Main line rail industry news – Page 1443
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News
In Brief
Following talks in Frankfurt, German Railway Chairman Heinz Dürr and Italian State Railways Managing Director Giancarlo Cimoli have announced plans to upgrade services between the two countries. Improved overnight trains could be joined by Frankfurt - Milano and München - Roma high-speed services before 2000. ScotRail has installed a touch-screen ...
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Italian MUn sleepers arrive this month
Seeking to offer customers hotel train service, Italian State Railways will take delivery of the first of 20 Type MUn air-conditioned sleeping cars from Costamasnaga at the end of this month (PP 5.96 p5). Destined for international operation at up to 200 km/h, each car can accommodate up to ...
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Chuo Shinkansen will be 'a national project'
As JR Central prepares for a stock market listing in October, President Yoshiyuki Kasai tells Murray Hughes that the Chuo Shinkansen superconducting maglev line will only be built as a strategic national project
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Shinagawa ready in 2003
JR Central is to start construction this month of an extra shinkansen station at Shinagawa in southern Tokyo, for completion in 2003. Two 410m island platforms with four tracks for Tokyo - Osaka Tokaido shinkansen services are to be built adjacent to the existing Shinagawa narrow-gauge station, and three sidings ...
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Ten-point plan to boost traffic
French National Railways has unveiled a second tranche of measures designed to win back passengers following recent difficulties (RG 3.97 p175). According to SNCF President Louis Gallois, the 10 sales and marketing initiatives aim to make train travel easier, cheaper, more practical, punctual and inviting.From June, young people aged 12 ...
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IC-Neigezug to roll out next year
INTRO: From 2001 a fleet of tilting trainsets will cut 20min off Swiss Federal Railways’ journey times between Lausanne and St Gallen without the need for SFr500m of civil worksORDERED in July 1996 at a cost of SFr497m as an alternative to expensive civil engineering works originally planned under the ...
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Kuala Lumpur welcomes Exporail exhibitors
From May 14 to 16, Tun Razak Hall 3 of Kuala Lumpur’s Putra World Trade Centre hosts Exporail (Asia) 97, organised by Interfama Brooks Exhibitions. Local supporters include operators KTMB, PUTRA and STAR, the Chartered Institute of Transport, Malaysia, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers ...
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NS and CSX settle Conrail carve-up
A FORMAL agreement to divide Conrail between Norfolk Southern and CSX was unveiled on April 8. The two companies will drop litigation against each other and form a jointly-owned entity to buy the remaining Conrail shares for $115 each in cash. NS will take a 58% stake for $5·9bn and ...
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Stand-alone island
TASMANIA's 780 km narrow-gauge freight railway looks set to be the top seller in next month's sale of the remnants of the Australian National Railways Commission. Freed from the burdens of mainland cost structures, and benefiting from AN's A$1bn debt write-off, the vertically-integrated self-contained operation is seen as a nice ...
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People
Mr Henri Kuitunen has been named President & Chief Executive Officer of VR Group Ltd. He replaces Mr Panu Haapala, who became President on January 1, but died suddenly on March 15. Mr Albert Vilalta has been appointed President of the Spanish rail infrastructure authority GIF. Mr Francisco Ballesteros ...
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SBB restructures from within
INTRO: Swiss Federal Railways has completed the largest restructuring programme in its history, without the help of external consultants. Impetus for reform came from within SBB and from recent European and national legislation BYLINE: Hans-Jurg SpillmannSecretary General, Swiss Federal Railways SBB has just completed an extremely complex process of reform ...
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JR West tests the limits of independence
INTRO: As the second JR company to achieve a listing on the Tokyo stock market, JR West is beginning to sever the links that tie it to government control. Chairman Masataka Ide was interviewed by Murray Hughes in OkayamaWhen JR WEST was listed on the Tokyo stock market on ...
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Series 700 prototype ready in September
BYLINE: Norihiko Yoshie (left) and Junichui Ito (right)ROLLING STOCK engineers from JR Central and JR West are confident that they will be able to achieve lower capital and running costs with the next generation of shinkansen train. Due to roll out in September, the 16-car N300 prototype, forerunner of a ...
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Publications
Railways & Renewable Energy SourcesThe Community of European Railways’ response to a European Commission Green Paper on Energy for the Future notes that electrified railways can harness a wide variety of renewable energy sources, and suggests that the creation of a high-speed rail network in Europe by 2010 will reduce ...
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Impuls 97 - Bahn 2000’s first wave
INTRO: SBB will celebrate 150 years of railways in Switzerland with the biggest jump in train-km since 1982. This first manifestation of Bahn 2000 marks the start of real improvements in what SBB can offer the passengerBYLINE: Nicolas PerrinDeputy Delegate, Bahn 2000Swiss Federal RailwaysIT IS 15 YEARS since Swiss Federal ...
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Amtrak struggles to find secure funding
INTRO: May 10 is due to see further cuts to Amtrak’s inter-city network as the operator tries to balance its books. Julian Wolinsky looks at operational changes and funding proposals announced in March’WITHOUT DECISIVE action very soon, the United States will have no inter-city rail service’, according to the Republican ...
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JR East launches Akita Shinkansen
EAST JAPAN Railway President Masatake Matsuda was up early on the morning of March 22 to give the first Tokyo-bound train on the Akita mini-shinkansen a high-level send-off from the northeastern city. Also present on the platform to flag away the 06.12 Komachi departure was Akita Governor Kikuji Sasaki. In ...
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Quiet please, noise testing
AERODYNAMIC testing of noise generated by shinkansen trains can now be undertaken in Japan Railway Technical Research Institute’s new wind tunnel at Maihara-cho. Work has already been carried out on JR West’s Series 500, and testing of components such as pantographs has proved particularly useful.Measuring the noise generated by air ...
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Eurotunnel launches freight shuttle safety upgrade
INTRO: Richard Hope explains why enclosure of open-sided wagons has been ruled outRESTORATION of freight shuttle services by mid-June was announced by Eurotunnel on April 3, subject to the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority approving a package of additional safety measures. No lorries have been carried since the major fire of ...