All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1292
-
News
Stockholm expansion plan
Greater Stockholm County Council’s Transport Planning Committee unveiled a 15-year programme of urban rail and road investment proposals on January 19. The so-called Dennis Packet is costed at around SKr100bn, but the final shape of the financing package is not likely to be settled until after the national elections in ...
-
News
Finance
Azerbaijan: The state budget has allocated 40bn manats for the procurement of 25 to 30 carriages for the Baku metro.Belgium: SNCB subsidiary ABX Logistics is expected to receive a €250m cash injection this year. With the aim of moving into profit from 2003, restructuring is likely to include the sale ...
-
News
International joint venture refurbishes first loco
RUSSIAN locomotive refubishment joint venture KRP Invest has completed the overhaul and upgrading of the first of 800 electric locos for Russian Railways, under a US$1bn contract signed in December 2000 (RG 2.01 p85). The Yaroslavl-based firm is scheduled to refurbish 100 locos this year.KRP Invest is 49·9% owned by ...
-
News
Goninan to maintain TKE fleet
AUSTRALIAN engineering services company United Group announced on January 22 that it had been awarded a seven-year contract to maintain and service the rolling stock for Hong Kong MTR Corp’s Tseung Kwan O Extension (RG 2.02 p93). The deal is valued at over A$40m, and lifts the proportion of United’s ...
-
News
GTW orders keep flowing
THE FIRST of 17 articulated GTW2/8 electric railcars being built for Swiss Federal Railways was rolled out at the Bussnang works of Stadler AG on March 1 (below). An initial batch of 11 is due to enter service this summer on SBB’s Seetal line between Luzern and Lenzburg, and the ...
-
News
ZSR split formalised
SLOVAK Republic Railways emerged from restructuring on January 1 as two separate businesses. State-owned ZSR continues to manage the national rail infrastructure and assets such as real estate, while ancillary businesses will be divested in three stages to 17 service companies for eventual sale. Operations and commercial affairs have passed ...
-
News
Tunnel freight threat grows
A FUTILE gesture, doubtless intended to help SNCF and English Welsh & Scottish Railway cope with strangulation of international freight operations through the Channel Tunnel, saw British Home Secretary David Blunkett lift the £2000 fines imposed from March 1 2001 for each illegal immigrant reaching England on a freight train. ...
-
News
Freight locos uprated
LAST MONTH was due to see the roll-out from German Railway’s Chemnitz works of the first reconditioned Class V290 diesel locomotive for DB Cargo. Over the next six years, 398 locos of Classes V290 and V294 are to be repowered. Voith Turbo has modified two L206rs transmissions with high-capacity gears ...
-
News
More Swiss funds in prospect
ON MARCH 8 the Swiss government approved draft legislation covering the second phase of the ambitious Bahn 2000 programme, auguring further development of the national rail network. At the same time it set the financial parameters for a performance contract with Swiss Federal Railways to cover the period from 2003 ...
-
News
Regionalisation gathers pace
On March 13 SNCF President Louis Gallois initialled an agreement with the Rh
-
News
Glatttal light rail go-ahead
TENDERING is expected to get underway shortly for construction of the planned Glatt Valley light rail network serving Oerlikon, Kloten and Wallisellen to the north of Zürich. At the end of January the federal and cantonal government approved a SFr555m public contribution towards the infrastructure works. Up to SFr80m will ...
-
News
ITCS goes live
CHICAGO - Detroit passenger services were accelerated on January 14, when Amtrak commissioned its pilot Incremental Train Control System in southwest Michigan (RG 8.96 p496). Trains are now permitted to run at 145 km/h between New Buffalo and Kalamazoo, in the first significant increase in passenger train speeds above 127 ...
-
News
No pneus is good pneus
WE ARE accustomed to the changes of fortune and politics that so often impede the progress of light rail schemes. The high infrastructure cost can result in a political football game between pro and anti-spending lobbies. Usually, though, once the trams are able to show off their advantages, all is ...
-
News
Singapore grows
REVENUE services on the Singapore metro extension to Changi Airport began on February 8, two days after the line was handed over to Singapore MRT Ltd by the Land Transport Authority.Construction of the two-station branch began in January 1999. The first section as far as Expo was opened on January ...
-
News
TGV powers SNCF growth
DESPITE the effects of September 11 and a slowdown in economic activity, income from SNCF’s long-distance passenger business grew by 5·9% in 2001. Stimulated by the successful launch of TGV Méditerranée, which carried 11 million passengers in its first seven months of operation, TGV revenue rose 11·4% to reach €2·7bn. ...
-
News
Russia marries structural reform to higher investment
INTRO: Legislation currently being drafted will separate the Russian Railway Company from the Ministry of Railway Transport, which retains regulatory functions. More changes will follow, but for now the priority is to overcome a huge backlog of under-investment dating from the Soviet era, particularly inmotive power and rolling stockBYLINE: Victor ...
-
News
Hitachi test train
HAVING been shortlisted with Alstom and Bombardier to supply 180 cars for the Connex South Eastern ’Metro’ inner-suburban EMU project, Hitachi has launched a test project with UK consultants AEA Technology Rail, Babcock & Brown, and leasing company HSBC Rail.Preliminary work in Japan has included crashworthiness tests to UKRailway Group ...
-
News
Investment priorities switched
FOLLOWING strong criticism of ambitious investment plans for Russian Railways drawn up by former Minister of Rail Transport Nikolai Aksyonenko, his successor Gennadi Fadeyev has realigned the priorities for improvements to the 86031 km network (p136). The planned fixed link to the island of Sakhalin has been put on a ...
-
News
Turnround in Italy
ANNOUNCING Italian State Railways’ preliminary financial results for 2001 on February 12, President & Chief Executive Giancarlo Cimoli proudly stated that the national railway had made a ’net profit’ of €20m compared with a loss of €683m in the previous year. The preliminary figures give FS a gross operating margin ...
-
News
Radiolignes keeps SNCF passengers in the picture
ON JANUARY 30 French National Railways launched its Radiolignes service for main line passengers. By dialling a single telephone number, passengers can listen to a summary of train running performance for TGV and other inter-city trains across the SNCF network, followed by details of timekeeping by region, route or specific ...