All News articles – Page 151
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News
Cordoba re-openings
ON JANUARY 24 the Argentinian government announced that it had awarded a joint venture of Benito Roggio and Herso a contract to restore the former Mitre route between Río Primero in Córdoba province and Sumampa in Santiago del Estero, closed to traffic since 1978. The 170m pesos project ...
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Schwarzenegger tries to ditch HSR
REPEATED ATTEMPTS to build high speed lines in North America may have produced absolutely nothing to date, but Californians like to be different. Plans for a $37bn network carrying 350?km/h trains between Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego appear to be making some progress. On January 29, the ...
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UP in search of reduced emissions
UNION PACIFIC took its quest for reduced emissions technology onto the main line on January 17, when it unveiled a refitted EMD SD60M in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce. The 3 800?hp locomotive will be tested in captive service around the Southern California basin. The 17-year old loco ...
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Europe relies on its suburban railways
THE REGIONAL and commuter rail market plays an important role as part of the overall passenger rail sector. It is a challenging public transport market, significantly contributing towards sustainable urban mobility, encouraging modal shift from private car and decongesting transport corridors providing access to major European cities.’ This is the ...
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Fortescue goes its own way
On February 8 construction work commenced on another iron ore line into the Chichester Ranges from Port Hedland, Western Australia. Fortescue Metals Group is building the 260 km line to link its port facilities at Anderson Point to its Pilbara mines at a total cost of around A$3?5bn. The decision ...
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NewsSlovenian gateway helps revitalise intermodal sector
Supported by the Marco Polo programme, the two-year Singer project is intended to develop new unaccompanied intermodal flows to and from Eastern Europe. Block trains from München, Verona and Budapest converge on a gateway hub at Ljubljana, offering competitive transit times and reducing costs
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MTR goes shopping
HONG Kong MTR has officially opened its first shopping centre in mainland China. Ginza Shopping Mall stands above Dongzhimen metro station in a prosperous area of Beijing, and will be operated using the ’rail-plus-property’ model which MTR says has proved highly successful in maximising the value of inner-urban sites around ...
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Grands projets now the norm
MARCH 15 will see the official inauguration by RFF of the first 300 km of TGV Est between Paris and Baudrecourt. Three months ahead of SNCF’s planned opening to traffic on June 10, the date leaves a slot for more ultra-high-speed trials (above). That the French government backs high speed ...
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Green light for missing link
WORK IS DUE to begin during the second quarter of 2007 on the 1 km Parc - Sud section of the TEC light metro in the Belgian city of Charleroi, expected to open at the end of 2010 to complete a long-planned city centre loop. With one intermediate ...
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NewsKnorr-Bremse records growth
BRAKE MANUFACTURER Knorr-Bremse Group reported steady growth and record results for 2006, with revenue up 14% to k3?1bn from k2?7bn in 2005. A third of this increase came from acquisitions and two-thirds from organic growth in both the rail and commercial vehicle divisions, particularly in Europe and North America. ...
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Mega-trucks impugned
ADDRESSING around 400 delegates to the CER’s Eurailfreight conference in Brussels on January 30, German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, who under the German presidency of the European Union holds the chair at the Council of Ministers [for transport], indicated that giant lorries equivalent to Australia’s road trains would not be ...
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Leasing income up
GATX reported net income from continuing operations of $150·5m for the year to December 31 2006, up from $105·6m in 2005. The aircraft leasing business was sold to improve the firm's risk profile, and rail, marine and industrial activities grew 'while maintaining our disciplined investment approach', said President & CEO ...
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Laos link launched
WORK to link Laos to Thailand's rail network officially began on January 19, when Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh and Thai Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula attended a ground-breaking ceremony in Dongphosy. This will be the site of the future Tha Naleng passenger and freight rail terminal, close to ...
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Thales to resignal Piccadilly Line
LONDON Underground PPP contractor Tube Lines announced on January 29 that it had awarded Thales a ?160m contract extension covering the resignalling of the Piccadilly Line. Thales took over contracts to supply Seltrac signalling to the Jubilee and Northern lines when it acquired Alcatel-Lucent’s transport activities at the end of ...
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Property road-show
A major property development programme along the coast of the Indian Ocean is at the heart of the Sri Lankan government’s plans to revive its ailing state railway. A road-show for potential investors is to take place in Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong, showcasing opportunities to develop 12 station sites ...
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UP reports record results
REPORTING its 2006 results on January 25, Union Pacific announced its best year ever’, with commodity revenues up by 15% to an all-time record of $14?9bn for the year. Operating income in the fourth quarter grew by 52% to nearly $810m. President & CEO Jim Young - who succeeded Dick ...
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Serbian sales
SLOVAK rolling stock manufacturer ZOS Trnava paid 140m dinara for the Serbian state's 77·5% stake in wagon and carriage supplier Gosa on January 26. ZOS Trnava plans to use the Gosa factory in Smederevska Palanka to relieve capacity constraints at its plant in Slovakia. It expects to invest a further ...
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Veolia takes on Tri-Rail
Southern Florida Regional Transportation Authority has awarded Veolia a seven-year contract worth $64m to operate the Tri-Rail commuter service. The contract includes an option for a further three years at a cost of $33m. The French group will replace Herzog Transit Services on July 1. The Sfrta board has ...
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NewsCapacity crunch looms on busy UK network as policy failures bite
Contrasts abound in the complex UK railway business, with high costs militating against network enhancements despite the urgent need to raise capacity
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NewsCross-London projects languish on the back burner
WHILE the East London Line is finally being rebuilt to provide rapid and frequent services along a corridor linking London's northern and southern suburbs, two major projects to make it simple for rail passengers to travel across London have made spectacularly little progress over the last 15 years. The Thameslink ...