All Railway Gazette International articles in May 1997
All articles published this month.
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News
Impuls 97 - Bahn 2000’s first wave
INTRO: SBB will celebrate 150 years of railways in Switzerland with the biggest jump in train-km since 1982. This first manifestation of Bahn 2000 marks the start of real improvements in what SBB can offer the passengerBYLINE: Nicolas PerrinDeputy Delegate, Bahn 2000Swiss Federal RailwaysIT IS 15 YEARS since Swiss Federal ...
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News
Shinagawa ready in 2003
JR Central is to start construction this month of an extra shinkansen station at Shinagawa in southern Tokyo, for completion in 2003. Two 410m island platforms with four tracks for Tokyo - Osaka Tokaido shinkansen services are to be built adjacent to the existing Shinagawa narrow-gauge station, and three sidings ...
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CR tries 3-phase locos as Nanning - Kunming line is completed
CHINESE Prime Minister Li Peng attended a ceremony at Baise on March 18 to mark completion of tracklaying on the 898 km Nanning - Kunming line linking the southwestern provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan. Revenue services on the electrified route are expected to begin by the end of the year, ...
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News
The 40 tonne axleload will come
but track and train need common management’CONSIDER a new heavy haul railway with 40 tonne axleloads and high adhesion locos hauling frequent trains at 120 km/h, and suppose it damages your business. What are you going to say to your business manager?’ This warning from Harry Tournay of Spoornet ...
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News
Series 700 prototype ready in September
BYLINE: Norihiko Yoshie (left) and Junichui Ito (right)ROLLING STOCK engineers from JR Central and JR West are confident that they will be able to achieve lower capital and running costs with the next generation of shinkansen train. Due to roll out in September, the 16-car N300 prototype, forerunner of a ...
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JR East launches Akita Shinkansen
EAST JAPAN Railway President Masatake Matsuda was up early on the morning of March 22 to give the first Tokyo-bound train on the Akita mini-shinkansen a high-level send-off from the northeastern city. Also present on the platform to flag away the 06.12 Komachi departure was Akita Governor Kikuji Sasaki. In ...
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News
Amtrak struggles to find secure funding
INTRO: May 10 is due to see further cuts to Amtrak’s inter-city network as the operator tries to balance its books. Julian Wolinsky looks at operational changes and funding proposals announced in March’WITHOUT DECISIVE action very soon, the United States will have no inter-city rail service’, according to the Republican ...
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Light metro strategy approved
THE MUNICIPAL government in Napoli has announced plans to develop an 86 km light metro network by 2011, with the aim of removing 200000 car journeys per day from the city streets. Replacing proposals to expand the heavy metro (DM96 p55), the 5500bn lire programme will be implemented in two ...
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Third metro programme approved
SEOUL Metropolitan Government has approved plans for a third phase of metro construction in the South Korean capital, adding a further 120 route-km by the end of 2005. Hong Jong-min, Head of the city’s Office of Subway Construction, announced on March 12 that work on Lines 9 to 12 should ...
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Dual-system LRVs arrive
Karlsruhe’s public transport operator VBK and its associated local railway AVG have taken delivery of the first of 21 low-floor eight-axle dual-system LRVs (right). Unlike the earlier dual-system cars (left) which have a high floor throughout, the vehicles have lowered areas in the two end sections. Floor heights are 880mm ...
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Italian MUn sleepers arrive this month
Seeking to offer customers hotel train service, Italian State Railways will take delivery of the first of 20 Type MUn air-conditioned sleeping cars from Costamasnaga at the end of this month (PP 5.96 p5). Destined for international operation at up to 200 km/h, each car can accommodate up to ...
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News
Euromed arrives
Spanish National Railways will introduce six Euromed trains to the Barcelona - Valencia - Alicante Mediterranean Corridor in June, following the completion of the first phase of an infrastructure upgrading programme. Built by GEC Alsthom Transporte at a cost of Pts15bn, the trainsets are 1668mm gauge versions of the 1435mm ...
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Local firm will assemble five US Talgos
PACIFICA INC, owned by the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, has won a contract to assemble five Talgo Pendular trainsets in the state of Washington. Three will be used in the Pacific Northwest rail corridor; two are being purchased by Washington and one by Amtrak at $10m each.Gustavo ...
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Gotthard base tunnel under threat
IT WAS always possible that the finger of sugar crystal dolomite stretching down to the alignment of the planned Gotthard base tunnel would prove to be a major obstacle when it came to serious digging. Just how tricky it may be to tunnel through this treacherous material in the Piora ...
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News
Basque LRT plans gather momentum
Work on the first 4 km of a light rail network in the Spanish city of Vitoria is due to begin at the end of this year. Tender specifications will be prepared by the Basque Department of Transport & Public Works this summer. EuskoTren has been chosen to promote, build ...
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News
Ten-point plan to boost traffic
French National Railways has unveiled a second tranche of measures designed to win back passengers following recent difficulties (RG 3.97 p175). According to SNCF President Louis Gallois, the 10 sales and marketing initiatives aim to make train travel easier, cheaper, more practical, punctual and inviting.From June, young people aged 12 ...
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News
In Brief
Following talks in Frankfurt, German Railway Chairman Heinz Dürr and Italian State Railways Managing Director Giancarlo Cimoli have announced plans to upgrade services between the two countries. Improved overnight trains could be joined by Frankfurt - Milano and München - Roma high-speed services before 2000. ScotRail has installed a touch-screen ...
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In Brief
n Vietnam Railways and Chinese Railways have agreed a timetable for the restoration of through Hanoi - Kunming passenger services by the middle of this year. A three-car train will initially run through once a week.n Mexico’s Transport Ministry has invited bids for a 50-year concession to run the second ...
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NS and CSX settle Conrail carve-up
A FORMAL agreement to divide Conrail between Norfolk Southern and CSX was unveiled on April 8. The two companies will drop litigation against each other and form a jointly-owned entity to buy the remaining Conrail shares for $115 each in cash. NS will take a 58% stake for $5·9bn and ...
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News
Curing the Chiasso syndrome
COMMUNITY of European Railways’ Chairman Heinz Dürr presented plans on April 14 to Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock for putting into practice the concept of Freight Freeways. The proposals were discussed at a high-level Commission meeting in Brussels on April 17 at which launch of a pilot Freeway was likely to ...