All Railway Gazette International articles in May 2005
All articles published this month.
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NewsCan Europe's railways win back their lost freight market share?
Globalisation and changing patterns of world trade mean that Europe's railways can expect zero growth in their traditional markets. They must accept a different role in the logistics chain and adapt to new markets and demands to survive Alain PoinssotConsultant, AXEP Consulting THE QUESTION posed in the title of this ...
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Iran plans 50% network expansion as Mashhad - Bafgh line opens
Faced with growing demand for transit freight between the Central Asian republics and the Indian Ocean, RAI needs to modernise motive power and freight operations if it is to handle major flows of high-value traffic and containers. David Brice reports
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NewsInvestment brings Ireland's railways back from the brink
Pat Mangan, Assistant Secretary at Ireland’s Department of Transport, told Andrew Grantham how a 10-year strategic plan will rectify decades of under-investment
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Changing the perception of inter-city
THE FLEET of 120 inter-city diesel multiple-unit vehicles ordered in January represents a new departure for Iarnród Éireann, which currently uses loco-hauled vehicles on long-distance services. Funded by the government's National Development Plan, the €262m contract for the trains was signed with Japanese trading group Mitsui at a ceremony in ...
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10 000 km in next master plan
A FURTHER 10000 km of new railway is to be built in China, according to the first draft of Chinese Railways 2006-10 master plan which was unveiled by the Ministry of Railways on March 25. The plan would bring the total length of the CR network to more than 85000 ...
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UP to invest $2bn
ON MARCH 30 Union Pacific announced that it expected to spend over US$2bn on capital investment during 2005.More than $1·3bn will be spent on infrastructure maintenance and upgrading, with 1700 km of rail to be replaced and another 12500 km resurfaced. UP expects to install 4·4 million new sleepers and ...
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Bahn 2000 is working
EARLY REPORTS suggest that Switzerland’s ambitious Bahn 2000 programme with its nationwide interconnecting timetable has led to a 10% increase in passenger traffic on main line services. While this still awaits formal confirmation, it is clear that Swiss Federal Railways was already well placed to make progress even before the ...
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SNCF confirms pursuit of 350 km/h goal
INTRO: TGV services running at 350 km/h could one day link Paris and Bordeaux in just 2 hours, but more research is needed into braking, noise and maintenance costs FRENCH National Railways is intensifying its efforts to develop commercial services running at a maximum speed of 350 km/h. According to ...
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Freight accord
A CO-OPERATION agreement was signed at the Hannover Fair on April 11 by DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn and RZD President Gennady Fadeyev, paving the way for the setting up of a joint venture freight company by RZD and Railion.The accord builds on an earlier agreement announced in Berlin last September ...
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Dutch signalling accords signed
ONApril 20 Bombardier announced that it had reached an agreement with NedTrain Consulting for the development and distribution of ATB-EG Specific Transmission Modules and ATB-EGPhase 5 equipment, for which the first orders have already been placed.The STMs will interface between ETCS and the existing ATB automatic train protection equipment, enabling ...
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Alstom to convert regional coaches
SNCF has awarded Alstom a €37m contract to refurbish 48 Corail B6Du regional coaches, with options worth about €18m for a further 30 vehicles.The coaches currently operate in loco-hauled rakes of four to eight cars, and will be converted into driving vehicles for push-pull operation. Crashworthiness improvements will permit an ...
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Arriva awarded Dutch contract
NOORDNED has been awarded a new 15-year contract to operate regional services in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen from December 11. The agreement includes a commitment to introduce up to 50 new DMUs which will have level access from the platforms by September 2007. These will be fully ...
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NYCT to start ATO
NEW YORK City Transit expected to introduce automatic train operation last month on its L Canarsie line, which has been re-equipped with communications-based train control by Siemens as a pilot for resignalling the subway network. The four-car trains formed of Kawasaki R143 stock have a train operator to supervise ...
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Balfour Beatty rail profits rise
RAIL Engineering & Services at Balfour Beatty saw a 5% rise in operating profits to £43m in the year to December 31 2004, on turnover of £803m.The company’s UK projects, plant and track systems businesses ’performed well’, and Balfour Beatty said that the infrastructure maintenance contracts taken in-house by Network ...
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Barajas Express
SPAIN’S Ministry of Development published plans on March 18 for construction of a fast suburban link to Madrid Barajas airport that would allow airline passengers to reach the city centre in just 11min.The project requires additional tracks to be laid alongside the existing 4 km line from Chamartín to Hortaleza. ...
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Beijing starts metro upgrading
BEIJING METRO Corp announced in March that it was starting work on a network-wide upgrading and renovation programme ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games.Costed at 4·3bn yuan, the package includes replacement of track, trains, signalling and communications equipment on Lines 1 and 2, parts of which are now approaching 30 ...
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Signalling in the best locations
BOMBARDIER has enhanced the capabilities of the Computer Aided Rail Design software which it uses to identify the most cost-effective way of planning signalling infrastructure on light rail and metro projects.CARD is widely used when preparing the company’s bids for urban rail projects, and has been used in the development ...
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Bill blizzard sends mixed signals
THREE SEPARATE bills were introduced into the US Congress on April 14, offering widely-different prospects for the future of the US passenger rail network.The government’s Passenger Rail Investment Reform Act proposes to hand responsibility for various routes to individual states while converting Amtrak into a private-sector train operator. `This legislation ...
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Transport improves at Bombardier
ON MARCH 31 Bombardier announced its results for the year ended January 31 2005. Higher revenues at Bombardier Transportation were partially offset by lower revenues in Aerospace, with consolidated revenue across the company totalling US$15·8bn, up from $15·5bn in the previous year.Consolidated earnings before income taxes and special items were ...