Main line rail industry news – Page 1353
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News
CTRL tunnel holed through
BRITAIN’s Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was the principal guest at a holing-through ceremony in the 3·2 km North Downs Tunnel on the 74 km Section 1 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link on June 7. Railtrack Chief Executive Gerald Corbett also attended.Speaking before a roadheader broke through the final ...
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Upset in Ukraine
THE FINDINGS of a team of government investigators into the running of the 22510 route-km broad gauge Ukrainian Railways network have caused a sensation. Following publication of a detailed report for the National Security Council, President Kuchma decided to take drastic action. The ensuing presidential decree demands nothing less than ...
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Pressure monitoring for point machines
A MONITORING system based on pressure sensing developed by Smith Industries Hydraulics Company (SIHC) for its own clamp lock point machines has been approved by Railtrack for use across the British main line network. Analysis of the variation of current, time and pressure within the clamp lock system revealed that ...
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Industry News
France: After making a loss of Fr81·7m in 1998, Arbel-Fauvet-Rail has reported a profit of Fr2·3m on a turnover of Fr596m for 1999, due in part to increased productivity at its Douai plant following restructuring. The AFR product range now includes a freight bogie for axleloads of 25 tonnes.Great Britain: ...
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Eurostar escape
FEW PEOPLE would dispute that the 501 passengers and 16 crew on Eurostar 9047 from Paris to London on June 5 had a lucky escape when their train derailed at around 250 km/h at Croisilles on the TGV Nord line near Arras in northern France. No-one was seriously hurt, but ...
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Variable supports speed Pendolino production
FACED with the need to turn out up to eight vehicles a week for Virgin’s West Coast Pendolino fleet, Alstom Transport has remodelled its assembly lines at Washwood Heath. At peak production, Pendolino cars will be moving down four parallel lines, and Alstom was keen to minimise intermediate handling.The car ...
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NEL results awaited
Sir - In RG 4.00 (p235) you reported the development of the Non-Electric Locomotive as a prototype high-speed traction unit for Amtrak. NEL is a very interesting approach introducing a powerful gas turbine producing 3140 kW for traction. However, knowing the track standard and considering the numerous sharp and irregular ...
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Products In Brief
InfoVision Systems has been awarded a contract by Siemens Transportation Systems to supply technical documentation for the maintenance of Class 333 EMUs being delivered to British operator Northern Spirit (RG 5.00 p286). Documents including parts lists and training material will be accessed in electronic format by Siemens staff using InfoVision’s ...
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Market
Australia: Australia Southern Railroad has purchased 16 Class 422 locomotives of 2000hp from FreightCorp of New South Wales, to haul construction trains on the Alice Springs - Darwin line.CFCL Australia has ordered 50 container wagons from MacRail Ltd for A$5m. Capable of carrying three 20ft containers at speeds up to ...
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Malmö tunnel modelling
AS PART OF the design process for the Citytunneln project in Malmö, a new route under the city centre linking Central station and the Øresund fixed link including 4 km of twin-bore tunnels 20 m below ground, Ødegaard & Danneskiold-Samsøe was commissioned to model the ground-borne noise and vibration likely ...
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LiREx explores car technology
LIGHTWEIGHT Innovative Regional Express is the name given to a speculative prototype being developed for the German Land of Sachsen-Anhalt by Alstom LHB of Salzgitter. Intended to test a range of new technologies, the diesel-powered LiREx shares several features with the København S-Bane EMUs. Bodies will be more than 3m ...
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Finance
Great Britain: Anglia Railways has signed a leasing agreement with HSBC Rail covering 13 Class 86 locomotives, 93 MkII coaches and 13 driving trailers until the end of the current franchise in 2004. The lease includes a C2 overhaul programme worth £14m to be completed by the end of 2000.Singapore: ...
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Linx readies to launch in June 2001
INTRO: From early 2002 international services in the Nordic Triangle linking København, Stockholm and Oslo will all be worked by tilting trains, offering shorter journey times and a higher quality of customer service. To run the Oslo - Stockholm and Oslo - København routes, SJ and NSB have founded a ...
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Sleeping beauty awakes
to carry international freightFROM THE END of next year, up to 15 freight trains a day will begin running across the south of the Netherlands and northern Belgium. The revival of the so-called ’Iron Rhine’ corridor linking Germany’s Ruhr industrial area with the port of Amsterdam follows the signing of ...
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Integrated signalling, ATP and train radio on the Øresund Link
INTRO: Opening of the Øresund fixed link on July 2 physically connects two railways. Ensuring that trains can pass seamlessly from one to the other at up to 200 km/h required ingenuity in integrating the different signalling, communications and train protection systemsBYLINE: Konrad Hove and Niels Brejnbjerg Buch*WHEN commercial services ...
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Pointers
n Look for the state government of New South Wales to announce plans for the privatisation of Freightcorp; the A$1bn sale has been approved in principle by the cabinet, and discussions with local rail unions are expected to start later this month.n Construction of a new commuter rail route in ...
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Israelis flock to the trains
RECORDS are tumbling month by month as passenger traffic continues to boom on Israel Railways. Director-General Amos Uzani announced on June 12 that for the first time more than 1 million passengers had been carried in May, a 50% rise on May 1999. In the first five months of this ...