All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1309
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News
Estonian privatisation completed
THE long-running privatisation of Estonian State Railways was finally completed on August 31, with the sale of a 66% stake in Eesti Raudtee (EVR) to the Baltic Rail Services OÜ joint venture for US$58m. The deal follows the signing on April 30 of a provisional agreement with the Estonian Privatisation ...
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Reservations computerised
AUSTRALIAN firm OneRail has developed a point-and-click computerised booking system for use by travel agents, marketed as Orion. Originally developed to replace an ageing mainframe legacy system at VIA Rail Canada, Orion is also used by Queensland Rail, State Rail Authority of New South Wales and Orient Express Trains. The ...
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Doubling contract
SOUTHERN FLORIDA’s Tri-County Commuter Rail Authority has awarded a $231·6m contract for further double-tracking work on the Miami - Fort Lauderdale - West Palm Beach corridor. Segment 5 of the operator’s upgrading programme was awarded to Tri-County Rail Constructors on August 24. The group is a joint venture of Herzog ...
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Corsican upgrade
THE REGIONAL government in Corsica has reached agreement in principle with French National Railways for a major upgrading of the 232 route-km network by 2005. Over €100m will be invested to cut 1h off the present 3h 40min journey time between Ajaccio and Bastia. SNCF has operated the metre-gauge network ...
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Euro-Interlocking promises lower life-cycle costs
INTRO: Europe’s railways are plagued with a host of different mechanical, electrical and electronic interlockings. A pan-European programme to standardise functional requirements and interface specifications will cut costs through the use of common equipment and enable railways to harness emerging technology more easilyBYLINE: Niklaus K
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Lower locomotive fuel costs
FUEL savings and lower emissions are promised by the use of an auxiliary power unit on large American diesel locos. A prototype APU was demonstrated by CSX Transportation on August 9. The diesel-fuelled APU automatically shuts down the main locomotive engine when the train is stopped, but provides power to ...
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Curve lubricants
A high performance lubricant to prevent track and wheel flange wear on curves has been developed by ITW Polymers & Fluids. Rocol Rail Curve Grease contains graphite dispersed in highly refined mineral oil, with a lithium thickener. It is non-flammable, and offers a working temperature range of -10°C to 150°C. ...
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Pendolinos expand
FINNISH Railways will increase its range of Pendolino services on October 22, when new tilting EMUs will replace InterCity2 trains on three daily Helsinki - Tampere - Jyväskylä services.VR is taking delivery of eight more Italian-built Pendolino sets to augment its two locally-built prototypes. The first new trains entered service ...
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Safety regulation to be expanded
MAJOR changes to the way safety on Britain’s rail network is regulated and managed were proposed by Lord Cullen on September 20, in Part 2 of his report into the collision at Ladbroke Grove which killed 31 people on October 5 1999. All 74 recommendations were immediately accepted by Transport ...
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Terror fall-out will be long-lasting
JUST WHAT long-term effects the appalling terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11 will have on the rail business is hard to foresee. Washington metro stations at the Pentagon and National Airport closed immediately, but reopened next day, with restricted access at the Pentagon.In New York all ...
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Fast train shortlist
THE AUSTRALIAN state of Victoria shortlisted five consortia in mid-September for the A$550m Fast Rail Links project (RG 10.00 p660). This involves upgrading of 500 route-km on the lines from Melbourne to Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the LaTrobe Valley.The five consortia are: Thiess-Alstom Joint Venture, Fastrax Victoria (Leighton Contractors), BLM ...
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Finance
China: China International Trust & Investment Corp has provided a 1bn yuan loan to the Shanghai Transrapid project.Iran: Officials confirmed onSeptember 12 that final terms had been agreed for Chinese banks to provide US$100m for a 25 km extension of the Tehran Suburban Railway from Mehrshahr near Karaj to Hashgerd; ...
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MBTA fleet renewal
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has awarded a $172m contract to Siemens Transportation Systems Inc to supply a new fleet of 94 metro cars for Boston’s heavy metro Blue line. Due for delivery from 2003, the new vehicles will replace 70 cars built by Hawker Siddeley of Canada in 1978-80, and ...
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LA flyover opened
Pulling a ceremonial lever to switch a signal to green, US Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta inaugurated the Redondo Junction Grade Separation in southeast Los Angeles on August 21. Allowing speeds of 80 km/h, the double-track flyover carries Metrolink and Amtrak passenger trains into LA Union Station above the future ...
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Train theft foiled
TEXAS police have arrested a man accused of attempting to steal a 107-wagon Union Pacific grain train. Seeing the train idling at a station, he boarded it and released the locomotive brakes. However, finding himself unable to release the train brakes, he radioed the crew of an oncoming train for ...
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Gauteng pulls investors
STRONG interest was shown in plans to develop a high speed railway in South Africa’s Gauteng province (RG 3.01 p146) at the delayed investor conference held in Johannesburg on September 7-8. Among companies present were Bombardier, Skoda, Alstom, Siemens, RATP of Paris, and Nisho Iwai, representing Mitsubishi and Hitachi; Gauteng ...
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Great Lakes rail study
PROPOSALS to develop a rail network serving Africa’s Great Lakes region have been unveiled by Uganda’s Ministry of Tourism, Trade & Industry, following a meeting of transport and communications ministers in the Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa. Comesa has commissioned Makhosi Holdings of South Africa to undertake a ...
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Gwadar link in PR plans
THE CONSTRUCTION of a 400 km rail link from Dalbadin on the Quetta - Zahedan line to the port of Gwadar forms a key element in an Rs6bn programme for developing the Pakistan Railways network. PR Chairman Saeeduz Zafar said on August 23 that surveys for the route had been ...
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Multi-mode information
XEPHOS is a transport information database, intended to give call centres and ticket agents access to multi-modal public transport timetable and service data for Great Britain.Interchange times are taken into account, and fares and routing data can be added. A demonstration version is running with train operator c2c, showing all ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Australia: Victoria Department of Infrastructure will shortlist three bidders for a A$300m redevelopment and operation of Melbourne’s Spencer Street station this month. A winner will be announced early next year.Austria: Graz-K