Main line rail industry news – Page 1137
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News
Dhaka metro moves closer
THE BANGLADESH Ministry of Communications has selected a local construction company to develop a metro network in Dhaka, subject to final clearance from the government’s Private Sector Investment Committee.After meeting with Contech Managing Director Masud Reza, on June 27 Communications Minister Nazmul Huda confirmed that a Letter of Intent would ...
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Line 15 proposed
SHANGHAI’s city planners have announced their intention to develop another north-south metro line across the rapidly-growing conurbation.Due to be completed after 2010, Line 15 will connect the Shanghai University campus in Baoshan with the Purple Bamboo Industrial Park in Minhang. The final alignment has not been settled, but the line ...
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Cavite concession
FOUR international consortia have expressed interest in a PPP concession to build the planned southern extension of Manila light rail Line 1 from Baclaran to Cavite.LRTA Administrator Mel Robles confirmed last month that bids have been received from a Japanese construction firm, an Indian-American joint venture and two Spanish companies. ...
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Tram modernisation
TENDERS were called last month for a €25·2m contract to modernise the tramway infrastructure in the Romanian city of Arad.Bids were due by July 5 for the project, which includes rehabilitation of trackwork over 17·6route-km and repairs to the streets along which the trams operate. This accounts for around a ...
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FRA crushes push-pull canard
ATTEMPTS by Californian legislator Dario Frommer to outlaw push-pull operation were unanimously defeated on June 27, one day after the Federal Railroad Administration issued a report confirming that push-pull operation did not compromise safety. The Assembly Majority Leader had introduced his measure earlier this year, following the Glendale collision on ...
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Industry News in Brief
Industry News in BriefThe European Commission has approved Bouygues’ acquisition of the French government’s 21·01% stake in Alstom, under the terms announced on April 27 (RG 6.06 p361). The 29051244 shares were transferred at €68·21 per share on June 26, giving Bouygues 23·26% of Alstom’s capital and voting rights.Huber+Suhner has ...
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PPPs to fund TGVs
FRENCH infrastructure manager RFF announced on July 20 that it had appointed financial advisors to assist with the development of PPP funding packages for three major investment projects (RG 11.05 p668).Royal Bank of Canada’s Capital Markets division has been selected to put together the PPP for the Nîmes - Montpellier ...
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Idrac arrives in a bear garden
ALL EYES are on France as new SNCF President Anne-Marie Idrac takes up the reins in the toughest management challenge in Europe’s railway business.Formally appointed on July 12, Idrac succeeds Louis Gallois, who has returned to the aerospace business from whence he came in July 1996. The presidency of SNCF ...
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Distant connection
OF ALL the proposals that have come and gone to build new railways across Africa, the line - or lines - from southern Sudan into Uganda and Kenya promoted by German industrialist Klaus Thormälen must rank among the most far-fetched. We have remarked before on this incredible scheme (RG 9.04 ...
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SBB funding package approved
ON JUNE 21 Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenburger confirmed that Parliament had approved SFr5·88bn of state funding to support Swiss Federal Railways over the next four years.The budget allocation had been passed by the Bundesrat in March, but was the subject of fierce debate in the Ständerat before it was ...
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QR builds on coal boom
LAST MONTH Queensland Rail formally put in a bid to buy forwarding company FCL Interstate Transport Services. With the A$446·5m deal to acquire Australian Railroad Group’s operations in Western Australia finalised on June 2, QR appears set on a course of aggressive expansion.If it beats the three other reported contenders ...
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NewsBangalore metro launched
INDIAN Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the Rs64bn Bangalore metro project on June 24, paving the way for the start of construction in October. 'I hope this project will become a milestone in Bangalore's progress', said the Prime Minister, adding that 'we must start ...
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Reims and Angers choose APS
ON JULY 13 the Communauté d'agglomeration Reims Métropole signed a €1·4bn turnkey contract with the Alstom-led MARS consortium for construction of an 11·2 km light rail line, and for the operation of trams and buses in the city over 30 years from January 1 2008. The Mobilité Agglomération Rémoise ...
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NewsEIB provides €10bn for PEIT
UNDER AN AGREEMENT signed in Madrid on July 4 by its President Philippe Maystadt, the European Investment Bank is to provide up to €10bn in 2007-13 to support the Spanish Ministry of Development's PEIT strategic infrastructure and transport investment plan. PEIT has a total budget of €249bn for 2005-20, of ...
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Madrid LRT contracts awarded
SPAIN: The Madrid regional government has selected a consortium of Madrid Metro, the Caja Madrid bank and bus operator Alsa as preferred bidder for a 30-year concession to operate and maintain the light rail route currently under construction between Pinar del Chamartín and Las Tablas (RG 7.06 p377). The winning ...
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UltraCaps win out in energy storage
Richard Hope explains how double-layer capacitors have broken through the economic barriers to capturing braking energy on a Mannheim light rail vehicle
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NewsMerkel opens Berlin Hauptbahnhof
Ralf Roman Rossberg reports on the opening ceremony for Berlin Hauptbahnhof, where east-west and north-south services meet at the geographical centre of the German capital
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Industry News in Brief
Industry News in BriefSignalling and control system modelling and development specialist The Railway Engineering Co has been bought by Strainstall Group. TRE will operate as a separate business within the group.In April Frankfurt-based transport financing specialist DVB Bank registered DVB Capital Markets LLC with the US Securities & Exchange Commission ...
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Grinding down for longer crossing life
GERMAN Railway engineers worked with Robel on the development of the 16.01 rail milling machine, which can be used to repair turnout crossings and prolong their service life. DB standards only permit the repair of rigid crossings with cracks up to 20m depth, with more severe defects requiring expensive and ...
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Finance
Egypt: Minister for International Co-operation Fayza Abul-Naga has announced that the World Bank is to lend US$270m to fund railway development in 2007-08. France: The European Investment Bank has agreed to provide an initial tranche of €60m of a €120m loan towards the cost of building the 15·4 km light ...