Main line rail industry news – Page 1225
-
News
Industry News in Brief
Australia:Oz-Tek Solutions Pty is to manufacture under licence from North American Technologies Group a range of composite plastic sleepers up to 5·5m long, using a production line at a New South Wales factory owned by Nepean Rubber & Plastic.China:Sinopec Corp and China Railway Material & Supplies Corp have established Sinopec ...
-
News
Upgrade on hold
ON DECEMBER 17 Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Badawi announced that the 14·5bn ringgit project to double track and electrify KTMB’s north-south trunk line had been postponed. The plan called for upgrading of the 339 km from Ipoh northwards to Padang Besar on the Thai border and the 297 ...
-
News
High speed network grows
FASTEST journey times between Madrid and Logroño were cut by 1h 15min on January 19 when Renfe introduced Altaria services to the route. Talgo cars are hauled at up to 200 km/h on the high speed line between Madrid Atocha and Plasencia de Jalón near Zaragoza, where they ...
-
News
Waterfall exposes safety management failings
TWO senior managers in RailCorp have been sacked and others faced the prospect of disciplinary action following publication on January 15 of Commissioner Peter McInerney’s interim report into a derailment at Waterfall in New South Wales on January 31 2003. Seven died and 42 were injured (RG 3.03 p122). He ...
-
News
Perpignan - Figueres award
ON DECEMBER 26 the governments of France and Spain announced that TP Ferro has been selected as preferred bidder for the concession to design, finance, build and operate the 44·4 km route between Perpignan and Figueres. It was hoped to sign the 50-year concession contract within a matter of weeks, ...
-
News
Civia debuts
ON JANUARY 20 Renfe President Miguel Corsini joined Development Minister Francisco Álvarez-Cascos, President of the Madrid Regional Government Esperanza Aguirre and Mayor of Madrid Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón to mark the start of passenger service with the Civia commuter EMU. Six of the initial 14 trains ordered from Alstom, Bombardier, CAF and ...
-
News
Darling says fragmentedUK structure must change
EVER since Alistair Darling became Secretary of State for Transport in May 2002 he has firmly ruled out fundamental restructuring as a cure for the two dominant problems facing Britain’s railways: a huge rise in infrastructure costs, and poor performance that sees one in five passenger trains late or cancelled. ...
-
News
Maglev triumphs and falters
PROMOTERS of magnetic levitation technology in China celebrated the launch of the world’s first fare-paying high speed regular maglev service on December 29 between Shanghai Airport and Pudong. Maglev vehicles formed of five sections depart at 20min intervals, reaching a maximum speed of 430 km/h on their 71/2min journey over ...
-
News
East Africa tests the waters
SERIOUS moves are afoot to take the metre-gauge networks of East Africa into the private sector. Last November CPCS Transcom and its local partner Kisarika & Malimi won a C$1·7m contract from the Tanzanian government to act as lead transaction advisors for the privatisation of Tanzania Railways Corp. The contract ...
-
News
Ferrovías invests
SPEAKING AT the Emepa workshops in Chascomús on December 30 before invited guests including President Néstor Kirchner and Transport Secretary Ricardo Jaime, Ferrovías President Gabriel Romero announced a programme of station and rolling stock refurbishment for the Belgrano Norte commuter concession in Buenos Aires.Work to modernise 22 stations on the ...
-
News
Shenzhen signs Line 4 deal
HONG KONG metro operator MTR Corp signed a 30-year agreement in principle on January 15 to extend and operate Line 4 of the metro network in neighbouring Shenzhen. The BOT deal was signed by MTR Chief Executive Chow Chung-Kong and Liu Jiasheng of the Shenzhen Municipal Development Planning Bureau. Under ...
-
News
Bangkok Blue line ready
PRINCESS Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand formally 'opened' the Blue line of the Bangkok metro on January 11, following successful completion of trial runs with a Siemens-built three-car trainset. Linking Hualampong and Bang Sue, the 22 km route is officially known as the Chaloem Ratchamongkhon line. Transport Minister Suriya ...
-
News
Brussels car order
ON DECEMBER 12 the board of Brussels public transport operator STIB selected CAF as general contractor for the supply of 15 six-car metro trainsets, at a cost of €121·6m. The contract was due to be signed in January, after the regional government had approved the funding, and will include options ...
-
News
Houston LRT opens
OVER 15000 passengers rode Houston's 12 km Main Street light rail line in the 4h following the official dedication ceremonies on January 1, which also marked the 25th anniversary of the MTA. The first car was driven through a banner at the Fannin South Park & Ride terminal by former ...
-
News
Mumbai metro plan revived
MAHARASHTRA’S Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced on January 10 that the regional government had approved plans to build the first phase of a heavy metro network in Mumbai over the next five years. He said Delhi Metro Rail Corp had been asked to prepare a detailed project report for an ...
-
News
Bergen to start light rail tendering
BERGEN city council’s light rail project office, Bybanekontoret, expects to start prequalification next month for supply of vehicles to operate a projected two-line network in Norway’s second city. Subject to approval of funding by the national parliament, a contract should be awarded at the beginning of 2005. Plans for four ...
-
News
Nanjing grows
CONSTRUCTION of metro Line 2 in the Chinese city of Nanjing began on December 28, at the site of Xiangxinyu station. The 21·6 km line is due to open in 2009, at a cost of 9bn yuan. Running from Xishang Bridge to Maqun via Jiangdongmen, Suiximen and Mingu-gong, it will ...
-
News
Sounder expands
US URBAN rail operator Sound Transit ran its first commuter rail service between Everett and Seattle on December 21 carrying spectators to a Seattle Seahawks game. A regular daily train in each direction began the following day. The launch followed lengthy negotiations between ST and BNSF. On December 17 ST ...
-
News
Line 11 opens
ON DECEMBER 14 Line 11 of the Barcelona metro was officially opened, running from Line 4 at Trinitat Nova to Can Cuiàs via Casa de l’Aigua, Torre del Baró-Vallbona and Ciutat Meridiana. The line has 1·5 km in tunnel and 459m on the surface; there is an interchange with Renfe ...
-
News
Not guaranteed
STRIKE action by France’s railway unions on January 21 threw into sharp focus the long-running debate over who controls what happens on the national network. While the dispute is ostensibly about the paucity of this year’s 1% pay rise, it is also a protest against government plans to introduce minimum ...