All Railway Gazette International articles in October 1998

All articles published this month.

  • News

    Transportable vehicle washer

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    FOR smaller sites or low-volume applications, BWI Dawson has developed a compact vehicle washing system that can be moved to another location. Installed within a week depending on site conditions and without concrete foundations, the washer is available for lease during the erection of permanent systems.The fully-automatic single- direction ...

  • News

    West from Sydney

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

  • News

    West from Sydney

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    EFFORTS are being made to rescue Sydney’s 3·6 km embryonic light rail line from oblivion. Right from the start, success depended on the route being extended north into the city centre. But opposition from shop owners to trams along the Pitt Street pedestrian mall has prevented approval for the extension, ...

  • News

    SIDETRACK

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    DieterCAPTION: Japan’s Ground Effect Transportation System plans to start trials in 2002 with a proposed ’aero train’ using solar and wind power. Dieter calculates the likely energy requirements for operating a high-speed train from wind turbines Blotto on the landscapeIn order to advertise Beck’s beer to thirsty passengers on Britain’s ...

  • News

    Publications

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    L’Annuaire Ferroviaire FrançaisThis directory published for the French Railway Industry Association (FIF) includes articles in French and English, looking at railway developments during 1997 in France and the rest of the world, and at French politics and their impact on the railway market. The directory section is broken up into ...

  • News

    Sokol prototype starts test programme

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    WHILE construction of the high speed line from St Petersburg to Moscow (RG 8.98 p510) looks certain to be postponed indefinitely, the prototype Sokol high speed train built to run on the 650 km route has begun its test programme. President Boris Yeltsin’s revocation of the decree authorising construction of ...

  • News

    Pilz progress

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    CEREMONIES were held in Berlin on September 9 to mark the start of work on the German capital’s future central station. Transport Minister Matthias Wissmann, Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen, DB Chairman Dr Johannes Ludewig and Thyssen AG Chairman Dr Ekkehard Schulz laid the foundation stone for the new Lehrter Bahnhof.Costed ...

  • News

    Pescarmona sells up

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    ON AUGUST 20 Industrias Metalúrgicas Pescarmona SA (IMPSA) of Argentina announced that it had agreed to sell its holdings in the Buenos Aires al Pacífico and Mesapot

  • News

    PEOPLE

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    Jaroslav Vrana has been named Director of Railways for the Czech Ministry of Transport, replacing Karel Sellner. He also becomes Chairman of Czech State Railways (CD), replacing Ivan Foltyn. Dalibor Zeleny has been appointed General Manager of CD, replacing Vladimir Sosna.Dr Chris Whitaker is to chair the ...

  • News

    NYCT selects TBTC suppliers

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    ON SEPTEMBER 2 MTA New York City Transit awarded contracts to three firms to demonstrate transmission-based train control systems for use on the subway network. Bids were called for the pilot project last October, with three preferred bidders selected in July (RG 7.98 p462).The three are Alcatel Transport Automation, Alstom ...

  • News

    NDX wound up

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    INTERNATIONAL joint venture freight operator NDX is to be wound up, following the transfer of its operations to German Railway’s intermodal subsidiary Transfracht International (TFGI) on September 1. NDX was set up in 1996, with DB holding a 50% stake, Netherlands Railways 25% and CSX 25%. It launched its first ...

  • News

    Monitoring signals

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    INDIA’s South Central Railway is installing at Ghatkesar a Trackwatch system from Solarton, comprising four isolated measurement pods to monitor the activity of signalling relays. Connected to spare relay contacts, each pod uses a low current resistance technique to record relay transitions on up to 32 channels with an accuracy ...

  • News

    Metro simulation

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    LS Transit Systems is to supply Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority with operations simulation software, under subcontract from Alstom Signalling. WMATA has a licence for company-wide use of Railsim¨ to create a PC-based metro simulation of Washington’s 152route-km and 76 stations, including train performance and control, passenger flow and ...

  • News

    MARKETPLACE

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    Bulgaria: Sofia Tramway has ordered 10 T6A2 trams from CKD Praha Holding of the Czech Republic for US$3·5m. Talks have begun with a potential partner for assembly of CKD designs in Sofia.Canada: General Motors is to supply 20 AC-motored diesel locos of 6 000 hp to Canadian Pacific Railway, ...

  • News

    LU sounds out the market

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    OVER 100 companies from the private sector have been sent a Market Sounding Paper by London Underground after registering their interest in the Public-Private Partnership announced by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on March 20 (RG 5.98 p289). Responses were required by mid-September and LU was to ask ’a cross-section ...

  • News

    Malmbanen locomotives ordered

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    SWEDEN: iron-ore mining group LKAB announced on September 16 that it had selected the Adtranz modular Octeon design for the nine twin-unit locos it is to buy for the Luleå - Narvik Malmbanen corridor (RG 9.98 p585).

  • News

    Tibet link study

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    CHINA’s Ministry of Railways has launched a feasibility study for a 1654 km rail link to serve the Tibetan capital Lhasa. Part of a strategy to open up the country’s mountainous southwestern provinces, the new line would start from Dali in Yunnan province, and run westwards through an area close ...

  • News

    Letters

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    Speedrail clarificationSir - Your report on the Sydney - Canberra high speed rail project (RG 9.98 p563) contains an error. The Sydney - Canberra project is not one of those to be examined by the Rail Projects Tasks Force, headed by Jack Smorgon. The Task Force will examine possible extensions ...

  • News

    Orléans takes Le Tram

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    WORK HAS started on the tramway project dubbed Le Tram in the French city of Orléans, following the declaration of public utility in July. At the end of August Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot confirmed the government would contribute over Fr374m to the Fr1·85bn project, of which Fr68m will be released ...

  • News

    UITP stages landmark show

    1998-10-01T10:00:00Z

    VENUE for the International Union of Public Transport’s Asia Pacific-City Transport 98 event is the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. Marking a strategic move by the UITP into the Asia-Pacific region, this conference and exhibition around the theme of Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities will give visitors the chance ...