Main line rail industry news – Page 1156
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‘Investment will be of historic proportions’
INTRO: Unprecedented levels of investment are transforming Spain’s national railway with new high speed lines and a huge rolling stock acquisition programme. Robert Preston put the questions to Renfe Operadora President José SalgueiroPreston: What were Renfe’s results for 2005 and what are its financial targets for 2006?Salgueiro: One key fact ...
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High speed lines will drive forward Refer's long-term strategy
Portuguese infrastructure authority Refer has launched a comprehensive review of rail's role in the national economy. This will guide development of the conventional network and the construction of standard gauge high speed lines
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Switch out the dark
BNSF and the Federal Railroad Administration have begun testing wireless monitoring of switch alignment at 409 hand-operated turnouts on a 280 km section of unsignalled route between Tulsa and Avard, Oklahoma. US Secretary of Transportation Norman Y Mineta announced the start of trials on November 14.Dispatchers in Fort Worth are ...
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VR unveils double-deck sleepers
THIS month VR is to put into service the first five of 20 double-deck sleeping cars being built by Talgo Oy. The €2·9m cars will enter revenue service between Helsinki and Rovaniemi from February 1. The entire fleet will be in service by August, allowing 33 older vehicles to be ...
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People
The appointment of Peter Hendy as Commissioner of Transport for London with effect from February 1 was announced on January 17. Norfolk Southern President & CEO Charles W Moorman has been elected Chairman of the Association of American Railroads for 2006. He succeeds CSX Corp's Chairman, President & ...
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DaimlerChrysler sells MTU to EQT
PRIVATE equity fund group EQT is to buy the Off-Highway business of DaimlerChrysler AG, including rail, marine and military diesel engine maker MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH. The companies have agreed an enterprise value of €1·6bn, and DaimlerChrysler will receive a cash inflow of €1bn.The Off-Highway business has annual sales of around ...
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Torino - Novara to carry Olympic traffic
SPECTATORS arriving in northern Italy for this month's Winter Olympics may get off to a flying start when Trenitalia opens the Torino - Novara section of its high speed line between Torino and Milano. All being well, trains are due to start running over the new line from February 1. ...
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Switching to a condition-based monitoring regime
UNTIL RECENTLY ProRail planned switch and crossing maintenance on the basis of elapsed time or reported defects, but the Dutch infrastructure manager has changed to a condition-based regime in order to maximise availability and reliability while minimising costs and possession times. This requires an understanding of the usage and loads ...
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National database
LAST year SNCF introduced a unified computer system to manage the maintenance of its locomotive fleet. Known as Lionne, it replaced a system called Badem dating from 1987 to which several other applications had been grafted in an attempt to update it.Lionne was piloted at several sites before national launch, ...
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Spending programme unveiled
MUCH-HERALDED plans to modernise and develop Argentina’s run-down railways are finally taking shape. The proposals are contained in a Presidential decree that came into force on January 4, setting out an ambitious programme to upgrade the commuter and metro networks in Buenos Aires, and to restore inter-city passenger services to ...
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Order revised
RUSSIAN Railways President Vladimir Yakunin confirmed on December 12 that terms had been agreed for a revised contract with Siemens for the supply of high speed trainsets, which is expected to be signed in March.Several agreements were signed last year for RZD to buy around 60 trainsets from Siemens, with ...
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Leased locos to work HSL-Zuid
FACED WITH the prospect of having no ETCS-equipped trainsets available to operate the Antwerpen - Rotterdam - Amsterdam high speed line when it opens on July 1 2007 (RG 9.05 p519), HSL-Zuid concessionaire High Speed Alliance has decided to start with loco-hauled trains.On December 23 HSA signed an agreement to ...
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French safety authority founded
JANUARY 1 saw the formal establishment of a new public authority to oversee railway safety in France. Legislation to authorise the établissement Public de Sécurité Ferroviaire was approved by the Assemblée Nationale on December 15.The move is part of the process of transposing into French law the requirements of the ...
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Orex upgrade moves ahead
WITH 2006 marking the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s heavy haul iron ore railway, Spoornet announced in December that it plans to strengthen the 50 kV power supply on the 861 km Sishen - Saldanha line. Additional substations are to be added to shorten the present electrical sections, allowing the ...
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Chinese wires reach 20 000 km
THE INAUGURATION of electric operation on the 625 km Chongqing - Huaihua line on December 27 saw Chinese Railways’ length of electrified route pass the 20000 km mark.According to the China Railway Electrification Bureau, the current total of 20123 km gives the country the third largest electrified network in the ...
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k343m S-Bahn order
GERMAN Railway placed contracts with Bombardier and Alstom on December 28 for 78 four-car EMUs for the Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn, with an option for a further 72. Due for delivery between March 2008 and October 2010, the 140 km/h low-floor Class ET422 units will be used on route S7 from Düsseldorf ...
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Siemens scoops Saudi signalling
A CONSORTIUM of Siemens and Nour Communications Co has been selected to undertake a €91m renewal of signalling and communications on the Saudi Railways Organisation network.Under a contract announced on December 21, the consortium will provide a Simis computer-based interlocking, Vicos control system, and Trainguard 100 ETCS Level 1 equipment, ...
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Chiang Kai-Shek airport rail link contract signed
CONTRACTS were signed on January 12 for construction of the long-planned rail link between Taipei and Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport. Taiwan's Bureau of High Speed Rail has awarded the project to a Japanese consortium of Marubeni, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hitachi at an estimated cost of NT$25·5bn. Originally planned as ...
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Waverley redevelopment
SCOTTISH Minister for Transport Tavish Scott and the Chief Executive of Transport Scotland Dr Malcolm Reed visited Edinburgh Waverley station on January 9 to launch a £150m redevelopment scheme.Phase 1 will increase movements through the throat at the west end of the station from 24 to 28 passenger trains/h in ...
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More cars to serve Buenos Aires
ON JANUARY 5 Alstom Transport announced that the Argentinian government had ordered an additional 16 cars for the Buenos Aires metro, as an option on a contract for 80 cars awarded in 1999. Deliveries under this contract resumed in December 2004 (RG 1.05 p9), and six five-car trainsets are now ...