Main line rail industry news – Page 1412
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News
Geismar develops Railtrack MPV concept vehicle
ON MAY 8, Railtrack’s Director, Engineering & Production, Brian Mellitt unveiled a multi-purpose infrastructure service vehicle at London’s Waterloo station. Intended to replace a miscellaneous collection of converted equipment, the MPV combines high-pressure railhead cleaning jets to remove leaves from the line, application of Sandite gel to improve adhesion, weedkiller ...
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Unlikely partners at high speed wedding
INTRO: A 10-car ICE-TGV combination was demonstrated to Taiwanese officials on May 4 as part of Taiwan High Speed Rail Consortium’s efforts to secure a US$17bn build-operate-and-transfer concession for the Taipei - Kaohsiung high speed lineFIVE YEARS ago such a marriage would have been unthinkable. The improbable union of French ...
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PUBLICATIONS
TGV Handbookby Brian PerrenThis second edition of a work first published in 1993 is in effect a new publication, such has been the progress and diversification of TGV derivatives. Although new line construction has slowed, there is extensive text supported by good quality colour photographs covering a plethora of subjects. ...
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München - Augsburg quadrupling work begins
DESPITE driving rain, ceremonies were held on May 4 in the Bavarian town of Kissing to mark the start of work on four-tracking of German Railway's trunk line between München and Augsburg. Taking part were the Federal Finance Minister Dr Theo Waigel, Bavarian President Dr Edmund Stoiber and DB Board ...
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Talgo and Adtranz to build 350 km/h prototype
SPANISH rolling stock supplier Patentes Talgo SA announced on April 23 that its President, José Luis de Oriol, had signed an accord with Adtranz Executive Vice-President Heinz Cronimund for the joint development, construction and marketing of a prototype trainset suitable for operation at 300 to 350 km/h. Talgo will invest ...
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Porterbrook raises £363m to fund MU orders
BRITISH rolling stock company Porterbrook Leasing has put together a package to fund over 400 new vehicles. It includes a £273m securitisation arranged by Union Bank of Switzerland and a £90m corporate facility from UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland. The European Investment Bank is lending £110m (Ecu170m), and the ...
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Riga interlocking
RESIGNALLING of Latvian Railways’ main terminus is to be completed in 2000 under a contract with Adtranz Signal, signed at a ceremony in Riga on April 29 attended by LDZ Director-General Andris Zorgevics, Deputy DG Rihards Peders, and the Swedish ambassador Hans Magnusson.Adtranz Signal will supply an Ebilock 950 electronic ...
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Zürich reconstruction starts
ON APRIL 27 Swiss Federal Railways announced details of a seven-year programme to reconstruct the approaches and environs of Zürich Hauptbahnhof under the Bahn 2000 programme. Describing Züich as the ’Heart of Bahn 2000’, SBB Director-General, Infrastructure, Pierre-Alain Urech said the rail hub had a critical role to play in ...
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PKP to split in July
THE POLISH Ministry of Transport confirmed on May 1 that Polish State Railways will be restructured on July 1, with the naming of Directors to head three new business units. Tadeusz Augustowski will be Director of Rail Infrastructure, with Jósef Szczepanski at Freight Operations and Marek Pawicki at Passenger. They ...
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Canadian cutback
ON MAY 11 Canadian National announced plans to ’rationalise’ a further 2650 route-km of secondary lines, under the Canada Transportation Act. CN plans to transfer around 2087 route-km to short lines and close the rest. According to President & CEO Paul Tellier, ’CN’s objective is to create a low-cost growth-oriented ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Australia: Queensland Rail has opened a $3·9m container terminal at Cloncurry, near Mt Isa. The $200m upgrade of the Townsville - Mt Isa route is scheduled for completion later this year.Westrail has invited tenders for upgrading of the signalling on its freight network. Signalling, maintenance and workshop facilities for the ...
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People
Spoornet’s new board comprises Transnet Chairman Prof L A Tager and Managing Director S J Macosoma, Ms G T Serobe, E Groeneweg, Dr C B Strauss, Ms M E N Magmola and Spoornet Chief Executive A S (Braam) Le Roux, who reports to the Transnet Deputy Managing Director Mafika Mkwanazi.Raymond ...
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Underground split could cost £1bn
AN EXTRAORDINARY conflict of evidence emerged when a committee of MPs questioned Managing Director of London Underground Denis Tunnicliffe and ex-Chairman of London Transport Peter Ford - sacked by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on April 17 (p376).Tunnicliffe was asked on April 29 for LU’s reaction to the ’public-private partnership’ ...
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IC/IR98 boost
Passsenger services in Belgium increased by 8% with the start of the summer timetable on May 24. Introduction of I11 loco-hauled coaches and AM96 EMUs has allowed SNCB to restructure several inter-city and inter-regional routes.Dual-system AM96 units have expanded cross-border routes from Lille, with regular-interval services to Oostende, Antwerpen and ...
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JFK rail link to go ahead
NOTICE TO PROCEED with design, and construction of a fully automated light metro serving New York’s John F Kennedy International was issued by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey on May 5. The Board of Commissioners had selected the AirRail Transit Consortium of Skanska USA, Bombardier Transit ...
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Options confirmed
ON April 29 Dallas Area Rapid Transit confirmed that it would take up its option for an extra 21 LRVs from Kinki Sharyo USA at a cost of $60m. The option was included in an order for 34 cars placed last year (RG 12.97 p835), and will bring the DART ...
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Swiss S-Bahnen expand
THE SUMMER timetable change on May 24 sees the expansion of S-Bahn services in the Swiss capital Bern. Two new cross city routes are being added to the two already operational. Services are run by a joint venture of SBB, BLS, Regionalverkehr Mittelland and the Sensetalbahn, with a common fares ...
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SARCC starts EMU renewal
MAY 14 was the closing date for prequalification bids to supply new EMU trainsets to South African Rail Commuter Corp. Formal tender invitations are due to be issued on June 23 for a fleet of five 12-car trains to be introduced on the Johannesburg - Soweto line in mid-2001. Managing ...
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CAF scoops DC order
WASHINGTON Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has selected a consortium of CAF and US defence contractor AAI Corp to build 100 new cars for the Washington DC metro network. The $212m contract will bring the MetroRail fleet to 864 cars; the original 298 cars were built by Rohr Industries and the ...
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Konstal to build Warszawa cars
ON APRIL 21, GEC Alsthom confirmed that it had won a 479m zloty contract to supply EMUs to operate the 11 km northern extension of Warszawa metro Line 1, which is due to be completed between Politechnika and the steelworks at Mlociny in 2004. The metro was expected to inaugurate ...