Main line rail industry news – Page 1456
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Denver light rail extends
GROUNDBREAKING ceremonies were held on January 21 for Denver’s 14 km Southwest Corridor light rail extension. Regional Transportation District Chairman Ben Klein said the event marked ’the culmination of a dozen years of studies, planning and preparation.’ Detailed engineering design is due to be finished by the end of this ...
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Maintenance bids
February 12 was the closing date for expressions of interest in bidding for contracts to maintain the infrastructure formerly owned and managed by the State Rail Authority of New South Wales. Rail Access Corp, now responsible for infrastructure in NSW, intends to introduce competitive tendering by 2001 for all maintenance, ...
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Sidetrack
Model passengersAs part of its drive to encourage courteous and safe behaviour, Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway Corp has presented gold pendants to 20 Model Passengers. The winners received their awards from four celebrities who star in MTR safety literature to demonstrate the ’proper modes of behaviour’ for the travelling ...
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Alerted in a flash
passengers can be warned of the imminent closure of automatic coach doors on Zürich’s S-Bahn thanks to warning flashers developed by Bron Elektronik AG. A flash energy of 8 J at 1 Hz was found to achieve the desired effect of getting passengers to keep clear of the doors, whilst ...
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Time for change
A software tool developed by Cognos Ltd is helping London Underground to keep ticket machines in full service.Deciding when to refill specific machines with change, so that passengers did not have to enter the exact fare only, was previously up to the judgement of station staff. Instead station managers can ...
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Calculating RailNoise
WS Atkins Noise & Vibration has developed RailNoise, a software package for the calculation of operational noise following an official procedure published in 1995 by Britain’s Transport Research Laboratory. A three-dimensional site model is constructed incorporating the railway (of any type) and natural or man-made features that may reflect, ...
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ZW track machines load themselves
Plasser & Theurer has developed the ZW range of compact self-loading track maintenance machines, designed for use on regional and urban railways. Each of the four ZW models is equipped with four hydraulic jacks which raise the machine clear of the rails, allowing a flatbed road trailer to be positioned ...
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Amtrak signs Illinois contract
AN AGREEMENT securing Amtrak’s continued operation of three Chicago ’corridor’ services was announced on January 14. Illinois Department of Transportation had been threatening to invite open tenders for the State House to St Louis, Illini to Carbondale and Illinois Zephyr to Quincy, in an effort to lower the state’s subsidy ...
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LCR shortlists St Pancras bidders
on January 21 London & Continental Railways shortlisted eight groups for a contract to develop St Pancras Chambers. They are: Bouygues, DEGW/TG and Lynton consortia, British Land Co plc, The Burrell Co, Midland Grand Hotel Group, Rainham International and St Pancras Chambers Hotel Group.LCR subsidiary London & Continental Stations & ...
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TNT storms Queensland citadel
Queensland Railways has stood aloof from the chaotic ’liberalisation’ process under way on Australia’s standard gauge interstate network - until January 23, that is, when the National Competition Council revealed that Carpentaria Transport Pty Ltd had initiated an open access bid. The TNT subsidiary wants the right to run its ...
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Metro spending
In addition to Pts19·31bn to be spent on Madrid’s infrastructure in 1997, mainly on metro extensions (RG 2.97 p76), the Catalan regional government has budgeted Pts22·7bn this year.This covers completion of Barcelona’s Line 2, ATP for Line 5 and substation upgrading on Line 1. Another Pts4·2bn will go on rolling ...
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Tramlink enters the construction phase
A 28 km light rail network to open in Croydon in 1999 will greatly improve east-west orbital journeys through south London and alleviate growing road congestion in Britain's eleventh biggest centre
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French light rail awaits the millenium
INTRO: Urban rail projects in France are again the focus of interest in the wake of last year’s municipal elections. Gordon Wiseman finds that smaller cities are investing strongly in light railTWO YEARS after the launch of light rail in Rouen and Strasbourg, the next round of activity is under ...
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Saarbrücken to launch second dual-mode LRT in the autumn
INTRO: Saarbrücken is almost ready to emulate Karlsruhe as other cities prepare to marry light and heavy rail technologies. Richard Hope reports from the tracklaying siteGROOVED RAILS have been laid along Kaiserstra§e in the heart of Saarbrücken, and trial running will begin shortly with the first of 28 dual-voltage light ...
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Creating a path to the future
Superconducting MaglevINTRO: Interest at this month’s high speed railways conference in Okayama commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sanyo Shinkansen will focus on the 300X experimental train, but JR Central is poised to start levitation trials with the maglev train on the Yamanashi test lineBYLINE: Yoshiyuki Kasai PresidentCentral Japan Railway ...
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Nouvelle Génération will expand the TGV family
INTRO: SNCF’s Rolling Stock & Traction Director François Lac
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Green line runs through
WASHINGTON Metrorail launched through trains from the city centre to the Green line terminus at Greenbelt, Maryland, on January 27. Pending completion of the missing link in the Green line, WMATA has launched peak-hour through trains from Farragut North via the Red line and a connecting curve at Fort Totten. ...
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The tender trap
ON FEBRUARY 12 Netherlands Transport Minister Annemarie Jorritsma rejected the concept of open competition for passengers on the national network until at least 2000 unless ’something extra is offered which would add value to existing services.’ She threw out an application by Lovers Rail to run rival services from Amsterdam ...
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JR West sets 2hr Osaka - Hakata target
INTRO: Series 500 trains are poised to cut journey times on the Sanyo Shinkansen, but JR West’s long-term plans envisage high performance trains to replace Kodama services, and ultra-high-speed trainsBYLINE: Masataka IdePresident, West Japan Railway CoTHIS YEAR marks the 25th anniversary of the 161 km Sanyo Shinkansen which opened in ...
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Casting the Net wider
Companies and organisations of all complexions within the global railway industry are embracing the Internet. From discussion groups and bulletin boards run for and by enthusiasts to the research programmes of academic institutions, information on railways is being presented by an ever-growing number of bodies to an ever-growing number of ...