All News articles – Page 139
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News
Third Railway Package agreed as mega-truck battle hots up
AGREEMENT between Europe’s Council of Ministers and the European Parliament has been reached on the Third Railway Package, and ratification is anticipated in a vote during a plenary session in Strasbourg in September. A ‘conciliation agreement’ was confirmed by an exchange of letters on June 20. Implementation of the Third ...
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Latvia completes rail restructuring
A TWO-year programme to restructure Latvian Railways was completed on July 4 with a formal registration of three new companies in the national Register of Enterprises. Started by a government decision on May 10 2005, the process has been led by a steering group chaired by Transport Minister Ainars Šlesers ...
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Fehmarn Belt bridge approved
DANISH Transport Minister Flemming Hansen and his German counterpart Wolfgang Tiefensee announced on June 29 that they had reached agreement on the construction of a fixed link across the Fehmarn Belt, following a meeting in Berlin. Work on the 19 km bridge between Puttgarden on the German island of Fehmarn ...
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Bangladesh - India order reopens
AUGUST is expected to see the launch of through passenger services between Kolkata and Dhaka, according to the Director-General of Bangladesh Railways Belayet Hossain. This will see the restoration of cross-border passenger services between India and Bangladesh after a suspension of 42 years. Hossain's announcement followed the running of ...
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Six on Western Railway shortlist
SAUDI Railways Organisation announced on June 25 that six of the seven bidding groups had been shortlisted for a BOT concession to build the 444 km Western Railway high speed line linking Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah. Transport Minister Dr Jobara Al-Suraisry expects that tenders will be invited in the next ...
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More Swiss tunnels to take double-deckers
SWISS Federal Railways is to spend SFr626m on a 10-year programme to improve tunnels on its 3 087 km network. Signed off by the board of management in July, the package will see work carried out on 84 tunnels with a total length of 105 km. Around half the money ...
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TGV PPP bids
THREE CONSORTIA have submitted prequalification bids for the public-private partnership to build and operate the TGV Atlantique extension from Tours to Poitiers, Angoulême and Bordeaux. The 302 km line, which is intended to bring Bordeaux within 2 h of Paris by 2016, is one of the three pilot PPP concessions ...
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NewsEgyptian investment will raise safety standards
Several high profile accidents have drawn attention to the neglected state of the Egyptian rail network, triggering a programme of investment in track, trains and signalling. Murray Hughes finds that the planned spend includes new lines to serve three rapidly growing new cities
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Bolivia renationalises
PRESIDENT Evo Morales of Bolivia announced on July 15 that his government would be ‘nationalising’ the two concessions to operate the former ENFE network that were awarded in 1996. The necessary legislation had been promulgated by the president three days earlier. One of the aims of the ...
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NewsExpress Link moves ahead
FEASIBILITY studies for the planned Express Rail Link between Shenzhen and Kowloon were submitted to the Hong Kong government at the end of June. The project covers a 28 km alignment from Futian in Shenzhen to a terminus in West Kowloon. Outline details of the project were ...
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Velaro E enters service
ON JUNE 22 Spanish national operator Renfe put into service the first of its Series 103 high speed trainsets on the routes from Madrid to Sevilla and Camp de Tarragona. This follows over 300?000 km of test running on both lines with the sets that are equipped ...
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Pointers August 2007
In June Air France's Vice-President, Development, Gille Bordes-Pages told Airline Business magazine that the company is looking for foreign partners to co-operate in the launch of rail services between Paris and French cities not served by air or high speed rail. 'We will do this as soon as deregulation occurs, ...
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Sleeper EMU to be developed under co-operation deal
ALTHOUGH plans for deployment of its fleet of high speed trains have slipped compared with the original proposals, Chinese Railways is on course to have all the CRH1, CRH2 and CRH5 trainsets in service during 2008. The CRH1 sets built by Bombardier's Chinese joint venture company Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation ...
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Market August 2007
Canada: CN has ordered 40 ES44 DC locos of 4 400 hp from GE, and 25 SD70M-2 locos of 4 300 hp from EMD. Deliveries will be completed by August 2008. All will be equipped with distributed power capability for operation by remote control in the middle of trains. Croatia: ...
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Powerful freight locos take shape at Dalian
Under construction at Dalian are the first of 500 Co-Co electric freight locomotives being built under a contract with Bombardier Transportation. Less than two years after a €1·1bn contract was signed in February 2007 (RG 3.07 p131), the first of 500 high power freight locomotives will be delivered for ...
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More mega locos join the Chinese coal traction fleet
The first of 180 eight-axle locomotives with Siemens traction equipment has started test running in China
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NewsHybrid trains enter service in Japan
EAST Japan Railway has begun commercial operations with its Kiha E200 hybrid diesel-battery multiple units, putting the first unit into service with a ceremony at Nakagomi on July 31. The 100 km/h trains will operate nine round trips a day on the 79 km unelectrified Koumi Line between Kobuchizawa and ...
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Spanish tenders approved
THE SPANISH cabinet has given its approval for tenders to be called for the construction of 5·64 km of high speed line running in tunnel between Sants and Sagrera in Barcelona (RG 7.07 p405). A budget of €246·2m has been set for the work, which is expected to take 32 ...
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Intelligence August 2007
Argentina: Buenos Aires suburban operator TBA has introduced three air-conditioned nine-car trainsets on the Sarmiento route, under a 318m pesos programme to refurbish 125 EMU cars funded by the government. Australia: On June 19 Victorian Minister for Roads & Ports Tim Pallas announced that Leighton Contractors had won a A$116m ...
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Stadler established in tram sector
STADLER Rail Group has reported a 2006 turnover of SFr787m, up 30% on 2005’s figure of SFr604m. Incoming orders for the year totalled SFr1·4bn. Production capacity was increased to meet demand, with the number of staff increasing from 1430 to 1990. The company believes it has firmly established its place ...