Technology news – Page 115
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NewsYakutia Railways commissions genset loco development
RUSSIA: Yakutia Railways has awarded a contract for concept development of a genset locomotive to Swiss firm Molinari Rail and Sinara Transport Machines. The 1 520 mm gauge main line freight locomotive would be based on the Russian manufacturer’s TE8 design, and be powered by two diesel engines. Announcing YR’s ...
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NewsHarsco to supply catenary maintenance vehicles to SBB
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has awarded Harsco a contract to supply 59 catenary construction, maintenance and repair vehicles between March 2016 and September 2017. These will replace existing vehicles and expand the fleet, enabling maintenance and repairs to be undertaken more quickly to minimise disruption on the network. ...
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NewsSmart Ticketing Alliance formally established
EUROPE: Transport smart card operators from 10 countries joined five founder members in Brussels to formally launch the Smart Ticketing Alliance on June 24. The international non-profit association is the result of a memorandum of understanding which was signed two years ago. It aims to lead the way towards ...
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NewsPantograph certified
POLAND: The 160EC pantograph developed by EC Engineering for 3 kV DC overhead electrification has been certified as meeting TSI requirements. Certification was carried out by Poland’s Instytut Kolejnictwa, with wind tunnel testing at the Instytut Lotnictwa facility in Warszawa. The 160EC has been produced for the Polish and ...
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NewsAmadeus targets a wider rail market
TICKETING: A hands-off ticket machine, expansion into Asia, Russia and the Middle East and plans to enter the commuter ticketing market were highlighted by transaction processing specialist Amadeus at its Rail Forum held in Wien this month. While Amadeus’ rail business has so far focused on long-distance and high ...
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NewsFlushing out faster
CHINA: Smith Brothers & Webb is to install its Britannia automated emptying system for controlled-emission train toilets at the future Shek Kong high speed train depot on Hong Kong’s Express Rail Link. This will be able to evacuate 800 l of effluent in 8 sec, allowing a single operative ...
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NewsUK and China sign railway co-operation memorandum of understanding
UK: The UK and Chinese governments signed a bilateral agreement for their rail industries to work together 'to boost economic growth, jobs and skills' during an official visit to Britain by China's Premier Li Keqiang on June 17. The Department for Transport said the agreement would pave the way for ...
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NewsShift2Rail Regulation adopted
EUROPE: Meeting in Luxembourg on June 16, the European Union’s Council of Ministers formally adopted the Regulation establishing the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking to lead rail research and development over the next six years. Currently being co-ordinated by UNIFE on behalf of eight founding members and 130 other organisations across the ...
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NewsSynthetic wood sleepers installed
SWITZERLAND: BLS is installing FFU synthetic wood sleepers supplied by Japanese firm Sekisui at three sites for trials. The first installation was at Frutigen station, where FFU turnout bearers are being tested. The fibre-reinforced foam urethane sleepers were supplied pre-drilled to SBB's Hägendorf workshop, where the turnouts were ...
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NewsThales wins Network Rail Traffic Management System contracts
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail has formally confirmed Thales UK as the winner of the first two contracts for the deployment of the national Traffic Management System. Network Rail is planning to consolidate control of Great Britain’s rail network from more than 800 signalboxes into 12 rail operating centres ...
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NewsEVRAZ ships its first 100 m rails
RUSSIA: Rail manufacturer EVRAZ ZSMK announced on June 2 that it had dispatched its first batch of 100 m long head-hardened rails for Russian Railways. This follows the completion of an 18bn rouble modernisation of its rail and beam mill which began in 2009. The upgrade has increased the plant’s ...
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NewsProducts & Technology in Brief
The New York subway has completed 12 months of testing with a compressed air dryer designed by Norgren, which it says will have an average service-free life of up to six years. Instead of a clay binder, the dryer uses adsorbent media tube technology to house the ...
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NewsProducts & Technology in Brief
SJ is to use JDA Demand and JDA Rail Price Optimizer software to develop its forecasting and dynamic pricing strategies. ‘We needed a smarter, more dynamic revenue management approach to not only replace our manual processes, but one that would also streamline and automate our processes to better keep ...
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NewsSwiss tests confirm Baseline 3 backwards compatibility
SWITZERLAND: Siemens Rail Automation announced on May 22 that a joint testing programme organised with Swiss Federal Railways and BLS AG has successfully demonstrated the functionality and backwards-compatibility of its ETCS Baseline 3 onboard software, ready for the introduction of the revised Control Command & Signalling TSI later this year. ...
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NewsRide a Panda
ACCESS: DIGI Project has developed its Panda Station lift to help wheelchair-using passengers board trains. With a capacity of 350 kg, the Panda Station has an automatic brake on the drive wheel, sensors to stop ascent and descent, 20 sec fall time and a manual mode for emergency use. ...
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NewsRio Tinto ready to test automated operation
AUSTRALIA: Rio Tinto Iron Ore has confirmed its intention to ‘soft launch’ its AutoHaul project before the end of May, to test the automatic operation of heavy haul freight trains. The initial run on the Hamersley line between Tom Price and the port at Dampier is described by an ...
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NewsSiemens wins more Hungarian ETCS work
HUNGARY: National infrastructure agency NIF has awarded three contracts for installation of ETCS Level 2 to Siemens. They cover two sections of the route between Ferencváros near Budapest and Gyoma in the east of the country, and the route between Ferencváros and Szekesfehervar to the southwest.Siemens expects to control around ...
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NewsFogtec and Knorr-Bremse agree strategic co-operation
GERMANY: Fire protection specialist Fogtec Rail Systems and international braking supplier Knorr-Bremse Systeme für Schienenfahrzeuge announced on May 13 that they had signed an agreement for strategic co-operation in the field of safety-critical products and services for rail vehicles. ‘In future, Fogtec will be able to make use of Knorr-Bremse’s ...
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NewsLightweight cable labelling
CABLE: A Spectrum Technologies high speed UV laser wire mark, measure and cut system is being installed at Bombardier Transportation’s plant at Huehuetoca in Mexico where it is to manufacture components for the 775 metro cars it is supplying to San Francisco’s BART. Spectrum’s Nova system was developed for the ...
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NewsCompressed nitrogen used to slide 800 tonne subway into place
UK: An 800 tonne reinforced concrete underpass box 28 m long, 7·6 m wide and 4·0 m high with 0·5 m thick walls was installed through an existing railway embankment at Rochester during a four-day blockade on April 18-21. According to infrastructure manager Network Rail, this was the first ...