Main line rail industry news – Page 1187
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BNDES to take stake in Ferronorte
LAST MONTH Brazilian federal investment bank BNDES was expecting to complete a deal to take a 31% stake in Ferronorte, by converting debt and providing new resources, with the aim of increasing capacity on the soya export corridor between Alto Araguaia and the port of Santos.Under the terms of an ...
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Perpignan - Figueres funding signed
ONMARCH 16 AFITF President Gérard Longuet signed the French transport infrastructure funding agency’s first payment, a sum of €30·1m forming the third tranche of support from the French government for the 44·5 km new line between Perpignan and Figueres in Spain.Public bodies at European and national level are providing a ...
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i-Trans bids for research funding
WITH THE AIM of creating Europe’s leading centre for railway systems, 40 companies and 16 research bodies in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France have come together as i-Trans to bid for government funding under the p
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Mexico suburban makes progress
TWO CONSORTIA have been shortlisted for a concession to develop suburban services around Mexico City. The two groups were expected to lodge their partnership documentation by the end of March, with technical and financial bids due in May.According to the transport ministry, the contract is expected to be awarded at ...
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Paris invests in suburban renewals
ILE DE France transport authority STIF has approved in principle a €324m upgrading of the northern section of Paris RER Line B, and expects to give the formal go-ahead in September.By upgrading the existing RFF long-distance tracks which parallel Line B Nord and building an additional track from Villeparisis to ...
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Tehran expands
IRANIAN President President Mohammad Khatami formally inaugurated a further section of Tehran suburban Line 5 on March 15. The 35 km line from Sadeghieh to Karaj has been extended 9 km to Golshahr, with one intermediate station at Mahdasht. In the next few years Line 5 will be extended further ...
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NewsCrossrail bill introduced
A BILL to authorise construction of the east-west Crossrail Line 1 under central London was introduced to Parliament on February 22. Unlike an earlier private bill that failed in May 1994, the new hybrid bill is backed by the government. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling told MPs 'the case for ...
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Passenger projects gain momentum
FOLLOWING the approval last month of bidding conditions by the Ministry of Federal Planning, the Argentinian government was expected to call tenders for a 20-year concession to operate passenger trains between Buenos Aires and Posadas. Trenes Especiales Argentinos has been operating the route since November 2003.NCA was due to provide ...
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Dubai metro bids opened
A JAPANESE consortium of Mitsubishi, Obayashi and Kajima with Turkish civil engineering group Yapi Merkezi has submitted the lowest bid for the first phase of the Dubai automated light metro network.The final tenders for civil, mechanical and electrical work were opened by the Dubai Municipality’s LRT project office on February ...
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Circular revival
ON MARCH 8, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz inaugurated limited services on a section of the Karachi Circular Railway, which is being progressively reopened after a decade-long closure (RG 12.05 p816).The Governor of Sindh Province Dr Ishratul reviewed arrangements for the revived service the previous week. Pakistan Railways has contracted ...
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Miami expansion package takes shape
MIAMI-DADE Transit Authority has appointed a prime consultant to assist with development of the long-planned east-west metro route. HNTB Corp will help with engineering design and undertake initial environmental impact studies.Construction of the 27·4 km line forms part of a multi-million dollar expansion programme approved by local voters in November ...
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Pointers
During an official visit to Chile, Argentinian President Néstor Kirchner announced in Santiago on March 14 that tenders would soon be called for work to restore the central rail crossing of the Andes between Mendoza and Los Andes.Chinese Railways expects to start work this year on an underground link between ...
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ICE3 hits obstacles en route to Paris
TALKING of flying ballast (left), a cautionary tale emerges from German Railway. In a statement issued on March 3, DB explained for the first time precisely what delayed the start of ICE3 services from K
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Faults with freight
Sir - New Opera (RG 3.05 p115) is a travesty. The EC is paying the European rail freight industry for things it should be recognising and doing itself. For too long rail has taken a ’take it or leave it’ position, despite the rising capabilities of the road sector. Operations ...
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Private boxes in prospect
AT THE END of February Indian Minister of Railways Laloo Prasad Yadav published an unashamedly populist budget for IR’s 2005-06 financial year, with no fares increases at all and no rise in freight rates. Freight tariffs are, however, to be heavily simplified, with rates for 4000 different types of traffic ...
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NewsMoU puts ERTMS on course for delivery
The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Brussels on March 17 paves the way for rapid deployment of ETCS on priority corridors across Europe
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No ride in Tainan
WE JUMPED to the wrong conclusion last month in our report on events in Taiwan on January 27. It appears that, although there were indeed around 500 guests at Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s ceremony in Tainan, they were not in fact allowed to ride on the Series 700T trainset. ...
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NewsDarwin traffic takes a hit
THERE were further developments at the end of February affecting the Adelaide - Alice Springs - Darwin route in Australia. Northline, Freightlink's second-biggest customer, decided to withdraw some of its business and tender to have it carried by road again. Freightlink Chief Executive John Fullerton put a brave face on ...
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Celebration Congress
THE Hipertrack project (left) could reduce the need for lineside noise barriers on high speed lines, according to the Fraunhofer Institute. If so, this would represent a major step forward in track design, which we have chosen as one of several railway technology topics to be discussed at our Centenary ...
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Hipertrack cuts noise and vibration
TRIALS have been taking place near Foggia in Italy with two types of ballastless track that suggest it may be possible to dispense with special noise mitigation and vibration reduction measures. Part of the High Performance Rail Track research project, the tests were carried out under the Strategic Rail Research ...