Main line rail industry news – Page 1173
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News
Depot plan tops WMATA budget
WORK is due to start this month on a $141·4m project to expand capacity at three maintenance and servicing depots on the Washington DC metro network. The package was scheduled for approval by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board on July 21. Due to be completed by ...
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Campaign pays off
FRESH impetus will be given to research and development in Nord-Pas-de-Calais with the French government’s decision on July 12 to approve i-Trans as a centre for railway technology under the p
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Change of course
PRIVATE-SECTOR companies interested in operating freight or passenger services are invited to attend a ’pre-bid’ conference at Pakistan Railways’ headquarters in Lahore on August 2. Quite what is on offer is not clear, but the move comes hot on the heels of an earlier announcement that PR was to become ...
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Gauge conversion moves ahead
UNDER the final version of the PEIT strategic infrastructure plan for 2005-20, approved by the cabinet on July 15, the Spanish government is to launch studies to define in detail a programme of works to convert the 1668mm gauge network to 1435mm gauge to achieve compatibility with the rest of ...
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Fret SNCF on the offensive
WITH rival freight operator Connex now using RFF tracks (RG 7.05 p409), Fret SNCF is moving onto the offensive with applications for safety certificates to run trains in Belgium, Italy and Luxembourg. The first is expected imminently and the other two by the end of the year.Announcing this on June ...
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Boring starts on Pajares base tunnel
SPANISH PRIME MINISTER José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was present at La Pola de Gordón on July 13 to mark the start of work on the 25 km Pajares base tunnel. The first of five machines to be used on the €1·4bn project, a Herrenknecht TBM began work on one of ...
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Stock contracts renegotiated
SPANISH National Railways has revised two rolling stock contracts originally awarded on February 24 2004 to reflect the requirements of the PEIT infrastructure plan (p459) and changing expectations of its future rolling stock requirements. A consortium of CAF and Alstom was awarded a €583·8m contract to supply 45 gauge-changing EMUs ...
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Dispute in Estonia
WE REPORTED last month that investors in Baltic Rail Services, the majority shareholder in Eesti Raudtee, had sent a Notice of Dispute to the Estonian government claiming a breach of bilateral investment treaties (RG 7.05 p394).BRS was seeking to initiate negotiations with the government, and failing this, it intended to ...
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Renfe restructures
UNDER ITS new strategy to meet competition from other operators and achieve break-even by 2009, Renfe’s Freight business unit is to cut its workforce by 20%. Of the 500 posts, 400 will be transferred to other business units.At the same time, the loco fleet is to be reduced from 443 ...
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Manslaughter charges dropped
SIX MONTHS after the Hatfield trial commenced in January, and almost five years after the fatal derailment on October 17 2000, Mr Justice Mackay instructed the jury hearing charges of manslaughter against track maintenance contractor Balfour Beatty and five individuals to find all the defendants not guilty.His decision came on ...
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Bombardier takes Dutch regional order
NETHERLANDS Railways has awarded a €248m contract to Bombardier, partnered with Siemens, for 18 four-car and 17 six-car EMUs for regional services. Five consecutive options for 16 four-car and 16 six-car EMUs could take the fleet to 974 cars, lifting the total value to €1·2bn.Announced on July 21, the deal ...
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Roanoake revival
FREIGHTCAR America Inc inaugurated a new wagon manufacturing facility in Roanoke, Virginia, on June 9. The East End Shops have been leased from Norfolk Southern and extensively upgraded at a cost of $5·5m to handle the assembly of various different types of wagons.Virginia Governor Mark R Warner and NS Chairman ...
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US fuel cell prototype takes shape
COLORADO-based Vehicle Projects Ltd has completed the first two years of a project to develop a prototype fuel cell locomotive, and hopes to start construction in 2006. Launched in May 2003, the project is being sponsored by the US Department of Defense, and administered by the US Army Research Development ...
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D78 stock gets a fresh look
Robert Preston samples the first of 75 six-car London Underground trainsets to be refurbished
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NewsTTC to invest in trams and metro
ON JUNE 22 Toronto Transit Commission voted to buy a new fleet of up to 242 low-floor trams, as part of major upgrading of the city's ageing tram network. Commissioner Jope Milhevc said the project would give the city 'a first-class streetcar system'. TTC wants to see the first cars ...
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Hydrogen offers no alternative to main line electrification
FUEL CELLS combine hydrogen with oxygen in the atmosphere to produce water and electricity, eliminating local pollution. But as things stand, electrolytic production and delivery of H2 as a fuel would consume around four times more power than the fuel cells would actually produce on a train. In comparison, ...
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On-rail competition is still controversial
Strong views about the efficacy of competition as a tool to drive up the quality of European rail freight services were expressed at the EurailFreight conference in München on May 30
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NewsBanverket to pilot ERTMS Regional
PROSPECTS for the installation of interoperable signalling on secondary routes moved ahead in May, when the International Union of Railways approved the Functional Requirements Specification for a simplified version of ETCS known as ERTMS Regional. UIC estimates that between 15% and 40% of the European rail network carries a low ...
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Market
Australia: The Thiess Hochtief joint venture has awarded iQR and BT Contractors an A$20m contract to lay 26·2 km of slab track and construct emergency walkways on the Epping to Chatswood line in Sydney (RG 6.03 p371) by August 2006.Bulgaria: On June 11 Siemens and BDZ signed a €117m contract ...
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Point machine put to the test
WESTINGHOUSE has begun a year-long field trial of its Surelock points drive machine at Stratford Market depot on London Underground’s Jubilee Line. PPP contractor Tube Lines plans to use Surelock in the resignalling of Stanmore station during 2006.According to Westinghouse, Surelock has a mean time between failures of 30 months ...