All Railway Gazette International articles in October 2008
All articles published this month.
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NewsSydney metro project 'deferred'
AUSTRALIA: New South Wales Transport Minister David Campbell has announced that the proposed North West metro in Sydney is to be deferred because of 'the size of capital required and the current economic climate'. 'The Government is facing tough decisions as part of the mini-budget process', Campbell said on ...
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NewsCP completes Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern takeover
USA: Canadian Pacific Railway marked its first day of operational control of Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp and its subsidiaries Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad and Cedar American Rail Holdings on October 30. This followed the end of a 30-day regulatory standstill after the Surface Transport Board finally ...
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News'We are very modest'
CZECH REPUBLIC: Meeting the requirements of EU legislation whilst continuing to develop passenger and freight operations across the Czech Republic is a tough task. Nick Kingsley met Vojtech Kocourek, Minister with responsibility for railways, in Praha to discuss railway restructuring, the future of regional lines and relations with Brussels.
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NewsGreen Cargo orders Traxx locos for steel contract
SWEDEN: Green Cargo has placed a €51m order with Bombardier for 16 Traxx F140AC electric locomotives. To be delivered between February and July 2010, they will be used on freight trains to be operated under a 10-year contract with steel sheet and plate producer SSAB. Green Cargo's SKr2·5bn transport ...
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NewsRoom on the Rails
NETHERLANDS: An ambitious vision for a massive increase in traffic on the national rail network by 2020 was unveiled by Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings on September 3. The government is projecting a 5% annual increase in rail patronage, as well as further growth in rail freight. HSL-Zuid and the Betuwe ...
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NewsEstonia to join international traffic agreement
ESTONIA: The Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) announced on October that 30 Estonia is to accede to the COTIF convention with effect from January 1 2009. COTIF established a uniform system of laws governing international rail freight (CIM) and passenger (CIV) transport. Estonia will be the ...
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NewsChina South awarded Kazak loco contract
KAZAKHSTAN: The Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive subsidiary of China South announced a US$100m order to supply locomotives to Kazak state railway KTZ on October 23. The Chinese firm was selected from three international bidders. The 4·8 MW locos will have AC drives and a top speed of 200 km/h. CSR ...
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NewsIarnród Éireann to order 432 DART cars
IRELAND: Despite the economic downturn and drastic cutbacks in public finances, Iarnród Éireann is going ahead with a plan to order 432 EMU cars for Dublin's DART suburban services at a cost of nearly €900m. This will be the largest order for coaches placed by the national railway, which has ...
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NewsWires down, complaints up
FRANCE: Leaving passengers stranded for hours on trains going nowhere is guaranteed to generate plenty of negative publicity, and a series of unfortunate catenary-related incidents last month in France was no exception. Trouble started during a peak holiday weekend when 400 m of overhead wires were ripped down at Aubagne ...
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News
Roller-coaster commute
JAPAN: An experimental light metro using roller coaster-style technology is to be built at the Chiba test site of Tokyo University’s Institute of Industrial Science. The Eco Ride metro will use equipment supplied by theme park ride manufacturers Senyo Kogyo and Senyo Kiko. Track-mounted drive units will ...
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NewsSNCB in the firing line
BELGIUM: Early last month La Libre Belgique published excerpts from an interim report drawn up by the Audit Commission (Cour des Comptes) which said Belgian National Railways had broken European rules on public financing. Specifically, the newspaper highlighted a sum of €426m forming part of a €510m government grant ...
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NewsStudy to look at Berlin - Moscow Talgo service
RUSSIA: RZD and Patentes Talgo have signed a memorandum of intent to study the feasibility of using Talgo VII gauge-changing rolling stock on hotel train services between Moscow and Berlin. RZD will provide forecasts of future passenger volumes and the economic benefits of improved services between Moscow, Minsk and ...
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NewsCapacity boost is needed
DENMARK: September 22 saw the start of a public enquiry into plans by the national rail authority Trafikstyrelsen into ways of expanding capacity on the country’s busiest line between København and Ringsted. The project was launched in 1998, when the former rail infrastructure authority Banstyrelsen recognised that the existing main ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market October 2008
Australia: Refurbishment of the 60-car CountryLink XPT fleet has been completed. This included modernising the seats, fitting new toilets and carpets, upgrading the air-conditioning and installing new equipment in the buffet cars. Stage two of the A$42m upgrade is the overhaul of the 19 XPT power cars, due for completion ...
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NewsUS$560m loan for Tikhvin wagon plant
RUSSIA: Vnesheconombank, Eurasian Development Bank and Nomos-Bank have agreed a US$560m loan to ICT Group towards the US$800m development of Tikhvin Railway Car Building Plant, which is due to start production in 2010 on a former Transmash site in Leningrad oblast. Vnesheconombank and EDB are each proving US$215m for ...
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NewsLG takes up option on 10 Eurorunners
LITHUANIA: State railway Lietuvos Geležinkeliai has exercised an option for a further 10 Siemens ER20CF freight locomotives, which will be delivered between May and September 2010 in a deal worth more than €35m including maintenance. The 120 km/h locomotives are an option on a €123m order for 34 placed ...
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NewsContracts October 2008
Chile: Zenitel and Sometec are to supply and maintain communication links between train drivers and the control centre on two extensions to Santiago metro lines 1 and 5. China The Ministry of Railways has awarded HLS Systems and Hitachi a contract to provide control systems for the 105 km ...
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NewsLausanne Line m2 opens
SWITZERLAND: Commercial services on Lausanne's automatic metro line m2 began on October 27 when the first train left Ouchy station at 05.26 bound for Croisettes. The 6 km route climbs 338 m during the 18 min journey, with gradients of up to 12%. Line m2 took 4½ years to build ...
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NewsPorterbrook Leasing sale agreed
UK: On October 27 Porterbrook Leasing confirmed reports that the company is being sold by its parent Abbey National. A consortium of three European banks has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the rolling stock leasing company, with completion expected by the end of this year subject ...
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NewsPilbara open access from November 20
AUSTRALIA: Three heavy haul iron ore railways in West Australia are to be 'declared' permitting third parties to negotiate open access with effect from November 19, Commonwealth Treasurer Wayne Swan announced on October 27. Swan will 'declare' BHP Billiton's Goldsworthy railway and Rio Tinto's Robe River and Hamersley lines ...