Main line rail industry news – Page 1150
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News
Atocha to double
ON MARCH 1 Spanish Development Minister Magdalena Álvarez unveiled plans to double the capacity for long-distance traffic at Atocha station in Madrid. By increasing the number of platform tracks from 15 to 33 and further segregating departures from arrivals, it is hoped to increase capacity from 18million to 35million passengers ...
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Snow service
WELL, it turns out that we were wrong about the Winter Olympics train service from Milano Malpensa Airport to Torino. We said last month (RG 3.06 p109) that passengers were obliged to resort to buses for the trip between Malpensa and the high speed line at Novara. Not so.Here is ...
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Mixed messages puzzle Beijing - Shanghai bidders
LAST MONTH we reported extensively on China’s technology transfer deals which have given the country’s railway industry expertise in heavy haul and high speed EMU technology. So we were not unduly surprised to learn that Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun had said on March 9 that foreign technology was not ...
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Alger starts light rail project
HAVING awarded the E&M works contract for its first heavy metro line in January (RG 3.05 p116), Entreprise du Métro d'Alger has started work on a light rail corridor in the east of the Algerian capital. EMA has selected Systra and RATP Développement for a four-year contract to manage the ...
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Exposition Line
ON MARCH 3 the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority in Los Angeles approved a $420m design and build contract with a joint venture of FCI, Fluor and Parsons for the 13·7 km first phase of the Exposition light rail line. The deal followed the issuing of a Record of Decision ...
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U-Bahn renewal
A MAJOR renewal of the U-Bahn fleet in Frankfurt-am-Main was announced on March 15. Mayor Petra Roth said the city was investing in the future.VGF has ordered 146 Flexity Swift high-floor LRVs from Bombardier for €300m, with options for 24 more. Due for delivery between 2008 and 2015, the Series ...
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Nürnberg S-Bahn expands
FOUR-TRACKING of Germany's oldest railway between Nürnberg and Fürth is the centrepiece of a €160m investment programme to expand S-Bahn services to the 38 km Nürnberg - Fürth - Erlangen - Forchheim route over the next four years. An agreement signed by DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn and Bayern Transport Minister ...
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Slovak freight sale hits the buffers
POLITICAL expediency has dictated a halt to the privatisation of ZSSK Cargo (RG 3.06 p112). A political crisis in Slovakia has led to elections being called on June 17, and the outgoing government has deemed it convenient to halt all sell-off plans in the face of widespread opposition. Six bidders ...
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ACCC drops action against Toll
TOLL HOLDINGS planned to announce a revised offer for Patrick Corp during the second half of March after the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission agreed to drop its opposition to the deal (RG 3.06 p122). This followed commitments by Toll which addressed the ACCC’s concerns about competition.Instrumental in persuading the ...
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Tilting to St Petersburg
TRIALS with a Finnish Pendolino trainset between Helsinki and St Petersburg are planned in the near future.In a Letter of Intent signed on March 14, Executive Director of VR Group Tapio Simosom and Vice-President of Russian Railways Mikhail Akulov agreed to establish a joint venture to buy and operate high ...
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Locos to fit in a tight spot
FOUR custom-designed battery locos have been built by Clayton Equipment for use by London Underground PPP contractor Metronet in a five-month modernisation programme for the Waterloo & City Line which begins this month (p178). Designed to suit the restricted loading gauge, sharp curves and steep gradients of the 2·37 ...
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NewsT3 forms a green corridor
Running along the boulevards from Pont du Garigliano to Porte d'Ivry, RATP's third light rail route is expected to bring about a 25% reduction in road traffic while doubling the capacity offered by existing bus services. An extensive tree planting programme aims to create a green corridor along busy streets
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NewsWaterloo & City Line closes for upgrade
LONDON Underground's 2·4 km Waterloo & City Line is closed to traffic between April 1 and September 1 as Metronet undertakes a £40m upgrade under its 30-year Public-Private Partnership contract. As well as relaying track to restore the line speed to 55 km/h on straight sections and improve the minimum ...
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Sell-out mooted in Estonia
THE ACRIMONIOUS dispute between Baltic Rail Services, the majority shareholder in Eesti Raudtee, and the Estonian government has escalated to the highest level, with Prime Minister Andrus Ansip being asked last month to answer questions on the subject in Parliament. BRS is seeking damages from the government, accusing it of ...
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Engineers explore the future of signalling
Signalling professionals will probe the latest developments in signalling and train control technology at Aspect 2006, an international conference organised by the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers on March 16-17
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Passenger News in Brief
Netherlands Railways is to re-organise its service patterns in December, eliminating semi-fast regional trains to reduce conflicting train paths and enable more services to operate. There will generally be four inter-city and four stopping services in each direction per hour in the Randstad area, with two inter-city and two stopping ...
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Real-time information deal
AN ALLIANCE of English Welsh & Scottish Railway and Thales, which was formed to offer information technology services to European rail operators, has won a five-year contract to manage real-time information in the UK.The alliance will run Britain’s National Rail Communication Centre, which collates and distributes live information on service ...
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Finance
Africa: On January 24 the World Bank approved three International Development Association Partial Risk Guarantees for up to US$45m and US$15m in support of the Joint Railway Concession in Kenya and Uganda, the first time IDA has provided PRGs for a transport project.Bosnia: EIB is providing a 20-year loan worth ...
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Alstom shares heavy haul build with Datong
The agreement signed by Alstom and the Ministry of Railways and its agent CNTIC in June 2004 will see the first of 180 locomotives take to the rails in China in January 2007.Based on the Prima design being supplied to SNCF, China’s Prima 2U will be a twin-unit locomotive intended ...