All Railway Gazette International articles in June 2005 – Page 3

  • News

    DLR capacity expansion

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    DOCKLANDS Light Railway ordered 24 more articulated cars from Bombardier on April 28, as part of a programme to expand the capacity of its busiest route from Bank to Lewisham via Canary Wharf. Platforms are being lengthened so that trains can be extended from two to three cars in ...

  • News

    Conference call

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    WITH all speakers now confirmed for the Railway Gazette Centenary Congress on July 1, we are in the final stages of preparation for a very special event.Topics include Switzerland’s successful national regular-interval timetable - a concept now being suggested in France by RFF; the future of signalling and train control ...

  • News

    Joint company to build international link

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    ATA CEREMONY in Tehran on May 2 the heads of the railways in Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan signed a formal accord to build the Qazvin - Rasht - Astara line as part of the emerging North-South Corridor linking the Gulf with the Baltic Sea.At a second meeting held in Tehran ...

  • News

    Broadband Thalys

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    21NET will be demonstrating the broadband internet access it is providing on Thalys services between Paris and Brussels in a three-month commercial test. The company is involved in a European Space Agency programme to develop bi-directional satellite communications to deliver broadband internet to high speed trains. Successful live trials of ...

  • News

    Brasil Ferrovias restructured

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    THE BRAZILIAN transport ministry announced on May 6 that it had completed a recapitalisation of Brasil Ferrovias, which controlled the Ferronorte, Ferroban and Novoeste concessions.Earlier this year federal investment bank BNDES agreed to take a 31% stake in Ferronorte (RG 4.05 p181). The completed package provides an injection of R$1·5bn ...

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    News

    Bauhinia line will expand Queensland's coal exports

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    November should see completion of a 110 km addition to QR's extensive 1 067 mm gauge heavy haul network feeding the port of Gladstone. This is the major element in a A$335m enhancement of the Blackwater coal routes, and more investment will follow as demand rises for low-ash thermal coal

  • News

    Base tunnel holed through

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    AN EXPLOSION shook the ground at 10.52 on April 28 near the Swiss mountain resort of Kandersteg, marking the final breakthrough in construction of the 34·6 km L

  • News

    Barcelona to lease more stock

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    BARCELONA TRANSPORT authority ATM has signed a contract worth €65m to lease 10 Series 6000 trainsets for metro Line 1. Due to be delivered between May and December 2007, the five-car trainsets each accommodating up to 1116 passengers are to be leased for an initial term of 18 years, with ...

  • News

    Ban on the Bong line

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    LIBERIA: Revival of the fortunes of the iron ore market has triggered the reopening of the 78 km line between the mines at Bong and the port of Monrovia in Liberia. The move means the end of a practice that saw the 1435mm gauge line kept in unofficial use since ...

  • News

    Sydney backtracks on double-deckers

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    FOUR groups have been shortlisted to submit detailed proposals for a contract to supply replacements for the 498 cars in Sydney’s suburban fleet of 1514 double-deckers that are not air-conditioned.They are: Aurora Rail, formed of Siemens and Commonwealth Bank; Bombardier, working with Plenary Group and Deutsche Bank; Reliance Rail, formed ...

  • News

    PKP PLK awards signalling contracts

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    POLAND: Infrastructure manager PKP PLK SA has awarded two contracts for main line resignalling, which will be supported by the European Union's Cohesion Fund. A €30·5m contract has been awarded to Alcatel and Kommunikacyjne Zaklady Automatyki I Teletechniki for work in the Poznan area, including computerised interlockings at six ...

  • News

    Pre-series Avanto starts test running

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    Now undergoing trial running at the Siemens test centre in Wegberg-Wildenrath is the first of 15 dual-system Avanto low-floor light rail vehicles ordered by French National Railways in 2002. Harry Hondius reports

  • News

    Spanish association expands

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    AS WELL as organising its own joint stand, the Spanish Association of Manufacturers & Exporters of Equipment & Services for the Railway Industry will be co-ordinating other Spanish exhibitors at the event.MAFEX has over 20 member companies, covering infrastructure, rolling stock, signalling, electrification, maintenance and consultancy businesses.Engineering firm Affix Electronics ...

  • News

    ASFA upgrade

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    RENFE Operadora and infrastructure authority ADIF have approved a joint programme to upgrade the ASFA intermittent automatic train protection system, including new in-cab displays of braking curves and target speeds. The first phase running until the end of 2006 should see a prototype developed with ASFA supplier Dimetronic Signals, which ...

  • News

    ARTC studies train control

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    AUSTRALIAN Rail Track Corp has selected Lockheed Martin to assist with a A$20m technical and economic study of the potential for cab signalling based on satellite navigation and radio communications, allied to radio control of points. The contract award follows confirmation of federal funding earlier this year (RG 5.05 p246).Lockheed ...

  • News

    Bypass approved

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    ON MAY 17, French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien announced the award of a Declaration of Public Utility for construction of a rail bypass around Nîmes and Montpellier.Initially designed as part of TGV Méditerranée, the 70 km line is now to be built as a mixed-traffic route, helping to keep ...

  • News

    Competitive pressure may lie behind Amagasaki crash

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    SHOCKWAVES spread across Japan on April 25 as the country struggled to come to terms with the disastrous derailment of a heavily-loaded JR West commuter train at Amagasaki in the suburbs of Osaka.At 09.18 a seven-car Series 207 EMU forming a Commuter Rapid service from Takarazuka to Doshisha-mae derailed on ...

  • News

    Consulting alliance

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    SENECA Group and Railistics announced the formation of an alliance on May 12. The Washington DC and Wiesbaden-based companies will jointly market their complementary consultancy services, including project management, planning, analysis and organisational restructuring. The alliance will be directed by President of Seneca Christopher McCarthy and Railistics Managing Director Udo ...

  • News

    Wayside monitoring with ATSI aids wagon maintenance

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    The first phase of the AAR's Advanced Technology Safety Initiative has enabled wagon owners to share data on wheels exceeding impact limits, giving them the opportunity to undertake maintenance when and where it is most efficient and economical to do so

  • News

    Are there better times ahead?

    2005-06-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: The prospects for Argentina’s freight operators are set to brighten once the protracted process of renegotiating their concession contracts comes to an end, but government funding will be needed for infrastructure investment if rail is to meet its full potential. Enrique Garibotto reportsBY THE END of the 1980s the ...