Main line rail industry news – Page 1436
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News
JR-West
BYLINE: Nariyasu MatsuokaChief Engineer, Rolling Stock DepartmentWest Japan Railway CoECONOMIC and financial circumstances facing JR-West mean that the Rolling Stock Department must give its highest priority to providing passengers with high-quality trains at low cost. Plans are well in hand to develop better trains for the Sanyo shinkansen (RG 5.97 ...
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Pizza express car
ITALIAN Railways has taken delivery of a prototype ’Pizza Express’ restaurant car conversion from Fervet of Castelfranco Veneto, developed in conjunction with train caterer Agape. The ex-TEE vehicle now has seats for 44 customers, divided between an area with 12 stools and a second with tables for two or four. ...
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VHST shortlist
NEW SOUTH WALES Premier Bob Carr announced on July 3 that six groups had been shortlisted for the next stage of the planned Sydney - Canberra Very High Speed Train project. They have been given six months to prepare detailed proposals, after which the VHST Project Team will evaluate the ...
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Out for the day
AVAILABLE until September 27, Passbask offers a day’s unlimited second class travel on French, Spanish and Basque Railways services between Bayonne and San Sebasti
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Making concessions
DECREE 605 signed by President Menem and published on July 3 opened a 120-day window for the government and Argentina’s five private freight railways to renegotiate the 30-year operating concessions signed between 1991 and 1993. Some months ago the operators suspended payments for use of Argentine Railways’ infrastructure and rolling ...
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Lake Titicaca bypass
PERU’S Ministry of Transport has invited tenders for consultants to review the technical and economic feasibility of building a standard-gauge railway between Puno and Desaguadero to replace the present train ferry across Lake Titicaca. The bi-weekly ferry severely constrains capacity on Enafer’s main link to Bolivia, and recent droughts and ...
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Industry
Austria: Knorr-Bremse is taking a 49% shareholding in door specialist IFE.Great Britain: GEC Alsthom Signalling Ltd has moved to new offices at Trafford Park, Manchester.India: Konkan Railway Corp plans to establish a subsidiary to tender for railway construction projects overseas; revenue from this business will help with international loans taken ...
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Faster through the curves on JR-Central
INTRO: Since Japanese National Railways was divided into separate companies in 1987, JR-Central has put into service around 600 new vehicles for its 1067mm gauge network that carries over half a million passengers a day. Tilting trains have helped cut journey times on key routesBYLINE: Kazuhiro YoshikawaManager, Rolling Stock DepartmentConventional ...
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Something old, something new
DESPITE the gloomy lessons of the past and the more recent financial problems of Río Negro province’s Sefepa venture, local initiatives to resurrect passenger trains continue to appear in Argentina. Under a one-year operating concession granted by the province of Tucum
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Gas tensioner supports JR Central wires
Spring and balance-weight tensioners have been superseded by a gas-cylinder model developed by JR Central, offering a smaller, lighter unit with improved performance.Whereas conventional tensioners absorb the slack produced when overhead line cables expand in the heat, the gas cylinder model actively tensions in response to changes in temperature. As ...
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Metros August 1997
Brazil: The federal government has backed proposals for a 15 km extension of Trensurb's Porto Alegre commuter line from Mercado to Triângulo. A 3·9 km extension to Estação Unisinos is expected to open later this year. Germany: German Railway has commissioned the first 11 km of the Hannover ...
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Technology transfer spearheads Indian inter-city renewal
INTRO: IR operates around 29000 all-steel lightweight vehicles to a common basic design. Now the Rail Coach Factory is poised to launch an up-to-date inter-city coach under a technology transfer deal with Linke-Hofmann-Busch. R C Acharya reports on IR’s inter-city business that handled over 404million passenger train-km in 1995-96IN A ...
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BNSF and UP test Positive Train Separation
INTRO: Richard Hope reports on a project to validate the non-vital automatic train protection overlay developed by GE Harris, using radio data links and GPS location. Now in the second of four phases, it is on course for completion by DecemberAFTER A DECADE of circling inconclusively around the Advanced Train ...
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Connex fleet replacement
French-owned Connex Rail Ltd has ordered 30 four-car Class 375 ’Electrostar’ EMUs from Adtranz for £90m, to operate Connex South Eastern services from London to Dover and Hastings. The contract signed on July 16 includes options for up to 800 more cars, up to half of which could be for ...
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Cali wants light rail
TENDERS were due last month for construction of a US$973m two-line light rail network in the Colombian city of Cali, 450 km southwest of Bogota. Work is expected to start next year, with the first segment opening in 2000, when the city’s population is predicted to reach 1·8 million. The ...
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Letters
Heavy haul bogiesSir - The Leader in your May issue (RG 5.97 p 267) concerning high axleloads for heavy haul railways mentions ’the unending search for the ideal wheel-rail interface’. This subject was addressed in detail in my paper titled Review of Freight Car Bogie Design and Performance presented to ...
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Series E4 offers high capacity at high speed
BYLINE: Yoshihiko SatoGeneral Manager, Transport and Rolling Stock Department,East Japan RailwayJR EAST has adopted a two-part strategy for replacing the 700 Series 200 cars that entered service with the opening of the Tohoku and Joetsu shinkansen in 1982. The fine detail is still under discussion, but Series E2 sets running ...
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Railways become agents of change
INTRO: Shri M Ravindra, Chairman of the Railway Board and Principal Secretary to the Government of India, sets the scene for next month’s International Seminar on Railways and the third Railway Equipment Exhibition in New DelhiWITH 62915route-km in operation - the largest network under common management outside Russia - Indian ...
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Spadina LRT inaugurated
TORONTO Transit Commission was due to open its Spadina Avenue light rail extension on July 27, adding 3·7 km and 12 stops to the 2·1 km Harbourfront line opened in 1990. At the northern terminus, the line interchanges with the east-west Bloor-Danforth subway. TTC has shelved plans for a ...
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Netherlands sizes up power conversion
INTRO: Everybody agrees that 25 kV AC is essential on three primary international routes; phased conversion between 2005 and 2017 is the best option for the rest of the trunk network, but who will pay?BYLINE: Robin HemelrijkSenior Project LeaderRailned InnovatieTHE DUTCH national network is 2739route-km of which 1991 km is ...