Main line rail industry news – Page 1432
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News
INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: Pierino Piffaretti (left), Managing Director of Switzerland’s Schindler Waggon, hands over a symbolic key for the company’s Pratteln works to Swiss Adtranz chief Beat Müller, to mark the change of ownership of the rolling stock business at the beginning of January CAPTION: BAA director Michael Maine (2nd from left) ...
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Industry Extra
Great Britain: On December 23 FirstBus plc shareholders approved a change of name to FirstGroup plc, reflecting the widening scope of its transport operations with the Great Eastern rail franchise.Switzerland: Stadler Group has bought the remaining 30% of Stadler Altenrhein from Adtranz subsidiary Schindler Waggon.
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Upgrading QR’s North Coast artery
INTRO: Faster journey times, higher axleloads and lower maintenance costs will all follow from a A$590m upgrading programme between Brisbane and CairnsAROUND 118 km of new alignment have been laid on QR’s 1681 km North Coast line from Brisbane to Cairns. A series of deviations has been built to ease ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Via Rail Canada. Although management had done an excellent job in downsizing, he said he would find it difficult to ask the federal cabinet to fund new rolling stock.CN signed an agreement on January 19 for GEC Alsthom AMF Transport Inc of Montreal to maintain 50 rebuilt SD40-3 locos used ...
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Stations to be modernised
THISYEAR German Railway will spend DM1bn on modernising 27 major stations. Around 60% of the funding is expected to come from private firms, which will be encouraged to buy or lease retail space. DB plans to offer a wide range of services, with lounges, cafés and play areas. Medical services ...
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Gel applicator
LAYING a gel to combat wheel-slip or slide on slippery rail surfaces is now possible using a portable applicator weighing just 5 kg. Available from Chipman Rail, the Handite applicator is pushed manually along the rail to distribute a Sandite gel evenly on the rail surface.The gel is supplied in ...
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Dismantled by robot
CENTRAL Japan Railway has installed equipment in a rolling stock depot at Osaka that automates the process of dismantling shinkansen bogies in preparation for maintenance work.The equipment comprises a six-axis articulated general purpose robot with a bogie positioner and a range of tools including position detectors, socket wrenches, and a ...
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MARKETPLACE
Bangladesh: Canarail and Systra have won a US$14·5m construction supervision contract for 99 km of new line and the upgrading of 250 km more for the Jamuna Bridge Railway Link Project, funded by the government, the Asian Development Bank, POEC, Spain and France.Brazil: Demetr
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OSE orders low-floor cars
HELLENIC Railways Organisation announced on January 6 that it had ordered 29 GTW2/6 low-floor articulated diesel railcars from Adtranz and Stadler AG of Switzerland to modernise and expand the Athens suburban fleet before the city hosts the 2004 Olympic Games.Valued at SFr120m, the order covers 17 metre-gauge units for the ...
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Motorail expansion
GERMAN Railway subsidiary DB AutoZug is to expand its motorail services next summer, with new destinations including Fréjus on the C
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High-speed IDEAs
THE US Transportation Research Board has expanded its Ideas Deserving Exploratory Analysis programme to include high-speed rail. Last month TRB invited proposals for ’innovative technologies and concepts’ for ’cost-effective upgrading of current rail systems for safer, faster, more efficient and reliable, and environmentally sound high speed operations.’Areas being considerered for ...
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Rato ready
METROPOLITANO de Lisboa opened its short extension from Rotunda to Rato on December 26, diverting services from Campo Grande via Entre Campos into the new Rato terminus. On the same day through services between Campo Grande and Pontinha via Areeiro and the city centre were suspended to allow the disconnection ...
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CFM renovation
MOZAMBIQUE Ports & Railways has launched a US$26m programme to renovate its northernmost branch line, running from the Nacala corridor at Cuamba to the town of Lichinga in Niasa province. Work is already under way on refurbishing the transit corridor from the port of Nacala to the Malawi border at ...
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Advertising ambassador
EUROSTAR (UK) Ltd has appointed Sports & Outdoor Media to market sponsorship of its trains, including external and internal branding and complementary promotional opportunities on-board and at terminals. Managing Director Hamish Taylor believes ’high-profile, international organisations’ may be interested in using what Eurostar calls ’the longest billboard in Europe’. Eurostar ...
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Open access freight
ON JANUARY 16 Australian operator Great Northern Rail Services Pty Ltd of Gisborne launched the first fully-independent intrastate train on the tracks of the Victoria state rail network, hauling infrastructure materials from Melbourne to Newport via Tottenham. With a fleet of nine regaugable broad/standard-gauge diesel locos, GNRS has achieved full ...
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Fighter barter
REPORTS surfaced last month that Union Carriage of Nigel in South Africa is among companies shortlisted to supply a fleet of 60 locos for Sweden’s 479 km iron ore route from Luleå to the Norwegian port of Narvik, operated by Malmtrafik i Kiruna AB. The deal could also include around ...
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Airport link bids
FEBRUARY 21 is due to see the selection of a preferred bidder for the concession to build a high-speed rail link between Taipei and Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport, with a contract to be signed by the end of April. Five prequalified consortia presented proposals to the Bureau of Taiwan High ...
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Dallas speed-up
WITH ridership soaring, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board approved on December 10 a financial plan to accelerate the construction of two light rail extensions. The single-track lines to Garland, Richard and Plano will be doubled from the outset and opened in phases as they are ready.Blue line trains should ...
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Helping hand
BOSNIA & Herzegovina Railways (ZBH) has been fortunate to secure from German Railway a fleet of rolling stock to help it restore services to its 1021 route-km war-torn network. Eight diesel locomotives, 28 wagons, a tamper and ballast plough were included in an initial consignment of rolling stock dispatched to ...
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CP launches EMU fleet renewal
PORTUGUESE Railways is planning to call tenders for up to 100 three-car 25 kV 50Hz EMUs. They would operate northern routes currently being electrified, and replace 1957-built EMUs on Lisboa suburban services. CP is also looking at a mid-life interior refurbishment of its 2100 and 2200 series EMUs following the ...