All Railway Gazette International articles in November 2009
All articles published this month.
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NewsToronto-York Spadina Subway Extension breaks ground
CANADA: A ground-breaking ceremony on November 27 launched work on the first phase of an extension to Toronto's Yonge - University - Spadina subway line. The first phase covers a link from Wilson yard to the main route of the planned 8·6 km extension from Downsview to Vaughan Corporate ...
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NewsSiemens wins Wien ATC contract
AUSTRIA: Wien transport operator Wiener Linien has awarded Siemens Mobility a €25m contract to supply automatic train control equipment for two extensions to the city's metro network. Work is underway to extend Line U2 by 5 km to Aspernstrasse by late 2010, and a ceremony in October marked the ...
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NewsPKP PR rebrands
POLAND: National regional train operating business PKP PR is being renamed Przewozy Regionalne, reflecting the transfer of ownership from state railway PKP to the 16 voivodships. 'We wanted to emphasize our separateness from the PKP Group, and also indicate the effects of restructuring to passengers through a new ...
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NewsChina may be next Desiro customer
CHINA: Working in partnership with a local company, Siemens Mobility is hoping to secure an order for around 50 suburban trainsets in Guangzhou, having tendered a version of its Desiro product platform. Of major interest to Siemens and rival bidders are options that could see up to 1500 further ...
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NewsWagon works auction
RZD: A further two wagon repair plants have been sold by Russian Railways as part of a privatisation programme which aims to increase competition in the rolling stock maintenance market. In an auction held on October 23 the Cheremkhovo wagon repair depot in the Irkutsk oblast was bought by ...
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NewsFactory grows
HUNGARY: A bogie production hall was opened at Bombardier’s Mátranovák plant in northeastern Hungary on November 6. The investment in the former Ganz Steel Structure works cost €22m, with half the funding coming from the national government via its Economic Development Operations Programme. The extension of the factory has ...
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NewsVTG to fit stronger axles
EUROPE: Hamburg-based wagon leasing group VTG announced on November 16 that it is to equip its fleet with new wheelsets suitable for heavier axleloads. Starting with all newly-built wagons, plus those registered in Germany and Austria, the programme will cover up to 20000 vehicles and is expected to take between ...
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NewsInfrastructure managers to merge
EUROPE: Two of the Nordic region’s railway infrastructure authorities are to disappear in 2010, as their respective governments move to consolidate their transport administrations. First to disappear will be Finnish rail infrastructure manager RHK, which is to become part of a new Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency from January 1. Liikennevirasto ...
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NewsSolaris to supply low-floor trams to Poznan
POLAND: Solaris has signed a 342m zloty contract to supply 40 low-floor trams to Poznan municipal transport operator MPK. They are to be delivered between June 2011 and March 2012, in time for the city hosting the 2012 UEFA European Championship. The 40 unidirectional Solaris Tramino LF 32 trams will ...
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NewsMan eating lions - not (as) many dead
KENYA: Lieutenant-Colonel John H Patterson attributed the deaths of 135 people to the ‘man-eaters of Tsavo’, a pair of lions which terrorised railway construction workers in Kenya in 1898. The Uganda Railway hired Patterson to hunt down the lions, but thought the number of deaths was more like 28. Now ...
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NewsRFF to launch Perpignan – Montpellier study
FRANCE: Following a public consultation between March and July 2009, infrastructure manager RFF announced on November 26 that it is to launch formal design studies for the high speed line between Montpellier and Perpignan. According to RFF, the public consultation led to the emergence of a ‘preferred corridor’ in terms ...
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NewsAlsatian Avanto goes on display
FRANCE: The first Siemens Avanto tram-train for the Vallée de la Thur line is to be displayed to the public in the Place de la Gare in Mulhouse from December 3-6. The LRV is the first of 12 ordered to operate tram-trains between Mulhouse and Thann Saint-Jacques. Similar to the ...
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NewsPowerHaul brings Evolution technology to Europe
UK: Capacity is the reason a new locomotive design was ordered from GE Transportation, Freightliner Ltd Managing Director Adam Cunliffe said as the first was named 'PowerHaul' in Leeds on November 24. The Class 70 PowerHaul locomotives will provide faster acceleration and higher running speeds than Freightliner's existing fleet. ...
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NewsSydney Metro construction bids submitted
AUSTRALIA: The three consortia shortlisted in August to bid for the Permanent Route Infrastructure contract to construct the tunnels and station boxes on Sydney Metro Stage 1 have submitted their tenders. Phase 1 will run from Central to Rozelle and will form the backbone of the future metro network. ...
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NewsNomad to supply inter-city wi-fi
NETHERLANDS: Train operator NS has awarded an initial five year contract to Nomad Digital and T-Mobile for the installation of 3G broadband services on its services. Under what the supplier describes as one of its largest transport awards, Nomad Digital will deploy its R3500 mobile broadband gateway on 187 inter-city ...
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NewsDB places firm order for DMUs
GERMANY: DB Regio has placed the first firm order for Alstom Coradia Lint 41 diesel multiple-units within the terms of a 2008 framework agreement for up to 180 units. The €40m order announced on November 26 covers 16 two-car units, designated VT648.4 by DB, for use on regional services ...
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NewsNew line option selected to boost capacity
DENMARK: 'This is a milestone in Danish railway history, said Transport Minister Lars Barfoed after the main political parties approved the 'Modern Railway settlement on October 22, giving the go-ahead for a series of capacity enhancement projects including the construction of a new line from Ny Ellebjerg to Ringsted ...
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NewsConstruction back on track
NIGERIA: The federal government and China Civil Engineering Construction Corp signed a US$876m deal on October 26 for construction of the planned 200 km Abuja – Kaduna railway within three years. The Chinese government has granted a loan of US$500m for the project, the first phase of a national railway ...
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NewsDobra gateway opens at last
SLOVAKIA: Russian intermodal operator Transcontainer announced on November 23 that it had successfully operated its first complete block train through the container transhipment terminal at Dobra in southeast Slovakia two days earlier. Last year the RZD subsidiary agreed to lease the 18 ha Dobra facility from ZSSK Cargo for 15 ...
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NewsHong Kong high speed approved
CHINA: Construction of the Hong Kong section of the planned 142 km Express Rail Link from West Kowloon to the Shibi railway hub in New Guangzhou is set to get underway by the end of this year, after the Special Administrative Region’s Executive Council approved the XRL project on October ...