All Railway Gazette International articles in September 1998 – Page 2

  • News

    Time to face the real issues

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    UPHEAVAL at Polish State Railways looks inevitable as management and government struggle with the complexities of restructuring and possible privatisation. While the imminent order for high speed tilting trains (p563) suggests that PKP is up with Europe’s leaders in technology and expertise, much ground has to be made up in ...

  • News

    Thrall Europa rolls out first EWS wagon

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    THEFIRST of 310 steel coil carrier wagons was formally handed over to English Welsh & Scottish Railway on July 27, marking the start of production at the new Thrall Europa factory in York works. Participating in the ceremonies were Thrall Car Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Craig Duchossois (right) and ...

  • News

    Diesel strategy study

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    THIS MONTH will see the start of negotiations for a contract to renew the Austrian Federal Railways diesel locomotive fleet. Bids were called in February, with submissions due by the middle of August. ÖBB’s current diesel fleet comprises eight different types, most of which are more than 30 years old. ...

  • News

    Delhi metro relaunched

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    A FORMAL go-ahead for construction of the long-planned metro network in the Indian capital is due to be announced this month, following the creation of the Delhi Metro Rail Corp to manage the project. Headed by E Sreedharan, former General Manager of the Konkan Railway Corp, DMRC is a joint ...

  • News

    Taiwan HSR deal signed

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    TAIWAN’S Minister of Transport & Communications Lin Feng Cheng and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp President Nita Ing signed the concession contract for construction of the 340 km Taipei - Kaohsiung high speed line on July 23. The signing had been delayed by four weeks after negotiations over land purchase ...

  • News

    Eight corridors at heart of five-year plan

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: Chinese Railways’ new line and upgrading plan for 1998-2002 envisages investment reaching a new record levelBY 2002 the Chinese Railways main line network will have smashed through the 70000 route-km barrier, with the construction of more than 5000 km of new line over the next five years. At the ...

  • News

    London smartcard concession signed

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    LONDON Transport signed the long-awaited Prestige smartcard fare collection contract with the TranSys consortium on August 13 after what LT's Commercial Director David Bailey described as 'tough and protracted' negotiations. Worth £1bn over 17 years, the deal has been agreed under the terms of Britain's Private Finance Initiative. TranSys ...

  • News

    Governments clash on interstate plans

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    Western Australia’s Transport Minister Murray Criddle announced on July 30 that Westrail is to be sold as a vertically integrated freight operation in the second quarter of 1999. The state will retain ownership of the land, and of suburban and country passenger services. Federal Transport Minister Mark Vaile responded by ...

  • News

    CITY NEWS

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    CAPTION: A formal opening date for Britain’s third light rail line is due to be announced at the beginning of this month, following a meeting between the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (Centro) and concessionaire Altram. Driver training is under way with the Ansaldo LRVs, and the line has been ...

  • News

    CITY NEWS

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    CAPTION: A delegation from the Valencia light rail project in Venezuela, led by President Luis Dias Elias (above) visited the Siemens Transportation Systems plant at Sacramento in July. To mark the occasion one of the additional SD-460 LRVs for St Louis Metrolink was painted in the livery of the similar ...

  • News

    Speedrail wins Sydney - Canberra

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister John Howard announced on August 4 that the federal and New South Wales state governments had selected the Speedrail consortium as preferred bidder for a 30-year concession to build and operate a 270 km high-speed line between Sydney and Canberra. The project is costed at around A$3·5bn. ...

  • News

    Virgin opens Euston business lounge

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    Virgin Rail has opened a redesigned £250000 business waiting area at London’s Euston station. It offers an expanded range of facilities to cater for passengers travelling first class on the Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow routes.Bright colours and curvaceous lines have been combined to produce an area which provides facilities ...

  • News

    NYCT to build A division control

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    MTA New York City Transit has selected a consortium headed by Union Switch & Signal with Syseca of Great Britain to equip a new control centre for the A division of its subway network. The work forms part of a programme to install automatic train supervision throughout the 1150 track-km ...

  • News

    Bordeaux rouge turns yellow

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    VINTAGE debates have a habit of outlasting the politicians in the French wine capital Bordeaux. The one about a tram network has been going on since 1981, and it could run for a while yet. Earlier battles were about the choice between a steel-wheeled tramway and a rubber-tyred VAL mini-metro, ...

  • News

    Wayside inspection station pinpoints geometric faults in bogies

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: By detecting alignment and tracking faults as a train passes, wheelsets suffering excessive wear caused by bogie defects can be identified before their economic life is compromisedBYLINE: Denis D’Aoust and Grigory Izbinsky*BYLINE: * Denis D’Aoust is Chief Engineer, and Grigory Izbinsky is President, Wayside Inspection Devices IncREPROFILING or ...

  • News

    Privatisation bloom withers

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    THERE ARE suggestions that moves to push all or part of Netherlands Railways into the private sector have moved down the agenda of the incoming government, which is formed of a coalition of liberal democrats, radical liberals and socialists. Former Transport Minister Annemarie Jorritsma is replaced by Mrs Tineke Netelenbos ...

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    News

    BHP tries radio-controlled ECP braking

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    Australian's largest iron ore producer BHP is experimenting with the latest heavy haul technology by fitting radio-controlled ECP brakes to four locos and 240 wagons

  • News

    Shake-up in Berlin

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    READERS keeping a close eye on the financial press would not have been surprised by Andrew Saxe’s warning last month (RG 8.98 p541) about losses at Siemens Verkehrstechnik. It seemed that change was inevitable, and the August announcement that Dr Wolfram Martinsen will leave the post of President of the ...

  • News

    TBTC benefits prove elusive

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    TEN years ago British Rail conceived the idea of a massive upgrade to its West Coast main line linking London with Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, which was in need of overhaul after electrification in the 1960s and 1970s. Some slight delay was necessary while the previous government sold off ...

  • News

    Second cross-Nile line design begins

    1998-09-01T10:00:00Z

    CONSTRUCTION of a third metro line in Cairo has moved a step closer with the launch of detailed design studies. Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels has awarded a US$2·5m contract for the two-year study to a consortium of Systra and Arab Consulting Engineers, which were also involved with Lines 1 ...