All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1118
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NewsKnorr-Bremse records growth
BRAKE MANUFACTURER Knorr-Bremse Group reported steady growth and record results for 2006, with revenue up 14% to k3?1bn from k2?7bn in 2005. A third of this increase came from acquisitions and two-thirds from organic growth in both the rail and commercial vehicle divisions, particularly in Europe and North America. ...
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NewsHamburger Hochbahn restructures
Hamburger Hochbahn AG is to bring its rail and bus operations together into a single holding company in a bid to accelerate its expansion programme. The firm, which operates a number of regional rail services in partnership across Germany in addition to its Hamburg bus and metro business, hopes ...
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Mega-trucks impugned
ADDRESSING around 400 delegates to the CER’s Eurailfreight conference in Brussels on January 30, German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, who under the German presidency of the European Union holds the chair at the Council of Ministers [for transport], indicated that giant lorries equivalent to Australia’s road trains would not be ...
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Leasing income up
GATX reported net income from continuing operations of $150·5m for the year to December 31 2006, up from $105·6m in 2005. The aircraft leasing business was sold to improve the firm's risk profile, and rail, marine and industrial activities grew 'while maintaining our disciplined investment approach', said President & CEO ...
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Laos link launched
WORK to link Laos to Thailand's rail network officially began on January 19, when Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh and Thai Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula attended a ground-breaking ceremony in Dongphosy. This will be the site of the future Tha Naleng passenger and freight rail terminal, close to ...
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Thales to resignal Piccadilly Line
LONDON Underground PPP contractor Tube Lines announced on January 29 that it had awarded Thales a ?160m contract extension covering the resignalling of the Piccadilly Line. Thales took over contracts to supply Seltrac signalling to the Jubilee and Northern lines when it acquired Alcatel-Lucent’s transport activities at the end of ...
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Property road-show
A major property development programme along the coast of the Indian Ocean is at the heart of the Sri Lankan government’s plans to revive its ailing state railway. A road-show for potential investors is to take place in Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong, showcasing opportunities to develop 12 station sites ...
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UP reports record results
REPORTING its 2006 results on January 25, Union Pacific announced its best year ever’, with commodity revenues up by 15% to an all-time record of $14?9bn for the year. Operating income in the fourth quarter grew by 52% to nearly $810m. President & CEO Jim Young - who succeeded Dick ...
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Serbian sales
SLOVAK rolling stock manufacturer ZOS Trnava paid 140m dinara for the Serbian state's 77·5% stake in wagon and carriage supplier Gosa on January 26. ZOS Trnava plans to use the Gosa factory in Smederevska Palanka to relieve capacity constraints at its plant in Slovakia. It expects to invest a further ...
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Veolia takes on Tri-Rail
Southern Florida Regional Transportation Authority has awarded Veolia a seven-year contract worth $64m to operate the Tri-Rail commuter service. The contract includes an option for a further three years at a cost of $33m. The French group will replace Herzog Transit Services on July 1. The Sfrta board has ...
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Regional franchises benefit from an international perspective
Over the past decade, several state-owned railways from mainland Europe have looked at participating in the UK passenger rail franchising market. So far the only successful entrant has been NedRailways, which runs Merseyrail and Northern Rail in partnership with Serco. Chief Executive Anton Valk explains
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NewsCapacity crunch looms on busy UK network as policy failures bite
Contrasts abound in the complex UK railway business, with high costs militating against network enhancements despite the urgent need to raise capacity
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British franchising policy rewards high bids
LAST NOVEMBER the UK House of Commons Transport Committee published a hard-hitting report about the franchising process for passenger services (RG 12.06 p768), describing the current structure as a 'complex, fragmented and costly muddle'. In terms of cost, the Association of Train Operating Companies estimates that it costs between £3m ...
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NewsCross-London projects languish on the back burner
WHILE the East London Line is finally being rebuilt to provide rapid and frequent services along a corridor linking London's northern and southern suburbs, two major projects to make it simple for rail passengers to travel across London have made spectacularly little progress over the last 15 years. The Thameslink ...
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Finance February 2007
Africa: The Northern Corridor Transit Transport Co-ordination Authority based in Mombasa is to receive US$3m from the African Development Bank and World Bank to prepare an infrastructure master plan for trade and transport in east Africa. A further US$1·5m has been budgeted to establish a Central Corridor agency to manage ...
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NewsQR on course to move freight throughout Australia
A transformation is taking place in Australian rail freight, as Queensland's state-owned railway emerges as the stronger of two major players and Pacific National seeks a new backer under Toll ownership. Richard Hope asked CEO Bob Scheuber where QR is heading now
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Extension takes East London Line from Underground to Overground
Due for completion in June 2010, Phase 1 of the East London Line extension programme will see one of London Underground's shortest routes become part of a new orbital link connecting the main line network north and south of the Thames
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DB reform proposals bring more shadows than light
Next month, a working party convened by the German transport ministry is due to come up with legislative proposals for the partial flotation of Deutsche Bahn. However, there are still many policy discrepancies, which may impact on the European strategy for greater liberalisation of the continent's railways
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TCDD celebrates as high speed line nears completion
Delegates attending two seminars in December to mark the 150th anniversary of railways in Turkey were able to inspect progress on the first sections of the Ankara - Istanbul high speed line, reports Felix Schmid, Associate Professor in Railway Systems Engineering at the University of Birmingham