Main line rail industry news – Page 1434
-
News
Royal Thalys pioneers first 300 km/h inter-capitals route
The final piece of the TGV Nord-Europe jigsaw was slotted into place on December 10 when an inaugural Royal Thalys carried King Albert II and Queen Paola from Brussels to Paris and back to mark completion of the 71 km Belgian section of the 314·6 km high speed route. Murray ...
-
News
Deltaport helps CN and CP win West Coast boxes
INTRO: William D Middleton explains why the Port of Vancou-ver’s new terminal could help Canada’s railways deliver more containers from the Pacific Rim into ChicagoON THE WEST COAST of North America, rail and truck operators compete aggressively for market share in the Pacific Rim container trade. Financial instability in the ...
-
News
LETTERS
LRV designsSir - Having read your latest issue regarding light rail transit activity on the West Coast of North America, I found that William D Middleton gave an excellent overview of the present situation.Unfortunately, however, he seems somewhat less well informed about available light rail vehicles for the proposed systems. ...
-
News
PUBLICATIONS
Railway Directory 1998, Book and CD-ROMMarking the next stage of Railway Directory’s transformation to an information tool for the electronic age, the 1998 edition is available on CD-ROM, as well as in book format.The CD-ROM gives the user the same wealth of information and statistics as the book, together with ...
-
News
X2000 to China
A SEVEN-car X2000 tilting trainset was dispatched from the Adtranz works in Västerås on January 14 for a two-year demonstration programme in China. Due to arrive next month, the train is being sent under an agreement between Adtranz and the semi-autonomous Guangshen Railway Corp. After commissioning, the X2000 is ...
-
News
Pointers
n French National Railway plans to increase its order with De Dietrich and LHB for the joint Franco-German TERX73500 lightweight diesel railcars from the initial 40 vehicles to over 100 to meet growing demand from the régions.n Hongkong Tramways is planning a feasibility study into replacing its wooden double-deck cars ...
-
News
Australia
INTRO: New lines planned, proposed orunder construction in Australian New South WalesSydney - Canberra Very High Speed Train: bids sought from private sector with contract due to be announced by June 15.Jerrys Plain - Mt Thorley: NSW Rail Access Corp signed agreement in September 1997 for Jerrys Plain Terminal Pty ...
-
News
Sydney’s trams in search of passengers
RUNNING from Sydney’s Central station to Wattle Street in Wentworth Park, the 3·6 km light rail route was inaugurated last August. Services are provided by a fleet of seven five-section articulated low-floor cars built by Adtranz at Dandenong in Victoria.During the start-up phase traffic has been lighter than the Sydney ...
-
News
Tariff cuts help to extend concession
Terms agreed by the French and British governments on December 19 for extending Eurotunnel’s concession by 34 years include a substantial reduction in the cost of sending Anglo-German rail freight through the Channel Tunnel. This is the first time Eurotunnel has agreed to vary tariffs set out in the Railway ...
-
News
Double-deck air-con
FAIVELEY has begun delivering roof-mounted air-conditioning equipment for the 76 TER2N double-deck EMUs for SNCF regional services in Provence-Alpes-C
-
News
Tunnellers chosen
LONDON & Continental Railways announced on January 15 that it had chosen preferred contractors for two of the main tunnelling contracts for the 108 km Channel Tunnel Rail Link.The bigger of the two deals covers the 5·4 km twin tunnels from Barking to Dagenham, known as London Tunnels East. Preferred ...
-
News
Keeping viaducts level
ENSURING that track on seven viaducts does not move because of ground settlement was one of many challenges facing engineers designing Hong Kong MTR’s airport line, now due to open on July 6. The answer was to use Hydratight’s lifting and jacking equipment controlled by a lift management system. An ...
-
News
One-Stop-Shops in business
The first Trans-European Rail Freight Freeway train, the Bel-Italia, left Muizen yard in Belgium at 01.51 on January 12 and was due in Lyon at 13.14, having covered 800 km at an average of just over 70 km/h including stops at Arlon, Luxembourg and Thionville for crew or locomotive changes. ...
-
News
Welsby asks crunch questions
’AN OBJECTIVE assessment of the performance of the privatised railway today shows that, in general, it is hardly better than it was in the last years of public ownership. That is a great disappointment.’ Giving the Sir Robert Reid lecture to the Chartered Institute of Transport in London on January ...
-
News
Japanese Maglev sets new world record
ON CHRISTMAS EVE, engineers at Japan's Tsuru - Otsuki Superconducting Maglev test track in Yamanashi prefecture completed their current series of very high speed trials by setting a new world record for an unmanned trainset. Following the achievement of a new manned record of 531 km/h on December 12, the ...
-
News
UK passenger-km 'to double by 2010'
RAILTRACK has warned the government that it expects total passenger-km on Britain's national rail network to double within 13 years, leading to a serious shortage of track capacity in key areas. Giving evidence before the House of Commons Transport Sub-Committee on November 26, Chief Executive Gerald Corbett said the forecast ...
-
News
Work begins on St Petersburg terminal
ON November 17 the joint venture of Taylor Woodrow International Ltd and Skanska Construction Co Ltd began work on the US$250m St Petersburg rail terminal development for High Speed Railways Russian Shareholding Company (RAO VSM). GIBB Ltd is supervising the construction project under a US$7.5m contract from RAO VSM, which ...