Main line rail industry news – Page 1325
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News
SWT confirms £1bn train deal
STAGECOACH Holdings announced on April 24 that it was to lease 785 Siemens Desiro UK 750V DC electric multiple-unit cars for its South West Trains franchise (RG 3.01 p161). Options would take the total to 1201 vehicles. Around one-third of the £1bn contract value covers maintenance of the fleet at ...
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Estonian agreement
THE LONG-RUNNING saga of Estonia’s rail privatisation moved a step closer to completion on April 30, when the Estonian Privatisation Agency signed a formal agreement with the Baltic Rail Services consortium on the last day allowed under the privatisation legislation. The transaction cannot be concluded because a Tallinn administrative court ...
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Tilting TRDs arrive
SPANISH National Railways has taken delivery of the first three of seven tilting TRD DMUs ordered from CAF in May 1999 for a total of Pts3·7bn. The SIBI tilting system developed by CAF (RG 12.99 p754) is expected to be fully operational by September. Pre-programmed with route characteristics, SIBI uses ...
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China to fund PR coaches
AN AGREEMENT signed in Islamabad on May 11 should see 40 coaches of a new design delivered to Pakistan Railways from China by the end of 2002. Under the US$100m funding package, a further 135 coaches are to be assembled in Pakistan to the same design with Chinese technical assistance.The ...
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S-Bahn funds
AUSTRIAN Transport Minister Monika Forstinger has approved an initial grant of Sch600m towards the development of an S-Bahn network in Salzburg. A further Sch150m will come from the local authority towards the first stage of the Sch3bn scheme originally agreed in 1998. A start of work is expected shortly on ...
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Amtrak signs FEC deal
ON MAY 3 US passenger operator Amtrak announced that it had reached agreement with the Florida East Coast Railway to use the coastal route from Jacksonville to West Palm Beach. This will allow Amtrak to serve eight towns which last saw passenger trains in the mid-1960s, including the resorts of ...
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ICE orders confirmed
AFTER announcing in February that it was placing orders for 28 ICE-T tilting trainsets and another 13 ICE3 units (RG 3.01 p141), German Railway has confirmed that the trains will be built by a Siemens-led consortium. Other members include Bombardier and Alstom, which will supply hydraulic tilt gear to the ...
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Spoornet progress
THIS MONTH is due to see the start of electric operation between De Aar and Kimberley, completing the wiring of Spoornet’s Cape Town - Johannesburg corridor. The 25 kV electrification work will be completed on June 11, when the substations are switched on, allowing test running to start. Revenue services ...
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Cross-London links back on the agenda
BRITAIN’s Strategic Rail Authority and Transport for London have signed an accord to develop two more cross-London rail links. Transport Minister Lord Macdonald said on May 3 that £150m from the government’s 10-year transport plan has been allocated for ’project definition and design development work’. Both arise from the London ...
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Nigerian funding
TRANSPORT Minister Ojo Maduekwe has allocated state finance totalling 1bn naira for rehabilitation of the Nigerian rail network. The move followed a promise made by President Olusegun Obasanjo on April 26 to complete the revitalisation of the national railways within two years. The President made his comments during the inauguration ...
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EMU maintenance plan improved
ELECTRIC multiple-units operated at 3 kV DC by South Africa Rail Commuter Corp are up to 42 years old, requiring a careful approach to maintenance to keep them running. The period between general overhauls for the Class 5M2A fleet had been extended from seven to 18 years, but part of ...
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Investment funds sought
THIS YEAR’S TransAfrica 21 conference, organised on May 8-10 in London by GlobalSA Ltd within the Africa Investment Forum promotional framework, treated delegates to a range of contrasting views on ways to privatise or restructure their railways.With concessioning and privatisation starting to bear fruit in several African countries, investment is ...
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Letters
Mixed train dailySir - The successful Amsterdam - Milano OverNight Express (RG 5.01 p339) shows that inspiration, innovation and dedication can produce the high-quality service that just-in-time freight customers demand but seldom receive from rail. In this interesting experiment, the modern equivalent of the old-style ’mixed’ passenger and freight train, ...
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Niterói bidding starts
PREQUALIFICATION bids have been called by July 23 for construction of Rio de Janeiro metro Line 3. Costed at US$800m, the project was formally approved in mid-April by Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The project will be awarded as a 25-year design-build-operate concession, with an option for a further 25-year ...
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MetroRail keeps growing
WASHINGTON Metro held a groundbreaking ceremony on May 8 for its 5 km Blue line extension from Addison Road to Largo, Maryland (RG 1.01 p29). The $434m project includes two new stations, and the line is expected to open at the end of 2004.On April 19 the WMATA board ...
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Montreal commuter expansion
QUEBEC’S Minister for Transport Guy Chevrette announced on April 17 the go-ahead for a fifth commuter rail route in Montreal. Services to the south shore town of Delson are due to start on September 4, as part of a programme designed to reduce road congestion in the city centre.The ministry ...
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Blue line funding
BANGKOK Metro Co Ltd, which holds the concession to equip and operate the Thai capital’s underground metro line, confirmed on May 3 that it had put together a 30bn baht funding package for authorisation by the government’s Metropolitan Rapid Transit Authority.BMCL Managing Director Sombat Kitjalaksana says a foreign banking consortium ...
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Victoria to deal with gauge frontiers
INCLUDED in the State of Victoria’s budget from July 1 2001 to June 30 2002 is the first A$10m tranche of a A$140m programme to convert 2000 km of country lines beyond the electrified Melbourne suburban area from 1600 to 1435mm gauge. The state government has committed in principle a ...
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Open access denied
AN APPLICATION by two operators seeking access to Canadian National’s tracks (RG 4.01 p210) was rejected by the Canadian Transportation Agency on May 3. Hudson Bay Railway, owned by US short line operator Omnitrax, sought authority to collect grain from silos and haul it over 2400 km of CN track ...