Main line rail industry news – Page 1143
-
News
Stakes up in Taipei
TAIWANESE Transport Minister Kuo Yao-chi has put her political career on the line, promising to step down if Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp fails to launch services in October - a year later than planned. It seems likely that some trains will run, but the minister was careful not to ...
-
News
People
Enrico Grillo Pasquarelli, Head of Inland Transport in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy & Transport, has taken on additional responsibility as Acting Head of the Rail Transport & Interoperability Unit pending appointment of a replacement for Jean-Arnold Vinois who stepped down in April.Hervé de Treglodé has been appointed to ...
-
News
Re-regulation threat to capacity investment
CAPITAL INVESTMENT by the Class I railroads in North America continues to rise. We have reported before that the operators are moving rapidly to add extra capacity on key corridors in the face of unprecedented levels of demand.Rolling back decades of downsizing is not cheap. According to the Association of ...
-
News
Change in Alice
FURTHER upheavals can be expected in the Australian rail sector with the news that a stake in the Adelaide - Alice Springs - Darwin rail link is up for sale.Operator Freight Link announced at the beginning of May that it was looking for ’a long-term strategic partner’ through the sale ...
-
News
Revival in prospect
FURTHER attempts are being made to revive the fortunes of Nigerian Railway Corp. Marking the start of a major effort to rehabilitate around 2800 km of NRC’s 3505 km network, Permanent Secretary for Transport Babangida Aliyu announced on May 18 that six ’Sub-Project Engineering Teams’ had been set up to ...
-
News
Velaro RUS to St Petersburg
PARTICIPATING in the 1520 Forum conference of broad gauge railways being held in Sochi, Russian Railways Vice-President Valentine Gapanovich formally signed a €276m contract with Siemens President Hans M Schabert on May 18 for the supply of eight high speed trains. Due for delivery from the end of 2008, the ...
-
NewsBordeaux tram extensions underway
Less than three years after the first phase of the Bordeaux light rail network was inaugurated, works are well advanced for several extensions which will almost double the length by 2008, reports Chris Heaps
-
NewsSmart card accord
NEWLY-APPOINTED UK Secretary of State for Transport Douglas Alexander and Mayor of London Ken Livingstone announced on May 10 that they had reached agreement to expand the use of Transport for London's Oyster smart card ticketing to suburban rail services. Introduced in 2003, there are now more than 5 million ...
-
News
Scott Wilson floats
SHARES in Scott Wilson Group plc began trading on the London Stock Exchange on March 15, following the placing of 43·1 million ordinary shares at 158p, raising £68·1m before expenses for the consultancy.Brokers Brewin Dolphin also placed 2·2million ordinary shares, raising £3·5m on behalf of selling shareholders.Scott Wilson had a ...
-
News
Bacteria down from the glacier
INDIA’S Research Design & Standardisation Organisation, IIT-Kanpur and the Defence Research Development Organisation are studying the use of bacteria to treat waste in toilet retention tanks, as part of a campaign by Railways Minister Laloo Prasad to improve on-train toilets.The three research bodies are adapting military technologies developed to support ...
-
News
Signalling skills short
CENTRAL Queensland University and the Co-operative Research Centre for Railway Engineering & Technologies signed a two-year licensing agreement on March 25, allowing CQU to continue to offer a post-graduate diploma in railway signalling which was originally launched in 2004.CEO Prof Dudley Roach said Rail CRC was working with the rail ...
-
News
Composite tie-up
STEEL Dynamics Inc announced on March 9 that it is to begin manufacturing composite sleepers under licence from Primix Corp through a joint venture.The sleepers will have a formed steel core, to be produced by Steel Dynamic’s flat roll division. This core will be filled with concrete for stability and ...
-
News
Comfortable cars approved
TVER Carriage Works completed acceptance testing of three models of ’high comfort’ coaches at the end of March. Series production is to begin shortly, with the first of the 160 km/h vehicles to be used on Red Arrow expresses between Moscow and St Petersburg.The 61-4452 sleeping car has eight two-berth ...
-
News
Products in Brief
China Academy of Rail Sciences and Sifang Rolling Stock Research Institute have standardised on the LonWorks IEEE 1473L network platform for onboard safety monitoring of functions including brakes, doors and power supply.Echelon, USALos Angeles MTA has ordered an emergency access and incident response road-rail vehicle from Mattman Speciality Vehicles in ...
-
News
Dieter
McDonald's has been selling a million €99 sets of four special tickets valid for a second class journey on German Railway's long distance trains and connecting regional services. DB is hoping to reach infrequent rail travellers through the offer, but Dieter wonders if the railway will reciprocate by offering the ...
-
News
Indian Railways tries double-stack service
INDIA'S FIRST double-stack train was flagged off by Minister of Railways Laloo Prasad Yadav on March 23. Starting from the Kanakpura Inland Container Depot near Jaipur in Rajasthan, the train ran to the Arabian Sea port of Pipavav in Gujarat, a distance of 950 km. With accelerated growth in export ...
-
News
City News in Brief
On March 23 the Septa board approved a US$244m contract to buy 104 Silverliner V EMU cars from United Transit System to replace life-expired stock on the Philadelphia suburban network. Three prototypes are due in 30 months, and the remainder within four years. The UTS consortium of Rotem and Japan’s ...
-
News
Confidence grows as ETCS Level 2 beds in on Roma - Napoli line
ETCS Level 2 worked faultlessly when Murray Hughes rode Train 9607 from Roma to Napoli over the 205 km high speed line that opened last December. The number of services was stepped up in March, and more will be added in June
-
News
Display area sets new record
INTRO: Four extra halls will be needed to accommodate all the exhibitorsFive months before the start of InnoTrans 2006, the Berlin show is on course to be bigger than ever. The international trade fair has been expanding steadily since the first event 10 years ago, and this year it will ...
-
News
Fast lines take priority in Turkish investment
Substantial increases in government support are allowing Turkish State Railways to expand its network, with work underway on new lines for 250 km/h operation