All Railway Gazette International articles in March 2003 – Page 3

  • News

    Product News in Brief

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    Threshold Floorings is supplying Grid 200 mats with rubber infill to London Underground for refurbishment of the entrances to Elephant & Castle station.Next month Voith will begin series production of 180 drive packages for Alstom Minuetto diesel multiple-units being built for use in Italy. A pre-series T212bre turbo transmission and ...

  • News

    Passenger News in Brief

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    Austrian Federal Railways has opened first class lounges at Wien West and Süd stations. Available to members of the ÖBB frequent traveller programme plus first class, sleeping car and motorail ticket holders, the lounges offer free drinks and snacks, and office facilities. A similar lounge opens in Salzburg on March ...

  • News

    Industry News in Brief

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    Minnesota Rubber Europe is installing two multi-plate presses for micro-cellular products to double capacity at its rail sector factory at Pacy-sur-Eure in France.Following the voluntary liquidation of Bulgin Power Source, senior managers have led a buy-out by new firm Powertron Converters Ltd of DC-DC converter maker Powertron Ltd, which had ...

  • News

    Serbian wagons for Brazil

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    EDUARDO Meireles, Director of Industry in the Brazilian state of Goias, signed a letter of intent on January 21 for the supply of 2300 railway wagons from a consortium including Serbia’s Kraljevo rolling stock factory and Gosa. The agreement is worth up to US$50m, and will require all capacity at ...

  • News

    Braking research centre

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    BECORIT has invested in a brake materials research and development facility at Recklinghausen in Germany. A purpose-built test hall accommodates three full-scale and two small-scale dynamometer test machines. Recent projects include working with ERRI to introduce a low-friction composition block material as an alternative to cast iron for freight applications. ...

  • News

    Bowker trims UK spending

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    EMPHASISING the need to ’get a grip’ on runaway infrastructure maintenance and train operating costs in the short term to underpin ’a long-term vision’, Chairman & Chief Executive of the UK’s Strategic Rail Authority Richard Bowker unveiled his second Strategic Plan on January 30. He described it as ’a stepping ...

  • News

    Bordeaux study

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    PROPOSALS for the development of rail services around Bordeaux are to be drawn up over the next 12 months, following the award last month of two parallel study contracts to Systra, Erea and Ingerop. The first, awarded by the region of Aquitaine, covers the area west of the city. The ...

  • News

    Reform bill clears hurdle

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    RUSSIA’s railways are finally set for three stages of restructuring after the fourth bill in the reform package was passed by the Federation Council on February 12. The bill covered property ownership issues, and the Council had rejected it on December 27 after finding that there were too many omissions ...

  • News

    WTC to become subway hub

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    RECONSTRUCTION of the subway maze around the World Trade Center site into a co-ordinated transport interchange will get underway next year, for completion by 2007, although the cost is likely to exceed the promised $4·5bn in federal aid. New York Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on February ...

  • News

    Grant battle resumes

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    ON FEBRUARY 13 the US Congress passed a bill that included a grant to Amtrak totalling $1·05bn. Amtrak had sought $1·2bn (RG 2.03 p72 ) but said on the following day that this ’should be sufficient to operate the national system for the remainder of the fiscal year which ends ...

  • News

    Asmara reconnected

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    AFTER a 10-year reconstruction programme, Eritrea Railways confirmed last month that it had completed the rebuilding of its 117 km main line linking the capital Asmara to the Red Sea port of Massawa (RG 2.01 p93). A formal inauguration ceremony is planned for later this year. Including 3·5% grades on ...

  • News

    SIFER arrives in Lille

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    SIFER 2003 is being held at the Grand Palais exhibition centre at Lille from March 25 to 27. This will be the third SIFER event. The last took place in Paris in March 2001 and attracted exhibitors from 17 countries across Europe. Visitors from a total of 40 countries attended, ...

  • News

    Questions to answer in Taegu

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    JUST 100 years ago 84 people died at Couronnes on the Paris metro when a fire caused by a short circuit engulfed an eight-car train of wooden-bodied cars. Major metro fires are few and far between, but the inferno that killed at least 125 people in Taegu in South Korea ...

  • News

    AMEC votes to buy Spie

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    AMEC plc shareholders voted at an Extraordinary General Meeting in favour of exercising an option to acquire the outstanding 54% interest in Spie. The €270m transaction will be funded using existing committed bank facilities, and is expected to be completed on March 5. AMEC’s preliminary results for the year to ...

  • News

    One-stop shopping along the Rhine

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    INTRO: Johannes von Arx reports on Swiss Rail Cargo K

  • News

    Low-cost airlines

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    Sir - In RG 10.02 p616 you noted the increasing threat to European and even the British rail system from the onslaught of low-cost aviation. Here are some other factors that need acknowledgment.Railways cost substantial amounts of public money in a way that other modes do not. The high speed ...

  • News

    Paris looks again at automation

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    WHEN A HOLE appeared in the grounds of a school in Paris on February 15, it was rapidly established that tunnelling for an extension of Line 14 of the metro was in hand below. Paris metro operator RATP blamed ’a geological accident’ for the collapse, which occurred where a maintenance ...

  • News

    Rolling pipelines across the borders

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    INTRO: On January 31 German open access operator rail4chem was granted safety approval to operate in the Netherlands, as part of its strategy to target international rail freight flows across Europe. Over the two years since its launch in March 2001, the company has seen its business grow to over ...

  • News

    Freight customers demand open access with fair competition

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    INTRO: From March 15 the 50000 km Trans-European Rail Freight Network is theoretically open to any qualified train operator, whether publicly or privately owned. Richard Hope asked four major rail users who desperately want a competitive market what further changes are needed to achieve itTHIS MONTH sees a major step ...

  • News

    Open access brings

    2003-03-01T11:00:00Z

    mixed resultsINTRO: In theory, legislation has provided Australia with one of the most open rail freight markets in the world. In reality, results have been mixed, with success inhibited by the failure of governments to provide policies to realise the full potential of open access, says Mark CarterCOMPETITION policy principles ...