Main line rail industry news – Page 1332
-
News
Canadian grain access bid
TWO Canadian short line railways are seeking open access powers to operate on branch lines in the prairie provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta. OmniTrax subsidiary Hudson Bay Railway - which took over the 1200 km Churchill branch in 1997 - lodged an application with the Canadian Transport Agency on ...
-
News
Sir Alastair sets out his DBFT stall
IT HAS BEEN a long time coming, but the Chairman of Britain’s Strategic Rail Authority, Sir Alastair Morton, finally published A Strategic Agenda on March 13. True, a tortured industry slowly recovering from unprecedented disruption after last October’s Hatfield derailment must wait six months or more before a strategic plan ...
-
News
Beijing metro deal signed
CANADIAN engineering group SNC-Lavalin signed a letter of intent with three Chinese firms in February, paving the way for construction of another metro line in Beijing. Costed at 12bn yuan, the 15 km north-south Line 5 is due to be completed by 2006, and will serve the Olympic Village proposed ...
-
News
DB to devolveits local services
GERMAN Railway is to devolve responsibility for local passenger services to regional management. Announcing the move on March 15, DB Regio Chairman Dr Christoph Franz said that ’we want decisions to be taken where our customers are’, and announced the appointment of two DB Regio board members (p220) to oversee ...
-
News
Houston light rail starts
A FORMAL groundbreaking was held on March 13 for the 12 km Main Street light rail line in Houston, after a state appeals court unanimously overturned a temporary injunction that had stalled the project for six weeks. Houston Mass Transit Authority CEO Shirley DeLibero estimated that the court action by ...
-
News
Line 4 closer
THE São Paulo state government has allocated R$80m for property acquisition along the route of the long-planned metro Line 4. This should clear the way for the state’s Transport Ministry to invite bids for construction under a 30-year DBOM concession (RG 10.99 p618).The 13·5 km first phase of Line 4 ...
-
News
Ipanema link on track
PROPOSALS to extend Rio de Janeiro metro Line 1 to Ipanema have moved closer, with the signing of an agreement between the state government, metro operating concessionaire Opportrans, commuter rail operator SuperVia and the national development bank BNDES. The 1·7 km extension from the Line 1 terminus now under construction ...
-
News
Decision time in the Cape
STRUCTURAL change is poised to arrive on South Africa’s 1067mm gauge railway. Debate about the future of the 19756 km network has been heated since consultants Halcrow were called in last year, and speculation was exacerbated when Systra was asked to evaluate the proposals (RG 12.00 p789). Last month the ...
-
News
people
Heinrich Brüggeman has been appointed to head German Railway’s regional railways office in Nordrhein-Westfalen; he was formerly Board Member, Personnel, at DB Regio AG. Former Board Member, Production, Dr Joachim Trettin will head the Northeast office covering Berlin-Brandenberg and Mecklenberg-Vorpommern.Walter Flühmann has joined BLS L
-
News
Wenzhou - Fuzhou accord
ON MARCH 14 China’s Ministry of Railways signed an agreement in Beijing with the provincial governments of Zhejiang and Fujian, paving the way for the start of construction on a 352 km coastal rail link between Wenzhou and Fuzhou.The line will boost economic development in the region, particularly around the ...
-
News
Electronic locker services
TOKYO suburban operator Keihin Express Electric Railway is testing electronic lockers at its stations. The lockers provide a range of services, including photo developing, laundry, and the sending or receiving of parcels. Credit card and locker content data is transmitted along the railway’s optic fibre network, completed in March.Customers must ...
-
News
Monitored PA
If a voice alarm is to be used to inform passengers of the need to evacuate a station, it is important that it is working correctly. With Application Solutions Ltd’s PA/VA technology, monitoring of the critical signal path and wiring integrity is carried out site-wide, allowing a service centre to ...
-
News
Help needed
NIGERIAN Railways Corp is once again on the point of collapse, with only 30 of its 200 locomotives in working order, according to Board Chairman Alhaji Waziri Mohammed. What is particularly sad is that the 50 Class 2101 locos, 150 passenger coaches, 20 railcars, 100 guard’s vans and 400 wagons ...
-
News
Crowding not over
PASSENGERS commuting across central Paris on RER Line A were led to believe some time ago that overcrowding on the busiest section between Gare de Lyon and Auber would be eased when other cross-Paris rail arteries were opened. Since then, no less than three cross-city routes have been completed. Line ...
-
News
Tunis suburban electrification funded
TUNISIAN State Railways has negotiated a ´13bn loan from the Japan Bank for International Co-operation to fund the long-planned electrification of its metre-gauge Tunis suburban service to Borj Cedria. This was first floated in 1990 following the completion of a new maintenance depot at Borj Cedria and the extension of ...
-
News
Passenger News in Brief
Netherlands Railway is to modernise 60 Sprinter EMUs used on stopping services between the Randstad conurbations. The 20-year old vehicles will gain new interiors, more spacious seating, more accommodation for wheelchairs, bicycles and pushchairs and a passenger information system. Partitions will be replaced with glass screens, and electrical equipment will ...
-
News
Votes beat reform
KEEPING the voters sweet appears to have been the maxim used by Railway Minister Mamata Banajee in drawing up Indian Railways’ budget for 2001-02. With elections due in her home state of West Bengal this month, populist measures announced in the budget on February 26 outweighed any attempt to deal ...
-
News
High-speed flywheels cut energy bill
Chris Jackson reports on trials of a lightweight flywheel energy storage unit being conducted on London Underground's Piccadilly line
-
News
Wash and go
GERMAN train washer specialist Kärcher has installed several new plants for Swiss and German railways. The plant at Hof in Bayern uses a preheating system to allow it to operate at temperatures down to -5°C, and recycles 70% of the water used.Frankfurt-H
-
News
Norwegians try ticketless travel
Norwegian State Railways is offering passengers ticketless travel on its Signatur tilting trains. The ’Station in Train’ project is based on text messaging and digital communications designed and delivered by ICL Invia, ICL’s Nordic e-business services company. Each train is equipped with a computer terminal with a GSM link, and ...