Main line rail industry news – Page 1171
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Tram cameras
SUCCESSFUL trials of CCTV onboard a Nottingham tram have led to a contract to fit the entire fleet of 15 vehicles with equipment from Vision Techniques. Six cameras cover the vehicle interior, with a further two looking forwards and back. Each camera records three colour frames per second, and the ...
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Under control
SERENA SOFTWARE has supplied railway monitoring, diagnostics and software firm Mer Mec with its Dimensions platform, which is being used to manage all projects across the company, reducing time to market and ensuring compliance with design regulations.Head of Mer Mec’s Quality Department Francesco Muolo said Dimensions was adopted ’to unify ...
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Refurbishment in Brief
By autumn JR East will have fitted all 1117 of its Shinkansen cars with Braille maps showing the carriage layouts and locations of doors, different types of waste bin and onboard facilities. The toilets are being fitted with Braille plans showing the locations of the operating buttons and emergency alarm.Axminster ...
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Smart services
EAST JAPAN Railway passengers can now use Suica smart card tickets (RG 2.04 p103) to pay for an extensive range of services at stations in the Tokyo area. Currently accepted at around 1000 outlets, the card payment facility is being rolled out sequentially at all 36 stations along the Yamanote ...
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Czech sleepers
SIEMENS signed a €26·5m contract on June 22 to supply Czech Railways with 12 air-conditioned WLABmz 200 km/h sleeping cars which will be used on international services to Italy, Switzerland and Germany from November 2006.Financed by INGLease, the vehicles will be built at Siemens’ SKV Praha-Zlicin plant. They will have ...
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Getting to the point
RAPIDcollation of maintenance and status data can be achieved through the use of SmartPoint technology developed by ESA SrL of Casssari. SmartPoint uses miniature memory buttons developed to withstand extreme environments, which are attached directly to rolling stock or infrastructure components requiring monitoring. These can accommodate up to 488 digits ...
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Industry News in Brief
On July 1 Slovak rolling stock supplier ZOS Vrútky bought a majority stake in the ZOS Nymburk loco maintenance and overhaul workshops in the Czech Republic for KC85m. Declared bankrupt in January 2004, ZOS Nymburk employs 290 people and turnover in 2004 was KC152m.Anti-vibration and suspension component maker Trelleborg Industrial ...
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First-generation ICE fleet starts a half-life refit programme
INTRO: Ralf Roman Rossberg saw the first of 59 ICE1 trainsets being refurbished in DB's Nürnberg workshops where a €180m project to rejuvenate the fleet is getting underway SINCE the first ICE1 trainsets entered service in a blaze of publicity in 1991, each set has clocked up an ...
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ICF business looks eastwards
Intercontainer-Interfrigo launched a restructured servicepattern in July, concentrating on ’promising intermodal traffic flows between western Europe and central, eastern and southeast Europe’ and shuttle services to Switzerland. Following a drop in volumes and sales, services between Belgium and France, Spain and Italy were withdrawn from July 16; 40 jobs have ...
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Mobile ticketing in Malaysia
MALAYAN Railway, mobile communications company Celcom and New Technology & Innovation Sdn Bhd launched My Info Train on June 2. The SMS mobile ticketing service allows passengers to obtain timetables and fares, then reserve and cancel inter-city tickets. A range of games and entertainment services is also available.’Not only is ...
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people
On June 28 the UIC General Assembly ratified the appointment of Luc Aliadière as Chief Executive. He took over from Philippe Roumeguère on July 1.At the general meeting on June 16 Wilhelm Patzner was elected to the board of UIRR, the International Union of Combined Road-Rail Transport Companies, following the ...
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Network expansion plan aims to reach 100 000 km by 2020
Chinese Railways' long-term expansion strategy includes development of duplicate corridors to segregate freight and passenger services, as well as new lines to open up the west of the country. Chris Jackson looks at the principal elements of the plan
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Fitted out for the refurbishment business
THE REFURBISHMENT Centre at Bombardier Transportation's Derby works was officially opened by UK Transport Minister Derek Twigg on June 29. Although the company has undertaken passenger car refurbishment at its workshops in Wakefield, Ilford and Ashford, this was 'the first time we've had a purpose-built facility at Derby', said ...
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Haut-Bugey revival will speed TGVs
With aim of cutting the journey time by TGV between Paris and Genève, work is now underway to upgrade the 65 km between Bourg-en-Bresse and Bellegarde, including electrification and the re-opening of a 29 km section closed to traffic since 1992. Brian Perren reports
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High speed trainsets take shape
Chinese Railways has ordered three fleets of high speed trains for operation of 200 km/h regional inter-city services
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EFC to double from mine to port
More passing loops are being built and new motive power and wagons are on order for the Carajás Railroad as a prelude to double-tracking the entire 892 km line. Murray Hughes reports from northern Brazil
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Bombela wins Gautrain race
ON JULY 2 Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa announced that the Bombela Consortium had been chosen as preferred bidder for the Gautrain Rapid Link. Financial negotiations are expected to take around six months. Bombela is 50% owned by Bombardier, Bouygues and RATP Développement, with the remaining half owned by South African ...
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Composite brakes
AN INTERCHANGEABLE lightweight composite brake block for use on European freight wagons is being launched by a joint venture of Italian Brakes and Trenitalia.The LL block is designed as a straight substitute for conventional cast iron blocks, but its lighter weight makes it safer to handle and its life expectancy ...
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Trams to have a wash and brush up
INSTALLATION and commissioning of a tram washing plant for the new Valenciennes light rail network (MR 05 p45) is due to be completed in October. Ordered three years ago, the washing plant is being built by Ceccato of Italy. Each plant is specifically designed for local conditions, although in practice ...