Latest news – Page 1370
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News
Perth plans to expand
AUSTRALIA: Perth's suburban network is primed for a major expansion to the north, south and east of the city under a plan announced by the Western Australia state government on June 29. State Premier Alan Carpenter said the programme would be delivered in stages over two decades, building on the ...
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Largest ERTMS order
SPAIN: Infrastructure manager ADIF has awarded a consortium of Dimetronic and Thales a contract to supply signalling and telecoms for the Madrid – Valencia high speed line, which at €585m is thought to be the largest ERTMS order placed to date. As well as ETCS Level 1 and 2 train ...
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Triple-track completion
USA: BNSF Railway is on course to complete the triple-tracking of its busy Cajon Pass line in southern California by October. The company has invested more than $90m to increase capacity on a 26 km segment of its Cajon Subdivision. This part of BNSF’s Transcon main line ?between Los ...
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Extra cars expand NS fleet
NETHERLANDS: The first of 51 additional VIRM double-deck EMUs for NS Reizigers was formally handed over at Bombardier’s Talbot plant in Aachen on June 27. Ordered in 2006, they will bring the number of VIRM cars to 872, with 87 000 seats providing almost one-third of the capacity of the ...
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NewsManagement changes in the Rift Valley
EAST AFRICA: Following persistent criticism from the Ugandan and Kenyan governments over the performance of the 2 350 km Kenya - Uganda rail network following the launch of a 25-year operating concession last year, the Rift Valley Railways consortium announced on August 4 that it was changing its senior management. ...
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NewsInter-city stock brought up to modern standards
POLAND: A motley collection of rolling stock was inherited by PKP Intercity, which had to launch an urgent programme of modernisation to meet the expectations of today’s market, reports Ryszard Piech.
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Automation in São Paulo
BRAZIL: Alstom has been awarded its largest metro signalling contract covering the conversion of lines 1, 2 and 3 of the São Paulo metro to fully automated operation. The contract is worth around €280m and covers the complete renewal of the existing train control system. Alstom will equip the lines ...
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NewsMetering validates regeneration saving
ENERGY: Long-term metering of the electric current consumed by a Virgin Trains Class 390 Pendolino in revenue-earning service in the UK has shown energy savings in line with the 16·5% discount on Network Rail's existing traction current tariff for trains equipped with regenerative braking.
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Brake ventures formed in Johannesburg
SOUTH AFRICA: US-based railway supply group Wabtec Corp announced on August 6 that it had established two joint ventures to expand its manufacturing, supplies and service business in the South African market. Based at Kempton Park near Johannesburg, the two joint ventures have Sibanye Brakes of South Africa as ...
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NewsLeasing for the 'final mile'
NORTHRAIL: A new entrant to the leasing market based in Germany, Northrail is a 74:26 joint venture between investment group Paribus and Seehafen Kiel, operator of the Baltic Sea port. Following an initial capital investment of €25m, Northrail has established a pool of 12 locomotives, with lease agreements already in ...
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NewsSupplying springs for Tehran
SUSPENSION: Trelleborg Industrial has won a second contract to supply China Southern's Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Works with Metalastik hourglass bearer springs for use on locos being built for Iran. Trelleborg said the simple and low maintenance design of the steel and rubber springs makes them particularly suitable for situations where ...
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NewsTargeted weedkilling
WEED CONTROL: European infrastructure managers were shown the capabilities of Weedfree's newly-commissioned weed killing train during demonstration runs held in Belgium during June. Developed in Hungary by Gaal-Gaal, the train's computer systems locate weeds using infra-red cameras corresponding to each of the nine spray booms. GPS is used ...
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Urban rail news in brief - August 2008
On July 16 Chicago Transit Authority announced a pilot programme to remove the seats from a number of metro cars to increase capacity by 25 to 50 people per car. Eight-car peak trains would have one or two seatless cars, running initially on the Brown Line with the Blue and ...
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Genesee & Wyoming to buy Ohio Central
USA: Genesee & Wyoming Inc announced on August 4 that it had signed an agreement to purchase the Coshocton-based Ohio Central Railroad System, which operates nine short lines in Ohio and Pennsylvania. GWI has agreed to pay US$219m in cash, and a contingent consideration worth approximately $25m. GWI currently owns ...
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A second set of eyes
IMAGING: Rail Runner Express trains in New Mexico have been fitted with digital cameras which synchronise video with data from event recorders. Jointly developed by Railhead Vision Systems and Wi-Tronix, the technology generates a single downloadable file containing both video and data. Authorised staff are alerted if an emergency ...
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Faiveley completes US acquisition
USA: On July 31 Faiveley Transport confirmed that it had completed the acquisition of a 100% equity shareholding in Ellcon-National, a manufacturer of braking equipment and wagon loading devices based in Greenville, South Carolina. With a staff of around 300 people, Ellcon-National recorded sales of US$58m in 2007. Describing the ...
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Double-deck on Paris Line A
FRANCE: Following a finance agreement with STIF, the Ile-de-France transport authority, RATP intends to call tenders for replacement rolling stock on RER Line A. At the end of June, RATP presented STIF with its proposals to procure an initial batch of 30 double-deck EMUs at a cost of €600m to ...
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CPTM contracts
BRAZIL: Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF has been awarded a €442m contract to supply 40 eight-car trainsets to São Paulo suburban operator CPTM. Deliveries are scheduled for completion in 2010. CPTM has awarded Union Switch & Signal International and Efacec a US$120m contract to resignal lines 7 and 12 to ...
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NewsPilbara access battle continues
AUSTRALIA: Fortescue Metals is a step closer to gaining access to the Pilbara railway networks owned by rival mining groups BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. In mid-June the National Competition Council recommended that the Robe River, Hamersley and Goldsworthy rail lines should be opened up, in order to boost competition ...
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NewsPointers August 2008
The governments of France and Spain have agreed to establish a European Economic Interest Group that will be responsible for the design, construction and operation of a new central rail crossing of the Pyrenees, whose route is to be selected in autumn 2009. By the end of this year, SNCF ...