Main line rail industry news – Page 1449
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News
Intelligence
Australia: Westrail has been prosecuted by Worksafe Western Australia for failing to provide automatic train protection at Hines Hill crossing loop; two people died after a National Rail driver failed to stop at a red signal in January 1996.Formal approval has been given for National Rail to compete with V/Line ...
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SJ torpedoed by 60 tonne trucks
DRASTIC CUTS in passenger services are scheduled by Swedish State Railways for June 1, following losses in 1996 that could reach SKr1bn. Among many overnight sleepers to be abandoned are Stockholm to G
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Conrail stalemate
CHIEF EXECUTIVES David M LeVan of Conrail, John W Snow of CSX and Norfolk Southern’s David R Goode emerged from a private meeting on January 31 having failed to agree a formula for replacing the three major eastern US railways by two. On January 17, Conrail shareholders rejected overwhelmingly a ...
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Tube in deep trouble
LONDON Underground could be sold after a general election expected on May 1, although a memo from Transport Secretary Sir George Young to Prime Minister John Major warns that it will be ’a unique and very difficult privatisation to sell to the public’. Higher subsidies required to clear an investment ...
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French under fire from Korea
A BITTER row has erupted between France and South Korea that could see the 431 km Seoul - Pusan TGV line delayed by more than the four years already likely because of problems with civil engineering work (RG 12.96 p777). The problem stems from a decision last December by France’s ...
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West Rail priority is now Hong Kong domestic traffic
Hong Kong’s Executive Council approved a decision on December 10 to build the domestic passenger component of the West Rail scheme (RG 7.96 p418) and submit proposals for new links with China for further study. Under the revised schedule, the new line from West Kowloon to Yuen Long would open ...
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Intelligence
CAPTION: CPTM is taking delivery of 11 Series 101 EMUs being refurbished by Mafersa at a total cost of US$29m. The three-car units were originally manufactured for São Paulo suburban routes by Budd of the USA in the 1950sPhoto: E PiresCAPTION: GEC Alsthom’s Aytré factory is due to roll out ...
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Finance
China: The Ministry of Railways has announced plans for a US$422m bond issue to domestic investors including three- and five-year bills. China’s third railway issue would fund completion of the Houma - Yueshan and Nanning - Kunming routes, electrification of the Chengdu - Kunming line and work on the Beijing ...
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Economies needed
CANADIAN Pacific President Robert Ritchie announced on December 11 that major cost savings were essential if CP’s new eastern operating subsidiary St Lawrence & Hudson is to stave off the risk of sale or closure. Higher productivity and lower property taxes in Ontario and Québec have been identified as key ...
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EU to fund Portuguese revival
PORTUGAL’s railway network is to be modernised over the next three years at a cost of Esc600bn, according to plans announced on December 23 by Minister of Planning João Cravinho. To be funded by the government and the European Union, the package will build on the separate infrastructure and operating ...
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Sidetrack
Swiss precisionThieves with perfect timing held up a Swiss Federal Railways service on December 11, making off with 26 mailbags. They appear to have used similar tactics to those employed in Britain’s Great Train Robbery of 1963. At 22.30 two masked men ordered the driver of Train 744, a St ...
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News
Siemens wins first Combino order
POTSDAM Transport (ViP) ordered a fleet of 48 modular Combino trams from Siemens Verkehrstechnik on December 12. They will be delivered in annual batches of four between 1998 and 2009. The Potsdam version is 30·5m long and 2·3m wide, with 74 seats and room for 110 standees at ...
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News
Spiked copper could halt theft
Spoornet is developing techniques for reducing theft of copper cabling, in particular overhead line equipment on electrified routes. Conventional techniques, such as surveillance equipment and security patrols, were ruled out as prohibitively expensive to protect the 9000route-km electrified network.Instead, OHLE engineers have investigated ways of reducing the scrap value of ...
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Subte expansion proposals
BUENOS AIRES plans to call bids later this year for a 9 km addition to the Subte metro. Expected to cost US$360 to US$450m, Line H would improve connections between the predominantly east-west routes, running under Avenida Jujuy and Avenida Pueyrredón before heading up Avenida Córdoba to the Cid Campeador ...
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First phase of TGV Est approved
FRENCH Prime Minister Alain Juppé announced on December 23 that construction of the first phase of the long-planned TGV Est project will start in 1998. With the declaration of public utility agreed in May 1996, the way is now clear for SNCF to proceed with detailed design and land acquisitions.Although ...
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Industry
Bulgaria: Bulgarian State Railways and VAE are to establish a joint venture to manufacture points at BDZ’s Sofia works, which is to be modernised at a cost of Lev116m.Czech Republic: CKD and Skoda have signed a co-operation agreement covering foreign and domestic markets.Europe: In conjunction with the management and employees ...
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News
Akita shinkansen opens next month
JR EAST will launch direct shinkansen services on March 22 between Tokyo and Akita. Marketed as Komachi, they will be formed of Series E3 trainsets (RG 10.95 p663) running over the Tohoku shinkansen as far as Morioka and then on the regauged Tazawako line from Morioka to Omagari and Akita.Of ...
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Debts of winter
THOUSANDS of passengers were stranded in TGVs and other trains when a freak wave of icy weather paralysed rail services across the south of France last month. One typical story related a nightmare TGV trip from Paris to Nice that took 31h; staff at one stage abandoned the train for ...
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Channel Tunnel Rail Link gets Royal Assent
ON December 18 the Act authorising construction of the 108 km Channel Tunnel Rail Link to St Pancras in London received Royal Assent. London & Continental Railways, which won the concession to finance and build CTRL in February 1996, is now free to acquire land, undertake detailed design, and prepare ...
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TNT-Toll deal threatens NRC
DECEMBER’S announcement that TNT and Toll Holdings were forming a consortium to exploit Australia’s nascent open access regime by operating freight trains between major cities means that National Rail Corporation could follow Australian National into what amounts to liquidation (RG 1.97 p8). Conceivably, the joint TNT-Toll operation could become so ...