All News articles – Page 129
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News
Pioneer railway revival
CHILDREN in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv once again have the chance to operate their own railway, with the completion of a three-year project to restore the country's last remaining Pioneer railway. On September 22 Transport Minister Petar Mutafchiev and city Mayor Ivan Chomakov formally reopened the 600 mm gauge ...
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SNCB leases 40 locos from Angel Trains
BELGIAN national operator SNCB is to lease 40 Bombardier Traxx multi-system electric locomotives from Angel Trains, the Royal Bank of Scotland's leasing firm announced on November 23. Five of the 40 four-voltage locos were already on order from the manufacturer, while a further 35 have been ordered specifically ...
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DB sale bill hits the rocks
LEAVING aside the unusual spectacle of German railway staff striking for higher pay, controversy continues to dog government plans to privatise all or part of Deutsche Bahn. Officially, the aim is still to push a bill through parliament before the next general election in 2009, but this is looking increasingly ...
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UK franchises remapped
FURTHER rationalisation of the passenger train operating franchises in the UK has been completed. November 11 saw the launch of the East Midlands, West Midlands and CrossCountry franchises, replacing the former Central Trains, Midland Main Line, Silverlink and Virgin CrossCountry operations (RG 7.07 p403). Stagecoach subsidiary East Midlands Trains now ...
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Three presidents launch Turkey - Georgia rail link
CONSTRUCTION of the rail link between Turkey and Georgia formally got underway on November 21, with the presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey laying a foundation stone at Marabda station in the Tetri-Tskaro region of Georgia. Turkey is providing US$220m to fund the 76 km of new line to be ...
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Pointers November 2007
Freight traffic on the metre-gauge Belgrano network in Argentina is expected to reach 850 000 tonnes in 2007, according to Eduardo Lamaison who heads emergency operating company SOE (RG 9.06 p490). Less than 500 000 tonnes were carried in 2006, since when SOE has increased the ...
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Caspian corridor plans agreed
SECTIONS of new line to be built in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran will open up a north-south rail corridor parallel to the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. An agreement to implement the 650 km project was signed by the presidents of the three countries at the second Caspian ...
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World rail market November 2007
Argentina: National Railway Equipment Co of the USA is supplying two E2300 diesel locomotives to Ferrosur Roca. They are similar to the General Motors GT22 design already operated by the railway. Austria: Last month ÖBB placed a €76m order for a further 17 Class 4124 four-car Bombardier Talent EMUs, bringing ...
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High Speed 1 for sale as LCR to be split
LONDON & Continental Railways, owner of the £5·2bn Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the UK share of Eurostar, is to be separated into three businesses, UK Rail Minister Tom Harris announced on November 20. The recently-completed 109 km high speed line between London at the Channel Tunnel will be ...
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RATP orders more MF2000 cars
PARIS transport operator RATP announced on November 20 that it had placed an order for 49 more MF2000 metro trainsets with a consortium of Alstom Transport, Bombardier Transportation and AREVA TA. Valued at €189m, the order is the second to be placed under a framework agreement covering up to 161 ...
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Metro and light rail news
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey announced on October 17 that it will spend $500m to install communications-based train control on the PATH metro network. Replacing a fixed-block signalling system installed in 1969, the CBTC will reduce headways to give an estimated 20% increase in capacity. Work is ...
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CAF cars to Santiago
SANTIAGO Metro has selected CAF of Spain as preferred bidder to supply 18 eight-car trainsets. Under a deal worth €175m, the new trains are due to be delivered to the Chilean capital within 24 months of contract signature. Alstom and Bombardier also submitted bids. Increasing the size of the ...
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News in Brief
Algerian state railway SNTF has shortlisted eight bidders to purchase its infrastructure engineering business unit Infrafer. Reported bidders include Russian railway RZD, OHL of Spain, Sateba and Seco Rail of France, Alstom, Orascom of Egypt plus Yapi Merkezi of Turkey and Mota Engil of Portugal. Technical and financial bids will ...
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CVRD to run Norte-Sul
BRAZILIAN mining company and metals producer Companhia Vale do Rio Doce has won a 30-year concession to operate a 720 km section of Ferrovia Norte-Sul between Açailândia in Maranhão state and Palmas in Tocantins state. The R$1·48bn deal was announced to the São Paulo stock exchange on October 3. ...
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NewsECP brakes go live
USA: Norfolk Southern has operated the first revenue service freight train in the USA to be fitted with electronically-controlled pneumatic brakes. Hauled by a trio of new General Electric locomotives, the train of 115 loaded gondola wagons ran on October 11 from coal mines in southwestern Pennsylvania to Keystone ...
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Finance News November 2007
Canada: The federal and Manitoba governments are to provide C$40m for track upgrades on the Hudson Bay Railway between The Pas and Churchill, and C$8m on port improvements. Line owner OmniTRAX will spend a further C$20m. Cuba: Venezuela's state-owned development bank Bandes is to provide US$100m to finance a five-year ...
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Metros and light rail around the world
Argentina: Metro Line H in Buenos Aires (RG 7.07 p407) carried its first passengers on October 18 following a second official opening by head of the city government Jorge Telerman. A legal challenge which had delayed the opening saw three of the trainsets provided from Line C withdrawn for being ...
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C5 to Navalcarnero
THE MADRID regional government has given its approval for contracts to be let for the construction of a new 15 km suburban line in the southwestern outskirts of the Spanish capital, connecting Móstoles Central on Renfe's Line C5 and metro Line 12 with Navalcarnero. Construction is expected to take 30 ...
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Intelligence November 2007
Argentina: Following an inaugural run on October 6, Ecotren is to operate a monthly tourist service between Salta and the viaduct at La Polvorilla, increasing to thrice-weekly from March 2008. Ecotren is investing 45m pesos on rolling stock refurbishment and two new diesel locos, while the provincial government has spent ...
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Big plans for loco modernisation
UKRAINE'S Poltava Locomotive Repair Plant has rolled out the first Class CME3P diesel-electric locomotive to be refurbished for Ukrainian Railways in collaboration with Czech rolling stock firm CZ Loko. A Czech-Ukrainian joint venture was established earlier this year to refurbish locomotives from the CME3 family, which ran to 7 459 ...