Latest news – Page 1363
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News
Serco preferred bidder for Dubai metro operations contract
DUBAI'S Roads & Transport Authority named Serco as preferred bidder for the contract to operate and maintain the first two lines of the Dubai Metro on June 19. The contract is valued at more than £400m over 12½ years, and begins this summer with a pre-launch consultancy and planning ...
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Level crossings pose the widest risk
THE DEATH of 11 people in a collision between an inter-city DMU and a lorry at Kerang in Victoria on June 5 is another regrettable addition to the growing list of fatal level crossing accidents. In the Australian state alone, 65 people have died in level crossing incidents over the ...
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Thales consolidation takes shape
'GROUND Transportation is a core activity at the heart of Thales' strategy', confirmed Senior Vice-President Jean-Paul Lepeytre on May 23, during a presentation in Helsinki to outline developments since the company took over the Alcatel Transportation Systems business in January (RG 6.06 p361). Identifying the company's role as a ...
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Egis Rail launched
FRENCH rail and public transport engineering consultancy Semaly was officially relaunched as Egis Rail on June 1, following a restructuring of the rail activities within the Egis group. Since the former Lyon transport engineering arm was privatised in 1992, Semaly has been 77% owned by Egis - which is itself ...
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Europe's private freight operators under siege
THE NEWS that Deutsche Bahn has been actively discussing acquisition of the UK's largest freight carrier, English Welsh & Scottish Railway, and is considering a 'partnership' with Fret SNCF, which lost €840m in 2006, has once again set alarm bells ringing among the fledgling private sector rail freight operators in ...
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Green Goats penned
RAILPOWER Technologies Corp issued a statement on June 1 recalling 59 diesel-battery locos from the GG-series, including Green Kids and generation I, II and III models, and requesting that owners temporarily cease operating them. The action was triggered by a fire in a Green Goat in Texas on May 30. ...
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African locomotive arrivals
THIS MONTH Sifang Loco & Rolling Stock Co will deliver to Angola the last of eight SDD6 diesel locos ordered for Luanda railway. Services on the 424 km line from the capital to Malange and the 55 km branch to Dondo are expected to be fully restored later this year, ...
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Low sulphur
MTA Metro-North Railroad's diesel locomotives are to be switched to ultra-low sulphur fuel by January 2008, five years ahead of a deadline set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The railway estimates that adoption of the fuel will result in a 13% reduction in hydrocarbon emissions, a 6% cut in ...
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Industry News in Brief
RailWorks Corp has been acquired by its management and private equity firm Wind Point Partners. They purchased the business in May from MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners, which had owned the North American track and infrastructure construction and maintenance company since 2002.Wagon manufacturer W H Davies has expanded its UK maintenance ...
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Transmash and Bombardier sign partnership
BOMBARDIER Transportation's Chief Operating Officer Wolfgang Tölsner and Transmash Holding President Dmitri A Komissarov have signed a €12·5m agreement establishing two equally-owned joint ventures in Russia. Signed in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on May 25 during the Strategic Partnership 1520 conference, the agreement covers the creation of ...
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Capacity issues dominate Kiruna conference
HOW TO HANDLE more, heavier and longer trains without compromising reliability was high up the agenda at the International Heavy Haul Association's Specialist Technical Session in Kiruna on June 10-13. Around 350 delegates from 26 countries assembled in the Swedish town where LKAB's iron ore mine towers over the landscape. ...
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Technology roadmap is taking shape
WORK is in hand to draw up a technical strategy for North America's railroads covering the next 20 to 25 years. It is being put together by a small working group drawn from the Association of American Railroads, TTCI and its sister business Railinc. The idea originated with a small ...
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NewsECP braking to Richards Bay
PLANS have now been confirmed for the phased rollout of ECP braking on Spoornet's Richards Bay heavy haul coal line. Described at the IHHA conference in Kiruna by Marshall Beck of New York Air Brake as 'the first real fleet implementation', the project requires 230 locos and 6 735 wagons ...
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The search for sustainable mobility will focus on energy
'THE DEBATE about transport should not be left to experts or to engineers', suggested Dr Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Executive Director of the UN-Habitat urban development programme on May 24, signing a memorandum of association with the International Association of Public Transport. The theme of sustainable mobility ran right through ...
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Intelligence July 2007
Algeria: On June 4 national railway infrastructure company Anesrif signed a €16m contract appointing Italferr to provide technical advice for the development of new lines over the next five years, along with staff training and management consultancy services. Pöyry has a €2·4m contract to design a 100 km line between ...
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Market July 2007
Australia: As part of a five-member consortium, Comsa subsidiary MVM Rail has been awarded work worth €27m under the project to quadruple the 13 km between Kingsgrove and Rebesby in Sydney. Belgium: Infrastructure manager Infrabel has concluded a €414m five-year master agreement covering signalling modernisation with the Belgosignal joint venture ...
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Finance July 2007
Australia: On May 16 Transport Minister Mark Vaile announced A$18·1m of AusLink funding towards a A$60m re-sleepering and loop extensions on the Perth - Kalgoorlie line to permit 1·8 km long trains and speeds of up to 115 km/h. Canada: On June 16 the Ontario government announced a 50-year transport ...
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Urban rail news in brief - July 2007
China: On May 31 Bombardier announced a €53m contract from Guangzhou Metro Corp to supply a fully-automated 4 km underground peoplemover by June 2010. The nine-station Zhujiang Xincheng Central District Passenger Automatic Transportation System will have 14 CX-100 vehicles similar to cars being supplied to Beijing Airport. Harsco has ...
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Pacific National stays intact as Toll splits
LAST MONTH saw the start of trading in shares of Asciano, after Toll Holdings won approval from its shareholders on May 28 to split the giant Australian freight conglomerate into separate infrastructure and operating companies. Under the deal each Toll shareholder received a matching share in Asciano, which has ...
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MÁV Cargo sale
HUNGARIAN STATE Railway announced on May 29 that it had invited bids for the sale of its freight subsidiary MÁV Cargo, which has a nominal value of almost HF30bn.Indicative bids are invited by July 23, with final tenders to be submitted by October 19. MÁV has appointed Boston Consulting ...