Main line rail industry news – Page 1239
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Inter-city coaches upgraded
TRENITALIA Chief Executive Officer Roberto Renon and Passenger Director Massimo Ghenzer unveiled the first refurbished inter-city coaches at Roma Termini on June 16.The first rake of the carriages to be completed re-entered service between Napoli and Udine six days later. The entire inter-city fleet is to be refurbished to modern ...
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Nacala accord
A SIGNING ceremony in Washington DC on June 27 marked a milestone for Central East African Railway’s plans to develop an integrated rail corridor linking Zambia and Malawi with the Mozambique port of Nacala.CEAR Chairman Robert Pietrandrea signed an accord with the President & CEO of the US Overseas Private ...
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Beating the snow and ice
PROBLEMS with snow and ice blocking points during cold weather can be avoided with IceSolution point heaters. Developed by Holland Railconsult, these use natural heat stored in the soil to heat the rails in winter and can work in reverse to prevent heat affecting rails in hot weather. A fully-closed ...
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Shareholders give approval
ALSTOM’s annual shareholders’ meeting on July 2 approved the reduction of the nominal value of the company’s shares from €6 to €1·25, and authorised the board of directors to increase the share capital by the issue of shares, with maintenance of preferential subscription rights.Chairman & Chief Executive Patrick Kron said ...
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Engine upgrade in Paris diesels
A FLEET of 10 diesel locomotives owned by Paris metro operator RATP is being re-engined with Deutz 1015 power plants. The first of the BB 63500 locos has now been completed, and work is underway on the second. The modernisation is being carried out over 18 months by Voies Ferrées ...
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Luxury unit ready to go
NEXT month French Railcruise plans to run its first luxury tour of southwest France using a heavily-refurbished X4500 two-car diesel multiple-unit. The original interior of the SNCF unit has been completely replaced, with luxurious fittings designed by MBD Design to give the train’s 22 passengers ’exceptional conditions of comfort, elegance ...
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Foundry will keep operating
OHIO Castings Company has announced an agreement with ASF-Keystone and Meridian Rail Products to take over the operation of Meridian’s foundry in Cicero, near Chicago.Meridian had planned to close the foundry, one of three in North America, at the end of June. Under the agreement announced on June 24 it ...
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Refurbishment modernises Slovakia’s fleet
ZOS Zvolen is to modernise a further 15 Class 810 single-car railbuses for Slovakian operator Zeleznica Spolcnost, following on from 10 vehicles completed in 2001-02. To be rebuilt as Class 812, the modernised vehicles (above)will feature 257 kW MAN D2866LUH21 engines with Voith Diwa 863-3 hydraulic transmission, automatic gear changing ...
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SWT gets three-year franchise
THE UK Strategic Rail Authority announced on July 11 that it had signed a replacement franchise for South West Trains with incumbent operator Stagecoach Group. Originally planned as a 20-year deal, the franchise will now run for three years from February 1 2004, although there is an option to extend ...
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UK refurbishment in brief
UK refurbishment in briefOver 200 sets of stainless steel sanitaryware have been supplied to Maintrain by W & G Sissons for the refurbishment of Midland Main Line’s High Speed Train fleet (RG 4.03 p195). The order includes toilets, towel and soap dispensers, bins and grab handles.Voyager hard-wearing sheet vinyl floor ...
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Polish takeover
ZIELONA Gora-based wagon builder and component supplier Zastal Wagony SA has been purchased by Tabor Szynowy Opole SA. Zastal Wagony SA became a Tabor subsidiary in May, with Robert Siwulski as General Director, Janusz Kapala as Technical Director and Janina Krol as Commercial Director. In addition to new general and ...
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Open architecture of GIF’s Da Vinci system operates on three levels
The Da Vinci architecture is made up of three distinct management levels, each serving a specific role within the overall railway management scenario. These are a Real Time Network, a Quasi Real Time Network, and the Corporate network/intranet/internetThe system that was built for GIF is illustrated in Fig 1. In ...
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Visualisation software
MADRID Metro has begun using ILOG’s Solver software for its staff scheduling, and the same company’s Views package to display network data to aid the real-time supervision of depots and lines. In May French National Railways deployed ILOG Views to create visual displays which are used to show the location ...
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Danish results
COWI ended the 2002-03 financial year with operating profits of DKr43·1m, down DKr7·7m from last year. Pre-tax profits declined by DKr14·8m to DKr42m. Turnover outside Denmark was up 42%, and formed 56% of the company’s record total turnover of DKr2·29bn, up 33% from 2001-02. Turnover in Denmark was up 23%. ...
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Waste filters
INJECTION moulded synthetic filter material for use in on-train sewage retention tanks has been developed by Microphor. It is intended as a replacement for redwood bark which has traditionally been used in waste filter tanks, and should last at least 10 years. Any chemicals which are accidentally dropped into the ...
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Simulating India’s trains
INDIAN Railways has awarded Corys TESS a contract worth over €20m to supply and maintain for 10 years locomotive driver training simulators. The project is part of a rolling programme to improve safety across the Indian rail network.Representing four different types of passenger and freight locos used by IR, the ...
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Weighing up your passengers
AEA Technology Rail has developed an electronic version of its Passenger Load Determination System, used to assess the number of passengers on a train at any given time. Developed from AEA’s existing PLD which already tracks around 2 million passenger-journeys a week, the updated e-PLD is expected to be simpler ...
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Managing maintenance on the Tokaido Shinkansen
INTRO: The infrastructure on Japan’s oldest high speed line has gradually been improved to allow operation at 270 km/h, with curve realignment, the introduction of composite sleepers and improved standards for maintenance work. Plans are being drawn up to strengthen major structures from 2017Dr-Eng Masaki SekiHead of Track Maintenance & ...
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Low-cost signalling on low-density lines
INTRO: An EU-funded research programme is developing cost-effective train location and signalling for secondary lines, using satellite positioning technology that may have future benefits in ERTMS applicationsBYLINE: Pierre Mertens, Jean-Pierre Franckart and Antonin Starck *BYLINE: * Pierre Mertens is Locoprol Project Co-ordinator at Alstom Transport Information Systems, Jean-Pierre Franckart is ...
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Da Vinci will manage Spain’s first 350 km/h line
INTRO: As the first section of the new Madrid - Barcelona line near completion, Indra is commissioning at Zaragoza an integrated train and infrastructure management system derived from air traffic control. As well as regulating train operations, Da Vinci provides real time data on power supplies and the physical condition ...