All News articles – Page 43
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NewsSigns of fatigue
NETHERLANDS: Infrastructure manager ProRail is trialling sensors using third-generation Gotcha technology to monitor freight train wheelsets. The QuoVadisII project measures wheel profiles and axle-loads as trains pass over the sensors. An abnormal weight distribution over the wheelset could indicate a defect in the wheel, axle or bearings. The operator of ...
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News€4bn suburban spend in Valencia
SPAIN: The Ministry of Development and the Valencia regional government have unveiled a 2010-20 suburban infrastructure investment plan to which they are to contribute €34bn and €555m respectively. Major projects include a €750m cross-city link in Valencia running 6 km from the existing Nord terminus to join the route ...
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NewsLiberian ore line to spur Guinea revival
AFRICA: A revival of passenger and general freight services on the 662 km Chemins de fer de Guinée line is among commitments the BSG Resources (Guinea) Ltd mining joint venture has made in return for permission from the governments of Guinea and Liberia to build a new iron ore export ...
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NewsBoring begins beneath Madrid
SPAIN: Development Minister José Blanco joined ADIF President Antonio González on April 24 to mark the start of tunnelling on the 7·3 km route for high speed services between Atocha and Chamartín stations in Madrid. The €206m link will comprise 6835 m of 10·4 m diameter tunnel, being excavated ...
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NewsRail attracts investors
CHINA: Investors including Bank of China signed an agreement on May 6 to establish Jinyulu Railway Channel Co, which will develop a 99·8bn yuan freight line running 1260 km from coal mines at Xingxian in Shanxi province, through Henan to the Yellow Sea port of Rizhao. Bank of China ...
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NewsČD Cargo back in the black
CZECH REPUBLICH: Reporting results for the four months of 2010, national rail freight operator ČD Cargo announced that its earnings were once again positive, following the losses in 2009 as a result of the economic recession. ČD Cargo achieved EBITDA of KC377m and earnings before tax of KC1m for the ...
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NewsMegaswing for modal shift
SWEDEN: Kockums Industrier is targeting the intermodal freight market by developing a pocket wagon to carry road semitrailers. The Swedish firm believes its Megaswing wagon holds significant potential in a segment where only 3% of semitrailers in the European freight market can be carried by rail. The wagon should ...
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NewsDesiro EMUs to be built in Russia
RUSSIA: On May 27 Siemens, Aeroexpress and RZD signed a memorandum of understanding for the formation of a three -way joint venture to build and maintain Desiro regional electric multiple-units with asynchronous drives for the Russian market. Series production of the Desiro RUS will begin in 2014, with the proportion ...
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NewsRZD orders 221 locomotives from Siemens-Sinara JV
RUSSIA: Russian Railways and Ural Locomotives signed an order for 221 2ES10 twin-section electric locomotives at the 1520 Strategic Partnership conference in Sochi on May 27. A prototype will be rolled out in 2010 with deliveries beginning in 2011. The value of the contract was not disclosed. The Ural Locomotives ...
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NewsCAF unveils Oaris high speed train concept
SPAIN: A full-size mock-up of the Oaris high speed train concept being developed by CAF was unveiled at the International Rail Forum exhibition in Valencia on May 25. The company has been leading one of the work streams in the CENIT programme to develop trains for operation at over 300 ...
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NewsMiners make cash bid for Queensland rail infrastructure
AUSTRALIA: The Queensland Coal Industry Rail Group of 13 mining companies has submitted an unsolicited cash offer to buy QR's Central Queensland rail network from the state government, which is intending to sell up to 75% of QR National as a vertically -integrated railway through an IPO in the last ...
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NewsQR hauls first coal from Moolarben mine
AUSTRALIA: On May 27 QR ran the first of an estimated 17 000 trains it will operate from Felix Resources' new Moolarben coal mine to the Port of Newcastle during an 11½ year haulage contract worth A$870m. QRNational Coal is spending A$190m on locomotives and wagons to support the ...
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NewsDen Haag Centraal station rebuild gets underway
NETHERLANDS: Work has begun to rebuild the 1970s Den Haag Centraal station as 'a spacious, bright and comfortable' multi -modal public transport interchange. Construction was formally launched on May 25 when Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings, ProRail Projects Director Patrick Buck, city councillor Marnix Norder and Gert Jan Vos of contractor ...
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NewsKTMB to leave central Singapore
SINGAPORE: The Prime Ministers of Singapore and Malaysia announced an agreement on May 24 for Malaysian national railway KTMB to vacate its Tanjong Pagar terminus in Singapore by July 1 2011. Trains from Malaysia will instead terminate at Woodlands, the Singapore end of the cross-border causeway, with a bus ...
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NewsDanish timetables integrated with Google Maps
DENMARK: Travellers in Denmark can now use the Google Maps website to plan multi-modal public transport trips. Users type an address or click on the start and end points of their journey, and Google Transit provides details of train and bus times and connections along with a map of the ...
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NewsHard as rails
USA: BNSF has taken delivery of JFE Steel's first shipment of 600 tonnes of Super Pearlite Type 3 rail from Japan. In -service tests which were carried out for more than a year in Nebraska and Idaho predict that SP3 will offer a 10% longer life than previous head hardened ...
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NewsNTV readies for Italo high speed launch
ITALY: Open access high speed operator NTV confirmed on May 25 that it is on track to launch commercial services in September 2011, having reached agreement with infrastructure manager RFI for paths linking 12 stations in nine principal cities. NTV Chairman Luca di Montezemolo announced that the first of its ...
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NewsTrains talk to avoid collisions
GERMANY: Trials are being undertaken at the Wegberg-Wildenrath test centre near Düsseldorf with a collision avoidance technique based on short-distance train-to-train transmission. The trials are being led by aerospace research agency Deutches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, which is providing researchers from its institutes for Transportation Systems, Communications & Navigation ...
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NewsMonitoring responses
USA: Alion Science & Technology has supplied a Cab Technology Integration Laboratory to the US Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Valued at $16m, the full-size simulator recreates a typical locomotive cab, enabling crew behaviour to be monitored by video, audio and eye-tracking technology. ...
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NewsTransport orders down at Alstom
ALSTOM: ‘Fiscal year 2009-10 was marked by a major contraction in demand for power generation due to the strong economic downturn, whilst the transportation market resisted better, supported by the focus on rail projects in government budgets’, said Alstom Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Patrick Kron on May 4 as ...