All News articles – Page 449
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News
JR companies may have to bear more JNR debts
DESPITE a long and sometimes acrimonious campaign, it would seem that the JR companies may lose their battle with the government which wants them to assume more of the former Japanese National Railways’ debt, currently amounting to no less than
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Work begins on St Petersburg terminal
ON November 17 the joint venture of Taylor Woodrow International Ltd and Skanska Construction Co Ltd began work on the US$250m St Petersburg rail terminal development for High Speed Railways Russian Shareholding Company (RAO VSM). GIBB Ltd is supervising the construction project under a US$7.5m contract from RAO VSM, which ...
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Hannover - Berlin close to completion
ALTHOUGH work is forging ahead along almost all the 247 km alignment of the Hannover - Berlin high speed line, contractors face tight deadlines to finish in time for the already revised opening date of October this year. Nearly all the route in former East Germany comprises new alignment laid ...
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Bids recalled
LAST MONTH a fresh municipal administration was due to take office in Mexico City under the reformist mayor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas. One of the first tasks facing Cardenas was to take a decision on the stalled contract for 252 new cars for Line B of the metro.Trouble erupted last July, when ...
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Export deals help to fill order books
ITALIAN builder Fiat Ferroviaria has added a two-car diesel trainset to its family of tilting Pendolino trains. Built speculatively at Fiat’s own cost, the train began trials in November 3, initially on the line between Savigliano, site of the Fiat factory, and Cuneo.Two years ago Italian State Railways planned to ...
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Old Colony plugs Boston’s commuting gap
INTRO: Richard Hope reports on the reopening of a three-line network partially abandoned since 1959 which forms one of the biggest current commuter rail projects around US cities NOVEMBER 30 saw all day service introduced on 106route-km of the former Old Colony Railroad to the southeast of Boston after a ...
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In Brief
Spanish infrastructure authority GIF awarded contracts totalling Pts 3.3bn in December for civil works on 148 km of the Madrid - Barcelona AVE line between Chiloeches and Calatayud.Membership of the International Union of Railways has increased with the admission of European infrastructure authorities Jerbaneverket, Banestyrelsen, RFF, Refer and GIF. Amtrak, ...
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Kars - Tbilisi tenders called
INTERNATIONAL BIDS for construction of a 287 km rail link between Turkey and Georgia are due on February 19, paving the way for a start of work on the three-year project later this year. The Georgian Railway Department and Turkish State Railways issued matching calls for tenders on November 17, ...
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Car revamp as CTA goes DOO
CHICAGO Transit Authority announced on December 10 that it had awarded a $169m contract to GEC Alsthom Transportation Inc of New York for mid-life refurbishment of 284 metro cars, with options covering a further 314 vehicles. The 2600 series cars were supplied by Budd between 1981 and 1987, and are ...
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JR East tests smart cards
AT the end of November JR East was due to complete the second phase of a contactless smart card trial which began in May, involving 600 employees using season tickets with stored fare capability. Like the first phase conducted between April and May with 300 employees holding season tickets, the ...
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Saarbahn cars in the city streets
EUROPE’S second light rail operation sharing tracks with a main line railway was formally opened on October 24, in the German city of Saarbrücken. Following the lead set in nearby Karlsruhe, which launched dual-mode through working in 1992, Saarbrücken has plans for an extensive network of routes that will allow ...
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Catering merged
FROM January 1 Wagons-Lits begins a new contract covering the majority of on-train catering for French National Railways. Under the terms of an arrangement agreed last year, Wagons-Lits with its 500 staff takes over the activities of Servair which employed 1300 on SNCF catering.Under previous contracts, train catering cost SNCF ...
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Time to challenge rules and standards
’THE DANGER of standards for absolutely every eventuality is fatigue, and complacency that we have safety through the most complete set of procedures imaginable. Paper safety is dangerous and no substitute for effective leadership.’ This is heresy in an industry which has traditionally relied on rules rather than personal judgement ...
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Vanguard clamps urban rail noise
LONDON UNDERGROUND was to start trials in mid-December with an experimental low-stiffness track support developed by Pandrol Rail Fastenings Ltd and Ortec GmbH of Germany. The Vanguard fastening is designed to reduce noise and vibration from urban railways.Unveiled by Pandrol at the Railtex exhibition in London on November 11-13, Vanguard ...
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Clinton signs, Downs resigns
PRESIDENT Bill Clinton signed the Amtrak Reform & Accountability Act on December 2, giving America’s inter-city passenger railway a long-sought degree of financial stability. Amtrak President, Chairman & Chief Executive Thomas Downs said it would ’give Amtrak the ability to plan for the future. With these funds and adequate annual ...
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Ore line concession
AUSTRALIAN civil engineering group Leighton Holdings has been selected as preferred concessionaire to build and operate a 350 km iron ore railway in the mid-west region of Western Australia, together with an ore mine and concentrate beneficiation plant. They will serve the Okajee steel mill complex to be built at ...
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Soil conditioning on the move
In conjunction with Alpine-Westfalia, the Environmental Division of Leonhard Weiss GmbH has developed WARAN, a transportable soil conditioning plant for the reconditioning and consolidation of subgrade. Designed to replace traditional methods such as the construction of sheet pile retaining walls, the 80 tonne WARAN plant is 20.6m long and 4.5m ...
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Wissmann confirms upgrading finance
GERMAN Transport Minister Matthias Wissmann announced on November 17 that his government would provide DM9bn out of the DM11bn total needed to carry out nine upgrading and new line construction projects. Describing the move as an ’investment offensive’, he said that formal agreements had been signed with German Railway.Most expensive ...
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Frontier controls
AUTOMATED customs clearance of goods entering Canada from the USA by rail is expected to reduce delivery times by an average of 48h. Railway Association of Canada announced on November 24 that agreement had been reached with the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers and Revenue Canada-Customs for detailed shipment information ...
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Tendered operation cuts costs
ON JANUARY 1 Stockholm’s narrow-gauge commuter services transfer to private-sector management. Bus operator Linjebuss and Adtranz will run the three 891mm gauge routes for five years under contract to AB Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. Over the past five years, SL has contracted out operation of tram, bus and metro routes in a ...