All News articles – Page 413
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News
Melbourne shortlist
NINE consortia lodged indicative bids in January for the five rail-based passenger operations being franchised by Victoria’s state government. British bus and rail operators such as Stagecoach, National Express and FirstGroup are well represented, and a shortlist of final bidders was due last month. Largest of the operators set up ...
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NEWS
British engineering contractor John Laing Group is to acquire a controlling interest in M40 Trains, which operates the Chiltern Railways franchise linking London, Aylesbury and Birmingham. Subject to approval by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising, Laing will buy the 23% stake owned by venture capitalist 3I, and another 35% ...
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NEWS
Spanish National Railways is to invest Pts68·9bn during 1999, including Pts17bn for new and refurbished passenger rolling stock, principally for its Main Line, Suburban and Regional business units. Of the Pts26·8bn earmarked for infrastructure projects, Pts17·8 is to be spent on upgrading main lines and suburban networks.
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NEWS
China’s Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Research Institute has ordered traction equipment from Adtranz Switzerland for 10 new generation passenger locos to be built in 2000-01. The streamlined locos rated at 4·8MW will operate on the Guangzhou - Shenzhen quasi-high-speed line.Spain’s Valencia regional government has unveiled a programme costed at Pts14bn that ...
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Product News
By this summer, a Sitrail ir track-to-train CCTV system developed by Siemens Industrial Projects & Systems should be in operation on all 106 new trains supplied to London Underground’s Northern line by Alstom. Platform-mounted digital video cameras transmit pictures via radiating tube transmitting antennae mounted along the length of each ...
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Passenger PORTFOLIO
In Briefn On February 2 work began on a TGV station to serve the Futuroscope technology theme park near Poitiers; the Fr167m station should open early in 2000.n On January 1 the NS stake in train catering company Railtender was acquired by Albron. Railtender has launched an image revamp for ...
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PEOPLE
Adtranz board shuffleFollowing the conformation of Rolf Eckrodt as President & CEO of Adtranz, the following board member responsibilities have been announced (p141). Christer Badholm heads the new Mass Transit division and Jürgen Lochmann the Main Line Rail division. Joachim Gaissert, previously responsible for Manufacturing & Technology, takes responsibility for ...
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Pointers
Look for Polish State Railways to sign the formal contract with Fiat for the supply of up to 16 tilting inter-city trains. Following discussions on the proportion of local content, the final negotiations now centre on financing for the order valued at US$200m.A private consortium including Morrison Knudsen, Traylors and ...
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More TENs in prospect
IN THE VIEW of Thomas Barrett, Adviser in the Directorate for Lending Operations at the European Investment Bank, Europe’s railways have done well in loans or grants from the EIB in the last 10 years. Speaking at AiC Worldwide’s EuroRail Congress in Paris on January 26 (p141), Barrett noted that ...
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Publications
Jane’s World Railways 1998-99Edited by Ken HarrisThe 792-page 40th edition of this annual marks a major change in the format, with the introductory pages followed by the railway entries before the manufacturers’ listings. Railways are listed alphabetically by country, each with a descriptive text, sometimes supported by monochrome maps, pictures ...
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Sidetrack
Play on, play onIN A BID to brighten up some of its stations, which our correspondent describes as ’architecturally challenging’, and improve passengers’ perceptions of security, Rotterdam metro has decided to introduce live music. Rules on busking are to be eased, and itinerant musicians will be encouraged to come and ...
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Taiwan tendering starts
THIS MONTH is due to see the start of pre-construction works for the 345 km Taipei - Kaohsiung high speed line, paving the way for civil engineering to begin in earnest at the end of May. During January BOT concessionaire Taiwan High Speed Rail Consortium issued tender documents for the ...
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Frustration boils over at Intermodal 98
INTRO: Shippers vented their anger in Rotterdam at foot-dragging by state railways over open access, cost reductions and priority for freight. Yet Richard Hope found many convinced that Europe has the potential to match intermodal volumes hauled in North America’WE ARE experiencing a deterioration in service levels as the cost ...
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Trans Africa starts open access
REGULAR rail freight services between South Africa and Uganda were launched in mid-December by Tanzania-based Trans Africa Railway Corp. Running from Gauteng province to Kampala, the service is expected to handle 80000 tonnes in the first year. End-to-end time by rail and train ferry across Lake Victoria is 14 days, ...
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Talgo accord
A DUAL-VOLTAGE gauge-convertible tilting trainset is to be developed by Adtranz and Talgo under an agreement signed on December 21. The President of Patentes Talgo signed the deal with Adtranz Executive Vice-President Heinz Cronimund within the framework of the two companies’ high speed trainset co-operation agreement reached in April 1998 ...
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Setting the freight agenda
INTRO: Charged with breaking even in 2000, Fret SNCF is looking to master costs and boost receipts whilst increasing capacity and improving reliability. Freight Director Armand Toubol outlined his strategy to Robert PrestonOver the last three years SNCF freight traffic has been on an upward trend, rising from 46·5bn tonne-km ...
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Votes clear the way ahead
BYLINE: Moritz LeuenbergerSwiss Federal Minister for Environment, Transport, Energy & CommunicationsHISTORIC national referendums in September and November 1998 have set the direction which rail infrastructure development will take in the next century. Over the next two decades SFr30·5bn will be spent on major rail projects. This puts the proportion invested ...
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Star airlines offer HK package
Passengers using airlines forming part of the Star Alliance are now able to have travel on MTR Corp’s Airport Express included in their ticketing package. Participating airlines are Air New Zealand, Ansett Australia, Thai Airways, Air Canada, SAS, United, Varig, and Lufthansa. If air travellers choose to include the Hong ...
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Arco, Alaris and Talgo
THIS MONTH sees Spanish National Railways launch another bid in the European speed stakes for services on conventional lines. On February 16 Renfe puts its 10-strong fleet of Alstom-Fiat Pendolino trains into service on the Madrid - Valencia inter-city run, where they will be branded as Alaris. Timed to cover ...
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Alstom wins in Fortaleza
CONSTRUCTION of the long-planned metro network in the northern Brazilian city of Fortaleza is set to get under way at last, following the transfer of the local railway construction and operating company Metrofor from CBTU to the Cear