Main line rail industry news – Page 1245
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News
NS station works
TWO NEW stations are to be built at Tilburg Reeshof and Almere Oostvaarder, following the approval by the Dutch cabinet of a €6m package of works, which also include lengthening of the platfoms at Driebergen-Zeist.In another station improvement scheme, the main hall at Amsterdam Amstel was formally reopened on April ...
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Engine sales up at MTU
DIESEL engine maker MTU reported a 16% growth in sales in the rail sector during 2002, with a total of 1010 engines and PowerPacks ordered. The most important contribution came from underfloor drive units for diesel multiple-units, with almost 400 PowerPack units supplied to Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens. 80 PowerPacks ...
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Catenary inspection at the speed of light
CATENARY geometry and contact wire wear can be measured at high speed using OptoCat, developed by Italian firm Selectra in co-operation with FS. A light source and camera unit can be attached to almost any rail vehicle. A beam of light is reflected from the lower surface of the contact ...
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Caribbean luxury on two decks
ST KITTS Scenic Railway has put into service five custom-built double-deck luxury coaches. Probably amongst the largest 762mm gauge vehicles ever built, the Island Series cars are 12m long, 2·4m wide and 5·3m high measured over the canvas canopies. Each coach weighs 22 tonnes, and has four-wheel fully-sprung bogies. The ...
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Dieter
CAPTION: Frogs and snakes are being provided with escape routes to prevent them becoming trapped under the infrastructure of Sweden’s Botniabanan project. Construction workers building tunnels and other structures along the line had noticed that small animals were crawling into cracks in the cement, where they were becoming stuck, ...
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Metros
China:ABB has received an order worth US$7m to supply 152 gas insulated switchgear units for Shenzhen’s metro Line 1 by September this year, and 237 of the 33 kV devices worth US$11m to Guangzhou metro Line 3 next year.Arup has been appointed as engineering consultant and DesignCorp International as architect ...
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Products in Brief
A moving gantry locomotive washing plant has been installed at Direct Rail Services’ Carlisle Kingmoor depot by Smith Bros & Webb. Purpose-designed swing arm brushes and dedicated solebar brushes are able to clean locomotives with full-width bodies as well as the narrower-bodied Class 20 locos.Cooling units for 35 First Great ...
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EuroNight sleeping car unveiled in Poland
PESA Bydgoszcz SA has unveiled a sleeping car ordered for use on PKP InterCity’s EuroNight services. It is designed to offer a high standard of comfort for passengers, with improved reliability for the operator.The vehicle can accommodate up to 28 passengers and one attendant. There are eight three-berth compartments, configurable ...
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Finance
Argentina: Under a presidential decree awaiting signature as of mid-May, provincial passenger operators FeMed (Córdoba), Sefecha (Chaco), UEPFP (Buenos Aires) and Sefepa (Río Negro) were due to receive a total of 6m pesos in emergency operating subsidy from the government in 2003, intended to cover higher fuel and spare parts ...
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Pointers
n Look for the European Union to put forward a revised list of priorities for the Trans-European Network projects, following the setting up of a high-level review group under former Transport Commissioner Karel van Miert. TEN projects will be split into five categories under new guidelines to be adopted later ...
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Finding leaks
PULLMAN AC is using Spectroline refrigerant leak detection in the air-conditioning units of 110 suburban coaches operating in the UK. An ultraviolet fluorescent additive is mixed with the 18 kg of refrigerant in each vehicle. When viewed under a high-intensity UV lamp, any traces of leaks can be identified from ...
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Market
Chile: Under a contract worth €16m, EFE is acquiring reconditioned traction and rolling stock from Renfe of Spain for daytime Santiago - Temuco services. This includes four Class 269 electric locomotives, 23 coaches and four car-transporter wagons.France:IER and Thales e-Transactions have been awarded a €20m contract to replace by late ...
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PEOPLE
On May 20, German Railway announced that its Board Member for Passenger services Dr Christoph Franz and Passenger Marketing Director Hans-Gustav Koch were leaving the company. Passenger services will pass to Board Member Dr Karl-Friedrich Rausch, whose responsibility for technology will devolve to Stefan Garber, formerly Director of Purchasing. The ...
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Metro car joint venture
ON MARCH 19 Beijing Metro Operations Co launched a joint venture with Beijing Metro Car Plant, Changchun Rail Passenger Cars and Zhuzhou Times Electric Group to develop a range of metro cars using indigenous Chinese technology.The cars, which will feature AC drives, air-conditioning and passenger information systems, will cost an ...
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Buenos Aires smart card
TECHNOLOGY company Prominente and specialist transport commercial development business Metronec have launched a contactless smart card for Buenos Aires. As well as being used to buy Metrovías metro and train tickets, Subtecard is an electronic purse which can be used at Subtexpress shops and to buy cinema tickets. It can ...
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Glass roof in the wilderness
HOLLAND America Line has taken delivery of four double-deck coaches from Colorado Railcar. They were expected to enter service on McKinley Explorer land cruise operations on May 16, attached to regular Alaska Railroad passenger train services.The vehicles are 27·1m long and 5·5m high, and will operate in two pairs. Cars1050 ...
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Carve-up in Wien
AUSTRIAN Secretary of State for Transport Helmut Kukacka published proposals on May 6 to break up Austrian Federal Railways. Legislation to implement the plans is intended to be in place by the end of this year so that restructuring can go ahead in 2004.The plans call for four subsidiary companies ...
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NSW's largest tunnelling project gets underway
This month sees the launch of the first tunnel boring machine for the orbital Chatswood - Epping - Parramatta rail link connecting the northern and western suburbs of Sydney
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Electronic management in control
INTRO: Modern train management systems are increasing the scope for on-board monitoring, control and fault diagnosis. QR’s Cairns Tilt Trains use EKE-Trainnet to provide real-time status and control information collected from the whole train, including a log of track conditionBYLINE: Sauli Luoto Project Manager, EKE-Electronics LtdTWO TILTING trainsets are on ...
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RZD tackles its motive power crisis
Russian Railways is planning to refurbish around 8000 locomotives over the next seven years, while designs are tested and international partnership contracts awarded for supply of a new generation of motive power