Main line rail industry news – Page 1426
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Sydney’s trams in search of passengers
RUNNING from Sydney’s Central station to Wattle Street in Wentworth Park, the 3·6 km light rail route was inaugurated last August. Services are provided by a fleet of seven five-section articulated low-floor cars built by Adtranz at Dandenong in Victoria.During the start-up phase traffic has been lighter than the Sydney ...
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Tariff cuts help to extend concession
Terms agreed by the French and British governments on December 19 for extending Eurotunnel’s concession by 34 years include a substantial reduction in the cost of sending Anglo-German rail freight through the Channel Tunnel. This is the first time Eurotunnel has agreed to vary tariffs set out in the Railway ...
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Double-deck air-con
FAIVELEY has begun delivering roof-mounted air-conditioning equipment for the 76 TER2N double-deck EMUs for SNCF regional services in Provence-Alpes-C
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Tunnellers chosen
LONDON & Continental Railways announced on January 15 that it had chosen preferred contractors for two of the main tunnelling contracts for the 108 km Channel Tunnel Rail Link.The bigger of the two deals covers the 5·4 km twin tunnels from Barking to Dagenham, known as London Tunnels East. Preferred ...
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Keeping viaducts level
ENSURING that track on seven viaducts does not move because of ground settlement was one of many challenges facing engineers designing Hong Kong MTR’s airport line, now due to open on July 6. The answer was to use Hydratight’s lifting and jacking equipment controlled by a lift management system. An ...
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One-Stop-Shops in business
The first Trans-European Rail Freight Freeway train, the Bel-Italia, left Muizen yard in Belgium at 01.51 on January 12 and was due in Lyon at 13.14, having covered 800 km at an average of just over 70 km/h including stops at Arlon, Luxembourg and Thionville for crew or locomotive changes. ...
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Welsby asks crunch questions
’AN OBJECTIVE assessment of the performance of the privatised railway today shows that, in general, it is hardly better than it was in the last years of public ownership. That is a great disappointment.’ Giving the Sir Robert Reid lecture to the Chartered Institute of Transport in London on January ...
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Japanese Maglev sets new world record
ON CHRISTMAS EVE, engineers at Japan's Tsuru - Otsuki Superconducting Maglev test track in Yamanashi prefecture completed their current series of very high speed trials by setting a new world record for an unmanned trainset. Following the achievement of a new manned record of 531 km/h on December 12, the ...
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UK passenger-km 'to double by 2010'
RAILTRACK has warned the government that it expects total passenger-km on Britain's national rail network to double within 13 years, leading to a serious shortage of track capacity in key areas. Giving evidence before the House of Commons Transport Sub-Committee on November 26, Chief Executive Gerald Corbett said the forecast ...
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Work begins on St Petersburg terminal
ON November 17 the joint venture of Taylor Woodrow International Ltd and Skanska Construction Co Ltd began work on the US$250m St Petersburg rail terminal development for High Speed Railways Russian Shareholding Company (RAO VSM). GIBB Ltd is supervising the construction project under a US$7.5m contract from RAO VSM, which ...
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Old Colony plugs Boston’s commuting gap
INTRO: Richard Hope reports on the reopening of a three-line network partially abandoned since 1959 which forms one of the biggest current commuter rail projects around US cities NOVEMBER 30 saw all day service introduced on 106route-km of the former Old Colony Railroad to the southeast of Boston after a ...
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Business plan to be backed by investment
INTRO: Italian State Railways is implementing a four-year business plan aimed at driving the business into the black. With many projects already under way, the 70000bn lire plan means that 150000bn lire will have been invested in 1994-2006THIS MONTH sees Italian State Railways take one more step towards a commercial ...
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Passante aims for completion in 2003
INTRO: Following the official opening of the first section between Bovisa and Porta Venezia, completion of Milano’s cross-city route is now expected to take a further five years. Robert Preston reportsOFFICIAL OPENING of the first section of Milano’s Passante cross-city suburban railway was scheduled to take place on December 21. ...
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Puget Sound picks integrated rail option
INTRO: A 55 km commuter rail line is due to start running between Seattle and Tacoma next year. This is the first stage in an ambitious 10-year programme to develop commuter and light rail routes throughout the Puget Sound regionBYLINE: William D Middleton’AMONG THE major US urban areas without a ...
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Saarbahn cars in the city streets
EUROPE’S second light rail operation sharing tracks with a main line railway was formally opened on October 24, in the German city of Saarbrücken. Following the lead set in nearby Karlsruhe, which launched dual-mode through working in 1992, Saarbrücken has plans for an extensive network of routes that will allow ...
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Seventh heaven as the Trolley keeps growing
Shopping centres and a sports stadium offer major traffic potential along the latest extension of San Diego’s light rail network, which continues the city’s successful 16-year policy of incremental expansion. Julian Wolinsky joined the opening celebrations
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Tendered operation cuts costs
ON JANUARY 1 Stockholm’s narrow-gauge commuter services transfer to private-sector management. Bus operator Linjebuss and Adtranz will run the three 891mm gauge routes for five years under contract to AB Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. Over the past five years, SL has contracted out operation of tram, bus and metro routes in a ...
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Vaglia tunnel advances at 10m a day
CONSTRUCTION of Italy’s third high speed railway is forging ahead. Following completion of the Roma - Firenze direttissima in 1992, preliminary work began two years later on the 220 km Roma - Napoli leg of the Alta Velocità network, and the main civil engineering work got under way in 1995 ...