All Railway Gazette International articles in May 2011 – Page 3
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NewsGE Transportation announces Texas locomotive factory
USA: GE Transportation is to open a plant in Fort Worth, Texas, to produce new and remanufactured locomotives from 2012. Announcing its intention on May 12, the company said it will invest up to $96m in the 84 000m2 plant, while the Texas Enterprise Fund will provide up to ...
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NewsNews in Brief
RZD is studying the introduction of piggyback services between St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad and Moscow. An experimental Helsinki – Moscow service will be trialled later this year. African Development Bank signed a €300m loan to finance upgrading of ONCF's Tanger – Marrakech corridor on ...
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NewsLessons from the UK
RUSSIA: A group of 30 RZD senior management staff attended a week of study last month at the University of Portsmouth in the UK under an Anglo-Russian partnership agreement initiated in 2009 with support from global accountancy practice PricewaterhouseCoopers. The group studied at the university's Business School as ...
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NewsProjects approved in China
CHINA: Further rail projects have been authorised, despite the problems at the Ministry of Railways and media concerns about the cost of the massive expansion programme. The National Development & Reform Commission has approved the proposed 329 km double-track line from Qianjiang in Chongqing province to Zhangjiajie and Changde in ...
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NewsNew Jersey Transit unveils first ALP-45 loco
USA: May 11 saw the unveiling at Newark Penn Station of the first of 26 ALP-45 electro-diesel locomotives ordered by New Jersey Transit nearly three years ago from Bombardier.The dual-mode locos were originally intended to optimise service through the new trans-Hudson tunnels between northern New Jersey and Manhattan then being ...
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NewsDenton – Dallas A-Train services to start in June
USA: Denton County Transportation Authority has officially designated June 20 as the start of revenue service on its 33·8 km A-Train commuter line between Denton and the DART Green Line station at Trinity Mills in Carrollton. The opening will be kicked off with community-wide celebrations on June 18. Construction is ...
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NewsGlobaltrans plans private locomotives
RUSSIA: Private freight operator Globaltrans is poised to take advantage of a partial liberalisation of the traction market which the government is expected to announce later this year, CEO Sergey Maltsev said on April 4. Globaltrans is one of a number of independent freight operators in Russia, and it has ...
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NewsJeddah airport peoplemover contract awarded
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Binladin Group has awarded Bombardier Transportation a US$96m contract to supply an automated peoplemover for the King Abdulaziz International Airport Development Project in Jeddah. Saudi Binladin Group recently won a contract to design and build a new terminal at the airport to handle rising ...
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NewsPomeranian Metropolitan Railway funding agreed
POLAND: The project to introduce a local service between Gdansk, Gdansk Airport and Gdynia has received additional funding from the EU's Operational Programme Infrastructure & Environment, meaning the EU will meet 612m zloty of the 914m zloty cost of the works. The project involves a mix of reopenings and new ...
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NewsWomen-only metro inaugurated
SAUDI ARABIA: King Abdullah rode on the recently completed driverless metro during his inauguration of the Princess Nora Bint Abdul Rahman University campus in Riyadh on May 15. As well as being the largest women-only university in the world, PNU is said to be the largest single-site university. Transport within ...
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NewsWorld Bank loan supports Kunming urban rail project
CHINA: The World Bank has approved a US$300m loan towards the US$1·7bn construction of Kunming metro Line 3. The loan is intended to support ‘compact, transit-oriented urban development by providing high quality, integrated public transport on the East-West Line 3 corridor’. The 19·5 km underground line will ...
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NewsNews in Brief
Korea Railroad Research Institute has signed a memorandum with the Indonesian Trade & Industry Council to explore opportunities for involvement in the Jakarta airport rail link and Jakarta – Surabaya upgrade. A feasibility study for the airport line is being undertaken by Sarana Multi Infrastruktur and ...
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NewsInterest sought in Gobi rail project
MONGOLIA: Expressions of interest in financing, building and operating a 1 100 km east-west railway have been called by national railway shareholding company MTZ. The line was approved by parliament last year, and is to be developed in four sections: from Dalanzadgad via Tavan Tolgoi and Tsagaan Suvarga to Saynshand ...
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NewsSound Transit dedicates University Link TBMs
USA: Senator Patty Murray and Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff joined Sound Transit board members in Seattle on May 16 to launch the first of three tunnel boring machines that will excavate the twin tunnels for the 5·1 km light rail link to the University of Washington.The extension starts ...
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NewsEBRD backs KTZ energy efficiency programme
KAZAKHSTAN: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development and KTZ agreed to develop an investment programme to reduce the state railway's energy consumption and CO2 emissions at a meeting on May 17. EBRD will provide assistance for projects including an automated fuel control system, and will consider providing US$100 to ...
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News
Michel Quidort
Michel Quidort of Veolia Transdev has been re-elected President of European Passenger Transport Operators, an association formed of Europe’s nine largest independent public transport operators.
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NewsDB plans two north-south freight corridors
GERMANY: DB Netz and the Federal Ministry of Transport are discussing plans to develop and finance two north-south freight corridors. Speaking at the iaf Congress in Münster on May 18, Dipl-Wirtsch Inf Oliver Kraft, Chairman of DB Netz AG, said priority had been allocated to an eastern corridor running ...
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NewsMcNulty Rail Value for Money Study final report published
UK: Closer alignment of the objectives and incentives for train operators and infrastructure manager Network Rail is essential if the costs of running the British rail network are to be reduced, according to Sir Roy McNulty. Launching the final version of his Rail Value for Money Study in London on ...
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NewsDeclaration on Sustainable Mobility & Transport launched
INTERNATIONAL: UIC formally launched the Declaration on Sustainable Mobility & Transport at the United Nations in New York on May 11. Described as 'the railway sector's commitment to sustainable development', the declaration lists the industry's most important environmental objectives. It has so far been signed by 44 UIC members which ...
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NewsAtlanta orders Siemens Avanto streetcars
USA: Siemens Industry Inc has been awarded its first North American street-running tram order, a $17·2m contract from the city of Atlanta for four cars based on the S70 Avanto light rail vehicle platform. They will be used on a 4·3 km line with 12 stops linking the Martin Luther ...