All Railway Gazette International articles in May 2004
All articles published this month.
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News
Northrail starts as Line 2 grows
ACEREMONY was held in Manila on April 5 to mark the start of work on the long-planned Northrail project to rehabilitate the former Philippine National Railways Main Line North. Closed since 1982, the single-track 1067mm gauge line is to be rebuilt as a double-track route able to carry 350000 passengers ...
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News
Metro Report 2004
DISTRIBUTED to subscribers with this issue is the 2004 edition of our annual supplement on urban rail developments, Metro Report. Senior executives from 13 cities worldwide report on current and future investment plans, and other articles include a detailed review of the low-floor tram and light rail market. An analysis ...
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News
Urban rail news in brief - May 2004
Argentina: The contract to build the 2·9 km extension of metro Line A from Primera Junta to Nazca (RG 4.04 p186) was signed in Buenos Aires on April 12. Civil works began 10 days later, with new stations expected to open at Pu? n and Carabobo in 2007 and at ...
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News
Roma - Napoli postponed until 2005
INTRO: Construction work on the 205 km high speed line between Roma and Napoli is nearly complete, but progress has been slow because of archaeological treasures found along the route and the need to complete trials with ETCS Level 2. TAV Managing Director Antonio Savini Nicci briefed Murray Hughes in ...
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News
Line 9 forges on
THE CATALUNYA regional government has awarded a consortium of Dragados, Necso, Comsa, ACS and Soirgué a contract worth €89·8m to build the Sagrera-Meridiana - Onze de Setembre section of Line 9 on the Barcelona metro network.The contract also includes the boring of a 12m diameter tunnel for the largely parallel ...
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News
Safetram addresses crashworthiness of trams and light rail vehicles
An EU-funded three-year research programme to develop cost-effective structural safety improvements for trams and light rail vehicles has produced two modular bodyshell designs
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News
African road-rail
SPOORNET has acquired 20 double-cab Isuzu KB250 road-rail inspection vehicles in a R12m lease-back agreement.Adapting the vehicles for use on 1067mm gauge railways required the chassis to be modified behind the cab and around the wheel arches. Additional leaf springs have been fitted to the rear axle, and an Isuzu ...
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News
CR speeds up again
INTRODUCTION of Chinese Railways’ new timetable on April 18 saw the launch of the fifth national speed increase, bringing the total route length cleared for 160 km/h operation to 7700 km.The new timetable sees CR’s fastest Beijing - Shanghai journey time cut from 14h to 11h 58min, and the number ...
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News
Kenya tries again
PRIVATISATION in East Africa is moving ahead, albeit slowly. Although the Kenyan, Ugandan and Tanzanian heads of state were agreed on the desirability of a single concessionaire, Tanzania had already called for expressions of interest. Only a lone bidder came forward (RG 2.04 p72), and the process is to be ...
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News
Freight Australia sale agreed
ON MARCH 29 RailAmerica announced that it had reached agreement to sell its Victorian operating subsidiary Freight Australia to Pacific National for A$285m. The deal is subject to ratification by the Victoria state government and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.RailAmerica purchased Freight Australia from the Victorian government in 1999 ...
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News
Brown and Red lines go ahead
ILLINOIS Governor Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced on April 13 that the Federal Transit Administration had approved funding for a $530m project to expand capacity on Chicago Transit Authority’s Brown Line linking the city centre with Kimball/Lawrence in Ravenswood.Bids for the five-year programme of work are due ...
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News
Private sector kick-starts two-stage airport line
A private-sector consortium has won a 30-year concession to build and operate the 58 km link now under construction between central Seoul and Incheon Airport. The first phase will open in 2007
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News
SNCB to be split apart next year
Harry Hondius reports on developments at Belgian National Railways
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News
Arriva enters Germany
BRITISH bus and rail operator Arriva has entered the German regional rail market by purchasing a 90% stake in Prignitzer Eisenbahn Gruppe. Announced on April 1, the €6m deal is subject to ratification by the German competition agency.Founded by Thomas Becken, who will remain as Managing Director under Arriva ownership, ...
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News
Second Avenue project split up
Chairman of New York MTA Peter Kalikow has confirmed that the $17bn Second Avenue subway will be built in stages to make it easier to secure funding.MTA plans envisage that the first phase will have only four stations before merging with the existing BMT Broadway subway. The line would start ...
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News
Order awaited
GERMAN Railway is planning to order a small number of pre-production loco-hauled coach sets for long-distance trains, for which tenders are to be prepared later this year. They will be the forerunners for an order for 1000 to 1200 vehicles intended to replace DB’s loco-hauled inter-city fleet, which at one ...
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News
High speed backed
STANDARD & POOR’S Ratings Services published a report on March 29 suggesting that capital investment in high speed rail projects across Europe will grow rapidly over the next 10 years.Fast Track to a Borderless Europe: The Credit Dynamics of High Speed Rail starts from the European Commission’s view that ’rail ...
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NewsReport backs Translink growth
UK: A radical increase in Northern Ireland's railway services is recommended by an independent report from Booz Allen Hamilton. Commissioned by Translink on behalf of Northern Ireland Transport Holding Co, the report's conclusions will form the basis of Translink's rail investment proposals for the 2004 Government Spending Review. The ...
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News
CityRail benefits in NSW budget
NEW SOUTH WALES Treasurer Michael Egan announced in a budget speech on April 6 that A$2·5bn is to be spent on ’the biggest-ever overhaul of the Sydney rail network’ over the next six years.Around A$1bn will be allocated to 15 projects designed to reduce the complexity of the suburban network. ...
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News
Three bids in Madrid
BIDS TO supply 790 cars to Madrid Metro have been received from AnsaldoBreda, a CAF/Bombardier consortium and Rotem of South Korea. Expected to cost €900m, a total of 161 trainsets will be required to serve the 72·7 km of extensions due to open by 2007 (RG 2.04 p76) and increase ...