All News articles – Page 245
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Nanjing grows
CONSTRUCTION of metro Line 2 in the Chinese city of Nanjing began on December 28, at the site of Xiangxinyu station. The 21·6 km line is due to open in 2009, at a cost of 9bn yuan. Running from Xishang Bridge to Maqun via Jiangdongmen, Suiximen and Mingu-gong, it will ...
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Not guaranteed
STRIKE action by France’s railway unions on January 21 threw into sharp focus the long-running debate over who controls what happens on the national network. While the dispute is ostensibly about the paucity of this year’s 1% pay rise, it is also a protest against government plans to introduce minimum ...
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Upgrade on hold
ON DECEMBER 17 Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Badawi announced that the 14·5bn ringgit project to double track and electrify KTMB’s north-south trunk line had been postponed. The plan called for upgrading of the 339 km from Ipoh northwards to Padang Besar on the Thai border and the 297 ...
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Houston LRT opens
OVER 15000 passengers rode Houston's 12 km Main Street light rail line in the 4h following the official dedication ceremonies on January 1, which also marked the 25th anniversary of the MTA. The first car was driven through a banner at the Fannin South Park & Ride terminal by former ...
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Wagon hunting
HUNTING, the severe low-frequency lateral acceleration of a vehicle caused by wheel and rail wear, speed and track condition, can increase the risk of derailment, as well as damage a wagon’s payload. The RHD-2000 sensor has been developed to identify vehicles which are badly affected by hunting, allowing remedial action ...
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Raffarin sets infrastructure priorities
INTRO: Rail forms an important part of the French government’s infrastructure programme for the next 20 years. Projects to be taken forward include eight high speed schemes, and a new agency is to be created to fund infrastructure investment. Robert Preston reportsCHAIRING a meeting of the inter-ministerial planning and development ...
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Iran’s next metro makes progress
INTRO: Iran’s principal steel city has ambitious plans to develop an urban rail networkCONSTRUCTION is forging ahead on the initial section of the metro network in Esfahan, around 325 km south of the Iranian capital Tehran. Plans for the network were drawn up in the 1990s, and a start has ...
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Laval in trouble
MONTREAL has been building a three-station extension of its Orange metro line since spring 2002. Running from Henri Bourassa station to Laval, the extension may not see revenue service even after completion in 2006 as the metro’s existing control centre has insufficient capacity.Officials at the Société de Transport de Montréal ...
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Upgrading loan
RECONSTRUCTION of Venezuela’s 244 km Western rail network is expected to get underway this year, following the signing of a loan agreement to fund the work. The Ministry of Finance announced on December 16 that Finance Minister Tobias Nóbrega had signed an 11-year credit agreement with the Vice-President of China’s ...
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Pacific National looks north
AUSTRALIAN interstate freight operator Pacific National has ordered 13 narrow-gauge diesel locos from EDI Rail, as part of its strategy to breach Queensland Rail’s 1067mm gauge stronghold (RG 1.04 p16). Due for delivery in February 2005, the PN class locos will be similar to QR’s 4000 class locos which were ...
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Market
China:Nokia and Shanghai Railway Communication Equipment Factory are to supply a Tetra digital radio network to Ningqi Railway Co for use from June on the Nanjing - Qidong line now under construction.France:SNCF is planning to order 60 electric locomotives from Alstom to haul push-pull services in Ile-de-France. They will be ...
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Mumbai metro plan revived
MAHARASHTRA’S Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced on January 10 that the regional government had approved plans to build the first phase of a heavy metro network in Mumbai over the next five years. He said Delhi Metro Rail Corp had been asked to prepare a detailed project report for an ...
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Metros
Canada:Toronto Transit Commission has signed a C$7·9m contract for integrated software from IFS Applications to replace five maintenance and support systems.China:Coronet Rail Ltd has won an order to supply fishplates worth £100000 for the 3·5 km Yam O - Penny’s Bay light metro feeder line in Hong Kong.France:RATP has placed ...
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Pointers
Nigerian Minister of State for Transport Alhaji Mohammed Musahas has held discussions with China Civil Engineering Construction Co in Beijing over extending a Ccecc contract for technical assistance with refurbishment of the NRC network to include the management of rail operations.Russian Railways President Gennadi Fadeyev has agreed with Siemens Transportation ...
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Sidetrack
200 years oldFEBRUARY 21 marks the 200th anniversary of the first journey of a steam locomotive running on rails. Richard Trevithick’s 7 tonne machine hauled five wagons, 10 tonnes of iron and 70 passengers for about 15 km on a tramway at the Pen Y Darren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil ...
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Market January 2004
Austria: ÖBB has placed a €215m order with Bombardier and Elin for 60 more four-car Talent regional and commuter EMUs, to be delivered fom July 2005 to the end of 2006. Canada: Canadian Pacific has signed a seven-year IT outsourcing contract with IBM worth C$200m, under which 100 employees ...
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Jerusalem in under 30min
FUNDING for the long-planned high speed line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and other major projects was allocated in Israel's budget for the next five years announced on December 1; for the first time the rail spend this year (US$800m) will exceed that allocated for roads (US$780m). On ...
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Line 4 foreshadows urban expansion
SPEAKING at the Central & Eastern European Rail summit on November 27, Deputy Director-General for Economics of Budapest Transport Tam
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Brussels - Luxembourg accelerated
FROM the start of the winter timetable on December 15, Belgian National Railways and Luxembourg Railways have accelerated their inter-city services between the two capitals. Work is underway to rebuild the E411/E25 motorway connecting Brussels and Luxembourg by summer 2006, and the railways have increased capacity by 20% to cope ...
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More open access
IN A report on November 25 former head of Banverket Jan Brandborn proposes open access throughout Sweden, including routes where SJ AB or regional authorities enjoy a monopoly on passenger services. Rikstrafiken, the authority that administers subsidies to some national routes, would be given greater responsibility, including management of a ...