Main line rail industry news – Page 1166
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Recovering from Katrina
HERCULEAN efforts have been made by railways in the US Gulf Coast region to restore services in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina on August 29.Once the storm had passed, pre-positioned maintenance-of-way gangs swung into operation, restoring track and signals wherever possible. However, major ports such as ...
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Driver’s errors fox investigators
ON SEPTEMBER 6 the Aircraft & Railway Accidents Investigation Committee submitted an interim report into the crash of a JR West Series 207 EMU at Amagasaki on April 25 (RG 6.05 p299) to Transport Minister Kazuo Kitagawa. The report highlighted the driver’s unusual behaviour but did not explain what may ...
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Thessaloniki metro revived
A CONSORTIUM headed by Greek construction company Aegek has been named as temporary contractor for the 9·6 km first phase of the long-planned metro in Thessaloniki. Budgeted at €798m, the first phase would run underground through the city centre from the main station in the north to Nea Elvetia in ...
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Completion of South Line will more than double Metrorec traffic
Due for completion in 2006, the second line of the Recife metro will serve the airport and areas south of the city. Murray Hughes visited the line with Metrorec General Manager Sileno Sousa Guedes
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Kazan metro opens
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin became the first passenger to ride the Kazan metro when it opened on August 27. He was joined for the 1·2 km trip from Kremlyovskaya to Ploschad Tukaya by Tatarstan's premier Mintimer Shamiyev and Russian Finance Minister Aleksei Judrina, and the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev ...
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Airport link rebid
KAWASAKI Heavy Industries was the sole bidder last month to supply electrical and mechanical equipment for the planned metro link between Taipei city centre and Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. The tender was opened on September 7 by the state-owned Bureau of High Speed Rail. Legislation requires at least three qualified ...
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Botswana signs resignalling deal
CONTRACTS were signed in Gabarone on August 3 for resignalling of the Botswana Railways network.Ansaldo Signal subsidiary Union Switch & Signal has been selected to provide computer-based Direct Traffic Control to replace the now-obsolete British Radio Electronic Token Block equipment installed in 1989-90. As part of the programme, the number ...
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Ascom sells fares division
AFFILIATED Computer Services Inc announced the acquisition of Ascom’s Transport Revenue division for SFr130m on August 3. With offices in Switzerland, Italy, Britain, Spain, Hong Kong, the USA, Mexico and Chile, the division had revenue of SFr241m in 2004. The North and South American part of the Toll business unit ...
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Green Goats go further
RAILPOWER Technologies has signed agreements covering the production and servicing of Green Goat hybrid locomotives in Scandinavia and the British Isles, and loco assembly in the USA.Swedish Train Technology announced on July 26 that it had signed a licensing agreement for Scandinavia, following a memorandum of understanding agreed on September ...
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Exhibition focuses on infrastructure
INFRASTRUCTURE is the theme of the Infrarail exhibition, which will take place at the G-Mex centre in Manchester on September 14-16.The products and services to be shown at the sixth Infrarail event will cover all sectors of the infrastructure market, from track components and permanent way maintenance equipment to signalling ...
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Dieter
CAPTION: Airline entrepreneur Moritz Suter, founder of Crossair and more recently charter airline Hello, has said he is considering financing privately-operated smoking cars on inter-city services when Swiss Federal Railways becomes entirely non-smoking in December. ’If SBB doesn’t go along with my plan then it will lose important customers ...
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Finance
Germany: 15 local authorities signed an agreement on July 28 to provide €7·8m towards extending Stuttgart S-Bahn Line S1 from Plochingen to Kirchheim. The Land will provide €16·4m and the city €12·3m; opening is planned for December 2009.Japan: The government announced the sale of 600000 shares in JR Central (RG ...
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Keys to Implement Successfully Sustainable Urban Railways
TOKYO’S railways carry more than 50% of travellers in the metropolitan area, with over 60 million journeys made every day. The competing operators ’are all making profit while keeping sound management’. KISS-Rail examines how this is achieved, and how the railways have tackled the problems encountered when operating and maintaining ...
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Cross-country cuts
MUCH hot air has been expended in recent months over plans by French National Railways to withdraw a number of inter-regional passenger services. Matters came to a head on August 16 when strike threats obliged SNCF to backtrack on earlier announcements and say that no firm decision had been taken.SNCF ...
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Shadow running boosts Swiss confidence in Level 2
THE RACE is on for the first route to carry passengers in regular service using ETCS Level 2. Strictly speaking, this milestone has already passed as Swiss Federal Railways operated a pilot Level 2 system on its Olten - Luzern line in 2002-03, but SBB subsequently dismantled the equipment.German Railway ...
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BLS saves with holistic plan
SWITZERLAND’SSüdostbahn has adopted RailOpt resource planning software from Qnamic. It is already in use with BLS L
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Pointers
Minister of Public Works & Transport Randall Quirós announced last month that the government of Costa Rica is planning to reactivate the country’s rail network to carry freight as part of a programme to save fuel. Trial movements had been conducted for a commuter service across San José from Pavas ...
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Metros September 2005
Canada: On July 17 Ottawa city council approved an environmental assessment of the proposed 31 km north-south light rail route from the Rideau Centre to Barrhaven. Bids for the C$675m project could be submitted next year for opening in 2009. China: The State Council has approved the Harbin metro project. ...
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Transmitton acquired
Transmitton has been acquired by Siemens from the Alchemy backed ICSGroup. The British-based control and asset management systems maker will become part of Siemens Transportation Systems. ’Our combined experience across areas such as rail electrification, communications and station management make us a natural fit’, said Kevin Tutton, STS (UK) Managing ...