Latest news – Page 1132
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NewsRío Colorado contract
ARGENTINA: This month a joint venture of Skanska and local companies Chediack and Milicic will start work on a 570m pesos railway construction contract awarded by the Potasio Río Colorado subisidiary of Brazilian mining company Vale. Responsible for civil works on 83 km of railway including 29 bridges, Skanksa ...
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NewsSatellite train location project launched
ROMANIA: A European project to demonstrate a satellite-based train control system suitable for low-traffic railways has been launched on the 27 km Brasov - Zarnesti branch line operated by RCCF-Trans. Although satellite positioning is common in the aviation and maritime sectors, the International Union of Railways says it has not ...
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NewsPresident outlines Brazilian rail spending plans
BRAZIL: Spending of R$46bn on 4600 km of railway by 2014 is envisaged by the federal government under the PAC 2 programme to accelerate economic growth, according to President Dilma Rousseff. Asked why the government was not investing in rail, Rousseff responded in her weekly newspaper column on January 3 ...
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NewsSmart moves in California
USA: Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit has awarded a joint venture of Stacy & Witbeck and Herzog a $103m contract to build the first stage of the Smart commuter line in the North Bay area of California. Smart will use a 110 km out of use Northwestern Pacific Railroad right ...
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NewsNews in Brief
The Rhein-Ruhr and Westfalen-Lippe transport authorities named DB Regio as the winner of the Haard-Achse operating contract on January 11. Covering routes from Münster to Düsseldorf and Mönchengladbach, the contract will run for 15 years from December 2014, with annual train-km increasing from 3·02 million to 3·87 million. On December ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - February 2012
Mass Rapid Transit Authority has awarded CK Karnchane a 14bn baht contract for civil works on the 13 km elevated Bangkok Skytrain Green Line extension from Bearing to Samut Prakan which is scheduled to open in mid-2016. China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group has begun construction of a 37·4 km ...
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NewsDB Schenker to boost London - Poland service
EUROPE: DB Schenker Rail is to add a second weekly train between Barking and Wroclaw in September, and it hopes to expand the operation to a daily service by the end of 2013, according to CEO Dr Alexander Hedderich. Speaking at a reception at the Polish embassy in London on ...
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NewsContract awarded for Ethiopian electric railway
ETHIOPIA: The second of three major contracts covering the construction of a 656 km standard gauge railway to replace the out-of-use metre-gauge line linking Addis Abeba with Djibouti has been signed by the government's project promoter Ethiopian Railway Corp. Under the 1·18bn birr deal signed on on December 16, China ...
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NewsEsbjerg electrification approved in four-point Danish transport plan
DENMARK: Electrification of the main line from Lunderskov west to Esbjerg heads a four-point programme of rail investment approved by the government and opposition parties on February 7. The 56 km electrification project is to be completed in 2015 at a cost of DKr1·19bn. This will enable DSB to procure ...
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NewsFirst tenders by April under $35bn Qatar rail programme
QATAR: In April invitations to tender will be issued for four tunnelling packages worth US$2bn to US$3bn each for the first sections of a planned 213 route-km metro in greater Doha. These contracts launch a US$35bn programme to construct an integrated rail network across the Gulf state by the ...
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NewsAwards encourage European railway integration
EUROPE: ‘We must create a European railway area, where railway operators are able to provide their services across borders’, insisted European Commission Vice-President for Transport Siim Kallas, speaking at the 2012 European Railway Awards in Brussels on February 8. Kallas is concerned that ‘today, many of Europe's railways are not ...
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NewsZonguldak line upgrading contract awarded
TURKEY: The Central Finance & Contracts Unit has awarded a €220m contract for modernisation of the 415 km line running from Irmak, east of Ankara, to the Black Sea port of Zonguldak. A consortium of Yapi Merkezi and MÖN Insaat ve Ticaret will undertake infrastructure rehabilitation and track renewals, with ...
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NewsAmtrak accelerates in Michigan
USA: On February 7 the Federal Railroad Administration gave Amtrak approval to raise speeds on its passenger services in western Michigan from 152 km/h to 177 km/h. The agreement covers an Amtrak-owned 155 route-km section between Kalamazoo, Michigan and Porter, Indiana which has been equipped with the Incremental Train Control ...
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NewsFreightliner eyes Middle Eastern rail market
INTERNATIONAL: UK-based freight operator Freightliner Group is looking for opportunities to expand its activities to include the Middle East, according to Corporate Development Director Dom McKenna. Speaking to Railway Gazette International at Terrapinn's Middle East Rail 2012 conference in Dubai, McKenna said Freightliner is seeking markets where it could work ...
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NewsFirst Leo Express train handed over
CZECH REPUBLIC: The first of five Flirt electric multiple-units ordered by Leo Express to launch open access services was handed over in a ceremony at Stadler Rail's Bussnang plant in Switzerland on February 5. Leo Express, originally known as Rapid Express, was set up in 2010, backed by Aakon Capital. ...
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NewsNew South Wales government to buy out Waratah PPP
AUSTRALIA: The New South Wales state government has reached agreement with the shareholders in Reliance Rail, its 'financial guarantors and other parties' to restructure the finances of the troubled PPP concession to supply 626 Waratah double-deck EMU cars for the Sydney suburban network. State Treasurer Mike Baird announced on February ...
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NewsWind Chaser urban maglev unveiled
CHINA: A prototype maglev trainset for medium-capacity urban transport applications has been unveiled by CSR Zhuzhou. The manufacturer envisages the 'Wind Chaser' design being used in cities of less than 2 million people, where a full metro might not be required. The company has confirmed that negotiations are underway with ...
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NewsBasel signs its ‘biggest tram order in 116 years’
SWITZERLAND: Preferred bidder Bombardier Transportation signed the contract to supply the city of Basel with 60 Flexity trams on January 31, in a deal described as Basel transport authority’s biggest order in its 116-year history. The €184m contract awarded by BVB will see the first two trams arrive in 2013 ...
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NewsAECOM wins Honolulu airport elevated metro design contract
USA: AECOM has won a $38∙8m contract to design the 8∙3 km section of the Honolulu Rail Transit elevated metro from Aloha Stadium to the Middle Street Transit Center, via Honolulu International Airport. AECOM is expected to finish the design work by the spring of 2013. There will be a ...
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NewsFirst Chinese DMU for Tunisia unveiled
TUNISIA: CSR Nanjing Puzhen has begun delivery of a fleet of diesel multiple-units ordered by state railway SNCFT. Announcing the shipping of the first unit from Shanghai during January, the manufacturer said the development of the diesel-hydraulic multiple-units for export 'marks a great breakthrough of China's technology', making use of ...