Latest news – Page 1350

  • News

    Mar del Plata high speed line next

    2007-11-01T15:34:00Z

    ON OCTOBER 1 President Néstor Kirchner launched tendering for a turnkey package to build a high speed line between Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata in Argentina, using the alignment of the existing 399 km Roca route for an electrified line with a maximum speed of 250 km/h. The ...

  • News

    Canadian National buys EJ&E

    2007-11-01T15:22:00Z

    THE US$300m purchase of the relatively small Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway by Canadian National, announced on September 26, will have an immense impact on CN's business according to CEO Hunter Harrison. CN has agreed to pay US$300m for the 320 km Class II regional railroad, which is currently ...

  • News

    High speed accord

    2007-11-01T15:16:00Z

    DURING a seminar on designing, building and operating high speed lines organised by the Spanish infrastructure authority in Moscow, on October 5 ADIF President Antonio González signed an agreement with RZD President Vladimir Yakunin committing both organisations to a five-year co-operation programme. ADIF and RZD are to share their ...

  • News

    Sidetrack November 2007

    2007-11-01T11:47:00Z

    Following a formal inauguration ceremony on October 1, East Japan Railway opened its new railway museum in Saitama to the public on October 14, the 135th anniversary of the opening of the first railway in the country. Created to mark the 20th anniversary of the estab lishment of JR East, ...

  • News

    People November 2007

    2007-11-01T11:43:00Z

    Govia has named the senior executive team for London Midland, which is to operate the UK's new West Midlands franchise from November 11. Steve Banaghan is Managing Director; Andy Thomas, Operations Director; Julian Edwards, Finance Director; Alex Hynes, Commercial Director; John Barlass, Engineering Director; Mike Haigh, Business Integration Director; Rachel ...

  • News

    Four left in MÁV Cargo sale

    2007-11-01T11:40:00Z

    WHEN the second-round bidding for the sale of MÁV Cargo closed on October 19 it rapidly became clear that only four of the seven contenders who had passed the first round were still in the running. The selection team must now choose between a Slovak consortium called Spedtrans-Slavia Capital, a ...

  • VIA Rail train with LRC cars.
    News

    VIA Rail fleet to roll on

    2007-11-01T11:00:00Z

    CANADA: Inter-city and long-distance passenger trains are to benefit from a C$691·9m funding package unveiled on October 11. Hon Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure & Communities, said 'we are launching the largest capital program in VIA Rail's history'. The five-year package will ensure that VIA's 'current network and service ...

  • News

    AGV tipped to win NTV contract

    2007-10-31T17:10:00Z

    ALSTOM is reported to have preferred bidder status in the competition to supply rolling stock to Italian open access high speed operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori, but the supplier is unable to confirm this, saying only that the company has been shortlisted. The French company is offering its AGV trainset with ...

  • News

    China awards €1bn high-speed train contract

    2007-10-31T14:10:00Z

    A BILLION euro order for 40 high-speed trainsets including 20 sleeper trains was signed by China's Ministry of Railways and manufacturer Bombardier Sifang Power (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd on October 31. The 16-car electric multiple-units will be 430 m long and capable of speeds up to 250 km/h. The order ...

  • News

    High Speed 1 inaugurated as London - Brussels joins the 2 h club

    2007-10-31T06:48:00Z

    Eurostar set a record time of 1 h 43 min from Brussels to its new London St Pancras terminus on September 20. Murray Hughes was on board

  • News

    High Speed 1: the stations

    2007-10-31T06:48:00Z

    St Pancras PASSENGERS from Paris and Brussels will now arrive at the stunningly-renovated St Pancras station, which with the adjacent Midland Hotel forms a masterpiece of Victorian architecture on the government's list of 9 137 buildings considered of Grade ...

  • News

    Who is who in High Speed 1

    2007-10-31T06:48:00Z

    THE BRITISH government selected London & Continental Railways in February 1996 to build and operate High Speed 1 (then called the Channel Tunnel Rail Link), and to own and operate the UK arm of Eurostar. LCR's shareholders are Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow and Systra, transport operators National Express Group and SNCF, ...

  • Eurostar.
    News

    ‘Depot mark 2’ promises faster maintenance of faster trains

    2007-10-31T06:48:00Z

    Andrew Grantham reports from Eurostar Engineering Centre Temple Mills

  • News

    Dutch urban tendering retreat

    2007-10-31T06:07:00Z

    PROSPECTS for the opening up of public transport in the biggest Dutch cities have fallen sharply, following an EU decision that cities with in-house operating companies need not call competitive tenders. The European Commission has retreated from its free-market approach at the behest of several member states, not least ...

  • News

    Norfolk line cleared by Congress

    2007-10-30T15:39:00Z

    A CEREMONY to mark the approval of federal funding for the $232·1m light rail project in Norfolk, Virginia, took place on October 1, two days after the project was cleared by the US Congress. The $128m Full Funding Grant Agreement was approved only days after the Transportation District ...

  • News

    Kyiv - Kharkiv wired

    2007-10-30T15:19:00Z

    UKRAINIAN Railways General Manager Volodimir Kozak attended celebrations at Ogultsy station on September 20 to mark the formal completion of electrification of the route between Kyiv and Kharkiv. Work to electrify the missing section between Yahotin and Radnarkomivska began in 1994, with the extension of 25kV wires from Yahotin ...

  • News

    SNCF calls for interoperable diesels

    2007-10-30T15:17:00Z

    FRENCH national operator SNCF planned to call tenders by the end of October for between 30 and 50 main line diesel locomotives to haul international freight traffic. According to Denis Martin, Senior Manager at SNCF's Rolling Stock Department, the need for these interoperable locomotives is 'very urgent'. The urgency ...

  • Class 395.
    News

    At home with the High Speed 1 domestic stock

    2007-10-30T14:32:00Z

    THE FLEET of Hitachi EMUs for UK domestic commuter services will be housed in a purpose-built depot at Ashford. The £53m depot adjacent to the high speed line was officially opened by Japanese ambassador Yoshiji Nogami and UK Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly on October 2, the same ...

  • Bridge over Hollandsch Diep (Photo: HSL-Zuid/Ton Poortvliet).
    News

    Eurlings puts back HSL-Zuid 'Go' date

    2007-10-30T12:08:00Z

    AS WE have reported before, the prospects for a start of passenger services on HSL-Zuid with the December 2007 timetable change have been declining steadily. Now it is official: Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings has confirmed that the start of revenue operation had been postponed indefinitely. On October 4 ...

  • tn_be-diabolo-viaduct-motorway_02.jpg
    News

    Brussels Diabolo PPP agreement signed

    2007-10-30T08:26:00Z

    BELGIUM: The first PPP in Belgium reached financial close on September 28, allowing infrastructure authority Infrabel to announce the formal go-ahead for the long-planned Diabolo project, which will improve rail links to Brussels Airport and Antwerpen. Infrabel is working with private-sector investors HSH Nordbank AG and Babcock & Brown, who ...