Main line rail industry news – Page 1409
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News
LU sounds out the market
OVER 100 companies from the private sector have been sent a Market Sounding Paper by London Underground after registering their interest in the Public-Private Partnership announced by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on March 20 (RG 5.98 p289). Responses were required by mid-September and LU was to ask ’a cross-section ...
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éole opens in June
FRENCH National Railways confirmed at the end of August that the first phase of its cross-Paris RER Line E is to open on June 26 next year. The Est-Ouest Liaison Express (éole) will eventually connect the Est and St Lazare suburban networks, but the first phase provides for selected services ...
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NYCT selects TBTC suppliers
ON SEPTEMBER 2 MTA New York City Transit awarded contracts to three firms to demonstrate transmission-based train control systems for use on the subway network. Bids were called for the pilot project last October, with three preferred bidders selected in July (RG 7.98 p462).The three are Alcatel Transport Automation, Alstom ...
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Combinos ordered
At the beginning of September the municipality of Hiroshima announced it was buying four Combino low-floor LRVs, with an option for eight more. Due for delivery in the spring of 1999, they will be supplied by Siemens in conjunction with local firm Alna Koki.The 30·5m long bi-directional cars, 2 450 ...
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Muni metro extends
SAN FRANCISCO Municipal Railway began through services to the CalTrain terminal at 4th & King Streets on August 22, when the N-Judah route was extended from Embarcadero. The through service from Ocean Beach replaces the route E shuttle which has served the extension since January 10. Through running was delayed ...
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Bybanen design deal
KØBENHAVN’s urban development consortium Ørestadsselskabett awarded contracts at the beginning of September for design work on the next three phases of the city’s Bybanen automated metro network.Danish engineering group Carl Bro and British consultants Maunsell Ltd are to undertake detailed design of the alignment, earthworks, track and power supplies for ...
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Milk moves just in time
AUGUST saw a doubling of bulk milk traffic handled so successfully during the 1997 season by Tranz Rail on New Zealand’s North Island. Where two daily services sufficed last year, four loaded trains are now timed to arrive at 6h intervals at Kiwi Co-operative Dairies’ plant at Whareroa. It takes ...
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WestRail gets the go-ahead
THIS MONTH will see the formal start of work on the first phase of Hong Kong’s ambitious WestRail link between Kowloon and Tuen Mun, following the final approval of the project by the region’s government on September 15. Transport Secretary Nicholas Ng said the project would generate 13000 jobs and ...
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News
GSM-R gathers speed
ANY DOUBT that GSM-R might fail to become the standard radio platform for Europe’s railways can be set aside. The June decision by the board of Deutsche Bahn AG to replace eight disparate analogue radio systems with a single GSM-R radio network will result shortly in a service supplier agreement ...
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Letters
Speedrail clarificationSir - Your report on the Sydney - Canberra high speed rail project (RG 9.98 p563) contains an error. The Sydney - Canberra project is not one of those to be examined by the Rail Projects Tasks Force, headed by Jack Smorgon. The Task Force will examine possible extensions ...
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News
Revenue conundrum must be solved
NOTWITHSTANDING the low impact of the much-publicised Trans-European Freight Freeways, big changes are afoot on the European freight scene. There are encouraging signs, with the Community of European Railways reporting rail freight in the first three months of the year to be 9·4% up on the 1997 figures, with steady ...
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CITY NEWS
CAPTION: A formal opening date for Britain’s third light rail line is due to be announced at the beginning of this month, following a meeting between the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (Centro) and concessionaire Altram. Driver training is under way with the Ansaldo LRVs, and the line has been ...
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INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: The first of 17 Integral ID5 units for Bayerische Oberlandbahn was rolled out of the Jenbacher Energiesysteme AG works on June 18. The 53·4m long five-section articulated trains have three motored modules and two low-floor passenger sections with two doors each per side. They will replace older stock on ...
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No trips to Jerusalem
Israel Railways has been unable to resolve the problems posed by its Tel Aviv - Jerusalem line. Expensive to operate and maintain because of tortuous curves and severe grades, neither the infrastructure nor rolling stock is exactly state of the art. There were six derailments alone last year. The main ...
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Eight corridors at heart of five-year plan
INTRO: Chinese Railways’ new line and upgrading plan for 1998-2002 envisages investment reaching a new record levelBY 2002 the Chinese Railways main line network will have smashed through the 70000 route-km barrier, with the construction of more than 5000 km of new line over the next five years. At the ...
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Privatisation bloom withers
THERE ARE suggestions that moves to push all or part of Netherlands Railways into the private sector have moved down the agenda of the incoming government, which is formed of a coalition of liberal democrats, radical liberals and socialists. Former Transport Minister Annemarie Jorritsma is replaced by Mrs Tineke Netelenbos ...
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NEWS
CAPTION: Taking shape at the Adtranz works in Nürnberg are the first driving vehicles for German Railway’s third-generation Inter-City Express. A pre-production ICE-3 trainset is to start running on the Siemens test track at Wegberg-Wildenrath this autumn, with the eight-car multiple-units entering revenue service next summer
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Thrall Europa rolls out first EWS wagon
THEFIRST of 310 steel coil carrier wagons was formally handed over to English Welsh & Scottish Railway on July 27, marking the start of production at the new Thrall Europa factory in York works. Participating in the ceremonies were Thrall Car Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Craig Duchossois (right) and ...
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Funding shortage
INDIAN Railways’ plans to modernise and expand will have to be reined in. Sanctions in the wake of the country’s detonation of atomic bombs earlier this year look likely to force the abandonment or deferral of numerous projects as credit agencies withdraw funding.No surprise then that a parliamentary committee has ...
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LKAB invests in 30 tonne axleloads
Swedish mining giant LKAB is investing SKr1·1bn in three new trainsets and nine locos for the Malmbanan iron ore corridor. Heavier axleloads to boost rail capacity and cut transport costs form a key element in the company's strategy to boost production from 20 to 30 million tonnes a year