Main line rail industry news – Page 1364
-
News
Oil link approved
FEASIBILITY STUDIES have been completed for a 220 km rail link in the northern Caucasus, designed to improve access to the Caspian Sea oilfields. The line is being promoted by Russian Railways, with the regional government in Stavropol and various Russian and foreign oil companies.A committee was formed in 1998 ...
-
News
TGV enquiries
FRENCH Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot announced on March 9 that the formal planning enquiry process for TGV Rhin-Rh
-
News
Libyan contract signed
CONSTRUCTION of the long-planned rail-link between the Tunisian border at Ras Jedir and the Libyan capital Tripoli is set to get under way later this year, following the signing of a US$477m contract in Beijing on March 2. The 191 km line is to be built by the China Civil ...
-
News
FGC doubled and diverted
ON MARCH 14, Catalunya’s Minister for Territorial Policy & Public Works, Pere Macías, formally inaugurated the FGC double-track alignment between Sant Boi and Santa Coloma de Cervelló, which has been in operation since February 13 and opened the new station at Santa Coloma (RG 3.00 p141). Taking advantage of the ...
-
News
Guadarrama tunnels let
SPANISH high speed construction authority GIF has awarded three contracts worth a total of Pts114·6bn, covering most of the tunnelling and tracklaying work on the Soto del Real - Segovia section of the 175 km Madrid - Valladolid high-speed line. Between Soto del Real and Segovia, twin bores each 25 ...
-
News
Mehdorn rattles DB cage
APRIL 1 sees a further restructuring of German Railway, as agreed at a board meeting on March 1. Supervisory Board Chairman Dr Dieter Vogel said that ’despite indisputable successes in the first six years of the restructured railway, the present management structure is too complex and has proved to be ...
-
News
Ministry backs down
LAST December we reported the Japanese Ministry of Transport’s strong desire to push through legislation that would allow full privatisation of the three Japan Rail Group companies on Honshu. We suggested that one or two obstacles may prohibit rapid progress towards the ministry’s goal, despite strong backing from JR East ...
-
News
VIA volte-face
HAVING considered privatisation of VIA Rail Canada, the federal government may now be prepared to ensure its survival in the public sector, and, to boot, stabilise its precarious financial position. Transport Minister David Collenette has apparently convinced his cabinet colleagues of the merits of using a healthy pre-election budget surplus ...
-
News
PEOPLE
Netherlands Railways Chairman Rob den Besten is to step down in August. He will be succeeded by NS Reizigers Director General Hans Huisinga.Amongst recent Russian Railways appointments, Yevgeni M Plokhov succeeds A S Levchenko as President of the Kuyibishev Railway and Alexander S Bogatyryov becomes President of the North Caucasian ...
-
News
INTELLIGENCE
Argentina: Looking to broaden its traffic base beyond bulk commodities, Belgrano Railway (RG 1.00 p12) has introduced Buenos Aires - Salta container services. The company also has a stake in the consortium holding the concession to operate the port of Santa Fe.In addition to the purchase of new locomotives for ...
-
News
Bracks invests
PLANS TO invest A$1·5bn in transport infrastructure over the next three years were announced by the Premier of Victoria Steve Bracks on February 28. Bids are to be called this year for redevelopment of Melbourne’s Spencer Street station as a multi-modal interchange. It will also be the terminus for the ...
-
News
Action needed
A PROGRESS report from International Risk Management Services commissioned by the Irish Department of Public Enterprise chides Iarnród éireann for not moving quickly enough to implement changes to improve safety. While the dire predictions of a report by the same consultants published in November 1998 (RG 12.98 p825) have not ...
-
News
DART approves three more lines
ON MARCH 8 the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board announced preferred routes for light rail extensions to serve Carrollton, Farmers Branch and Irving. A month earlier, the board approved a 16·4 km route to Pleasant Grove. A two-year Major Investment Study suggests that the $1·4bn northwestern lines serving 18 stations ...
-
News
Lausanne metro rebuild
ON MARCH 6, the Swiss canton of Vaud confirmed that it had chosen Alstom to supply new rolling stock and train control systems for the Lausanne metro, which is to be rebuilt and extended by 2005. The former Lausanne - Ouchy funicular, subsequently converted to a steel-wheeled rack railway, is ...
-
News
Shanghai orders
LAST MONTH, Shanghai’s public-private metro development consortium Jiushi ordered a fleet of 152 metro cars to operate the city’s Xinming ’light rail’ line, which runs 14 km southwest from the Line 1 terminus at Xin Zhuang to Ming Hang (RG 1.99 p29). They will be built to Alstom’s modular Metropolis ...
-
News
Expo rail launch
COMPLETING its preparations for the forthcoming Expo 2000 world fair, Hannover transport operator üstra inaugurated the final section of its light rail Line D on February 19. The 9·5 km line, served by route 11, provides a second light rail link to the city’s trade fair grounds. It also serves ...
-
News
BA plans to double metro by 2010
APRIL 24 is due to see the opening of the latest extension to the Buenos Aires metro, taking Line D from Juramento to the provisionally-named Congreso de Tucum
-
News
STB ban halts BNSF-CN merger
IN A MOVE that stunned the North American railway industry, the US Surface Transportation Board on March 17 ordered a freeze on all mergers of large railways. The decision followed a four-day hearing into the proposed US$6bn combination of Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Canadian National (RG 2.00 p66) during ...