All Railway Gazette International articles in September 2000
All articles published this month.
-
News
Class 185 pioneers use of ETCS
INTRO: Three pre-production dual-system Class 185 freight locos for German Railway are equipped to operate using ERTMS/ETCS, although delays in the development of Specific Transmission Modules in each country to form the interface with existing signalling mean that conventional train protection systems will be used initiallyTRIALS with a trio of ...
-
NewsInnoTrans 2000: Giant event storms to success in Berlin
INNOTRANS: Over 800 exhibitors from nearly 30 countries will be present at the InnoTrans event on September 12-15, filling some 20000m2 of hall space within the Berlin exhibition grounds. Organiser Messe Berlin reports that the number of exhibitors is up 75% from the last InnoTrans event in 1998. Once again, ...
-
News
ICE3 pioneers commercial application of eddy-current rail brakes
The dream of frictionless braking has crept closer with the installation of eddy-current rail brakes on German Railway's ICE3, but they will only be used in carefully controlled conditions
-
News
Prescott promises £60bn spending bonanza
BRITAIN’s Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has unveiled plans for a massive increase in public and private investment in rail over the next 10 years. Presenting Transport 2010 on July 20, Prescott set a target of lifting passenger-km on the national network by 50% and freight tonne-km by 80% by ...
-
News
Loco pools stoke the open access fire
INTRO: Germany’s railway reforms paved the way for open access operators to enter the freight business, sparking a demand for motive power available on short or long-term lease. Ralf Roman Rossberg looks at the ’rent-a-loco’ business set up by suppliers who have established pools of locomotives, lending encouragement to DB ...
-
News
Freight accord
OCTOBER is due to see the launch of a joint venture company based in Paris to co-ordinate wagonload freight traffic between France and Germany. The move follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Hannover on June 23. Participating in the ceremonies were DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn and SNCF ...
-
News
Bombardier agrees to buy Adtranz
Bombardier announced on August 4 that it had signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire Adtranz from its parent DaimlerChrysler. The move had been expected following Bombardier’s unsuccessful bid for Siemens’ rail arm. The deal values the extensive Adtranz empire at just US$725m, reflecting the company’s recent lack of ...
-
News
Advanced current collection
GERMAN Railway is currently working with its principal suppliers and the German Aerospace Research Centre on the development of a next-generation current collector. The Ultra design uses electronic control to regulate the contact pressure, improving performance at high speeds. Reliable contact at 400 km/h will only require a force of ...
-
News
Africans build rail trolleys
MALAWI bus manufacturer PEW handed over its first locally-built maintenance gang trolley in July to the local rail operator Central East African Railways, which was awarded a 20-year franchise to run the Malawi network last summer. Owned by Kamwayi Corp, PEW mainly builds minibuses for countries in southern ...
-
News
Alicante light rail opens
SPAIN’s Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana has launched an initial light rail service in the resort of Alicante. The 1 km segregated alignment runs from Puerta del Mar via Albufuerta to the FGC station at Marina, from which some LRVs continue over the Denia line as far as Lucentum. Next ...
-
News
Steel sleeper success in Australia
Sir - The letter by Mr Clive Budge in RG 5.00 p282 raises concerns about the use of steel sleepers. Having been involved with design, construction and maintenance of track in Australia, and especially in the use of steel sleepers, for the past 20 years, I would like to share ...
-
News
Tel Aviv to tender LRT
TENDERS are to be called within three months for construction of the first light rail line in Tel Aviv, following the signing of an agreement between the promoter NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd, the Municipality of Tel Aviv, and the Israeli government on July 23. The accord was signed ...
-
News
Light rail back on the map
One of the most astonishing policy reversals since Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott published his Transport White Paper two years ago is his new enthusiasm for light rail. Transport 2010 notes that only Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and the West Midlands have lines in operation outside London - ’far fewer than ...
-
News
Voters back DART expansion
CONSTRUCTION of three new light rail lines in Dallas will be accelerated by up to eight years following a vote approving a $2·9bn bond package on August 11. Over 77% approved the proposals, with only 22·8% against. Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Executive Director Roger Snoble said he was ’humbled by ...
-
News
Westrail bids shortlisted
FOUR CONSORTIA have been shortlisted for the privatisation of Western Australia’s freight and infrastructure business. The four are undertaking due diligence, which will culminate with the submission of final bids in October. Announcing the shortlist on August 9, WA Transport Minister Murray Criddle said that he hoped to announce the ...
-
News
Polish privatisation bill passed
ON JULY 25 the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament, passed the formal Act paving the way for the commercialisation, restructuring and privatisation of Polish State Railways. The Act has still to be approved by the Senat (the upper chamber) and signed by the President.The Act will see ...
-
News
Blue line’s rolling birthday party
TOCELEBRATE the 10th anniversary of the light rail Blue line between Los Angeles and Long Beach on July 14, LAMTA rolled out two of its P-865 LRVs repainted in the livery of the historic Pacific Electric interurban network which once plied the same corridor. With assistance from the Electric ...
-
News
BNSF/CN merger is off
BURLINGTON Northern Santa Fe Corp and Canadian National Railway Co announced on July 20 that their respective boards had voted to terminate the ’combination agreement’ to create North American Railways Inc and form an 80500 km coast-to-coast network.In a joint statement, CN President & CEO Paul Tellier and BNSF Chairman ...
-
News
Brasilia to open
COMMERCIAL operations on the Brasilia metro will start in November, Companhia do Metropolitano do Distrito Federal announced on August 15. When construction began in 1991 (DM 92 p32), opening was set for April 21 1994. However, a newly-elected city government suspended work in 1994-96. Test trains are now running on ...
-
News
Products in Brief
SKF and Sécheron are developing a bogie monitoring system to be launched later this year, with an integrated sensor in the SKF bearing unit capturing speed, temperature and vibration data to ascertain bearing and wheel condition. A Sécheron data acquisition unit will perform analysis and communication with the train control ...