All Railway Gazette International articles in October 1997
All articles published this month.
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News
World Speed Survey 1997
Japan's railways have wrested back the record JAPAN's railways have wrested back the record for the world's fastest scheduled passenger trains, which they first won in 1965 but lost to France in 1983 following the launch of TGV services between Paris and Lyon. According to a survey in ...
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News
Intercity 2000 deliveries start this year
INTRO: The first of 10 tilting trainsets for Spanish National Railways’ Madrid - Valencia route will be delivered this month and enter revenue service at the end of May 1998 ORDERED on January 30 1996, the Intercity 2000 is derived from Italian Railways’ ETR460 Pendolino, and fitted with Fiat’s active ...
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ET2000 TT tests the limits of innovation
INTRO: Deutsche Waggonbau AG has built a speculative prototype of this innovative low-floor articulated electric trainset with individual powered axles for German regional servicesIN RESPONSE to a request from German Railway for innovative trains to update regional services, Deutsche Waggonbau has built an experimental two-car articulated unit packed with innovative ...
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ICE4 could have 3·3m wide bodies
GERMAN ENGINEERS are preparing to test the five-car ICE-S train (RG 8.97 p500) at up to 440 km/h on a section of the Hannover - Berlin high speed line before it opens next year. The trials are intended to validate the design concepts of the ICE3 (RG 6.97 p373), 50 ...
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Budapest to build Line 4
PREQUALIFICATION bids were called at the end of August for preliminary engineering work on the long-planned fourth metro line in the Hungarian capital. Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky later confirmed that the municipality had decided to push ahead with the project, which is now costed at HF95bn.Following earlier attempts to build ...
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Simplex adds versatile track jack
A jack with a 100mm wide base has been introduced by Simplex to its range of Pow’r Claw¨ self-contained hydraulic track jacks. The Bridge & Trestle jack is sufficiently narrow to fit between double-set sleepers on bridges. One man can lift up to 10 tonnes from the toe or the ...
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News
Tough times lie ahead
THERE was a time ’when we could have fun with the engineers’, mused Adtranz President & Chief Executive Officer Kaare Vagner on September 10. Not any more. With railways forcing down rolling stock prices and higher profits at the top of the Adtranz agenda, the CEO’s strategy means attacking the ...
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News
Desert Express rolls out in April
TRANSNAMIB’S Windhoek workshops are currently rebuilding coaches for the Desert Express landcruise that is scheduled to be launched in April. Also available for private hire, the Desert Express will depart from Windhoek on a 21h round trip to Swakopmund on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. With passengers eating and sleeping on ...
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News
Atlantico bids called
COSTA RICAN rail administration Incofer invited bids on August 22 for a 25-year concession to restore and operate the 300 km Ferrocarril del Atlantico (RBR97 p52). Bidders have been given three months to inspect the property and submit final tenders by November 28. Various firms are in discussion with Incofer, ...
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Quarry Bay contract awarded
HONG KONG MTR Corp announced on September 4 that it had awarded an HK$1·1bn contract to Nishimatsu Construction for civil engineering work on the Quarry Bay Congestion Relief Works. This includes a 1·75 km extension of the Kwun Tong line westwards to North Point station where there will be cross-platform ...
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World Speed Survey: Shinkansen regains speed honours as French cut back
In his biennial survey of the world's fastest timetabled start-to-stop trains, Dr Colin Taylor finds that Japan has regained the Number 1 spot it first won in 1965. Despite losing the lead, France continues to accelerate, with its best timings now well over 250 km/h
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More trains to beat the jams
NETHERLANDS Railways has announced plans to run additional fast passenger services from summer 1998 on routes where parallel roads are subject to acute traffic congestion. Within the Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Den Haag conurbation known as the Randstad, six to seven extra trains will operate each hour, giving a basic ...
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Regulator demands better service
BRITAIN’S Rail Regulator John Swift announced on August 15 that he was proceeding with enforcement action against Train Operating Companies over poor performance of the National Rail Enquiry Service, the network of telephone enquiry bureaux accessed by a single number since August 1996. All 25 TOCs participate in the NRES ...
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Milano - Bologna will complete Italy’s north-south TAV corridor
INTRO: Formal authority has been granted for construction to start next year on the Milano - Bologna high speed line. This will form the last section of a high speed route which will transform rail travel in Italy’s primary north-south corridorBYLINE: Roberto RenonManaging DirectorTAV SpACONSTRUCTION work is due to start ...
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Russians boost rail spending
PRIVATISATION of the Russian rail network has been ruled out by First Prime Minister B E Nemetsov, despite the drastic cost-saving programme imposed in July (RG 9.97 p575). Emphasising that ’the economy of Russia will fully depend on whether or not the railways function efficiently’, he insisted the railways ...
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News
DB boosts security
IN AN attempt to tackle the problem of graffiti and vandalism affecting trains and stations in parts of Germany, DB is installing video cameras and other security equipment at Dortmund, Essen, Düsseldorf and K
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In Brief
n Turkish Transport Minister Necdet Menzir has announced proposals to restructure and privatise TCDD. The government is to initiate a review of railway operations and start modernisation of TCDD workshops ready for their sale to the private sector. n September 30 is the closing date for bids to supply nine ...
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Products In Brief
Loronix Information Systems has developed CCTVWare Transit, a video security system for passenger vehicles that records images from up to five different cameras onto a removable disk drive for retrieval using a standard Pentium PC. Designed for mounting on any flat surface, the 50mm x 50mm Loronix Moving Eyeball camera ...
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In Brief
VIA Rail Canada has awarded a three-year contract to Cara Operations Ltd for provision of on-board meals for trains in the Windsor - Québec corridor. From November 1, Cara will provide 400000 meals a year from food preparation centres in Toronto and Montréal.Iarnród éireann and Northern Ireland Railways will formally ...
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Products In Brief
Thorn Security has completed a contract to install a CCTV secure access system for the Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal. More than 50 cameras give complete surveillance, including pan/tilt cameras with motorised zoom lenses, and facilities to monitor trains entering or leaving the site.Polish State Railways has installed a Weighline ...