Main line rail industry news – Page 1124
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News
Dieter
VolkerRail has sufficient staff for weekday work, but has found itself short of workers on weekends, when it is easier to obtain track possessions. To avoid this, the Dutch contractor is working with farmers’ organisation LTO Noord to recruit agricultural workers in the provinces of Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel, who ...
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First passengers ride Taiwan high speed line
TAIWAN High Speed Rail Corp began carrying fare-paying passengers on January 5, with the first train leaving Panchiao station near Taipei at 07.00 for the 345 km trip to Zuoying in the southern city of Kaohsiung. Tickets for the 90 min journey were offered at a 50% discount for travel ...
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MTS wins Tel-Aviv metro
IN A CEREMONY on December 31, Israeli Finance Minister Abraham Hirschson, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz and representatives from the project manager NTA announced that the MTS consortium had been selected as concessionaire to develop the Tel-Aviv light metro Red Line between Bat Yam and Petach Tikvah. Headed by local firm ...
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TTC car contract
TORONTO Transit Commission and Bombardier Transportation formally signed a C$548m sole-source contract on December 21 for the supply of 234 new subway cars for delivery in 2009-11. The 39 six-car sets are intended to replace around 200 cars used on the Yonge - University - Spadina Line, which are now ...
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EVR's private interlude is over
BALTIC Rail Services announced on January 9 that the sale of its 66% holding in Eesti Raudtee had been completed, ending five years of private-sector operation of the Estonian rail network. The move was followed by the appointment as Chief Executive of former infrastructure director Kaido Simmermann, who immediately ...
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Delhi metro launches second phase
Phase 1 of Delhi's metro network was completed in November, and work has now begun on an extension programme to take the metro to 120 km by 2010
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NewsBritain grapples with main line smart ticketing
Roger Ford reviews progress with smart ticketing in the UK heavy rail market
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Belgian Railways profits from investment
SNCB is starting to harvest the benefit from recent Infrabel investment projects, reports Harry Hondius
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Further Belgian funding approved
ON DECEMBER 5 Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstad joined SNCB Holding Chief Executive Jannie Haek and his Infrabel counterpart Luc Lallemand to mark the signing of regional pre-financing accords that will release €400m for three railway infrastructure investment projects. The deal provides €298·2m for the €458·7m upgrading of the Brussels ...
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Closing the gap from Bam to Zahedan
Steady progress is being made with construction of the international link from Kerman to Zahedan. Dr John Stubbs, Lecturer in Geography at the Univeristy of Derby, reports from Iran and Pakistan
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More US cities board the commuter rail train
Commuter rail is arguably the most dynamic segment of North America's urban rail sector, reports Julian Wolinsky, with two new networks opening, construction underway on three more and others in various stages of preparation. Existing systems are expanding, and orders for rolling stock are robust
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Investment will underpin RZD reforms
The third phase of Russia's railway reform process is due to see the introduction of competition by 2010, and will require the separation of infrastructure management from train operations. Chris Jackson asked Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin to explain how RZD is changing, and how it will fund much-needed investment ...
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NewsChiltern tries mobile tickets
ON DECEMBER 14 Chiltern Railways and YourRail began a three-month trial of ticket delivery by mobile telephones, using the mobi-ticket system developed by Mobiqa for use at concerts and sporting events. During the trials Chiltern Railways' E-Day advance-purchase ticket can be booked on line 24 h ahead of travel, ...
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Transit freight booms on Bafgh - Mashhad link
As predicted in previous articles (RG 6.05 p320), a considerable amount of freight traffic is moving over the railway that opened between Bafgh and Mashhad in 2005, according to Dr John Stubbs. Three passenger trains a week operate between the port of Bandar Abbas on the Gulf of Hormuz and ...
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Intelligence January 2007
Africa: 24 coaches built in Pretoria for DR Congo have been seized by National Railways of Zimbabwe. DRC had defaulted on monthly payments for 50 coaches leased from NRZ in 1998, and the railways have now agreed that the vehicles impounded in Bulawayo will stay in Zimbabwe as part- payment ...
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Finance January 2007
Bangladesh: The World Bank has approved the US$40m Bangladesh Railway Reform Programmatic Development Policy Credit, a 40-year credit granted to support rail reform as part of a long-term strategic partnership between the government, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan Bank for International Co-operation. China: On November 29 Asian ...
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Chinese expansion continues
CHINESE RAILWAYS has confirmed plans to invest 300bn yuan during 2007 on network extensions and capacity enhancement, as part of the 11th five-year plan which is due to see investment total 1 500bn yuan in 2006-10. Describing the package as ’the biggest in Chinese history’ the National Development & Reform ...
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Creditors approve Eurotunnel debt restructuring
CRUCIAL VOTES which took place on November 27 and December 14 have secured approval from a majority of investors holding Eurotunnel’s ?6?2bn of loans, bonds and other debt to a Safeguard Restructuring Plan put forward by the Channel Tunnel operator on October 26. This would see ?3?36bn written off by ...
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In search of speed supremacy
CONFIRMATION that the French are hoping to exceed the 515?3 km/h world speed record set up on May 18 1990 by TGV set 325 came on December 14 with a statement by the Ministry of Transport.Followed on December 18 by a media presentation about the future development of high speed ...
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A watchful eye
AN INTENSIVE security network is to be installed on 13?km of line through Washington DC, used by Virginia Railway Express, Amtrak and CSX, under a $10m pilot project being promoted by the US Department of Homeland Security.CCTV cameras will send live images to law-enforcement agencies and provide a permanent record ...