Main line rail industry news – Page 1413
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Transpatagónico study
A DECREE published by the Argentinian government on March 25 gave the Canarail consultancy 90 days to complete a feasibility study for the ambitious Transpatagónico railway from Choele Choel and San Antonio del Este to Punta Loyola, with a ferry link to Tierra del Fuego. The government would then have ...
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Europeans try heavy haul techniques
MORE North American technology developed for heavy haul freight is migrating across the Atlantic. French National Railways and German Railway are expected to call tenders imminently for pilot ECP braking projects that could see two trains equipped and operating later this year or during 1999.Meanwhile, experiments are going ahead in ...
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GEC Alsthom scoops West Coast signalling
Railtrack’s Commercial Director, Richard Middleton, named GEC Alsthom on May 15 as preferred bidder for a contract to develop, test and install on the West Coast main line transmission-based signalling conforming to Level 3 of the European Train Control System. He expected a contract worth ’between £0·5bn and £1bn’ to ...
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Private metro plan
A PRIVATE-SECTOR consortium has put forward plans for construction of a four-line metro in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo. Backed by commercial property developers, the group hopes to negotiate a concession from the municipal administration by mid-2000 to build and operate the network.According to Metro Montevideo Director-General Manuel Carballal, construction of ...
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Briztram bidding
THE QUEENSLAND government has invited expressions of interest for a concession to finance, design, build, operate and maintain a light rail network in Brisbane, costed at A$230m. Bids are due by June 16.The government confirmed in May that it had selected a preferred route for the 14 km initial line. ...
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Swiss ’ready to start’ on Gotthard base tunnel
ON MAY 8 Swiss Federal Railways issued a statement saying that ’the Gotthard base tunnel is ready for construction to begin’. Four days later it announced the founding of AlpTransit Gotthard AG with start-up capital of SFr5m to plan and build the 57 km tunnel.Both announcements followed the conclusion of ...
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Integral slips
CZECH railwaymen looking forward to running 200 km/h tilting trains between Berlin, Praha and Wien may have to wait a little longer. CKD Praha announced last month that delivery of the prototype Class 680 Integral had slipped by another nine months to April 15 next year.When the contract for 10 ...
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New lines in the west
DESPITE the economic meltdown in South East Asia, the Hamersley Iron Railway set a new record by moving close to 60 million tonnes of ore for shipment from the port of Dampier last year. Iron ore sales were 20% up on 1996, resulting in what HIR’s owner Rio Tinto called ...
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Pointers
nIndia’s Ministry of Railways is drawing up a 10-year programme to install automatic train protection on the IR main line network at an anticipated cost of Rs70bn. A decision between conventional signalling and satellite train location is expected shortly.nSouth African power generator Eskom is considering the feasibility of building two ...
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Imperial Express heads east
From May 3 tourists will be able to travel in luxury between Praha and Budapest with the inaugural run of a land cruise programme by the Imperial Railway Co. Sleeping cars from the Hungarian Presidential train have been married to a pair of Wagons-Lits Dining Cars to form a luxury ...
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Contact wire tracking by laser
PLASSER & Theurer has supplied a contact wire measuring system to Austrian Federal Railways that uses laser scanning technology to determine the position of the wire with an accuracy of
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VP185 family grows
GEC Alsthom Paxman Diesels has launched an 18-cylinder version of its successful VP185 engine (RG 3.95 p157). Rated at 3100 kWb at 1800rev/min for rail traction applications, the 18VP185 is 2158mm high, 3763mm long and 1450mm wide, and weighs 10·1 tonnes.Intended to combine high output with compact size and low ...
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On-screen loco management
ALK Associates has been retained by Union Pacific to design and implement a locomotive management system for its Harriman Dispatching Centre in Omaha, Nebraska. Designed to improve service reliability and help UP make the most effective use of its available motive power, the system will provide information on trains and ...
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Eastern timetable reorganisation
The summer timetable change sees the cutting-back of the Ost - West Express to east of Warszawa only, with a new Jan Ciepura EuroNight train introduced between K
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Holidaymakers ride free
GERMANY’S Association of Public Transport Operators (VDV) has signed an agreement with tour operator NUR Touristic GmbH that allows holidaymakers to use public transport at no extra charge. Air tickets issued by the NUR group under the Ride & Fly scheme can be used on services provided by the VDV’s ...
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Finance
Australia: Evans Deakin Industries Ltd has completed a placement of 8·99million fully-paid ordinary shares with institutional investors, at an issue price of $4·20. Representing 9·99% of the company’s issued shares, the placement raised $37·75m.Canada: Canadian National Railway Co is to issue up to US$1·8bn in debt securities and warrants to ...
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Airport line ticketing
AUTOMATIC ticket checking equipment is shortly to be installed at stations on Norway’s Gardermobanen route to Oslo airport, due to open in October. Supplied by Dassault Automatismes et Telecommunications in partnership with ICL, the equipment is similar to that previously installed at Eurostar stations with a magnetic stripe reader for ...
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Two railways test dual-system Tractis
INTRO: A fleet of 60 high performance 3 kV DC or 25 kV AC locomotives being built by GEC Alsthom for Belgian National Railways will replace units dating from the 1950s and 1960s. Another 20 locos are on order for Luxembourg National RailwaysBYLINE: Harry Hondius MSc EngBY THE START of ...
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Portable structure gauging
AVAILABLE for purchase or hire from manufacturer Laser Rail, LaserSweep is a portable structure gauging system designed for use by a single operator. It comprises a measuring head mounted on an outrigger that spans the track, and a Husky FC computer to log the data. Data is saved as a ...