Main line rail industry news – Page 1272
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Tamper upgrade
UK infrastructure maintenance company Grant Rail signed a £5m order in July for three B41 tamping machines from Matisa of Switzerland. The firm already has three of the company’s earlier B45 tampers in service.The B41 can tamp switches and crossings as well as plain line, and is fitted with ...
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Address file catches tram cheats
FARE dodgers giving false details toticket inspectors on Manchester’s trams are being identified using a database of residents. When a fare evader is asked for his or her name and address by revenue protection officers, the details are entered into a palmtop Compaq iPAQ computer. This checks their details against ...
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Montparnasse-Bienvenüe gets moving walkway
PARIS Montparnasse-Bienvenüe metro station has been fitted with a high speed moving walkway. Having entered service on July 2, the 185m long Gateway conveyor connects the SNCF station with metro lines 4, 6, 12 and 13.Designed for distances of about 200m to 500m, which are too long for a conventional ...
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Symposium reviews knowledge of sidewinds
INTRO: Ralf Roman Rossberg attended a symposium on sidewinds and aerodynamics where topics included the concept of ’intelligent’ speed restrictions applying when winds reach a critical velocitySIDEWINDS have long been recognised as a problem that in extreme cases can overturn a rail vehicle. As long ago as 1869 a complete ...
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DB relinquishes research and questions the cost of ETCS
INTRO: German Railway is ending in-house research as it realigns its commercial strategy. Giving his views to Murray Hughes in Berlin, DB Board Member for Technology Dr Karl-Friedrich Rausch also affirmed that DB has no commercial incentive to install ETCSBEFORE JOINING German Railway as Board Member for Technology, Dr Karl-Friedrich ...
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Cathedral of glass houses Berlin’s central interchange
AT 04.05 on July 4 a Berlin S-Bahn train bound for Potsdam drew to a halt in Berlin’s new Lehrter Bahnhof. Passengers and media representatives were presented with mementos to commemorate the first commercial service to halt at what will surely become Germany’s busiest interchange. Long-distance and regional trains on ...
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Rail mill ready to roll
THIS month Jindal Steel & Power Ltd expects to complete commissioning of a Rs4bn rail and beam rolling mill at Raigarh. When commercial production begins in the third quarter of the financial year the plant will produce 120·6m long rails. It had been planned to open the plant in June, ...
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Syope promises quieter running
INTRO: Field trials have confirmed the potential of a new treatment to reduce rolling noise that involves the application of a damping layer to the wheel web. Requiring no mechanical fastenings and thus very little maintenance, Syope promises quieter passenger rolling stock with minimal impact on the whole life-cycle cost ...
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Research underpins the green train
INTRO: As part of its ongoing research programme, Alstom LHB has developed an environmentally-friendly trainset with a high level of recyclability. The company’s experimental lightweight Lirex prototype has also spawned several derivatives. Chris Jackson reports from SalzgitterON July 17 the first DT4.5 trainset was formally handed over to Hamburger ...
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S-Bahn Berlin restores the Ring
INTRO: Completion in June of the final segment of Berlin’s S-Bahn Ring marked the end of a programme to reinstate missing links in the central area. Emphasis is now switching to renewal and upgrading workBYLINE: Dipl-Ing Günter RuppertChief ExecutiveDipl-Ing Rainer PohlmannTraffic Planning ManagerS-Bahn Berlin GmbHIT HAS BEEN an eventful summer. ...
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Red Ones star at opening of DB’s 300 km/h strategic link
INTRO: Join your editor on board the inaugural ICE3 special train for a spectacular sprint between K
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New plant at Old Oak
ON JULY 26 UK train operator First Great Western formally opened a new heavy maintenance facility at Old Oak Common depot, the London base for its passenger rolling stock operating into Paddington from the west of England and south Wales. Covering 1900m2 and four tracks, it has been built under ...
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ETCS operational trials delayed to 2004
INTRO: Ralf Roman Rossberg inspected DB’s ETCS pilot project south of Berlin, where Siemens is testing components. DB’s engineers told him that the equipment is ’several times more expensive’ than LZB inductive train controlDB IS EQUIPPING part of its main line from Berlin to Halle and Leipzig to form a ...
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Open access shipper
ON JULY 25 British freight operator GB Railfreight announced an increase in the frequency of the intermodal services it operates from Felixstowe under a five-year contract with Medite Shipping which began in February. From this month services to Selby, Doncaster and Hams Hall near Birmingham will run five days a ...
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Monorail draws APTA to Las Vegas
THIS MONTH will see thousands of delegates and visitors arriving in Nevada for the American Public Transportation Association Annual Meeting, which takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center on September 23 - 25. This year the meeting will be accompanied by the three-yearly International Public Transit Expo, which has ...
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In search of a quieter, lighter freight bogie
INTRO: With the prospect of the European Union introducing mandatory standards for noise emissions from rail vehicles, researchers in Germany have developed a low-noise freight bogie that could attract lower access charges. The first of two prototypes with cross-anchors and inside frames will begin tests next yearBYLINE: Prof Markus HechtRail ...
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Traverser approved
AUSTRIAN Federal Railways has completed preliminary acceptance of a Windhoff automatic outdoor traverser supplied to the maintenance workshops at Linz. One of the largest automatic installations of its kind in Europe, it comprises two independently operating submersed traversers.Locomotives up to 145 tonnes can be moved to 59 pre-selected positions. After ...
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Radar speeds rebuild
GROUND-PENETRATING radar is being used to accelerate a €200m track relaying programme in southern Germany. The work includes renewals on the main lines from München to Lindau via Kempten and Memmingen, with around 200 track-km to be relaid by 2006.Track renewals contractor H F Wiebe is using the GeoRail system ...
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Virgin Pendolino starts
Virgin Trains officially launched its first Class 390 Pendolino tilting trainset in passenger service on July 23, with a special run between Birmingham International and Manchester Piccadilly. On arrival at Manchester, unit 390 010 was named Commonwealth Games 2002. As an official sponsor for the Games, which took place in ...