All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 915
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NewsProjects approved in China
CHINA: Further rail projects have been authorised, despite the problems at the Ministry of Railways and media concerns about the cost of the massive expansion programme. The National Development & Reform Commission has approved the proposed 329 km double-track line from Qianjiang in Chongqing province to Zhangjiajie and Changde in ...
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NewsLessons from the UK
RUSSIA: A group of 30 RZD senior management staff attended a week of study last month at the University of Portsmouth in the UK under an Anglo-Russian partnership agreement initiated in 2009 with support from global accountancy practice PricewaterhouseCoopers. The group studied at the university's Business School as ...
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NewsNews in Brief
RZD is studying the introduction of piggyback services between St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad and Moscow. An experimental Helsinki – Moscow service will be trialled later this year. African Development Bank signed a €300m loan to finance upgrading of ONCF's Tanger – Marrakech corridor on ...
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NewsGE Transportation announces Texas locomotive factory
USA: GE Transportation is to open a plant in Fort Worth, Texas, to produce new and remanufactured locomotives from 2012. Announcing its intention on May 12, the company said it will invest up to $96m in the 84 000m2 plant, while the Texas Enterprise Fund will provide up to ...
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NewsSNCB Logistics to update resource planning systems
BELGIUM: National rail freight operator SNCB Logistics has selected Quintiq and Ab Ovo to deliver a new resource planning and operations management system to co-ordinate its business over the coming year. Under a contract announced on May 11, the long-term planning functions are due to go live towards the end ...
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NewsDB Schenker Rail to serve Baltic States
LITHUANIA: An increase in rail freight traffic between central Europe and the Baltic States is expected following the signing of a co-operation agreement between DB Schenker Rail Polska CEO Hans-Georg Werner and the Director General of Lietuvos Geležinkeliai Stasys Dailydka at the Transport Logistic fair in München on May 10. ...
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News
Claire Porter
Claire Porter, Head of Strategy at Thales UK’s transport division, became the first female president of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers on April 15.
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NewsTackling inter-disciplinary transport challenges
UK: Young transport professionals looking to enhance their qualifications and professionals in other disciplines seeking to focus on transport are the target audience for a Masters Degree course to be launched by City University London in September 2011. The Masters in Transport Strategy & Systems has been created to focus ...
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NewsDLR three-car upgrade completed
UK: The launch of three-car services on the Docklands Light Railway between Tower Gateway and Beckton on May 9 marked the completion of a £325m project to upgrade the network for longer trains.‘With passenger numbers increasing on the DLR every year, having the ability to run a three-car service right ...
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NewsBeijing - Shanghai high speed test runs begin
CHINA: Trial running over the full length of the Beijing - Shanghai high speed line began on May 11, with CRH380A trainsets being used for a month of staff familiarisation, fault simulation and emergency drills before the opening ceremony which is planned for the end of June. The 1 ...
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NewsKTX-Sancheon trainset withdrawn over safety fears
SOUTH KOREA: One of Korail's domestically-built high speed trainsets was pulled out of service on May 11 after a faulty equipment mounting was discovered four days earlier. Fearing that a major traction component could fall off and cause a derailment, Korail decided to withdraw the trainset, which is to be ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief
A one-station extension of Shanghai metro Line 6 from South Ling Yan Road to an interchange with Line 8 at Ji Yang Road opened on April 12. MTA dedicated two 642-tonne tunnel boring machines for the East Side Access project in New York on March 21. The TBMs will dig ...
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NewsFirstGroup declines Greater Western franchise extension
UK: The Greater Western franchise to operate inter-city passenger trains between London, Bristol, South Wales and the West of England, plus suburban and regional services, is likely to be put out to tender next year, following confirmation that incumbent operator FirstGroup has decided not to take up its option for ...
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NewsPöyry buys Swiss engineering consultancy
SWITZERLAND: Pöyry has paid an undisclosed price to acquire pkag Paul Keller Ingenieure AG, a Swiss firm providing electrical, telecoms and other specialist engineering consultancy services for railways, metros, tunnels and complex transport systems. Founded in 1973, pkag is based at Dübendorf near Zürich. It has 42 specialist staff, and ...
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NewsWagons-Lits under the hammer
FRANCE: Having disposed of its remaining train catering interests to Newrest last year, the French Accor hotels group has now announced plans to dispose of the historic assets that it acquired with the takeover of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. The company has called in Christies to auction ...
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NewsBombardier launches Traxx electro-diesel
GERMANY: Bombardier Transportation unveiled the latest addition to its Traxx modular locomotive family at the Transport Logistic trade fair in München on May 10. Known as the 'Last Mile Diesel', it is a Traxx AC electric locomotive with a supplementary diesel engine. The design is intended to avoid the need ...
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NewsSBB takes up Flirt option
SWITZERLAND: SBB has exercised an option with Stadler Bussnang for a further 13 Flirt electric multiple-units to be delivered in 2012-13. The SFr128m order announced on May 9 is being partly funded by the cantons of Bern, Luzern and Solothurn. Seven of the 15 kV AC units will be used ...
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NewsLaHood confirms recipients for Florida’s rejected high speed grants
USA: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced further high-speed rail grants totalling US$2bn on May 9, reallocating the funding previously allocated for the Orlando – Tampa project in Florida which was rejected by the state’s governor. According to DoT, 24 states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak submitted nearly 100 applications ...
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NewsDB and Siemens sign ICx contract
GERMANY: A multi-billion euro contract for the supply of up to 300 high-speed trains was signed by DB Chief Executive Dr Rüdiger Grübe and Siemens AG CEO Peter Löscher in a ceremony on May 9. The event took place at DB’s Potsdam training centre – the former Kaiserbahnhof – and ...
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NewsAlger’s first tram line enters service
ALGERIA: Transport Minister Amar Tou and the President of Entreprise du Métro d’Alger, Aomar Hadbi, launched revenue services on a 7·2 km section of the city’s first tram route between Bab Ezzouar and Bordj El Kiffan on May 8. The tram line is being built as a turnkey project ...