All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1348
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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 ...
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ATB tangle hits Dutch
THIS is the year by which Railned was to fit automatic train protection throughout the Dutch network, and all trains down to the level of track maintenance machines were to be equipped. It is not going to happen, but the transport ministry’s bungling attempts to impose deadlines, coupled with draconian ...
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Automated metro washer
As part of its contract to supply rolling stock for the Tehran Metro, China’s Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry Corp has also supplied an automated train washer developed by the Harbin Railway Institute of Science & Technology. The unit will clean both car ends, roof and sides; at a passing ...
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Regional AVEs
SPANISH National Railways has called tenders for a fleet of high speed trains for short distance services. The Madrid - Ciudad Real shuttles worked by the original AVE fleet have proved very popular, and Renfe plans to introduce similar services between other city pairs such as Córdoba - Sevilla and ...
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BCV and JNP shortlists
UK: London Underground announced on July 5 the shortlist of bidders for the two deep-level infrastructure companies being formed under the Public-Private Partnership, following the submission of bids on March 31. LINC and Metronet have been shortlisted for Infraco BCV (Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines), with Tube Lines Group and ...
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Beijing extends
REGULAR services began running on the Beijing metro eastern extension to Bawangfen with effect from June 24, completing an eight-year project costed at 7·5bn yuan. The line had originally been intended to open in 1996, but was delayed by funding problems. Test running began on the 10·7 km section between ...
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Wake-up call on the Betuwe Route
ALTHOUGH work is under way, the 9·5bn guilders project to build a high capacity freight railway from Rotterdam to the German frontier appears to have turned sour. The financial press pointed out in June that discussions with 74 companies had failed to produce one willing to invest - not even ...
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St Louis boost
UPGRADING of Amtrak’s St Louis - Chicago corridor is set to get under way, with the award of a contract for the installation of Positive Train Control equipment under the AAR-led joint test programme (RG 6.00 p359). On June 21 the federal Department of Transportation announced that a consortium led ...
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Simulator boosts Channel Tunnel safety
A major advance in the way programmed logic and interactive visual displays are used to handle emergencies in the Channel Tunnel was demonstrated on June 15, when Eurotunnel formally opened its Rail Control Centre simulator at the Folkestone terminal. The simulator has been developed as a turnkey project by Alstom ...
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Passenger News in Brief
On July 11 VIA Rail Canada put into service the first three of five Northern Spirit sleeping cars which are being refurbished for its thrice-weekly Winnipeg - The Pas - Churchill service to remote communities west of Hudson’s Bay. VIA has invested C$1m in buying and refurbishing the second-hand stock, ...
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Melbourne - Brisbane study
AUSTRALIAN Transport Minister John Anderson announced on July 15 that he had approved an A$5m feasibility study into the construction of a 1800 km high-capacity rail freight link between Melbourne and Brisbane. Promoted by the private sector, the Australian Transport & Energy Corridor is costed at A$1·4bn; Macquarie Bank announced ...
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Car-carrier comeback
WORK began on construction of the southern section of the 57 km Gotthard base tunnel on July 10 with a ceremonial blast at the Bodio worksite, where a 1·2 km access shaft will take tunnellers to the alignment of the main bore. The base tunnel will not open until 2012, ...
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Swiss tilt at catering innovation
JULY 6 saw the introduction of restaurant cars on Swiss Federal Railways’ tilting ICN trains between Lausanne, Biel, Zürich and St Gallen. Each unit includes a wheelchair-accessible restaurant car, operated by Mitropa Suisse SA. The vehicle has a 23-seat dining section, kitchen and buffet, decked out in ’warm and friendly ...
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Chinese Railways develops traction to meet market needs
INTRO: The latest diesel and electric locomotives developed in China for high speed and heavy haul service offer dramatic advances in performance over earlier designsBYLINE: Kang XiongAssistant Vice President, China Academy of Railway SciencesIN THE LAST decade Chinese Railways has made considerable efforts to develop its own motive power. Both ...
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Wien chosen as MoMo test site
INTRO: A 1 km test track in Wien is being used to trial the second generation of cars for the city’s expanding U-Bahn. Ralf Roman Rossberg reports that they also the first trains to be built using the modular principles in the Siemens MoMo conceptWHEN WIEN launched U-Bahn services between ...
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Polish Citadis rolls out
THE FIRST of 17 steel-bodied Citadis 100 low-floor trams for the Polish city of Katowice was rolled out at Alstom’s Konstal plant on June 30 (above). The cars are destined to operate PKT’s 20 km route from Katowice to Bytom via Chorzów, which is being upgraded to light rail standards ...
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Interoperability moves closer
AT ITS ANNUAL meeting in Paris on June 30, the Union of European Railway Supply Industry Associations (Unife) signed a formal accord with the International Union of Railways (UIC) and the Community of European Railways (CER) to establish a permanent secretariat for the European Association for Railway Interoperability (AEIF). Since ...
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MTR in company
HONG KONG metro operator MTR Corp has been restructured as a limited company - MTR Corporation Ltd - with effect from June 30, paving the way for the government’s planned sale of a minority shareholding later this year. MTR’s Standard & Poor’s rating outlook was revised from ’developing’ ...
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Vote foreshadows more competition
AMONG THOSE who have vowed to force Europe’s national railways to face up to the calls for competition are a determined core of politicians who understand that the decline in rail freight’s market share to just 14% of tonne-km must be reversed. Another tiny step was taken on July 5 ...
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LA completes Red line
THE FINAL 10·1 km of the Los Angeles Red line heavy metro from Hollywood & Vine to North Hollywood was dedicated on June 23, ending a troubled project that has taken 13 years to complete (MR 99 p15). During the ceremonies at North Hollywood, Mayor Richard Riordan described the occasion ...