All News articles – Page 167
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News
GE plans Kazakh assembly plant
GENERAL ELECTRIC announced on May 16 that is to build a plant in Kazakhstan with the capacity to assemble up to 150 Evolution Series locomotives a year for countries in the former Soviet Union. The following day the Kazakh Prime Minister and the US ambassador laid a ceremonial first brick ...
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France’s biggest renewals project
RELAYING the 80 km of double-track main line between Les Aubrais and Vierzon constitutes ’the biggest regeneration worksite ever undertaken in France’, according to RFF.When Transport Minister Dominique Perben visited Saint-Jean-le-Blanc on May 22, the work was nearly finished. Completion was planned for June, and a programme of improvements along ...
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BKV picks Metropolis
BUDAPEST transport operator BKV confirmed on May 22 that it had ordered 170 Metropolis metro cars from Alstom Transport and Ganz Transelektro at a cost of €247m.The order covers 15 four-car trainsets to operate the initial 7·3 km section of Line 4 which is due to open in 2009. The ...
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Industry News in Brief
Industry News in BriefSignalling and control system modelling and development specialist The Railway Engineering Co has been bought by Strainstall Group. TRE will operate as a separate business within the group.In April Frankfurt-based transport financing specialist DVB Bank registered DVB Capital Markets LLC with the US Securities & Exchange Commission ...
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Products in Brief
A 4 tonne capacity rail lifting grip developed by ABZ is currently being tested in service in Germany, to assess its performance with rough handling and in a dirty working environment. The clamp automatically engages when lowered onto a rail to be lifted onto wagons during track renewal.ABZ Handels, GermanyThe ...
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City News in Brief
Entreprise du Métro d’Alger has selected an Alstom-led consortium for a €225m turnkey contract to build the city’s first light rail line (RG 4.06 p176). Construction of the 16·3 km route with 30 stops is expected to take 30 months. Serving the eastern part of the Algerian capital, the route ...
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Jumbo trams to grace German capital
UP TO 210 multi-section low-floor trams may be ordered for the Berlin network.On June 12 the board of Berlin Transport approved plans to buy four pre-series cars from Bombardier for delivery in 2008-09. If they prove successful, BVG may exercise options that could see up to 148 series-built cars enter ...
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Catalytic converter on test at UP
Union Pacific claims to have ’the most environmentally-friendly locomotive fleet in the nation’, with 47% of its 8200 units meeting EPA Tier 0, I or II emissions standards. In California, UP has signed agreements to reduce NOx emissions within the South Coast Non-attainment Area by 67% by 2010, and to ...
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Caterpillar progress
CATERPILLAR Inc announced on May 16 that it would acquire Progress Rail Services Inc from One Equity Partners for $425m in cash, $375m in stock and stock and assumption of $200m of debt. JP Morgan Chase buy-out unit OEP had acquired Progress Rail for $438m in 2005.Progress Rail has around ...
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Comsa moves freight in Poland
SPANISH construction company Grupo Comsa announced on May 23 that its subsidiary PRKil had begun open access freight operations on the Polish national network. PRKil is currently moving construction materials in 24-wagon trains weighing 1200 tonnes, although it is expected that other traffic may be won in due course.According to ...
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Nigeria concessioning starts
EXPRESSIONS of interest are due by the end of July for two concessions to operate sections of the Nigerian rail network, under a privatisation process that is expected to see preferred bidders announced in February 2007.Nigeria’s Bureau for Public Enterprises has appointed CPCS Transcom as Transaction Advisors. A shortlist of ...
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Suburban consultation
ON MAY 26 Iarnród éireann began the formal consultation process for a Railway Order giving powers to re-open the disused Glounthaune - Midleton line as part as its embryonic Cork commuter network (RG 7.04 p390).Being funded from the Irish government’s Transport 21 investment programme, the work includes reinstatement of 10 ...
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Grinding down for longer crossing life
GERMAN Railway engineers worked with Robel on the development of the 16.01 rail milling machine, which can be used to repair turnout crossings and prolong their service life. DB standards only permit the repair of rigid crossings with cracks up to 20m depth, with more severe defects requiring expensive and ...
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Eurotunnel unveils debt restructuring
AFTER 10 months of tortuous negotiations, Eurotunnel Chairman Jacques Gounon was finally able to announce on May 31 that agreement had been reached with the Ad-Hoc Committee representing co-financier creditors on a debt restructuring plan that could avoid the company becoming insolvent in January 2007.A new French holding company would ...
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Dieter
Valley Metro Rail has allocated $6·3m to be spent on public art at stations on the 30 km light rail line under construction in Phoenix. Proposals include pre-Columbian figures and bridge lighting which will change as trains pass over. Campbell station will have a gateway consisting of 32 steel arcs ...
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Merkel digs her heels in
GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel rode a Transrapid maglev vehicle over the 31 km between Shanghai and Pudong airport during an official visit to China in May, but not everything was running smoothly.The stage had been set for Merkel to sign a deal with Chinese authorities that would have seen German ...
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Driverless research
IN PARTNERSHIP with Barcelona metro operator TMB and the Universitat Politènica de Catalunya who respectively hold stakes of 39% and 12%, Siemens Transportation Systems has established a research and development centre for driverless metro operation at its traction motor plant at Cornellà de Llobregat. Established with the support of the ...
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EIB funds high speed routes
ON JUNE 15 European Investment Bank Vice-President Isabel Martín signed a loan contract to provide Spanish infrastructure authority ADIF with €400m over a 30-year term for construction of the high speed line between Madrid, Barcelona and Figueres, representing the final tranche of EIB funding for this project which now stands ...
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Tianjin - Shengyang to be electrified
BALFOUR BEATTY Rail Power Systems based in München has won a second electrification and signalling contract in China covering 619 km of double track between Tianjin and Shengyang in Liaoning province. In addition to supplying and erecting 25 kV 50Hz catenary, 11 feeder stations spaced at 50 km intervals are ...
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NewsProfit for the environment's sake
Swedish freight operator Green Cargo has enshrined sustainable development as a core value, seeing profitability as the path to ensuring that the environmental benefits of moving goods by rail are not lost to society