All Railway Gazette International articles in June 2003
All articles published this month.
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News
Restyling TGV
SNCF has selected a consortium of MBD Design, seat manufacturer Compin and fashion house Christian Lacroix to develop new interiors for a refurbishment programme that will treat 183 TGV Atlantique and Réseau trainsets by 2008. Interiors proposed by three bidders had been installed in one TGV which visited 40 towns ...
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A promise unfulfilled in Victoria
When National Express withdrew from its franchises in Melbourne last year, privatisation in the state of Victoria was called into question. John Kirk reviews what has happened and concludes that there are deep flaws in both state and federal policies
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Restructuring progresses
SEPARATION of infrastructure company Rete Ferroviaria Italiana from the Ferrovie dello Stato group, previously planned for this year, has been postponed to 2004 as the government has yet to decide how to proceed. One option is a change of ownership of RFI through a sale of shares in FS. At ...
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Pointers
n Look for the European Union to put forward a revised list of priorities for the Trans-European Network projects, following the setting up of a high-level review group under former Transport Commissioner Karel van Miert. TEN projects will be split into five categories under new guidelines to be adopted later ...
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PEOPLE
On May 20, German Railway announced that its Board Member for Passenger services Dr Christoph Franz and Passenger Marketing Director Hans-Gustav Koch were leaving the company. Passenger services will pass to Board Member Dr Karl-Friedrich Rausch, whose responsibility for technology will devolve to Stefan Garber, formerly Director of Purchasing. The ...
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NS station works
TWO NEW stations are to be built at Tilburg Reeshof and Almere Oostvaarder, following the approval by the Dutch cabinet of a €6m package of works, which also include lengthening of the platfoms at Driebergen-Zeist.In another station improvement scheme, the main hall at Amsterdam Amstel was formally reopened on April ...
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New York subway orders
MTA New York City Transit has awarded a $90m contract to Kawasaki Rail Car Inc for another 80 R142A subway cars. They will be similar to 520 cars now in service on the Lexington Avenue line, which have proved to be one of NYCT’s most reliable fleets, achieving an average ...
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Metros
China:ABB has received an order worth US$7m to supply 152 gas insulated switchgear units for Shenzhen’s metro Line 1 by September this year, and 237 of the 33 kV devices worth US$11m to Guangzhou metro Line 3 next year.Arup has been appointed as engineering consultant and DesignCorp International as architect ...
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Market
Chile: Under a contract worth €16m, EFE is acquiring reconditioned traction and rolling stock from Renfe of Spain for daytime Santiago - Temuco services. This includes four Class 269 electric locomotives, 23 coaches and four car-transporter wagons.France:IER and Thales e-Transactions have been awarded a €20m contract to replace by late ...
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Metrotrén projects make progress
SPANISH Development Minister Francisco Álvarez-Cascos joined Feve President Eugenio Damboriena in Asturias on May 10 to mark the completion of track renewal work between Ribadesella and Llanes, and electrification between Nava and Infiesto. Both projects on Feve’s Oviedo - Santander route have been undertaken as part of the Metrotrén Asturias ...
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Luzern S-Bahn
A THREE-STAGE project to develop an S-Bahn network in the Swiss city of Luzern was officially unveiled on May 7 by the head of the city’s transport and works department Max Pfister. The project forms part of the second phase of the Bahn 2000 programme, which is due to be ...
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Missing link in place
AT THE START OF 2004, Portuguese infrastructure authority Refer expects to complete the second phase of its North-South link programme, which will see routes either side of the Tagus finally connected via the 25 de Abril bridge in Lisboa (RG 4.98 p258). Although passengers have been crossing the Tagus by ...
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Pyrenees line retendered
A NEW INVITATION to tender has been published for the concession to fund, build and operate the 45 km Perpignan - Figueres cross-border route, with bids due back by September 30. The French and Spanish governments hope to award a contract by the end of this year, so that work ...
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Researchers on the track of wheel-rail interaction
INTRO: A better understanding of the many phenomena which have their roots in the small contact patch between wheel and rail offers a huge potential for savings, in terms of maintenance, reliability, safety and environmental costsBYLINE: Dr Anders Ekberg, Dr Elena Kabo, Dr Jens Nielsen and Dr Jonas RingsbergCharmec*THIS MONTH ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Austria: The 936m Birgl tunnel was holed through on April 28, as part of a project to double-track the 208 km Tauern line from Salzburg to Rosenbach.China: On May 9 work began in Lhasa on a 919m bridge required for the Qinghai - Tibet railway scheme.Europe: This month Logistica Mediterranea ...
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RCF still an issue in infrastructure policies
TWO RECENT conferences in London put the spotlight on the importance of effective inspection and management of infrastructure. Debate in this field continues to be dominated by the need to deal with the complex problem of rolling contact fatigue - now a serious issue in a number of European countries, ...
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Indian private line opened
VISITING the state of Gujarat on May 11, India’s Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani inaugurated a 271 km broad-gauge line in Saurashtra region, which is being built as a public-private partnership. Due to be completed next year at a cost of Rs3·7bn, the line from Surendranagar to the new ...
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Hypersonic rail tests
On April 30 a rocket-powered sled set a speed record for a rail-mounted vehicle, travelling the length of a 5 km test track in 6·04 sec at a maximum speed of Mach 8·5, about 10300 km/h. The Holloman High Speed Test Track in New Mexico is used by the US ...
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Holdings swap
CVRD of Brazil has announced that it is to transfer its 32·4% holding in the loss-making Nordeste Railway (CFN) to steel producer CSN and Taquari Participaç