Main line rail industry news – Page 1433
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News
Products In Brief
Security printer Henry Booth & Company has been awarded a two-year contract to supply ticketing stock on a just-in-time basis to all 25 of Britain’s Train Operating Companies . Over 240million tickets will be supplied each year under a contract negotiated by First Procurement Associates Ltd which brings the number ...
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OPEN trials move to Utrecht
FOLLOWING trials at Rotterdam Blaak, NS Railinfrabeheer is to test the Orientation for Persons via Electronic Navigation (OPEN) system at Utrecht CS. Developed with funding from the EU’s Technological Initiative for the Disabled & Elderly (TIDE) programme, OPEN uses a small device carried by the passenger to receive signals from ...
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Jubilation at inaugural public run
derived from those used on the GEC Alsthom-built Class 465 EMUs. Performance, even in the ’detuned’ state running with old Jubilee trains, was also impressive. Passengers will certainly notice the powerful acceleration and braking when the trains begin operating on the new section of route, where their full performance potential ...
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DB to be restructured
GERMAN Railway’s Supervisory Board has endorsed plans to implement a further stage of restructuring from January 1 1999. Briefing senior managers in December, Chairman Johannes Ludewig said that ’we have not yet reached the halfway point’ in the reform programme, which is likely to occupy 10 years from start to ...
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Buyers will be spoilt for choice
INTRO: Privatisation of Australia’s railways looks set to bound forward this year. Mark Carter of Rail 2000 assesses the pictureANY ASSESSMENT of current railway developments in Australia must conclude that 1998 is shaping up to be the ’year of the privatised railway’. Aspiring railway barons are likely to be spoilt ...
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Intermodal cane lines re-equip
NARROW GAUGE sugar cane railways in Cuba, Indonesia and elsewhere almost always give the impression of being on their last legs. Images abound of antique steam locomotives struggling against the onslaught of the ubiquitous lorry as the run-down networks eke out the last years of a precarious existence. Not so ...
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Adding capacity in QR’s coal corridors
INTRO: With coal from central Queensland in demand from over 30 countries, QR is investing to raise throughput on its busy heavy haul routes linking mines and portsDISCUSSION about the environmental problems caused by burning fossil fuels is not exactly taboo at Queensland Railways’ Coal & Minerals Group, but it’s ...
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QR builds on record traffic
INTRO: Last year Queensland Rail carried well over 100 million tonnes of freight on its 1067mm gauge network and is still investing heavily to meet surging demand. QR’s Chief Executive Vince O’Rourke discussed his plans with Murray Hughes in AustraliaLOOKING back on a year when Queensland Rail carried record ...
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Russia adopts the European model
THE COUNCIL of the Federation, the upper chamber of Russia’s Parliament, held hearings on December 22 at which the government’s latest strategy for restructuring the national railway was endorsed. It follows the European model of a state infrastructure authority providing track access to competing train operators. Formal adoption of the ...
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Privatised Carajás Railway targets productivity
In May 1997 the world's biggest iron ore exporter was sold by the Brazilian government. CVRD operates two heavy haul railways which were already efficient, and are now striving to reduce unit costs even further
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The year of the electronic air brake
INTRO: North America is grasping the benefits of electronic brake application on long freight trains; with over a dozen pilot projects clocking up more than 160 million wagon-km in revenue service, 1998 may be a turning point in braking technologyBYLINE: Doug KlinkVice PresidentTSM IncElectric control from the driver’s cab of ...
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RaiLink overhauls BC Rail
CANADIAN NATIONAL clinched two major sales of loss-making railway in the week before Christmas, both involving RaiLink Ltd. This brings the total length of route which Canada’s principal short line operator manages directly or through its 25% shareholding in Quebec Railway Corp to more than 2800 km, comfortably exceeding BC ...
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Reshuffle in Roma
ITALIAN State Railways is undergoing another phase of reorganisation, the ultimate aim being to introduce a measure of separation between operations and infrastructure to satisfy the requirements of European Union directive 91/440. The process sees an organisation known until now as TAV2 becoming the specialist operator of high speed and ...
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CPR to spend C$1bn in 1998
CANADIAN PACIFIC Railway is to invest C$1bn on capital projects during 1998, under a spending plan announced on December 17. This comfortably exceeds CPR’s previous record spend of C$700m in 1997, and will bring the total investment since 1995 to almost C$3bn. Almost half of the money, C$450m, will pay ...
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Metros
France: On January 23 RATP was due to inaugurate its station on RER Line D serving the Stade de France stadium.RATP has announced plans to provide mobile telephone coverage at all main interchange stations, and all metro Line 1 stations, by the end of the year; stations are being fitted ...
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Influence spreading
THERE IS increasing evidence that Spoornet’s drive to supply its expertise to other African railways is paying off. Apart from earning hard cash, it should also bring benefits to those railways in need of technical and managerial know-how.Among recent moves is the establishment of a joint venture with Belgian National ...
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Exporail returns to Hong Kong
INTRO: Exporail (Asia) 98 is taking place at the Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Centre from February 17 to 19. Over 100 exhibitors from 18 countries will display products and services for rolling stock and infrastructureTHE third Exporail (Asia) event returns to Hong Kong, where this exhibition of railway technology ...
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German Rail plugs into Thalys
MARKETING managers at DB will be hoping that a 4h journey to Paris will prove irresistible to K