Main line rail industry news – Page 1426
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Faster but quieter
FRENCH Railways has begun to examine the production, maintenance and safety implications of a range of wheelset and rail combinations to reduce noise generated by high-speed trains. SNCF’s Research Division has directed the project, divided into the RONA (wheelsets), VONA (track) and MONA (grinding) subgroups. Development work has made use ...
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Sokol bids called
WORK is under way on a 5ha site next to the present station in St Petersburg to build a terminal for the planned high speed line to Moscow being promoted by the Russian High Speed Railway Shareholding Co, RAO VSM. While the company still does not have enough secure finance ...
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PUBLICATIONS
Maghreb Rail (map)This detailed 70x100 cm colour relief map covers at 1:2350000 scale Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya - a region whose railway geography is unfamiliar to many. Colour coding and hatching is used effectively to distinguish four different gauges, single and double track, electrification, closed and projected lines. Also ...
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Focused approach keeps Renfe on target
INTRO: To beat their financial targets for 1997, the eight operating business units of Spanish National Railways placed key emphasis on sales, applied rigorous cost control and made maximum use of resourcesTHE EIGHT business units forming the Operations Directorate of Spanish National Railways were particularly successful in meeting the commercial ...
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Sizarail seizure settled
THE GOVERNMENT of the Democratic Republic of Congo has started paying off a debt of R136m owed to South African operator Spoornet following renationalisation of the railways in the former Zaire. The aim is to restore relations damaged last year when Laurent Kabila’s regime seized the railway and rolling stock, ...
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Metros
Canada: Toronto Transit Commission has asked the promoters of the AirCanada Centre to help fund expansion of the metro station at Union Station, to handle the anticipated traffic which will be attracted by the new sports arena.China: Hong Kong MTR Corp signed a contract with Siemens on February 18 ...
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Via at the Styx
’CAN we close the gap between revenue and costs any more? The answer is no.’ Addressing the Standing Committee on Transport on February 26, Via Rail Canada President & CEO Terry Ivany told Canada’s MPs that by the end of this year Via will have reduced its reliance on government ...
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CFR plans upgrading programme
ROMANIAN state railway CFR is working to raise Ecu340m for an upgrading programme which includes renovation of 900 route-km, main line electrification and line speed increases, rolling stock renewal, and communications modernisation.CFR has signed a memorandum of understanding with the World Bank for half the cost of a US$18m programme ...
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German commuters to have many Talents
FORMAL LAUNCH of German Railway’s Class 644 Talent diesel-electric sets took place in Aachen on March 13. Intended for use on S-Bahn routes in the K
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San Diegans to go double-deck
WASTING NO time in spending some of the $2·2bn in capital funding authorised by Congress late last year, Amtrak has awarded a $100m contract to GEC Alsthom Transportation Inc for eight new double-deck trainsets to be used in southern California’s San Diegan corridor. According to Amtrak West President Gil ...
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Thalys traffic builds
Thalys recorded its five millionth passenger on February 20, and reported sharp increases in traffic levels. In the first six weeks of 1998 the service carried half a million passengers, a 72% increase on the same period last year. This was largely due to faster journey times resulting from the ...
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Russia builds passenger motive power
INTRO: When the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, Russia was left with no factories producing multiple-units or passenger locos within its borders; now home-grown designs are emerging BYLINE: Dr Tech Sc V A MatyushinDeputy Director-GeneralCentral Scientific Railway Research InstituteTHE RAILWAYS of the former USSR were going through an exceptionally ...
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Catering confirms its role
PROVIDING some form of on-board catering in the package that train operators offer to customers is no longer in question. What is open to question is the cost of this service. As railways seek to cut costs, contract catering has become the prime means of delivering on-board food and drink, ...
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EMD’s first 6000hp locos enter revenue service
INTRO: Union Pacific is putting into revenue service the first of a fleet of 6000hp SD90MAC locomotives designed and built by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division. Trials at the AAR test centre in Pueblo showed that a single loco fitted with EMD’s novel four-stroke H-engine could handle an 11400 tonne train ...
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Road and rail to the rescue
NS Safety Services has developed a modular rescue train mounted on a crane-equipped Volvo truck, with the aim of getting hydraulic jacks, cutters and other equipment to accident sites within 15min of being called out. The truck carries three 2·5 tonne units which are lowered onto the track at a ...
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Roman empire still crumbling
RAILWAY PRESIDENTS are frequently political appointments. None more so than in Italy, where Giorgio Crisci has been replaced by Claudio Dematté as President of Italian State Railways. A crisis swept through the 16000 route-km network in February, and rumours abounded of the entire management board resigning. It was not quite ...
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Finance
Czech Republic: The government has approved annual grants of KC500m for CD to renew rolling stock during 1998-2001. France: European Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock announced on February 19 that EU contributions for TGV-Est would be limited to 2% of the total infrastructure cost. The French government had expected the ...
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Frontiers no obstacle to ÖBB’s future fleet
INTRO: Due to be delivered to Austrian Federal Railways from January 2000 is a fleet of up to 400 interoperable main line electrics with the ability to haul passenger trains at up to 230 km/h as well as heavy freightBYLINE: Ing Bernhard BenesProject ManagerClass 1016/1116Austrian Federal RailwaysIN JANUARY 2000 Austrian ...
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CP restructures into business units
INTRO: Following the creation of infrastructure authority Refer, Portuguese Railways has embarked on the task of reorganising its operations as five business units. CP President Dr Crisóstomo Teixeira (right) spoke to Robert Preston in LisboaTHE FIRST business unit to take shape under CP’s new management structure was Freight & Logistics ...
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EWS workhorses will deliver savings
INTRO: The biggest British loco order since steam days is ’no big deal’ in the eyes of Jim Fisk. Andrew Hellawell found out why English Welsh & Scottish Railway’s Engineering Director is so confident about the motive power soon to be arriving in drovesBRITAIN’S road freight industry has had ...