Main line rail industry news – Page 1263
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International best practice supports local experience
INTRO: Keolis is now operating more than a dozen urban and regional rail services in five European countries. Drawing on local expertise and partnerships, the group is seeking to spread best practice between contracts and franchises with very different structures and levels of risk transferBYLINE: Bruno Auger and Benoît Chevalier ...
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Line 5 awaits traffic surge
INTRO: All-day service is being launched on Line 5 of the São Paulo metro, but the line will not reach its full potential until it reaches the city centre. Murray Hughes reports from Brazil’s largest cityGIVEN THAT 18·1 million people live in the São Paulo metropolitan area, three metro lines ...
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Movia cars arrive in Guangzhou
The first of 154 Movia metro vehicles being built for Guangzhou Line 2 were flown to China in November
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Fire detection
SEVEN stations on Rotterdam metro’s Benelux line (p20) have been fitted with fire detectors from Apollo. There are over 400 Apollo XP95 analogue addressable smoke detectors and manual call points, with beam detectors to protect platforms and waiting areas. A CEL Discovery control panel with a graphical display is used. ...
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North East Line ready to open
INTRO: Revenue services are about to start on Singapore’s North East Line. Advances in technology since the island’s first heavy metro routes were built have permitted the use of full automationBYLINE: Tai Chong ChewSenior Director, Projects & Engineering,Land Transport Authority THE FIRST quarter of 2003 will see the opening of ...
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Generator bearings
AMONG products unveiled at Railtex 2002 in Birmingham was an integrated generator bearing (below). Two versions have been designed, one rated at 5W and another at 100W. Schweinfurt-based FAG, now owned by INA, originally developed the high-power version as part of the Febis project to test EP braking on freight ...
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UIC launches timetable database
ON DECEMBER 3 the International Union of Railways unveiled the Merits project to develop a European timetable database. Unveiled just ahead of the timetable change on December 15, Merits allows around 30 operators to exchange timetable data electronically. Any participating railway can access the timetable of any other. The database ...
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Benelux metro line inaugurated
INTRO: Harry Hondius reports from RotterdamON NOVEMBER 4 the Dutch Minister of Transport formally opened the 11·8 km Benelux extension of the Rotterdam metro network. The route is worked as an extension of the Caland line from Marconiplein through Schiedam Centrum and the Benelux tunnel under the Nieuwe Maas river ...
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Another Belgian compromise
ROYAL OPENING of the 63 km Leuven - Ans high speed line on December 10 (p7) foreshadowed the launch five days later of faster Thalys services between Brussels and K
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Publications
Separation Philosophy of the European Union - Blessing or Curse?by Dr Carlo PfundEuropean Commission Directive 91/440 triggered radical reforms of member states’ national railways, and similar changes are occurring outside the EU. Dr Pfund argues that no examination of the concept of separating infrastructure from operations has been made in ...
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Tohoku Shinkansen extended
CEREMONIES were held at Hachinohe station on December 1 to mark the inauguration of a further section of Japan’s Tohoku Shinkansen. Participating in the tape-cutting were JR East President Ohtsuka and the Governor of Aomori prefecture Mr Kiamura. The inaugural Hayate train 2 to Tokyo was then dispatched at 06.55 ...
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Hallandsås deal
SWEDISH rail infrastructure authority Banverket awarded a contract on November 8 to a joint venture of Skanska and Vinci of France for completion of the troubled 8·5 km Hallandsås tunnel. The double-track bore is intended to form part of the West Coast main line upgrading between Göteborg and Malmö. ...
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Seeing the old year out
SOME PEOPLE will be celebrating the turn of the year in an unusual way. German Chancellor Gerhard Schr
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IE orders CAF inter-city stock
IARNRóD éireann has ordered 67 inter-city coaches from CAF for €117m. Due to enter service from autumn 2005, they will be suitable for 200 km/h running, and feature a streamlined design with a new livery. They will operate in nine-car push-pull trains, formed of six standard class carriages, one buffet, ...
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High speed contracts let
THE SPANISH CABINET has given its approval for construction authority GIF to call tenders for civil works on 11 km at the southern end of the Madrid - Valladolid high speed line between Fuencarral and Tres Cantos. Divided into two lots, work is expected to take 24 months within a ...
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Parcels EMU plan
JAPANESE parcels delivery company Sagawa Express Co has announced plans to switch its trunk hauls between Tokyo and Osaka to rail in early 2003. As well as cutting exhaust emissions, the move is intended to mitigate the effects of requirement limiting Japanese lorries to 90 km/h from next September.The traffic ...
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Pacific loan
REHABILITATION of Colombia’s Pacific Railway between Buenaventura, Cali and Cartago will benefit from a private finance deal supported by the Japan Bank for International Co-operation. JBIC confirmed on November 14 that it had signed a guarantee agreement for a US$120m loan, which is coming from a syndicate led by Mizuho ...
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Rosario regional network
PLANS have been unveiled in Argentina to create a regional rail network serving Rosario, a city of 1million inhabitants in Santa Fe province. The Remfer project is being led by former Argentine Railways executive Jaime Remolins, who says ’the intention is to create an efficient transport system where trains do ...
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Tenerife gets EIB funding
METROPOLITANO de Tenerife SA has been granted a €138m European Investment Bank loan to finance the island’s planned 16·7 km light rail network. Promoted by Tenerife Island Council, the project forms part of the Special Territorial Plan for the Tenerife metropolitan area, and will connect the towns of Santa Cruz ...