All News articles – Page 184
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News
Chinese wires reach 20 000 km
THE INAUGURATION of electric operation on the 625 km Chongqing - Huaihua line on December 27 saw Chinese Railways’ length of electrified route pass the 20000 km mark.According to the China Railway Electrification Bureau, the current total of 20123 km gives the country the third largest electrified network in the ...
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Wear-resistant wheels
HIGH-GRADE steel designed to reduce damage from rolling contact fatigue has been selected for wheels being supplied by Lucchini Sidermeccanica.Branded as Superlos grade, the steel is a pearlitic silicon and manganese carbon mix which the supplier says is well-suited to a low-temperature environment.Lucchini’s contract is in two parts. One covers ...
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Talking in Sweden
AVITEC has won a €3·5m contract to install OnBoard Repeaters to improve mobile telephone coverage on Swedish X2000 trains. Under the agreement signed by SJ, TeliaSonera, 3, Tele 2 and Vodafone in October, the entire fleet of 200 cars will be equipped by June 2006. A roof-mounted antenna is connected ...
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Speedway upgrade
KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN and Norfolk Southern have agreed to form a joint venture to improve the 515 km KCS route between Meridian, Mississippi, and Shreveport, Louisiana. Under the `Meridian Speedway’ project, KCS, which retains operational control, will transfer the line to the joint venture for a 70% stake. NS will ...
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Tram-train timetable set
MEETING in Mulhouse on November 26, the steering committee for the city’s pilot tram-train project agreed a target date of 2010 for opening the initial route between Mulhouse and Thann.Headed by the President of the Alsace regional council Adrien Zeller, the committee includes representatives from Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin and Alsace as ...
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Spares services
BOMBARDIER is expanding its North American rail services business to encompass the supply of spare parts for passenger rolling stock from other manufacturers, a market which it values at US$500m annually.President of Bombardier Transportation, North America, William Spurr said part of the company’s life-cycle approach to fleet management is to ...
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Spie for sale
AMEC plc announced on November 24 that it has begun the process of selling AMEC Spie, following a review of the group’s options for long-term growth.The board believes that AMEC Spie would be best able to participate in industry consolidation outside AMEC. The sale will be completed in the spring, ...
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PPP upgrading
FINNISH infrastructure authority RHK has decided to undertake the upgrading of its eastern main line from Lahti to the Russian border at Vainikkala using a public-private partnership.Work on the 152 km route is due to start in 2007 as part of the Helsinki - St Petersburg high speed project, which ...
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Polish win
TWO coach modernisation contracts have been won by H Cegielski in Poznan. A 50m zloty contract covers 25 PKP Intercity cars, which will be modified for 200 km/h operation and gain air-conditioning, retention toilets and improved accessibility. Some compartments will be converted into ’managers suites’. A second contract worth 70m ...
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Pointers
Plans to build an electrified heavy-haul railway across Namibia were announced by Falcon Resource Holdings in November. CEO Mike Gaomab said consultants had been appointed to undertake economic and environmental impact studies. The 1600 km Trans-Kalahari railway would link Morupule colliery in northeast Botswana with a new port at Shearwater ...
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People
Roger Nober, Chairman of the US Surface Transportation Board, has announced his resignation with effect from January 3. Bremer Stra§enbahn CEO Georg Drechsler has been elected Chairman of the UITP Light Rail Committee, succeeding Raymond Hue of Rouen. Head of Public Transport at Dubai Municipality Abdul Aziz Malik ...
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Trams return in New Orleans
LIMITED tram services resumed in New Orleans on December 18, four months after the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Earlier estimates indicated it might take a year to restore the services, but RTA has come up with a compromise. The 35 historic Perley Thomas cars used on the St ...
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Passengers return to Puerto Montt
CHILEAN President Ricardo Lagos was on board EFE’s inaugural Victoria - Puerto Montt service on December 6, marking the completion of a $44m upgrade that has restored passenger services on the 388·8 km Temuco - Puerto Montt route (RG 9.05 p520). The service frequency was due to be increased to ...
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Market
Australia:BHP Billiton Iron Ore has ordered a further 10 SD70ACe 4300hp diesel locos from Downer EDI subsidiary EDI Rail, taking the mining firm’s total order to 24. They will be assembled in Canada by EMD for delivery during 2007.Belgium:SNCB has ordered a further 90 M6 double-deck coaches worth €166m for ...
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Madrid - Valladolid makes progress
WITHIN a budget of €177·3m, bids have been invited for a contract to supply interlockings, train protection systems, telecommunications, GSM-R radio and a traffic control centre for the Madrid - Valladolid high speed line and its branch to Medina del Campo. A second contract worth up to €51·6m has also ...
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Rebuild to uprate SA locos
NOW nearing completion in Transwerk’s Bloemfontein factory in South Africa is the prototype for a fleet of rebuilt Class 34 diesel locomotives. To be known as Class 39, the rebuilt Co-Co units will offer a 15% increase in available traction power to give a nominal rating of nearly 2500hp.EMD 16-645 ...
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Tasmania's network in jeopardy
SHOCKWAVES from the bitter war between Toll and Patrick brought Tasmania's surviving 726 km 1067mm gauge network to the brink of permanent closure last month. Through a media statement, Pacific National Tasmania warned the state government in Hobart and the federal government in Canberra that without an injection of public ...
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High speed partnership signed
ALSTOM and AnsaldoBreda have signed a strategic and industrial partnership for the production and marketing of single-deck high speed trains.Announced on November 23, the agreement covers very high speed trains for operation at 300 km/h and above, including the AGV now under development (RG 12.05 p763), and 250 km/h stock ...
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Santiago metro keeps growing
ON NOVEMBER 15 President Ricardo Lagos of Chile announced the next phase of an extension programme which will take the Santiago metro to 104·5 km and 108 stations by the end of 2009. Work on the 4 km extension of Line 1 from Escuela Militar to Los Dominicos was due ...
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High speed go-ahead
FORMAL approval for construction of two high speed lines in Portugal was announced on December 13. Prime Minister José Sócrates said they would help to bind the country closer into the European Union and the Iberian peninsula.Detailed design is already well advanced, and civil works are expected to get underway ...