All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1347
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News
Super Soya tilts to the north
PASSENGERS in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido are reaping the benefits of the country’s latest build of tilting diesel multiple-units. Marketed as Super Soya, the four-car Series 261 sets have cut the journey time between Sapporo and Wakkanai by 54min to 4h 58min.The new trains are the final development in ...
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More twists in ore tale
ANGLO American’s failure last month to outbid Rio Tinto in its hostile take-over of mining group North appeared to seal the fate of the 342 km railway planned by Robe River Iron Associates to exploit its West Angelas iron ore concession in Western Australia (RG 8.00 p457). However, this interpretation ...
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PEOPLE
Mihai Necolaiciuc has been appointed General Manager of Romanian infrastructure operator CFR SA in succession to Viorel Simut; he was formerly Manager of CFR’s Iasi region. Miss Anca Boagiu has taken over as Transport Minister, succeeding Traian Basescu who has become Mayor of Bucuresti.Alexander S Misharin has been appointed Senior ...
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Plovdiv - Svilengrad upgrading
BULGARIAN State Railway is to call tenders shortly for upgrading of its 156 km main line serving the southeast of the country, at an estimated cost of US$340m. Modernisation of the Plovdiv - Svilengrad route is due to start early next year for completion by June 2005. The line forms ...
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Pointers
n Look for Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano and his Malawi counterpart Bakili Muluzi to launch officially the Nacala Corridor this month, to encourage development along the Blantyre - Nacala line now operated by concessionaire Central East African Railway.n Vietnam Railways has launched a five-year investment plan valued at 5700bn dong; ...
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PR sets tight upgrading timetable
SEPTEMBER 15 sees the formal inauguration of a new Marketing Department at Pakistan Railways, one of a range of initiatives launched by Chairman Lt-Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi at the request of the government. The department is intended to put PR’s activities onto a more commercial basis, including the leasing out ...
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Russians press on with reform
AT THE end of August the Board of Russia’s Ministry of Railways expected to authorise implementation of the second stage of the national railway reform programme. The ’Concept of Structural Reforms of the Russian Railways’ was formally approved by government in 1998 (RG3.98 p138), and this has now been substantially ...
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Publications
Stadtbahn in Deutschland: Innovativ - Flexibel - AttraktivWritten by the German Association of Transport Undertakings and sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building & Housing, this comprehensive study reviews light rail developments in Germany over the past 30 years. With text in German and English, the 490 pages include ...
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Track recording trolley
ENGINEERING Technology 2000 has developed the Autograph track geometry measuring trolley, a battery-powered self-propelled unit which records at up to 4 km/h. It can be dismantled for transport in the boot of a car. Operated by remote control, the Autograph is equipped with an on-board PC in a weatherproof housing ...
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ZSR renewals
SLOVAK Republic Railways announced in July that it plans to invest SK21bn in modernisation of its rolling stock over the next five years. With 64% of its coaches and 80% of wagons more than 20 years old, replacement or refurbishment is becoming essential.ZSR is about to call tenders for 20 ...
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Train times by WAPphone
Railtrack announced on August 3 the launch of a timetable enquiry service for users of WAP mobile phones. Following an agreement with software company Kizoom, the estimated 500000 users of WAP phones in Great Britain can now access Railtrack’s well-established internet service at www.railtrack.co.uk/i.wml. They will also be able to ...
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IM2000 to monitor Spoornet infrastructure
ON JUNE 29 Spoornet Chief Executive Officer Zandile Jakavula formally took delivery of South Africa’s first high-tech Infrastructure Measuring Car from Hermann H
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Line 9 approved
BARCELONA’s Metropolitan Transport Authority has approved plans to build a 35 km orbital metro line linking the city’s eastern, northern and western suburbs (MR 00 p30). The formal endorsement of Line 9 enables the Catalunya regional government to apply for European Union cohesion funding towards the estimated costs of Pts180bn ...
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AC diesels roll out
ON JUNE 28 the first of two prototype diesel locos being built for Chinese Railways was rolled out of the Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works. Derived from the proven DF4d, the six-axle 4000hp locos are part of CR’s strategy to develop AC transmissions, being equipped with the latest Siemens ...
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Dizzy after whizzy ride
CHINESE Premier Zhu Rongji levitated on July 2 at up to 400 km/h on the Transrapid maglev guideway in Germany’s Emsland. He was clearly impressed by his experience, although he confessed to suffering from ’a little dizziness’ after the trip, on which he was accompanied by German Transport Minister Reinhard ...
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Madrid heads south again
ON JULY 11, the Transport Secretary for the Madrid regional government, Luis Eduardo Cortés, announced plans for a further suburban rail branch, linking Atocha with the town of San Martín de la Vega, approximately 22 km south of the capital. Due to be built over an 18-month period at a ...
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Chopped again
ON JULY 10 the Queensland government announced it was dropping plans for a light rail line in central Brisbane. This is the second time that local politicians have ditched a light rail scheme for the state capital, the first occasion being when bids for a 14 km Briztram route (RG ...
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STB wins another round
DESPITE last minute lobbying efforts, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Canadian National have lost the court battle to overturn a government suspension of railway mergers. On July 14 the Court of Appeals in Washington ruled 2:1 that the Surface Transportation Board was legally empowered to impose such a moratorium and ...
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Smart cards arrive in Paris
PARIS Transport Authority and French National Railways’ Ile de France business announced on July 11 that they had selected two suppliers for a programme to introduce smart card ticketing across the city’s metro, rail and bus networks.RATP has awarded a Fr60m contract to Ascom for the conversion of around 2000 ...
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Touch-screen ticket vending arrives
PASSENGERS on the London Underground had their first chance to use touch-screen ticket vending machines this summer. Installed by the TranSys consortium, the first machines replaced the existing Multifare TVMs at Temple and West Brompton stations. Over 60 stations were to be equipped by the end of July, and around ...