All Railway Gazette International articles in June 2004
All articles published this month.
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News
A tough year for Talgo
SPANISH rolling stock manufacturer Grupo Talgo has announced a net loss of €18·5m for 2003, compared with a loss of €8·8m in 2002. Turnover in 2003 was up at €282m from €177m the year before.The loss on ordinary activities in 2003 was €13·7m, due largely to the negative impact of ...
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Smart ticketing
ASCOM is to supply ticketing equipment for use across regional rail, light metro and local bus services in Rennes.The French city will launch an integrated multimodal ticketing scheme in mid-2005, with contactless smart cards replacing the existing paper tickets on services forming part of the local transport network. A single ...
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Simpler trains wanted
MINISTER for Transport Services in New South Wales Michael Costa announced on May 3 that the state government had deferred indefinitely a decision to buy a planned third tranche of 60 Millennium EMU cars from EDI Rail (RG 9.03 p525).An entirely new ’simpler and cheaper’ design is apparently in prospect, ...
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Sidetrack
CAPTION: On May 10 Austrian Federal Railways unveiled its 200th multi-system Siemens-built Taurus locomotive. No 1116 200 has been painted in a special livery to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Semmering Railway. Sponsored by model railway manufacturer Roco, which has produced a limited edition replica, the loco features paintings ...
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Radar sleeper tests
GROUND-penetrating radar and ultrasonic testing are being combined to allow non-destructive testing firm Aperio to assess the condition of concrete sleepers. The radar can rapidly provide a detailed picture of the extent of any erosion on the underside of the sleepers on a graduated scale. The slower ultrasonic testing is ...
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News
PUBLICATIONS
A Dream RevisitedSubtitled an Archival Journey into the Making of the Delhi Metro Rail, this book gives an account of the history, planning, routes and technology of the Indian capital’s metro from its inception to the opening ceremony. The trials and tribulations of the project are described, from the controversy ...
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Pointers
The Netherlands government has invited proposals for the long-planned Zuiderzee line. To be built with private-sector funding as a maglev or high speed line, the 180 km route is intended to halve the present 2h 30min Amsterdam - Groningen journey time.A consortium of six Japanese firms - Hitachi, Kawasaki Heavy ...
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PEOPLE
Elio Catania was appointed President & Chief Executive Officer of Italian state railway company FS Holding SpA on May 18. Formerly head of IBM in Italy, he succeeds Giancarlo Cimoli who has been appointed President & CEO of state-owned airline Alitalia. Elio Marco Staderini, Luciano Canepa,Stefano Zaninelli and Roberto Ulissi ...
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Overhaul at Spoornet
CHIEF EXECUTIVE of Spoornet Dolly Mokgatle is promising a turnround to meet the South African government’s objective of a profitable state enterprise.Addressing the media on May 13, she said ’there is not a single moment that we as Spoornet and Transnet are not mindful of our awesome responsibility to the ...
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On the move
THIS MONTH Scott Wilson will combine its three London offices into larger premises at Greencoat House, bringing together its transport, planning, building services, mechanical & electrical and business consultancy arms under one roof.The consultancy firm currently has most of its work within the UK, but is expanding overseas and expects ...
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News
Metros
Argentina: Buenos Aires city government is considering a proposal to build an 11 km light rail route from Retiro station to La Boca via the Puerto Madero redevelopment area. The scheme has been devised by Swiss-based architect Pedro Valladares, with Stuttgarter Strassenbahn willing to provide 35 second-hand LRVs for €5000 ...
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Metro resignalling starts
PARIS transport authority RATP has started a programme known as Ouragan to resignal five metro lines for automatic train operation. Work on Lines 3, 5, 9, 10 and 12 is to be shared between CSEE Transport, Siemens France and Technicatome.RATP has opted for Transmission-Based Train Control similar to that being ...
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Market
Australia:Victoria’s Department of Infrastructure has appointed Scott Wilson to carry out a six-month review of Melbourne’s rail infrastructure assets, and to develop maintenance and renewal strategies.Honeywell Building Solutions has been awarded a A$7·1m contract to provide an 800-camera CCTV monitoring and digital recording network for the stations in the Perth ...
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News
Managing the network
PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe SA (PKP PLK) manages the infrastructure on the 20000route-km national network. Operations and maintenance are wholly funded by access charges from the train operators. The average access charge per train-km is 23·55 zloties (k5) for freight trains and 8·97 zloties for passenger trains, plus taxes. However, ...
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Nuclear link planned
CONSTRUCTION of a 513 km railway is the preferred option for serving the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Expected to open in 2010, it will be served by 175 trains a year for 24 years. The US Department of Energy has appointed Bechtel SAIC as prime contractor for ...
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News
Second line to Rishon-le-Zion started
ISRAEL Railways called tenders on May 4 for construction of a station at Rishon-le-Zion West (Moshe Dayan), which is to be served by a new 16 km branch through the southwest suburbs of Tel Aviv. Bids for infrastructure works were to be called before the end of the month. According ...
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Safety lighting
MERIDIAN diesel-electric multiple-units being built by Bombardier for Midland Main Line and Hull Trains are being fitted with green LED emergency lighting from Marl International.Load-bearing lighting strips are incorporated in the floors, and kick-strip lights fitted to the vestibules. These will be permanently illuminated to familiarise passengers with evacuation routes, ...
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Portland launches Yellow Line
CELEBRATIONS were held in Portland, Oregon, on May 1 to mark the inauguration of the city’s third light rail line. The 9·3 km Interstate Avenue extension has been opened four months early at a total cost of $350m.Running north from the city to Expo Center, TriMet’s Yellow Line adds 10 ...
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Kenya-Uganda through trains revived
Uganda Railways Corp and 150 by KRC. KRC is relaying its line west of Nakuru with heavier rails, and work will be completed by mid-2005. KRC is also providing assistance to URC for refurbishing the track between Kampala and the border at Malaba. According to KRC’s Ugandan representative Julius Chando, ...
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Istanbul - Köln shuttle trial
WEEKLY freight services between Germany and Turkey will be running by the end of the year following a successful trial run from Istanbul to Köln that covered the 3000 km in just 79h. According to freight operator Railion Deutschland, the objective is to launch a daily service within two years. ...