All News articles – Page 454
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NY funds agreed
NEW YORK state officials unanimously approved a US$12bn improvement programme for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on July 12. NY City Transit will get $9bn, with Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road splitting the rest. The package will fund track and signal upgrades and station renovation throughout the subway network, and ...
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West Rail moves ahead
KOWLOON - CANTON Railway Corp invited expressions of interest on August 12 for detailed design work on the 30·5 km first phase of the WestRail commuter link between Kowloon and Tuen Mun. Consultants have been invited to prequalify for five packages, covering the Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan and ...
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Alameda will ease LA port bottleneck
INTRO: Spectacular growth in trade across the Pacific has generated severe congestion on the railways which serve the southern Californian ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. William D Middleton describes the Alameda Corridor - a US$2bn construction project to cure congestion and provide capacity for future growthTHE SAN PEDRO ...
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All-conquering maglev
SOME railway publicity managers could learn a thing or two from Transrapid International, the company set up to market and promote German maglev technology. If the stories published by sundry media from Sydney to Santiago are to be believed, we shall shortly see Transrapid vehicles whooshing businessmen across the Andes, ...
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One step forward, two steps back
The Amtrak funding battle resumes this month, when Congress returns from its annual summer holiday. On July 30, a conference committee drawn from the House of Representatives and Senate completed work on a tax package which included US$2·3bn in capital funding for Amtrak over the next two years. However, an ...
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Toronto turns the clock back
INTRO: On July 27 Toronto Transit Commission officially opened its Spadina Avenue light rail extension. William D Middleton was there Chinese dragon dancers, a festival atmosphere the length of lower Spadina Avenue and an estimated 32000 riders were all at hand when the Toronto Transportation Commission celebrated the opening of ...
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Spoornet steps back from the brink
AUGUST 4 did not bring the cataclysm that South African analysts had expected. Instead of Transnet’s losses for the year ending March 31 mounting to a predicted R750m from R253m last year, the state-owned transport group increased turnover and cut its operating deficit to R170m, much to the relief of ...
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Stoneblower provides ballast maintenance solution
INTRO: A five-year development programme culminated in Britain’s infrastructure company Railtrack officially receiving the first fleet-build Stoneblower from Pandrol Jackson on June 13. Maintenance contractors are eager to receive further Stoneblowers to help them meet demands for high quality track at affordable cost. Andrew Hellawell saw the first machine in ...
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Investigating the dynamic behaviour of rigid track
INTRO: Numerical simulations will augment practical trials for optimal design of future track structures. Dynamic analysis of a rigid track slab using the boundary element method has shown close correlation with measurements at test sites on the German Railway network BYLINE: Branislav Verbic, Günther Schmid, Heinz-Dieter K
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TAF to boost capacity on urban routes
INTRO: Italian Railways and Nord Milano Railway are about to put into service a fleet of 50 double-deck EMUs for the cross-city Passante route; each high-capacity TAF trainset will carry up to 848 passengers in air-conditioned comfortBYLINE: Ing Giancarlo PiroTony TrainaStrategic Business UnitRolling Stock & Traction DivisionItalian RailwaysIN ...
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Luxury lounge boosts image
THE FIRST FRUITS of German Railway’s programme to modernise its major stations were unveiled on July 23, when the premier DB Lounge was opened at Frankfurt-am-Main Hauptbahnhof. The main building has been extensively modified, with a glazed cupola flooding the public areas with natural light.At ground level is a spacious ...
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In Brief
Amtrak has formed a Customer Advisory Committee in an effort to improve its understanding of ’customers’ needs and concerns’. A maximum of 31 members will represent Amtrak’s various corridor, long-distance and short-distance services. The 14-day advance purchase qualification for discounted Eurostar Day Trip tickets from London to Calais, Lille and ...
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In Brief
n The US Surface Transportation Board has announced it will issue its decision on the break-up of Conrail between CSX and Norfolk Southern on April 14 next year, followed by a written ruling on June 8. The deadline for comment, protests and opposition evidence is October 21, followed by oral ...
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Kumamoto low-floor car enters service
AUGUST 2 saw the start of revenue operations with Japan’s first 100% low-floor tram in the city of Kumamoto. Ordered in June 1996 from Niigata Engineering and Adtranz, the two-section car was delivered for commissioning trials in April and was approved for operation by the Japanese Ministry of Transport in ...
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Last chance to catch the night train
MANY long-distance passenger trains outside Europe and Japan must by nature run overnight, with seating accommodation convertible to sleeper berths or bunks. In Europe, daytime inter-city trains predominate, with high speed services taking a steadily growing share of the business. This intense focus on high speed has left many of ...
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No reason to celebrate
SWISS Federal Railways’ sesquicentenary celebrations this summer were marred by a series of unhappy events ranging from the suicide of Personnel Director Jean-Pierre Kalin on July 29 to a clutch of failures by the high-profile Cisalpino tilting trains. Arguments over who should take responsibility for the Cisalpino problems spawned much ...
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US suppliers convene in Kansas City
NORTH AMERICAN track maintenance experts and suppliers will be congregating in Kansas City, Missouri, this month, for the Expo 97 show organised by the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association. Running from September 7 to 10, Expo 97 will be held in the H Roe Bartle Hall of the Kansas City Convention ...
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Cross-Manila conflict
ON AUGUST 1 Philippine National Railways Assistant General Manager Rafael Jiminez called for the planned Manila - Calabarzon Express (MCX) commuter rail network and the Northrail link to Clark Air Base to be integrated to offer through services between north and south Luzon via central Manila. Developer Ayala Land Inc ...
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Russians implement cost saving programme
SWEEPING proposals to reduce the cost of operating Russia’s 87469 km rail network are being implemented under an ’anti-crisis programme’ agreed at a board meeting of the Ministry of Railways in July. Recently appointed Railways Minister Nikolai E Aksyonenko said that the restructuring of Russian Railways (RG 3.97 p149) was ...