All Railway Gazette International articles in March 2011 – Page 4
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NewsSecond Gotthard bore holed through
SWITZERLAND: Five months after the celebrations to mark the breakthrough of the eastern running tunnel of the 57 km Gotthard base tunnel, the western bore was finally completed on March 23. The second breakthrough was not marked by the same kind of public ceremony as the first event on October ...
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NewsEtihad Rail on course to open in 2013
UAE: The first freight trains on the emirates’ nascent rail network will start running in 2013, according to the Chairman of Etihad Rail Nasser Al Sowaidi. Speaking at an event in Abu Dhabi on March 23 to mark the rebranding of the company previously known as Union Railway, Al Sowaidi ...
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NewsIllinois awarded $1·2bn in high speed rail funding
USA: A further grant of $1·2bn in federal funding has been released for high speed rail development on the Chicago – St Louis corridor in Illinois, where work is underway to upgrade the existing Union Pacific line for 177 km/h running. The previously-negotiated award was confirmed in Chicago on March ...
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NewsRail-Tech Europe takes to a new stage
NETHERLANDS: Encompassing a trade exhibition and conference, Rail-Tech Europe takes place in Amersfoort this month. Held every two years at the Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs since its launch in 1997, the Rail-Tech Europe exhibition is on the move. This year, the Dutch rail industry will gather on March 29-31 at De ...
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NewsNS and SNCF shortlisted for West Coast franchise
UK: The Department for Transport announced on March 24 that it had shortlisted four bidders that will be invited to tender in May for the replacement InterCity West Coast franchise, covering the operation of long-distance passenger services from London to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow. As well as incumbent Virgin ...
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NewsNTV brands RFI access changes 'illegal'
ITALY: In an exceptionally strongly-worded statement, private high speed operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori has urged the Italian government to intervene to resolve an increasingly bitter dispute with infrastructure manager RFI over paths. NTV convened an emergency board meeting on March 25 after receiving notification that RFI’s Network Statement had been ...
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NewsFuente de la Mora joins Madrid suburban network
SPAIN: Development Minister José Blanco joined Esperanza Aguirre, President of the Madrid regional government, to open a station at Fuente de la Mora on March 24. Now forming northwestern the terminus for routes C7 and C10 of RENFE’s Madrid suburban network, the new station has been built as part of ...
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NewsMixed height EMU
ARGENTINA: Suburban operator Trenes de Buenos Aires has unveiled the first nine-car EMU to be completed by Emfer for its Once - Moreno route, comprising five rebuilt single-deck Toshiba vehicles and four new double-deck cars to increase train capacity by 40%. TBA is due to take delivery of a first ...
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NewsSetting up a Saudi railway regulator
SAUDI ARABIA: Arcadis is currently supporting the Saudi government's Railways Commission as it moves from the set-up phase to full operation. According to Arcadis Safety & Risk Director Stef Scannali, the process involves an extensive transfer of skills and knowledge, which draws on Arcadis staff's global experience of safety-critical industries, ...
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NewsNorthern resignalling underway
VIETNAM: A ceremony at Hanoi’s Yen Vien station on March 24 marked the start of a Chinese-backed resignalling programme covering Vietnam Railways’ routes to the border crossings at Lao Cai and Dong Dang. Deputy Minister for Transport & Communications Le Manh Hung told assembled guests that the resignalling work would ...
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NewsExpo Line Phase II gets go ahead
USA: Clearance testing along the initial section of the Expo Line in Los Angeles began on March 22 using a jig mounted on rail wheels. Within the next few weeks, a light rail vehicle will be towed along the tracks, followed by trains running under their own power. The first ...
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NewsEuropean Commission outlines 2050 transport vision
EUROPE: ‘Curbing mobility is not an option’. That is the one of the central tenets of the European Commission’s latest transport White Paper published on March 28. Building on the previous document issued in 2001, the Commission has entitled its White Paper a ‘Road Map to a Single European Transport ...
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NewsNew York MTA dedicates East Side Access TBMs
USA: Following a dedication ceremony in New York on March 21, two tunnel boring machines should soon begin digging the final set of tunnels for the East Side Access project. These will connect the Long Island Rail Road with Grand Central Terminal. The 642-tonne TBMs, named Tess and Molina by ...
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NewsMilano metro continues to expand
ITALY: A 3·7 km extension of Milano metro Line 3 from Maciachini north to Comasina entered service on March 26, adding four new stations to the Yellow Line. Interchange with LeNord local rail services is provided at Affori Nord. The next metro line to enter service in Milano will be ...
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NewsHS1 freight draws closer
UK: The trial of a Class 92 locomotive with fully operational TVM430 cab signalling on High Speed 1 has been ‘an outstanding success’, according to DB Schenker (UK) Ltd. The test run on March 25 from Dollands Moor to Singlewell marked a ‘significant milestone’ in the five-year programme to modify ...
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NewsVR orders more double-deckers
FINLAND: As part of its rolling stock renewal strategy, Finnish state-owned operator VR has ordered a build of special-purpose double-deck coaches to operate with its growing fleet of InterCity2 vehicles.VR has ordered 12 driving coaches and 15 restaurant cars from Finnish supplier Transtech Oy for delivery in 2013-14. Valued at ...
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NewsCrossrail issues rolling stock shortlist
UK: Crossrail Ltd announced on March 30 that it had shortlisted Alstom, Bombardier, CAF, Hitachi and Siemens for the contract to supply rolling stock and depot facilities for the new east-west route across London. ‘Work continues to finalise our detailed requirements for the new trains and we expect that shortlisted ...
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NewsDB calls temporary halt to Stuttgart 21
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn announced on March 29 its intention to cease work temporarily on the Stuttgart 21 project to rebuild the city’s main station. DB Board Member, Technical, Dr Volker Kefer confirmed that no further contracts would be let and no more construction work undertaken until a new government has ...
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NewsADB loan supports Hanoi metro Line 3
VIETNAM: The Asian Development Bank has agreed to provide US$293m in funding to support construction of Line 3 of Hanoi’s urban rail master plan. The decision adds to loans already in place from EIB and Agence Française de Développement. The 12·5 km first phase of the heavy metro line will ...
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NewsDriverless metro line opened in Busan
SOUTH KOREA: Busan Transportation Corp inaugurated its driverless light metro Line 4 on March 30, following 11 days of trial running between March 15 and March 25. The 12·7 km route runs east from Minam on metro Line 3 to Anpyeong and provides an interchange to metro Line 1 ...