Main line rail industry news – Page 1337
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News
Politicians broker next compromise
ANOTHER faltering step was taken on November 22 in the tortuous process of introducing competition into the European rail freight industry. Strongly opposed by France from the outset, the liberalisers have had to give way on several counts, and the agreement falls far short of what was once envisaged.Building on ...
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Pointers
n Axor of Canada has signed an agreement with Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels to carry out feasibility studies on a build-operate-transfer approach to the Abu Qir - Misr Station section of the Alexandria metro. The study is being part funded by the Canadian International Development Agency. n On December ...
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NewsEarthworks 60% complete on first section of Libyan network
MOHAMMED Abdulsamed Ali, Chairman of the Railways Executive Board in Libya, has revealed details of progress with building a 3170 km national network. The Great Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is planning to spend US$10bn on two major routes, the first of which is currently under construction. This will not be ...
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The world’s first 350 km/h railway takes shape
INTRO: Spain’s high speed construction authority Gestor de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias is pushing ahead with the route from Madrid to Barcelona and the French border, where civil works as far as Lleida are nearing completion. With this route due to open throughout by 2004, other high speed projects are now being ...
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Talgo at home and abroad
BEYOND the glittering prize of the Madrid - Barcelona high speed train contract, Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Patentes Talgo sees a promising future in what CEO Francisco de Lorenzo describes as its ’very open’ home market. The government’s 2000-07 Railway Infrastructure Programme, costed at Pts4·7bn, combines the construction of high-speed ...
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Three networks preparing to move Olympic crowds
Selected to host the 2004 summer Olympic Games, Athens is making a substantial investment in expanding its transport infrastructure to handle the crowds. Both recently-opened metro lines are being expanded, the suburban railways upgraded, and a new light rail network is starting to take shape
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Products in Brief
Transport & Travel Research Ltd is undertaking the European Commission funded GENESYS research and development project to reduce energy consumption on urban rail services through better driver training. A spreadsheet model is used to calculate energy consumption, and this is used to encourage staff to drive in a more energy ...
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News
Customer focus keeps Renfe on course
INTRO: As state support declines year by year, close customer focus and an emphasis on service quality is keeping passenger traffic at Spanish National Railways on an upward trend. Robert Preston put the questions to Renfe President and UIC Chairman Miguel CorsiniPreston: What impact will the policy of interoperability being ...
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Careful revenue management underpins investment programme
INTRO: With patronage running at record levels, Moscow Metro needs to expand and modernise its network. A continuing fall in state investment is focusing attention on ways to increase revenue through automated fare collectionBYLINE: Dmitry GaevHead of Moscow MetroLIFE HAS NOT been easy for Moscow Metro in the past few ...
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VIA launches parcels courier
VIA Rail Canada has introduced a same-day and next-day courier service between Québec City, Montréal, Toronto and Windsor in partnership with Montréal’s Intelcom Courier. The Viapaq Courrrier service will be extended in phases to more than 30 stations, with smaller towns along the corridor being added over the next few ...
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Faster turnouts
SPANISH high-speed infrastructure authority GIF has awarded a consortium led by JEZ Sistemas Ferroviarios a Pts3·3bn contract to supply 35 high-speed turnouts for the Zaragoza - Lleida section of the 350 km/h Madrid - Barcelona high speed line. Designed for a maximum diverging speed of 230 km/h, the turnouts feature ...
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High speed rail has a vital role to play
MAGNUS PERSSON, Director, Transport Policy, at Swedish State Railways, grabbed the attention of delegates to the International High Speed Railway Conference 2000, co-hosted by Central Japan Railway and West Japan Railway to commemorate the 25th anniversary of through services between Tokyo and Hakata on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen. Persson ...
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On autotransformers
Sir - The article on catenary upgrading on the West Coast Main Line (RG 11.00 p735) was extremely interesting, but there are, however, always pitfalls in making claims for ’firsts’. Sometime in the mid-1960s Railway Gazette published an article, based on Japanese sources, reporting on the development of a ’new’ ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Australia: Wesfarmers and Genesee & Wyoming have set up two subsidiaries to run the recently-acquired Westrail freight business (RG 12.00 p788): operator Australian Western Railroad and infrastructure business WestNet Rail.On December 1 Federal Transport Minister John Anderson announced $20m of funding towards a $57m project to relocate the Melbourne - ...
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Edelaraudtee sold to GB
ON NOVEMBER 27 Estonia’s privatisation agency announced that it had signed an agreement with Britain’s GB Railways for the sale of the independent state-owned south-west railway, Edelaraudtee. GB is paying 10m kroons (US$550000) for the business, and has agreed to invest 260m kroons over the next five years. Of this, ...
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WB funds ZR sale
BIDS are to be called within the next two months for the privatisation of Zambia Railways, following the approval of a World Bank credit in November to fund the cost of restructuring. Following the award of concessions, the bank will provide US$27m through the International Development Association, with a grace ...
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Asian shuttle starts after signing
JANUARY 10 is due to see the launch of a container shuttle service from Uzbekistan to the Gulf via Sarakhs, following the signing of an accord in Tehran during November between Uzbekiston Temir Yollari and Iranian Islamic Republic Railways.According to UTY Operations Director Farhod Jalalov, the shuttle will run from ...
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Russians revive high-speed route plans
DECEMBER 3 saw the launch of improved high-speed services between Moscow and St Petersburg, cutting the 650 km trip to 4h 30min. The services will run five days a week, with early morning and evening departures each way targeted at business travel. The move follows the return to service of ...
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Trans-Asia links approved
PROPOSALS for the US$2·5bn trans-Asia rail network linking Singapore to Kunming were endorsed by local heads of government at the 4th Asean Summit held on November 25. Feasibility studies for the scheme had been approved by a meeting of Asean Transport Ministers in Brunei in September (RG 11.00 p696). Malaysia's ...