All News articles – Page 32
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NewsRail training and recruitment in brief
The Australian rail industry is facing ‘chronic labour and skills shortages’ according to a report published by the Transport & Logistics Skills Council. Among the concerns raised are an ageing workforce and competition from the mining sector. TLSC recommends that the Australian rail industry needs a broader recruitment base and ...
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NewsGroupe Eurotunnel opens privately-funded training centre
FRANCE: Groupe Eurotunnel opened its Centre International de Formation Ferroviaire de la Côte d’Opale in Coquelles on February 2. Eurotunnel says that the centre is the first privately-funded facility of its kind in Europe. Representing an investment of around €3m, Ciffco will provide training courses for 15 disciplines on a ...
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NewsTajik Railways takes delivery of Evolution locomotives
TAJIKISTAN: State railway Rohee Ohani Tojikiston has begun taking delivery of six GE Transportation TE33A Evolution locomotives manufactured in Kazakhstan. GE Transportation's main US plant in Erie supplied a single TE33A to Mongolian Railways in 2009, but the Tajik locomotives ordered in November 2011 are the first to be exported ...
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NewsNortheastern link proposed
THAILAND: The Thai Office of Transport & Traffic Policy & Planning submitted proposals for a 336 km railway from Ban Phai to Nakhon Phanom to the cabinet at a meeting in Udon Thani on February 21. The branch from the existing Nakhon Ratchasima – Nong Khai metre-gauge line would run ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market February 2012
Argentina: ABB has a US$50m contract to supply traction equipment for nine-car EMUs Emfer is producing for TBA’s Sarmiento route in Buenos Aires using refurbished Toshiba cars and new double-deckers (RG 4.11 p9). NREC has delivered two TZV Gredelj G26CWN locos to Ferrosur Roca. Australia: QUBE is ...
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NewsWorld rail market February 2012
Australia: RailCorp has awarded a 70: 30 joint venture of UGL and Unipart Rail a contract to provide maintenance and logistics services for its Sydney passenger fleet. The contract is expected to be worth A$14bn over the initial seven-year term. Germany: DB and Deutsche Telekom have signed an agreement ...
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NewsNews in Brief
Electric services on the 38 km Kristinehamn – Nykroppa line in Sweden were officially launched on January 16, removing the need for freight trains to use diesel traction or make a significant detour. Saudi Railway Co has signed a memorandum of understanding to build a railway linking Sadara Chemical’s ...
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NewsNews in Brief
The Rhein-Ruhr and Westfalen-Lippe transport authorities named DB Regio as the winner of the Haard-Achse operating contract on January 11. Covering routes from Münster to Düsseldorf and Mönchengladbach, the contract will run for 15 years from December 2014, with annual train-km increasing from 3·02 million to 3·87 million. On December ...
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NewsAmtrak accelerates in Michigan
USA: On February 7 the Federal Railroad Administration gave Amtrak approval to raise speeds on its passenger services in western Michigan from 152 km/h to 177 km/h. The agreement covers an Amtrak-owned 155 route-km section between Kalamazoo, Michigan and Porter, Indiana which has been equipped with the Incremental Train Control ...
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NewsClassroom in a tank wagon
ROMANIA: A tank wagon is being used as a training vehicle by open access freight operator Grup Feroviar Roman and oil company Petrom. Converted at a cost of €40 000, the wagon is stabled at GFR’s Brazi depot, where it is used to train drivers, shunters, terminal staff and the ...
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NewsTrain driver distraction study awarded funding
USA: The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded a grant worth $250000 to commuter rail operator Veolia Transportation to fund a study into the causes of train driver distraction. The study is to be conducted at the Volpe Institute of Transportation Studies in Massachusetts. It will be co-ordinated by George Elsmore, ...
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NewsUkrainian Railways orders 300 electric locomotives
UKRAINE: Transmashholding is to supply state railway UZ with 230 Type 2ES4K electric freight locomotives for 3 kV DC routes and 70 Type 2ES5K locomotives for AC routes. Last August the government approved a 28·7bn hryvnia renewal programme which would see 509 locomotives ordered in 2012-16. A preliminary agreement was ...
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NewsChinese locomotives on their way to Belarus
BELARUS: The first of 12 Class BCG-1 electric locomotives being built for Belarus Railway was completed at CNR’s Datong plant in December. Ordered in October 2010 at a cost of 700m yuan, the 9·6 MW, 25 kV 50 Hz twin-section locos are derived from the HXD2 heavy-haul locomotives being assembled ...
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NewsRail Industry Training & Recruitment in Brief
Led by President Claire Porter, a delegation from the Institution of Railway Signalling Engineers has undertaken a tour of Hong Kong and mainland China as part of an effort to raise awareness of the body. IRSE is keen to establish a local section in Beijing, and discussions were held with ...
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NewsInternational safety exercise tests Channel Tunnel fire suppression station
EUROPE: Eurotunnel's annual bi-national safety exercise in the early hours of January 15 saw firefighters, paramedics and police from both sides of the Channel working together with the tunnel operator's staff to simulate a lorry fire on a shuttle train travelling towards the UK. The 2012 exercise involved the controlled ...
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NewsNews in Brief
The Ministry of Transport & Communications in Kazakhstan has appointed Aecom and Strategy Partners Group to to develop a national freight and passenger transport strategy, with recommendations on energy efficiency, institutional reforms and the potential for transit freight between China and Europe. EIB signed the first €40m instalment of a ...
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NewsRail Industry Training & Recruitment in Brief
Delhi Metro Rail Corp Managing Director E Sreedharan has written to the Ministry of Human Resource Development to urge the introduction of post-graduate courses in 'metro technology' across the country. DMRC believes that specialist technical schools such as the Indian Institutes of Technology should provide courses in urban rail design ...
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NewsChiang Mai line included in infrastructure package
THAILAND: Construction of a 750 km standard gauge line from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is the largest single project included in a 400bn baht programme of infrastructure investment announced by the government on January 10. Comprising 128 different work packages for completion by 2016, the programme includes a range of ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market January 2012
Argentina: Under a contract worth €75m, the federal government has purchased a further five Class 2400 DMUs from Spanish metre gauge operator FEVE as well as three Class 1500 diesel locomotives. FEVE has already sold six Class 2400 DMUs for operation in Argentina. Australia: In November FMG placed an ...
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NewsNews in Brief
A €270m package to fund electrification of the (Paris –) Gretz-Armainvilliers – Troyes route and the Provins branch by 2017 was signed by RFF and the Ile-de-France and Champagne-Ardenne regions on December 9. Last month Pakistan’s Railways Minister confirmed the country’s intention to accede to OTIF, the Inter-governmental Organization for ...