking priority for investmentBYLINE: Andrej Egyed General Director Slovak Republic Railways LEAVING Bratislava ...
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News
Red line reaches Hollywood
THE TROUBLED 7·4 km Hollywood extension of Los Angeles’ Red line metro was dedicated on June 11. Dignitaries participating included LA Mayor and MTA Chairman Richard Riordan (centre of photo), FTA Administrator Gordon Linton (rear), and the honorary mayor of Hollywood Johnny Grant (right). Following ceremonies at Hollywood Boulevard/Vine Street ...