All Railway Gazette International articles in September 2002 – Page 4

  • News

    Saudis back expansion

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    SAUDI ARABIA: Construction of the planned rail route serving the northwest of Saudi Arabia moved a step closer in July, when Minister of Communications Dr Nasir Al-Salloum told a board meeting of Saudi Railways Organization that the government was prepared to fund 50% of the cost. He indicated that ...

  • News

    BA clampdown

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    THE ARGENTINE government and four operators in Buenos Aires have mobilised a force of 2700 police to improve security for passengers on suburban rail and metro services.An agreement signed in early August between Metrovías, Trenes de Buenos Aires, Metropolitano and Ferrovías, the Secretary of State for Transport, the Federal Police ...

  • News

    Projects to go through audit

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    ON AUGUST 7 French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien announced that major transport projects initiated by the previous government will be scrutinised by the Conseil Général des Ponts et Chaussées and the Inspection Générale des Finances. The brief requires the auditors ’to establish the precise status of the projects, their ...

  • News

    Auckland set to revive rail

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    WHILE a final announcement on public sector funding for the full NZ$388m project is expected shortly from Infrastructure Auckland, it is now clear that the Auckland Region Rail Upgrade Project is almost certain to go ahead for completion by 2006. Tenders will be invited shortly for 25 two-car DMUs (or ...

  • News

    Monorail draws APTA to Las Vegas

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    THIS MONTH will see thousands of delegates and visitors arriving in Nevada for the American Public Transportation Association Annual Meeting, which takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center on September 23 - 25. This year the meeting will be accompanied by the three-yearly International Public Transit Expo, which has ...

  • News

    Traverser approved

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    AUSTRIAN Federal Railways has completed preliminary acceptance of a Windhoff automatic outdoor traverser supplied to the maintenance workshops at Linz. One of the largest automatic installations of its kind in Europe, it comprises two independently operating submersed traversers.Locomotives up to 145 tonnes can be moved to 59 pre-selected positions. After ...

  • News

    Amtrak’s jewel loses its shine

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    ON AUGUST 13 Amtrak withdrew all its Acela Express trainsets after cracks were discovered in stainless steel brackets on the power car yaw dampers. Amtrak worked quickly with the train’s suppliers to rectify the fault, and on August 17 it managed to run 11 services with Acela Express units. ...

  • News

    High speed branches to go ahead

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    THE SPANISH cabinet has given its approval for bids to be invited for civil engineering and track work on the 27 km between Villafranca del Campo and Cella, the first package of works for the conversion of the Zaragoza - Teruel route to 1435mm gauge for high speed operation. Within ...

  • News

    Yakutsk in sight again

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    CONSTRUCTION of the 850 km line from Tynda on the Baikal Amur Magistral to Yakutsk has resumed after the Russian government halted work because of financial difficulties. The government had announced plans to restart the work in January (RG 3.02 p122), but the details were not agreed until a meeting ...

  • News

    NEPAD may help revive African projects

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INTEGRATION of Africa’s diverse railways was a strong theme running through the Africa Rail Conference held on August 12-15 in Johannesburg. Around 150 delegates from over 50 countries heard ambitious proposals for cross-border rail links intended to encourage trade under the New Partnership for African Development programme. Rail features in ...

  • News

    Address file catches tram cheats

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    FARE dodgers giving false details toticket inspectors on Manchester’s trams are being identified using a database of residents. When a fare evader is asked for his or her name and address by revenue protection officers, the details are entered into a palmtop Compaq iPAQ computer. This checks their details against ...

  • News

    Open access shipper

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    ON JULY 25 British freight operator GB Railfreight announced an increase in the frequency of the intermodal services it operates from Felixstowe under a five-year contract with Medite Shipping which began in February. From this month services to Selby, Doncaster and Hams Hall near Birmingham will run five days a ...

  • News

    rail4chem grows

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    GERMAN freight shipper Hoyer GmbH has decided to merge its open access rail freight subsidiary Hoyer Railserv GmbH into the rail4chem consortium with effect from October 1. Hoyer is already a partner in rail4chem, together with BASF, Bertschi AG of Switzerland and VTG Lehkering AG. Hoyer Railserve is owned 95% ...

  • News

    Red Ones star at opening of DB’s 300 km/h strategic link

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: Join your editor on board the inaugural ICE3 special train for a spectacular sprint between K

  • News

    Infrastructure monitoring at 220 km/h

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    MER MEC will be presenting the Roger 2000 high speed monitoring train it has recently completed for Italian railway infrastructure owner RFI. The 220 km/h train is designed to collect and analyse data on infrastructure condition and performance, providing detailed information for effective maintenance planning. It is Europe’s first high ...

  • News

    ETCS operational trials delayed to 2004

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: Ralf Roman Rossberg inspected DB’s ETCS pilot project south of Berlin, where Siemens is testing components. DB’s engineers told him that the equipment is ’several times more expensive’ than LZB inductive train controlDB IS EQUIPPING part of its main line from Berlin to Halle and Leipzig to form a ...

  • News

    JR-E unveils E2-1000

    2002-09-01T10:00:00Z

    ON JULY 25 East Japan Railway formally unveiled its latest design of Shinkansen trainset. The variant of the E2 series is intended to operate on the 96·6 km Tohoku Shinkansen extension from Morioka to Hachinohe in Aomori prefecture, which opens on December 1. Capable of operation on 25 kV60Hz only, ...