All Railway Gazette International articles in March 2007 – Page 2

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    News

    Slovenian gateway helps revitalise intermodal sector

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    Supported by the Marco Polo programme, the two-year Singer project is intended to develop new unaccompanied intermodal flows to and from Eastern Europe. Block trains from München, Verona and Budapest converge on a gateway hub at Ljubljana, offering competitive transit times and reducing costs

  • News

    Fortescue goes its own way

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    On February 8 construction work commenced on another iron ore line into the Chichester Ranges from Port Hedland, Western Australia. Fortescue Metals Group is building the 260 km line to link its port facilities at Anderson Point to its Pilbara mines at a total cost of around A$3?5bn. The decision ...

  • News

    Europe relies on its suburban railways

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    THE REGIONAL and commuter rail market plays an important role as part of the overall passenger rail sector. It is a challenging public transport market, significantly contributing towards sustainable urban mobility, encouraging modal shift from private car and decongesting transport corridors providing access to major European cities.’ This is the ...

  • News

    UP in search of reduced emissions

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    UNION PACIFIC took its quest for reduced emissions technology onto the main line on January 17, when it unveiled a refitted EMD SD60M in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce. The 3 800?hp locomotive will be tested in captive service around the Southern California basin. The 17-year old loco ...

  • News

    Schwarzenegger tries to ditch HSR

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    REPEATED ATTEMPTS to build high speed lines in North America may have produced absolutely nothing to date, but Californians like to be different. Plans for a $37bn network carrying 350?km/h trains between Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego appear to be making some progress. On January 29, the ...

  • News

    Fret diesels are fruit of Franco-German partnership

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    The first of a large fleet of diesel-electric locos built by Alstom and Siemens will shortly enter service with SNCF, reports Laurent Charlier

  • News

    Cordoba re-openings

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    ON JANUARY 24 the Argentinian government announced that it had awarded a joint venture of Benito Roggio and Herso a contract to restore the former Mitre route between Río Primero in Córdoba province and Sumampa in Santiago del Estero, closed to traffic since 1978. The 170m pesos project ...

  • News

    Line E extension contract

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    A CIVIL ENGINEERING contract for the extension of Buenos Aires metro Line E was officially awarded to Benito Roggio on February 16, with the expectation that construction would start within 90 days. The US$346m deal was announced by Argentina’s President N?stor Kirchner in a ceremony attended by the head of ...

  • News

    Metro_Centro nears completion

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    NEXT MONTH is due to see completion of a 1?32?km light rail route in Sevilla, built in conjunction with a programme to pedestrianise streets in the historic core of the city. The first phase of Metro_Centro runs from Prado de San Sebasti?n to Plaza Nueva with two intermediate stops, and ...

  • News

    Freightliner prepares to compete in Poland

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    LAST MONTH the first four of seven EMD low-emission Class 66 locomotives ordered by Freightliner PL was delivered to Rotterdam, where they are being modified by NedTrain before entering service on open-access coal services in Poland in the second quarter of this year. UK operator Freightliner is investing ...

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    Festive start for Chinese sets

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    High speed trainsets have begun trial services between Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzen and Guangzhou, marking the latest step in Chinese Railways’ passenger service upgrade. The first services operated on the line to Hangzhou on January 28 using sets derived from the E2-1000 Shinkansen used by JR East (RG 8.05 p485). ...

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    Channel Tunnel freight is collapsing

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    EUROPE: Two of the regular streams of freight traffic through the Channel Tunnel ceased at the beginning of February because the cost of using the Tunnel has increased substantially. Unilog based in Belgium has been forced out of business altogether, while GTS Trasporti in Italy stopped dispatching intermodal trains ...

  • News

    Five qualify to build CDG Express

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    FRENCH Minister of Transport Dominique Perben announced on January 30 that five consortia had qualified for the concession to develop a dedicated rail link to Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport (RG 9.06 p485). The five bids are from: Eiffage partnered with Macquarie Bank a group formed of Bouygues TP, Seco-Rail, RATP-Développement, ...

  • News

    Industry in Brief

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    Railpower Technologies announced at the end of January that it had raised C$30m through a bought deal with a syndicate of Canaccord Adams, Sprott Securities, National Bank Financial, Paradigm Capital and Pacific International Securities. The hybrid loco technology company will use the proceeds to finance the fulfilment of current orders ...

  • News

    Bratislava commissions expansion studies

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    A CONSORTIUM of Bratislava-based contractors Dopravoprojekt and Infraprojekt has been appointed by Railways of the Slovak Republic to draw up a KS940m detailed feasibility study for three major investment projects in the capital. Construction bids will be invited shortly for the ambitious 2007-15 expansion programme, which includes upgrading and electrification ...

  • News

    Freight bottlenecks in focus

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    EU POLICIES deregulating European rail freight are forecast to generate significant growth in intermodal traffic over the next decade. Initiatives such as Singer (p164) are already demonstrating what may be achievable. But operators and infrastructure managers are becoming increasingly concerned that the continent’s rail network will not be able to ...

  • News

    Troops take railway towards the border

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    ERITREA'S government has provided 1 000 soldiers to work on rehabilitation of the 124 km of the 950 mm gauge Eritrean Railway west from Asmara to Agordat. Continuing a further 109 km from Agordat would take the line to Biscia, thereafter to Tessenei and the Sudanese border, ...

  • News

    Building blocks

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    Poundfield Products believes its Betabric retaining wall design could reduce the cost of building such structures by as much as 50% on the UK network. Many earth retaining walls were built in the nineteenth century and their structural integrity is a growing cause for concern. Poundfield’s Betabric product allows ...

  • News

    Bluetooth in Bilbao

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    RENFE Cercanías de Bilbao has launched a trial Bluetooth service, offering passengers timetable, fares and service disruption information on their mobile phones and PDAs. The service uses J2ME technology to communicate with Bluetooth-enabled devices, allowing passengers to download a guide to RENFE services in the local area, complete with ...

  • News

    Second Avenue contract

    2007-03-01T11:00:00Z

    Skanska USA Civil, Schiavone Construction and JF Shea Construction were due to sign a contract in mid-February to build the first section of the Second Avenue subway in Manhattan. The $333m agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority paves the way for work to begin on the first of four planned ...