All News articles – Page 121
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NewsMore pressing matters
MILLIONS of wheels have been forged on the press at Valdunes' Dunkerque plant since the machine was commissioned in 1956, at a rate estimated by manufacturer DavyMarkham to be one wheel a minute. Following half a century of use, the 600 tonne press has recently undergone a three-week refurbishment ...
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NewsLibyan links back on track
CONSTRUCTION of two long-planned rail links in the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is to go ahead following the award of two contracts to China Railway Construction Corp. Work is expected to start in June on a 352 km route parallel to the Mediterranean coast between Al Khums and ...
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Wheel makers merge
EUROPE: The merger of wheel, axle and running gear component makers Gutehoffnungshütte Radsatz International Holding GmbH and Valdunes Entreprises was completed on February 1. The new GHH Group brings together production sites at Oberhausen in Germany, Dunkerque and Valenciennes in France and Liège in Belgium to give a combined capacity ...
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High speed reaches Barcelona
SPAIN: The completion of high speed infrastructure from Camp de Tarragona enabled Spanish national operator RENFE to increase the number of direct services between Madrid and Barcelona each day from seven to 17 each way on February 20. With Class 102 and 103 trainsets replacing gauge-changing Class 120 units (RG ...
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Zimbabwe powered down
DESPITE the growing environmental argument in favour of electric traction, news reaches us that electric working has been suspended on Zimbabwe's only electrified line. Diesel locos are now hauling all trains on the 313 km single-track route between Harare and Dabuka. According to NRZ General Manager Air Commodore Mike Karakadzai, ...
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Swiss to help with wires to Lindau
ELECTRICALLY-powered tilting trains will link München and Zürich in 3 h 15 min by 2015. Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger and his German counterpart Wolfgang Tiefensee signed up to this objective on February 15 in Memmingen, roughly midway between the two cities. Upgrading and electrification of the route at 15 ...
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Derailment detection demonstration
THE EFFECTIVENESS of the latest version of Knorr-Bremse's wagon derailment detector was demonstrated during full-scale trials at the former Berlin-Schöneweide marshalling yard. SBB Cargo has also been undertaking field testing of the EDT101 detectors, which are installed at each end of the vehicle. A spring-mass valve automatically opens the main ...
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Inspection and recording train
SPANISH infrastructure authority ADIF has named its high speed inspection and recording train 'Seneca' in honour of the Roman philosopher who was born in Córdoba around 4 BC. Comprising one 4000 kW power car, three cars and a driving trailer, it has already reached a speed of 363 km/h ...
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NewsVeolia buys Rail4chem
GERMANY: Rail4chem is to be sold to Veolia Cargo, the shareholders of the Essen-based private freight operator announced on February 20. Subject to regulatory approval, the transaction will be completed in the first half of 2008. The parties have agreed not to disclose the price. Rail4chem will be merged with ...
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Finance February 2008
Canada: The Regional & Remote Passenger Rail Services programme is providing C$4·2m to support Algoma Central Railway passenger services to otherwise inaccessible areas between Sault Ste Marie and Hearst until April 2009. Montréal transport authority STM has unveiled a C$1·5bn capital spending plan for 2008-10, allocating C$942m to the metro ...
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All-night party people
FOLLOWING the withdrawal of the last domestic sleeping car services in France with the December timetable change, SNCF has launched a campaign to promote overnight rail travel. Among the strategies to tempt the 18 to 30 age range back to the rails is the Overnight Party Train, offering ...
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Pointers February 2008
Iranian national railway RAI plans to call tenders this month for the electrification of the Tehran - Mashhad line, along with the supply of 70 electric locomotives. Lithuania's Ministry of Transport & Communications is developing a proposal to seek EU assistance to upgrade the 104 km Vilnius - Kainas line. ...
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NewsAn open passenger market beckons
The European market for international passenger services will be opened up to competition from January 2010. Murray Hughes investigates what preparations are being made
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NewsVTG buys into US leasing market
HAMBURG-based wagon leasing company VTG has announced its entry into the North American market with the acquisition of Texas Railcar Leasing Co. An agreement was reached with the family-owned business in December, with the transaction expected to be completed early this year. Financial terms were not disclosed. Founded 20 years ...
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Intelligence February 2008
Austria: ÖBB has unveiled the first of 12 coaches that have been rebuilt as multi-purpose cars with a compartment for disabled passengers; seats in the compartment convert into berths for use on overnight trains. Canada: CN has agreed to purchase the Athabasca Northern Railway serving the oil sands of northern ...
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Selling 5 000 tickets at once
CHINA'S Ministry of Railways is revamping the country's national railway ticketing and seat reservation system using technology from Sybase, the company which supplied a previous generation of ticketing databases in 1996. The upgraded system will be able to handle more than 4½ million ticket sales a day, with 5 000 ...
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News in Brief
US manufacturer MotivePower rolled out its first low-emission genset locomotive at its plant in Boise, Idaho, on January 22. Designated MP21B, the 2 100 hp Bo-Bo demonstrator is powered by three Cummins QSK-19 engines and equipped with Wabtec's Q-Tron QES III microprocessor-based control system. After commissioning on the Idaho Northern ...
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São Paulo metro automates
SIEMENS is leading a consortium that has been selected by MetroQuatro to provide control systems and communications equipment for São Paulo Line 4, which will become the first automated metro in South America. The 12·4 km line from Luz to Vila Sõnia is currently under construction and is due to ...
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NewsHydraulic locomotive orders roll in
VOITH TURBO Lokomotivtechnik of Kiel in north Germany has won several orders for its Maxima and Gravita diesel-hydraulic locomotives. The prototype Maxima has been tested at Velim (RG 11.07 p724) and was due to undergo winter trials in Norway before returning to Germany. The second loco, now nearing completion (rear ...
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Opportrans renews concession
RIO de Janeiro has renewed the concession for Opportrans to operate the city's metro network for a further 20 years. Financial terms have not been disclosed, but Opportrans has pledged to invest R$950m over the course of the concession to build several new stations and upgrade the existing two-line network, ...