All Railway Gazette International articles in July 2004
All articles published this month.
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News
Wiring tenders
JULY 4 has been set as the deadline for proposals to electrify 300 route-km of the Israel Railways network; a request for information was published by Israel Railways at the beginning of June. This followed a call by former transport minister Avigdor Liebermann on May 31 for Prime Minister Ariel ...
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News
Sidetrack
DieterCAPTION: Barely three months after South Korea’s first high speed line opened, Korail is apparently faced with the prospect of replacing the fixed second class seats in its KTX trainsets, after passengers objected to the idea of travelling backwards. The first class vehicles were fitted with rotating seats from the ...
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News
Vibration resilience
THEextension of Line 3 from Ethniki Amyna to Plakentia runs through a densely-populated area, and some sections of the tunnels were bored beneath residential buildings or other structures. An elastically-supported trackform was specified to help minimise ground-borne vibrations.Attiko Metro awarded the trackwork contract to Stedef and Sateba, specifying the use ...
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News
Stadler relies on tailor-made trains
ON JUNE 4 Stadler Rail officially opened a SFr20m third assembly hall at its Bussnang plant. The event marked completion of a second phase of expansion at the site in northeast Switzerland. Bussnang-based Stadler-Fahrzeuge AG has been active in the specialist passenger rail vehicle sector since 1945. Growth took off ...
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News
Publications
Regulatory Reform of Railways in RussiaExperts in rail regulation examine the restructuring of Russia’s vital rail sector in this report from the European Conference of Ministers of Transport, which was prepared as part of a wide programme of co-operation in regulatory reform between the OECD and the Russian government. The ...
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News
Power politics
AROUND half a million commuters had their journeys to work interrupted on June 7 owing to a power cut. This mainly concerned services into Paris St-Lazare, but trains serving termini at Nord, Lyon and Montparnasse were also affected. Altogether, about 250 trains were cancelled or delayed.This was not a technical ...
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Pointers
Proposals to build a 700 km rail link from Pakwach in northwestern Uganda to Waw in Sudan are under discussion. Despite the gauge difference, Uganda sees the route as an alternative to the line through Kenya. Companies involved in the scheme include Thormaehlen Technik of Germany.The latest announcement from Pyongyang ...
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Mobile washer
THE Speedy Wash range of self-contained mobile brush carriage washing machines has been launched in North America. Already in use in Europe, the fully mobile Speedy Wash machines can be operated on any platform or compacted surface, eliminating the need for a dedicated washing bay by bringing the washer to ...
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News
Metros
Canada: Vancouver transport authority Translink voted on June 18 not to proceed with development of the proposed C$1·7bn metro line to the Airport and Richmond.France: The 2·2 km extension of Nantes light rail Line 3 from Plaisance to Sillon de Bretagne was officially opened on May 28. Total cost was ...
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News
Low trailer
KING Rail has unveiled a prototype low-height rail trailer for transporting materials and plant around worksites at up to 32 km/h. The unit has a rated capacity of 20 tonnes.The prototype is 5m long, but the modular construction allows 4m and 6m versions to be offered. All are 2·5m wide ...
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News
Saarbahn light railheads north
CEREMONIES were held on June 23 to mark the start of work on an 18 km northern extension of the Saarbrücken tram-train network. Mayor Lothar Ringle joined the Managing Director of Stadtbahn Saar GmbH Prof Dr-Ing Franz Heinrich for the event in Riegelsberg.Construction of the initial 4·8 km of Line ...
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News
Landbridge study
SNCF International, in partnership with UBS Ltd and the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, has won a contract to provide detailed studies for the Saudi Landbridge project (RG 3.04 p157).Worth around US$10m, the two studies cover the planned lines from Jeddah to Makkah, Medina and Riyadh, and the long-proposed ...
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News
MTR seeks subsidy for Island lines
BUS OPERATORS and trade unions protested to the Legislative Council transport panel on May 28 about MTR Corp's plan to build two new lines serving the west and south of Hong Kong Island by 2010. Citybus and New World First Bus claimed 3000 jobs would be lost ...
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News
Intelligence
Argentina: Metropolitano ran its first commercial electric service on the 6·6 km Temperley - Claypole section of the Roca network on May 18. With this section completed at a cost of 12m pesos, Claypole - Florencio Varela forms the next stage of the electrification programme. Austria: The carriage of mail ...
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NewsHSL Zuid shuttle trains ordered
EUROPE: On May 24 the Dutch High Speed Alliance and Belgian National Railways signed a contract with AnsaldoBreda for supply of 12 eight-car high speed trains, with options for up to 14 more. To be delivered in April 2006, the units will enter service a year later, replacing the existing ...
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News
Slow market hits Holland Railconsult
HOLLAND Railconsult BV recorded a pre-tax profit of €9m in 2003, down from €11m in 2002. Turnover fell 5·7% to €136m from €144m, and profits amounted to 6·4% of turnover, around 1% lower than 2002.The consultancy found 2003 ’a difficult year’ in the infrastructure market and reduced its workforce by ...
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News
Trams may return to Hanoi
FRENCH consultancy Systra has started work on a feasibility study for a 14 km east-west light rail line in Hanoi, more than a decade after the Vienamese capital abandoned its last traditional tram route.Under a contract awarded by the People’s Committee of the City of Hanoi, the study is due ...
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News
Western Railway goes out to study
HELLENIC RAILWAYS has called bids for detailed engineering design on the first phase of the proposed rail network intended to open up the western side of the country. Under an agreement signed by former Transport Minister Christos Verelis and EU Transport & Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, the Western Railway ...
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FirstGroup gets ScotRail franchise
ON JUNE 11 the UK Strategic Rail Authority announced that FirstGroup had been selected as preferred bidder to operate the new ScotRail franchise. The current franchise has been held by National Express Group since March 31 1997 and expires on October 17. The new franchise will run for seven years, ...