Main line rail industry news – Page 1441
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News
Super power down south
Having carried 1·9 million tonnes of freight in the first five months of this year, an astonishing 43% up on the same period in 1996, freight concessionaire Nuevo Central Argentino is expecting to see another 600000 tonnes a year move over the former General Mitré network from October. Minera Alumbrera ...
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One step forward, two steps back
The Amtrak funding battle resumes this month, when Congress returns from its annual summer holiday. On July 30, a conference committee drawn from the House of Representatives and Senate completed work on a tax package which included US$2·3bn in capital funding for Amtrak over the next two years. However, an ...
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Market
Brazil: Siemens is to supply 40 railcars worth US$70m to CPTM of São Paulo under an agreement with Mitsui of Japan.Canada: North Ltd of Australia has purchased 11 GE Dash-9 locomotives for C$26·6m, to be operated by its Iron Ore Company of Canada subsidiary.CN has taken delivery of the first ...
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Luxury lounge boosts image
THE FIRST FRUITS of German Railway’s programme to modernise its major stations were unveiled on July 23, when the premier DB Lounge was opened at Frankfurt-am-Main Hauptbahnhof. The main building has been extensively modified, with a glazed cupola flooding the public areas with natural light.At ground level is a spacious ...
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In Brief
Amtrak has formed a Customer Advisory Committee in an effort to improve its understanding of ’customers’ needs and concerns’. A maximum of 31 members will represent Amtrak’s various corridor, long-distance and short-distance services. The 14-day advance purchase qualification for discounted Eurostar Day Trip tickets from London to Calais, Lille and ...
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TAF to boost capacity on urban routes
INTRO: Italian Railways and Nord Milano Railway are about to put into service a fleet of 50 double-deck EMUs for the cross-city Passante route; each high-capacity TAF trainset will carry up to 848 passengers in air-conditioned comfortBYLINE: Ing Giancarlo PiroTony TrainaStrategic Business UnitRolling Stock & Traction DivisionItalian RailwaysIN ...
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Crane delivered to Tanzania
KIROW Rail & Port AG, based in Leipzig, has completed a KRC 900 rail-mounted rescue crane, and delivered it to Tanzanian Railways Corp. Work is now under way on a similar crane for Ghana.Kirow has completed the take over of Kocks Krane International, which specialises in container and heavy-lift cranes, ...
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SSG takeover
LUZERN-based Hofer & Curti Group has raised its shareholding in the Swiss Dining Car Co (SSG) to 97·6%, having purchased on July 1 the 48·8% stake previously owned by the Feldschl
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High speed, regular interval
FRENCH National Railways’ long-distance passenger division is to relaunch its Paris - Lyon and Paris - Lille high-speed trains as a regular-interval shuttle service, christened TGV Navette. From the start of the winter timetable on September 28, departures from Paris Lyon and Lyon Part-Dieu will be on the hour, with ...
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Guiding the way
A SIX-MONTH trial of an electronic way-finding system to assist blind and partially-sighted passengers was launched at London Underground’s Golders Green station on July 17. The REACT system developed by GEC Marconi has been installed by the Joint Mobility Unit of the Royal National Institute for the Blind and the ...
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Tank-emptying made simple
German Railway’s Stuttgart works has produced a range of small retention tank emptying vehicles using pumped collection tanks from Sanivac.The battery-powered carts are small enough for convenient use at stations or carriage depots. The batteries power built-in pumps to transfer waste from the train’s tanks into a transfer tank on ...
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Metros
Argentina: Buenos Aires metro concessionaire Metrovías has awarded a US$70m contract to CMW Equipamentos of Brazil for installation of cab signalling to cut headways to 2min on four of Subte's five lines by 1999. Brazil: CBTU has negotiated R$27·5m in federal funds to complete the Minas Shopping - Sao Gabriel ...
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NY funds agreed
NEW YORK state officials unanimously approved a US$12bn improvement programme for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on July 12. NY City Transit will get $9bn, with Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road splitting the rest. The package will fund track and signal upgrades and station renovation throughout the subway network, and ...
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Letters
Nightstar in a dreamSir - Reports that sleeping car services from provincial UK cities to Paris and Brussels will be abandoned (RG 8.97 p497) renders the Channel Tunnel Night Stock sleeping cars a costly white elephant, even allowing for any future conversions.The idea of running sleeping car trains from regional ...
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Ladder sleepers perform well in tests
INTRO: Longitudinal precast concrete beams laid in stone ballast provide continuous support to the rails and reduced ground pressure for the same overall weight as conventional sleepersBYLINE: Dr Eng Hajime WakuiChief EngineerStructural Engineering GroupJapan Railway Technical Research InstituteFROM THE 1940s to the 1960s, experiments were carried out in France, Japan ...
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Alameda will ease LA port bottleneck
INTRO: Spectacular growth in trade across the Pacific has generated severe congestion on the railways which serve the southern Californian ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. William D Middleton describes the Alameda Corridor - a US$2bn construction project to cure congestion and provide capacity for future growthTHE SAN PEDRO ...
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Cross-Manila conflict
ON AUGUST 1 Philippine National Railways Assistant General Manager Rafael Jiminez called for the planned Manila - Calabarzon Express (MCX) commuter rail network and the Northrail link to Clark Air Base to be integrated to offer through services between north and south Luzon via central Manila. Developer Ayala Land Inc ...
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Finance
Czech Republic: The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed an Ecu200m loan towards upgrading the Czech section of the Warszawa - Wien corridor between Ostrava and Breclav.France: District de l’Agglomération de Montpellier has received a Fr375m loan from the EIB to fund construction of its planned 15 km light rail ...
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Natural disasters
SERIOUS flooding has damaged railways in both Europe and North America this summer, resulting in at least two passenger train derailments because of bridge collapses. One was Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, which left the track at around 145 km/h while traversing a damaged bridge over a desert gully in northwestern Arizona ...