All Railway Gazette International articles in May 2006 – Page 3

  • News

    DB chases a high score in World Cup challenge

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: German Railway has seized on the opportunities presented by this year’s World Cup to promote its services and win more passengers to rail. The north-south tunnel in Berlin and the high speed line from Nürnberg to Ingolstadt open this month in good time to help handle the expected crowds ...

  • News

    Technicentre Est Europeen opens for business

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    FRANCE: At 09.00 on April 6, two TGV Duplex trainsets were standing at Platforms 5 and 6 in Paris Est station, well outside their normal sphere of operations. They were laden with 1500 guests, press and VIPs, bound for the inauguration of the new TGV Est rolling stock ...

  • News

    Replacement station at Burgos

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    THE SPANISH cabinet has given its approval for tenders to be called for the construction of a station on the new alignment avoiding the centre of Burgos on the Madrid - Hendaye main line. A budget of €18·58m has been set for the work, expected to take 18 months to ...

  • News

    RENFE to build more trains

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    ON APRIL 18 Renfe President José Salguiero signed five agreements with rolling stock suppliers Alstom, CAF and Siemens that will see 258 passengers cars built by the operator's Valladolid workshops in 2006-09, representing 700000h of new work. Valladolid is to build 42 Civia III EMU cars under a contract ...

  • News

    Training in Brief

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    Ptarmigan Transport Solutions, Maxim Learning and the UKAssociation of Train Operating Companies have developed a modular course totalling 2h to train ticket sellers in selling passengers additional services such as first class travel, railcards and through bus ticketing.Rail Training International has established a partnership with UK train operator Southern to ...

  • News

    Products in Brief

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    China Academy of Rail Sciences and Sifang Rolling Stock Research Institute have standardised on the LonWorks IEEE 1473L network platform for onboard safety monitoring of functions including brakes, doors and power supply.Echelon, USALos Angeles MTA has ordered an emergency access and incident response road-rail vehicle from Mattman Speciality Vehicles in ...

  • News

    City News in Brief

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    On March 23 the Septa board approved a US$244m contract to buy 104 Silverliner V EMU cars from United Transit System to replace life-expired stock on the Philadelphia suburban network. Three prototypes are due in 30 months, and the remainder within four years. The UTS consortium of Rotem and Japan’s ...

  • News

    Industry News in Brief

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    Spanish train builder CAF recorded a consolidated net profit after tax of €18·1m in 2005, up 29% on 2004. Turnover was up 18% to €680·8m, and cash flow after taxation reached €23·3m, an increase of 19%. Orders in hand at December 31 2005 stood at €2·7bn, with 27% of this ...

  • News

    Passengers in a box

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    DURING April Dorsey station on the Camden Line in Baltimore was equipped with a 20ft shipping container housing walk-through explosives and metal detectors supplied by Smiths Group.The USA’s Transportation Security Administration wants to know whether the container can process large numbers of passengers without requiring them to empty their pockets ...

  • News

    Bought by the neighbours

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    AMERICAN Railcar Industries acquired the Custom Steel subsidiary of Steel Technologies with effect from April 1.Under the deal announced on March 27, ARI paid approximately $13m for the Custom Steel business, plus $5m for its inventory. Custom Steel operates a rolling stock component fabrication facility in Kennett, Missouri, which primarily ...

  • News

    Billing costs cut

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    FRETSNCF is using ILOG’s JRules software to create a new pricing system as part of a major IT modernisation programme, which aims to increase sales flexibility and billing transparency while reducing costs. JRules is being used to automate and streamline pricing for freight traffic worth around €1·82bn a year, and ...

  • News

    Betuwe Route soap opera continues

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    SHORTLY after our last issue went to press (RG 4.06 p173), Transport & Public Works Minister Karla Peijs announced that operation of the Betuwe Route would, after all, be undertaken by Prorail, the Dutch rail infrastructure manager. Her statement was received badly by the lower house in parliament, where MPs ...

  • News

    Belgrano rescue

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    ON APRIL 18 President of Argentina Néstor Kirchner signed a decree placing operations at Belgrano Cargas SA in a ’state of emergency’ for a period of 180 days. During this period, which can be extended for two similar terms, the government will provide funding to meet essential expenses, including the ...

  • News

    Sabah modernisation begins

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    LAST MONTH was due to see the start of work to modernise the 134 km railway between Tanjung Aru and Tenom in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Assistant Infrastructure Development Minister Aklee Abbas announced in March that two contractors had been appointed to undertake the upgrading at a cost of ...

  • News

    Beginning of the end for PN?

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    UNCERTAINTY still clouds the future of Australia’s rail freight market as the fiercely-contested eight-month takeover battle between Toll Holdings and Patrick Corp draws to a close.The Patrick board finally conceded defeat on April 13, accepting a second revised offer from Toll which valued the company at A$5·8bn, compared to the ...

  • News

    Balkan co-operation

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    KONCAR Inem and Gosa have signed an agreement to restore past co-operation in the production of rolling stock, under which the Croatian firm will supply electrical equipment for passenger vehicles to be built by the Serbian company.Gosa’s rolling stock factory in Smederevska Palanka is currently building 30 freight wagons for ...

  • News

    Bacteria down from the glacier

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    INDIA’S Research Design & Standardisation Organisation, IIT-Kanpur and the Defence Research Development Organisation are studying the use of bacteria to treat waste in toilet retention tanks, as part of a campaign by Railways Minister Laloo Prasad to improve on-train toilets.The three research bodies are adapting military technologies developed to support ...

  • News

    AV network opens up commercial opportunities

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    TRACK and overhead line equipment is already complete on much of the high speed line between Milano and Bologna. The first section is due to open next year, adding a key route to Italy's north-south high-speed/high-capacity corridor. According to Renato Casale, RFI's Financial Director, the AV/AC network offers the opportunity ...

  • News

    Automation is the way to go

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    Fully-automatic metro operation looks set to be widely adopted over the next two decades, if feedback from delegates at the Metro Rail 2006 conference is anything to go by. Organised by Terrapinn in Barcelona on March 28-30, the event drew a wide mix of operators, suppliers and consultants from cities ...

  • News

    Transandine tenders by August

    2006-05-01T10:00:00Z

    DURING her first state visit abroad, President of Chile Michelle Bachelet announced in Buenos Aires on March 21 that tendering for the project to restore the 225 km route from Los Andes to Mendoza in Argentina (RG 4.06 p218) would start before July 31 2006. The preceding week the Chilean ...