All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1116
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News
People March 2007
Michael Clausecker took over as General Manager of Unife on February 1, replacing Drewin Nieuwenhuis who agreed to leave under a mutual understanding' with the board. Clausecker became Chairman of Waggonbau Niesky in 1993, before joining Siemens in 1999 with worldwide responsibility for locomotives. In 2001 he was appointed General ...
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Santiago Line 5 grows
PRESIDENT Michelle Bachelet of Chile joined Transport Minister Sergio Espejo and Santiago Metro President Blas Tomic on January 25 to mark the start of work on a 14·2 km extension of Line 5 from Quinta Normal to Plaza de Maipú. Running for 10·2 km in tunnel and 4 km on ...
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Napoli metro Line 6 opens
ITALY: Prime Minister Romano Prodi attended an inauguration ceremony for Napoli metro Line 6 on January 11, in advance of the start of passenger services on February 4. A successor to various long-delayed tram and light metro schemes, the 1·9 km first phase of Line 6 runs from Mostra to ...
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NewsOpen access high speed bid
BIDS ARE due to close around February 28 for supply and maintenance of a fleet of 25 high speed trains, with an option for up to 10 more sets. A group of four leading Italian businessmen is planning to launch services on three domestic routes in competition with Trenitalia. ...
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Madrid action plan
ON JANUARY 22 a package of measures to ease overcrowding and improve service reliability on Madrid Metro Line 6 was announced by Elvira Rodr?guez, Minister for Transport & Infrastructure in the Madrid regional government. On the busiest section of Line 6 between Plaza El?ptica and Avenida de Am?rica, 50 staff ...
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ADIF awards
SPANISH infrastructure authority ADIF has awarded contracts for civil works on three sections of the high speed line between Madrid and Valencia, all lying between the capital and Cuenca. A joint venture of Constructora San Jos? and Arci?n is building the 21?5?km Oca?a - Villarrubia section under a contract worth ...
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Two cities adopt smart tickets
TICKETING: Affiliated Computer Services announced on February 12 that it had won a US$14m three-year contract from Marseille Provence Metropole to implement a multi-operator and multi-modal contactless ticketing system across the city. ACS will deploy its Atlas multi-operator system in partnership with Spie. Implementation will allow a single smart card ...
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Combino Plus takes off after false start
AT 82 MILLION passengers a year, the Grand Boulevard in Budapest is probably the busiest tram route in Europe today. It handles no less than 22 8% of the 357 million passengers moved by the Hungarian capital's transport authority BKV each year. Tracks on the 8 km semi-circular ...
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Bangkok growth goes ahead
A 165bn baht programme for expansion of Bangkok’s metro network has been approved by the government of Thailand. The latest package calls for construction of five routes totalling 118?km. The government’s final decision comes after the Cabinet gave its backing to the scheme at a meeting in November (RG 12.06 ...
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Records fall as the French forge ahead
AN UNOFFICIAL world rail speed record of 554?3?km/h was set in France on February 13 during trials on TGV Est. This comprehensively beats the 515?3?km/h rail record that SNCF established on May 18 1990 and surpasses the 552?km/h achieved by the Japanese experimental maglev trainset MLX01 at Yamanashi on April ...
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United Streetcar to enter American tram market
ON JANUARY 26 Oregon Iron Works announced a $4m contract to produce a prototype modern low-floor light rail vehicle for the North American market at its Clackamas plant in the USA. United Streetcar LLC has been established as an OIW subsidiary to produce the vehicle, which will be based on ...
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Restructuring announced at Tognum
TOGNUM announced a restructuring on February 5, creating two divisions which Chief Executive Volker Heuer says will provide ’clear structures of responsibility and allow us to implement our growth strategy more effectively.’ The new Engines & After-Sales division is centred on MTU’s rail, marine and heavy industrial engine manufacturing ...
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NewsPendolino deal falls apart
THE SURGE of passengers riding Virgin's tilting Pendolinos after the UK's West Coast Main Line was upgraded for 200 km/h operation has created an urgent need for two extra vehicles in each of the 53 nine-car trainsets. Under a 'handshake deal' valued at around ?158m, reached on January ...
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NewsBDZ separation plan approved
BULGARIA: The cabinet approved a plan to further restructure Bulgarian State Railways on January 18, following the creation of financially independent passenger, freight and traction divisions of the national operator on January 1 (RG 12.06 p764). Transport Minister Peter Mutafchiev plans to create separate telecoms, rolling stock management, maintenance ...
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Second high speed line for Argentina?
ON FEBRUARY 8 President Néstor Kirchner launched tendering for the second high speed line planned in Argentina, linking Buenos Aires with Mar del Plata. It is hoped to complete tendering this August, including the award of contracts for civil works, tracklaying, electrification, signalling and telecommunications as well as the ...
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NewsWorld railway market is 'robust and attractive'
A study commissioned by UNIFE from Roland Berger Strategy Consultants puts the value of the world railway market at over €100bn a year. Growth is predicted at 1·5% to 2% a year for the next decade.
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Dubai auto-couplers
VOITH Scharfenberg is to fit auto-couplers to a fleet of 87 metro cars for Dubai being built by Kinki Sharyo. The couplers will be fitted with shock absorbers to protect the driverless vehicles in a low-speed collision. The couplers, like the vehicles themselves, are being designed to cope with the ...
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Second Avenue contract
Skanska USA Civil, Schiavone Construction and JF Shea Construction were due to sign a contract in mid-February to build the first section of the Second Avenue subway in Manhattan. The $333m agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority paves the way for work to begin on the first of four planned ...
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Bluetooth in Bilbao
RENFE Cercanías de Bilbao has launched a trial Bluetooth service, offering passengers timetable, fares and service disruption information on their mobile phones and PDAs. The service uses J2ME technology to communicate with Bluetooth-enabled devices, allowing passengers to download a guide to RENFE services in the local area, complete with ...
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Building blocks
Poundfield Products believes its Betabric retaining wall design could reduce the cost of building such structures by as much as 50% on the UK network. Many earth retaining walls were built in the nineteenth century and their structural integrity is a growing cause for concern. Poundfield’s Betabric product allows ...