All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1305
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Boldness needed
FURTHER DETAILS are emerging about the Rakesh Mohan committee’s report into restructuring of Indian Railways (RG 9.01 p557). Speaking to The Hindu Business Line, Dr Mohan put much of the blame for IR’s current financial problems on poor investment decisions in the last decade, in particular the gauge conversion programme ...
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Double-layer capacitors store surplus braking energy
INTRO: Electricity savings exceeding 20% have been recorded in tests on K
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Brave Efforrt collapses
FROM October 1, the OverNight Express that was launched in May 2000 as a mixed passenger and freight operation between Amsterdam and Milano ceased to carry freight. It then became just another sleepers and seats operation, but that too was due to be withdrawn from October 28.Six months ago, ONE ...
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Industry News in Brief
Siemens Duewag Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH and Siemens Krauss Maffei Lokomotiven GmbH were formally merged into Siemens AG with effect from October 1.International Engineering plc and Queensland Rail are planning to bid jointly for expansion and rebuilding projects on the State Railway of Thailand network. International Engineering is also planning to invest ...
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Bureaucratic overkill
Sir - The Institute of Logistics & Transport’s report Railway Health & Safety Regulatory Strategy (RG 10.01 p664) appears to be a most apt and timely warning against the bureaucratic safety overkill that has been inflicted on Britain’s railways over the last decade or so. Indeed, Part 2 of Lord ...
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Byers sees 'a golden opportunity'
UK: Far from showing signs of contrition over the storm and upheaval that his October 7 decision had generated, Secretary of State for Transport Stephen Byers told the House of Commons on October 15 that 'the administration of Railtrack provides us with a golden opportunity to create a railway system ...
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Calgary light rail grows
CEREMONIES were held on October 5 to dedicate the first extension of Calgary’s C-Train light rail network to be completed in 11 years. The 3·5 km, two-station extension of the south line to Canyon Meadows and Fish Creek-Lacombe (146 Avenue) opened for revenue service on October 9, following the Canadian ...
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Developing a standard metro car
INTRO: As the number of metros in South Korea increases, the range of vehicle types in use has proliferated. Following extensive research, specifications have been developed for a future standard metro trainset BYLINE: Kwan-Sup LeeDirector General, Urban Transit Engineering Department, Korea Railroad Research InstituteNOW undergoing safety and reliability tests on ...
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Research centre ready
EAST JAPAN Railway is to open a new technical research & development centre in December, built at a total cost of ´6·6bn. The facility is located at Omiya, 30 km north of Tokyo, on the site of a former training centre which has been moved north to Shirakawa. JR-East will ...
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CTRL charges too high, says Gallois
SNCF President Louis Gallois asserted last month that high track access charges for using the Channel Tunnel Rail Link 'will make it hard to have a viable Eurostar service' into St Pancras when Section 2 is completed in 2007. He also told the Financial Times that 'we will lose Waterloo' ...
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Wagon checking
LYNXRAIL has commissioned an Automated Train Examiner for BHP Iron Ore Railways. It uses machine vision technology and expert system software to measure component wear, detecting and reporting critical faults.Installed at the lineside, ATEx works at speeds up to 140 km/h. As a train passes, cameras and microphones take 135 ...
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Managing clients
Sir - I am a final year student on the University of Reading’s MBA course on Construction & Real Estate and I am in the early days of a dissertation entitled ’Managing the client in railway construction projects’.The hypothesis which I am seeking to prove is that the role of ...
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Forstinger favours on-rail competition ...
SPEAKING at the IRCA-UIC World Railway Congress in Wien on September 25, held jointly with the European Conference of Ministers of Transport, Austrian Transport Minister Dipl-Ing Dr Monika Forstinger announced a 30-year National Transport Plan. Of a total spend of Sch644bn, as much as Sch400bn is earmarked for rail, although ...
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Ensuring consistency and continuity
INTRO: Over the past six months, the stake-holders in the European Rail Research Institute have been reviewing its long-term role in the changing shape of railway researchBYLINE: Drs Gunnar GustafssonManaging Director,European Rail Research InstituteCHANGE has become a way of life for the world’s railways, sweeping through the industry for a ...
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NS contract delayed
NETHERLANDS Transport Minister Tineke Netelenbos has agreed to postpone the start of Netherlands Railways’ 10-year operating contract, to give the railway time to recover from its current performance problems (RG 9.01 p555). Under the deal, NS will be given a ’pre-franchise’ monopoly of the core network, with the minister reserving ...
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Istanbul tunnel and metro contracts to be signed
TURKEY: The Railway, Port & Airport Construction Directorate was expected to sign a contract with Eurasia Joint Venture by the end of October, covering consultancy and engineering services for the Marmaray Bosporus rail crossing. Preparation of tender documents for the construction work is expected to take eight months, and construction ...
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Freight corridor
UPGRADING WORK IS to start shortly to create a new rail freight corridor through the French region of Lorraine, following the signing of a €125m financing agreement between RFF and the regional council on September 28. The government will provide €62·5m, Lorraine €37·1m and RFF €18·3m.The 150 km line between ...
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Hybrid shunter lowers costs and emissions
RAILPOWER Technologies Corp demonstrated its first ’Green Goat’ hybrid microturbine/battery electric shunting locomotive in New Westminster, British Columbia, on September 5. The 130 tonne loco offers a 50% to 90% reduction in nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions and up to a 35% reduction in fuel consumption compared with conventional shunters.Green ...
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Cross-border progress
PLANNING for construction of a standard-gauge rail link across the Pyrenees between Perpignan and Figueres moved forward on October 9, when the French government issued a Declaration of Public Utility for the line as far as the border at Le Perthus. Intended to carry both freight and passenger services, the ...
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Cutting rail noise
CURRENTLY on trial with SNCF are tuned steel bars bonded to the web and foot of a rail by a high-integrity damage- resistant polymer, to reduce radiated noise. The absorbers can be installed on existing track or when the rails are made.Corus Rail developed the technique with Southampton University, ...