Main line rail industry news – Page 1420
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Tanayong cars ready to start trials
ON APRIL 17 Siemens SGP Transport Systems unveiled in Wien the first of 35 three-car metro sets for the Bangkok Mass Transit System. The blue, white and red-flashed vehicles are due to enter service in early 2000.They form part of a DM4bn turnkey contract for Tanayong subsidiary Bangkok Mass Transit ...
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‘s-Hertogenbosch interchange opens
Netherlands Railways opened a rebuilt station and transport interchange at ’s-Hertogenbosch on May 14. The five year project has cost 185m guilders, with nearly half of this going on improved railway infrastructure including grade separated junctions and extra tracks.The station has been expanded with an extra island platform to cope ...
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UP woes over?
ATTACK is the best form of defence, so the saying goes. Perhaps this explains Union Pacific’s May 1 decision to pour $1·4bn into its Texas and Louisiana operations over the next five years, with up to $160m to be spent this year. Of this, about half will go on upgrading ...
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Monorail for sale
After going round in circles for a decade, Sydney’s Darling Harbour monorail could be heading for pastures new. Australian business group TNT announced at the end of April that the single-track loop opened in July 1988 is up for sale. Built at a cost of A$65m to offer visitors a ...
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Accessibility regulations start to firm up
INTRO: Richard Armitage reports on progress with drawing up and implementing regulations governing accessibility to public transport and rail vehicles in Europe. In Britain, Rail Accessibility Regulations requiring all new main line rolling stock to be accessible to wheelchairs will come into force on December 31MUCH of COST335, the Europe-wide ...
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Airport Express brings the plane to town
INTRO: MTR Corporation’s Airport Railway will open next month to connect the centre of Hong Kong with Chek Lap Kok. The aim has been to make the link an extension of the airport, achieving seamless rail-air integrationBYLINE: Jack C K SoChairmanMTR CorporationON July 6 MTR Corporation will begin operating its ...
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Bombardier targets market leadership
Two international units will centralise control of Bombardier Transportation's recently acquired European operations. Chris Jackson spoke to President Jean-Yves Leblanc about his strategy
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Strasbourg Eurotrams commission Derby test track
FIRST vehicle to be trialled on the 1·1 km test track commissioned at the Adtranz Litchurch Lane works in Derby was the launch unit in a follow-on order for 27 all-low-floor trams for Strasbourg. The vehicles are similar to the original 26 cars supplied from Derby in 1994, but 17 ...
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Geismar develops Railtrack MPV concept vehicle
ON MAY 8, Railtrack’s Director, Engineering & Production, Brian Mellitt unveiled a multi-purpose infrastructure service vehicle at London’s Waterloo station. Intended to replace a miscellaneous collection of converted equipment, the MPV combines high-pressure railhead cleaning jets to remove leaves from the line, application of Sandite gel to improve adhesion, weedkiller ...
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Unlikely partners at high speed wedding
INTRO: A 10-car ICE-TGV combination was demonstrated to Taiwanese officials on May 4 as part of Taiwan High Speed Rail Consortium’s efforts to secure a US$17bn build-operate-and-transfer concession for the Taipei - Kaohsiung high speed lineFIVE YEARS ago such a marriage would have been unthinkable. The improbable union of French ...
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PUBLICATIONS
TGV Handbookby Brian PerrenThis second edition of a work first published in 1993 is in effect a new publication, such has been the progress and diversification of TGV derivatives. Although new line construction has slowed, there is extensive text supported by good quality colour photographs covering a plethora of subjects. ...
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München - Augsburg quadrupling work begins
DESPITE driving rain, ceremonies were held on May 4 in the Bavarian town of Kissing to mark the start of work on four-tracking of German Railway's trunk line between München and Augsburg. Taking part were the Federal Finance Minister Dr Theo Waigel, Bavarian President Dr Edmund Stoiber and DB Board ...
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Talgo and Adtranz to build 350 km/h prototype
SPANISH rolling stock supplier Patentes Talgo SA announced on April 23 that its President, José Luis de Oriol, had signed an accord with Adtranz Executive Vice-President Heinz Cronimund for the joint development, construction and marketing of a prototype trainset suitable for operation at 300 to 350 km/h. Talgo will invest ...
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Porterbrook raises £363m to fund MU orders
BRITISH rolling stock company Porterbrook Leasing has put together a package to fund over 400 new vehicles. It includes a £273m securitisation arranged by Union Bank of Switzerland and a £90m corporate facility from UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland. The European Investment Bank is lending £110m (Ecu170m), and the ...
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Riga interlocking
RESIGNALLING of Latvian Railways’ main terminus is to be completed in 2000 under a contract with Adtranz Signal, signed at a ceremony in Riga on April 29 attended by LDZ Director-General Andris Zorgevics, Deputy DG Rihards Peders, and the Swedish ambassador Hans Magnusson.Adtranz Signal will supply an Ebilock 950 electronic ...
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Zürich reconstruction starts
ON APRIL 27 Swiss Federal Railways announced details of a seven-year programme to reconstruct the approaches and environs of Zürich Hauptbahnhof under the Bahn 2000 programme. Describing Züich as the ’Heart of Bahn 2000’, SBB Director-General, Infrastructure, Pierre-Alain Urech said the rail hub had a critical role to play in ...
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PKP to split in July
THE POLISH Ministry of Transport confirmed on May 1 that Polish State Railways will be restructured on July 1, with the naming of Directors to head three new business units. Tadeusz Augustowski will be Director of Rail Infrastructure, with Jósef Szczepanski at Freight Operations and Marek Pawicki at Passenger. They ...
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Canadian cutback
ON MAY 11 Canadian National announced plans to ’rationalise’ a further 2650 route-km of secondary lines, under the Canada Transportation Act. CN plans to transfer around 2087 route-km to short lines and close the rest. According to President & CEO Paul Tellier, ’CN’s objective is to create a low-cost growth-oriented ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Australia: Queensland Rail has opened a $3·9m container terminal at Cloncurry, near Mt Isa. The $200m upgrade of the Townsville - Mt Isa route is scheduled for completion later this year.Westrail has invited tenders for upgrading of the signalling on its freight network. Signalling, maintenance and workshop facilities for the ...
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People
Spoornet’s new board comprises Transnet Chairman Prof L A Tager and Managing Director S J Macosoma, Ms G T Serobe, E Groeneweg, Dr C B Strauss, Ms M E N Magmola and Spoornet Chief Executive A S (Braam) Le Roux, who reports to the Transnet Deputy Managing Director Mafika Mkwanazi.Raymond ...