All News articles – Page 450
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News
QR enters the cruise train market
INTRO: Queensland Railways will launch the Great South Pacific Express in December 1998. Murray Hughes previews a unique addition to the world’s luxury cruise trainsDELEGATES to the AusRail 97 event in Melbourne were treated to a preliminary viewing of Queensland Railways’ spectacularly elegant Great South Pacific Express. Owned and operated ...
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RATP to handle Cup traffic
PARIS Transport Authority is preparing to handle huge crowds of football supporters attending the soccer World Cup in June. Travel to the specially built Stade de France in the city’s northern suburbs will only be possible by public transport, as the 5000 car parking spaces under the stadium will be ...
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Letters to the editor
Eurostar not ignored by NS Sir - We read with interest your Sidetrack item 'Eurostar ignored' (RG 11.97 p736). If your correspondent had taken the trouble to enquire more closely, he would have discovered that NS has been actively promoting Eurostar traffic via Brussels since day one. We ...
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Emergency extended
DESPITE strong arguments by Union Pacific Chairman Dick Davidson, the Surface Transportation Board on December 4 issued an instruction for a 100-day extension of its emergency order requiring UP to co-operate with competing railways to clear the backlog of shipments that has choked much of its western network. UP and ...
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Underfloor engines
GERMAN RAILWAY has ordered 100 QSK19-R underfloor horizontal engines rated at 750hp from Cummins Engine Co, for a batch of VT612 DMUs being built this year by Adtranz. The 19litre QSK19-9 is the biggest in a range of three new Cummins railcar engines designed to run at 2100 rev/min.AKN Eisenbahn ...
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Porto picks the Eurotram
THE NORMETRO consortium of Adtranz and Soares da Costa has been selected to build and equip the light metro network in the Portuguese city of Porto. Metro de Porto SA announced the winning bidder for the Ecu840m package on November 27, almost exactly a year after shortlisting two preferred bidders.The ...
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Traincatcher extraordinary
ONE of Railway Gazette International’s regular authors - compiler of our biennial review of World Train Speeds, Dr Colin Taylor - knows a lot about timetables. That is just as well.In April, Dr Taylor and his nephew Ross begin a rail journey of 17611 km from Vila Real in Portugal ...
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Tunnel fans
GEC (New Zealand) Ltd has supplied two sets of two-stage JM Aerofoil fans, sound attenuators and backdraft dampers for Tranz Rail’s 8.5 km Otira tunnel, allowing the elimination of electric working across Arthur’s Pass. Extracting exhaust fumes at a rate of 80m3/sec, the sets run in parallel to flush out ...
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Finance
Angola: Luanda Railway is seeking $15m for track repairs and purchase of second-hand locos from Spoornet as part of a $41m rehabilitation plan.Canada: On November 14 CN agreed terms for US$130m of pass through certificates for the finance of 115 new high-horsepower locomotives.Great Britain: European Investment Bank has agreed a ...
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Freight freeway opens this month
JANUARY 12 sees the inauguration of the first Trans-European Rail Freight Freeway, linking Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Italy. French National Railways announced on November 26 that the four railways had signed the accord creating the TERFF conforming to European Commission rules (RG 12.97 p829).Linking Antwerpen, Bettembourg, Lyon and the Calabrian ...
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Group standard tampers
Plasser & Theurer has developed the Unimat 08-RT series of tampers to meet Railtrack Group Standard GM/RT 2400, adopted in 1996 for new on-track machines in the British market. The basic models incorporate features previously offered as optional extras, including ALC computerised guidance, soundproofed and heated cabs linked by intercom, ...
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Seventh heaven as the Trolley keeps growing
Shopping centres and a sports stadium offer major traffic potential along the latest extension of San Diego’s light rail network, which continues the city’s successful 16-year policy of incremental expansion. Julian Wolinsky joined the opening celebrations
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Industry
Australia: Goninan has formed a strategic alliance with Hunter Institute of Technology and the University of Newcastle, NSW, to provide training, education and research expertise to Asia.Europe: Bombardier Transportation has decided to drop the Bombardier Eurorail name for its European operations. The Brussels office will remain, but ANF, Prorail, BWS, ...
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Why not sell off the infrastructure as well?
SINCE 1992, there has been an explosion in rolling stock leasing outside the US, where it has been commonplace for years (RG 1.97 p5). The new deals are primarily in Europe, but east Asia including Japan was starting to open up before financial crises hit the region last autumn.Now an ...
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Puget Sound picks integrated rail option
INTRO: A 55 km commuter rail line is due to start running between Seattle and Tacoma next year. This is the first stage in an ambitious 10-year programme to develop commuter and light rail routes throughout the Puget Sound regionBYLINE: William D Middleton’AMONG THE major US urban areas without a ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Afghanistan: The World Bank is to fund a US$1.5m feasibility study into an 800 km line from Chaman in Pakistan to Kushka in Tadzhikistan, costed at US$600m.Australia: National Rail Corp began providing traction for The Ghan, Indian Pacific and Overland on November 1, under contract to Great Southern Railway. Canada: ...
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INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: Spanish National Railways has put into service on its Madrid - Soria line two diesel railcars converted from the driving cars of a Class 593 ’Camel’ three-car DMUCAPTION: Essex MEP Richard Howitt inaugurated the International Rail Freight Terminal at the Port of Tilbury on November 24. The four-track yard ...
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Régions invest
TRACK RENEWAL work on the night of December 10 marked the start of a Fr293m upgrading of French National Railways’ 34 km Strasbourg - Haguenau route. Alsace région is meeting 57.5% of the cost, and Bas-Rhin département 17%. Speeds will be raised to 160 km/h, and a third track will ...
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Work starts on Taipei - Kaohsiung
ON DECEMBER 10 the Taiwan High Speed Railway Consortium announced that a formal groundbreaking ceremony for the Taipei - Kaohsiung high speed line would be held on December 30 at Linkhou, about 30 km west of Taipei. The move followed completion of negotiations between the Siemens - GEC Alsthom ...
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Nanning - Kunming line opens
CHINESE Railways held ceremonies at Xingyi in Guizhou province on December 2 to mark the opening of its electrified line between Nanning and Kunming. Construction of the 898 km trunk line began in 1991, and tracklaying was completed in March (RG 5.97 p271). Traffic on the corridor is initially estimated ...