Main line rail industry news – Page 1407
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News
Crime wave targeted
THE FREEDOM that followed the demise of the Soviet empire in eastern Europe has brought unwelcome fellow travellers. Crime and corruption have become rampant, with unscrupulous groups and individuals perceiving rail freight and passengers as easy targets. Statistics released by Hungarian State Railways show that the incidence of theft from ...
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Vacuum excavator
Clearing drains and cleaning ballast following tracklaying on Norway’s Gardermobanen is the latest task to be completed by the innovative vacuum excavator developed by Disab.With only two operators, Railvac 16000 can move along the line to its required position and within 2min be ready to work. Because Railvac uses powerful ...
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Storming to success
FIGURES released by French and Belgian National Railways suggest that the Paris - Brussels Thalys service has been a spectacular success. Back in 1994, rail’s market share on the inter-capitals route was just 24%. Although the final 71 km of high speed line into Brussels opened only in December, ...
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ILTIS to set routes at Vinh
VIETNAM: The third largest city, Vinh, is getting the latest in network management systems under a contract with Siemens Integra Verkehrstechnik to install power signalling covering the station area. Vinh is 319 km south of Hanoi on the main coastal trunk line. ILTIS provides supervision from computer workstations of all ...
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INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: This month is due to see the start of overnight piggyback parcels services between London and Glasgow, using low-height trailers built for Parcelforce and two prototype four-spot Eurospine wagons operated by English Welsh & Scottish Railway. At a launch ceremony on May 18 EWS Marketing Director Randy Henke announced ...
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Track in the swamp
JULY 1 sees the formal launch of the Australian Rail Track Corp, the 'one-stop' infrastructure access body being set up following negotiations between the federal and state transport ministers. It will initially control the trans-Australia routes from Broken Hill and Wodonga (Victoria) to Kalgoorlie and Alice Springs, and market paths ...
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Spending mandated
BRITAIN’s rail operators face the prospect of substantial capital investment for unquantified safety benefits. On May 21 the Health & Safety Executive issued for consultation Draft Railway Safety Regulations which would require widespread installation of the Train Protection & Warning System (RG 1.98 p55) and withdrawal or modification of MkI ...
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Focus on quick depot turnround
Throughput is what it’s all about. And for minimal cost. Manufacturers of equipment for passenger rolling stock depots are being asked to provide installations capable of processing a fleet of trains quickly, typically overnight, using less energy and manpower, but delivering a higher quality end finish.Meeting these demands is a ...
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PASSENGER PORTFOLIO
CAPTION: German Railway marked the completion of its DM300m refurbishment of Berlin’s 8·8 km cross-city Stadtbahn with an inaugural ICE2 special on May 22. With effect from the May 24 timetable changes, ICE services to Berlin were extended from Zoo to the modernised Ostbahnhof via Alexanderplatz (above)CAPTION: EAO has designed ...
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BART tries a different approach
SAN Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit District is another North American operator that has embarked on an ambitious TBTC programme. It will have some significant differences from the New York City approach.BART began its Advanced Automatic Train Control System (AATC) development early in 1994 under an unusual joint project with ...
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Sidetrack
Line BeePassengers on a Den Haag - Scheveningen tram route this spring had a nasty surprise at one of the stops. A swarm of bees had gathered around the waiting shelter, and as each tram stopped the bees poured in through the open doors.When operator HTM’s control staff realised what ...
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FS to adopt
INTRO: Italian State Railways has awarded contracts for the installation of automatic train protection equipment on 150 route-km between Milano and Torino, and on the Milano Junction, based on the latest European data transmission standards BYLINE: Mario PoggioHead of On-Board Systems EngineeringAnsaldo Segnalamento FerroviarioFACED WITH increasing difficulties in the construction ...
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Territorial tussle in the Pilbara
With demand for iron ore holding up in China and Taiwan despite the financial crisis that hit Asian countries around the Pacific rim a few months ago, three heavy haul lines totalling some 450 km are under construction or planned in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.The most extraordinary aspect ...
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Central website goes live
Following the launch of several new train services with the summer timetable, Central Trains has established a comprehensive web site providing general and timetable information (www.centraltrains.co.uk).An innovation with this site is the use of a network route map to allow users to select the start and end points of a ...
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North Carolina riders up
Ridership on the two state-subsidised passenger trains operated by Amtrak in North Carolina has shown increases for the six months from October 1997. The Piedmont showed a 9·7% rise compared with the same period a year earlier while the Carolinian was up just 0·2%.Starting in May, a full-length dome car ...
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VIA schedules earlier Toronto commuter runs
Improved morning services from Sarnia, Kitchener/Waterloo, Stratford and Guelph were introduced on Monday June 15 giving arrivals in Toronto before 09.00, returning mid-evening.Train 82 now departs Sarnia one hour earlier at 05.35, arriving in London at 06.45 and continuing on VIA’s south main line with stops at Woodstock at 07.11, ...
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PRODUCT NEWS
CAPTION: Trackside signVortok International has developed the Trackguard temporary signboard support, which clamps to the foot of the rail to avoid disturbing ballast and damaging trackside cabling. Manufactured from flexible GRP with a weather-protected metal clamp, Trackguard weighs 12 kg, can be carried and erected by one person, and has ...
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Ore route wins investment
LAST YEAR Khutso Mampeule, Executive Manager of Spoornet’s iron ore business known as Orex, told us that export traffic on the 861 km Sishen - Saldanha iron ore line was on the way to recovery. Mampeule revealed at the end of May that the 1065mm gauge heavy haul route is ...
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Keystone upgrade
A US$16m project to upgrade the Philadelphia - Harrisburg Keystone line is moving ahead rapidly this summer. The work, part of which was carried out last year, includes replacing life-expired wood sleepers and upgrading the station at Lancaster. As the work is completed and track conditions improved, speeds on some ...
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Enhanced Railtracker keeps customers informed
INTRO: Bangladesh Railways is the Asian launch customer for an upgraded version of the RailTracker Advance Cargo Information System that allows shippers and forwarders to keep track of their cargoesFRAU Renate Schmidt, Chief Executive of a major international forwarding company dealing with Asia and Africa, sat at her office desk ...