Main line rail industry news – Page 1369
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News
Letters
Unity endangeredSir - Useability of a rail network depends heavily on the continuity of its main parameters. Introduction of incompatible elements hampering through working will not just hit the economy of the region involved, but will affect the entire community. Thus the proposed development of a Berlin - Hamburg - ...
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Dutch target rail growth
INTRO: The Dutch government is investing heavily in expansion of capacity on the rail network to accommodate traffic growth. With bidding for rights to run high-speed services due to resume in April, Chris Jackson asked Transport Minister Tineke Netelenbos how she sees the Netherlands railways developing over the next ...
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News
Publications
The Milwaukee Electricsby Noel T HolleyNorth America’s pioneering main line electrification across the Rockies was a bold but misguided project. The Milwaukee’s Pacific Extension, completed in 1909, was the fourth and weakest link from the Midwest to the North West. Electrification at 3 kV DC through the mountains between Harlowtown, ...
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Finance
China: Shanghai city government is launching its biggest-ever bond issue, valued at 800m yuan, to finance infrastructure projects including construction of light rail Line 1.Britain’s Export Credit Guarantee Department has underwritten a loan of US$26m from ANZ Investment Bank to China Development Bank to part-finance a digital optic fibre network ...
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Spending set to rise in Russia
INVESTMENT in the sprawling and run-down Russian Railways network is to rise by 20% this year compared with 1999, according to Minister of Railways Nikolai Aksyonenko. Speaking at the annual board meeting of the Ministry of Railways on December 24, he called for more intensive use of assets to raise ...
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European freight wars hot up
SWISS Federal Railways and Italian State Railways hoped to sign a ’final agreement’ by the end of January to set up a jointly owned freight and logistics company to be known as Cargo SI. The agreement is a prelude to a full merger of the two railways’ freight businesses, now ...
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Two railways grapple with rolling stock modernisation
The national railways in Belgium and the Netherlands are modernising their passenger rolling stock fleets, but commercial and political objectives complicate the task. Harry Hondius MSc Eng compares the two railways' traction policies
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Frame sleepers adapt ballasted track to modern needs
INTRO: Replacing single sleepers with closely spaced double-H prestressed concrete frames provides better support for the rails, while their stiffness allows eddy current braking by eliminating lateral buckling BYLINE: Prof Dipl-Ing Dr techn Klaus RiessbergerTechnical University of GrazTRADITIONAL BALLASTED track has developed over many decades, displacing more sophisticated early designs ...
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Routine maintenance extends rail life and offers long-term savings
INTRO: There is ample evidence to suggest that a preventive rail maintenance regime using a regular grinding programme can keep rail defects under control and lead to significant cost savings. Failure to maintain the rail leads to higher rail purchase costs and financial penaltiesBYLINE: Dr Stuart L Grassie and Paul ...
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Steel sleepers invade concrete territory
INTRO: Almost half the new sleepers being installed on Railtrack’s network could soon be steel. Richard Hope reports on a quiet revolution driven by major savings in materials handling and the volume of new ballast neededRAILTRACK IS currently installing around 600000 sleepers annually on its network, which totals 32000 track-km. ...
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News
Market opportunities attract seat suppliers
JUDGING by the level of interest shown at December’s Railtex exhi- bition in London, seating suppliers are very interested in the British market, where there are prospects for substantial new train orders as the franchise renegotiation process moves ahead. Low weight, vandal resistance and low life-cycle ...
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Duewag to close Düsseldorf plant
CITING the need to assure long-term competitiveness and achieve profitability, Siemens Duewag Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH has announced a restructuring programme that will concentrate all rolling stock production at Uerdingen. Transfer of work from Düsseldorf, which currently produces light rail vehicles, is to be complete by the end of 2001.SDS has also ...
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JR West launches Hikari Rail Star
ON MARCH 11 West Japan Railway launches its own Series 700 shinkansen trainsets between Shin Osaka and Hakata. The eight-car sets have a maximum speed of 285 km/h and are similar to the 16-car Series 700 units already in service with JR Central (RG 10.98 p697).Marketed as Hikari Rail Star, ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Australia: Rail America subsidiary Freight Victoria is to refurbish 70 km of the Gippsland line and reinstate freight trains between Sale and Hillsdale. FV Chief Executive Maris van Onselen hopes to negotiate state funding for refurbishing another 8 km to Bairnsdale.Azerbaijan: In association with DSC and The Port of Rotterdam, ...
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South Hants LRT
ANOTHER British light rail scheme moved a step closer on December 17, when Hampshire County Council and Portsmouth City Council invited expressions of interest in the South Hampshire Rapid Transit Project (RG 12.99 p815). Linking Fareham, Gosport and Portsmouth, and running in an immersed tube tunnel under Portsmouth Harbour, the ...
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CN to merge with BNSF
On December 20 Canadian National and Burlington Northern Santa Fe announced plans to merge, creating the largest railway in North America. The two companies have over 80000 route-km and employ 67000 staff. Combined turnover is approximately US$12·5bn. Based on the closing prices on December 17, the two companies had an ...
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Fu boosts Chinese expansion
ON JANUARY 7 Chinese Minister of Railways Fu Xhihuan announced plans to invest 56bn yuan this year on 15 new and 38 ongoing rail projects. He said that this year should see completion of 1300 km of new line, 750 km of double-tracking and 1000 km of electrification. Several schemes ...
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Periodic Review moves closer
COMMENTS are due by February 14 from the many parties in Britain’s fragmented rail industry about the proposed structure of Railtrack track access charges which will apply from April 2001 to April 2006. Rail Regulator Tom Winsor published the fifth consultation document on December 15.Provisional Conclusions on Revenue Requirements sets ...
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ICF plans open access
PAN-EUROPEAN intermodal operator Intercontainer-Interfrigo is applying to the Belgian Ministry of Transport for registration as a licensed train operator. This would enable ICF to bid for paths under EU Directive 91/440, although it would probably lease locomotives and crews rather than acquire its own. ICF Chairman & Managing Director René ...
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NS to invest
NORFOLK Southern unveiled a $747·2m capital spending programme for 2000 on January 10. This follows a $1·1bn programme in 1999. According to Chairman, President & CEO David Goode ’Norfolk Southern is moving as quickly as possible to complete capacity improvement projects ... to meet customer needs and improve service levels.’ ...