All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1107
-
NewsPhase 3 agreed in Bordeaux
WITH WORK now well underway on Phase 2 of the city's light rail programme (RG 4.07 p188), the greater Bordeaux authority has agreed to call tenders for consultancy contracts worth up to €28m covering studies and project supervision for Phase 3. Expected to cost a total of €342m, this would ...
-
News
Abuja metro launched
NIGERIAN President Olusegun Obasanjo participated in a ceremony on May 7 to launch the construction of a metro network in the capital Abuja, which he expects will be completed in 15 years. Emphasising that ’no modern city can develop without a modern transport system’, Obasanjo said the three-phase project would ...
-
News
Underground in Alacant
ON MAY 10 the lastest section of the light rail network serving the Spanish city of Alacant opened. Branching off the existing El Campello - Porta del Mar route at L’Illot, it serves new undergound stations at MARQ and Mercat, the latter having platforms 20?m below ground. The k110m city-centre ...
-
News
Amman contract
Transport Minister Soud Nseirat announced on May 8 that a consortium of Jordanian, Pakistani and Chinese firms has been awarded a contract worth between 170 and 180m dinars to build the Amman - Zarqa light rail line (RG 1.07 p9).The contract was expected to be signed during the World Economic ...
-
News
Trams arrive in Parla
SPAIN: The initial 8·25 km of a light rail route under construction in the town of Parla, 20 km south of the Spanish capital (RG 8.05 p464), was opened on May 6. Mayor Tomás Gómez was accompanied by the President of the Madrid regional government, Esperanza Aguirre. Due to be ...
-
News
FS business plan wins government backing
ITALIAN ministers have signed off a five-year business plan for Italian Railways (RG 4.07 p194). Submitted in February, the proposals will see Trenitalia order 1 000 new trains for local and regional passenger services by 2011 at a cost of k6?4bn.Approval came at a meeting on May 4 attended by ...
-
News
Barcelona LRT expansion
SPAIN: MAY 6 saw the opening of the latest phase of the Trambesòs light rail network in eastern Barcelona, a 2·2 km extension of Line T5 from Besòs to Sant Joan Baptista. With three intermediate stops, the route has cost €25m to build. Comprising routes T4 and T5, the Trambesòs ...
-
News
Closer to Barcelona
ON MAY 8 ADIF’s Talgo BT track recording train began verification runs over the Camp de Tarragona - Sant Joan Desp? section of the Madrid - Barcelona high speed line. Sant Joan Desp? lies 12?km from Barcelona, and the Ministry of Development is working to have the route open as ...
-
News
Commercial traffic enters Lötschberg base tunnel
REVENUE-EARNING traffic is due to start running through the Lötschberg base tunnel on June 19, with up to 48 freight trains a day routed through the 38 km bore. They will be followed in August by the first commercial passenger services. Cisalpino's ETR470 tilting trainsets are expected to use ...
-
News
Train crews are the new battleground
EUROPEAN railways are starting to face up to the detailed fall-out from the ongoing programme to liberalise rail operations. As new open-access operators enter the market, there are suggestions that some may be ’poaching’ experienced staff from their rivals.With seven competing freight operators now active in France (p361), SNCF ...
-
News
Seattle breakthrough
The first 1?3?km Central Link light rail tunnel through Beacon Hill in Seattle was completed on May 8, coming within 5?mm of engineers’ plans. A Japanese-built, laser-guided tunnel boring machine that started work in January 2006 broke through the east side of the hill as a crowd watched. Contractor Obayashi ...
-
News
Industry News in Brief
Minsk Railway Carriage Repair Works has formed a new production unit with the capacity to assemble up to 60 coaches a year. The plant is currently completing work on its first accessible coach with an electric wheelchair lift for Belarusian Railway, as well as a prototype air-conditioned vehicle.As part of ...
-
News
Broad gauge west
PROPOSALS to study the feasibility of a 1 520?mm gauge line to Bratislava were agreed last month by Slovakian Transport Minister Lubom?r Vazny and Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin, during a state visit to Moscow by Slovakian President Robert Fico.It is not clear whether the line would be a 300?km ...
-
News
Carrot or stick?
IN THIS ERA of growing awareness of energy use and the quality of urban life, many cities are looking to shift the balance between private and public transport. In our January issue (RG 1.07 p31), UITP Secretary-General Hans Rat argued that there is a direct relationship between the economic success ...
-
News
Shanghai and Nanjing order cars
BOMBARDIER is to supply 32 six-car Movia trainsets for Shanghai Metro Line 7 under a contract worth approximately €150m. The vehicles will be built in conjunction with Bombardier's Chinese joint-venture partner Changchun Bombardier Railway Vehicles Co Ltd. Assembly will take place at CBRC's facility in Changchun while traction equipment will ...
-
News
Charges to rise
WE WERE NOT surprised last month to hear that Estonia’s Ministry of Economy & Communications had started consultations on a new methodology for calculating EVR’s rail infrastructure usage fees.Minister Juhan Parts said higher fees would shorten the average payback period for ’certain investments’ such as capacity improvements at the Koidula ...
-
News
Freight competition
Sir - I am pleased that my modest observations (RG 1.07 p13) prompted such a lively response from Philip N Mortimer (RG 4.07 p196).A direct comparison of North American and European railway practices is pointless - the political, structural, geographical and historic differences are all too obvious. My observations stem ...
-
NewsRadar offers safer crossings
Level crossings in Israel are to benefit from radar protection under a US$12m contract awarded by Israel Railways to Scheidt & Bachmann. The contract will see 18 crossings on the network equipped with radar scanning devices to detect objects on the track between the barriers. If an obstruction is detected, ...
-
News
Serco supports lease fleet data
ROLLING stock leasing firms HSBC Rail and Angel Trains have awarded Serco Assurance two data management contracts totalling ?250 000.Under the first contract Serco will manage asset data and documents supporting the overhaul and maintenance of HSBC Rail’s UK leasing fleets. In the second contract, Angel Trains has appointed Serco ...
-
News
DB listing in doubt
PLANS to privatise all or part of Deutsche Bahn AG are once again in disarray as politicians argue over the formula for introducing the railway to the market.The difficulty of agreeing a compromise over state ownership of the 34?211 km network appears to be the main reason why Transport Secretary ...