Main line rail industry news – Page 1427
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Light rail to augment expanding network
INTRO: Preliminary engineering has started for two light rail lines in Vancouver, British Columbia, to augment existing mini-metro and commuter rail routes. Construction is due to get under way in 1999, with the first low-floor cars running by 2005. William D Middleton reportsA 33 km light rail network will be ...
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Operators line up
DUTCH Minister of Transport & Waterways Annemarie Lebink has approved 19 organisations to run on the Railned network in addition to Netherlands Railways. This is part of the programme to open up the national network to competing operators, all of whom must first gain a Railned safety certificate and then ...
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Why not sell off the infrastructure as well?
SINCE 1992, there has been an explosion in rolling stock leasing outside the US, where it has been commonplace for years (RG 1.97 p5). The new deals are primarily in Europe, but east Asia including Japan was starting to open up before financial crises hit the region last autumn.Now an ...
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Bids recalled
LAST MONTH a fresh municipal administration was due to take office in Mexico City under the reformist mayor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas. One of the first tasks facing Cardenas was to take a decision on the stalled contract for 252 new cars for Line B of the metro.Trouble erupted last July, when ...
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Emergency extended
DESPITE strong arguments by Union Pacific Chairman Dick Davidson, the Surface Transportation Board on December 4 issued an instruction for a 100-day extension of its emergency order requiring UP to co-operate with competing railways to clear the backlog of shipments that has choked much of its western network. UP and ...
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Clinton signs, Downs resigns
PRESIDENT Bill Clinton signed the Amtrak Reform & Accountability Act on December 2, giving America’s inter-city passenger railway a long-sought degree of financial stability. Amtrak President, Chairman & Chief Executive Thomas Downs said it would ’give Amtrak the ability to plan for the future. With these funds and adequate annual ...
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Time to challenge rules and standards
’THE DANGER of standards for absolutely every eventuality is fatigue, and complacency that we have safety through the most complete set of procedures imaginable. Paper safety is dangerous and no substitute for effective leadership.’ This is heresy in an industry which has traditionally relied on rules rather than personal judgement ...
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Ambitious plans
IN A NOTABLE shift in policy, the Turkish Transport & Communications Ministry announced in December that investment in railway upgrading and new construction is to be stepped up. Speaking two weeks ahead of a National Railway Congress held in Istanbul on December 15-17, Transport Minister Necdet Menzir indicated that railways ...
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Baltimore opens LRT extensions
DECEMBER 5 saw the dedication of two long-awaited light rail branches in Baltimore, which opened to revenue services the next day. The short city-centre spur to Penn Station and the line to Baltimore-Washington International Airport coincided with the completion of a major expansion at BWI.Baltimore is now the only US ...
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Car revamp as CTA goes DOO
CHICAGO Transit Authority announced on December 10 that it had awarded a $169m contract to GEC Alsthom Transportation Inc of New York for mid-life refurbishment of 284 metro cars, with options covering a further 314 vehicles. The 2600 series cars were supplied by Budd between 1981 and 1987, and are ...
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Pontinha opened
METROPOLITANO de Lisboa has completed a 1.5 km extension of its northwestern route from Colégio Militar to Pontinha, with an intermediate station at Carnide. Started four years ago, the work has been delayed by bad weather and geological problems. Construction was contracted to the Metrogal consortium incuding Construçoes Técnicas and ...
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Line 2 gets under way
GROUNDBREAKING ceremonies for Manila light metro Line 2 were held on November 15, with President Fidel Ramos inaugurating the project at a site in Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City. To be financed by Japan’s Overseas Economic Co-operation Fund, the 14 km elevated line is to be completed by 2001.Costed at ...
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RATP to handle Cup traffic
PARIS Transport Authority is preparing to handle huge crowds of football supporters attending the soccer World Cup in June. Travel to the specially built Stade de France in the city’s northern suburbs will only be possible by public transport, as the 5000 car parking spaces under the stadium will be ...
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Porto picks the Eurotram
THE NORMETRO consortium of Adtranz and Soares da Costa has been selected to build and equip the light metro network in the Portuguese city of Porto. Metro de Porto SA announced the winning bidder for the Ecu840m package on November 27, almost exactly a year after shortlisting two preferred bidders.The ...
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Airport branch
A LIGHT RAIL extension to Portland International Airport could be open within three years, as a result of a public-private partnership proposed by engineering and construction firm Bechtel. The company is planning a $500m office development on a vacant site near the airport entrance, and has put forward plans for ...
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Rio auction
BIDS FOR a 20-year concession to operate the two-line Rio de Janeiro metro, with an option for a 20-year extension, were due to be submitted to the state government on December 11. Conditions for the auction were published on November 14, setting the minimum bid at 25m reais, plus an ...
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Hannover - Berlin close to completion
ALTHOUGH work is forging ahead along almost all the 247 km alignment of the Hannover - Berlin high speed line, contractors face tight deadlines to finish in time for the already revised opening date of October this year. Nearly all the route in former East Germany comprises new alignment laid ...
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Telescopic axles speed gauge-changing
DB Cargo has begun trials of bogie wagons equipped with telescopic axles for use on both 1435mm and 1520mm gauges. Following tests on a 15m long gauge-changing installation at German Railway’s Research & Technology Centre in Minden, service trials are scheduled to be completed by the end of 1998.The DB ...
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Export deals help to fill order books
ITALIAN builder Fiat Ferroviaria has added a two-car diesel trainset to its family of tilting Pendolino trains. Built speculatively at Fiat’s own cost, the train began trials in November 3, initially on the line between Savigliano, site of the Fiat factory, and Cuneo.Two years ago Italian State Railways planned to ...
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MARKETPLACE
Australia: Railway Services Authority of New South Wales has called tenders for the supply and installation of help point equipment at 63 stations on the Sydney suburban network.Canada: Canadian National and General Electric have opened a Locomotive Reliability Centre at Symington Yard in Winnipeg, augmenting similar depots in Edmonton and ...