Latest news – Page 1276
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NewsEurlings moves to rescue HSA
NETHERLANDS: The sorry saga of HSL-Zuid continues, with the news that Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings has put together a rescue package for High Speed Alliance, which he says was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy as a result of the delays in opening the high speed line between Schiphol and ...
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NewsCaracas metro renovation underway
VENEZUELA: Metro de Caracas is investing BsF4bn to refurbish Line 1 between Propatria and Palo Verde. The route now carries more than 1·5 million passengers on a working day, and the metro must meet an anticipated demand of 3 million passengers a day in 2014. The programme, which began in ...
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NewsPassenger services in Botswana to end
BOTSWANA: Botswana Railways' passenger service is to be suspended with effect from April 1, the Ministry of Works & Transport announced on February 25. The overnight train between Francistown and Lobatse accounts for less than 10% of BR's operating revenues, and loses P30m a year which has until now been ...
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NewsHS2 on the fast track
UK: Public consultation for the route of a high speed line from London to the West Midlands and eventually Scotland is expected to start next year. Announcing this in the keynote address at Railway Gazette International’s conference on Growth & the Capacity Challenge on March 10, Transport Minister Lord Andrew ...
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NewsArriva awarded Czech operating contract
EUROPE: Arriva's Vogtlandbahn subsidiary has been awarded a contract to operate regional passenger services on the 56 km line linking the Czech towns of Liberec, Varnsdorf and Rybniste via Zittau and Seifhennersdorf in Germany. Running for 10 years from December 2010, the contract was awarded jointly by the Liberec ...
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NewsThameslink Programme starts to take off
UK: ‘We are about to break cover’, commented Andrew Mitchell following a presentation to the Institution of Engineering & Technology in London on February 10. As Network Rail’s Major Programme Director for the Thameslink Programme, he is looking forward to March 22, when the past four years of preparation for ...
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NewsHigh speed frenzy follows election
USA: Not surprisingly, a request for expressions of interest to develop high speed rail corridors has attracted a considerable degree of attention, despite the country’s poor track record with privately-funded projects and the limited prospects for such schemes going ahead in the current economic climate. Legislation passed by Congress last ...
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NewsMore EMUs for Queensland
AUSTRALIA: Bombardier Transportation and joint venture partner Downer EDI Rail announced an A$205m order from the Queensland government for a further 20 three-car SMU260 commuter EMUs on March 9. Deliveries of the 130 km/h units are scheduled to run from August 2010 to December 2011, bringing the total number ...
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NewsAnti-corruption drive lands DB in trouble
GERMANY: An extraordinary row about the sensitive subject of personal information is occupying senior managers at Deutsche Bahn. The affair is serious enough for politicians to demand the head of DB’s pugnacious Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn, who not for the first time is defending his patch with characteristic vigour. The ...
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NewsOn the fast track to reform
TURKEY: With construction of new lines moving ahead, modernisation of the existing TCDD network is also getting underway. Meanwhile, draft legislation presented to the government last year envisages the restructuring of the rail sector to introduce competition between train operators.
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NewsWorld rail market March 2009
Belgium: A 1·6 tonne capacity Europont overhead crane with a Verlinde Eurobloc hoist has been installed at STIB’s Woluwe tram depot in Brussels. Netherlands: INIT has a contract to provide Copilotpc onboard equipment and GPRS communications for 129 trams, 226 buses and 41 other vehicles operated by Rotterdam transport ...
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NewsPointers March 2009
Ferrocarriles de Gran Canaria SA has been set up by the island government to manage the construction of a railway on Gran Canaria. A technical consultant will be employed to prepare tenders for project planning on the section between the capital and San Bartolomé de Tirajana, on which construction is ...
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NewsHouston awards light rail expansion contract
USA: Houston's Metropolitan Transit Authority board of directors voted unanimously on March 4 to award a $1·46bn design, build, operate and maintain contract covering the construction of four more light rail lines to the HRT joint venture headed by Parsons Transportation Group. Following from the city's initial light rail ...
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NewsBNSF explores the fuel cell
USA: A hydrogen-powered shunting locomotive now being assembled will serve as a testbed for reducing diesel fuel use by North America’s railroads. David Lustig reports from Topeka.
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NewsInaugural train begins Laos royal visit
LAOS: Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand presided over the inaugural cross-border rail journey into Laos on March 5. Following a ceremony at Nong Khai station, the princess travelled across the Mekong to Tha Na Laeng, where she began a two-day official visit to Laos. The Thai-Lao Friendship bridge ...
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NewsAgreement reached on Tyva railway
RUSSIA: A protocol confirming the route of the planned 415 km railway from Kuragino to Kyzyl was signed by the Tyva republic's head of government Sholban Kara-ool and Eniseiskaya Industrial Corp CEO Dmitry Sahno on February 27. An extension of the Russian Railways network to Kyzyl, the capital of ...
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NewsDB Schenker structure revised
EUROPE: Deutsche Bahn has announced the new management team for the European rail-based logistics activities which have been grouped under the DB Schenker Rail brand. This now contains three geographic and two sector-based business units. DB Schenker Rail encompasses the former Railion Group and English Welsh & Scottish Railway ...
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NewsWagon prices attractive
GATX: Chicago-based leasing firm GATX reported net income from continuing operations of $196m in 2008, up from $185·8m the previous year. Wagon sales in the secondary market raised $55m, and ‘robust scrapping activity’ took advantage of high scrap prices. As a result, utilisation of the North American fleet of ...