All News articles – Page 441
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SIDETRACK
Going undergroundVisitors to Moscow have always been impressed by the Metro. Glass chandeliers hanging from cavernous painted ceilings, and walls and floors surfaced in polished marble and granite gave a feeling of extraordinary grandeur - dare one say, like the interior of a royal palace. But times have most definitely ...
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Talgo speed-up
THE FEDERAL Railroad Administration and BNSF have given Amtrak West permission to raise the speed of its Talgo tilting trains through curves on the Seattle - Portland portion of the 750 km Pacific Northwest corridor. The move will cut journey times by up to 25 min, permitting introduction of a ...
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Training strategy
CONTINUING optimism about the future of rail in Britain has prompted concern that engineering expertise could be lacking in years to come. Launching a consultation paper on February 25, the Chairman of the Railway Division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Peter Lowe said that it was important ’to ...
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Via at the Styx
’CAN we close the gap between revenue and costs any more? The answer is no.’ Addressing the Standing Committee on Transport on February 26, Via Rail Canada President & CEO Terry Ivany told Canada’s MPs that by the end of this year Via will have reduced its reliance on government ...
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Paris - Marseille in 3h
TGV MéDITERRANéE forms the longest construction site in France. Joining end-on at Saint-Marcel-les-Valence with the Lyon bypass - itself an extension of the TGV Sud-Est line - it runs for 225 km south to the outskirts of Marseille. A 25 km spur will leave the principal route at a triangular ...
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AAR shake-up announced
RADICAL changes to the organisational structure of the Association of American Railroads were announced by AAR President & CEO M B Oglesby Jr on January 12. The association will be split into three separate entities to provide ’the highest levels of service’ to member railways. The three will cover technical ...
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Athens orders AC fleet
A GREEK-GERMAN consortium has been selected to supply 40 AC-motored EMUs for the Athens metro in time for the 2004 Olympic Games. Athens-Piraeus Electric Railways has awarded a DM300m contract to the consortium of Hellenic Shipyards, Adtranz and Siemens Verkehrstechnik. First deliveries are due in December 1999, with the last ...
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Safe and secure bridge access
THE Caretaker enclosure system developed by Designer Composites Technology has been designed to provide secure, permanent access to bridge undersides for inspection and maintenance. Fitted to road bridges over Railtrack routes at Bromley South and near the western entrance to the Severn Tunnel, the Caretaker enclosures remove the need for ...
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African venture moves closer
NEXT MONTH is due to see the formal launch of Trans-Africa Railway Corp, an international venture to operate rail freight services from Johannesburg to the countries of central and East Africa (RG 2.98 p82). Among TARC shareholders are Spoornet of South Africa and its joint venture concessionaire Comozar which includes ...
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Inter-Rail relaunched ... again
The International Union of Railways has relaunched the Inter-Rail ticket, familiar to students and young travellers since 1972, as a ticket for all ages. It combines the traditional under-26 offer covering all 30 participating countries with the existing 26+ ticket. After France and other southern European countries complained of receiving ...
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Ankara upgrade
TURKISH Minister of Transport & Communications Necdet Menzir announced on February 3 that tenders would be called shortly for a US$237m upgrading of TCDD’s main line between Ankara and Haydarpasa, cutting the journey time to 4h. He said this would be more immediate and cost-effective than completing the high-speed line ...
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Atlanta picks Breda cars
ON FEBRUARY 4 Italian rolling stock supplier Breda Costruzione Ferroviarie announced that it had won its largest ever international contract, to supply rolling stock for the Atlanta metro. The US$257m deal brokered by its US arm Breda Transportation Inc covers the provision of 100 new vehicles and the supply and ...
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Atlantic line awarded
COLOMBIA’s rail infrastructure authority Ferrovías finally awarded a 30-year concession at the end of January for the reconstruction and operation of its 1490 km Atlantic line linking Bogot
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Reform package authorised
MEETING on January 29, the Cabinet of the Russian Federation government headed by Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin formally approved the package of structural reforms for the Russian Railways network (RG 2.98 p83). However, with the agreement of the Minister of Railways Nikolai Aksyonenko, a timescale has only been agreed for ...
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Auto Trains get TSM brake upgrade
Rockwell’s TSM Inc subsidiary has won a contract to equip Amtrak’s Auto Train fleet with its EABS
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UP starts the long haul back
SPEAKING in Omaha on January 19, Union Pacific Chairman & CEO Dick Davidson said that operations on his 56000 route-km network were back to near normal apart from the problem-plagued line between Houston and New Orleans. Average train speed during the first week in January improved to 23·5 km/h, the ...
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Ottawa backs light rail
TRAMS could be running in the Canadian capital before the millennium, if a fast-track plan adopted in January goes ahead. The regional government’s transportation committee unanimously backed the proposals to develop an initial network by December 1999. The project has also been endorsed by 11 of the city’s 19 regional ...
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Swiss transit deal may fund base tunnels
YEARS of negotiations between Switzerland and the European Union about transit freight culminated on January 23 with heads of agreement being signed after a final 6h session. Often acrimonious discussions centred on the conflicting wishes of the Swiss to protect their environment and the EU to eliminate a bottleneck to ...
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Turkish bids go in
FINAL bids are due on March 3 for a contract to build the planned 3 km extension of the Istanbul heavy metro from Taksim to Unkapan?µ. Including a bridge across the Golden Horn, the extension is provisionally costed at 36 trillion lire.Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has prequalified nine consortia for the ...
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Exports bolster Ganz-Hunslet
SINCE being taken over by Oakdale Ltd, an international investment company based in Cyprus, Ganz-Hunslet has been striving to cope with a dearth of orders from its traditional customer, Hungarian State Railways, by revamping its product range and seeking more export business. Oakdale acquired Hungary’s principal rolling stock manufacturer from ...