All News articles – Page 142
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News
Repairs start on Luzon main line
THE AWARD of a US$50m contract on June 1 should see the section of Philippine National Railways' north - south main line on the island of Luzon rehabilitated, and 21 air-conditioned DMU cars placed in service. A Korean consortium comprising Daewoo, Hanjin Engineering & Construction and train builder Rotem won ...
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Turkish LRT turnkey award
ANTALYA Metropolitan Municipality has awarded Alarco and CAF a €110m contract to design, build and commission an 11·1 km light rail route for the Turkish city. The contract includes the construction of 16 stops and a rolling stock maintenance depot. CAF will be responsible for electrification at 750 V DC, ...
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News in Brief
CAPTION: The prototype for 27 MPXpress locos ordered from MotivePower Industries was unveiled by Toronto transport authority GO Transit on June 14. The 3 600 hp diesels have a higher top speed than the existing fleet, and will allow trains to be lengthened from 10 to 12 cars. GO has ...
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UK franchise remapping bears fruit
NEW OPERATORS have been named to take over two of the three franchises in central England which are to start on November 11 (RG 11.05 p666). The Department for Transport announced on June 21 that Govia will run the re-mapped West Midlands network, and the following day confirmed that ...
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News in Brief
On June 15 a ceremony took place at Frutigen to mark the opening of the 34·6 km Lötschberg base tunnel. A long stretch of single track remains at the northern end, and tunnel operator BLS stipulates that any train running more than 6 min late will forfeit its path and ...
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Channel Tunnel freight deal follows crucial vote
EUROTUNNEL confirmed on June 1 that shareholders holding 87·3% of the 2·55 billion twinned shares in Eurotunnel SA and Eurotunnel plc had voted to accept the Exchange Tender Offer which forms the next step in the company's complex financial restructuring process. Eurotunnel Chairman & Chief Executive Jacques Gounon said ...
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Hong Kong merger bill approved
THE PLANNED merger of Hong Kong’s metro operator MTR Corp and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp moved a step closer on June 8, when the Rail Merger Bill was approved by the region’s Legislative Council. The bill puts in place the legal framework needed to implement the merger of the state-owned ...
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Cabinet authorises Bangkok Red Line
ON MAY 22 the Thai cabinet authorised State Railway of Thailand to call tenders for construction for the 14·7 km Taling Chan to Bang Sue first phase of the planned Red Line in the suburbs of Bangkok. Tenders will be called in the next few weeks, a contractor will be ...
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Stockholm Citybanen survives
FUNDING for the projected €1·8bn Citybanan project in Stockholm appears secure again following an agreement between the Swedish government, the city authority and the neighbouring regions. City council elections in the autumn of last year saw control shift to a right wing grouping that vowed to cancel the city centre ...
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Delhi awards metro contracts
TWO significant contracts have been awarded by Delhi Metro Rail Corp as part of the rapid expansion of its network. Delhi opened its first line in 2002 and now has three lines in operation totalling 65 km and 59 stations. ABB India will deliver a turnkey electrification package worth Rs2·9bn ...
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Tel Aviv signs LRT concession
A concession agreement to design, build and operate the first light rail line in Tel Aviv was signed on May 28. The MTS consortium led by Africa-Israel Investments Ltd was told in December 2006 that its tender had been accepted, but the signing had to wait until the Finance Committee ...
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Buenos Aires Line H almost there
HEAD of the Buenos Aires city government Jorge Telerman formally opened the first section of metro Line H from Once to Caseros on May 31. With intermediate stations at Venezuela, Humberto I and Inclán, the 3·4 km route cost US$286m to build, which was provided entirely by the city. With ...
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Auckland electrification funded
ELECTRIFICATION of the Auckland suburban network and capacity enhancements around Wellington have been sanctioned by the New Zealand government in its 2007 budget. Unveiled on May 17, the investment package is worth more than NZ$1bn in total, with the government providing NZ$600m over six years for the Wellington and Auckland ...
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Middle Eastern awakening
WHEN THE Saudi Arabian government began work on that country's ambitious north-south railway now under construc-tion, it suggested that the passenger line from Riyadh to the northwestern border might one day host international trains to and from Jordan. On May 23 that dream came a step closer, as Jordanian Transport ...
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DB board approves EWS and Transfesa takeover
On June 28 the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bahn AG approved the takeover of all shares in freight operator English Welsh & Scottish Railway Holding Ltd, and the acquisition of a majority stake in Spanish logistics company Transportes Ferroviarios Especiales (Transfesa). Contracts are still to be signed and regulatory approval ...
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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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DB looks at EWS and Transfesa
ENGLISH WELSH & Scottish Railway could become Railion UK if DB's freight subsidiary acquires Britain's largest freight operating company. The two organisations confirmed on May 25 that they were 'in discussions about plans to develop a stronger European rail freight network', and that 'the full range of co-operation options such ...
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NewsManaging rail degradation on the Malmbanan
An upgrading programme started in 1998 and due to be completed by 2010 is allowing the introduction of heavier axleloads on Sweden's heavy haul iron ore line, permitting gross train weights to be increased to more than 8 000 tonnes. But the transition requires careful management if degradation of the ...
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Intelligence June 2007
Angola: After a 10-year hiatus, CFL resumed operations last month with the introduction of weekday commuter services running 30 km from Viana to Luada. Two of eight 1 067 mm gauge Cummins-engined diesel locos ordered from Sifang in China have now been delivered, and will be used to haul three ...
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Route upgrade to fill gap in TENs jigsaw
COMPLETION of the Paris - Bratislava Trans-European-Network project inched a step closer in April when a symbolic start was made in south Germany on upgrading the 146 km route from München Ost to Salzburg via Mühldorf. The ceremony was held at Ampfing on April 19, one day before the 'Trunk ...