All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1124
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News
Evergreen II completed on time
A CEREMONY at London’s Marylebone station on December 12 marked the completion of Chiltern Railways’ ?70m Evergreen II capacity expansion project. UK Transport Minister Tom Harris was joined for the ribbon-cutting by Laing Rail and Chiltern Chairman Adrian Shooter.Chiltern has largely completed a programme of improvements worth ?371m to which ...
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Czech electrification progress
DECEMBER 8 saw the start of 3?kV DC electric services on the 27?km single-track route between Ostrava-Svinov and Opava-V?chod in the Czech Republic, marking the completion of a KC1?73bn upgrading for 100?km/h operation, which has cut journey times by 15 to 20?min.It was the second Czech wiring scheme completed in ...
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Eddington report is music in Treasury ears
AS GNER’s ambitious InterCity East Coast franchise starts to fall apart (p6), Virgin Rail Group’s West Coast business is getting up and running again. On December 13, UK Secretary of State for Transport Douglas Alexander announced the end of the so-called ’Letter Agreement’ which has seen Virgin run West Coast ...
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A watchful eye
AN INTENSIVE security network is to be installed on 13?km of line through Washington DC, used by Virginia Railway Express, Amtrak and CSX, under a $10m pilot project being promoted by the US Department of Homeland Security.CCTV cameras will send live images to law-enforcement agencies and provide a permanent record ...
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Getting smarter
WMATA has awarded Cubic Transportation Systems an $11?6m contract to upgrade Washington DC’s rail, car park and bus payment systems to accept a common smart card and provide centralised transaction processing and reporting. Tri-Reader contactless readers will be installed at stations and car parks to expand acceptance of the SmarTrip ...
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Rail giant takes shape
A COMPANY described as the world’s leading rail producer is to be created with the US$2?3bn purchase of Oregon Steel Mills by the specially-formed Oscar Acquisition Merger subsidiary of Evraz Group, one of Russia’s largest vertically-integrated steelmakers.The Russian steel and mining company commenced a cash tender offer to purchase the ...
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Infrared at speed
Following two and a half years of development, FLIR Systems has developed an infrared thermographic camera capable of processing images taken from a train travelling at line speed. This advance should enable engineers to undertake thermal imaging of infrastructure without recourse to time-consuming and costly possessions. The ThermoVision SC6000HS can ...
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Japanese invest in US wagons
MARUBENI Corp and its US affiliate Marubeni America have acquired Illinois-based wagon lessor Midwest Railcar Corp, the Japanese firm announced on December 4. MRC was established in 1999, and now leases around 3 000 wagons to railways and freight shippers, provides a brokerage service and manages vehicles owned by third ...
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Three-dimensional lasers
Laser profile sensors are being employed in Russia by Infotrans to measure track wear. The sensors, developed by Micro-Epsilon, are used on Infotrans' inspection train to assess the state of RZD's track. The sensors build on existing track measurement technology by enabling profiling at speed as the inspection train passes. ...
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Uruguay launches parallel PPPs
URUGUAY’S MINISTRY of Transport & Public Works was due to open on December 18 for a period of one month a data room for companies preparing to bid for contracts to upgrade and maintain 962?km of the national rail network.Bidders will be expected to price for receiving 67% of the ...
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Overground shortlist
TRANSPORT for London announced on December 15 that it had shortlisted two consortia to submit ’best and final offers’ for the contract to operate London Overground services on the North and East London lines.Four groups were invited to tender in June. Govia and MTR Laing have been chosen to go ...
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Peaceful sleepers
SBB is to test concrete sleepers with a rubber base as it undertakes track renewals between Pratteln and Kaiseraugst. The trial of the sleepers is taking place alongside routine track replacement on the line, with 130 m of rubber-based concrete sleepers due to be laid. SBB hopes that the sleepers, ...
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Phone reader
SWIFTPASS has launched a handheld scanner which reads barcodes displayed on mobile phone screens as well as paper tickets. The 'tickets' do not need to be accurately aligned, and the display is readable in low light. Wi-fi links allow for real-time validation, and immediate feedback of information to operators. ...
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In search of speed supremacy
CONFIRMATION that the French are hoping to exceed the 515?3 km/h world speed record set up on May 18 1990 by TGV set 325 came on December 14 with a statement by the Ministry of Transport.Followed on December 18 by a media presentation about the future development of high speed ...
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News
Wires to Tanger
MOROCCAN railway administration ONCFM has awarded two contracts to Cegelec totalling €20m for electrification work on its two lines to Tanger. Signed in Paris on December 11, the first covers the erection of 150 track-km of 3 kV DC overhead line equipment between the junction at Msaada, near Sidi Kacem, ...
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High speed: TGV POS prepares to enter service
In readiness for the opening of TGV Est next June, Alstom is delivering multi-system TGV POS power cars equipped for operation in Germany and Switzerland. The latest addition to the TGV family features a powerful new transformer and regenerative braking. Laurent Charlier reports from Belfort
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Netherlands: Hanze Line construction ready to start
This winter work will begin on the Hanze Line, a 50 km link shortening the route from Amsterdam to the northern Dutch provinces. Peter Badcock describes the project, which under current government strategy will be the last new-build railway until 2020
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High speed: TGV Est set to hit the headlines in June
THE STAGE has been set for another chapter to be written in the 25-year history of France's TGV network. When the first 300 km of TGV Est between Vaires-sur-Marne and Baudrecourt opens on June 10, Strasbourg and around 20 other major towns and cities in eastern France will be connected ...
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High speed: Spanish network to grow by 500 km in 2006-07
During the course of 2007, high speed infrastructure is due to be brought into service to Barcelona, Málaga and Valladolid as investment continues at an average €7·7bn per annum, writes Robert Preston THE NEXT section of the high speed line between Madrid, Barcelona and the French border, comprising 82·5 km ...
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High speed: London joins the network on November 14
ON NOVEMBER 14 2007, London will finally be placed on Europe's rapidly-growing network of high speed railways. The opening of Section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link will take Eurostar trains at high speed into the heart of the capital, where they will terminate beneath Sir William Barlow's ...