All Railway Gazette International articles in June 2003
All articles published this month.
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News
Singapore adopts resilient rail fixing
OPPORTUNITIES for track maintenance on mass transit railways can be limited, and high passenger volumes make any disruption to services extremely costly. For these situations Pandrol has developed its Double Fastclip rail fastening. This has been installed on Singapore’s North East Line, which is expected to open this month (MR03 ...
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Menangle aftershock hits NSW
IN A MOVE that will be seen as highly significant, New South Wales Transport Minister Michael Costa announced on April 30 that ownership of the infrastructure used by Sydney’s regional and suburban passengers trains would be transferred on January 1 2004 from the Rail Infrastructure Corp back to the State ...
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News
Amtrak battle looms again
ONAPRIL 24 Amtrak President David Gunn outlined an $8bn, five-year plan to repair and replace outdated infrastructure and rolling stock while retaining much of the US network of long distance trains. It would require $4·5bn for capital funding and $3·5bn in operating subsidies in fiscal years 2004 to 2009. Proposals ...
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News
Buenos Aires smart card
TECHNOLOGY company Prominente and specialist transport commercial development business Metronec have launched a contactless smart card for Buenos Aires. As well as being used to buy Metrovías metro and train tickets, Subtecard is an electronic purse which can be used at Subtexpress shops and to buy cinema tickets. It can ...
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Airport services
GERMAN Railway inter-city trains are due to start serving Leipzig-Halle Airport on June 30, coinciding with the inauguration of the airport’s new Central Terminal. On the main line between Leipzig, Grübers and Halle (Saale), the station opened on December 15 last year. It has been connected to the city centre ...
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Airport backs metro plan
PLANS to develop an automated metro or light rail line serving the rapidly-growing corridor between Vancouver and Richmond received a boost last month, when the Vancouver International Airport Authority confirmed that it had committed C$300m towards the link. President & CEO Larry Berg said the authority had signed a memorandum ...
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News
Alacant contract
SPANISH regional railway operator FGV ordered nine articulated LRVs from Alstom in April, at a cost of €46m. Intended to operate tram-train services in the resort of Alacant (RG 5.02 p232), they will be assembled at Alstom’s Valencia plant, using electrical equipment supplied from Charleroi. Deliveries are due to run ...
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Pajares base tunnel bids in
SPANISH high speed construction authority GIF has received seven bids (below) for Lot 2, one of the four contracts to be let to build the 25 km Pajares base tunnel on the León - Oviedo route (RG 4.03 p183). Bid prices were due to be considered on May 21, and ...
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News
Battery upgrade
TURKISH State Railways is replacing the on-board pocket plate batteries fitted to 26 of its E43000 electric locomotives with SRM 105P cells from Saft. These offer 105Ah capacity, and are installed on the locomotives in 13 six-cell stainless steel crates and one four-cell crate. The SRM cell design uses sintered ...
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Bridge bearing research
TAIYUAN Research Institute of Science & Technology and the Railway Civil Engineering Institute at China’s Railway Academy have jointly developed an improved design of bridge beam support bearing, designed to provide optimal elasticity. By permitting longitudinal shifting and rotation of the bridge beams, the bearing helps lessen the shocks to ...
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Rivals bidding for Tranz Rail
ONMAY 15 the Board of Tranz Rail confirmed that RailAmerica Inc had offered to acquire the share capital of New Zealand’s freight operator, which leases and manages the national network. According to their statement, the directors had ’considered, in particular, the condition [of the offer] relating to the company’s ability ...
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News
Ficas bodyshells lift metro capacity
ON MAY 5 Bombardier Transportation unveiled a car body assembly technique which uses thinner and smoother vehicle sidewalls to increase passenger capacity by up to 10%, reports Geoff Hadwick. Speaking at the UITP World Congress in Madrid, Bombardier Transportation President & Chief Operating Officer Pierre Lortie announced that a ...
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Tsukuba Express close to ultimate electric braking system
INTRO: From autumn 2005, Tsukuba Science City will be directly linked to Akihabara station in the centre of Tokyo by a 58 km radial line now being built through the Greater Tokyo area. The opportunity to get even closer to ’pure’ regenerative braking is being seized, reserving friction brakes for ...
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News
CIE break-up planned
IRISH Transport Minister Seamus Brennan is expected to place proposals for breaking up state transport holding company CIE before the Irish Cabinet in the next few weeks. CIE's three existing business units - Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail), Bus Éireann (the national bus operator) and Bus Atha Cliath (Dublin Bus) - ...
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Products in Brief
A moving gantry locomotive washing plant has been installed at Direct Rail Services’ Carlisle Kingmoor depot by Smith Bros & Webb. Purpose-designed swing arm brushes and dedicated solebar brushes are able to clean locomotives with full-width bodies as well as the narrower-bodied Class 20 locos.Cooling units for 35 First Great ...
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Passenger News in Brief
On June 6 Connex will introduce another German inter-regional route, with the launch of daily through services from K
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Industry News in Brief
Alstom Transport announced on May 6 that it had acquired the rights to the Innorail surface-contact power supply technology developed for the Bordeaux light rail network by SPIE Industries.CAF has reported a pre-tax profit of €12·6m for 2002, up 1% from 2001, with turnover up 1·1% at €392·5m. The rolling ...
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Czech wagon builders consolidate
TRINITY Rail GmbH, a European subsidiary of US firm Trinity Rail Group, has announced it is to end production of wagons at the Thrall Vagónka Studénka workshops in the Czech Republic. Blaming ’weaker than anticipated demand’, Trinity Rail GmbH President Chris Schmalbruch said wagon building would be consolidated at Trinity’s ...
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FNM expands freight business
ITALIAN regional operator Ferrovie Nord Milano launched a new open-access freight service on April 18, linking Desio yard in Milano and the border station at Chiasso Smistamento. The train is operated under contract for SBB Cargo, pending the start of operations by Swiss Rail Cargo Italy which received a licence ...