All News articles – Page 363
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News
Madrid control centre opens
ON JULY 25, the Vice-President and Minister of Public Works for the Madrid regional government Luis Eduardo Cortes formally inaugurated a new control centre for the city’s metro network at Alto de Arenal. Built at a cost of Pts2·5bn, the centre brings together the control of train services, stations, power ...
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Chinese Railways targets commuters
WHERE once the bicycle reined supreme, private cars and other motorised vehicles are seriously choking the streets of China’s cities. Recognition of the attendant problems of congestion, pollution and poor quality of life has prompted renewed government interest in urban railways, and tentative plans are being drawn up for a ...
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Lirex offers taste of future commuting
Starting point for development of the experimental Lirex train were the wide-bodied København suburban trains developed in the late 1980s and 1990s by Linke-Hofmann-Busch in Salzgitter, now part of the Alstom group (RG 1.96 p19). Featuring similar short bodies with 2+3 seating and self-steering Kerf bogies with two independent wheels, ...
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HSL Zuid contracts signed
ON JULY 16 the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Public Works & Water Management signed definitive contracts with five consortia for construction of the substructure for HSL Zuid from Amsterdam to the Belgian border. The five groups include Ballast Nedam, Boskalis, HBG, Heijmans, NBM-Amstelland, Van Oord ACZ, Strukton, Dura Vermeer, Volker ...
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TTCI leads research to cut premature wheel scrapping
INTRO: The AAR ruled in 1989 that new wheels must be heat-treated, but the extra wear life anticipated has been compromised by a sharp rise in spall or shelling defects. A research effort will address the problemBYLINE: Daniel H StoneChief MetallurgistTransportation Technology Center IncAROUND A MILLION of the 10 million ...
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Diesel ICE debut delayed
passengers on Germany’s non-electrified inter-city routes must wait until next year for the chance to enjoy the comfort of ICE services. The launch of DB’s diesel-powered ICE-TD has now been postponed twice, and the trains will not carry fare-paying passengers on a regular basis until June 2001 on services ...
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Swazis turn to expansion
INTRO: Swaziland Railways has launched a network-wide upgrading programme, and with private investors is planning a direct link to Johannesburg. James Hall discussed developments with CEO Gideon MahlalelaAT THE BEGINNING of this year, Swaziland Railways was looking forward to starting the first major rehabilitation of its infrastructure since the country’s ...
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Toronto extends
CEREMONIES were held in Toronto on July 21 to mark the extension of the Harbourfront light rail line 509, which now provides a direct link from Union Station to Exhibition Place via Queens Quay. Construction of an 850m connection along Queens Quay between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street has allowed ...
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Finance
FinanceArmenia: US$15·2m has become available for repairs to track and rolling stock as a result of a $40m transport credit awarded to the government in July by the World Bank.Belgium: A further loan worth 112·5m euros towards the construction of high speed routes from Brussels to Antwerpen and Liège has ...
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First franchise renegotiated
SSRA CHAIRMAN Sir Alastair Morton announced on August 10 the first fruits of the programme to renegotiate Britain’s passenger franchises. Heads of terms have been agreed with incumbent M40 Trains as preferred operator of Chiltern Railways for up to 20 years in return for a £370m investment programme that the ...
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Private freight
MID-JULY saw the start of open-access freight services on Romania’s national rail network. Rail engineering and rolling stock maintenance company Sefer SA has started hauling petroleum products from Brazi, southeast of Ploiesti, to Chitila, northeast of Bucuresti. The 30-wagon train carries 2500 tonnes, but capacity will be increased to 3200 ...
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NewsMixed gauge link study
NEXT MONTH should see the completion of an initial study for creating a north-south corridor between Poland and Romania via Ukraine. The United Nations' Trans-European Rail Office has appointed Gibb Transportation Consulting to look at the feasibility of upgrading a 600 km route from Tarnow to Oradea to speed transit ...
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Overnight trains to go private
PLANS are being drawn up for a private company to take over operation of German Railway’s overnight service linking Berlin with Malm
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Singapore metro goes public
TRADING in Singapore MRT Corp shares began on July 26, making it the world’s first modern metro operator to be publicly listed. When the offer closed on July 25 there were 110671 applications amounting to 1·08 billion shares for the 209·5 million shares available to the public. The share price ...
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Strasbourg grows
THIS MONTH sees the opening of two more light rail lines in Strasbourg, doubling the length of the 12·6 km network. Line B will run from Elsau in the southwest to Hoenheim Nord, intersecting with Line A at Homme de Fer. Line C will share tracks from Elsau to République ...
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Hoist with their own petard
ONCE AGAIN, Argentine politicians have scored an own goal in their attempts to deal with the reletting of operating concessions on the suburban railways serving Buenos Aires. The issue of being allowed to charge higher fares to pay for badly-needed investment lies at the core of the problem as the ...
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Lilyfield inaugurated
New South Wales Premier Bob Carr opened the 3·1 km Sydney light rail extension on August 13, serving stations at Glebe, Jubilee Park (above), Rozelle and Lilyfield;. Following a former SRA NSW freight railway alignment, the extension cost A$20m to build. NSW Transport Minister Carl Scully confirmed at the opening ...
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Industry News
France: Alstom Transport has reported turnover of 874m euros for the first quarter to June 30, down from 1·02bn euros in the first quarter of 1999-2000. Orders were however up from 1·02bn euros to 1·14bn euros.Sema Group has formed a strategic global alliance with SAP to provide software solutions for ...
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Polymeric insulator
AT THE REQUEST of infrastructure maintenance contractor GTRM, a 25 kV polymeric post insulator has been developed specifically for use in upgrading catenary for 200 and 225 km/h operation on Britain’s West Coast main line. Once the polymeric insulator has been approved by Railtrack, it will be used to replace ...