Main line rail industry news – Page 1401
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News
INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: Switzerland’s Furka Oberalp Bahn inaugurated a 48000 m2 workshops, maintenance depot and rolling stock servicing complex at Glisergrund near Brig on December 11, replacing cramped facilities in the town centre at a cost of SFr70mCAPTION: Italian State Railways’ infrastructure unit ASA Rete has taken delivery of an ultrasonic test ...
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News
INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: The last four of 48 Class 440 EMUs rebuilt by Renfe’s Valladolid workshops for CPTM in São Paulo were shipped from Vigo in December. The units have new cabs, three 2m wide doorways on each side, and the floor height now matches Brazilian platforms
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Market
Australia: CFCL Australia Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Chicago Freight Car Leasing Co, has purchased 13 ex-Australian National 2240 kW EL class locos, which it plans to refurbish for long-term lease to a freight or passenger operator.Sinclair Knight Merz has acquired the Engineering Services Group from Victoria’s Public Transport Corp.Brazil: ...
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News
INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: On December 20 Hong Kong’s MTR Corp unveiled its first Tsuen Wan line EMU refurbished by A Goninan & Co under a HK$1bn mid-life modernisation programme. The unit, which was ceremonially ’handed back’ by the contractor at Tsuen Wan depot two days earlier, is the first of 95 sets ...
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News
Metros
Brazil: The Supervía consortium has begun operating Rio de Janeiro’s Flumitrens commuter network under a 25-year concession (RG 9.98 p567). Trains, stations, track and signalling will be upgraded over the next three years using a US$180m loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.Canada: Bombardier has selected a site in Burnaby, British ...
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News
INTELLIGENCE
Australia: QR is to upgrade its Rockhampton - Townsville line for 20 tonne axleloads and 100 km/h freight operation between mid-1999 and 2002 at a cost of A$240m. Concrete sleepers will be supplied by Austrak and Rocla.Clyde and Bluebird rail are refurbishing five ex-AN diesel locos for Great Northern Railway, ...
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Charm offensive stepped up
IT’S TIME to deploy the big guns. Certainly the Japanese government thinks so. Vice-Minister for Transport Katsuji Doi invited himself to Beijing in December - taking the initiative for what will be a crucial 12 months as Japanese and European groups slog it out for rights to build the 1300 ...
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Mumbai commuters see ray of hope
BETTER services are in prospect for the long-suffering commuters of Mumbai, 4600 of whom typically cram themselves into and onto nine-car trains during the 3h long morning peak. A programme to increase capacity was prepared in December 1994, and in October 1996 the Indian and Maharashtra state governments gave their ...
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Trans Africa starts open access
REGULAR rail freight services between South Africa and Uganda were launched in mid-December by Tanzania-based Trans Africa Railway Corp. Running from Gauteng province to Kampala, the service is expected to handle 80000 tonnes in the first year. End-to-end time by rail and train ferry across Lake Victoria is 14 days, ...
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Union wins Belgrano at last
ARGENTINE President Carlos Menem participated in a ceremony on December 18 to transfer the country’s last state-owned railway to a private-sector consortium. Railway trades union Unión Ferroviaria gains control of Ferrocarril Belgrano Cargas SA after operating the 10000 km metre-gauge network on a temporary basis since mid-1997. At that time, ...
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ERTMS on Neubaustrecke
GERMAN RAILWAY’s Nürnberg - Ingolstadt Neubaustrecke will be the first high-speed line in Europe to be equipped from new with ERTMS/ETCS Level 3 transmission-based train control. On January 4 DB Netz AG announced that DB’s project management subsidiary Planungsgesellschaft Bahnbau Deutsche Einheit had awarded a DM120m contract for electrification, signalling ...
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Finnish orders
ON JANUARY 12 Finnish Railways Ltd announced that it had ordered a further 20 Sr2 electric locos from Adtranz at a cost of FM450m. The last of the initial build of the Lok 2000-derived design was expected to enter service last month, and the new build will follow in 2001-03. ...
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ICF restructures
THIS MONTH is due to see the start of a restructuring at the European intermodal and refrigerated freight co-operative Intercontainer-Interfrigo. The aim is to link costs and revenues directly, and focus attention on the quality of service provided by the 29 partner railways. ICF will become a holding group, and ...
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Powder River challenge
THE US Surface Transportation Board has given preliminary approval to the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern’s ambitious proposal to extend to Wyoming’s Powder River coalfield. On December 10 the STB ruled that the scheme met legal requirements on feasibility, financial fitness, harm to existing carriers and the need for capacity. A ...
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Wiring continues
ON DECEMBER 28 Russia’s Far Eastern Railway inaugurated electric operation on an 81 km section of the Trans-Siberian, between Kotikovo and Bikin. Only 350 route-km remains to be wired, between Bikin and Ussurisk. Speaking at the inauguration, Far East Railway President A Strelnik said the 150 km from Bikin should ...
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News
ScanWays trial
JANUARY 12 saw the departure from København of the first block train to use the Nordic Freight Freeways. Carrying traffic from exporters in Denmark, Norway and Sweden bound for Milano, the trial train was chartered by Aargau-based Hangartner AG, which provided the swap bodies. Traction and wagons were arranged by ...
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Galicia cut-offs
A Pts2·6bn package of improvements for the Monforte - Orense - Vigo corridor was approved by the Spanish government at the end of December. It forms part of a Pts30bn strategy to improve speeds on the main rail links in Galicia in 1999-2002; under an accord signed last April, this ...