Main line rail industry news – Page 1446
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News
SBB ends catering support
TRUSTING market forces to produce keen prices as rival companies compete for its business, Swiss Federal Railways is withdrawing financial support for train catering. A consortium of Swiss companies SSG Restaurant Car and Rail Gourmet will be vying with Mitropa of Germany for contracts, which SBB hopes will lead to ...
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Evaluating the economics of heavy haul railroading
INTRO: Global market pressures are continuing to push down heavy haul revenues, forcing operators to seek cost savings through technical innovationBYLINE: Thomas S GuinsManager, Engineering Economics,Association of American RailroadsOVER THE PAST 25 years, the world market for all bulk commodities has become less a function of geopolitics and more determined ...
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Transformers shrink by switching
INNOVATIONS in ferrous alloys are giving rolling stock designers valuable weight and space savings through improvements in transformer technology. Siemens’ subsidiary Vacuumschmelze (VAC) is offering a range of high-power transformers aimed at railway applications, including a cluster of units delivering 70 kW on ICE2 vehicles for air-conditioning and lighting power ...
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Publications
The Railways Act in practiceby Paul FawcettPrivatisation of British Rail converted an integrated state railway into nearly 80 independent companies. This reorganisation, and the subsequent contractual relationships between the track authority, train operators and other players is governed by the Railways Act 1993. This 68 page A5 booklet provides a ...
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Conrail to be broken up
CONRAIL’s 17700 km network serving the northeast of the USA will be split between rival bidders CSX and Norfolk Southern, following the collapse of merger talks with CSX. Conrail officials confirmed on March 3 that the planned $9·4bn friendly merger had been defeated by a $10·5bn hostile offer from NS. ...
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Tilt no longer a novelty in Europe
INTRO: Roger Ford believes that body tilting has become a low risk bolt-on extra with provision for future retrofitting adding little to initial costsA CONFERENCE hosted by Britain’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers in January brought together presentations on all the European tilt technologies. While aimed at the renewed interest in ...
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Wisconsin suspends one-person crews
DESPITE well established and safe operation by sister companies of driver-only freight trains in New Zealand and Britain, Wisconsin Central has been ordered by the US Federal Railroad Administration to provide a second crew member except for light locomotives and trains on industrial tracks. Remote operation of unmanned locomotives by ...
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Subsidy deal could hit Tunnel freight
CONTRACTS covering the sale of Railfreight Distribution to English Welsh & Scottish Railway were exchanged on March 13, but British Rail cannot hand over its last train operating business until the European Commission has given the all clear. Among other things at issue is SNCF’s complaint that the British government ...
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Open skies will hit high speed
APRIL 1 marks the long awaited liberalisation of civil aviation in the European Union. In theory, any EU airline will be able to fly between any cities charging any fare. When this happened in America a decade ago, the results were dramatic. As Jack Duchemin, a manager with SNCF, pointed ...
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Letters
Setting a standard for autocouplersSir - It is good to see attempts being made again to introduce autocouplers into Europe on a large scale. The pattern described in your March issue (RG 3.97 p135) appears to be an unhappy compromise. It seems to have all the excessive weight and complexity ...
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Intelligence
Brazil: Ferrovia Sul Atlântico, private operator of Rffsa’s former SR5 and SR6 regions (RG 2.97 p72), has announced a two year rebuilding programme for 100 diesel-electric locos.Europe: Eurotunnel’s Le Shuttle services show continuing recovery after last year’s fire disruption, with 123915 private vehicles carried in February, 48% more than the ...
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Car orders
ANGLO-French rolling stock supplier GEC Alsthom announced in February that it had won two contracts to supply metro and commuter rail trainsets to South America.On February 11 GEC Alsthom won a Fr300m order to build a further 6 seven-car trains for Lines 1 and 2 of the Santiago metro. They ...
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Osaka opens cross-city link
MARCH 8 sees the inauguration of a 12·3 km cross-city rail link in the Japanese city of Osaka. Built by a public-private third sector company, the Katafuku line links existing JR West stations at Kyobashi and Amagasaki. The route includes 10·2 km in tunnel under the heart of the city. ...
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Intelligence
CAPTION: Metrolink operator Southern California Regional Rail Authority has been running a series of trials around Los Angeles with a Siemens-built RegioSprinter. On January 18 the lightweight articulated railcar made demonstration runs on a freight line between Arcadia (above) and Claremont in the San Gabriel valleyCAPTION: French National Railways ran ...
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Intelligence
CAPTION: Czech Railways has received the first series-built Class 943 driving trailers and Class 043 centre cars from MSV Studenka to operate with its Class 843 diesel-electric railcars. The 11 driving and 20 non-driving cars are all due to be delivered by the end of this yearCAPTION: Thorn Transit Systems ...
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Amtrak tries DMUs
PENNSYLVANIA’s Department of Transportation has been authorised to buy a fleet of diesel multiple-units for the 176 km ’Keystone Corridor’ from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. Governor Tom Ridge has approved a package combining $18·7m of federal and $4·7m of state funding.Costed at $1·5m per vehicle, the two or four car sets ...
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Ferrovías offers Atlantic concession
ON JANUARY 16 Colombia’s railway authority Ferrovías launched a competition for a 30-year concession to rehabilitate, maintain and operate freight services over its Atlantic network; bidding is due to close on July 16.The concession covers 1284 active route-km of 914mm gauge, formed by the Chiriguana - Dorada - Bogota - ...
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Composite trams
BASLER Verkehrsbetriebe has ordered 28 low-floor centre sections from Schindler Waggon AG at a cost of SFr16·4m, to enlarge its Be4/6 articulated trams delivered in 1990-91. This will increase their capacity by 30%, with 14 extra seats and space for wheelchairs or prams. The first car is due to be ...
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Siemens group takes Bursa light rail
CONTRACTS for construction of a 21·5 km light rail line in the Turkish city of Bursa were signed at the beginning of February. The municipality has selected a consortium led by Siemens Verkehrstechnik, together with Ansaldo Trasporti and three local firms. The deal is valued at DM500m.The first phase of ...
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Chinese sign research agreements
CHINA ACADEMY of Railway Sciences signed a co-operation agreement with Japan’s Railway Technical Research Institute on January 28 covering the joint development of automatic train control for a possible Chinese high-speed line. The ´150m project to equip the CARS test track near Beijing with ’digital ATC’ by August will be ...