All Railway Gazette International articles in November 2008
All articles published this month.
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NewsPilbara lines declared open access
AUSTRALIA: The long-running battle to bring open access to the heavy-haul iron ore railways in Western Australia reached another milestone on October 27, when Commonwealth Treasurer Wayne Swan 'declared' BHP Billiton's Goldsworthy railway and Rio Tinto's Robe River and Hamersley lines under the National Access Regime within the Trade Practices ...
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NewsExtension deferred
USA: Citing the world economic crisis, Utah Transit Authority is to postpone the opening of its FrontRunner South commuter rail extension from Salt Lake City to Provo from mid-2012 to early 2013. UTA will accelerate construction of two TRAX light rail lines; the Salt Lake City International Airport extension ...
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NewsSNCF launches France's human train
AESTHETICS: As a showcase for its Rolling Stock Engineering Division, SNCF has enlisted the help of a team of designers to rethink the passenger environment of a regional EMU. Nick Kingsley joined Régine Charvet-Pello, whose agency oversaw the interior redesign, for a guided tour.
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NewsICE axle cracks wreak havoc
GERMANY: Passengers on Deutsche Bahn's long-distance trains have had a torrid time in recent weeks following a series of incidents that culminated in the sudden withdrawal from service of all 71 ICE-T tilting trainsets on October 24. DB had been concerned about possible cracks in the axles of its ICE3 ...
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NewsThameslink EMU invitations to tender issued
UK: On November 27 the Department for Transport issued pre-qualified bidders Alstom, Bombardier, Hitachi and Siemens with invitations to tender to supply a fleet of dual-voltage EMUs for Thameslink commuter services through London. The exact number of trains is still to be determined, but the manufacturers have been told to ...
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NewsVolkerWessels buys Corus share of GrantRail
UK: Dutch construction group VolkerWessels bought joint venture partner Corus's 50% stake in GrantRail Group on November 26. The Doncaster-based rail construction and engineering services group will continue to trade as GrantRail. GrantRail was formed in 1996 as a 50:50 joint venture of VolkerWessels and Corus, offering services ...
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NewsRail Cargo Austria cleared to buy MÁV Cargo without GySEV
HUNGARY: The European Commission announced on November 25 that it had cleared Rail Cargo Austria's plans to acquire MÁV Cargo, subject to a commitment that the ÖBB Holding subsidiary will cut its links with cross-border operator GySEV. Hungary's Ministry of Economy & Transport put the state railway's freight division ...
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News
Golden egg on the Golden Pass
SWITZERLAND: For decades Swiss operator Montreux-Oberland-Bernois has dreamed of running through trains on its Golden Pass route from Montreux on Lac Léman to Interlaken and Luzern. Already world famous because of its stunning scenery, the trip requires passengers to change trains at Zweisimmen and Interlaken Ost because the central ...
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NewsICE3 order to increase capacity and flexibility
GERMANY: DB's management board has selected Siemens to supply a further 15 multi-voltage high speed trains. A contract for the ICE3 sets will be signed once the supervisory board gives its final go-ahead in mid-December, with industry sources putting the value at close to €500m. DB had called for ...
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NewsFirst KTX-II unveiled in Korea
SOUTH KOREA: Celebrations were held at the Hyundai Rotem plant in Changwon on November 25 to launch the country’s first locally-developed 300 km/h trainset. Joining the roll-out ceremony were the Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee on Land Transport & Maritime Affairs Lee Byung Suk and the Vice-Minister of ...
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NewsBoardman named head of Amtrak
USA: Joseph Boardman has been appointed President & Chief Executive Officer of the National Railroad Passenger Corp for a one-year period with effect from November 26. He takes over as the head of Amtrak from Chief Operating Officer William Crosbie, who has been acting CEO since the resignation of Alexander ...
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NewsRail escapes budget cuts
IRELAND: Virtually all major railway projects were spared from even modest cutbacks in the 2009 budget unveiled by the Irish government last month, although this imposed extra taxes worth €2bn and introduced big cuts in many other areas of public sector expenditure because of the global financial crisis. Admitting that ...
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NewsPointers November 2008
Romanian Transport Minister Ludovic Orban confirmed in October that the government expects to privatise the state-owned rail freight operator CFR Marfa during 2009. All of the shares will be offered for sale, either through an open tender or direct negotiation, with a target price of at least €1bn. The ...
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NewsAirport peoplemover extension contract
MALAYSIA: A €45m contract to extend the automated peoplemover at Kuala Lumpur International Airport has been awarded to a consortium of Bombardier and local partner Hartasuma. Bombardier's share of the contract is worth €27m, and includes automatic train control, power and communications systems, a control centre in a new ...
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NewsAccords signed to bring broad gauge to Wien
SLOVAKIA: In a ceremony at the Dobra container transfer terminal near the Ukrainian border, Minister of Transport Lubomir Vazny signed a Memorandum of Intent on November 25 with Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin and Deputy Director of Ukrainian Railways Michael Kospjuk for the construction of a 1 520 mm gauge ...
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NewsQishuyan completes first locally-built China Mainline Locomotive
CHINA: GE Transportation and its Chinese partner Qishuyan Locomotive rolled out the first China Mainline Locomotive to be assembled in China at a ceremony on November 25. The Ministry of Railways placed a US$450m order for 300 of the CML diesel locos in October 2005. The first two ...
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NewsAfrican track laying venture launched
SOUTH AFRICA: Tracklaying and maintenance joint venture Isithimela Rail Services was officially launched on November 21 by Bombardier Transportation and Strategic Partners Group, an empowerment organisation formed by 12 organisations and individuals representing the interests of 'a large spectrum of previously disadvantaged individuals'. Isithimela will be responsible for tracklaying ...
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NewsKeep the railway affordable
PRICING: Whilst the rail sector was trying not to talk itself into recession, the underlying message from industry leaders at InnoTrans 2008 was the need to keep tight control on costs and prices. Peter Badcock reports from Berlin.
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NewsFreight maglev study
USA: Despite a conspicuous lack of progress in developing maglev for the passenger sector, it seems that North America remains fixated with the concept. We hear that Union Pacific has commissioned Skytech Transportation and American Maglev Technology to develop a feasibility study for an 8 km maglev line to ...