All News articles – Page 165
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News
FRA crushes push-pull canard
ATTEMPTS by Californian legislator Dario Frommer to outlaw push-pull operation were unanimously defeated on June 27, one day after the Federal Railroad Administration issued a report confirming that push-pull operation did not compromise safety. The Assembly Majority Leader had introduced his measure earlier this year, following the Glendale collision on ...
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Cable tie up
WIRING and cable manufacturer Leoni is to acquire Swiss company Studer Draht- und Kabelwerk AG with effect from July 31, subject to regulatory approval. The Nürnberg-based firm will pay €105m for the cable maker, which had sales of about €84m in 2005.Based in Solothurn, Studer Cables has 350 employees. It ...
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Japanese increase Russian wagon building capacity
NIPPON Sharyo and its export trading partner Sojitz Group have announced a ´200m contract to provide engineering support to Russian rolling stock manufacturer Promtractor-Vagon.Under the deal announced in June, the Japanese companies will supply equipment and advise on the layout of the wagon assembly plant which is to be built ...
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Passenger News in Brief
Passenger News in BriefA KC581m two-year long modernisation of Ostrava-Svinov station by OHLwas completed on June 29.UK internet ticket retailer Trainline has been sold to Exponent Private Equity by Virgin and National Express for £163m.Czech Railways has bought a 38·79% stake in dining and sleeping car operator JLV from the ...
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Industry News in Brief
Industry News in BriefThe European Commission has approved Bouygues’ acquisition of the French government’s 21·01% stake in Alstom, under the terms announced on April 27 (RG 6.06 p361). The 29051244 shares were transferred at €68·21 per share on June 26, giving Bouygues 23·26% of Alstom’s capital and voting rights.Huber+Suhner has ...
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QR builds on coal boom
LAST MONTH Queensland Rail formally put in a bid to buy forwarding company FCL Interstate Transport Services. With the A$446·5m deal to acquire Australian Railroad Group’s operations in Western Australia finalised on June 2, QR appears set on a course of aggressive expansion.If it beats the three other reported contenders ...
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Metrolink tries a Little Bang instead
NEXT MONTH is due to see a call for expressions of interest in building three light rail lines in Manchester, following the agreement of a £650m funding package which will allow work to start on part of the long-planned ’Big Bang’ Metrolink expansion scheme, now priced at £1·2bn.The Association of ...
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UIC hosts first Middle East Assembly
FOLLOWING a decision taken by the UIC General Assembly in Montréal on June 8 to set up five UIC Regional Assemblies worldwide, the first meeting of the Regional Assembly for the Middle East took place in Istanbul on June 13-14. Chaired by Khalid Alyahya, President of Saudi Railways Organisation, ...
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Idrac arrives in a bear garden
ALL EYES are on France as new SNCF President Anne-Marie Idrac takes up the reins in the toughest management challenge in Europe’s railway business.Formally appointed on July 12, Idrac succeeds Louis Gallois, who has returned to the aerospace business from whence he came in July 1996. The presidency of SNCF ...
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Arriva expands in Europe
ON JULY 4 Arriva announced that it had won a contract to operate trains between München and Oberstdorf in the Bavarian Alps, and also to Lindau in southern Germany. The contract starts from December 9 2007 and is expected to generate total revenue exceeding €150m over the following 10 years.In ...
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SBB funding package approved
ON JUNE 21 Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenburger confirmed that Parliament had approved SFr5·88bn of state funding to support Swiss Federal Railways over the next four years.The budget allocation had been passed by the Bundesrat in March, but was the subject of fierce debate in the Ständerat before it was ...
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SSB announces midlife car refit
STUTTGARTER Straßenbahn AG announced on July 5 that it intends to start a mid-life refit for around a third of its 164-strong fleet of LRVs.The 60 cars in the DT8.4 to DT8.9 series, which are coming up to 20 years old, will be fully refurbished and brought up to the ...
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Always informed
STAFF in ticket offices and depots need to be kept informed of unexpected incidents which bring changes to service patterns, and this requires near-instant communication across an operator’s business. But pagers and mobile phones get turned off if staff see the messages as a low priority, multiple text messages go ...
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Sendai airport line nears completion
EAST JAPAN Railway plans to open the 7·1 km rail link to Sendai airport early in 2007 - before the end of the current financial year. Seen as a key element in plans to open up the Tohoku region, the scheme takes the form of a public-private partnership which is ...
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Buenos Aires branches revived
UNDER A 180m pesos investment programme funded by the Argentinian government, work was expected to begin this month to renew track on four diesel-worked sections of the Buenos Aires commuter network. On TBA’s Sarmiento route, the Moreno - Mercedes and Merlo - Lobos sections are to be upgraded, together with ...
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Spie sale terms agreed
AMEC has agreed terms for the sale of AMEC Spie to a new company controlled by private equity firm PAI. The £707m sale was expected to be completed last month, with AMEC to record an exceptional profit on disposal of £295m which will be used to pay down debt.AMEC Spie ...
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Granada light rail funding agreed
CONSTRUCTION of a 15·5 km light rail route in the Spanish city of Granada is expected to begin this autumn, following the signature of funding agreements by the Andalucía regional government and the municipalities of Granada, Armilla, Albolote and Maracena on July 12.Excluding rolling stock, the project is expected to ...
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Africa needs to cut border delays
ACCORDING TO Spoornet CEO Siyabonga Gama, delays to freight trains at international borders on the Cape gauge network serving southern Africa are costing the region US$48bn a year. Gama told the ninth AfricaRail conference near Johannesburg on June 28 that it could take up to 12 days to get a ...
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Tough times at AEA
REPORTING its results for the year to March 31, on June 8 AEA Technology announced an adjusted operating loss of £2·1m at its Rail division, compared with a loss of £0·6m in 2004-05. Turnover was £46·7m, down from £59·8m in 2004-05.’Significant and necessary change’ in the Rail business over the ...