All Railway Gazette International articles in November 2002
All articles published this month.
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News
Super-resilient wheels
ITALIAN wheelset specialist Lucchini Sidermeccanica and German rubber components supplier Gummi-Metall-Technik GmbH have formed a joint venture to produce and sell a super-resilient wheel known as ITUS. A prototype wheel was unveiled at the InnoTrans show in Berlin on September 24.Lucchini has meanwhile obtained certification from Italcertifer for unrestricted use ...
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News
Sidetrack
Rolling drunkHAVING had one drink too many, a Finn recently found himself on an extended tour of the country. Too tired to walk home, he crawled into the battery compartment of a carriage stood in the town of Oulu. Inevitably, he then discovered this compartment could only be opened from ...
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News
Reverting to regions
ON OCTOBER 1 Amtrak restructured its Operating Department, abolishing the ’product line’ management based on Special Business Units in favour of a geographical organisation of regions and divisions. The Western Region has three divisions, Pacific, Southwest and Central, whilst the Eastern Region has four: Southern, Mid-Atlantic, New York and New ...
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News
Publications
Freight Railways: Sustainable Mobility for Economy & SocietyThis fifth volume in the Blue Books series from the Association of German Transport Undertakings covers issues of interest to freight railway operators. In addition to state-owned DB Cargo there are around 165 active public freight operators in Germany, and a further 850 ...
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Pointers
The Norwegian government is expected to start tendering the provision of local rail services next year, in a bid to cut the NKr1·3bn annual cost. Early candidates identified by the Ministry of Transport & Communications include the Gjøvik, Bratsberg and Bergen - Foss services. Connex is due to take over ...
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News
PEOPLE
Dr Manfred Stolpe has replaced Kurt Bodewig as German Federal Minister for Transport, Building & Housing.Jean-Marie Bertrand was appointed Director General of Reséau Ferré de France on October 7, succeeding Jean-François Bénard.Katsuhiko Ichikawa has become General Manager of Central Japan Railway Corporate Planning Division’s International Department. Kaoru Umemoto continues as ...
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News
Tram networks to reintegrate
AS FORECAST last month (RG 10.02 p605), Melbourne is about to turn the clock back and put a single operator in charge of the world’s third-largest tram network. National Express Group Australia, operator of M>Tram, revealed on October 17 that it was negotiating to sell M>Tram to Yarra Trams, a ...
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News
Network Rail takes over
OCTOBER 1 saw the formal lifting of the Railway Administration Order served on Railtrack plc last year, following a 6h hearing in the High Court in London. This cleared the way for the sale of the infrastructure company to the government-backed ’not-for-dividend’ company Network Rail, which was completed at 07.00 ...
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News
Metros
China: Shanghai Metro has awarded Bombardier a €11m contract to overhaul 96 Line 1 cars by 2005.The government has approved the start of work on the 22 km Shenyang metro Line 1, which will begin in June 2003 for completion in 2006.France: Ile-de-France transport authority STIF has given its approval ...
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Market
Australia: NSW passenger operator City Rail has selected Goninan to supply 13 DMUs for its Hunter Valley services.France: The first Z-TER EMU was formally handed over to SNCF by Alstom Transport at its Bellevue test track in La Rochelle on October 4. Alstom has awarded Bombardier a €6m contract to ...
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News
SLR looks north
THESRILANKA Ministry of Transport and Sri Lanka Railways have commissioned a detailed study for reconstruction of lines in the north of the country, following the presentation of a feasibility study last month. This concluded that many bridges and stations needed to be rebuilt, and signalling and communications should be replaced ...
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News
Madrid - Lleida opens next year
THE FIRST 450 km of the Madrid - Barcelona high speed line is due to open to traffic on January 1 2003, following an official opening ceremony that the Ministry of Development is planning to hold on December 20 or 21. Pending the arrival of its new Siemens and Talgo ...
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News
LIRR and MNCR to merge
A FAR-REACHING restructuring of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority was announced on October 9 by MTA Chairman Peter S Kalikow. Subject to approval by the state legislature, the changes will be phased in over two years. Establishment of five subsidiary companies is the start of a campaign to make ...
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News
Russian private line opens
SIBERIAN-Urals Aluminium Company held a ceremony on September 20 to open its 158 km railway linking the Middle Timan bauxite deposits with the RZD network. The line is the first privately-owned railway in Russia since the 1917 revolution. Over 3000 people were involved in construction works on the route, which ...
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News
RailNetEurope launched
JOINT MARKETING of international freight train paths across Europe was initiated on September 24, when representatives from 18 infrastructure managers signed a co-operation agreement at InnoTrans in Berlin. The symbolic launch of RailNetEurope foreshadows the start of open access on the Trans-European Rail Freight Network in March 2003. Role models ...
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News
INTELLIGENCE
Argentina: On September 26 Metropolitano inaugurated 10·4 km of 25 kV 50Hz AC electrification between Glew and Alejandro Korn south of Buenos Aires (RG 5.02 p238), undertaken at a cost of US$3·45m. Work to electrify the Temperley - Florencio Varela route was due to begin last month.Czech Republic: On October ...
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Industry News
Canada: Global Railways Industries has competed its acquisition of door and replacement part maker Prime Steel Inc for C$3·3m cash and taking over C$155000 of debt.Czech Republic: Siemens is to move steel bodyshell and VAL mini-metro car production to the Siemens Kolejova Vozidla plant in Praha over the next ...
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News
Inside Industry
Angel targets railcar marketUK-BASED rolling stock leasing company Angel Trains International announced on September 24 that it is to launch a new subsidiary for the local passenger multiple-unit sector. From January 2003 the Angel Trains Europa GmbH office in K
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News
Westward ho!
REVERED father of Britain’s Great Western Railway and broad gauge proponent Isambard Kingdom Brunel would surely have applauded. But when on October 17 First Great Western announced a six-month study to assess the prospects of a dedicated high speed line between London and the west of England, the Strategic Rail ...