Main line rail industry news – Page 1459
-
News
Quality initiatives bear fruit
On December 23 Jean Boutanquoi, Director of SNCF’s Ile-de-France commuter business, presented the first results of quality initiatives introduced last June after a survey of customer opinion. They are focused on personal safety, punctuality, passenger information and ticket retailing.At the end of December, the first 170 of 240 extra personnel ...
-
News
Storebaelt reverts to ballasted track
INTRO: Although slab track was originally to have been laid in the Storebaelt tunnel, failure to optimise the choice of track with the diameter of the tunnel at the design stage led to a compromise using ballasted trackBYLINE: Palle ReenbergProject Manager, TrackDSB Banetechnik StorebaeltDANISH STATE Railways was appointed by A/S ...
-
News
Shinkansen decisions postponed
Battle has raged since Japan’s general election last October over funding the next round of shinkansen construction, now that the mini-shinkansen from Morioka to Akita is about to open (p72), and work on the Hokuriku line as far as Nagano enters the final year of fitting out and commissioning. Members ...
-
News
Diesel venture
INDONESIAN President Soharto joined ceremonies at Jakarta to mark completion of the first General Electric diesel locos to be built in Java. Three U20Cs assembled at Madiun (above) by joint venture company PT GE Lokindo were delivered on December 17.The joint venture between GE and Badan Pengelola Industri Strategis is ...
-
News
Management concessioned
On January 1 a joint venture of SNC-Lavalin and Gesproex Inc took over maintenance and operation of the Deux-Montagnes and Rigaud commuter lines from the Montreal Urban Community Transport Commission. The city’s Agence Métropolitaine de Transport, which oversees the two commuter lines, announced award of a three-year contract to SNC-Gesproex ...
-
News
Storebaelt link promises network benefits
THE LONG-awaited fixed link across Denmark’s Great Belt is on course to carry its first revenue-earning train on April 1. When the road and rail link between the islands of Zealand and Fünen was authorised in 1987, it was scheduled to open for rail services on September 15 1993 and ...
-
News
Italians buy open procurement
AS PART of a three-year strategic plan announced last year, Chief Executive of Italian State Railways Giancarlo Cimoli is planning to change the way FS treats its suppliers. Head of procurement Mauro Moretti says standard contracts will be agreed, and the fragmentary approach to purchase of spares will give way ...
-
News
Infrastructure maintenance becomes big business
INTRO: By contracting out every aspect of infrastructure installation, renewal and maintenance, Railtrack has given British companies a head start in exploiting a market worth US$30bn a year - if other operators follow suitBYLINE: David Fison MA CEng FICE,Managing Director of Balfour Beatty Rail Ltd, told Richard Hope why buying ...
-
News
Gardermobanen on track to open next year
INTRO: Rails are going down on 66 km of new line that will put Oslo’s Gardermoen airport within 19min of the city’s central station when it opens on October 4 1998BYLINE: Arne SvensøyNSB Gardermobanen ASAS CIVIL WORKS approach completion on the new railway being constructed between Norway’s capital and the ...
-
News
SNCF starts to renew the first TGV line
INTRO: A ballast renewal and pointwork replacement programme will raise the quality of track on the Paris - Sud-Est line and extend its lifeBYLINE: André Le BihanChief Engineer, Permanent Way Department, French National RailwaysAFTER 15 years of use by trains running at up to 270 km/h, France’s first high speed ...
-
News
Seven slab track designs on test
INTRO: German Railway will pick the design of ballastless track for its 330 km/h K
-
News
Connex Express launches Brighton belles
SEVEN Class 319 EMUs owned by Rolling Stock Company Porterbrook Leasing underwent repainting and refurbishment for the Connex Express service due to be launched on the London - Brighton route on January 27. Connex South Central, the CGEA subsidiary which won Great Britain’s Network SouthCentral passenger franchise in April, chose ...
-
News
Publications
Deutsche Bahn UmweltberichtFor the first time DB has produced a brochure covering its environmental policy and data. Illustrated with colour photographs and graphics, it covers everything from power stations to WC effluents. Useful graphs indicate, among others, DB’s energy consumption and how it compares (very favourably) with road and air. ...
-
News
News Pointers
n Shortlisting of qualified bidders for the Taipei - Kaohsiung high speed line in Taiwan could be announced this month following close of tenders on January 15. The winner should be announced in November.n South Korea’s Ministry of Transport & Construction is planning to proceed with a 66 km high ...
-
News
Jena branches open
Secretary for Transport Johannes Nitsch and Thuringen Economics & Infrastructure Minister Franz Schuster opened light rail routes serving the expanding suburb of Lobeda in Jena on December 16. A new line branches from north-south trunk route 1 into a housing area just north of Line 1’s Winzerla terminus and runs ...
-
News
Turkey develops electrified routes
INTRO: A five-year plan of electrification and resignalling will see over 2000route-km energised by 2001THOUGH economic difficulties have dogged new line construction in Turkey, upgrading existing routes and new rolling stock has received financial backing. Around US$120m a year will be invested, while a restructured management pursues greater productivity (panel).Electrification ...
-
News
US operators under pressure on safety
FALLOUT continues from the spate of spectacular train wrecks early in 1996 (RG 4.96 p177) which marred a generally excellent safety record in the USA. In a hearing on December 11, the National Transportation Safety Board spread blame widely for the February 1 1996 runaway down Cajon Pass, California. Investigators ...
-
News
In Brief
n On December 20 Conrail’s board of directors voted to reject Norfolk Southern’s hostile all-cash bid for the business, after it had been raised to US$10·5bn to match CSX’s improved cash and stock offer of US$9·35bn. Conrail shareholders were due to vote on January 17 on a proposal to ...
-
News
Madrid lets contracts
THREE contracts signed on December 20 and 31 brought the length of new metro construction let by the Madrid regional government in 1996 to 31·5 km. A Pts9bn contract to extend Line 1 from Miguel Hern