Main line rail industry news – Page 1428
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News
Lifting turnouts by air bag
BYLINE: Chen Zhaoming, Li Luoshu and Zhow Xianping*INTRO: Turnout replacement work on Chinese Railways’ Beijing - Guangzhou route has been speeded up by the use of air bags in place of manual liftingAIR BAGS were first used to lift preassembled turnouts on Chinese Railways during work at Langfang, Xushui and ...
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In Brief
Spanish infrastructure authority GIF awarded contracts totalling Pts 3.3bn in December for civil works on 148 km of the Madrid - Barcelona AVE line between Chiloeches and Calatayud.Membership of the International Union of Railways has increased with the admission of European infrastructure authorities Jerbaneverket, Banestyrelsen, RFF, Refer and GIF. Amtrak, ...
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Finance
Angola: Luanda Railway is seeking $15m for track repairs and purchase of second-hand locos from Spoornet as part of a $41m rehabilitation plan.Canada: On November 14 CN agreed terms for US$130m of pass through certificates for the finance of 115 new high-horsepower locomotives.Great Britain: European Investment Bank has agreed a ...
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Industry
Australia: Goninan has formed a strategic alliance with Hunter Institute of Technology and the University of Newcastle, NSW, to provide training, education and research expertise to Asia.Europe: Bombardier Transportation has decided to drop the Bombardier Eurorail name for its European operations. The Brussels office will remain, but ANF, Prorail, BWS, ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Afghanistan: The World Bank is to fund a US$1.5m feasibility study into an 800 km line from Chaman in Pakistan to Kushka in Tadzhikistan, costed at US$600m.Australia: National Rail Corp began providing traction for The Ghan, Indian Pacific and Overland on November 1, under contract to Great Southern Railway. Canada: ...
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INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: Spanish National Railways has put into service on its Madrid - Soria line two diesel railcars converted from the driving cars of a Class 593 ’Camel’ three-car DMUCAPTION: Essex MEP Richard Howitt inaugurated the International Rail Freight Terminal at the Port of Tilbury on November 24. The four-track yard ...
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Pointers
German Railway is drawing up plans for a dual-mode electro-diesel version of its CargoSprinter freight trainset; a proposal is due to go to the board of management shortly.A new California High Speed Rail Authority was created in November to develop a 1100 km network linking key cities such as San ...
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JR companies may have to bear more JNR debts
DESPITE a long and sometimes acrimonious campaign, it would seem that the JR companies may lose their battle with the government which wants them to assume more of the former Japanese National Railways’ debt, currently amounting to no less than
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Rail Business Report 1998
SUBSCRIBERS should receive with this issue a copy of our annual Rail Business Report. A review of investment and market developments during 1997 reveals that around 2000 electric locomotives are on order, under construction or planned as options on existing tenders. This sector alone is worth about US$7bn, while orders ...
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Letters to the editor
Eurostar not ignored by NS Sir - We read with interest your Sidetrack item 'Eurostar ignored' (RG 11.97 p736). If your correspondent had taken the trouble to enquire more closely, he would have discovered that NS has been actively promoting Eurostar traffic via Brussels since day one. We ...
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Ore line concession
AUSTRALIAN civil engineering group Leighton Holdings has been selected as preferred concessionaire to build and operate a 350 km iron ore railway in the mid-west region of Western Australia, together with an ore mine and concentrate beneficiation plant. They will serve the Okajee steel mill complex to be built at ...
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Frontier controls
AUTOMATED customs clearance of goods entering Canada from the USA by rail is expected to reduce delivery times by an average of 48h. Railway Association of Canada announced on November 24 that agreement had been reached with the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers and Revenue Canada-Customs for detailed shipment information ...
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GEC Alsthom to be floated
ALCATEL Alsthom of France and Britain’s GEC announced in December that they had agreed to float their eight-year-old energy and transport joint venture GEC Alsthom during the first half of 1998. Each of the partners will retain 24% of the shares, with the remaining 52% to be listed on the ...
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Wissmann confirms upgrading finance
GERMAN Transport Minister Matthias Wissmann announced on November 17 that his government would provide DM9bn out of the DM11bn total needed to carry out nine upgrading and new line construction projects. Describing the move as an ’investment offensive’, he said that formal agreements had been signed with German Railway.Most expensive ...
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Nanning - Kunming line opens
CHINESE Railways held ceremonies at Xingyi in Guizhou province on December 2 to mark the opening of its electrified line between Nanning and Kunming. Construction of the 898 km trunk line began in 1991, and tracklaying was completed in March (RG 5.97 p271). Traffic on the corridor is initially estimated ...
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PR privatisation ’this year’
PAKISTAN Railways is to be fully privatised by the end of 1998, according to Federal Railways Minister Yaqub Khan Nasar. He said in November that the government had decided that the only solution to PR’s financial problems was ’to restructure rail transport’. Endorsing the proposals of a special committee formed ...
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Régions invest
TRACK RENEWAL work on the night of December 10 marked the start of a Fr293m upgrading of French National Railways’ 34 km Strasbourg - Haguenau route. Alsace région is meeting 57.5% of the cost, and Bas-Rhin département 17%. Speeds will be raised to 160 km/h, and a third track will ...
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Freight freeway opens this month
JANUARY 12 sees the inauguration of the first Trans-European Rail Freight Freeway, linking Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Italy. French National Railways announced on November 26 that the four railways had signed the accord creating the TERFF conforming to European Commission rules (RG 12.97 p829).Linking Antwerpen, Bettembourg, Lyon and the Calabrian ...
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Work starts on Taipei - Kaohsiung
ON DECEMBER 10 the Taiwan High Speed Railway Consortium announced that a formal groundbreaking ceremony for the Taipei - Kaohsiung high speed line would be held on December 30 at Linkhou, about 30 km west of Taipei. The move followed completion of negotiations between the Siemens - GEC Alsthom ...
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Kars - Tbilisi tenders called
INTERNATIONAL BIDS for construction of a 287 km rail link between Turkey and Georgia are due on February 19, paving the way for a start of work on the three-year project later this year. The Georgian Railway Department and Turkish State Railways issued matching calls for tenders on November 17, ...