Main line rail industry news – Page 1380
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News
Chinese metro ban is lifted
CHINA's State Planning Committee has lifted the embargo on new metro construction which was imposed in 1995 to limit demands for foreign exchange. Vice-Minister of Construction Zhao Baojiang announced on August 8 that urban rail expansion was now to be encouraged as a means of stimulating the national economy. ...
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CFM sales move ahead
MADAGASCAR: Last month the Malagasy government’s privatisation committee announced that it had selected the South African joint venture Comazar as preferred bidder to operate the 730 km metre-gauge northern railway on the island of Madagascar. Under the privatisation process started last year, the deal is due to be completed by ...
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Of modules and maintenance
INTRO: In the midst of turmoil, the railway supply industry is trying to change the rules of the game. Andrew F Saxe* reviews the performance of the major players over the last 12 monthsIn a dramatic year for the railway supply industry, two of the major suppliers reported large losses, ...
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Family compartments back
FRENCH National Railways has started developing economy sleeping cars designed to attract families back to its 24 conventional overnight services. Each car would accommodate 46 passengers in 10 three-berth and 8 two-berth ’rooms’. These would have longitudinal berths above and below the windows, with the third bunks arranged on an ...
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Industry News
Australia: On June 17, Foxboro Transportation Systems and Foxboro Scada International became business units of Invensys Intelligent Automation Australia, part of Invensys plc (RG 7.99 p465).Finland: Patentes Talgo of Spain signed a final agreement on June 18 to purchase Rautaruukki’s Transtech rolling stock unit. Germany: Siemens AG has increased its ...
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Product NEWS
Sprinter corrects spot faultsPlasser & Theurer has developed the Unimat Sprinter tamper for the correction of spot faults, defects of around nine to 15 sleepers in length which typically occur at a rate of 20 per 100 km per year, according to the manufacturer. An on-board computer running Win-ALC Sprinter ...
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Regionals set the pace of change
INTRO: Gordon Wiseman takes a look at some of Germany’s up-and-coming passenger operatorsBY THE START of the summer timetable in May 2000, around 3500 km of regional lines will have passed from German Railway to the local sector since regionalisation started in the early 1990s. This compares with 896 ...
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Metros
China: MTR Corp has awarded CITIC Guo Hua International Contracting (Overseas) Ltd a HK$160m contract to provide the power supply system for the Tseung Kwan O extension. Shinryo Corp is to supply the tunnel environmental control system under a HK$189m contract and trackside auxiliaries for HK$91m. Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp has ...
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Passenger in Brief
n Chinese Railways has put into service a luxury six-car electric multiple-unit to carry tourists between Kunming and historic sites at Shilin. Built by Zhuzhou works, the Stone Forest Express can carry 602 passengers at a maximum speed of 120 km/h. The train is timetabled to cover the 130 ...
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Technology will meet local needs
INTRO: Alstom LHB GmbH is supplying 24 lightweight coaches to Indian Railways. They will act as prototypes for local production under a technology transfer deal that includes staff training and technical assistance BYLINE: Dr-Ing Alfred Henning Director, Passenger Coach Group, Alstom LHB GmbHAT THE END of this year ...
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DB targets Paris with the ICE3
INTRO: ICE3 builders Siemens and Adtranz demonstrated the first complete ICE3 unit or German Railway at the Siemens test track in Wegberg-Wildenrath on July 9. Murray Hughes was on boardHEINZ KURZ, Head of Rolling StockTechnology and Train Systems at DB Reise&Touristik, German Railway’s long-distance passenger subsidiary, confirmed on July 9 ...
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Builders rise to standard trains challenge
INTRO: Train procurement in Britain has seen radical change following privatisation. Roger Ford describes how manufacturers are creating standard designs to be bought off-the-shelf rather than made-to-measureIN MANY European countries state railways continue to have a major say in the design and technology of new traction and rolling stock. Procurement ...
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Excelsior cars to Paris
NEXT MONTH is due to see the formal launch of the Excelsior luxury sleeping cars on the international overnight services between France and Italy. Being built for Italian Railways by Costaferroviaria with styling by Giugiaro, the 20 Excelsior cars include a centrally located suite with double bed and a reception ...
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Finance
Canada: CN raised U$497m through a public offering of 4·6million common shares and a concurrent issue of US$230m in convertible preferred securities which both closed on June 23. BC Rail reported a 26% fall in operating profit for 1998-99 on June 24, with profit at parent British Columbia Railway Co ...
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DB learns to live with competition
INTRO: On June 1 German Railway’s subsidiary businesses were given the status of legally independent companies. This took Germany’s railway reform programme one step closer to privatisation, but the national railway is already facing competition for freight and regional passenger traffic. Ralf Roman Rossberg looks at the line-up of ...
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Powered by gas
LOWER emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants would be the main benefit of a railcar powered by compressed natural gas. French National Railways’ research department is working on plans to have a prototype available for trials within two years. Based on the X73500 diesel railcars being built by De ...
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Anglia Turbostars arrive
Anglia Railways is taking delivery of eight Class 170/2 Turbostar DMUs from Adtranz, which were to be introduced on the 185 km London - Norwich route from mid-July. With the start of the winter timetable on September 26, Anglia also hopes to deploy the trains on services from London to ...