Main line rail industry news – Page 1224
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Co-operation underpins open-source ticketing
Transport operators and authorities in the Calypso Networks Association have been developing standards for smart card ticketing and related applications
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Suica card to be used across Tokyo
BYLINE: Shinobu NoguchiDeputy General Manager, Suica Project,East Japan Railway CoINTRO: Adoption of Suica-compatible cards by 53 operators in the Tokyo area in 2006 will form the world’s largest public transport smart card network, doubling the number of Suica users to around 15 millionBY the end of November 2003 over 7·5 ...
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Powerpacks expand the range of hydraulic transmissions
INTRO: As builders move towards subcontracting larger modules as complete units, Voith Turbo has launched a range of complete power packs and uprated its hydraulic transmissions for higher performance. Harry Hondius MSc reports from HeidenheimWITH A turnover of €3·3bn in 2003, Voith AG employs 24000 staff around the world. It ...
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Information and control
TWO contracts have been awarded for station management and passenger information computer systems for use in London.Transmitton is to supply a real-time passenger information system for the interim London St Pancras station, which will be used by Midland Main Line trains during the refurbishment and major redesign of the historic ...
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Planning Freight Railways
Edited by Nigel G Harris and Felix SchmidtThe editors of this handbook set out to bring together in a single volume the key material needed by railfreight practitioners, policymakers and transport students, as well as companies which are considering sending freight by rail for the first time.The 246 pages contain ...
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Iran’s next metro makes progress
INTRO: Iran’s principal steel city has ambitious plans to develop an urban rail networkCONSTRUCTION is forging ahead on the initial section of the metro network in Esfahan, around 325 km south of the Iranian capital Tehran. Plans for the network were drawn up in the 1990s, and a start has ...
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Raffarin sets infrastructure priorities
INTRO: Rail forms an important part of the French government’s infrastructure programme for the next 20 years. Projects to be taken forward include eight high speed schemes, and a new agency is to be created to fund infrastructure investment. Robert Preston reportsCHAIRING a meeting of the inter-ministerial planning and development ...
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NewsCzech station lease signed
AN AGREEMENT has been signed for Grandi Stazioni SpA to manage commercial and retail space at three major Czech stations. Under the terms of the 30-year lease the Italian firm will carry out refurbishment work at Praha Hlavni, Karlovy Vary and Marianske Lazne. It is to spend KC658m upgrading ...
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Australia's last frontier is conquered
John Kirk was in Adelaide to watch the departure of the first train to Darwin
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Samjhauta Express reinstated
THE CHAIRMAN of Pakistan’s Railway Board Kurshid Ahmad Khan joined ceremonies at Lahore station on January 15 to dispatch the first cross-border train to India for more than two years. The Samjhauta Express between Lahore and Delhi had been discontinued in 2001.A three-year agreement to restore freight and passenger services ...
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NEG wins Greater Anglia
LATE DECEMBER saw the UK Strategic Rail Authority make significant progress with negotiating replacements for several passenger train franchises. On December 22 SRA named National Express Group as preferred bidder for Greater Anglia. This combines the Anglia and Great Eastern franchises with the West Anglia portion of WAGN, bringing almost ...
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Wiring completed
ELECTRIFICATION of the northernmost connection between Russia’s Northern and October railways was completed on December 25, boosting capacity for freight services from the Urals and Siberia to the White Sea port of Murmansk. Russian Railways’ Vice-President Valentin Gapanovich, October Railway President Gennadi Komarov and Northern Railway President Vasiliy Bilokha joined ...
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Upgrading loan
RECONSTRUCTION of Venezuela’s 244 km Western rail network is expected to get underway this year, following the signing of a loan agreement to fund the work. The Ministry of Finance announced on December 16 that Finance Minister Tobias Nóbrega had signed an 11-year credit agreement with the Vice-President of China’s ...
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BDZ faces change
LASTMONTH Bulgarian Transport Minister Nikolai Vassilev unveiled a package of 50 measures to revitalise the national railway operator BDZ. Restructuring of the railway’s management will result in 1280 redundancies among administrative staff this year. Routes totalling 308 km will be offered as concessions, and private operators will be allowed to ...
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IR electrification to be tendered
ISRAEL Railways confirmed on January 14 that it expected to call tenders in April for electrification at 25 kV 50Hz of 300 route-km. Expected to cost around US$270m, the work will take 4½ years. IR had originally envisaged wiring its entire passenger network, which is expected to grow from 450 ...
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Pacific National looks north
AUSTRALIAN interstate freight operator Pacific National has ordered 13 narrow-gauge diesel locos from EDI Rail, as part of its strategy to breach Queensland Rail’s 1067mm gauge stronghold (RG 1.04 p16). Due for delivery in February 2005, the PN class locos will be similar to QR’s 4000 class locos which were ...
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Duplex deal
FRENCH National Railways decided last month to exercise a further option for TGV Duplex double-deck trainsets, in addition to the 82 already built or on order for delivery by 2005.The latest €305m order covers seven complete trainsets with two power cars and eight intermediate vehicles, plus another 15 sets of ...
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Regional contracts
SWISS FEDERAL Railway’s subsidiary EuroThurbo GmbH has been selected to operate the Seehas line in Germany, linking Konstanz to Engen via Singen. However, German Railway has retained control of the Schwarzwaldbahn between Karlsruhe and Konstanz against a wide range of rival bidders including Connex.International tenders for operation of the two ...
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Regauging pushes ahead
INAUGURATING broad-gauge services on the reconstructed line between Mangalore and Kabakaputtur, Indian Railways Minister Nitish Kumar announced on December 28 that trains would be running on the whole Bangalore - Mangalore corridor by January 1 2005.Construction of the 166 km new line between Bangalore and Hassan has been completed (RG ...
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Madrid metro expansion continues
THE NEWLY-ELECTED President of the Madrid regional government, Esperanza Aguirre, has unveiled a €3·7bn programme to add another 72·7 km to the city’s metro network by the time her term of office comes to an end in 2007. The programme comprises 15 individual projects, combining 42·1 km of extensions to ...