All Railway Gazette International articles in September 2000 – Page 3

  • News

    TTCI leads research to cut premature wheel scrapping

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: The AAR ruled in 1989 that new wheels must be heat-treated, but the extra wear life anticipated has been compromised by a sharp rise in spall or shelling defects. A research effort will address the problemBYLINE: Daniel H StoneChief MetallurgistTransportation Technology Center IncAROUND A MILLION of the 10 million ...

  • News

    HSL Zuid contracts signed

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    ON JULY 16 the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Public Works & Water Management signed definitive contracts with five consortia for construction of the substructure for HSL Zuid from Amsterdam to the Belgian border. The five groups include Ballast Nedam, Boskalis, HBG, Heijmans, NBM-Amstelland, Van Oord ACZ, Strukton, Dura Vermeer, Volker ...

  • News

    Lirex offers taste of future commuting

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    Starting point for development of the experimental Lirex train were the wide-bodied København suburban trains developed in the late 1980s and 1990s by Linke-Hofmann-Busch in Salzgitter, now part of the Alstom group (RG 1.96 p19). Featuring similar short bodies with 2+3 seating and self-steering Kerf bogies with two independent wheels, ...

  • News

    Chinese Railways targets commuters

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    WHERE once the bicycle reined supreme, private cars and other motorised vehicles are seriously choking the streets of China’s cities. Recognition of the attendant problems of congestion, pollution and poor quality of life has prompted renewed government interest in urban railways, and tentative plans are being drawn up for a ...

  • News

    Madrid control centre opens

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    ON JULY 25, the Vice-President and Minister of Public Works for the Madrid regional government Luis Eduardo Cortes formally inaugurated a new control centre for the city’s metro network at Alto de Arenal. Built at a cost of Pts2·5bn, the centre brings together the control of train services, stations, power ...

  • News

    Hiawatha cars ordered

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    ON AUGUST 2 Minneapolis Metropolitan Council selected Bombardier Transportation to manufacture up to 22 cars for the city’s 18·3 km Hiawatha Corridor light rail line. The price for 22 cars is $65m, well below the $80m estimate, but a base option is 18 for $56m - a final decision will ...

  • News

    Moscow goes smart card

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    MONTHLY season tickets for commuter services on Russia’s Moscow Railway were replaced by smart cards with effect from July 24, following a month-long transitional phase. The changeover is the first phase in a programme to modernise the MR fare collection systems, together with the introduction of automatic gates and electronic ...

  • News

    ETCS test car takes to the rails

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    GERMAN Railway has developed and built a special vehicle for testing the first applications of the European Rail Traffic Management System/ European Train Control System in Germany. This will initially be on the route from Jüterbog to Halle and Leipzig, where trials are planned this year and next.The 120 km/h ...

  • News

    DB seeks entry to the capital markets

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: Moving German Railway into the private sector is not on the immediate agenda, but Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn is keen for DB to gain access to the capital markets to help fund investment. Mehdorn aims to cut costs by DM8·4bn by 2004 and is overseeing a programme of change that ...

  • News

    Rail Business Intelligence

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    FOUNDED as Rail Privatisation News in March 1995, our fortnightly newsletter Rail Business Intelligence is now widely acknowledged to be the definitive publication covering developments in Britain's privatised rail industry. With the prospect of huge investment over the next 10 years (p541), interest in what is happening on our ...

  • News

    Israel builds for growth

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    WITH passenger traffic continuing to break monthly records, achieving 1·9 million riders in July, Israel Railways launched a further route modernisation project on August 15. The 11 km Rehovot - Pleshdod - Ashdod line will be closed for around five months, during which the track and signalling will be renewed ...

  • News

    SER builds to the sea

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INDIA’s South Eastern Railway has started construction of an 87 km single-track electrified branch to serve the seaside resort of Digha in southern Bengal. Proposed in 1984, the line was delayed by land acquisition problems. The first girders for a 500m bridge over the river Haldi were launched in August, ...

  • News

    Neubaustrecke late and over budget

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    IT IS no wonder that German Railway’s Board Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn has set up a special committee to oversee major projects. When contracts were signed for construction of the K

  • News

    Europe drawn to British honeypot

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    STRONG interest in the programme to replace the 19 short-term passenger franchises in Britain has been expressed by Swiss Federal Railways, with a formal approach made to the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority. With Chiltern Railways already relet and shortlists announced for several others (see table), SBB will need to decide ...

  • News

    Products in Brief

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Passenger in Brief

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    Amtrak has opened a new terminal in Lorton, Virginia, for its Auto Train service for accompanied cars to Sanford in Florida, built over two years at a cost of US$25m with contributions from Virginia Railway Express and Virginia Department of Rail & Public Transportation. The terminal has six tracks, each ...

  • News

    Brasilia to open

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    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

    BNSF/CN merger is off

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    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

    Blue line’s rolling birthday party

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    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

    Polish privatisation bill passed

    2000-09-01T10:00:00Z

    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 ...