All News articles – Page 336

  • News

    Station redevelopment

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Hungarian Railways has prepared a 10-year HF24·5bn plan to rebuild 25 major stations. This will require a doubling of MAV’s present investment budget.Intersite Property Management Services of South Africa has received 140 tender proposals for the R30m project to rebuild Pretoria station, which was burnt down on February 19 by ...

  • News

    Silk Road study

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    SEVEN groups of consultants have been shortlisted to undertake detailed design studies for the planned Silk Road rail corridor linking Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China (RG 4.01 p223). Work on the project is expected to get under way shortly, following the signing of a formal accord by Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev ...

  • News

    Tranz Scenic sale

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    THE BREAK-UP of Wisconsin Central’s overseas operations moved ahead at the end of June with the selection of a preferred bidder for the Tranz Scenic long-distance passenger services in New Zealand. Tranz Rail has signed non-binding heads of agreement with Australia’s West Coast Railway, which operates services between Melbourne and ...

  • News

    More tilting TRDs

    2001-08-01T10:00:00Z

    SPANISH National Railways has awarded CAF a contract worth Pts15·8bn to supply and maintain 21 TRD tilting DMUs for its Regional business unit. As with recent high speed orders (p517), Renfe has reserved the right to undertake up to 20% of construction and 50% of maintenance.Each powered by four 338 ...

  • News

    Marina line phase 2 go-ahead

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    SINGAPORE’S Land Transport Authority has awarded a €170m contract to a consortium of Alstom and ST Elec for mechanical and electrical work on the second phase of the medium-capacity Marina automated metro line.An initial 5·6 km section of the Marina line is now under construction between Dhoby Ghaut and Stadium ...

  • News

    Line 9 goes out to tender

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    The Catalunya regional government’s new construction authority Gestió d’Infraestructures has called tenders for civil works on the first sections of Barcelona metro Line 9, expected to open in 2004. The works have been divided into three packages. The first covers the section from Sagrera on Lines 1 and 5 east ...

  • News

    Interoperability accord signed

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    A MEMORANDUM of Understanding on interoperability was signed in Napoli on June 8 by representatives from the European Commission and four industry associations: Unife, UITP, UIC and CER. Intended ’to move Europe closer to a single European railway system’, the MoU paves the way for the development of Technical Specifications ...

  • News

    Sergeli accord

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    CONSTRUCTION of a fourth broad-gauge metro line in the Uzbekistan capital is expected to get under way in 2004-05, following the signing of an accord between Toshkent Metro and the China International Trust & Investment Corp at the beginning of June.To be known as the Sergeli line, Line 4 will ...

  • News

    Metros try moving adverts

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    MOTIONPOSTER has agreed terms with BKV to install four moving image advertising units in Budapest metro tunnels. An agreement has also been signed for two sites in Athens, and MotionPoster is negotiating with 14 other operators.Each unit has 168 A2-sized back-illuminated posters arranged along 100m of tunnel. Electronic controls automatically ...

  • News

    Sell-off goes ahead

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    SALE OF the Japanese government’s outstanding shares in the three mainland JR companies may start later this year. This follows the passage of a bill through the Diet on June 15 paving the way for full privatisation of JR Central, JR West and JR East.The bill had been opposed by ...

  • News

    Valencia funds airport link

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    THEREGIONAL government of Valencia is to spend Pts8bn on extending FGV metro Line 3 from Mislata to Manises Airport. The new tunnel section is expected to open by 2005 at the latest, putting the airport within 15min of the city centre.A new department has been created within FGV to manage ...

  • News

    Iceland studies airport link

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    PLANS have been unveiled for the construction of a 50 km rail link between Reykjavik and its international airport at Keflavik. State-owned power and water utility Reykjavik Energy has commissioned a feasibility study from a consortium led by AEA Technology Rail. Other participants are Icelandic construction firm Istak and Transport ...

  • News

    Renfe orders Alaris variant

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    SPANISH National Railways announced on May 25 that its Administrative Board had approved an order for 1435mm gauge regional high-speed trains from a consortium of Alstom and CAF. Designated I-250, the 20 trains will run at 250 to 270 km/h on routes up to 250 km long, such as Madrid ...

  • News

    Privatised CN is North America’s most successful railroad

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: Before 1992 Canadian National was a bloated public corporation haemorrhaging cash. Successful privatisation in 1995 launched a major turnround, and shareholder value has since increased by 300%. Now CN has the best operating ratio of any North American railroadBYLINE: Paul M TellierPresident & Chief Executive Officer, Canadian National RailwayBY ...

  • News

    Amtrak on the Stygian shore

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    ENTHUSIASM expressed by Amtrak for high speed rail corridors across North America in the wake of the Acela Express launch is to be welcomed. On p460, Barbara Richardson suggests that there is considerable support for the concept at both federal and state level. But any amount of optimism cannot mask ...

  • News

    ARTC updates

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    MOVING TO overcome the legacy of its fragmented heritage, Australian Rail Track Corp implemented a new national code of practice for operations and safeworking on the interstate rail network on June 4. Track owners and operators from Queensland to Western Australia have agreed to implement the new code, which ...

  • News

    ScanRail sold to WS Atkins

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    CONDITIONAL contracts have been exchanged for WS Atkins to acquire ScanRail, the transport and engineering consultancy division of Danish rail infrastructure authority Banestyrelsen. The companies expect to complete the deal in July. The majority of ScanRail’s work is in Denmark, and its 300 staff are based in Århus and København. ...

  • News

    VAL Line B deal

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    ON MAY 9 Toulouse transport authority SMTC awarded a turnkey contract for construction of the city’s second VAL automated metro line. The €232m contract with Matra Transport International covers the long-planned 15·6 km north-south Line B linking Borderouge and Ramonville. With 20 stations, Line B will interchange with Line A ...

  • News

    Banks back Bosnia

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    ON JUNE 11 the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development approved a €21m loan to fund refurbish 395 route-km of pan-European Corridor Vc in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A further €40m will come from the European Investment Bank, and €4·4m in grants from Canada, Japan, Sweden and the USA.Corridor Vc forms the main ...

  • News

    Eskisehir bids shortlisted

    2001-07-01T10:00:00Z

    FINAL NEGOTIATIONS for a concession to finance and build an 8 km light rail line in the Turkish city of Eskisehir were held on June 13. The municipality had previously shortlisted two groups following the opening of technical bids on May 9. One comprises Yapi Merkezi, Insaat Sanayi and Bombardier ...