Latest news – Page 1286
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NewsLevante line takes shape
SPAIN: Construction and fitting out works are proceeding apace on the high speed line which will link Madrid with Valencia and the Murcia region.
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NewsSoftware tools ease planning headaches
SOFTWARE: A range of approaches is available for planners seeking to model timetables and assess the capacity of a railway. Three case studies from Europe illustrate the variations between them.
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NewsPointers January 2009
Poland’s Ministry of Infrastructure has approved plans to privatise freight operator PKP Cargo. Proposals for a partial sale of Rail Cargo Austria were floated by new Chancellor Werner Feyhman on December 16. The government of Kyrgyzstan decided in December to put national railway KTY up for sale. The Southern ...
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Dieter - January 2009
CHINA: Redundant DK16 metro cars which ran on Line 2 in Beijing until they were replaced before the Olympic Games have been converted into student dormitories in Guangyuan, a town in China’s Sichuan province which was badly damaged by an earthquake on May 12. The seats have been replaced ...
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Underfloor composite tank
WATER TANK: Roof-mounted air-conditioning units can limit the space available for overhead water tanks on passenger cars, so Goa-based Kineco has developed a filament-wound composite under-floor tank which is now in service with Indian Railways. The non-corroding composite tank is designed as a single piece with semi-ellipsoidal dish ends and ...
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NewsNew Delhi to pilot station renewal programme
INDIA: Faced with rapidly-increasing traffic, Indian Railways needs to augment or rebuild many of its 7 000 stations to accommodate the growing business. PPP financing and commercial development are envisaged to fund the reconstruction of 26 of the country’s busiest stations, reports Raghu Dayal.
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NewsSee how they run
UK: The Association of Train Operating Companies has announced plans to roll out real-time mapping on the nationalrail.co.uk travel information website. ATOC has been working with Microsoft and Conchango to improve the visual interface of the National Rail Enquiries website’s ‘live departure boards’ feature, which provides details of train running ...
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NewsTülomsas to assemble GE PowerHaul locomotives
TURKEY: On December 30 GE Transportation and Tülomsas announced a partnership agreement under which the Turkish firm will assemble PowerHaul locomotives for the European, Middle Eastern and North African markets from 2011. ‘We're investing in Turkey because of its strategic proximity to the customers we wish to serve and ...
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NewsMumbai monorail contract
INDIA: Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has awarded a contract worth Rs24·6bn to Scomi Engineering of Malaysia and consortium partner Larsen & Toubro to design and build an elevated monorail line in the city. Expected to take 30 months to complete, the 19·5 km Sutra straddle monorail is expected to ...
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NewsLu seizes a rare opportunity
CHINA: ‘The situation translates into a rare opportunity for rail’, said Deputy Minister of Railways Lu Dongfu on November 28, welcoming the news that the government plans to spend 700bn yuan on railway construction in 2009-10 in order to create or safeguard up to six million jobs. ‘Upgrading railway infrastructure ...
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NewsSarkozy backs Paris expansion
FRANCE: Paris metro operator RATP will invest an additional €450m in 2009, as part of a spending package to stimulate the French economy announced by President Nicolas Sarkozy on December 4. Much of the money will go on refurbishment and expansion of the rolling stock fleet, station renovations and modernisation ...
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NewsCables encircle the globe
NEXANS: Rolling stock manufacturers are increasingly shifting responsibility to their sub-suppliers. Dietmar Steinbach of cable specialist Nexans told Andrew Grantham that consistency and product development are vital to a successful relationship.
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NewsPiraeus extension retendered
GREECE: Expressions of interest are due by January 30 for a €515m contract to extend Athens metro Line 3 to Piraeus. Following a decision by the Minister of Town Planning, Environment & Public Works, Attiko Metro cancelled its earlier EU tender and issued a new call for bids on November ...
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NewsAmbitious GCC rail plans start to firm up
MIDDLE EAST: Development of a 1 940 route-km rail network linking the six member states of the Gulf Co-operation Council is moving closer to fruition, with a feasibility study to be completed by March. At a meeting of finance and economics ministers held in Dubai on November ...
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NewsNetwork expansion is in full swing
IRAN: Railway development is continuing apace, the intention being to provide rail connections between all major cities as soon as possible. The ultimate objective is to double the size of the current 8 300 route-km network, reports David Brice.
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NewsCoal Master Plan drives capacity investment
CAPACITY: With expenditure of A$1·3bn in the next financial year, infrastructure manager QR Network is delivering the largest capital investment programme in its history, but planning assessments suggest that much more capacity will be needed to meet projected demand in the next five years.
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NewsEurotunnel seeks safety changes
EUROPE: Three months after the devastating fire on September 11 that burned out every lorry on a shuttle train in the Channel Tunnel, we were able to inspect on December 10 the full extent of the damage to 610 m of the concrete lining as repairs continue around the clock. ...
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NewsMadrid plans another €5bn suburban spend
SPAIN: Development Minister Magdalena Álvarez has presented the cabinet with an €5bn investment programme for the Madrid suburban network in 2008-15, which would see 115 km of new routes constructed and capacity increased by quadrupling a further 66 km. The programme envisages the construction of five new interchanges and 24 ...
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Tests to cease on Emsland guideway
GERMANY: ‘This is not the end of the Transrapid maglev technology’, affirmed Transrapid International on April 2 last year after the proposed 37 km maglev line linking München city centre with the airport was abandoned (RG 5.08 p290). The words returned to haunt the company on December 10 when ...
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No-poaching accord
AFRICA: A framework agreement ‘to help contain the unregulated movement of technical staff’ between railways in different countries is being drawn up by the Southern Africa Railways Association, in a move to prevent skill shortages from crippling their members’ operations. The move was announced following by a SARA committee meeting ...