Main line rail industry news – Page 1244
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News
Luas lags behind
DUBLIN'S Luas light rail network is running seriously behind schedule, and the cost is spiralling out of control. When preliminary design began in 1994, the project was to have been completed in 2001 at a cost of €279m. The bill is now put at €800m, and there are suggestions that ...
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Zürich - Thalwil inaugurated
WITH THE summer timetable change on June 15, Swiss Federal Railways began revenue operations on the second biggest project to be completed as part of the Bahn 2000 programme. A week earlier Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger, SBB President Thierry Lalive d’Epinay and CEO Benedikt Weibel participated in celebrations on June ...
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Indian SPV
GAUGE conversion work on the Bangalore - Hassan - Mangalore corridor in southern India is to be completed by December 2004, following the decision to form a Special Purpose Vehicle to fund and manage the Rs1·5bn project. Indian Railways signed an accord in June with Karnataka’s state-owned infrastructure development corporation ...
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Rotterdam grows
ROTTERDAM metro and light rail operator RET has started work on the extension of TramPlus route 23 from Feijenoord stadium through IJsselmonde to Beverwaarde, and on the first stage of the planned 12 km southern route to Carnisselande. Construction of the two routes has been delayed compared to the original ...
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GO gets more
TWO MONTHS after the Canadian government allocated C$385m for expansion of the GO Transit commuter rail network in Toronto (RG 5.03 p251), the province of Ontario has agreed to provide another C$453m. Announced by Premier Ernie Eves on June 4, the money forms part of a C$645m transport spending package ...
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Vinck vows to overhaul SNCB
ON JUNE 6 Managing Director of Belgian National Railways Karel Vinck laid out his plans to rescue the national railway from what he believes will ultimately be financial disaster. Called ’Move 2007’, the proposal was well received by the board, but Vinck has yet to persuade the as-yet unformed government ...
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Class 104 debut in September
THE FIRST OF 20 trainsets for high-speed regional services in Spain is due to begin dynamic trials in September, with deliveries of two series trains each month expected to start in February 2004. Ordered at a cost of €227·8m, the Class 104 will operate at up to 250 km/h on ...
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Newark contracts
ON JUNE 11 the NJ Transit board of directors awarded three contracts totalling US$90m for work on the 1·6 km extension of the Newark City Subway light rail line from Penn station to Broad Street, which is due to open in 2005. Executive Director George D Warrington said the decision ...
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GIF tenders signalling work
SPANISH HIGH SPEED construction authority GIF is to call tenders for supply and maintenance of signalling and telecommunications equipment on the 183 km Puigverd de Lleida - Barcelona Sants section of the new line between Madrid and the French border. A budget of €302·3m has been set for the work, ...
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Cantabrian studies
GIF HAS AWARDED three contacts worth a total of €5m to undertake studies for a proposed 450 km high speed line along the northern coast of Spain between Ferrol and Bilbao (RG 4.03 p180). The section from Ferrol to the boundary between the Galicia and Asturias regions has been awarded ...
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Tranz Rail battle rages on
SINCE we reported last month (RG 6.03 p343) that Toll Holdings had bought a 6·1% stake in New Zealand’s Tranz Rail, the bidding battle has been fought fast and furiously. On May 23 RailAmerica withdrew its bid for Tranz Rail following due diligence investigations, at which point Toll decided to ...
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Mail dumps rail
ON JUNE 6 Royal Mail shocked the UK rail industry by announcing that it was ending its 10-year contract with English Welsh & Scottish Railway signed in 1996. From April 2004 all mail will be carried by air or road. Managing Director, Logistics, Paul Bateson claimed this would result in ...
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Pajares tunnel contracts let
SPANISH high speed infrastructure authority GIF has now awarded all four contracts to build the 25 km Pajares base tunnel on the León - Oviedo route (RG 6.03 p345). Lot 1, covering both bores on the 10·5 km Pola de Gordón - Folledo section, has been awarded to FCC Construcción ...
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Knowledge of the wheel-rail interface incomplete
MYSTERY still shrouds what really goes on at the wheel-rail interface. What else could explain the enthusiasm and depth of debate by over 200 contact mechanics specialists from 25 countries at the CM2003 conference at Chalmers University of Technology in G
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Modular point machine
CURRENTLY undergoing endurance testing at Chippenham is a prototype Surelock MW21 point machine developed by Westinghouse Rail Systems. Intended for the Metronet contract to resignal much of the London Underground, the MW21 is also compatible with RT60 requirements on the UK national rail network.The low-profile machine is designed for mounting ...
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SNCF takes to the road
OPERATION of a train along the Champs-Elysées on June 1 was one of the highlights of Le Train Capitale, an open-air exhibition held in Paris between May 17 and June 15. Three refurbished Corail coaches top-and-tailed by two Y8000 locos ran from Place de la Concorde to Avenue Georges V ...
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NewsRealities and costs drive Kazakhstan's railway reform
The Kazakh government has integrated the three distinct rail networks it inherited at independence, and is now introducing reforms to encourage private-sector investment and reduce the need for domestic services to cross international borders, explains Gordon Feller
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Hypersonic rail tests
On April 30 a rocket-powered sled set a speed record for a rail-mounted vehicle, travelling the length of a 5 km test track in 6·04 sec at a maximum speed of Mach 8·5, about 10300 km/h. The Holloman High Speed Test Track in New Mexico is used by the US ...
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Bridge bearing research
TAIYUAN Research Institute of Science & Technology and the Railway Civil Engineering Institute at China’s Railway Academy have jointly developed an improved design of bridge beam support bearing, designed to provide optimal elasticity. By permitting longitudinal shifting and rotation of the bridge beams, the bearing helps lessen the shocks to ...