Main line rail industry news – Page 1288
-
News
More French tram projects backed
CONSTRUCTION of three more light rail lines is to go ahead in southeast France, following the approval of five-year regional spending plans in Lyon and Grenoble. Work is expected to start next year on the 13·5 km Line C in Grenoble, as part of a €732m transport package proposed by ...
-
News
Smart wagon bogies
BY THE end of the year the first prototype lightweight ’Leila’ bogies should be on test. With financial support from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Berlin Technical University is developing a new bogie design for smart freight wagons. Weighing around 4 tonnes, the bogies are being developed in conjunction with ...
-
News
Dual gauge test site opens
LAST MONTH Spanish high speed construction authority GIF was due to begin using a test site built on 16 km of disused alignment between Medina del Campo and Olmedo northwest of Madrid. The 14·1 km section of dual 1435mm and 1668mm gauge track cost €24m. The facility will also test ...
-
News
Rolling motorway advice on offer
EUROTUNNEL has received a number of requests for advice from other companies providing rolling motorway services. This has prompted thoughts of long-term expansion, probably in partnership with other companies, to help develop and possibly operate similar services to the lorry shuttles it runs between Cheriton and Coquelles. According to Planning ...
-
News
Tactical retreat
NETHERLANDS Railways confirmed last month that it had withdrawn from bidding for three regional rail franchises in Nordrhein-Westfalen. NS prequalified for the Sauerland, WestMünsterland and Haard concessions, but the Managing Director of the company’s International Business Group Anton Valk said NS would not be ’able to submit a sufficiently high ...
-
News
Rails start to go boldly
What NASA describes as the ’first space railroad’ has been installed on the International Space Station. An initial 13m section of track was delivered by the shuttle Atlantis in April, and a further 100m is due to be added during the next two years.A transport vehicle runs along the ISS’s ...
-
News
High stakes in Shanghai
’THE CHOICE of the Chinese government needs to be vindicated’. This comment, and a remark that China is feeling somewhat out on a limb in its decision to pioneer ’the first commercial application of maglev technology in the world’, came from Gerhard Wahl, Vice President of Siemens Transportation Systems Group, ...
-
News
Wagon suppliers await upturn
EUROPE’S rail freight business is in trouble - and yet politicians continue to predict a huge rise in traffic. We have no quarrel with the assessment that the potential is huge, but progress to date is shamefully slow. Elsewhere in this issue we offer some insight into the issues that ...
-
News
Back from the brink
HAVING instigated a game of ’chicken’ with Congress over funding for its long-distance trains, it was Amtrak that blinked first. George Warrington, who is stepping down as President to join New Jersey Transit, announced on April 5 that he would not, after all, file the required 180-day notice for withdrawal ...
-
News
Investment drives western China rail expansion
With traffic forecast to grow by 9% a year until 2010 as the focus of national economic development turns west, over 125bn yuan will be invested to expand China’s western rail network in the next five years. By 2005 CR is due to complete 3000 km of new line, double-track ...
-
News
Windhoff takeover
German railway equipment manufacturer Windhoff AG has been taken over by Georgsmarienhütte Holding GmbH. Windhoff slid into financial difficulties last year and applied for insolvency in December. The insolvency procedure opened on March 1, and Georgsmarienhütte acquired the assets of the Rheine-based company. Originally a steel maker, Georgsmarienhütte Holding is ...
-
News
MPV launched
ITALIAN construction equipment supplier Gallmac has expanded its range of rail construction equipment with the launch of its RMW 115 road-rail multi-purpose vehicle. This is derived from the company’s WMW 115 hydraulic excavator, fitted with retractable rail guide wheels 500mm in diameter.Capable of carrying a shovel, fork lift or other ...
-
News
Schwechat Express go ahead
AUSTRIAN Federal Railways has reached agreement with the operators of Wien Schwechat international airport to launch a dedicated rail service. This paves the way for the long-planned renovation of Wien Mitte station, which is due to be completed by the end of 2003. A new City Air Terminal will ...
-
News
RATP buys broadband net
PARIS Transport Authority is upgrading its video surveillance system to reduce operating costs and enhance security. RATP has selected Marconi to build a €14m multi-service broadband network for video surveillance, voice communications and advanced data services. Able to integrate with legacy technology, the packet-based system will support up to 6000 ...
-
News
Products in Brief
Alstom Ferroviaria has ordered 78 SAFT Matrics MRX compact rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries (RG 3.02 p151) for use on Cityway trams that it is supplying to Torino.Laniel Canada has supplied its model LC-12017 change machines fitted with CashCode ST banknote validators for use at stations on the Shanghai Metro network.Cattron-Theimeg has ...
-
News
Capacity crunch on TGV Sud-Est
FRENCH National Railways is considering options to expand capacity on its pioneering high speed line between Paris and Lyon. Development Director Michel Leboeuf told delegates that since the Paris - Sud-Est line opened in 1981, the ’awesome’ effort of developing over 1000 km of high speed line had boosted ...
-
News
Detecting defective rail welds
RADIOGRAPHIC non-destructive testing of aluminothermic welds is being carried out by AMEC under a £1m contract from Railtrack. Ultrasonic methods are unsuitable for analysing welds because of the heterogeneity of the metal, but radiography takes less than 30min to check a weld.A selenium isotope is supported above the rail by ...
-
News
Killer thieves
We commented in RG 2.02 (p61), after a fatal collision in December 2001, on the deplorable state of commuter services operated by Metrorail, where the average age of EMU cars is 27 years and delays are endemic. While the EMUs are to be refurbished (p205), this will do nothing to ...
-
News
Industry News in Brief
Balfour Beatty plc has announced pre-tax profits before exceptional items and prior to the amortisation of goodwill for the 12 months to December 31 of £103m. Annual worldwide rail sales are expected to approach £800m in 2002.The IER subsidiary of French group Bolloré, has become the main shareholder of Belgian ...
-
News
Passenger News in Brief
German Railway has begun a programme to refurbish 1305 Eurocity and Intercity coaches (RG 3.01 p141). DB’s workshops at Neumünster, Delitzsch and Wittenberge will share the work with PFA Weiden, Mittenwalder Gerätebau and Vossloh, which will supply electronic seat reservation systems.Eurostar is to run a London - Avignon service on ...