Main line rail industry news – Page 1341
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News
Testing time at Alstom
INTRO: The first pre-series Pendolino Britannico trainset is nearing completion at Alstom’s Washwood Heath works in Birmingham. With a high profile roll-out scheduled for February, there is no time to lose in completing a demanding test programmeVIRGIN TRAINS has staked its commercial future on the success of its Class 390 ...
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Track Alliance aims to beat the clock
INTRO: The WCRM Track Alliance is using high output and conventional machines to relay the fast lines between London and CreweNOT FOR NOTHING did Richard Branson name a West Coast Main Line locomotive ’Mission Impossible’ when Virgin took over the InterCity West Coast franchise in March 1997. The ...
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Catenary spring tensioner
At Railtex Pfisterer will be presenting its Tensorex spring tensioner for catenary contact and messenger wires, of which over 500 units have been supplied since the first application in 1997. Designed to provide a low-maintenance alternative to weight-based tensioning systems, Tensorex is available in two versions allowing for a maximum ...
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Sentinel guards Euston approaches
CONDITION monitoring equipment has been installed on the approaches to Euston station as part of the current remodelling. The Euston Alliance of Railtrack, Balfour Beatty and Westinghouse Signals awarded a contract to CDS Rail in August 1999 to supply a turnkey package based on its Sentinel monitoring system.Condition monitoring is ...
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Flyers go free
PASSENGERS travelling with KLM and several partner airlines can now travel to and from Amsterdam Schiphol airport by train free of charge, following conclusion of a contract between KLM and Netherlands Railways. The service applies only to airline tickets issued in the Netherlands, which are valid for rail travel on ...
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PEOPLE
A new board has been appointed for South African Rail Commuter Corporation following the departure of Chairman John Edwards and Managing Director Wynand Burger. Peter Malungani chairs the new team, with Ben van der Ross as acting Managing Director and board members Willem Burger, Jerry Makokoane, Omega Shelembe and James ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Australia: New South Wales Rail Access Corp has re-opened the Kandos - Gulgong route to traffic.Belgium: Flanders regional government has approved the construction of a second route into the Antwerpen port complex from 2009. Costed at BFr29bn, the line would run from Noord marshalling yard to Lier via Schoten, Wijnegem ...
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SFr1·85bn may cut lineside noise by 2015
A LAW passed in March that came into effect on October 1 allocates a total of SFr1·85bn to a programme of noise reduction that aims to see all Swiss Federal Railways’ passenger fleet meet acceptable standards by 2004, and freight wagons by 2009. If these measures alone do not bring ...
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AVE tenders go in
ON SEPTEMBER 29 Spanish National Railways received three bids to supply high speed trains for the Madrid - Barcelona route, from Alstom/CAF, Siemens, and Talgo/Adtranz. Although shortlisted, AnsaldoBreda declined to submit a final bid. Renfe intends to order between 26 and 40 trainsets capable of 350 km/h before the end ...
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Africans seek Chinese aid
THE RWANDA government is seeking Chinese assistance with construction of a 400 km rail link from Kigali to Isaka in Tanzania. Rwandan Ambassador to Tanzania, Zephyr Mutanguha, said last month that the government was confident of finding donors to fund the line. Import and export traffic for Rwanda is currently ...
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EVR bidding hots up
FINAL BIDS are due this month for the 66% stake in Estonian National Railways currently up for sale, and the government hopes to select the winning bidder by the end of the year. Bidders are being asked to offer an initial payment and commitments to network upgrading totalling around ...
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Loco servicepartnership
A THREE-WAY partnership offering a range of operations and logistics services across Europe was launched in Berlin on October 10. The occasion was the signing of a Letter of Intent between Swiss loco leasing firm RentATraction Vertriebs AG, Ludwigshafen-based MEV Eisenbahn Verkehrsgesellschaft GmbH and logistics research group TransCare GmbH of ...
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Swiss dig deep
ON OCTOBER 3 Swiss Federal Railways allocated SFr145m to fund design and preparatory works for a second underground station beneath Zürich Hbf. The existing S-Bahn through platforms under Museumstrasse on the east of the station are approaching capacity, and the intention is to build a second four-track through station to ...
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GIF spending up
SPANISH high speed construction authority GIF is to invest Pts393·4bn next year, a 65% increase on 2000. At Pts150bn, the contribution from central government is up by 50%; the European Union will be providing Pts135bn.The route from Madrid to Barcelona and the French border will receive Pts298·3bn in 2001, with ...
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Uzani plans further expansion
CEREMONIES were held in Beer Sheva on September 26 to mark the inauguration of Israel Railways’ new city centre station. With traffic on the Beer Sheva line up by 500% this year, IR is stepping up the daily service from 18 to 28 trains each way, and plans a further ...
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Trans-Asia plan endorsed
MEETING IN Brunei at the end of September, the Transport Ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations agreed to push ahead with the 5500 km Trans-Asian rail link from Singapore to Kunming. A formal recommendation is to be put to the Asean heads-of-government summit in Singapore this month ...
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Béziers line boosted
FRENCH Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot joined RFF President Claude Martinand and SNCF President Louis Gallois at Saint-Chély d’Apcher on October 13 to mark the start of work on upgrading the Clermont-Ferrand - Neussargues - Béziers line. Participating in a renewal programme running from September 4 to October 20, the minister ...
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Congress boosts rail funding
ON OCTOBER 6 the US Congress approved a total of $58bn in funding for the Department of Transportation during the 2001 fiscal year starting on October 1. The package includes $6·3bn for the federal transit programme, 8·2% more than last year in line with TEA 21 commitments. There will be ...
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Line 2 contracts
LAST MONTH Siemens Verkehrstechnik confirmed that it had won a contract worth 25m euros to supply signalling and operations control equipment for the second line in Guangzhou. The first section of the 23 km route is due to open in 2003, with the entire line to be operational by June ...
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Manila deal
LAST MONTH saw the signing of a ´20bn contract for Japanese companies to supply rolling stock and other M&E systems for Manila metro Line 2. Toshiba and Marubeni are to supply a fleet of 72 wide-bodied EMU cars for the 14 km line, which is being built to a heavier ...