All News articles – Page 204
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News
Competitive pressure may lie behind Amagasaki crash
SHOCKWAVES spread across Japan on April 25 as the country struggled to come to terms with the disastrous derailment of a heavily-loaded JR West commuter train at Amagasaki in the suburbs of Osaka.At 09.18 a seven-car Series 207 EMU forming a Commuter Rapid service from Takarazuka to Doshisha-mae derailed on ...
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Consulting alliance
SENECA Group and Railistics announced the formation of an alliance on May 12. The Washington DC and Wiesbaden-based companies will jointly market their complementary consultancy services, including project management, planning, analysis and organisational restructuring. The alliance will be directed by President of Seneca Christopher McCarthy and Railistics Managing Director Udo ...
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Are there better times ahead?
INTRO: The prospects for Argentina’s freight operators are set to brighten once the protracted process of renegotiating their concession contracts comes to an end, but government funding will be needed for infrastructure investment if rail is to meet its full potential. Enrique Garibotto reportsBY THE END of the 1980s the ...
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Ministers agree high speed timetable
MEETING in Lisboa on May 4, Spanish Development Minister Magdalena Álvarez and Portuguese Minister of Public Works, Transport & Communications Mario Lino confirmed the timetable for completing high speed links between the two countries. A Vigo - Porto route would open in 2009, followed by a Lisboa - Madrid route ...
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Heavy haul railways address a booming market
As the world's experts in heavy haul technology gather in Rio de Janeiro for the 8th IHHA Conference on June 14-16, China's insatiable demand for iron and steel is driving the pace of development on the world's heavy haul railways. Operators of iron ore lines on three continents are moving ...
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Tracking machines across borders
DANISH infrastructure manager Banedanmark has ordered tracking equipment to monitor the location and utilisation of around 700 wagons and maintenance machines.The DKr4m contract for GSM-GPS tracking technology was won by Pivotex Oy, which will begin supplying its PivoTrack package this month. PivoTrack will work across national boundaries regardless of the ...
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EWS acquires bogie portfolio
BRITISH rail freight operator English Welsh &Scottish Railway announced on April 28 that it had acquired the assets of wagon suspension developer and supplier Probotec Ltd. The Cardiff-based company had been placed in administration earlier in the month.Formerly known as Powell Duffryn Rail, Probotec has 40 staff and offices in ...
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Open access sorted
WHEN THE state government of Victoria leased most of V/Line’s network outside the Melbourne commuter zone to Freight Australia in 1999, the issue of access by competing operators was ignored. As Minister for Transport Peter Batchelor pointed out last month when introducing his Rail Corporations (Amendment) Bill, ’no third-party operator ...
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Broad gauge ICE3 in sight
RUSSIAN Railways continues to prepare the ground for signing a detailed contract with Siemens for supply of high speed trains (RG 2.05 p61), with RZD President Gennady Fadeyev announcing on May 5 in Moscow that the German company will assemble the trains in Russia. Technology transfer looks set to be ...
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1000 cars in Bangkok package
FORMAL proposals for a package of new metro lines and extensions in Bangkok totalling 94 km were submitted to the Thai government by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority on May 12.In January MRTA was authorised to begin design for two new lines and two extensions, which are expected to be ...
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NewsSteel boom will drive MRS Logística past the 100 million tonne level
Several of Brazil's freight railway concessionaires have flourished since the federal railway network was broken up in 1996. John Kolodziejski looks at progress at two of them
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Subgrade radar
RAIL RADAR is being used in Canada to pinpoint the location of faulty sub-surface ballast and missing or damaged sleepers. The ground-penetrating radar uses a multi-channel surface-coupled antenna towed behind a road-rail vehicle to survey routes at line speed. A PC stores data on over 1600 track-km and generates reports. ...
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On-board power
Frensistemi, the Italian subsidiary of Knorr-Bremse, has acquired a 70% stake in Microelettrica Scientifica. The March 16 transaction applies retroactively from September 30 2004. Brake resistors, contactors and electronic protection relays are among the power supply and energy distribution equipment manufactured by Rozzano-based Microelettrica. It has annual sales of ...
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Nafta takeover
THE AMBITIOUS plan to create a north-south ’Nafta Railway’ serving the North American Free Trade Area reached fruition on April 1, when Kansas City Southern formally took over Mexican rail concessionaire TFM SA de CV.KCS has purchased a controlling interest from its former partner Grupo TMM SA, giving it ownership ...
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Merseytram ready to start
ON APRIL 7 Merseyside PTE announced that it had selected the M-PACT joint venture of GrantRail and Laing O’Rourke Civil Engineering as prime contractor for the UK’s next light rail project: Merseytram Line 1 between Liverpool and Kirkby (MR 03 p40).Subject to contractual arrangements with the preferred bidder being completed ...
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New life for old tickets
OVERTHEYEARS, Sidetrack has seen rail passengers doing many strange things with their tickets.Using tickets as a bookmark is common, but we have seen people drawing on them, folding them, and even chewing them, although this last seems a bit risky in the event of a surprise ticket inspection.Tel Aviv commuter ...
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Leasing venture
CFCL Australia has entered into a joint venture with specialist in asset financing Allco Finance Group and investment company Record Investments to launch a loco and rolling stock leasing business. Allco CFCLA Freight Rail Leasing JV aims to raise A$70m towards capital investment in locos and stock during its first ...
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Kashmir through train launched
THE FIRST section of India's rail link to Kashmir was officially inaugurated on April 13, when Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh flagged off the first Uttar Sampark Kranti Express from Delhi. The 54·8 km broad gauge line from Jammu Tawi to Udhampur has cost Rs5·2bn to build over the past ...
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Trains return to Jerusalem
ISRAEL RAILWAYS reopened its line to Jerusalem with the introduction of a new timetable on April 9, which also saw the launch of passenger services to Ashkelon. Transport Minister Meir Shitrit and IR General Manager Yossi Mor joined the celebrations to mark the reopening to Jerusalem after a seven-year ...