All Railway Gazette International articles in March 2008
All articles published this month.
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NewsBorder bridges rebuilt
EUROPE: Polish Transport Minister Czezary Grabarczyk and his German counterpart Wolfgang Tiefensee signed a treaty on February 26 that provides for repair or replacement of 13 bridges over the Oder and Neisse rivers forming the border between the two countries. The replacement bridge over the ...
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Freight for sale
ROMANIA: After years of speculation, proposals and counter-proposals, Minister of Transport Ludovic Orban confirmed on March 16 that state-owned rail freight operator CFR Marfa is to be privatised. Established as a stand-alone business during Romania's railway reform programme of 1998-99 (RG 3.07 p155), CFR Marfa was always intended to be ...
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In a hole
AUSTRALIA: March 9 saw the first test train on the 13 km Epping - Chatswood line in Sydney's northern suburbs. Revenue services on the A$2bn underground route had been due to start in June, but RailCorp has postponed the launch until the end of the year because of trackwork problems. ...
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Docklands Light Railway car formally unveiled
UK: Decathlete Dean Macey, Chairman of Britain's Olympic Delivery Authority John Armitt, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Transport for London's Managing Director, London Rail, Ian Brown unveiled the first of a new design of train for the Docklands Light Railway on March 13. TfL placed a £50m order ...
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São Paulo airport concession
BRAZIL: Bids are to be invited in May for a 35-year concession to build and operate the long-planned Airport Express rail link in São Paulo, with the aim of having the line in service by the end of 2011. The state government hopes to receive bids for the US$800m finance-design-build-operate ...
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FTD makes insolvency application
GERMANY: Rolling stock builder Fahrzeugtechnik Dessau AG lodged a formal insolvency application with the Dessau Rosslau district court on March 25. Attorney Dr Volkhard Frenzel has been appointed provisional insolvency manager. FTD was taken over by Transmash Holding in 2006, and currently has 168 staff. Recent projects have included ...
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NewsDelhi Metro exercises €87m car option
INDIA: Bombardier announced on March 28 that it had received a €87m order from Delhi Metro Rail Corp for an additional 84 Movia metro cars. The order is an option on a €427m contract signed in July 2007 which covered the supply of 340 cars, and brings the total number ...
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Editorial vacancy
With the launch of Metro Report International as a quarterly publication, we have a vacancy for an Assistant Editor to take responsibility for MRI, as well as contributing to Railway Gazette International, the leading business magazine for the world rail industry, and its various print and online publications. We ...
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Vázquez loses patience
URUGUAY: Since March 10 state railway AFE has had a new board (p258), the previous incumbents having been suddenly removed by President Tabaré Vázquez. It appears that his administration had lost patience with the slow pace of reform at AFE, where projects to involve the private sector in restoring the ...
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Soaring costs undermine München maglev
GERMANY: Citing severe cost escalation, German Federal Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee joined the President of Bayern Günther Beckstein at a meeting on March 27 to discuss the future of the proposed Transrapid link from Franz-Josef Strauss airport to München Hauptbahnhof (RG 10.07 p591). The meeting concluded with an agreement ...
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Shanghai - Nanjing link approved
CHINA: The National Development & Reform Commission has formally approved the construction of a 300 km high speed line between Shanghai and Nanjing at a cost of 39·5bn yuan. The project is to be funded by the two cities, the province of Jiangsu and the Ministry of Railways. Construction is ...
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Driverless trains to support a prosperous future
DUBAI: With the first line opening next year, Dubai’s automated metro network will provide a superior alternative to the emirate’s increasingly clogged roads. Dominic Ellis looks at one of the Middle East’s most eagerly-awaited engineering projects, underpinning the city’s future economic development
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Sydney metro to serve northwest suburbs
AUSTRALIA: On March 18 New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma unveiled plans for a 38 km metro line with 17 stations to link Rouse Hill in the northwestern suburbs of Sydney with the city centre. Expected to be completed by 2017, the line is projected to cost A$12·5bn to build. ...
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Tramtrack Croydon buy out
UK: Transport for London announced on March 17 than it had reached an agreement to buy Tramtrack Croydon Ltd, holder of a private finance initiative concession to run the 28 km Tramlink light rail system in south London. TfL will pay £98m for the company, with completion of the deal ...
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NewsIstanbul to build second light metro
TURKEY: The Municipality of Istanbul has awarded a joint venture led by Italian firm Astaldi a €751m contract for civil, electromechanical and signalling works on the Kadiköy - Kartal light metro line. The contract covers the construction of a 20 km double-track underground line on the Asian side of the ...
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Improved Class 66 arrives
FRANCE: During March the first EMD JT42CWRM loco for Euro Cargo Rail arrived in France for testing, after being shipped from Canada in December for final fitting out at NedTrain's Tilburg plant in the Netherlands. Better cab isolation offers improved driver comfort compared to the JT42CWR, which was restricted by ...
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Locos into cross-border service
EUROPE: Warszawa-based CTL Logistics put two Siemens Eurosprinter multi-system locomotives into service on February 29. Leased from Dispolok, the ES64F4 locos are approved for use in Germany and the Netherlands, where they will haul cross-border freight trains using the Betuwe Route.
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Roca wiring out to tender
ARGENTINA: On March 11 the federal government launched tendering for a programme to complete electrification of the Roca suburban network in Buenos Aires at a cost of US$1·39bn. At present, 55 km of the 198 km Roca system is electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz AC. Work has been divided ...
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Sprinter on the start line
NETHERLANDS: Harry Hondius MSc rides the first of NS Reizigers' new-generation of Sprinter EMUs, which are due to enter service between Den Haag and Utrecht this year.
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Seeing eye to eye
UK: A range of counter service security screens that offer increased protection for staff and improved access for mobility-impaired customers has been launched onto the UK market by Safetell. Branded as Eye2Eye, the screens combine bullet-resistant glazing with a height-adjustable counter that can be positioned to meet the height requirements ...