All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1443

  • News

    Technology transfer spearheads Indian inter-city renewal

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: IR operates around 29000 all-steel lightweight vehicles to a common basic design. Now the Rail Coach Factory is poised to launch an up-to-date inter-city coach under a technology transfer deal with Linke-Hofmann-Busch. R C Acharya reports on IR’s inter-city business that handled over 404million passenger train-km in 1995-96IN A ...

  • News

    Industry

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Austria: Knorr-Bremse is taking a 49% shareholding in door specialist IFE.Great Britain: GEC Alsthom Signalling Ltd has moved to new offices at Trafford Park, Manchester.India: Konkan Railway Corp plans to establish a subsidiary to tender for railway construction projects overseas; revenue from this business will help with international loans taken ...

  • News

    Island network

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    RARELY today are railway investment projects justified solely as tools for regional development. Even rarer are ones as ambitious as the 2000 km network proposed on the Philip-pine island of Mindanao. Despite the considerable problems afflicting PNR’s main lines on Luzon, the government rightly believes that rail can play a ...

  • News

    JR-West

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    BYLINE: Nariyasu MatsuokaChief Engineer, Rolling Stock DepartmentWest Japan Railway CoECONOMIC and financial circumstances facing JR-West mean that the Rolling Stock Department must give its highest priority to providing passengers with high-quality trains at low cost. Plans are well in hand to develop better trains for the Sanyo shinkansen (RG 5.97 ...

  • News

    Letters

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Heavy haul bogiesSir - The Leader in your May issue (RG 5.97 p 267) concerning high axleloads for heavy haul railways mentions ’the unending search for the ideal wheel-rail interface’. This subject was addressed in detail in my paper titled Review of Freight Car Bogie Design and Performance presented to ...

  • News

    Market

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Australia: Ove Arup & Partners is to study options for a 40 km rail link to serve the coastal resorts of Caloundra and Maroochydore north of Brisbane.Austria: ÖBB has ordered 1314 electronic door mechanisms from Faiveley, which is also supplying 120 doors to LHB for LINT railcars being built for ...

  • News

    Something old, something new

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    DESPITE the gloomy lessons of the past and the more recent financial problems of Río Negro province’s Sefepa venture, local initiatives to resurrect passenger trains continue to appear in Argentina. Under a one-year operating concession granted by the province of Tucum

  • News

    Northeast night trains revamped

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    AMTRAK introduced significant changes on July 10 to NortheastDirect services on the Boston - Washington DC - Newport News corridor. Improvements included the relaunch of the Night Owl as the Twilight Shoreliner, an overnight Boston - Washington DC service now including a new Viewliner sleeping car and a first class ...

  • News

    PR turned over

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    THREATS to put Pakistan Railways through the mill of change were imple-mented last month when the cabinet ruled that PR be separated from the railway ministry and its management board replaced. The announcement was timed to coincide with the start of a new financial year and marked the opening of ...

  • News

    Renfe spreads the risk

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    IN A BID to introduce new rolling stock without incurring further debt, while opening up the railway to market forces in a controlled manner, Spanish National Railways has decided to form ’train service provision’ ventures with manufacturers. A joint venture would lease vehicles from its parent manufacturer and operate them ...

  • News

    VHST shortlist

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    NEW SOUTH WALES Premier Bob Carr announced on July 3 that six groups had been shortlisted for the next stage of the planned Sydney - Canberra Very High Speed Train project. They have been given six months to prepare detailed proposals, after which the VHST Project Team will evaluate the ...

  • News

    Sidetrack

    1997-08-01T10:00:00Z

    Oooh! Aaah! Eurostar?READERS of our regular Passenger Portfolio feature will no doubt be familiar with the continuing efforts of train operators worldwide to keep their business clintele supplied with the creature comforts that they have come to expect. Eurostar (UK) appears to have gone one better than at-seat video or ...

  • News

    Publications - July 1997

    1997-07-01T10:00:00Z

    Book review

  • News

    Eurotunnel predicts profit in 2005

    1997-07-01T10:00:00Z

    THE prospectus seeking shareholder approval for Eurotunnel’s financial restructuring, published on May 29, says that if the company’s objectives are achieved it will make a profit after tax in 2005 and pay a dividend in 2006. A more pessimistic scenario would delay the first dividend until 2010.The complex deal worked ...

  • News

    JR Freight helps to build intermodal landbridge across China

    1997-07-01T10:00:00Z

    BYLINE: Shigeho NimoriPresident, International Freight Railway System Co Ltd*CONSIGNMENTS of freight moving to and from Japan will be accelerated thanks to a partnership between China Railway Foreign Service Corp and Japan Railway Freight Co. A formal agreement was signed with JR Freight by CRFSC Vice President Shi Yulin in February ...

  • News

    Peace will promote revival of Africa’s railways

    1997-07-01T10:00:00Z

    PUBLIC LAUNCH of the Southern Africa Railways Association at a function attended by the Zimbabwean transport minister in Harare on May 22 is a hopeful sign. SARA was founded in April last year, and it counts among its 10 members the 1304 km Benguela Railway, reconstruction of which is getting ...

  • News

    High speed is high on CR’s development agenda

    1997-07-01T10:00:00Z

    HANDOVER of Hong Kong to China on July 1 is of huge significance to Chinese Railways. The former colony’s role as a gateway city to the CR network is reflected in plans to develop Hong Kong’s already heavily used railways (p461), while completion of the Jing-Jiu line (p455) could hardly ...

  • News

    Bidders pick over AN’s bones

    1997-07-01T10:00:00Z

    BIDDING for the remnants of Australian National closed on June 20 with decisions expected to be announced around the end of the financial year on June 30.Almost 50 groups had registered interest, many forming consortia or subsequently joining the 15 shortlisted bidders on May 6. Freight prospects attracted Toll Holdings-TNT, ...

  • News

    BA projects vie for attention

    1997-07-01T10:00:00Z

    DIFFERENCES have emerged between the Buenos Aires city authorities and Subte concessionaire Metrovías over expanding the five-line metro network. Two lines are currently on the drawing board: a 10·8 km Line H from Retiro to Nueva Pompeya via Plaza Miserere and Jujuy, and a 7·6 km Line F from Plaza ...

  • News

    Barter to revive Benguela

    1997-07-01T10:00:00Z

    RECONSTRUCTION of Angola’s 1304 km Benguela Railway is getting under way in the port of Lobito, following the signing of a barter deal between the government and Italian construction company Tor di Valle. Restoration of the corridor is expected to take 14 years, at a cost of US$500m, although trains ...