Latest news – Page 1029
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NewsFeature articles in the November 2013 issue of Railway Gazette International
Comment Think international, think commercial News Main Line Urban Rail Market Industry Innovations Analysis Back under one roof in FranceEurostar wins from Fyra falloutUruguay’s open access vision Australasia Ensuring that rail delivers The AusRail Plus event in Sydney on November 26-28 will address the theme of ‘driving ...
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NewsDhaka metro construction officially launched
BANGLADESH: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone for the Dhaka metro on October 31 at Bhawal Badre Alam University College Ground. The project is to be developed with Japanese assistance, following the signing of a 40-year soft loan agreement with JICA in February valued at ¥10·477bn. The ...
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NewsHitachi starts work on UK plant
UK: Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills Vince Cable visited Newton Aycliffe in County Durham on November 1 to mark the start of construction on the new rolling stock manufacturing plant being built for Hitachi Rail Europe. Lead contractor Shepherd ...
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NewsBase tunnel maintenance fleet ordered
SWITZERLAND: SBB has ordered a fleet of specialist track and infrastructure maintenance equipment from Harsco Rail for use in the Gotthard and Ceneri base tunnels from 2016. Valued at SFr93·7m, but with provision for further options, the contract announced on October 30 covers a fleet of 31 specialist machines including ...
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NewsInternational bodies sign pivotal railway law agreement
EUROPE: A renewable five-year co-ordination agreement which the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail describes as 'pivotal for the development of international railway law' has been signed by OTIF, the European Railway Agency and DG Move, the European Commission's transport directorate. OTIF said the agreement signed in Brussels on ...
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NewsRail regulator sets out Network Rail funding and outputs for 2014-19
UK: On October 31 the Office of Rail Regulation published its final determination of infrastructure manager Network Rail's funding and what it must deliver in Control Period 5, which runs for five years from April 1 2014. ORR said the £38·293bn plan is designed to deliver 'better performance, more capacity, ...
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NewsHigh Speed Rail Corp of India launched
INDIA: Minister of Railways Mallikarjun Kharge officially launched High Speed Rail Corp of India on October 29. The subsidiary of state-owned railway project promoter Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd has been established to develop high speed corridors suitable for operation at speeds up to 350 km/h. HSRC will prepare studies and ...
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NewsConstruction of Sri Lanka's Southern Railway begins
SRI LANKA: A groundbreaking ceremony at Beliatta on October 28 launched construction of the 26·8 km first phase of the 115 km Southern Railway project. The extension of the line from Matara to serve Kekanadura, Babarenda, Wavurukannala and Beliatta is scheduled to open in 2016. The 1 676 mm gauge ...
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NewsHeavy-duty bogie rotators delivered down under
AUSTRALIA: Heavy lifting equipment manufacturer Mechan has completed its first delivery to Australia, supplying a pair of 10 tonne bogie rotators to Downer Rail's rolling stock maintenance depot at Newport in Victoria. The rotators comprise two independent structures which hold a bogie frame in place while it is rotated through ...
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NewsSantiago ETCS contract placed and first train delivered
CHILE: Bombardier Transportation has been awarded what it says is the first ERTMS contract in Chile and the second in Latin America. The €15m deal announced on October 28 covers the supply of ETCS Level 1 signalling for the 22 km Santiago - Nos section of the 82 km commuter ...
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NewsSeoul Line 9 contract extension awarded
SOUTH KOREA: The SML9 consortium of Transdev and RATP Dev signed a contract extension for the operation and maintenance of the Seoul metro Line 9 metro on October 28. The 10-year contract is worth €525m. Line 9 is the only line in Seoul run by a private operator, which ...
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NewsStockholm light rail extension opens
SWEDEN: Regular services on a 7 km extension of Stockholm's Tvärbanan light rail line north from Alvik to Solna Centrum began on October 28, following opening celebrations and free rides the previous day. The extension includes a 0·8 km tunnel. It adds seven stops to the line, with two providing ...
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NewsFirst Škoda tram on its way to Konya
TURKEY: The first of 60 trams for Konya left Škoda Transportation’s Plzen factory in the Czech Republic on October 29, almost seven months after the €104·7m contract was announced. The 100% low-floor Type 28T vehicle is based on 31 trams ordered by Miskolc in Hungary. The five-section tram is ...
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NewsMarmaray tunnel opens to link Europe with Asia
TURKEY: 'This project that was dreamed of 153 years ago, has been realised' said President Abdullah Gül as he inaugurated the Marmaray tunnel between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul on October 29, as part of the Republic Day celebrations marking the 90th anniversary of Atatürk's proclamation of the ...
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NewsHo Chi Minh City metro Line 5 funding secured
VIETNAM: The Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways has announced that three foreign organisations will help to finance metro Line 5. The Asian Development Bank will provide US$500m, the European Investment Bank €150m and the Spanish government €200m. The remainder will come from the Vietnamese government’s ...
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NewsMelbourne’s B-Class trams to be refurbished
AUSTRALIA: Public Transport Victoria is investing A$4·4m to refurbish Melbourne’s B-Class trams, which make up a quarter of Yarra Trams’ fleet. The work will be completed early next year and aims to increase the capacity of each two-section tram by seven to nine passengers. This will be achieved by ...
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NewsWarszawa orders short trams
POLAND: Tramwaje Warszawskie has selected Pesa to supply 30 low-floor trams to the Polish capital for 185·4m złoty. Pesa beat offers from Solaris, CAF, Škoda Transportation and Stadler. At 20 m long, the unidirectional three-section trams from Pesa’s Jazz family will be shorter than most of the Warszawa fleet. ...
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NewsNews in Brief
The Dutch government has allocated €2·4bn for rail in the 2014 budget, with projects to include eliminating conflicting paths at Utrecht and €126m to provide additional tracks at Weesp which will enable the provision of a train every 10 min between Schiphol and Lelystad. A decision on the implementation of ...
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NewsArrowedge aims to cut fuel use
USA: Union Pacific has begun testing Arrowedge, a device designed to reduce fuel consumption by improving the aerodynamics of double-stack intermodal trains. The first wagon of the train is loaded with one container, with the 14·6 m (48 ft) Arrowedge sitting on top. Its tapered body improves air flow around ...
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NewsSmart phone for locomotives
RADIO: Kapsch CarrierCom has launched the RC900 cab radio, which it calls a ‘smart phone for locomotives’. The RC900 supports GSM-R for speech and data, plus ER-GSM, and has inbuilt wi-fi and a GPS receiver. Its memory can be expanded with an SD card.