All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1117
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News
Troops take railway towards the border
ERITREA'S government has provided 1 000 soldiers to work on rehabilitation of the 124 km of the 950 mm gauge Eritrean Railway west from Asmara to Agordat. Continuing a further 109 km from Agordat would take the line to Biscia, thereafter to Tessenei and the Sudanese border, ...
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Freight bottlenecks in focus
EU POLICIES deregulating European rail freight are forecast to generate significant growth in intermodal traffic over the next decade. Initiatives such as Singer (p164) are already demonstrating what may be achievable. But operators and infrastructure managers are becoming increasingly concerned that the continent’s rail network will not be able to ...
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Bratislava commissions expansion studies
A CONSORTIUM of Bratislava-based contractors Dopravoprojekt and Infraprojekt has been appointed by Railways of the Slovak Republic to draw up a KS940m detailed feasibility study for three major investment projects in the capital. Construction bids will be invited shortly for the ambitious 2007-15 expansion programme, which includes upgrading and electrification ...
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Industry in Brief
Railpower Technologies announced at the end of January that it had raised C$30m through a bought deal with a syndicate of Canaccord Adams, Sprott Securities, National Bank Financial, Paradigm Capital and Pacific International Securities. The hybrid loco technology company will use the proceeds to finance the fulfilment of current orders ...
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Five qualify to build CDG Express
FRENCH Minister of Transport Dominique Perben announced on January 30 that five consortia had qualified for the concession to develop a dedicated rail link to Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport (RG 9.06 p485). The five bids are from: Eiffage partnered with Macquarie Bank a group formed of Bouygues TP, Seco-Rail, RATP-Développement, ...
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Channel Tunnel freight is collapsing
EUROPE: Two of the regular streams of freight traffic through the Channel Tunnel ceased at the beginning of February because the cost of using the Tunnel has increased substantially. Unilog based in Belgium has been forced out of business altogether, while GTS Trasporti in Italy stopped dispatching intermodal trains ...
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Festive start for Chinese sets
High speed trainsets have begun trial services between Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzen and Guangzhou, marking the latest step in Chinese Railways’ passenger service upgrade. The first services operated on the line to Hangzhou on January 28 using sets derived from the E2-1000 Shinkansen used by JR East (RG 8.05 p485). ...
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Freightliner prepares to compete in Poland
LAST MONTH the first four of seven EMD low-emission Class 66 locomotives ordered by Freightliner PL was delivered to Rotterdam, where they are being modified by NedTrain before entering service on open-access coal services in Poland in the second quarter of this year. UK operator Freightliner is investing ...
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Metro_Centro nears completion
NEXT MONTH is due to see completion of a 1?32?km light rail route in Sevilla, built in conjunction with a programme to pedestrianise streets in the historic core of the city. The first phase of Metro_Centro runs from Prado de San Sebasti?n to Plaza Nueva with two intermediate stops, and ...
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Line E extension contract
A CIVIL ENGINEERING contract for the extension of Buenos Aires metro Line E was officially awarded to Benito Roggio on February 16, with the expectation that construction would start within 90 days. The US$346m deal was announced by Argentina’s President N?stor Kirchner in a ceremony attended by the head of ...
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Cordoba re-openings
ON JANUARY 24 the Argentinian government announced that it had awarded a joint venture of Benito Roggio and Herso a contract to restore the former Mitre route between Río Primero in Córdoba province and Sumampa in Santiago del Estero, closed to traffic since 1978. The 170m pesos project ...
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Fret diesels are fruit of Franco-German partnership
The first of a large fleet of diesel-electric locos built by Alstom and Siemens will shortly enter service with SNCF, reports Laurent Charlier
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Schwarzenegger tries to ditch HSR
REPEATED ATTEMPTS to build high speed lines in North America may have produced absolutely nothing to date, but Californians like to be different. Plans for a $37bn network carrying 350?km/h trains between Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego appear to be making some progress. On January 29, the ...
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UP in search of reduced emissions
UNION PACIFIC took its quest for reduced emissions technology onto the main line on January 17, when it unveiled a refitted EMD SD60M in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce. The 3 800?hp locomotive will be tested in captive service around the Southern California basin. The 17-year old loco ...
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Europe relies on its suburban railways
THE REGIONAL and commuter rail market plays an important role as part of the overall passenger rail sector. It is a challenging public transport market, significantly contributing towards sustainable urban mobility, encouraging modal shift from private car and decongesting transport corridors providing access to major European cities.’ This is the ...
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Fortescue goes its own way
On February 8 construction work commenced on another iron ore line into the Chichester Ranges from Port Hedland, Western Australia. Fortescue Metals Group is building the 260 km line to link its port facilities at Anderson Point to its Pilbara mines at a total cost of around A$3?5bn. The decision ...
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NewsSlovenian gateway helps revitalise intermodal sector
Supported by the Marco Polo programme, the two-year Singer project is intended to develop new unaccompanied intermodal flows to and from Eastern Europe. Block trains from München, Verona and Budapest converge on a gateway hub at Ljubljana, offering competitive transit times and reducing costs
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MTR goes shopping
HONG Kong MTR has officially opened its first shopping centre in mainland China. Ginza Shopping Mall stands above Dongzhimen metro station in a prosperous area of Beijing, and will be operated using the ’rail-plus-property’ model which MTR says has proved highly successful in maximising the value of inner-urban sites around ...
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Grands projets now the norm
MARCH 15 will see the official inauguration by RFF of the first 300 km of TGV Est between Paris and Baudrecourt. Three months ahead of SNCF’s planned opening to traffic on June 10, the date leaves a slot for more ultra-high-speed trials (above). That the French government backs high speed ...
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Green light for missing link
WORK IS DUE to begin during the second quarter of 2007 on the 1 km Parc - Sud section of the TEC light metro in the Belgian city of Charleroi, expected to open at the end of 2010 to complete a long-planned city centre loop. With one intermediate ...