All News articles – Page 311
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News
Goninan to maintain TKE fleet
AUSTRALIAN engineering services company United Group announced on January 22 that it had been awarded a seven-year contract to maintain and service the rolling stock for Hong Kong MTR Corp’s Tseung Kwan O Extension (RG 2.02 p93). The deal is valued at over A$40m, and lifts the proportion of United’s ...
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GTW orders keep flowing
THE FIRST of 17 articulated GTW2/8 electric railcars being built for Swiss Federal Railways was rolled out at the Bussnang works of Stadler AG on March 1 (below). An initial batch of 11 is due to enter service this summer on SBB’s Seetal line between Luzern and Lenzburg, and the ...
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ZSR split formalised
SLOVAK Republic Railways emerged from restructuring on January 1 as two separate businesses. State-owned ZSR continues to manage the national rail infrastructure and assets such as real estate, while ancillary businesses will be divested in three stages to 17 service companies for eventual sale. Operations and commercial affairs have passed ...
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Tunnel freight threat grows
A FUTILE gesture, doubtless intended to help SNCF and English Welsh & Scottish Railway cope with strangulation of international freight operations through the Channel Tunnel, saw British Home Secretary David Blunkett lift the £2000 fines imposed from March 1 2001 for each illegal immigrant reaching England on a freight train. ...
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Freight locos uprated
LAST MONTH was due to see the roll-out from German Railway’s Chemnitz works of the first reconditioned Class V290 diesel locomotive for DB Cargo. Over the next six years, 398 locos of Classes V290 and V294 are to be repowered. Voith Turbo has modified two L206rs transmissions with high-capacity gears ...
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More Swiss funds in prospect
ON MARCH 8 the Swiss government approved draft legislation covering the second phase of the ambitious Bahn 2000 programme, auguring further development of the national rail network. At the same time it set the financial parameters for a performance contract with Swiss Federal Railways to cover the period from 2003 ...
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Regionalisation gathers pace
On March 13 SNCF President Louis Gallois initialled an agreement with the Rh
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Glatttal light rail go-ahead
TENDERING is expected to get underway shortly for construction of the planned Glatt Valley light rail network serving Oerlikon, Kloten and Wallisellen to the north of Zürich. At the end of January the federal and cantonal government approved a SFr555m public contribution towards the infrastructure works. Up to SFr80m will ...
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ITCS goes live
CHICAGO - Detroit passenger services were accelerated on January 14, when Amtrak commissioned its pilot Incremental Train Control System in southwest Michigan (RG 8.96 p496). Trains are now permitted to run at 145 km/h between New Buffalo and Kalamazoo, in the first significant increase in passenger train speeds above 127 ...
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No pneus is good pneus
WE ARE accustomed to the changes of fortune and politics that so often impede the progress of light rail schemes. The high infrastructure cost can result in a political football game between pro and anti-spending lobbies. Usually, though, once the trams are able to show off their advantages, all is ...
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Singapore grows
REVENUE services on the Singapore metro extension to Changi Airport began on February 8, two days after the line was handed over to Singapore MRT Ltd by the Land Transport Authority.Construction of the two-station branch began in January 1999. The first section as far as Expo was opened on January ...
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TGV powers SNCF growth
DESPITE the effects of September 11 and a slowdown in economic activity, income from SNCF’s long-distance passenger business grew by 5·9% in 2001. Stimulated by the successful launch of TGV Méditerranée, which carried 11 million passengers in its first seven months of operation, TGV revenue rose 11·4% to reach €2·7bn. ...
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Russia marries structural reform to higher investment
INTRO: Legislation currently being drafted will separate the Russian Railway Company from the Ministry of Railway Transport, which retains regulatory functions. More changes will follow, but for now the priority is to overcome a huge backlog of under-investment dating from the Soviet era, particularly inmotive power and rolling stockBYLINE: Victor ...
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Hitachi test train
HAVING been shortlisted with Alstom and Bombardier to supply 180 cars for the Connex South Eastern ’Metro’ inner-suburban EMU project, Hitachi has launched a test project with UK consultants AEA Technology Rail, Babcock & Brown, and leasing company HSBC Rail.Preliminary work in Japan has included crashworthiness tests to UKRailway Group ...
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Investment priorities switched
FOLLOWING strong criticism of ambitious investment plans for Russian Railways drawn up by former Minister of Rail Transport Nikolai Aksyonenko, his successor Gennadi Fadeyev has realigned the priorities for improvements to the 86031 km network (p136). The planned fixed link to the island of Sakhalin has been put on a ...
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Turnround in Italy
ANNOUNCING Italian State Railways’ preliminary financial results for 2001 on February 12, President & Chief Executive Giancarlo Cimoli proudly stated that the national railway had made a ’net profit’ of €20m compared with a loss of €683m in the previous year. The preliminary figures give FS a gross operating margin ...
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Radiolignes keeps SNCF passengers in the picture
ON JANUARY 30 French National Railways launched its Radiolignes service for main line passengers. By dialling a single telephone number, passengers can listen to a summary of train running performance for TGV and other inter-city trains across the SNCF network, followed by details of timekeeping by region, route or specific ...
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Kyushu wires
ELECTRIC services have been introduced on a secondary loop line between Kurosaki and Fukuoka, in northern Kyushu, following the completion of a wiring project totalling ´14bn. The 64·8 km route incorporates parts of JR-Kyushu’s Chikuho and Sasaguri lines, serving the former coal mining district of Chikuho.The loop diverges from the ...
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Toll and Lang win NRC/FC
Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Transport Minister John Anderson announced on January 31 that interstate freight operator National Rail Corp and FreightCorp of New South Wales would be sold to the National Rail Consortium Pty Ltd for A$1172m. Due to be concluded by the end of February, the deal ...
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WTC rebuilds let
NEW YORK Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on February 14 the award of a US$92m contract to rebuild the tunnel carrying IRT subway Lines 1 and 9 under the site of the World Trade Center. Tully Construction and AJ Pegno Construction are expected to reopen the route to South Ferry by ...