All News articles – Page 144
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News
Fortress buys Florida East Coast
FLORIDA EAST COAST Industries announced on May 8 that it had agreed a $3·5bn merger with the private equity Fortress Investment Group, which recently acquired RailAmerica. Unanimously approved by the FECI board, the deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2007. The 565 km Florida East ...
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Philippine Main Line South upgrade
WORK IS expected to start this month on upgrading of a 60 km section of Philippine National Railways' Main Line South, permitting the expansion of suburban services to the south of Manila.PNR General Manager Jose Maria Sarasola announced on May 2 that track strengthening, bridge reconstruction, station works and the ...
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Israeli national resignalling
ISRAEL Railways suspended all train services on May 11-12 to permit the commissioning of a new national signalling and train control system.ISR has adopted the Command 900 Safe Desk technology supplied by Thales from Germany. Formerly marketed by Alcatel as NetTrac 6653, this is a vital remote control system for ...
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News in Brief
Central Japan Railway President Masayuki Matsumoto confirmed on April 27 that the company hopes to launch revenue services on the first phase of the Chuo maglev line between Tokyo and Nagoya by 2025, with the planned Nagoya - Osaka section to follow. JR Central has allocated ¥6bn in its 2007 ...
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US safety in the spotlight
PROPOSALS for a radical reform of railway safety legislation were introduced into the US Congress on May 1 by James Oberstar, Chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. The Railroad Safety Improvement Act envisages redesignating the FRA as the Federal Railroad Safety Adminstration, with a specific objective to reduce ...
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Finance June 2007
France: Transport funding agency AFITF has agreed to contribute €10m towards the Leslys project to build a rail link between Lyon Part-Dieu and Saint-Exup?ry Airport (RG 2.07 p59). It will also provide €20m for Sytral's Line T4 running 10 km from Line T2 at Jet d'Eau-Mend?s France to Cliniques Feyzin ...
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Pointers June 2007
The government of Sierra Leone has presented donor institutions with a 10-year Transport Sector Development Plan which includes the revival of rail services. Operations on the 762 mm gauge state railway were abandoned in late 1974.According to its financial bid opened on April 27, the Veloxia consortium led by Alstom ...
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People June 2007
President Sarkozy has appointed Alain Jupp? as France's Minister for Ecology & Sustainable Development, replacing Minister for Transport, Infrastructure, Tourism & the Sea Dominique Perben. Dominique Bussereau is Secretary of State for Transport. Georgian Railways Deputy Director Guram Guramishvilli has been appointed head of the co-ordination council for the Baku ...
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Abuja metro launched
NIGERIAN President Olusegun Obasanjo participated in a ceremony on May 7 to launch the construction of a metro network in the capital Abuja, which he expects will be completed in 15 years. Emphasising that ’no modern city can develop without a modern transport system’, Obasanjo said the three-phase project would ...
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Underground in Alacant
ON MAY 10 the lastest section of the light rail network serving the Spanish city of Alacant opened. Branching off the existing El Campello - Porta del Mar route at L’Illot, it serves new undergound stations at MARQ and Mercat, the latter having platforms 20?m below ground. The k110m city-centre ...
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Amman contract
Transport Minister Soud Nseirat announced on May 8 that a consortium of Jordanian, Pakistani and Chinese firms has been awarded a contract worth between 170 and 180m dinars to build the Amman - Zarqa light rail line (RG 1.07 p9).The contract was expected to be signed during the World Economic ...
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Trams arrive in Parla
SPAIN: The initial 8·25 km of a light rail route under construction in the town of Parla, 20 km south of the Spanish capital (RG 8.05 p464), was opened on May 6. Mayor Tomás Gómez was accompanied by the President of the Madrid regional government, Esperanza Aguirre. Due to be ...
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FS business plan wins government backing
ITALIAN ministers have signed off a five-year business plan for Italian Railways (RG 4.07 p194). Submitted in February, the proposals will see Trenitalia order 1 000 new trains for local and regional passenger services by 2011 at a cost of k6?4bn.Approval came at a meeting on May 4 attended by ...
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Barcelona LRT expansion
SPAIN: MAY 6 saw the opening of the latest phase of the Trambesòs light rail network in eastern Barcelona, a 2·2 km extension of Line T5 from Besòs to Sant Joan Baptista. With three intermediate stops, the route has cost €25m to build. Comprising routes T4 and T5, the Trambesòs ...
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Closer to Barcelona
ON MAY 8 ADIF’s Talgo BT track recording train began verification runs over the Camp de Tarragona - Sant Joan Desp? section of the Madrid - Barcelona high speed line. Sant Joan Desp? lies 12?km from Barcelona, and the Ministry of Development is working to have the route open as ...
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Commercial traffic enters Lötschberg base tunnel
REVENUE-EARNING traffic is due to start running through the Lötschberg base tunnel on June 19, with up to 48 freight trains a day routed through the 38 km bore. They will be followed in August by the first commercial passenger services. Cisalpino's ETR470 tilting trainsets are expected to use ...
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Train crews are the new battleground
EUROPEAN railways are starting to face up to the detailed fall-out from the ongoing programme to liberalise rail operations. As new open-access operators enter the market, there are suggestions that some may be ’poaching’ experienced staff from their rivals.With seven competing freight operators now active in France (p361), SNCF ...
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Seattle breakthrough
The first 1?3?km Central Link light rail tunnel through Beacon Hill in Seattle was completed on May 8, coming within 5?mm of engineers’ plans. A Japanese-built, laser-guided tunnel boring machine that started work in January 2006 broke through the east side of the hill as a crowd watched. Contractor Obayashi ...
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Industry News in Brief
Minsk Railway Carriage Repair Works has formed a new production unit with the capacity to assemble up to 60 coaches a year. The plant is currently completing work on its first accessible coach with an electric wheelchair lift for Belarusian Railway, as well as a prototype air-conditioned vehicle.As part of ...