Main line rail industry news – Page 1273
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News
Modular diesels on parade
VOSSLOH Schienenfahrzeugtechnik will be presenting its recently developed G1000BB and G1700BB centre cab diesel-hydraulic locomotives.A successor to the V90, the G1000BB is designed for heavy shunting and light main line duties. The G1700BB is a powerful diesel-hydraulic locomotive designed for heavy freight trains and shunting operation. Built in Kiel, both ...
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Amtrak’s jewel loses its shine
ON AUGUST 13 Amtrak withdrew all its Acela Express trainsets after cracks were discovered in stainless steel brackets on the power car yaw dampers. Amtrak worked quickly with the train’s suppliers to rectify the fault, and on August 17 it managed to run 11 services with Acela Express units. ...
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NewsBerlin draws record turnout
Over 900 exhibitors will be present at the Berlin Messe on September 24-27
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News
Canberra may lease NSW freight lines
FEDERAL Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport & Regional Services John Anderson offered investment worth A$870m to improve Australia’s principal freight routes when he addressed the National Rail 2002 conference in Melbourne on July 31.However, the funding is conditional upon acceptance by the New South Wales government of an ...
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Taxpayer shores up Virgin’s
business planRAILTRACK’S bungled attempt to upgrade the West Coast Main Line so that Virgin could dispatch 11 Pendolinos an hour from London to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow at 225 km/h from June 2005 has borne modest fruit. During the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, which commenced on July 23, a ...
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News
Network Rail demands more
A 97% majority of Railtrack Group shareholders voted on July 23 to accept Network Rail’s offer to buy Railtrack plc (RG 8.02 p398). Despite a threat of legal action against the government by private shareholders, NR is expected to assume ownership and control of the UK’s rail national infrastructure this ...
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News
Auckland set to revive rail
WHILE a final announcement on public sector funding for the full NZ$388m project is expected shortly from Infrastructure Auckland, it is now clear that the Auckland Region Rail Upgrade Project is almost certain to go ahead for completion by 2006. Tenders will be invited shortly for 25 two-car DMUs (or ...
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News
Tax change unlocks investment
AFTER DECADES of resisting change to its tax laws, New York’s state legislature has finally decided to provide tax relief for railways that serve the state. Legislators have passed a bill that will cut property taxes by 45% over the next seven years, bringing rates for railways in line with ...
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News
Government moves to rescue Tranz Rail
AS THE VALUE of shares in Tranz Rail continued to slide towards NZ$2, public ownership of New Zealand’s 3900 km rail network became a subject of serious public debate during July. A group of major exporters ranging from coal and forestry to dairy products announced the formation of Rail ...
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Metro rolls in Delhi
DELHI Metro Rail Corp has taken delivery of its first four-car metro trainset, and was expecting to begin testing and commissioning on September 15. The initial 8·3 km Shahdara - Tis Hazari section is expected to open in the last week of December.A total of 240 coaches worth US$330m have ...
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News
Connex drops Metro EMU
FACED WITH a deadline to withdraw all remaining MkI EMUs by December 31 2004, Connex South Eastern has cancelled plans to buy a fleet of ’Connex Metro’ high-capacity inner suburban units, for which Alstom and Hitachi had submitted bids. Instead, it announced on July 24 it was exercising two more ...
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BA clampdown
THE ARGENTINE government and four operators in Buenos Aires have mobilised a force of 2700 police to improve security for passengers on suburban rail and metro services.An agreement signed in early August between Metrovías, Trenes de Buenos Aires, Metropolitano and Ferrovías, the Secretary of State for Transport, the Federal Police ...
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News
Saudis back expansion
SAUDI ARABIA: Construction of the planned rail route serving the northwest of Saudi Arabia moved a step closer in July, when Minister of Communications Dr Nasir Al-Salloum told a board meeting of Saudi Railways Organization that the government was prepared to fund 50% of the cost. He indicated that ...
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News
WTC interchange plan
NEWYORK Governor George Pataki announced onAugust 12 that the US government will contribute US$4·55bn towards the cost of rebuilding and modernising the rail infrastructure beneath the site of the World Trade Center. The sum is part of the US$21bn previously pledged by President Bush and Congress to finance rehabilitation ...
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Lhasa reaches first milestone
ENGINEERS on Chinese Railways’ Golmud-Lhasa line announced at the end of July that 31 km of track had been laid in the first four weeks of work, with rail installation on the Nanshankou - Yanshiping section reaching a rate of 400m/h. Workers have so far found high-altitude tracklaying much ...
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IE to renew inter-city fleet
IARNROD Eireann is to begin replacement of its main line rolling stock, some of which dates back to the 1960s. Bids are being sought for 67 coaches, and under EU procurement rules, an order has to be placed before the end of the year. But despite the short timescale, a ...
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SECR created in zonal split
DESPITE protests from West Bengal politicians, India’s Railway Minister Nitish Kumar confirmed on July 8 an earlier decision to create two new zonal railway administrations by splitting the Eastern Railway. Under the 1996 reorganisation, ER lines in Bihar (the Danapur and Malda divisions) were to be hived off with two ...
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JR-E unveils E2-1000
ON JULY 25 East Japan Railway formally unveiled its latest design of Shinkansen trainset. The variant of the E2 series is intended to operate on the 96·6 km Tohoku Shinkansen extension from Morioka to Hachinohe in Aomori prefecture, which opens on December 1. Capable of operation on 25 kV60Hz only, ...
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Marmaray construction bids due
TURKEY: Prequalification bids are due by September 17 for construction of Istanbul's Marmaray tunnel. As well as the 1·8 km double-track submerged tube under the Bosporus linking Eminonu on the European shore with Uskudar on the Asian side, there will be 11·5 km of bored tunnel forming an underground route ...
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Metrostar funding deal
MANILA’S private-sector Metro Rail Transit consortium confirmed on August 7 that it had raised US$378m to fund construction of the second phase of the EDSA light rail Line 3. The money has been raised by a public offer and private placing of asset-backed bonds. The deal also involved securitising future ...