Main line rail industry news – Page 1336
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News
Alcobendas open
The latest extension to the Renfe’s Madrid suburban network opened on February 9, when C1 services were diverted from their northern terminus of Tres Cantos to a 7·1 km branch from Cantoblanco Universidad to Alcobendas-San Sebasti
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Six light rail routes in Basque investment plan
New light rail/metro routes for the cities of San Sebasti
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East-west fast link
French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot has asked RFF and SNCF to complete feasibility studies for the first stage of a ’fast link’ project that would see RER Line E connected to the national network beyond its current western terminus at Haussmann Saint-Lazare. Expected to be complete by 2007 at cost ...
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Modem monitors minute movements
Saltwood tunnel in Kent lies just 15m below a cutting for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link now under construction. To ensure that rail traffic can continue during construction, Rail Link Engineering has installed monitoring equipment in the brick-lined tunnel.Four of Leica Geosystem’s TCA2003 robotic land surveying units, calibrated to an ...
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Cheetah Rail
ZULU King Goodwill Zwelithini has launched a new luxury trainset for charter operations in and around Durban. Commuter operator Metrorail has invested R9m in the conversion of the Cheetah Rail train, which draws its inspiration from European and Far Eastern high speed trains. The train is part of a bid ...
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Night stock goes west
AFTER years lying around in workshops and military depots in various stages of completion, the Channel Tunnel Night Stock is heading for a new home. On December 15 Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette joined Via Rail Chairman & Acting CEO Marc LeFrançois in Montreal to announce that VIA is buying ...
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Finance
Armenia: Tenders are to be called shortly for a $15·2m upgrading of the Airum - Giumry line, which will be funded by a US$40m loan being negotiated from the World Bank for railway modernisation.China: Shanghai Municipality has launched a five year bond issue raising 1bn yuan towards construction of metro ...
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Industry News
Italian wheelset and rail manufacturer Lucchini has acquired the Adtranz Wheelset business, which has plants in Manchester and Surahammar, Sweden, with the deal effective from November 16. The company plans to invest in modernisation of the business.Siemens Transportation Systems is to invest up to £10m to allow the operation of ...
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Metros
China: Guangzhou Metro Corp General Manger Lu Guanglin has applied for authority to build the city’s third and fourth lines over the next 10 years, bringing the network to 129·4 km. The 23·3 km Line 2 is due to open in 2003.France: Marseille has approved an urban transport plan envisaging ...
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Passenger News in Brief
Hong Kong metro operator MTR Corp has started installing bright red straps between vehicles on some trains, to alert visually-impaired passengers and prevent them mistaking the space for a door and falling into the gap. The fitting of 95 trainsets on the three urban lines is due to be completed ...
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Railtex 2000 review
Over 9000 trade visitors from 50 countries attended the Railtex 2000 exhibition at Britain's National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham. Many of the exhibitors used the event to announce new contracts or launch innovative products
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Market
Australia: The NSW government has appointed CSFB as financial advisor for the sale of FreightCorp. Macquarie Bank is to advise the Commonwealth government on the sale of National Rail.Canada: GO Transit has awarded a C$38m contract to Bombardier for the mid-life refurbishment of 56 bi-level commuter rail coaches and 15 ...
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Back to health
The fortunes of two small stations on Taiwan’s West Coast main line have been revived by - of all things - a car advertisement. Television marketing for a Volkswagen minibus was designed to appeal to the Chinese sense of good fortune with a pun based on their names. Pairing Yungkang ...
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News
Ladies only
IN RESPONSE to increasing numbers of groping assaults on female passengers in Tokyo, Keio Teito Electric Railway has reintroduced women-only carriages. One coach per train will be set aside on nine late night services between the business and entertainment district of Shinjuku and the Tama region of western Tokyo from ...
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Paris smart card conversion starts
THIS MONTH is due to see the start of conversion work on around 2000 gate controllers on the Paris metro network to accept contactless smart cards as well as magnetic stripe tickets. To be completed by July, the work is being undertaken by Ascom under a contract worth around Fr60m ...
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GIF contracts
SPANISH high-speed infrastructure authority GIF has awarded a Pts13·8bn contract to Ferrovial-Agrom
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Expansion starts as Metrorail’s core network is completed
INTRO: After 31 years of continuous construction, the 166 route-km metro network in the US Federal Capital will be completed this month. But as the region’s population continues to expand, work is already getting under way on the first of up to 19 expansion projects. Further investment will be needed ...
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Industry News
South Africa: Spoornet is to create a new business unit for subsidiary companies, including International Joint Ventures, regional operator Comazar, and a leasing company to exploit locomotive and stock that are surplus to requirements.USA: On November 15 General Electric’s Global eXchange Services launched an internet based business-to-business exchange for the ...
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Trunk haul brings return
CONCESSIONED in April 1999, Cameroon operator Camrail returned a profit in its first year. Major participant in Camrail is the Comazar consortium with a 72·1% interest; Comazar is 31·6% owned by South Africa’s Transnet, 30·72% by the South African Infrastructure Fund, 20·4% by the transport group Bollore, and 12·8% by ...
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Police state
Safe in civilised Britain, we used to smile patronisingly at reports of train crew hiding after a fatal accident in some third world dictatorship for fear of arrest and harsh interrogation. No longer. The British Transport Police (who only police railways, despite the name) have switched since the mid-1990s from ...