Main line rail industry news – Page 1141
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City News July 2006
On June 6 Alstom announced that it had been awarded a €92·5m contract by the Dominican Republic's transport authority Opret to supply 19 three-car Metropolis trainsets for the 14·5 km first metro line in Santo Domingo, which is due to open in 2008.Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and UK Transport ...
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Olympic car order
ON JUNE 13 Docklands Light Railway announced that it had ordered a further 31 articulated cars from Bombardier to accommodate projected demand during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Incorporating an option for nine cars included in the £50m contract for 24 new cars placed in May 2005, the extra 31 ...
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Track engineers look to get more from materials and possessions
As well as giving exposure to the latest technologies, the triennial exhibition of track maintenance equipment organised by the Association of German Railway Engineers (VDEI) provides an opportunity to reflect on industry trends. Exhibits focus on getting the most out of material and track possessions, finds David Burns
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I-Trans railway research projects authorised
Interoperability This category embraces the high speed inter-city train project and a new track design. The train would run at more than 200 km/h and the project is aimed at developing new technologies or equipment needed for a train to run on existing lines at high speed. So far three ...
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Industrial muscle concentrated in the north
Both Alstom and Bombardier have large assembly plants in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, and both are currently busy with large orders.The Bombardier plant at Crespin is turning out AGC sets for regional services on the French network under a framework contract with SNCF for 500 units; these are being ...
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Funding agreed for Basque Y
ON APRIL 24 two agreements were signed by the Spanish government, the Basque regional government and infrastructure authority ADIF, establishing the division of funding and other project responsibilities for the Y-shaped high speed network linking Bilbao, Vitoria and San Sebasti
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Czech private inter-city plan
SOKOLOV-based open access operator Railtrans has announced plans to run its own passenger trains between Praha and Ostrava in northern Moravia from the December 10 timetable change. There will be a single stop at Olomouc on the 358 km trip. Paths have been requested from SZDC, and Railtrans expects to ...
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Master Plan will transform Nord-Pas de Calais network
AT LEAST €1535m is to be spent on improvements and modernisation of the rail network in Nord-Pas de Calais.Projects include a €650m regional high speed line stretching for around 70 km between Lille, Valenciennes and Aulnoye, for which a pre-feasibility study is currently in hand. Other short sections of new ...
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Overcoming the maintenance backlog
Spoornet has budgeted to spend R514m on infrastructure maintenance projects in the 2006-07 financial year. Much of this will be invested in the primary freight corridors used by the General Freight Business.R103m will be spent on tamping, screening and ballast renewal to improve the lateral stability of the track, reduce ...
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Plasser & Theurer’s technical advances to keep ahead
THREE THOUSAND active patents lie at the core of Plasser & Theurer’s track maintenance machinery business, giving it a good foundation to develop new technologies. More than 13 000 machines have been supplied to 103 countries in the 53 years since the firm was founded. A privately-owned company, Plasser & ...
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AGV nose to boost profile
COMPOSITES specialist Stratiforme is working for Alstom on the front end design of the AGV demonstration train (RG 12.05 p763). The company expects to deliver the nose components for the 350 km/h trainset by early 2007. Stratiforme is currently supplying nose cones and other components for SNCF's TGV fleet. It ...
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State stake in Alstom sold
BOUYGUES is to purchase the 21% stake in Alstom which has been owned by the French state since July 2004 under the government’s rescue agreement (RG 6.04 p369). The stake will be acquired at a price of €68·21 per share, representing an investment of €2bn, to be funded from available ...
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Grinding programme combines noise reduction and preventative maintenance
Use of a ballastless track design on HSL-Zuid meant that there was a risk of exceeding the legal limits for noise emissions, which are based on conventional ballasted track. The problem is being countered with a carefully-tailored maintenance programme that combines acoustic and preventative grinding
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Beijing signal contracts signed
BEIJUNG metro operator BMOC has awarded a €28m contract to Alstom for resignalling Line 2 in time for the 2008 Olympic Games. Working with its joint venture subsidiary Casco and Electrification Engineering Bureau, Alstom will equip 23 route-km with its Urbalis radio-based CBTC and Eurobalises to provide intermittent back-up. The ...
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Spoornet focuses on improving its core freight operations
South Africa's state-owned railway Spoornet has embarked on a five-year programme to improve performance and profitability, which will help to support the government's Accelerated & Shared Growth Initiative. Chris Jackson asked Vice-President Molotwane Likhethe how this will be achieved
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Eritrea using local resources to revitalise its railway
Like the train's steep and winding climb up the escarpment from sea level to 2394m, progress on rehabilitation of the Eritrean Railway is slow but steady
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WCRR debates capacity and sustainability
INTRO: Taking place in Montréal on June 4 - 8, the 2006 World Congress on Railway Research will promote international co-operation in the fields of operational, environmental and safety management, as well as discussing more traditional engineering topicsBYLINE: Roy Allen and Mike Lowenger*BYLINE: *Roy Allen is President of Transportation Technology ...
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Threats fly in Estonian conflict
THE ROW between Baltic Rail Services and the Estonian government looks likely to boil over this summer.Last month the Ministry of Economic Affairs sent a letter to BRS, which holds 66% of shares in Eesti Raudtee, accusing the company of breach of contract. Unless BRS made good within 60 days ...
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NewsI-Trans spearheads rail investment push in Nord-Pas de Calais
Revival of railway research, construction of a major testing centre and a 20-year investment programme in track and trains are on a shopping list of railway development activities in Nord-Pas de Calais. Murray Hughes reports from Lille and Valenciennes
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Tomorrow’s mini-metro takes shape
NEOVAL is the name of France’s future mini-metro. Nominated on April 27 as one of six headline research projects to be funded by the Agence de l’Innovation Industrielle, NeoVal will be the successor to the rubber-tyred VAL system first developed in Lille in the late 1970s and early 1980s.AII was ...