Main line rail industry news – Page 1002
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NewsVeolia and Transdev in talks
FRANCE: European legislation on the procurement of public services is starting to drive further consolidation between the major public transport operators. On July 22 state-owned investment body Caisse des Dépôts confirmed that it had decided to enter into exclusive negotiations with Veolia Environnement with a view to merging their Transdev ...
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NewsPointers September 2009
Plans to develop high speed passenger services in Ukraine have been put back from 2015 to 2020 in the light of the economic climate. In the meantime, UZ is segregating passenger and freight services to permit the wider introduction of 160 km/h running. Russian Railways is developing a business plan ...
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NewsMetro Line 3 to Athens Airport reopens
GREECE: On August 31 the section of Attiko metro Line 3 between Ethniki Amyna and Athens airport went back into service, and Nomismatokopeio station was opened to the public for the first time. The new station has an underground car park and provides an interchange with several bus routes serving ...
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NewsWeighed within 0·05%
WEIGHT: A vehicle weighing track installed at Bombardier’s Derby plant by Avery Weigh-Tronix can measure rolling stock weight distribution to within 0·05%, thanks to rail transponders and a controlled environment where wind, rain and rough terrain cannot affect results. The Weighline WI 1310 static rail weighing system was developed to ...
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NewsChicago corridor cut
USA: Plans to re-configure five key rail corridors to improve the flow of traffic through the Chicago area are being scaled back owing to a lack of funding. The Chicago Region Environmental & Transportation Efficiency programme was launched in 2003 as a $1·5bn public-private partnership between the Department of ...
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NewsMonitoring passenger flows in stations
CHINA: China TransInfo Technology Corp has launched its TransPLE Passenger Flow Statistic, Detecting & Analysis System, which uses laser scanners and cameras to analyse pedestrian volume, speed and direction in busy stations. The results can be used to optimise layouts for pedestrian flow, as well as supporting crowd control, ...
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NewsPiggyback wagon
POLAND: The 602S wagon from Tabor Szynowy Opole can carry lorries, trailers or containers. Wagons at the ends of a rake have opening ends to allow the loading and unloading of lorries using a mobile ramp. The ends are then closed to permit the use of standard couplers. The ...
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NewsFirst of 160 double-deck cars for Montréal unveiled
CANADA: The first of 160 double-deck coaches being built for Montréal's commuter network was unveiled at Bombardier's La Pocatière plant on August 21. The ceremony was attended by Julie Boulet, Québec's Minister of Transport; Claude Béchard, Minister and member of the Québec National Assembly for the district; and Joel ...
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NewsDSB becomes Sweden's second largest operator
SWEDEN: Västra Götaland county transport authority Västtrafik has selected the DSBFirst Väst joint venture of Danish state railway DSB (70%) and UK company FirstGroup (30%) to operate Göteborg commuter and regional rail services from December 2010. DSBFirst took over Øresund services between Denmark and Sweden in January, and the ...
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NewsA long way to go
ASIA: Almost since the dawn of railways, far-sighted engineers and politicians have been talking about linking Europe and India by rail. The second half of the 19th century was an era of economic expansion and power politics, as evidenced by the construction of transcontinental railways across the USA, Canada and ...
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NewsSheremetyevo airport trains get closer to central Moscow
RUSSIA: The rail link to Sheremetyevo airport was extended to start from the more central Moscow Belorusskaya station on August 28. Trains run every half-hour from 05.30 to 01.00. The journey takes 35 min with a stop at Savylovaky, which had been the city terminus since the service was ...
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NewsX-Ray specs cause problems for the railways
EUROPE: We hear that broad-gauge trains are running again on the 1 520 mm-gauge cross-border line between Uzhgorod and Matovce, which carries iron ore and coal from Russia and Ukraine to the US Steel plant at Kosice. Up to 12 trains each way cross the border per day, but ...
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NewsWabtec wins US$9m Irish wagon order
IRELAND: Iarnród Éireann has awarded Wabtec Rail a US$9m contract to supply 24 high-output ballast wagons in 2010, Wabtec Corp announced on August 26. Doncaster-based Wabtec Rail has supplied more than 250 Autoballaster wagons for the UK market over the last decade. They feature radio-controlled ballast discharge, ...
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NewsNetwork Rail recommends high speed line to northwest and Scotland
UK: A vision of journey times from London of just 2 h 16 min to Glasgow, 1 h 06 min to Manchester and 46 min to Birmingham was painted by Network Rail Chief Executive Iain Coucher on August 26, when he unveiled the findings of a study by the infrastructure ...
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NewsRZD takes stake in Ulaanbaatar Railway
MONGOLIA: Russian Railways took control of 50% of the shares of Ulaanbaatar Railway (UBTZ) on August 25, when President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree transferring the Russian government's stake in UBTZ for five years. This follows a May 13 agreement that the Mongolian rail network will be managed by ...
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NewsNi-Cd batteries prove a success on tram-trains
GERMANY: Successful initial tests are being followed up by a second phase of trials of nickel-cadmium batteries in place of wet cells on tram-trains in Karlsruhe. Operator Stadtbahn Karlsruhe will look at the reliability, performance and total cost of ownership of the Saft Matrics MRX 200 batteries, which are ...
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NewsQingdao metro enters first phase
CHINA: Shandong state government approved the plan to construct a metro network in Qingdao on August 18. Phases I and II entail the construction of 54·7 km of route by 2016, at a cost of 29·2bn yuan. The first line to be built is likely to be M3, running from ...
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NewsCrossrail tunnelling contracts advertised
UK: Crossrail Ltd confirmed on August 25 that notices have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union inviting expressions of interest for the project’s two principal tunnelling contracts - Package C300 for Tunnels West and Package C305 for Tunnels East - involving the construction of 18 km ...
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NewsDenver receives the first of 55 LRVs from Siemens
USA: On August 21 the first of 55 SD160 light rail vehicles ordered to supplement RTD’s FasTracks fleet was delivered to the Elati Light Rail maintenance facility from Siemens’ plant in Sacramento. The remainder will arrive over the next 18 months. The US$184m contract for 55 high-floor cars was placed ...