Main line rail industry news – Page 1416
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News
Territorial tussle in the Pilbara
With demand for iron ore holding up in China and Taiwan despite the financial crisis that hit Asian countries around the Pacific rim a few months ago, three heavy haul lines totalling some 450 km are under construction or planned in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.The most extraordinary aspect ...
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Central website goes live
Following the launch of several new train services with the summer timetable, Central Trains has established a comprehensive web site providing general and timetable information (www.centraltrains.co.uk).An innovation with this site is the use of a network route map to allow users to select the start and end points of a ...
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North Carolina riders up
Ridership on the two state-subsidised passenger trains operated by Amtrak in North Carolina has shown increases for the six months from October 1997. The Piedmont showed a 9·7% rise compared with the same period a year earlier while the Carolinian was up just 0·2%.Starting in May, a full-length dome car ...
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VIA schedules earlier Toronto commuter runs
Improved morning services from Sarnia, Kitchener/Waterloo, Stratford and Guelph were introduced on Monday June 15 giving arrivals in Toronto before 09.00, returning mid-evening.Train 82 now departs Sarnia one hour earlier at 05.35, arriving in London at 06.45 and continuing on VIA’s south main line with stops at Woodstock at 07.11, ...
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PRODUCT NEWS
CAPTION: Trackside signVortok International has developed the Trackguard temporary signboard support, which clamps to the foot of the rail to avoid disturbing ballast and damaging trackside cabling. Manufactured from flexible GRP with a weather-protected metal clamp, Trackguard weighs 12 kg, can be carried and erected by one person, and has ...
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Ore route wins investment
LAST YEAR Khutso Mampeule, Executive Manager of Spoornet’s iron ore business known as Orex, told us that export traffic on the 861 km Sishen - Saldanha iron ore line was on the way to recovery. Mampeule revealed at the end of May that the 1065mm gauge heavy haul route is ...
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Keystone upgrade
A US$16m project to upgrade the Philadelphia - Harrisburg Keystone line is moving ahead rapidly this summer. The work, part of which was carried out last year, includes replacing life-expired wood sleepers and upgrading the station at Lancaster. As the work is completed and track conditions improved, speeds on some ...
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Enhanced Railtracker keeps customers informed
INTRO: Bangladesh Railways is the Asian launch customer for an upgraded version of the RailTracker Advance Cargo Information System that allows shippers and forwarders to keep track of their cargoesFRAU Renate Schmidt, Chief Executive of a major international forwarding company dealing with Asia and Africa, sat at her office desk ...
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Amtrak builds non-passenger revenue
INTRO: As part of its strategy to eliminate operating subsidies, Amtrak is actively developing its express parcels business to the concern of some of the big freight railways. Julian Wolinsky looks at developments so farALMOST 40 years after the major US railroads lost most of their premium parcels and sundries ...
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Alstom goes public
ON June 2 Alstom, formerly GEC Alsthom, officially launched the initial public offering of its shares. The company was to be floated simultaneously on the London, New York and Paris stock exchanges, with Paris the primary listing. Trading was expected to begin on June 22 when the offering price was ...
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Tests confirm PTC viability
TRIALS concluded towards the end of April in the states of Washington and Oregon have confirmed the full range of capabilities of Positive Train Separation equipment being developed by GE Harris in conjunction with Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (RG 8.97 p539). This should lead to the formal ...
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Caucasian railways start the long climb back
INTRO: Railways in the three countries of the Caucasus region suffered badly when the demise of the Soviet Union triggered civil strife, causing healthy freight traffic to shrink to almost nothing. The railways have responded positively to the end of hostilities, and the oil boom in Azerbaijan is helping to ...
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In search of a market economy
INTRO: Kazakstan’s Transport Minister Erkin Kaliyev believes freight and long distance passenger operations can reward private investment, but replacing bureaucratic controls with a commercially-minded management is not going to be easyTHERE IS a long way to go, but the direction has been set. ’The railways of Kazakstan have embarked on ...
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INSIDE INDUSTRY
Brazil: CBTU has called tenders for the supply of an automatic fare collection system for the Belo Horizonte metro. Procurement funding is to be provided by the World Bank. China: Guangzhou Railway has ordered 360 LF-310 two litre flush toilets from Microphor of the USA for cars being built by ...
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TGV sports new colours
All over advertising took to France’s TGV network with a Réseau set painted in a scheme to promote Sony video game equipment.SNCF has contributed to World Cup celebrations by applying the football tournament’s logos to 1000 of its trains, including TGVs and Paris regional EMUs. During June and early July ...
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DB grounds ICE1 fleet after Eschede disaster
GERMAN Railway's carefully cultivated image of speed, safety and luxury built up since it launched IC-Express services on June 2 1991 is in tatters. The derailment at 10.59 on June 3 of ICE884 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen at Eschede on the Hannover - Hamburg main line and its disastrous aftermath shocked ...
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New York pilot will set North America’s TBTC standards
INTRO: Suppliers are due to be chosen this month for a pilot installation of transmission-based train control on NYCT’s F Culver line. William D Middleton assesses the proposals, which envisage that a lead supplier develops compatible equipment permitting competitive procurement in the future INTEREST in transmission-based or communications-based train control ...
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Strasbourg completes Line A
ACCOMPANIED by police, press, local TV and technical staff, the first test car inched along the Strasbourg Line A extension from Baggersee to Illkirch on May 25 (right). Due to open on July 4, the extension adds 2·8 km and four stations. The route crosses the Rhone-Rhine canal on a ...
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Lorraine initiative
As part of the continuing improvement in customer care allied to regionalisation on SNCF, staff handed out information packs to travellers between Nancy and Epinal on May 23. Included were the new regional timetable book, a competition and details of a new bus link from the railhead at Remiremont to ...
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Manchester may get first Network Management Centre
INTRO: The Railtrack board will shortly receive the business case for concentrating operational control of Britain’s 16600 route-km in about nine Network Management Centres. Richard Hope asked Andrew McNaughton to explain the strategyCSX TRANSPORTATION was the first major railway to exploit the almost limitless capacity of modern communications technology by ...