All News articles – Page 168
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Nigeria concessioning starts
EXPRESSIONS of interest are due by the end of July for two concessions to operate sections of the Nigerian rail network, under a privatisation process that is expected to see preferred bidders announced in February 2007.Nigeria’s Bureau for Public Enterprises has appointed CPCS Transcom as Transaction Advisors. A shortlist of ...
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Comsa moves freight in Poland
SPANISH construction company Grupo Comsa announced on May 23 that its subsidiary PRKil had begun open access freight operations on the Polish national network. PRKil is currently moving construction materials in 24-wagon trains weighing 1200 tonnes, although it is expected that other traffic may be won in due course.According to ...
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Caterpillar progress
CATERPILLAR Inc announced on May 16 that it would acquire Progress Rail Services Inc from One Equity Partners for $425m in cash, $375m in stock and stock and assumption of $200m of debt. JP Morgan Chase buy-out unit OEP had acquired Progress Rail for $438m in 2005.Progress Rail has around ...
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Catalytic converter on test at UP
Union Pacific claims to have ’the most environmentally-friendly locomotive fleet in the nation’, with 47% of its 8200 units meeting EPA Tier 0, I or II emissions standards. In California, UP has signed agreements to reduce NOx emissions within the South Coast Non-attainment Area by 67% by 2010, and to ...
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Jumbo trams to grace German capital
UP TO 210 multi-section low-floor trams may be ordered for the Berlin network.On June 12 the board of Berlin Transport approved plans to buy four pre-series cars from Bombardier for delivery in 2008-09. If they prove successful, BVG may exercise options that could see up to 148 series-built cars enter ...
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Industry News in Brief
Industry News in BriefSignalling and control system modelling and development specialist The Railway Engineering Co has been bought by Strainstall Group. TRE will operate as a separate business within the group.In April Frankfurt-based transport financing specialist DVB Bank registered DVB Capital Markets LLC with the US Securities & Exchange Commission ...
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Products in Brief
A 4 tonne capacity rail lifting grip developed by ABZ is currently being tested in service in Germany, to assess its performance with rough handling and in a dirty working environment. The clamp automatically engages when lowered onto a rail to be lifted onto wagons during track renewal.ABZ Handels, GermanyThe ...
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City News in Brief
Entreprise du Métro d’Alger has selected an Alstom-led consortium for a €225m turnkey contract to build the city’s first light rail line (RG 4.06 p176). Construction of the 16·3 km route with 30 stops is expected to take 30 months. Serving the eastern part of the Algerian capital, the route ...
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BKV picks Metropolis
BUDAPEST transport operator BKV confirmed on May 22 that it had ordered 170 Metropolis metro cars from Alstom Transport and Ganz Transelektro at a cost of €247m.The order covers 15 four-car trainsets to operate the initial 7·3 km section of Line 4 which is due to open in 2009. The ...
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France’s biggest renewals project
RELAYING the 80 km of double-track main line between Les Aubrais and Vierzon constitutes ’the biggest regeneration worksite ever undertaken in France’, according to RFF.When Transport Minister Dominique Perben visited Saint-Jean-le-Blanc on May 22, the work was nearly finished. Completion was planned for June, and a programme of improvements along ...
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GE plans Kazakh assembly plant
GENERAL ELECTRIC announced on May 16 that is to build a plant in Kazakhstan with the capacity to assemble up to 150 Evolution Series locomotives a year for countries in the former Soviet Union. The following day the Kazakh Prime Minister and the US ambassador laid a ceremonial first brick ...
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Arctic iron ore line proposed
DETAILED plans are taking shape for a heavy-haul iron ore railway on Baffin Island in northern Canada. The line is intended to link the Mary River deposits with a deep-water port from which the ore would be shipped to steel producers in Europe.The Mary River deposits were identified in the ...
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No approval for Belgrano transfer
Appearing before a congressional committee on June 1, Argentina’s Transport Secretary Ricardo Jaime said that the government was still considering proposals to transfer a majority shareholding in Belgrano Cargas to a consortium of Macri, Roggio, Emepa and Sanhe Hopefull Grain & Oil (RG 5.06 p244). He added that if a ...
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Climbing the Andes with dual-fuel power
Following successful trials at an altitude of 4781 m above sea level, Ferrocarril Central Andino of Peru is converting seven locomotives to run on compressed natural gas and diesel fuel, reducing both emissions and the fuel bill
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Edinburgh - Glasgow link goes ahead
THE Airdrie - Bathgate Railway & Linked Improvements Bill was introduced into the Scottish Parliament on May 30 by Network Rail. The objective is to restore a route between Glasgow and Edinburgh serving industrial areas in the Scottish Lowlands that last saw through passenger trains in the 1950s. This is ...
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Still no access to Pilbara ore lines
DESPITE A draft recommendation in March from the National Competition Commission that railways owned by Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton should be made available for use by other train operators, Australia's federal Treasurer Peter Costello decided in May not to grant access to BHP's 295 km Mount Newman line. The ...
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N700 to start next year
AFTER MORE than a year of test running with its prototype N700 tilting Shinkansen trainset, Central Japan Railway announced on May 26 that a series build will be introduced into commercial service on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen from the summer of 2007.JR Central and JR West have agreed a ...
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Market July 2006
Angola: Sifang Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co is to supply the Benguela Railway with two SDE16N locos powered by Cummins QSK60-L engines rated at 1640 kW. Bosnia: Funded by a €67·7m loan from the Spanish government, Patentes Talgo is to supply BHZJK with nine trainsets of nine cars each ...
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Intelligence July 2006
Africa: Last month Ghana's Minister of Harbours & Railways Prof Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi told the second meeting of the Joint Committee of Burkinabe & Ghanaian Railway Experts in Ouagadougou that the Canadian International Development Agency has provided funds to study the feasibility and impact of constructing a 795 km single ...
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World urban rail news July 2006
Algeria: A consortium of Semaly and Ingerop has been awarded a €9·6m contract to design, tender and supervise construction of a 9 km tramway in Constantine on behalf of Alger Metro Co. Running from Place des Martyrs to the Rhumel Industrial Zone and Zouaghi, the topography will demand substantial engineering ...