All Railway Gazette International articles in November 2000 – Page 2
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News
Making the Virgin vision happen
The number of passengers using Virgin Trains' services has soared by 40% in three years, giving the company a head start in the race to meet ambitious commercial targets agreed with government. To succeed, Virgin Trains Chief Executive Chris Green must deliver top-of-the-range inter-city services with high speed tilting trains ...
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GIF spending up
SPANISH high speed construction authority GIF is to invest Pts393·4bn next year, a 65% increase on 2000. At Pts150bn, the contribution from central government is up by 50%; the European Union will be providing Pts135bn.The route from Madrid to Barcelona and the French border will receive Pts298·3bn in 2001, with ...
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Franchises still pulling
BEFORE the soul-searching over the future structure of Britain’s railways began after the Hatfield derailment (p689), the process of firming up the existing arrangements was chuntering along steadily. On October 2 the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority unveiled the organisation it will assume once it has shed its shadow next January ...
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Fortunes revive at SNCF
FREIGHT TRAFFIC on French National Railways has begun to grow again, with this year’s target of 53·8 billion tonne-km now looking attainable following 9% growth in the first half year compared with 1999. The positive trend continued through the summer, and Freight Director Francis Rol-Tanguy is particularly pleased that intermodal ...
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Flyers go free
PASSENGERS travelling with KLM and several partner airlines can now travel to and from Amsterdam Schiphol airport by train free of charge, following conclusion of a contract between KLM and Netherlands Railways. The service applies only to airline tickets issued in the Netherlands, which are valid for rail travel on ...
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Pilot project to fly next year
GERMAN Railway and national airline Lufthansa plan to step up their co-operation next March by launching rail services to replace loss-making short-distance flights between Stuttgart and Frankfurt.Check-in will take place at Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof up to 30min before departure of Frankfurt-bound ICE services. Passengers will be able to check their luggage ...
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Finance
China: The Japanese government has announced an aid package that includes ´17bn largely earmarked for rail projects.Europe: Eurotunnel is supporting a tender launched by Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Merrill Lynch on October 12, whereby Eurotunnel junior debt trading on the secondary market will be purchased with funds from an issue ...
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News
FGV goes underground
VALENCIA metro operator FGV and the region’s department of public works reached agreement in October to put two more sections of the city’s metro and light rail network underground.The bigger project covers the reconstruction of a section of the existing north-south Line 1 through the town of Torrent, capital of ...
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News
Uzani plans further expansion
CEREMONIES were held in Beer Sheva on September 26 to mark the inauguration of Israel Railways’ new city centre station. With traffic on the Beer Sheva line up by 500% this year, IR is stepping up the daily service from 18 to 28 trains each way, and plans a further ...
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Island enterprise
REGIONAL and local lines are all too often dismissed by the management of large national railways as hopelessly uneconomic. And indeed, when they are left to rot, neglected but still overstaffed, they often are. But turn them over to local management, add simple, modern signalling and up-to-date rolling stock, and ...
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News
Trans-Asia plan endorsed
MEETING IN Brunei at the end of September, the Transport Ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations agreed to push ahead with the 5500 km Trans-Asian rail link from Singapore to Kunming. A formal recommendation is to be put to the Asean heads-of-government summit in Singapore this month ...
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News
Embedded tracks
AN URBAN version of the established Rheda slab track has been developed by Pfleiderer AG and Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe. Rheda-Berlin City uses twin-block sleepers with a reinforcing mesh for gauging rather than a conventional steel bar. Laid on ballast or a frost-proof layer at either 750 or 1500mm intervals, the sleepers ...
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Driving force in the front line
INTRO: Murray Hughes joined Chris Green in the cab of a West Coast express for a first-hand look at the task aheadWHEN Chris Green was appointed to the top job at Virgin Trains early last year, he inherited a high-profile business that appeared to be heading rapidly downhill. But few ...
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Modular DMUs roll while EMUs struggle
INTRO: Roger Ford reviews progress with the renewal of Britain’s rolling stock fleetWHEN THE FRANCHISING of British passenger Train Operating Companies began in 1995-96, several successful bids included commitments to new trains with optimistically short delivery times. As a result, several operators have been penalised for late deliveries.During the ...
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News
Dieter
CAPTION: To celebrate Britain’s National Poetry Day on October 5, and the local Norfolk & Norwich Festival which it sponsors, Anglia Railways engaged a team of poets to entertain passengers on its services between London, Norwich, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and Sheringham. Dieter suggests that the poets might help ...
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News
Design for image
INTERIOR design and concept styling for the Virgin Trains Pendolino fleet was undertaken by Jervis Hegarty Lossano. Key requirements were a Virgin image and a ’passenger-led’ focus whilst meeting safety, fire and crashworthiness standards. Among the innovations planned were an on-board shop replacing the traditional buffet for standard class passengers, ...
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Lirex prototype turns train design upside down
INTRO: Unveiled at InnoTrans, the Lightweight Regional Express has traction modules on the roof, flywheel energy storage and single-axle bogies. Passengers will give their verdict in 2002MANY VISITORS to the InnoTrans event in Berlin made a beeline for what appeared to be a giant scarlet caterpillar crouching between the main ...
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Monitoring wheel surface defects ensures a quieter ride
INTRO: Use of automatic wheel monitoring on DSB’s S-bane network in København has reduced wheelset damage through the prompt detection of surface defects. Rolling stock maintenance costs have fallen, as well as the levels of noise and vibration generated by train operationsBYLINE: Ulrik Danneskiold-Samsøe and Ove Ramkow-PedersenØDS-Caltronic A/SIN JANUARY 2000, ...
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Swiss dig deep
ON OCTOBER 3 Swiss Federal Railways allocated SFr145m to fund design and preparatory works for a second underground station beneath Zürich Hbf. The existing S-Bahn through platforms under Museumstrasse on the east of the station are approaching capacity, and the intention is to build a second four-track through station to ...
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STB debates merger strategy
THE FUTURE SHAPE of North American railroading was signalled on October 3, when the US Surface Transportation Board issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on proposed mergers. Releasing its proposed regulations for public and industry comment, the STB said the package ’represents a major shift in basis from the pro-merger ...
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