All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1341
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News
Asturias triangle
VISITING Gijón in August, Spanish Minister of Development Francisco Álvarez Cascos, Renfe President Miguel Corsini and his Feve counterpart Eugenio Damboriena unveiled plans for a regional and commuter network designated Metrotrén de Asturias.Designed to reduce road congestion in the triangle linking Gijón, Oviedo and Avilés, the scheme envisages closer integration ...
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Better productivity would help
REPEATED cries from German Railway Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn about the poverty of his company have brought a favourable response from Transport Minister Reinhard Klimmt. Speaking at the opening of the InnoTrans exhibition on September 12 in Berlin, Klimmt confirmed that he would be allocating additional investment funding to DB worth ...
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Four bidders in HSL Zuid race
AS SOON AS registration closed at 15.00 on September 15, Netherlands Transport Minister Tineke Netelenbos confirmed that four consortia had applied for the concession to operate services on HSL Zuid. The four groups were given until 10.00 on October 2 to submit formal qualification documents.The international field includes a mix ...
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Blue line partnership
BANGKOK Metro Co Ltd has selected the Nippon-Euro Subway Consortium as a partner in its 25-year concession to build and operate the city’s Blue line heavy metro. Tunnelling is already well advanced for the 20 km line between Hualampong and Bang Sue, which is scheduled to open in 2004. The ...
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Bridge inspection platform
THE BCR 100 bridge inspection and repair platform provides ready access to the underside of multi-track spans, avoiding the need for hanging scaffolding, or permanent rails supporting a travelling platform for inspecting each structure. The machine was designed specifically to meet a requirement set by substantial new bridges being erected ...
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Passenger News in Brief
VIA Rail Canada has launched VIA eSchedule, an electronic timetable suitable for use on PCs and laptops as well as hand-held devices using the Palm
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Industry in Brief
Canada: Stella Jones International is to buy up the remaining 30% of sleeper manufacturer Stella-Jones Inc that is currently in public ownership. Shareholders will be offered C$3·10 in cash for each share.Czech Republic: The government was expected to approve last month a restructuring plan for engineering group Skoda, which would ...
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Products in Brief
An anti-graffiti film that can be applied to glazed and smooth surfaces is being offered to train and station operators by CPFilms. Llumar GraffitiShield protects windows and surfaces from malicious or accidental damage by pens, paint and even sharp objects. The coating is visibly marked so the vandal believes the ...
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City News in Brief
Guangzhou Metro Corp has ordered 26 six-car trains for Line 2, which is due to open in 2003-04. To be built by a joint venture of Adtranz and Changchun Car Co, they will use the Adtranz Movia modular design, with aluminium bodies and 1·5 kV DC IGBT inverter drives. Under ...
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S-Bahn stock builder picked
AUSTRIAN Federal Railways has chosen Bombardier and Elin as preferred suppliers for a fleet of three-car trainsets for the Wien S-Bahn. They are intended to replace existing stock and to provide more frequent services on an expanding network, including the S7 route to Schwechat airport now being revamped.The number of ...
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RER C extended
ON AUGUST 28 French National Railways inaugurated a 9 km extension of Paris RER Line C from Montigny-Beauchamp to Pontoise, with intermediate stations at Pierrelaye and St-Ouen l’Aum
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Climbing the stairs
THIS YEAR’S edition of our annual supplement Metro Report included a cautionary tale about Line 3 of the Manila light rail network. Traffic was well below expectations because, to save construction costs, the design had been pared to the bone, with access to most of the elevated platforms only by ...
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KRC sale closer
Finance Minister Chrisanthus Okemo announced on August 29 that six consultancy groups had been shortlisted to advise the government on the privatisation of Kenya Railways Corp, which is due to be completed by the end of 2002. Approved by the World Bank, the six are:
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Three-stage reform lays the foundations of competition
INTRO: A phased programme of structural reforms of Russia’s railways will culminate in the launch of independent companies that will compete for passenger and freight traffic against a national state-owned operator to be known as RZD Ltd. Boris Lukov reports from MoscowOn August 16 the Board of Russia’s Ministry of ...
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Metrorail concession
AT THE END of August, South African Rail Commuter Corp signed its long-awaited concession agreement with operating contractor Metrorail, setting an annual subsidy of about R800m. Under discussion since 1995, the deal has been delayed by concerns over job losses.By moving from deficit-support to a fixed price contract, the agreement ...
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RegioCom improves DB connections
Following successful trials in northern Bavaria, DB Regio is to roll out the RegioCom system for all its conductors across Germany by May 2001. Developed by the DB consultancy arm TLC, RegioCom is a GSM-based communications system which enables on-train staff to notify a control centre of delays. It also ...
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Express Rail Link construction in full swing
With 18 months to go before the opening of Kuala Lumpur's airport rail link, civil works are nearing completion and tracklaying is getting under way
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Gauge conversion returns
JUST over a quarter of a century ago, we raised editorial eyebrows about the decision by General Gowon of Nigeria to convert the national rail network from 1067 to 1435mm gauge. The plans went the way of many similar proposals, but the idea has now been resurrected. Information Minister Prof ...
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NSW Freight Corp to be sold
PLANS to privatise Australia’s principal standard-gauge freight operators have been shaken up by a surprise proposal to sell the New South Wales owned Freight Corp. Despite earlier commitments not to privatise the business, the NSW Labour administration voted on September 7 to dispose of Freight Corp to whichever bidder is ...
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Cost optimisation matches demand and resources
INTRO: From low-budget lines for low-density cities to intensely-operated networks, the variety of light rail lines around the Pacific Rim demonstrates the great flexibility of the mode. Critical for success has been the ability to tailor each application to the specific operating and financial needs of its communityBYLINE: John Schumann ...