All News articles – Page 435
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News
PUBLICATIONS
TGV Handbookby Brian PerrenThis second edition of a work first published in 1993 is in effect a new publication, such has been the progress and diversification of TGV derivatives. Although new line construction has slowed, there is extensive text supported by good quality colour photographs covering a plethora of subjects. ...
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Zürich reconstruction starts
ON APRIL 27 Swiss Federal Railways announced details of a seven-year programme to reconstruct the approaches and environs of Zürich Hauptbahnhof under the Bahn 2000 programme. Describing Züich as the ’Heart of Bahn 2000’, SBB Director-General, Infrastructure, Pierre-Alain Urech said the rail hub had a critical role to play in ...
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Sidetrack
INTRO: Convergence achievedWHILE Europeans wrestle with impending monetary union, the railway supply industry appears to have already met convergence criteria. GEC Alsthom - soon to become just ’Alstom’ - and Siemens are co-operating on the Eurotrain project (p411). However, Dieter suggests a way that the gauge-changing Talgo might be incorporated ...
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Transpatagónico study
A DECREE published by the Argentinian government on March 25 gave the Canarail consultancy 90 days to complete a feasibility study for the ambitious Transpatagónico railway from Choele Choel and San Antonio del Este to Punta Loyola, with a ferry link to Tierra del Fuego. The government would then have ...
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VP185 family grows
GEC Alsthom Paxman Diesels has launched an 18-cylinder version of its successful VP185 engine (RG 3.95 p157). Rated at 3100 kWb at 1800rev/min for rail traction applications, the 18VP185 is 2158mm high, 3763mm long and 1450mm wide, and weighs 10·1 tonnes.Intended to combine high output with compact size and low ...
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SBB to adopt ETCS Level 2
SWISS FEDERAL Railways has awarded the first contract for transmission-based signalling equipment to the standards set out in the European Rail Traffic Management System. Under a contract awarded to Adtranz Signal at the beginning of April, ECTS equipment is to be installed on 32 km of the Olten - Luzern ...
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MF2000 proposals go in
APRIL 15 was the deadline for tenders to supply up to 1400 steel-wheeled metro cars to Paris Transport Authority, under an invitation to bid published in the Official Journal of the European Community on February 12. The MF2000 project covers a fleet of five-car trainsets to replace the existing MF67 ...
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Strasbourg hosts Rail 21
INTRO: The Fifth International Railway Congress organised by the Union of European Railway Engineer Associations and the French Railways Engineers & Executives Association is taking place at the Palais de la Musique et des Congrès in Strasbourg from May 19 to 22Rail 21 is to examine innovation, technology and perspectives ...
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Line 7 extended
MARCH 13 saw the inauguration of services on a 1·2 km extension of Madrid Metro Line 7 from Avenida de América to Gregorio Marañón, built at a cost of Pts3·7bn. The new section forms the first part of a 9·5 km extension west across the city centre and then northwest ...
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Master Plan will add 900 km to IR network
ISRAEL RAILWAYS, encouraged by the public’s enthusiastic response to a steady programme of rolling stock modernisation and service expansion, has drawn up a Master Plan that could see nearly 900 km of new lines built by 2020 at a total cost of around US$3·7bn. The present 610 route-km network is ...
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Shippers seek open access
’We need to respond. We can’t wait any longer. We have to act now.’ Linda Morgan, who chairs the US Surface Transportation Board, was speaking on April 3 at the end of a two-day public hearing to deal with shippers’ complaints about poor service and high charges. In the light ...
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Transalpine freight accord signed
ON MARCH 30 Swiss Federal Railways signed an agreement with Italian State Railways at the Italian embassy in Bern, marking the formation of a joint venture rail freight company. Under the terms of an accord reached last August (RG 9.97 p572) the two operators will merge their two freight operations ...
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Adtranz launches off-the-shelf strategy
INTRO: Joachim Gaissert, Executive Vice President of Adtranz, discusses with Murray Hughes the implications of his company’s move to a sales and production policy based on ’modular product platforms’COMING from the car and trucking giant Mercedes-Benz, Joachim Gaissert ’did not use trains’. He does now, and is as critical as ...
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Connex consolidates after performance wobbles
INTRO: Antoine Hurel, Chief Executive of Connex Rail, part of the French-owned CGEA group, briefed Murray Hughes on progress with the group’s two British franchisesMANAGING two large franchises that are mainly dependent on London commuting was always going to be a challenge. Connex Rail Chief Executive Antoine Hurel looks back ...
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Airport line ticketing
AUTOMATIC ticket checking equipment is shortly to be installed at stations on Norway’s Gardermobanen route to Oslo airport, due to open in October. Supplied by Dassault Automatismes et Telecommunications in partnership with ICL, the equipment is similar to that previously installed at Eurostar stations with a magnetic stripe reader for ...
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Investment surge tackles the backlog
INTRO: The railway laboratory is four years old. In the time since Railtrack was set up, Britain’s railway network has been split up, sold off, and in some cases recombined. The hiatus in investment which threatened to kill the indigenous supply industry has given way to a flood of orders ...
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Plasser to roll-out multi-purpose ballast machine
Shortly to roll out of one of Plasser & Theurer’s Linz factories is the first AFKM automatic track control unit. Designed for use behind a ballast train, it integrates ballast ploughs, a ballast storage hopper and a dynamic stabiliser in a single machine. Plasser estimates that the AFKM will achieve ...
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Freeways expose the freight barriers
INTRO: Although Terffs exist on paper and trains have operated since January, genuine customers bringing new business to rail are in short supply. Richard Hope explains what is going on and where it might all be leadingTRANSPORT Commissioner Neil Kinnock has made the transfer of freight from road to rail ...
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Berlin interchange rebuilt as Stadtbahn reopens
FROM May 24 German Railway reinstates full services over the 9 km Berlin Stadtbahn between Zoo and Hauptbahnhof, which from the same day reverts to its former name of Ostbahnhof. All four tracks, reconstructed using a ballastless design (right), will return to service, with main line and S-Bahn trains each ...