All News articles – Page 234
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News
Smart ticketing
ASCOM is to supply ticketing equipment for use across regional rail, light metro and local bus services in Rennes.The French city will launch an integrated multimodal ticketing scheme in mid-2005, with contactless smart cards replacing the existing paper tickets on services forming part of the local transport network. A single ...
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A tough year for Talgo
SPANISH rolling stock manufacturer Grupo Talgo has announced a net loss of €18·5m for 2003, compared with a loss of €8·8m in 2002. Turnover in 2003 was up at €282m from €177m the year before.The loss on ordinary activities in 2003 was €13·7m, due largely to the negative impact of ...
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Northrail starts as Line 2 grows
ACEREMONY was held in Manila on April 5 to mark the start of work on the long-planned Northrail project to rehabilitate the former Philippine National Railways Main Line North. Closed since 1982, the single-track 1067mm gauge line is to be rebuilt as a double-track route able to carry 350000 passengers ...
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Metro Report 2004
DISTRIBUTED to subscribers with this issue is the 2004 edition of our annual supplement on urban rail developments, Metro Report. Senior executives from 13 cities worldwide report on current and future investment plans, and other articles include a detailed review of the low-floor tram and light rail market. An analysis ...
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Roma - Napoli postponed until 2005
INTRO: Construction work on the 205 km high speed line between Roma and Napoli is nearly complete, but progress has been slow because of archaeological treasures found along the route and the need to complete trials with ETCS Level 2. TAV Managing Director Antonio Savini Nicci briefed Murray Hughes in ...
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Line 9 forges on
THE CATALUNYA regional government has awarded a consortium of Dragados, Necso, Comsa, ACS and Soirgué a contract worth €89·8m to build the Sagrera-Meridiana - Onze de Setembre section of Line 9 on the Barcelona metro network.The contract also includes the boring of a 12m diameter tunnel for the largely parallel ...
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African road-rail
SPOORNET has acquired 20 double-cab Isuzu KB250 road-rail inspection vehicles in a R12m lease-back agreement.Adapting the vehicles for use on 1067mm gauge railways required the chassis to be modified behind the cab and around the wheel arches. Additional leaf springs have been fitted to the rear axle, and an Isuzu ...
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CR speeds up again
INTRODUCTION of Chinese Railways’ new timetable on April 18 saw the launch of the fifth national speed increase, bringing the total route length cleared for 160 km/h operation to 7700 km.The new timetable sees CR’s fastest Beijing - Shanghai journey time cut from 14h to 11h 58min, and the number ...
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Kenya tries again
PRIVATISATION in East Africa is moving ahead, albeit slowly. Although the Kenyan, Ugandan and Tanzanian heads of state were agreed on the desirability of a single concessionaire, Tanzania had already called for expressions of interest. Only a lone bidder came forward (RG 2.04 p72), and the process is to be ...
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Freight Australia sale agreed
ON MARCH 29 RailAmerica announced that it had reached agreement to sell its Victorian operating subsidiary Freight Australia to Pacific National for A$285m. The deal is subject to ratification by the Victoria state government and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.RailAmerica purchased Freight Australia from the Victorian government in 1999 ...
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Brown and Red lines go ahead
ILLINOIS Governor Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced on April 13 that the Federal Transit Administration had approved funding for a $530m project to expand capacity on Chicago Transit Authority’s Brown Line linking the city centre with Kimball/Lawrence in Ravenswood.Bids for the five-year programme of work are due ...
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Arriva enters Germany
BRITISH bus and rail operator Arriva has entered the German regional rail market by purchasing a 90% stake in Prignitzer Eisenbahn Gruppe. Announced on April 1, the €6m deal is subject to ratification by the German competition agency.Founded by Thomas Becken, who will remain as Managing Director under Arriva ownership, ...
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Second Avenue project split up
Chairman of New York MTA Peter Kalikow has confirmed that the $17bn Second Avenue subway will be built in stages to make it easier to secure funding.MTA plans envisage that the first phase will have only four stations before merging with the existing BMT Broadway subway. The line would start ...
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Order awaited
GERMAN Railway is planning to order a small number of pre-production loco-hauled coach sets for long-distance trains, for which tenders are to be prepared later this year. They will be the forerunners for an order for 1000 to 1200 vehicles intended to replace DB’s loco-hauled inter-city fleet, which at one ...
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High speed backed
STANDARD & POOR’S Ratings Services published a report on March 29 suggesting that capital investment in high speed rail projects across Europe will grow rapidly over the next 10 years.Fast Track to a Borderless Europe: The Credit Dynamics of High Speed Rail starts from the European Commission’s view that ’rail ...
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CityRail benefits in NSW budget
NEW SOUTH WALES Treasurer Michael Egan announced in a budget speech on April 6 that A$2·5bn is to be spent on ’the biggest-ever overhaul of the Sydney rail network’ over the next six years.Around A$1bn will be allocated to 15 projects designed to reduce the complexity of the suburban network. ...
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Three bids in Madrid
BIDS TO supply 790 cars to Madrid Metro have been received from AnsaldoBreda, a CAF/Bombardier consortium and Rotem of South Korea. Expected to cost €900m, a total of 161 trainsets will be required to serve the 72·7 km of extensions due to open by 2007 (RG 2.04 p76) and increase ...
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Blast in Ryongchon
MYSTERY surrounds a huge explosion at Ryongchon in North Korea on April 22. Initial reports said that it had been caused by the collision of two fuel trains, but later accounts blamed the explosion on the ignition of ammonium nitrate from contact with overhead power cables.Reports suggesting that 3000 people ...
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Full order book at Matisa
HAVING delivered two B41 tamping machines to GrantRail for use on the UK’s East Coast Main Line, Swiss track machine specialist Matisa is now building a giant track renewal train for Network Rail.The 138m long machine is designed to allow trains to run on adjacent tracks while it is working, ...
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Bosporus tunnel construction to start
TURKEY: Construction of the long-planned rail tunnel under the Bosporus is expected to start in June, following the signing of a turnkey construction contract in early April. This was due to be followed by ratification of the financing package before the end of the month. Japan Bank for International Co-operation ...