Main line rail industry news – Page 1334
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News
Privatisation delayed until 2004
INTRO: Appointed as Director General of Taiwan Railway Administration in October, D C Huang talked to Murray Hughes in Taipei about the need for investment in the 1067 mm gauge network and his plans to restructure TRA ready for a move to the private sector in 2004WITH PRIVATISATION of the ...
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Track monitoring on the TGV network
INTRO: To maintain high standards of ride on high speed lines with growing traffic, it is essential to improve monitoring of track components. SNCF has put in hand development of more powerful monitoring equipment, including a video rail surface inspection system in service since the start of this year. The ...
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Reform calls must be heeded
FOR SOME TIME now pressure has been building up for Indian Railways to update its management structure to cope better with growing competition from road and air, and to improve the organisation’s financial health. Among recent calls for reform was a report prepared by the Confederation of Indian Industry at ...
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Baltic privatisation in turmoil
JUST WHEN it appeared that privatisation of Estonia’s modest rail network was going smoothly (RG 1.01 p6), the whole process seems to be back in the melting pot. On January 17 a court in Tallinn ordered that the sale of the dominant freight operation to preferred bidder Rail Estonia must ...
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Ground improvement offers consistent subgrade stiffness
INTRO: Field tests are to start shortly into methods of improving the stiffness of the subgrade without disrupting commercial services. The Isert project is being carried out by the University of Birmingham with Railtrack and a group of suppliers. Methods to be tested include mixing or injection of chemical stabilisers, ...
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THSRC starts major work this month
INTRO: With a contract for E&M equipment and rolling stock signed and sealed, civil works are getting under way on the Taipei - Kaohsiung high speed line. Murray Hughes reports from TaiwanON DECEMBER 12 2000 Chairman of Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp Nita Ing signed the NT$95bn Core System contract ...
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Tunnel safety standards
SAFETY in rail tunnels is greater than on open line because of the absence of level crossings and restricted access, and rail travel is about 45 times safer than road. These are among the conclusions of a report on the safety of rail tunnels commissioned by the Swiss Ministry of ...
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Contractors offer more efficient renewals
INTRO: Track renewals would be cheaper and more efficient on the French national network if private sector contractors were allowed a larger share of the workMANY FRENCH people remember December 1995. In that month a long-running industrial dispute at French National Railways erupted into a full-blown strike. Paris was all ...
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Publications
Trans-Siberian HandbookBryn ThomasThe fifth edition of this travellers’ guide has been updated to take advantage of the removal, for the first time in Russian history, of most restrictions on tourist travel in Siberia. This pocket-sized volume contains new and updated maps, and the 432 pages have been fully re-researched since ...
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First Desiro UK shell ready
SIEMENS was due to complete the first bodyshell for its Desiro UK electric multiple-unit fleet last month. Unveiling a full-scale mock-up of a 20m driving power car on February 5 in Britain, Siemens said that the trains will be supplied from its Krefeld and Wien plants, with bogies from SGP ...
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Passenger News in Brief
The Great South Pacific Express, a joint venture between Queensland Rail and Venice Simplon Orient Express, is operating to altered schedules during the January to March wet season, running only on standard gauge lines south of Brisbane and through New South Wales. Running in North Queensland will recommence in April, ...
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Alameda Corridor set to open next year
INTRO: A grade-separated freight railway is being built to boost capacity between Los Angeles and Long Beach. Julian Wolinsky reports on progress SINCE WORK began in April 1997, progress on building the ambitious and expensive Alameda Corridor has been swift and without major controversy, the latter a rare circumstance in ...
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Real-time wireless information
On February 8 London’s Docklands Light Railway officially began trials of Velocity on-board news and advertising programme display equipment. Four of the DLR’s articulated vehicles have been fitted with eight high-contrast TFT screens.The screens show a 15 min programme of news, sport, transport information and advertisements, with content tailored to ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Argentina: Buenos Aires provincial operator Uepfp has begun work to re-open the Bahía Blanca - Carmen de Patagones route to passenger traffic, including repair of earthwork damage caused by burrowing animals. Completion would allow Buenos Aires - San Carlos de Bariloche services to run in conjunction with Sefepa of Río ...
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282 high speed trains planned
SPEAKING on February 9, Development Minister Francisco Álvarez-Cascos outlined the rolling stock orders that are likely to be made as the 2000-07 Railway Infrastructure Programme takes the Spanish high speed network to 7200route-km. By 2010, routes from Madrid to Sevilla and Barcelona and the French border are expected to be ...
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Ministers commit to Lyon - Torino
ON JANUARY 29 during an intergovernmental summit held in Torino, French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot joined Italian Transport Minister Pierluigi Bersani and Minister of Public Works Mario Nesi to sign an agreement setting out the immediate programme of studies to be undertaken for a new line between Lyon and Torino. ...
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Franchise replacement bogged down
AS BRITAIN’S Strategic Rail Authority dropped the ’shadow’ from its title on February 1, it became clear that a key part of its as yet unpublished strategy had fallen seriously behind schedule. Of the 25 passenger franchises awarded when British Rail was privatised, 18 run for about seven years, and ...
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Una valley line reinstated
ASPECIAL TRAIN on January 26 marked the restoration of through rail services between Zagreb and Knin, along the Una river valley. Linking the Croatian capital to the Adriatic ports, the line had been closed since 1991 due to war damage. It now passes through the western part of Bosnia-Herzegovina, requiring ...
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DB joins loco leasing pool
GERMAN Railway revealed on February 2 that it had reached agreement with Austrian Federal Railways to form a joint locomotive leasing pool. An initial fleet of 50 locos is being allocated: 25 of DB’s Siemens-built Class 152 freight locos and 25 of ÖBB’s similar Class 1016 Taurus design. According to ...