All Railway Gazette International articles in March 2009 – Page 2
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NewsIberian Link will offer alternative to road
EUROPE: Simultaneous departures from Lisboa and Madrid at 21.00 GMT on March 24 will mark the launch of Iberian Link, a joint CP Carga and RENFE Mercancías freight service connecting three important Portuguese ports with Spain. Iberian Link is the first joint service launched under a wide-ranging cooperation agreement ...
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NewsWabtec to supply subway car components
USA: Wabtec Corp announced on March 24 that it is to supply components worth $75m for a further 382 R160 metro cars being built for New York. The vehicles were ordered from Alstom and Kawasaki last November in a $784m second option exercised by New York Metropolitan Transit Authority. ...
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NewsErlen chosen for train commissioning plant
STADLER: A former tank farm at Erlen in the Swiss canton of Thurgau has been selected as the location of Stadler's future train commissioning facility. The IBS Centre will supplement test tracks at the train builder's Bussnang and Altenrhein plants which are too short to hand the 50 six-car double-decker ...
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NewsShenzhen Metro Line 4 concession agreement signed
CHINA: On March 18 Shenzhen's municipal government and MTR Corp (Shenzhen) Ltd signed a BOT concession agreement for the Phase II extension of metro Line 4. The existing line from the Hong Kong frontier at Futian to Shao Nian Gong will be extended by 16 km to Qinghu, with ...
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NewsPESA preferred bidder for Warszawa tram contract
POLAND: After Tramwaje Warszawskie opened bids for 186 low-floor articulated trams on March 19, PESA emerged as preferred bidder with a price of 1·5bn z?oty. Offers were also submitted by Stadler (3·7bn z?oty), Alstom (2·8bn z?oty) and a consortium of Newag and AnsaldoBreda (€417m), but all three exceeded the ...
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NewsTalent 2 grows Bombardier’s regional train family
EUROPE: Designed to meet the crashworthiness requirements of EN 15227, Bombardier’s Talent 2 is the latest entrant in the competitive European market for regional EMUs. Dr Harry Hondius reports.
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NewsSidetrack - March 2009
USA: A plan by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to use the new Metro light rail line to transport prisoners between Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and the city jail was abandoned after just two inmates had taken the trip. Arpaio claimed the airport refused to provide free parking for ...
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NewsSidetrack - Raising the bar
CHINA: Children up to 1500 mm tall can now travel on half-fare tickets, the Ministry of Railways has announced. The previous height limit was 1400 mm, but this has had to be changed to reflect the increase in the average height of children as standards of living improve. ...
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NewsDo not over-rely on modelling
CAPACITY: Complex modelling techniques are used increasingly both for real-time decision-making and to prepare longer-term business plans. However, as Peter Koning of Faber Maunsell explains, the extent to which theoretical capacity differs from that available in the live environment is a significant concern.
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NewsChina orders 100 high speed trains
CHINA: On March 16 the Ministry of Railways signed a contract with China CNR Corp for the supply of 100 CRH trainsets to operate the 1 318 km high speed line between Beijing and Shanghai at a maximum speed of 350 km/h. Total value of the deal is put at ...
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NewsCorridor X in 35 h
EUROPE: Headed by two gleaming black locomotives, the Bosphorus Europe Express pulled into the Halkal? Container Terminal in Istanbul’s western suburbs on the evening of March 17, just 35 h after setting out from Ljubljana at 08.30 on the morning of March 16. The record-breaking container train was organised by ...
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NewsRecession brings growth
ISRAEL: ISR is predicting stronger growth in passenger traffic during 2009 as a result of the global economic downturn. Announcing the railway’s annual plan and preliminary results for 2008 on January 28, General Manager Yitzhak Harel said the railway was preparing for a rise of between 11% and 13% during ...
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NewsCSR rolls out eye hospital train
CHINA: A fourth Health Express trainset was rolled out by CSR Qingdao Sifang Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co last month. The mobile hospital will provide free cataract operations and other ophthalmic treatments for patients in Sichuan province. The double-deck vehicles in the train include a generator car, a diagnosis ...
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NewsDB torpedoes a freight-oriented network
GERMANY: European proposals to give freight trains priority on international corridors have provoked a fierce reaction from Berlin. Murray Hughes reports.
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NewsTaipei Circular Line kicks off
TAIWAN: Taipei’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems has awarded an integrated turnkey contract worth €334m for the first phase of the city's Circular Line automated metro. Services on the 15·5 km route, which will have 13 elevated stations, one underground station and a depot, are expected to begin by the ...
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NewsTranscend selected as Crossrail Programme Partner
UK: Crossrail Ltd is expected to sign a contract worth £100m shortly appointing the Transcend joint venture to the critical role of Programme Partner. The members of Transcend are AECOM, CH2M Hill and Nichols Group. The choice of Transcend as preferred bidder was announced on March 11, when Crossrail’s Land ...
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NewsTFR cleared to order new diesels
SOUTH AFRICA: Transnet Freight Rail has invited tenders for the supply of up to 100 new diesel locomotives. Three suppliers - EMD, GE Transportation and Siemens - have been invited to bid for the contract. Bids were due to be submitted by March 10, but the closing date has now ...
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NewsLine E heads west again
FRANCE: The proposed extension of Paris RER Line E into the western suburbs is back on the cards, after Ile-de-France transport authority STIF decided to revive the project. RFF has commissioned Systra to undertake technical studies for a route serving La Défense and Mantes-la-Jolie. When the EOLE (Est-Ouest Liaison ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market March 2009
Canada: Bombardier delivered the first of 48 additional MkII cars for the Vancouver SkyTrain light metro in mid-January. Toronto commuter operator GO Transit has exercised a US$85m option for a further 20 MPXpress diesel locomotives, to be supplied by Wabtec Corp’s MotivePower subsidiary in 2009-10. Costa Rica: Incofer is to ...
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NewsBarclays PE buys stake in Compin
COMPIN: Barclays Private Equity France has acquired a majority state in Compin Group, the French-based manufacturer of train seats, front-ends and interior fittings. Compin Group was founded in 2005 by Marc Granger, with established seat maker Compin being the first acquisition. This was financed by the LBO France investment ...