All Railway Gazette International articles in June 2004 – Page 3

  • News

    Rites and Ircon win Sena contract

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    A US$175m concession to rehabilitate and operate the 575 km Sena line in Mozambique has been awarded to a consortium comprising Rail India Technical & Economic Services and Ircon International. The line links the port at Beira with the Moatize coalfields, with a 39 km branch from Vila de Sena ...

  • News

    A luta continua!

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    Despite financing delays and setbacks caused by cyclones and famine, a multinational concessionaire is starting to make progress with the renovation and operation of the Nacala Corridor linking Mozambique and Malawi

  • News

    Relaying train nears completion

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: Matisa of Switzerland is putting the finishing touches to a P95UK track relaying train for Network Rail designed to work within the UK’s restrictive loading gaugeNEARING completion at Crissier near Lausanne in Switzerland is a giant track relaying train destined for Network Rail. Nearly 140m long, the P95UK consists ...

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    News

    Private operators start to compete in the Polish freight market

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    Poland was the largest of the countries to join the European Union on May 1, and the possibility of the huge rail freight business being privatised attracted much interest. Privatisation is off the agenda for the moment, but Marek Rabsztyn and Jan Raczynski find that more than 20 new operators ...

  • News

    Two passenger companies in PKP Group

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    Within the PKP Group there are two national passenger operators: PKP Intercity Ltd, which ran its first trains on September 1 2001, and PKP Przewozy Regionalne Ltd which came into being on October 1 2001.PKP Intercity runs about 280 daily trains, including overnight and international services. The overnight trains from ...

  • News

    ERTMS costs must come down

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    ’WE NOW have a defined and funded project’, SRA’s Executive Director, Technical, David Waboso declared on May 18. He was referring to the UK’s trial site for ERTMS on the Cambrian lines from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli, which was selected last year after the decision was made not to ...

  • News

    Heathrow Connect close to takeoff

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    TAKING SHAPE at the Siemens works in Krefeld-Uerdingen is a small build of grey EMU cars with orange doors. Quite distinct from the rows of ICE3 and ICE-T cars and ET423 and 425 EMUs for German Railway and VT642 diesel railcars for Romania, they show a marked family resemblance to ...

  • News

    Charleroi restart

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    WALLOON Transport Minister José Daras has unveiled a €89·4m programme to complete the light metro network in Charleroi within five years. Work on this long-stalled project began in 1970 and is believed to have cost BFr22·5bn to date.The latest proposals would see a new surface alignment to complete the city-centre ...

  • News

    Canac sold

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    CANADIAN National has sold Canac Inc to Salt Lake City-based Savage Companies. The sale includes Canac’s railway training, planning and infrastructure engineering services and its international consultancy, but excludes the Remote Control Division which will remain a CN subsidiary. The Remote Control Division manufactures locomotive control products including the Beltpack ...

  • News

    Praha extends Line C

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    JUNE 26 is due to see the opening of a 3·9 km northern extension of Praha metro Line C. Section IVC1 runs from N

  • News

    Chinese offer to build Karachi light rail

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    ON MAY 13 the Nazim of Karachi, Niamatullah Khan, signed an accord with Gu Zhengxie, Senior Vice-President of China National Machinery & Equipment Group, under which the Chinese company will finance and build the city’s long-planned light rail line. The ’preliminary implementation agreement’ covers construction of a 15·2 km line ...

  • News

    Industry News in Brief

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    Bogie and single axle suspension technology firm Powell Duffryn Rail announced on May 13 that is had been renamed Probotec Ltd, a name ’derived from Professional Bogie Technologies.’To allow for expansion, AEA Technology is to move part of its Rail Products business from Derby to its Glengarnock technology centre, currently ...

  • News

    Passenger News in Brief

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    CFR Calatori has awarded Hewlett Packard Romania a €22m contract to provide a computerised ticket sales and seat reservation system, which is expected to handle 86% of the Romanian operator’s sales. Russian Railways plans to introduce twice-weekly Moscow - Grozny through services from May 30, taking 46 h northbound and ...

  • News

    Products in Brief

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    Bombardier has bought a world-wide licence to use Prover iLock, which provides a mathematical proof of the safety of a proposed interlocking and supports the analysis of the effects of two or more simultaneous hardware failures.Prover Technology Inc, USAReader Enquiry Number: 147The Case CX135 excavator forms the basis for Crawlerrail, ...

  • News

    Fire safety boost

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    CHENNAI’S Integral Coach Factory has completed three prototype passenger coaches which have been designed to offer better fire resistance than existing Indian Railways rolling stock.An initial prototype was developed by Karpurthala Rail Coach Factory, following a fatal fire at Godhra in 2002. Indian Railways had decided that all new passenger ...

  • News

    Back-up signalling still needed

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    THE decision to install ERTMS on TGV Est (p318) is clear evidence of a firm commitment in Europe to pursue the development of ETCS technology, despite the cost. But the goal of attaining levels of reliability acceptable for commercial service remains elusive. Even on TGV Est, due to open in ...

  • News

    UK brings infrastructure maintenance back in-house

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: When Railtrack contracted out maintenance of its network in 1995 a 30% cost reduction was expected, but by 2003-04 it was 50% higher in real terms. Network Rail Deputy Chief Executive Iain Coucher explained to Richard Hope what went wrong, and why Railtrack’s successor decided that employing its own ...

  • News

    Alliances deliver on performance and cost

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: Australian Rail Track Corporation relies on contractors to maintain the standard gauge trunk lines linking major cities. By switching to alliances that set target costs and share risks between client and contractor, ARTC has more than halved its average maintenance bill to A$8500/track-km a year despite rising tonnageBYLINE: Malcolm ...

  • News

    Algerian initatives spur modernisation

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    WORK IS due to start early this month on the long-planned project to build a 360 km standard gauge line between Méchéria and Béchar in western Algeria. To be laid parallel to Algerian Railways' existing 1055mm gauge alignment, which it will ultimately replace, the line is intended primarily for oil ...

  • News

    Australia agrees to invest in rail at last

    2004-06-01T10:00:00Z

    YEARS OF intense lobbying by Australia’s rail industry for funding to upgrade the worst sections of the east coast interstate main line have finally been rewarded. The budget for the year commencing on July 1 tabled by Federal Treasurer Peter Costello on May 11 includes a one-off grant of A$450m ...