Main line rail industry news – Page 1348
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News
Passenger in Brief
Amtrak has opened a new terminal in Lorton, Virginia, for its Auto Train service for accompanied cars to Sanford in Florida, built over two years at a cost of US$25m with contributions from Virginia Railway Express and Virginia Department of Rail & Public Transportation. The terminal has six tracks, each ...
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Korean link to reopen next year
WORK IS expected to start this month to reinstate the rail link between North and South Korea, which has been disused for over 50 years. Reinstatement of the missing section of the Seoul - Pyongyang main line is to be completed before the end of next year, as part of ...
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Polish privatisation bill passed
ON JULY 25 the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament, passed the formal Act paving the way for the commercialisation, restructuring and privatisation of Polish State Railways. The Act has still to be approved by the Senat (the upper chamber) and signed by the President.The Act will see ...
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Spoornet invests
PLANS to invest around R15bn in upgrading track and rolling stock on South Africa’s rail network over the next 15 years were announced at the end of July by the Managing Director Designate of Transnet Mafika Mkwanazi. He confirmed that the state holding company had committed itself to the first ...
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Private freight
MID-JULY saw the start of open-access freight services on Romania’s national rail network. Rail engineering and rolling stock maintenance company Sefer SA has started hauling petroleum products from Brazi, southeast of Ploiesti, to Chitila, northeast of Bucuresti. The 30-wagon train carries 2500 tonnes, but capacity will be increased to 3200 ...
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Israel builds for growth
WITH passenger traffic continuing to break monthly records, achieving 1·9 million riders in July, Israel Railways launched a further route modernisation project on August 15. The 11 km Rehovot - Pleshdod - Ashdod line will be closed for around five months, during which the track and signalling will be renewed ...
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SER builds to the sea
INDIA’s South Eastern Railway has started construction of an 87 km single-track electrified branch to serve the seaside resort of Digha in southern Bengal. Proposed in 1984, the line was delayed by land acquisition problems. The first girders for a 500m bridge over the river Haldi were launched in August, ...
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BNSF/CN merger is off
BURLINGTON Northern Santa Fe Corp and Canadian National Railway Co announced on July 20 that their respective boards had voted to terminate the ’combination agreement’ to create North American Railways Inc and form an 80500 km coast-to-coast network.In a joint statement, CN President & CEO Paul Tellier and BNSF Chairman ...
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PR sets tight upgrading timetable
SEPTEMBER 15 sees the formal inauguration of a new Marketing Department at Pakistan Railways, one of a range of initiatives launched by Chairman Lt-Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi at the request of the government. The department is intended to put PR’s activities onto a more commercial basis, including the leasing out ...
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First franchise renegotiated
SSRA CHAIRMAN Sir Alastair Morton announced on August 10 the first fruits of the programme to renegotiate Britain’s passenger franchises. Heads of terms have been agreed with incumbent M40 Trains as preferred operator of Chiltern Railways for up to 20 years in return for a £370m investment programme that the ...
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INTELLIGENCE
China: The Minstry of Railways has approved two new routes in Fujian province. The 277 km Wenfu Railway into Zhejiang province is to be completed in 2002 at a cost of 6·2bn yuan, and the 325 km Ganglong Railway into Jiangxi by 2004 at a cost of 8bn yuan.Electric operation ...
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Overnight trains to go private
PLANS are being drawn up for a private company to take over operation of German Railway’s overnight service linking Berlin with Malm
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Scheduled steam pays its way
Regular steam services returned to a British main line route this summer with the launch by Steam Dreams of The Cathedrals Express every Wednesday from London Victoria to Canterbury and back, with two runs from Waterloo to Salisbury in August and September.So successful has the operation been that six more ...
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NewsMixed gauge link study
NEXT MONTH should see the completion of an initial study for creating a north-south corridor between Poland and Romania via Ukraine. The United Nations' Trans-European Rail Office has appointed Gibb Transportation Consulting to look at the feasibility of upgrading a 600 km route from Tarnow to Oradea to speed transit ...
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Moscow goes smart card
MONTHLY season tickets for commuter services on Russia’s Moscow Railway were replaced by smart cards with effect from July 24, following a month-long transitional phase. The changeover is the first phase in a programme to modernise the MR fare collection systems, together with the introduction of automatic gates and electronic ...
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ZSR renewals
SLOVAK Republic Railways announced in July that it plans to invest SK21bn in modernisation of its rolling stock over the next five years. With 64% of its coaches and 80% of wagons more than 20 years old, replacement or refurbishment is becoming essential.ZSR is about to call tenders for 20 ...
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Pointers
n Look for Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano and his Malawi counterpart Bakili Muluzi to launch officially the Nacala Corridor this month, to encourage development along the Blantyre - Nacala line now operated by concessionaire Central East African Railway.n Vietnam Railways has launched a five-year investment plan valued at 5700bn dong; ...
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Europe drawn to British honeypot
STRONG interest in the programme to replace the 19 short-term passenger franchises in Britain has been expressed by Swiss Federal Railways, with a formal approach made to the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority. With Chiltern Railways already relet and shortlists announced for several others (see table), SBB will need to decide ...
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Voters back DART expansion
CONSTRUCTION of three new light rail lines in Dallas will be accelerated by up to eight years following a vote approving a $2·9bn bond package on August 11. Over 77% approved the proposals, with only 22·8% against. Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Executive Director Roger Snoble said he was ’humbled by ...
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Tel Aviv to tender LRT
TENDERS are to be called within three months for construction of the first light rail line in Tel Aviv, following the signing of an agreement between the promoter NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd, the Municipality of Tel Aviv, and the Israeli government on July 23. The accord was signed ...