All Railway Gazette International articles in March 2004
All articles published this month.
-
News
CPR boosts adhesion with 100% Effective Friction Control
INTRO: Canadian Pacific is introducing electronically-controlled application of liquid friction modifiers to the rail top, which lowers damaging wheel/rail forces and improves adhesion when the rails are wetBYLINE: Michael RoneyGeneral Manager, Track Maintenance Canadian Pacific RailwayCANADIAN PACIFIC Railway operates across Canada and the US Northeast and Midwest through some difficult ...
-
News
X2000 sets will be refurbished
Swedish national operator SJ AB announced in January that it to refurbish its fleet of 36 X2000 trainsets, at an estimated cost of SKr 500 000. The work had been postponed for financial reasons. The seven sets operated by SJ-NSB joint venture Linx were refurbished last year. To be ...
-
News
Line 3 upgrade
LAST MONTH Madrid Metro was due to call tenders for work to increase capacity at five stations on Line 3, including the lengthening of platforms to 90m, installation of lifts and the construction of new ticket halls. Tendering for the second phase of the €120m programme, comprising a further five ...
-
News
460 locos ordered
FRENCH National Railways awarded a €836m contract for 400 diesel-electric freight locomotives to a consortium of Alstom and Siemens Transportation Systems on February 11, two days after placing a separate €170m order with Alstom for 60 Prima electric locos. As consortium leader, Alstom will supply mechanical parts for the 1600 ...
-
News
Taiwan's first 700T cars rolled out
OVER 200 guests attended ceremonies at Kawasaki's Hyogo works in Kobe on January 30 to mark the roll-out of the first Series 700T trainset for Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. Among the VIPs were THSRC Chairman Nita Ing, Taiwan's Transport Minister Lin Ling-san and former Japanese Transport Minister Chikage ...
-
News
Addis Abeba plans interurban light rail
PROPOSALS are being developed for a 100 km rapid transit link between Addis Abeba and Nazareth to relieve transport problems in the Ethiopian capital. Public transport patronage has increased by 43% since 1986, with local buses now handling more than 600000 passengers a day. Although described as light rail, the ...
-
News
Mytishchi link accelerated
CEREMONIES on February 14 marked the inauguration of Russian Railways’ first express commuter service, between Moscow and Mytishchi. Attending the event were RZD President Gennady Fadeyev, Moscow Mayor Jury Luzhkov, Vice-Premier Boris Alyuoshin, Transport Minister Sergei Frank and Minister of Work Alexander Pochinok.The Moscow - Mytishchi line accounts for most ...
-
News
Open access operator warns
of monopoly riskRail4chem President Matthias Roth warned at EuroRail that the open access freight business was not yet attractive for investors. Claiming that his company had 50% of Germany’s private freight market, with the rest shared by less than a dozen other firms, he said 90% of the rail freight ...
-
News
Two transcontinentals forge ahead
INTRO: Two huge railway construction projects that will cut transport costs for highly productive agricultural land are making good progress, now that the Paran
-
News
AirTrain JFK opens for service
THE CENTENARY of the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight on December 17 2003 was a significant date for aviation in North America. Opening of AirTrain JFK on the same day finally saw New York’s JFK International Airport linked to the region’s rail network.As project sponsor, the Port Authority of New ...
-
News
Algerian upgrading takes off
ALGERIA: Five contracts to assist with modernisation of the Algerian rail network were announced at the end of January. SNTF has provisionally awarded a €88m contract to an Alstom-led consortium for electrification of three suburban lines radiating from Alger by the end of 2007. Three substations will power the 25 ...
-
News
Alstom to refit regional EMUs
FRENCH National Railways awarded a €48m contract last month to an Alstom-led consortium for the refurbishment of Class Z2 electric multiple-units used on regional services. The deal includes follow-on options worth a total of €12m. Alstom will act as project manager and be responsible for equipment supply, bringing its share ...
-
News
BV investment funds approved
BANVERKET Director-General Bo Bylund has welcomed the go-ahead for a 12-year rail investment programme following government approval of a national infrastructure package on February 19. According to Sweden’s Infrastructure Minister Ulrica Messing, the SKr373bn package provides SKr107·7bn for investment in the rail network and SKr38bn for maintenance and operating support.One ...
-
News
Second try to privatise Aqaba phosphate haul
ANOTHER ATTEMPT is to be made to move Aqaba Railway Corp into the private sector. An earlier effort to privatise ARC collapsed after an agreement had been signed for a consortium to take over the line in 1999. There were several reasons for this, according to Eng Laith Dababneh, General ...
-
News
Capacity expansion flags up asset management challenges
INTRO: Attention to vehicle and track component life at high axleloads has enabled BHP Billiton Iron Ore to boost the capacity of its Mount Newman rail operationsBYLINE: Mike Darby, Peter Mutton and Graham Tew ** Mike Darby is Vice-President, Railroad, at BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Ltd. Peter Mutton ...
-
News
Container landbridge will assure RZD’s future prosperity
INTRO: Technical advances and more efficient operating methods are helping to boost capacity on Russia’s Trans-Siberian railway, enabling RZD to win more of the traffic between the Pacific Rim and EuropeBYLINE: Gennady FadeyevPresident, Russian Railways LtdTHE TRANS-SIBERIAN Railway is unique. For more than a century, the line has played a ...
-
News
Expansion plans attract 'substantial interest'
Murray Hughes asked Eng Khaled Alyahya, President, Saudi Railways Organisation, about plans to expand the Saudi Arabian network that include transfer of SRO's core assets to the private sector
-
News
Northwestern mineral line awaits results of a ’bankable’ study
PROPOSALS to build a heavy haul freight line conencting Saudi Railways Organisation's existing main line with mineral deposits in the northwest of Saudi Arabia have been gestating for some time. The Communications Ministry approved in principle the construction of a new line following a World Bank study in 2000. But ...
-
News
Pajares base tunnel started
SPANISH Development Minister Francisco Álvarez-Cascos joined First Deputy Prime Minister Rodrigo Rato on February 11 to mark the start of work on the 25 km base tunnel under the Pajares pass on Renfe’s León - Oviedo route. Last year GIF awarded four separate tunnelling contracts worth a total of €1·38bn ...
-
News
Basque Y tenders
ON FEBRUARY 13 the Spanish cabinet gave its approval for GIF to call tenders for three contracts to design and undertake civil works on the first eight of the 15 sections of the Y-shaped high speed network that will connect Bilbao, Vitoria, San Sebasti