All News articles – Page 169
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News
Alvia cuts Madrid - Barcelona to 4h 15min
THE FASTEST journey time between Madrid and Barcelona was cut to 4h 15min on May 17 when Renfe brought its fleet of 12 Class 120 EMUs into service under the Alvia brand. Equipped with CAF’s Brava system, the self-propelled trains pass through the new gauge-changing installation at Puigverd de Lleida ...
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Valencia Line 1 gets €300m upgrade
VALENCIA metro operator FGV is embarking on an upgrade programme for its 80 km Line 1, which is to receive €300m up to 2010 for improvements to infrastructure, power supplies and customer facilities, including accessibility. The train service frequency is to be doubled and 34 new trainsets are to be ...
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Phase 1 opens in Valenciennes
THE FIRST PHASE of the light rail network in the French city of Valenciennes was officially opened on June 16 by Jean-Louis Borloo, Minister of Employment and President of the greater Valenciennes authority. From June 17 to 30 the 9·5 km route with 19 stops between Dutemple and Université was ...
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I-Trans railway research projects authorised
Interoperability This category embraces the high speed inter-city train project and a new track design. The train would run at more than 200 km/h and the project is aimed at developing new technologies or equipment needed for a train to run on existing lines at high speed. So far three ...
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Stakes up in Taipei
TAIWANESE Transport Minister Kuo Yao-chi has put her political career on the line, promising to step down if Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp fails to launch services in October - a year later than planned. It seems likely that some trains will run, but the minister was careful not to ...
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Slovak strategy
ZSSK Passenger has endorsed plans for the renewal of its obsolete rolling stock during 2006-09. The proposals envisage conversion of nine East German-built BRcm couchette/buffet cars dating from 1984 into Type WRRm restaurant cars, and modernisation of 14 Bc sleepers as Type B.A programme to modernise 64 Bmee second-class coaches ...
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Revival in prospect
FURTHER attempts are being made to revive the fortunes of Nigerian Railway Corp. Marking the start of a major effort to rehabilitate around 2800 km of NRC’s 3505 km network, Permanent Secretary for Transport Babangida Aliyu announced on May 18 that six ’Sub-Project Engineering Teams’ had been set up to ...
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Velaro RUS to St Petersburg
PARTICIPATING in the 1520 Forum conference of broad gauge railways being held in Sochi, Russian Railways Vice-President Valentine Gapanovich formally signed a €276m contract with Siemens President Hans M Schabert on May 18 for the supply of eight high speed trains. Due for delivery from the end of 2008, the ...
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People
Enrico Grillo Pasquarelli, Head of Inland Transport in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy & Transport, has taken on additional responsibility as Acting Head of the Rail Transport & Interoperability Unit pending appointment of a replacement for Jean-Arnold Vinois who stepped down in April.Hervé de Treglodé has been appointed to ...
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Tomorrow’s mini-metro takes shape
NEOVAL is the name of France’s future mini-metro. Nominated on April 27 as one of six headline research projects to be funded by the Agence de l’Innovation Industrielle, NeoVal will be the successor to the rubber-tyred VAL system first developed in Lille in the late 1970s and early 1980s.AII was ...
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Stress at Metronet
SOME London Underground services were badly disrupted on several days last month by the sudden imposition of 32 km/h speed restrictions around lunchtime. It happened for the first time on May 4, a rare day of unbroken sunshine over the city which saw air temperatures reach 25íC, and even 27íC ...
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Port link upgrade
AUSTRALIA’s Federal Transport Minister Warren Truss and his Victoria counterpart Peter Batchelor inaugurated work on the A$120m Dynon Port Rail Link on April 21.The project includes replacement of the existing single-track mixed-gauge line into Melbourne docks by a double-track line further west, with overbridges to replace the Footscray Road level ...
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Moscow ring line
CONSTRUCTION of the first stage of an outer metro ring line around the Russian capital will get underway in mid-2007, according to Moscow Metro President Dmitri Gayev. He said on May 12 that a second ring line was needed urgently to relieve overcrowding on the existing lines. He envisages that ...
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NewsInterconnector study starts
IARNRóD éIREANN announced on May 12 that it was starting work on the ambitious plan to build a cross-city suburban rail tunnel under the heart of Dublin. Bids have been invited from consultants to assist with detailed design of the 5·2 km Interconnector, which will run from the ...
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Huancavelica upgrade
PERU’s MINISTRY of Transport & Communications has selected Ferrocarril Central Andino to undertake an upgrade of the 914mm gauge Huancayo - Huancavelica Railway that will include conversion to 1435mm gauge. To be completed within 480 days, the US$18·1m project is to be funded by the government, with US$14·9m provided by ...
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Ressano Garcia line ready this year
REHABILITATION of the 90 km line from Maputo to the South African border at Ressano Garcia is to be completed by the end of this year, according to Mozambique’s Minister of Transport & Communications Antonio Munguambe. Addressing a conference to promote the ’Maputo Corridor’ at the beginning of May, Munguambe ...
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Eritrea using local resources to revitalise its railway
Like the train's steep and winding climb up the escarpment from sea level to 2394m, progress on rehabilitation of the Eritrean Railway is slow but steady
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Czech private inter-city plan
SOKOLOV-based open access operator Railtrans has announced plans to run its own passenger trains between Praha and Ostrava in northern Moravia from the December 10 timetable change. There will be a single stop at Olomouc on the 358 km trip. Paths have been requested from SZDC, and Railtrans expects to ...
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ETCS is really rolling out, but the costs are still too high
MORE MILESTONES are passing in the development and deployment of ETCS/ERTMS. From May 19 trains began running at 250 km/h on the Madrid - Lleida section of the Madrid - Barcelona AVE line using Level 1, while from July 2 Swiss Federal Railways goes live with Level 2 on the ...
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Spoornet focuses on improving its core freight operations
South Africa's state-owned railway Spoornet has embarked on a five-year programme to improve performance and profitability, which will help to support the government's Accelerated & Shared Growth Initiative. Chris Jackson asked Vice-President Molotwane Likhethe how this will be achieved