Main line rail industry news – Page 1289
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News
Finance
Brazil: The federal government has allocated US$57·2m for investment in railway projects this year, including US$16·8m for construction of the North-South Railway which is to be let to a private operator upon completion. New alignments to eliminate level crossings in the cities of Campo Grande and Curitiba have been allocated ...
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Metros
France: The Ile-de-France transport authority has voted in favour of extending Paris metro Line 12 from Porte de la Chapelle to Mairie d’Aubervilliers. The 3·8 km route would have intermediate stations at Proudhon-Gardinoux and Pont-de-Stains.Hungary: Budapest city council has approved an HF5·2bn programme to modernise the city’s public transport network. ...
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Pointers
n Chinese Railways Minister Fu Zhihuan confirmed in February that CR’s freight and passenger businesses will be reformed as separate companies over the next five years. Foreign companies will be permitted to form joint ventures with Chinese firms from 2003 to operate freight trains on selected routes, and as a ...
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Security in Brief
The South African cabinet has approved the creation of a dedicated special police unit covering rail, sea, air and taxi facilities.London Underground and British Transport Police have awarded Tyco a contract to install 550 CCTV cameras in 58 station car parks. The cameras will be linked to control centres at ...
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Market
Brazil: Balfour Beatty Rail Power Systems has been awarded a R$21·7m contract to electrify the Recife - Cajueiro Seco route for Metrorec at 3 kV DC. The contract includes 14 km of double track and the construction of two substations.Cameroon: Nine General Motors GT18MC 1600hp Co-Co locos were sent to ...
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Image storage
March Networks’ 4120 digital video recorder is designed for use in demanding transport environments. Mounted in a shock and vibration resistant, EMI, dust and waterproof housing, 4210 DVR can be linked to up to four cameras, with video accessed via a portable computer or wireless GSM link. Seven days of ...
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Tram cameras
HALLE tram operator HAVAG began a six-month trial of on-board video cameras in January, aiming to prevent vandalism and assaults. Date and time- stamped images from four cameras are stored for 48 h before being automatically overwritten. If any criminal activity is detected, the pictures are saved for submission to ...
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Spoornet goes road-rail
ROAD-RAIL specialist Zagro and Nissan Diesel are supplying a fleet of 220 road-rail vehicles to Viamax Fleet Solutions (RG 9.01 p567). To be delivered by 2004, the vehicles will be leased by the infrastructure maintenance division of South African rail operator Spoornet. Zagro is supplying conversion kits for the Nissan ...
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Mixed signals at Paris conference
’WE ARE accelerating the pace of change’ insisted Jean-Arnold Vinois on February 26. ’The situation is very serious; we need to push hard to capture business, or rail freight will disappear in 10 years.’ Head of Railway Policy at the European Commission’s Directorate-General of Energy & Transport, Vinois was outlining ...
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Manila gangway
SOUTH KOREAN rolling stock manufacturer Rotem (formerly known as Koros) has ordered inter-vehicle gangways from Woodville Polymer Engineering to equip the cars it is supplying to Manila heavy metro Line 2.The Metro Plus gangways have a double-skin polymer/fabric composite construction, providing fire resistance, insulation against noise and echo transmission, and ...
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Advanced Commuter Train pioneers changes on Tokyo’s suburban network
INTRO: Testing of East Japan Railway’s prototype Advanced Commuter Train is now in hand. Breaking with several conventions, the articulated EMU makes extensive use of on-board information technology to reduce operating costs and increase reliabilityBYLINE: Takashi EndoDirector, Advanced Railway System Development CentreEast Japan Railway CoJR EAST operates 17 suburban routes ...
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AustralAsia link making rapid progress
Tracklaying begins this month on the A$1·3bn Alice Springs - Darwin line. Opening in 2004, the Darwin extension of the existing line from Tarcoola to Alice Springs will realise a plan first put forward in 1858 and which has been a federal commitment since 1911BYLINE: Franco MorettiChief Executive Officer,Asia Pacific ...
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Shinkansen network tops 2000 km
INTRO: December this year sees the opening of the Morioka - Hachinohe extension of the Tohoku Shinkansen, taking the length of Japan’s high speed network to 2047 km. The first part of the Kyushu Shinkansen will open next year, and work is proceeding on two other extensions BYLINE: Hiroshi KanazawaDirector, ...
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HSL-Zuid starts to take shape
INTRO: Civil engineering work is underway along the route of the Netherlands’ first 300 km/h line, although delays in awarding the E&M and operating concessions have pushed back the opening date to October 1 2006. Chris Jackson reportsIN A MUDDY POLDER just east of Leiden a temporary construction camp has ...
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Narrow gauge legacy
AS THE Shinkansen network expands into less densely populated regions, one difficulty that has arisen is the financial losses on parallel 1067mm gauge lines, which normally lose their limited express trains. This issue has been brought sharply into focus by the extension of the Tohoku Shinkansen north of Morioka to ...
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Rebodied EMUs take over South African commuter routes
INTRO: Unable to afford new trainsets, South African Rail Commuter Corp is fitting new bodies to old EMU underframes. Rollo Dickson has the storySTRIKINGLY refurbished rolling stock is appearing in Johannesburg and Cape Town, where the electric multiple-units that work South Africa Rail Commuter Corp’s suburban services are typically 30 ...
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Letter
Zaragoza centreSir - The information regarding the control centre for the Madrid - Barcelona high speed line in February’s Intelligence (RG 2.02 p69) is not completely correct.The €10m contract for traction power supply, communications, station equipment and installation has been awarded to UTE TAVE, a joint venture between Sainco and ...
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Westbahn upgrading adds capacity to priority transit corridor
INTRO: Austrian Federal Railways’ 317 km Westbahn between Wien and Salzburg is being modernised to handle growing transit traffic as the European Union prepares for expansionBYLINE: Dipl-Ing Helmut Hainitz and Dipl-Ing Rudolf Koller*AUSTRIA’S location at the heart of Europe obliges it to handle heavy flows of transit traffic, both north-south ...
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Hillside EMU shipped to Melbourne
INTRO: Alstom’s contract to supply 58 trainsets to Melbourne includes technology transfer to Australian suppliersAT THE END OF February the mv Elansgracht set sail from the French port of La Rochelle bound for Melbourne. On board was the first of a fleet of 58 three-car trainsets destined for Melbourne’s eastern ...