All Railway Gazette International articles in March 2006
All articles published this month.
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News
Engineers explore the future of signalling
Signalling professionals will probe the latest developments in signalling and train control technology at Aspect 2006, an international conference organised by the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers on March 16-17
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Tehran tenders
REQUESTS for prequalification for two major rolling stock orders were issued by Tehran Urban & Suburban Railway Co at the end of January, with initial responses required by February 19.TUSRC is seeking an extra 455 cars for use on metro Lines 1 and 2, formed into 65 seven-car trainsets. To ...
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Spanish tenders
THE SPANISH Ministry of Development has been authorised to call tenders for further works on the emerging high speed network in the northeast of the country.Tenders are to be called for civil works on two sections of the connection between the Valencia - Barcelona route at Vandell
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Slovak shortlist
THIS MONTH is expected to see the announcement of the preferred bidder to take over ZSSK Cargo. Privatisation of the Slovakian freight operator began last year after train operator ZSSK was split into separate freight and passenger business units (RG 5.05 p241). The government hopes to raise at least KS15bn ...
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Safe temperature
RAIL temperatures can be monitored remotely using Radio-Tech’s RTM, providing operators with early warning of potential track buckling on inaccessible sections of line without endangering staff.Up to eight non-invasive temperature probes are mounted on rails with any flat bottom profile, with each probe fitted in under a minute without needing ...
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Sachsen technology
THE FREE State of Sachsen has established Rail Technology Sachsen (BTS) as a joint venture to promote the supply industry in the German Land.To be managed by PricewaterhouseCoopers for three years, BTS aims to improve competitiveness and promote entrepreneurship, particularly among small and medium enterprises, and ’to extend the potential, ...
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Reusable retaining walls
CRUSTACEAN shells inspired the design of Karapace, pairs of interlocking precast concrete components which can be used to create retaining walls up to 7·5m high. The reinforced concrete units can be installed directly onto a prepared substrate and then loaded from either side. They can be dismantled for reuse elsewhere.’By ...
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‘Worthless’ product
GRAB-POLES were being stolen from suburban passenger trains in Cape Town, and operator Metrorail suspected this was because of the resale value of the stainless steel. In an effort to reduce the costs of replac-ing the poles, Metrorail’s workshops devel-oped a glass fibre version which has no scrap value. Around ...
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Pointers
Chinese Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun confirmed in January that the government had decided to make the Beijing - Shanghai high speed line its ’first priority’ in the 2006-10 expansion plan, which envisages investment of 1250bn yuan to build 9800 km of new lines. The ministry plans to build the ...
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People
Montenegrin Transport Minister Andrija Lompar and ZCG President Ranko Medenica resigned after the Bioce derailment on January 23 which killed 46 people. The Malaysian government has appointed Lim Ah Lek as Chairman of KTMB with effect from the retirement of Thong Yaw Hong on January 2. Former ...
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Rails roll out
THE FIRST UIC60 rails were produced at Voestalpine’s €66m rail rolling mill at Leoben-Donawitz on January 31, during commissioning by the steelmaker and plant supplier Danieli.’We have done precisely what we said we would do’, said Hans Pfeiler, Chairman of the Board of Voestalpine Schienen GmbH. ’Our team has worked ...
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Siemens wins Railjet order
THE BOARD of Austrian Federal Railways voted on February 9 to authorise a contract for supply of high speed inter-city trains valued at between €250m and €300m.ÖBB has selected Siemens to provide the trains for its Railjet programme. Over the next two years, the manufacturer is to supply 23 seven-car ...
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Tyro operator tests the water
On JANUARY 27 the UK’s Office for Rail Regulation announced that it was ’minded’ to approve access rights for Grand Central, an open access passenger company that had previously sought to run services over the East Coast Main Line in 2003, to operate three trains a day between Sunderland and ...
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Market
Algeria:SNTF has ordered 16 GT36CW freight locos and 14 GT36HCW passenger locos from EMD in a US$82m deal.Australia:Lachlan Valley Railfreight has bought 16 Class MZ 3900hp diesel locos from DSB. The first five of the 140 km/h six-axle Nohab locos built in 1972 were shipped from København on February 14. ...
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North-South Railway makes progress
WITHIN THE next few months, the first tenders will be issued for construction of the 2400 km North-South Railway in Saudi Arabia. This is expected to take around five years to complete, and revenue services are expected to begin by 2011. The NSR is a key component of the Kingdom’s ...
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Transport for London to take over suburban services
UK: The Department for Transport confirmed on February 14 that it had reached agreement to transfer responsibility for four suburban rail services to Transport for London on November 11 2007. TfL London Rail is to start work shortly on 'procuring a concession' to run the Silverlink Metro inner suburban routes: ...
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Loco orders placed
RUSSIAN Railways has awarded contracts for almost 800 main line locomotives under its 2006-10 investment programme. Bryansk Machine Works is to supply 277 'sections' to form 2TE25 twin-unit diesel locomotives. The prototype 2TE25L Peresvet (RG 9.05 p537) is expected to complete its test programme at Shcherbinka this year. Bryansk's Managing ...
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Tuy Medio line to open in October
IAFE President Ángel García announced at the end of January that the 41·4 km Tuy Medio suburban line between Caracas and Cúa in Venezuela will open on October 15. Named the Ezequiel Zamora Railway after a federalist general born in Cúa in 1817, the route has cost US$2·5bn to build. ...
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Jubilee and Northern lines lead LU signalling renewal
This year Tube Lines starts the installation of Seltrac transmission-based train control on London Underground's Jubilee Line. Roger Ford reports from the Highgate test centre on progress with the complex programme