All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1152
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Sachsen technology
THE FREE State of Sachsen has established Rail Technology Sachsen (BTS) as a joint venture to promote the supply industry in the German Land.To be managed by PricewaterhouseCoopers for three years, BTS aims to improve competitiveness and promote entrepreneurship, particularly among small and medium enterprises, and ’to extend the potential, ...
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Safe temperature
RAIL temperatures can be monitored remotely using Radio-Tech’s RTM, providing operators with early warning of potential track buckling on inaccessible sections of line without endangering staff.Up to eight non-invasive temperature probes are mounted on rails with any flat bottom profile, with each probe fitted in under a minute without needing ...
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Slovak shortlist
THIS MONTH is expected to see the announcement of the preferred bidder to take over ZSSK Cargo. Privatisation of the Slovakian freight operator began last year after train operator ZSSK was split into separate freight and passenger business units (RG 5.05 p241). The government hopes to raise at least KS15bn ...
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Spanish tenders
THE SPANISH Ministry of Development has been authorised to call tenders for further works on the emerging high speed network in the northeast of the country.Tenders are to be called for civil works on two sections of the connection between the Valencia - Barcelona route at Vandell
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Tehran tenders
REQUESTS for prequalification for two major rolling stock orders were issued by Tehran Urban & Suburban Railway Co at the end of January, with initial responses required by February 19.TUSRC is seeking an extra 455 cars for use on metro Lines 1 and 2, formed into 65 seven-car trainsets. To ...
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World Speed Survey 2005: The ones that got away!
MISSING a train can be traumatic, but sometimes there is a remedy. Missing the 8.55 Sunlander from Brisbane to Cairns in Queensland is no problem: the 11.00 Rockhampton Tilt overtakes it several hours down the track. Similarly, trains that were missed in my World Speed Survey 2005 (RG 11.05 p699) ...
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Chinese wires reach 20 000 km
THE INAUGURATION of electric operation on the 625 km Chongqing - Huaihua line on December 27 saw Chinese Railways’ length of electrified route pass the 20000 km mark.According to the China Railway Electrification Bureau, the current total of 20123 km gives the country the third largest electrified network in the ...
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Nahverkehrs Taschenbuch ’06
INTRO: PublicationsPUBLISHED annually since 1960, the latest edition of this three-volume German-language directory has been updated to November 9 2005. Volume I provides the addresses and lists the senior staff of German passenger and freight operators, related institutions and research centres. Consultants and suppliers are featured in the second volume, ...
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Intelligence February 2006
Africa: Botswana Railways CEO Andrew Lunga has announced that negotiations are underway with National Railways of Zimbabwe to reinstate the passenger service between Francistown and Bulawayo suspended in 1999. Three return trips would operate each week, with border formalities carried out on the trains. Argentina: The government ...
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k343m S-Bahn order
GERMAN Railway placed contracts with Bombardier and Alstom on December 28 for 78 four-car EMUs for the Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn, with an option for a further 72. Due for delivery between March 2008 and October 2010, the 140 km/h low-floor Class ET422 units will be used on route S7 from Düsseldorf ...
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Multiple interfaces ease access
RELEASE 4.0 of Spear 3i enterprise asset management software will be launched this year, with features to aid maintenance of moving, fixed and linear assets. The latest update includes a configurable web-accessible ’dashboard’ interface, providing a real-time graphical display of key performance indicators. Mobile Workforce Tablet applications enable staff to ...
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Yakutsk accord
DURING a visit to Yakutsk by President Putin on January 6, RZD President Vladimir Yakunin signed a co-operation accord with V Shimokhin, President of the regionally-owned Yakutsk Railway Co, supporting further construction of the Berkakit - Tommot - Yakutsk railway. RZD has already contributed 2m roubles towards the estimated 11m ...
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Major milestones mark ADIF’s first year
INTRO: Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias started life on January 1 2005 with responsibility for the management of the Spanish national network and the construction of new lines formally assigned to it by the Ministry of Development. Robert Preston asked President Antonio Gonz
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Orex upgrade moves ahead
WITH 2006 marking the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s heavy haul iron ore railway, Spoornet announced in December that it plans to strengthen the 50 kV power supply on the 861 km Sishen - Saldanha line. Additional substations are to be added to shorten the present electrical sections, allowing the ...
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More cars to serve Buenos Aires
ON JANUARY 5 Alstom Transport announced that the Argentinian government had ordered an additional 16 cars for the Buenos Aires metro, as an option on a contract for 80 cars awarded in 1999. Deliveries under this contract resumed in December 2004 (RG 1.05 p9), and six five-car trainsets are now ...
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Chiang Kai-Shek airport rail link contract signed
CONTRACTS were signed on January 12 for construction of the long-planned rail link between Taipei and Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport. Taiwan's Bureau of High Speed Rail has awarded the project to a Japanese consortium of Marubeni, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hitachi at an estimated cost of NT$25·5bn. Originally planned as ...
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Regulator rules Toll bid anti-competitive
ONJANUARY23 Toll Holdings wrote to shareholders in its rival Patrick Corp extending the deadline for its A$4·6bn hostile bid (RG 1.06 p5) to February 13.Toll said it had also agreed to ’certain procedural undertakings in order to facilitate its ongoing discussions’ with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, after ACCC ...
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Ensuring asset continuity
ASSET-PRO is in the advanced stages of developing a hosted software package for the management of train maintenance, ensuring that records can be passed from one franchisee to another when operating concessions are re-awarded.Managing Director John Orchard said ’if we are to ensure that maintenance records are not lost when ...
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Auckland upgrade financed
INVESTMENT worth between NZ$450m and NZ$600m to upgrade Auckland’s suburban rail infrastructure was announced on December 20 by Finance Minister Dr Michael Cullen and Transport Minister David Parker.At present Land Transport New Zealand and Auckland Regional Transport Authority share the cost of the suburban network 60:40. Under the latest agreement, ...