All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1349
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News
SA concessions
AFTER four years of debate, South Africa’s Transport Minister Dullah Omar announced on June 20 that the government was ready to start concessioning the operation of rail services administered by South Africa Rail Commuter Corp. A pilot project covering the East Rand network will be launched by the end of ...
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Montreal management contract
Sir - We were interested to read your article on Montreal’s commuter rail expansion (MR 00 p43). Unfortunately, the comment that ’AMT subsidiary Gesproex specifies service levels on various routes...’ does not represent the correct position.In 1992, AMT awarded a contract to a joint venture known as SLIG, comprising SNC-Lavalin, ...
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Remote crossing monitoring
New South Wales rail infrastructure authority Railway Services Agency has introduced remote monitoring of equipment at isolated level crossings around the network, using digital cellular technology provided by Call Direct Cellular Solutions.Providing two-way communication and allowing the collection of real-time information, the Remote Monitoring Unit was originally developed to allow ...
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Cutting noise and smoothing the ride
Commercial demands for a better ride and political pressure to reduce lineside noise present engineers with fresh challenges in bogie design
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Railcar deal
THE NETHERLANDS government has allocated 31m guilders for upgrading the rural branch from Zutphen to Winterswijk and Doetinchem, ready for the introduction of lightweight railcars next year. The route was one of 33 unprofitable NS lines identified for transfer to regional operation. It became the responsibility of the province of ...
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The Desiro family keeps growing
THE FIRST Desiro EMU for Slovenian Railways has begun trials at the Wildenrath test centre of Siemens Transportation Systems. Deliveries to SZ are expected to start next month, with a total of 30 Desiros being built by Siemens and TVT of Slovenia for service on the 85 km Koper - ...
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Development focus turns west
INTRO: China’s Ministry of Railways has unveiled a 15-year strategic plan for development of the national network, which will form the basis of the 10th five-year plan now being drawn up for 2001-05. Continued investment will see the upgrading of existing lines and large-scale expansion in the west and southwestCONSTRUCTION ...
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Internet will drive next generation of PIS
INTRO: On-board passenger information systems are becoming an essential rather than an optional extra, but design needs to be driven by customer expectations, rather than an operator’s wish list. Advanced technology is helping to lower running costs and drive up revenues, making the equipment self-financingINTER-CITY passengers could be benefiting from ...
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EC takes the lead in safety regulation
The European Commission has determined that common regulation of safety and standards is to be a crucial element in its drive to create a single market in rail transport. A draft Directive on Rail Safety is expected this year, which will have the explicit objectives of promoting open access and ...
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Is it time for someone to leave the field?
INTRO: In a year of stabilisation, the question remains whether there should be fewer players in the rolling stock industry to provide a worthwhile investment for shareholders. Reviewing the supply industry over the past 12 months, Andrew F Saxe* wonders if others may follow the lead given by Fiat in ...
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Finance
Estonia: Freight operator and infrastructure manager EVR (7.00 p434) reported a profit of 113·1m kroons on a turnover of 1·4bn, up 14% on last year. Infrastructure spending in 1999 totalled 592·6m kroons, mostly on upgrading of the Tallinn - Narva route.France: Franche-Comté has approved funding for the Dijon - Mulhouse ...
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SSRA redraws franchise map
THE SHAPE of Britain’s privatised rail industry for the next 20 years was unveiled on June 20, when the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority unveiled its proposed franchise map. This would see the 25 Train Operating Companies created for privatisation reduced to 22 (table). According to Executive Director, Franchise Management, Nick ...
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Schuylkill Valley go-ahead
PLANS to create a 100 km rail corridor linking Philadelphia and Reading were approved by the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority board on June 21, and by the neighbouring Berks Area Reading Transportation Authority board five days later. The decisions pave the way for the start of engineering design, and enable ...
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Industry News
Australia: ERG Ltd, Telstra and ANZ Banking Group are to form the ECard Pty Ltd joint venture to develop a smart card solution suitable for application across Australia. ERG has also taken a 10% share in card.tec AG, a smart card operating company created by Deutsche Telekom subsidiary DeTeCard Service ...
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Leasing innovations
ON JULY 14 British rolling stock lessor Angel Trains, now owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, announced it was forming a European subsidiary in co-operation with German equipment supplier Vossloh AG. Trading as Locomotion Partners, the new venture will be formed as two companies. London-based Locomotion Capital, 90% owned by ...
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intelligence
Australia: The Commonwealth government has appointed Macquarie Bank as financial adviser on the sale of National Rail Corp, with Blake Dawson Waldron providing legal advice. Sparke Helmore and Arthur Anderson are also assisting.Brazil: América Latina Logística has ended the use of 3 kV DC electric traction between Rubião Júnior and ...
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NewsTaskforce reports on Northern Ireland rail options
UK: This month should see an interim report presented to Britain's Department of Regional Development setting out options for the future of Northern Ireland Railways. Drawn up by a taskforce of three civil servants, the report was ordered following an assessment commissioned from A D Little by Translink on ...
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Tussle over iron ore
WITH Pacific Rim economies recovering swiftly from the 1998-99 recession, pressure is mounting to open up new sources of iron ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Two of these are located at West Angelas and Hope Downs, both 400 km from the sea but within easy reach of ...
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Six in Jerusalem race
THIS MONTH is due to see the shortlisting of between three and five consortia for the build-operate-transfer concession to develop the first of eight light rail lines in Jerusalem (MR00 p36). These firms will then be required to submit final tenders during September.On June 21 the municipality announced that six ...