Main line rail industry news – Page 1403
-
News
Gulf Coast flyers
HIGH SPEED promoters are active again in the United States. Ambitious plans for a 1600 km Gulf Coast Corridor were unveiled in New Orleans on November 18. The first phase would link Houston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Pensacola, with a branch to Birmingham. Phase 2 would extend the line ...
-
News
Spares & repairs
LAST year Nigerian Railways Corp took delivery of some spanking new 1067mm gauge rolling stock from China. There were 50 Class 2101 diesel locos rated at 2400hp, coaches that included air-conditioned first-class cars from Sifang Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works, a fleet of railbuses, plus 400 freight wagons. The package ...
-
News
Our latest publications
DISTRIBUTED to subscribers with this issue is Rail Business Report 99. This edition includes the World Bank performance database, a review of investment plans in Europe, an assessment of the US rolling stock market, and articles about railway developments in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, West Rail in Hong Kong, and ...
-
News
No light at the end
SWEDEN’S rail infrastructure authority Banverket reported on December 9 that it would not be worth completing the heavily-delayed Hallandsåsen tunnel on the West Coast trunk line. Finishing the twin 8·5 km bores would require at least SKr4·3bn, way above the commercial and social benefits to be gained. Even a single-track ...
-
News
Competition drives down freight rates
RATES charged by Australia’s rail freight operators are being forced down by open access competition. Last month, FreightCorp was awarded a two-year ’interim’ contract by Flinders Energy to carry 5 million tonnes of coal to Leigh Creek power station near Port Augusta; a 10 year deal is in prospect. Only ...
-
News
Industrial disputes foster rivalry
IN A MESSAGE signed by President Louis Gallois to be published in French newspapers on December 18, French National Railways announced the sale of Fr20 day tickets for travel within specified regions over the Christmas period. It was a gesture of reconciliation to passengers who have had their patience severely ...
-
News
Test tracks in demand
AS EUROPE’S railways adjust their procurement procedures towards performance specifications for rolling stock and other equipment, suppliers are having to assume fresh responsibilities. It is increasingly the manufacturer who takes the blame for trains with commercially damaging teething troubles, so it is perhaps no surprise that the industry is putting ...
-
News
CityNEWS
On December 4 Manila’s Metro Rail Transit Corp urged the Department of Transport & Communications to authorise the 5·2 km second phase of the EDSA light rail line from North Avenue to Monumento at a cost of US$270m. This would allow the construction teams to roll forward from the first ...
-
News
U-Bahn to Riem
MÜNCHENER Verkehrsbetriebe has unveiled details of the revision to U-Bahn services which will come into effect with the opening of a 7·7 km branch to the new trade fair at Riem on May 30 1999. Work on the line was delayed by a tunnel collapse linked to the use of ...
-
News
Orbital approved
PLANS to develop an orbital rail link south of Paris have moved a step closer following a decision by the Conseil Général de l’Essonne to contribute Fr500m towards the scheme. Completion of the first phase is envisaged for 2006, with traffic estimated at 28 million passengers/year.. Costed at Fr5·4bn, plus ...
-
News
Praha opens Line B extension
THE 6·4 km eastern extension of Praha metro Line B from Ceskomoravska to Cerny Most was formally opened by the city’s Mayor Jan Koukal on November 8. There are four intermediate stations at Vysocanska, CKD, Hloubetin, and Rajska Zahrada, although the middle two will not be opened until mid-1999 pending ...
-
News
Second Salt Lake line closer
PRELIMINARY engineering was due to be completed in December for the second light rail line in Salt Lake City, which Utah Transit Authority hopes to have open in time for the Winter Olympic Games in February 2002. DeLeuw Cather & Co was expected to complete the Final Environmental Impact Statement ...
-
News
Valencia to expand metro
A FIVE-POINT plan to expand the Valencia rail network at a cost of Pts15bn was unveiled by the President of the Generalitat Valenciana Eduardo Zaplana in November. This sets out future priorities following the inauguration of the Line 3 cross-city tunnel in September (RG 11.98 p753). The regional government has ...
-
News
HK car order
ROLLING STOCK for the Hong Kong MTR extension to Tseung Kwan O is to be supplied by a consortium of Mitsubishi Electric of Japan and Hyundai Precision & Industry Co of South Korea. Contracts worth ´16bn were signed on November 12 by MTR Corp’s Project Director Russell Black, Hyundai Executive ...
-
News
NJ picks DBOM
ON DECEMBER 7 NJ Transit selected a consortium of Bechtel and Adtranz to design, build, operate and maintain a 55 km ’diesel light rail’ line along the Delaware River corridor from Trenton to Camden. Southern New Jersey Rail Group bid US$615m for the contract, which will be awarded after a ...
-
News
Monorail link
ON NOVEMBER 26 the Governor of Tokyo Yukio Aoshima participated in ceremonies to inaugurate the first section of an orbital monorail linking the capital’s western suburbs. Also participating were Construction Minister Akira Kiyazaki and Vice Transport Minister Motoo Hayashi. To be operated by a subsidiary of the Tokyo Municipal Government, ...
-
News
Nottingham LRT to go ahead
CONSTRUCTION of a fifth British light rail network is to get under way this year. Nottingham Express Transit will get revenue support worth £167m under the government's local authority Private Finance Initiative scheme. Announcing the award on December 3, Transport Minister Dr John Reid said that as this ...