All News articles – Page 263
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Pointers
A major restructuring of Hungarian State Railways is expected to be announced this month, nearly a year after a new management team was appointed.Look for construction work to begin this year on the Guangzhou - Foshan line in southern China; it is due to open by 2007.A Thai consortium has ...
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PUBLICATIONS
2003 Public Transportation Fact BookThis is the 54th edition of this annual publication from the American Public Transport Association. It contains detailed statistical data on all aspects of the US public transport industry, with additional information covering Canada. Within the 242 pages are data covering operating statistics, financial information, safety ...
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SNCF takes to the road
OPERATION of a train along the Champs-Elysées on June 1 was one of the highlights of Le Train Capitale, an open-air exhibition held in Paris between May 17 and June 15. Three refurbished Corail coaches top-and-tailed by two Y8000 locos ran from Place de la Concorde to Avenue Georges V ...
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Staff scheduling simplified
DANISH infrastructure authority Banestyrelsen signed a contract in May for the implementation of an automated staff management system from Trapeze Software. The system is already being used by Banverket in Sweden, and by the Roslagståg consortium of DSB and BK Tåg which took over Stockholm’s narrow-gauge Roslagsbanen suburban network on ...
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Sidetrack
Postal tube cutROYAL Mail’s private underground railway in central London was mothballed on May 30. The 610mm gauge Post Office Railway from Whitechapel to Paddington opened in 1927, carrying post between sorting offices and main line stations in driverless electric trains 21m below the city’s streets.Changes in the location of ...
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Singapore adopts resilient rail fixing
OPPORTUNITIES for track maintenance on mass transit railways can be limited, and high passenger volumes make any disruption to services extremely costly. For these situations Pandrol has developed its Double Fastclip rail fastening. This has been installed on Singapore’s North East Line, which is expected to open this month (MR03 ...
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Menangle aftershock hits NSW
IN A MOVE that will be seen as highly significant, New South Wales Transport Minister Michael Costa announced on April 30 that ownership of the infrastructure used by Sydney’s regional and suburban passengers trains would be transferred on January 1 2004 from the Rail Infrastructure Corp back to the State ...
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Amtrak battle looms again
ONAPRIL 24 Amtrak President David Gunn outlined an $8bn, five-year plan to repair and replace outdated infrastructure and rolling stock while retaining much of the US network of long distance trains. It would require $4·5bn for capital funding and $3·5bn in operating subsidies in fiscal years 2004 to 2009. Proposals ...
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Buenos Aires smart card
TECHNOLOGY company Prominente and specialist transport commercial development business Metronec have launched a contactless smart card for Buenos Aires. As well as being used to buy Metrovías metro and train tickets, Subtecard is an electronic purse which can be used at Subtexpress shops and to buy cinema tickets. It can ...
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Airport services
GERMAN Railway inter-city trains are due to start serving Leipzig-Halle Airport on June 30, coinciding with the inauguration of the airport’s new Central Terminal. On the main line between Leipzig, Grübers and Halle (Saale), the station opened on December 15 last year. It has been connected to the city centre ...
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Airport backs metro plan
PLANS to develop an automated metro or light rail line serving the rapidly-growing corridor between Vancouver and Richmond received a boost last month, when the Vancouver International Airport Authority confirmed that it had committed C$300m towards the link. President & CEO Larry Berg said the authority had signed a memorandum ...
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Alacant contract
SPANISH regional railway operator FGV ordered nine articulated LRVs from Alstom in April, at a cost of €46m. Intended to operate tram-train services in the resort of Alacant (RG 5.02 p232), they will be assembled at Alstom’s Valencia plant, using electrical equipment supplied from Charleroi. Deliveries are due to run ...
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Pajares base tunnel bids in
SPANISH high speed construction authority GIF has received seven bids (below) for Lot 2, one of the four contracts to be let to build the 25 km Pajares base tunnel on the León - Oviedo route (RG 4.03 p183). Bid prices were due to be considered on May 21, and ...
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Battery upgrade
TURKISH State Railways is replacing the on-board pocket plate batteries fitted to 26 of its E43000 electric locomotives with SRM 105P cells from Saft. These offer 105Ah capacity, and are installed on the locomotives in 13 six-cell stainless steel crates and one four-cell crate. The SRM cell design uses sintered ...
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Bridge bearing research
TAIYUAN Research Institute of Science & Technology and the Railway Civil Engineering Institute at China’s Railway Academy have jointly developed an improved design of bridge beam support bearing, designed to provide optimal elasticity. By permitting longitudinal shifting and rotation of the bridge beams, the bearing helps lessen the shocks to ...
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Rivals bidding for Tranz Rail
ONMAY 15 the Board of Tranz Rail confirmed that RailAmerica Inc had offered to acquire the share capital of New Zealand’s freight operator, which leases and manages the national network. According to their statement, the directors had ’considered, in particular, the condition [of the offer] relating to the company’s ability ...
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Ficas bodyshells lift metro capacity
ON MAY 5 Bombardier Transportation unveiled a car body assembly technique which uses thinner and smoother vehicle sidewalls to increase passenger capacity by up to 10%, reports Geoff Hadwick. Speaking at the UITP World Congress in Madrid, Bombardier Transportation President & Chief Operating Officer Pierre Lortie announced that a ...
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Tsukuba Express close to ultimate electric braking system
INTRO: From autumn 2005, Tsukuba Science City will be directly linked to Akihabara station in the centre of Tokyo by a 58 km radial line now being built through the Greater Tokyo area. The opportunity to get even closer to ’pure’ regenerative braking is being seized, reserving friction brakes for ...
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CIE break-up planned
IRISH Transport Minister Seamus Brennan is expected to place proposals for breaking up state transport holding company CIE before the Irish Cabinet in the next few weeks. CIE's three existing business units - Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail), Bus Éireann (the national bus operator) and Bus Atha Cliath (Dublin Bus) - ...
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Products in Brief
A moving gantry locomotive washing plant has been installed at Direct Rail Services’ Carlisle Kingmoor depot by Smith Bros & Webb. Purpose-designed swing arm brushes and dedicated solebar brushes are able to clean locomotives with full-width bodies as well as the narrower-bodied Class 20 locos.Cooling units for 35 First Great ...