All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1410
-
News
PKP picks Pendolini
POLISH State Railways is due to sign a contract with Fiat Ferroviaria this month for the supply of 16 tilting trainsets at a cost of 380bn lire. Fiat was selected as preferred bidder at the end of July, ahead of shortlisted proposals from Siemens and Adtranz, which lodged a protest ...
-
News
PEOPLE
Herbert H Steffen takes over as President of Siemens Transportation Systems from September 1. He replaces Dr Wolfram O Martinsen, who is leaving the company by mutual consent on October 1. Mr Steffen joined Siemens Schuckertwerke in Saarbrücken in 1960, but spent most of his career in Latin America, ...
-
News
Publications
New Trains for New Railways and Fault-Free Trains - A Reality?The proceedings of these two IMechE seminars have been published as good quality casebound books. £77 (New Trains for New Railways) or £42 (Fault-Free Trains) from Professional Engineering Publishing, Northgate Avenue, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP326BW, Great Britain. Fax: +44 ...
-
News
Taken by storm
GERMAN RAILWAY is set to open the Hannover - Berlin high speed line on September 15. Among the finishing touches required is installation of additional lineside wind barriers following the discovery that ICE2 driving trailers may be at risk of derailment in high winds if they are leading the formation. ...
-
News
Øresund sets July 1 2000 target date
INTRO: As construction work passed the half-way stage, Andrew Hellawell viewed construction sites around Kastrup, and took a stroll in the immersed tube tunnelØRESUNDSKONSORTIET has set the provisional date for opening the fixed link between Denmark and Sweden. Of course, this is dependent on keeping to time through the rest ...
-
News
LRT becomes SkyTrain 2
VANCOUVER’s planned east-west light rail line is to be built as a second fully-automated SkyTrain route, compatible with BC Transit’s existing Waterfront - New Westminster - Surrey line. The change of policy was confirmed on June 24, when Bombardier announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the ...
-
News
Madrid opens Line 8
THE King and Queen of Spain officially opened the first section of Madrid Metro’s Line 8 on June 24. Built at a cost of Pts8·9bn, the 2·6 km route runs from Mar de Cristal on Line 4 to Campo de las Naciones, serving the Madrid fair grounds and the Juan ...
-
News
Access charging directive promises hotter debate
PROMOTERS of open access regimes are chipping away relentlessly at the barriers put in place by European railways. Championed by European Commssioner for Transport Neil Kinnock, they are determined to see the walls come down. Their cause may be helped by divisions within the railways’ camp, but those entrenched in ...
-
News
Houston battleground hots up again
UNION PACIFIC has another fight on its hands. On July 8 a coalition of shippers, industries, railways and elected officials filed a request with the Surface Transportation Board that seeks to end UP’s near monopoly in the Houston region. The plan is one of several deposited with the STB aimed ...
-
News
Marina line to go ahead
CONSTRUCTION of a fourth metro line in Singapore will get under way in 2000, following a government decision in June to push ahead with the 13 km Marina line to serve the New Downtown area taking shape on reclaimed land around Marina Bay. First proposed as a light rail line ...
-
News
Airport bidders named
LAST MONTH was due to see the signing of an agreement between the Bureau of Taiwan High Speed Rail and the Chang Sheng International Development Co for construction of a 35 km rail link from Taipei to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. Chang Sheng was selected as preferred bidder by the ...
-
News
Alstom unveils modular diesel family
ON June 18 at Alstom Transporte’s Albuixech plant outside Valencia, Israel Railways Director General Amos Uzani took delivery of the first of eight 3000hp Co-Co GA-3000 diesel-electric locomotives. Expected to leave Spain for Israel within a month, the freight locomotive was to join the first seven of ten 3000hp Bo-Bo ...
-
News
Sydney expansion approved
NEW SOUTH WALES Transport Minister Carl Scully announced on July 5 that the government had approved construction of a 28 km orbital rail link between Paramatta and Chatswood through Sydney’s north-western suburbs. Costed at A$1·4bn, the line will take six years to build. Detailed planning and environmental impact reviews are ...
-
News
Coal drives Central Asian links
CONSTRUCTION work has started on a north-south rail link in the Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan, opening up mineral reserves in the centre of the republic. Starting from the terminus of the existing line through the capital Bishkek at Balykchy (formerly Issyk-Kul), the route runs southwest to Kochgorka, where the ...
-
News
Passenger aspirations drive seat design
Seating manufacturers are exploring design solutions to give passengers both the comfort and facilities they need. Lighter, stronger, cheaper and more flexible are the operators’ demands, whilst passengers want to be pampered during the journey. Although the advent of compact in-seat entertainment equipment has made it possible to keep passengers ...
-
News
Balkan bids called
TENDERS are due by August 17 for construction of the 25 km Slovenian section of the Murska Sabota - Hodos - Zalalovo link to Hungary. Formally approved by the two governments last year (RG 7.97 p432), the 44 km link will be partially funded from the European Union’s Phare programme. ...
-
News
Banestyrelsen sets investment plans
INTRO: Changing domestic and international requirements are moulding plans to build a ’better railway’. Andrew Hellawell asked Thomas Ostenfeld, Director of Sector Planning, and Leif Lilja, Project Manager for the Ringsted new line, how investment is being focused on projects generating the best returnWITH A YEAR’S head start, DSB’s Storeb
-
News
‘Effetto bang’ kills Milano - Genova
THINK OF A reason for abandoning plans to build a high speed railway, and you will find it among those cited by Italian Environment Minister Edo Ronchi for cancelling the 135 km line from Milano to Genova. Announcing his decision on July 15, Ronchi produced a 20-page ruling that referred ...
-
News
Banverket pursues upgrading strategy
INTRO: Bo Bylund has successfully recrafted the structure of Sweden’s national infrastructure authority. Now he wants to take Banverket forward from the nightmare of the Hallandsås tunnel problems to deliver improvements which will help reinforce rail’s competitive positionTHIS YEAR marks two important steps for Banverket. The first came on January ...