All News articles – Page 216
-
News
Common man goes mobile
MINISTER for Railways Laloo Prasad launched Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corp’s mobile telephone booking service on September 9.Reservations can be made over the telephone using Hindi and English voice-recognition technology developed by Hutchison Essar Telecom. Once registered, users provide their origin and destination stations, the number of passengers, class, ...
-
News
Where the passengers come from
PRIOR to the announcement that Eurostar would transfer all operations from London Waterloo to St Pancras when Section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link opens in 2007, Arthur D Little and FaberMaunsell conducted research into the perceived journey times by public transport to the two stations.FaberMaunsell’s South East Regional ...
-
News
Eastleigh to close
ALSTOM announced in December that it is to close its ex-BR workshops at Eastleigh near Southampton by the end of 2005. The company blamed the closure on excess capacity at its three UK refurbishment plants, caused by falling orders following the delivery of new trains, competition, and uncertainties associated with ...
-
News
JR Central to go fully private
FACED with a yawning gap in the state budget, the Japanese government is looking to sell off its remaining 39·56% stake in Central Japan Railway during the financial year starting in April.If the sale goes ahead, it will complete the process of privatising the three JR companies on Honshu: JR ...
-
News
Catastrophe on the coast
NEVER BEFORE have so many people perished in an accident on a railway as on December 26 2004. We will never know how many died because of the Indian Ocean tsunami, nor is it likely that we shall learn how many passengers lost their lives on Sri Lanka Railways’ Train ...
-
News
Skoda cleared to buy CKD
ON January 4 the Czech Republic’s Office for the Protection of Economic Competition decided to allow Skoda Holding to buy 100% of the shares of CKD Vagónka from 11 Fite Group, owner of the residual CKD Holding businesses. CKD Vagónka, which employs 300 people and has annual sales of KC1·5bn, ...
-
News
European Bulls charge into the ring
JANUARY 13 saw the launch in Rotterdam of an alliance of private rail freight operators known as European Bulls. The alliance is modelled on airline groupings such as the Star Alliance, which the Chairman of European Bulls Matthias Raith cited in his address as guaranteeing 'high quality over the entire ...
-
News
Wagon builders co-operate in China
THE Greenbrier Companies and Zhuzhou Rolling Stock Works announced the signing of two long-term co-operation agreements on December 15. The US company is to use Chinese-made parts in its North American and European wagons, and will identify design and commercial opportunities in China and elsewhere. Greenbrier also plans to examine ...
-
News
Evergreen II to boost Chiltern
WORK STARTS this month to double peak-hour capacity at London’s Marylebone station, as part of the first investment package to be funded by a UK train operating franchisee through a privately-financed special purpose vehicle.Chiltern Railways’ Evergreen II project was launched on December 20 by Transport Secretary Alistair Darling and Laing ...
-
News
Blast off
BOMBARDIER is using a Vacu-Blast mobile abrasive blasting system to prepare the surfaces of complex aluminium formed panels used in the construction of multiple-units and light rail vehicles.The SHA03 and the larger SHA04 machines are installed at Bombardier’s Litchurch Lane plant in Derby, where they are used to produce an ...
-
News
Bearing share sold
TIMKEN South Africa announced on January 5 that the Bokamoso Investments black economic empowerment consortium had acquired a 26% share in Timken Bearing Services South Africa for R38·6m. The transaction is being funded by a loan from First National Bank. Under the agreement, all the assets of Timken South Africa’s ...
-
News
The man who never returned is back
MASSACHUSETTS Bay Transportation Authority's smart card has been named CharlieCard in honour of a fictional passenger who was trapped in the metro when he did not have an extra 5 cents to exit the station after a fare increase while he was travelling. The song 'Charlie on the MTA', was ...
-
News
Barcelona prepares for AVE arrival
THE SPANISH Ministry of Development has given its approval for tenders to be called for three contracts to undertake civil works on 8·9 km of the Madrid - Barcelona high speed line on the western approach to Barcelona. A budget of €316·4m has been set for the works, comprising Sant ...
-
News
Out of the arc
NEXT month Metronet Rail will complete the installation of 30 arc suppression ramps which have been developed to cut the number of track fires in tunnels on three London Underground lines.The ramps are designed to minimise the duration of arcing on the conductor rails at locations where fires have occurred. ...
-
News
AlpTransit costs rise as tracklaying starts
IN THE next few weeks tunnellers working on the 34·6 km L
-
NewsAlice - Darwin freight beats target
FREIGHTLINK, operator of the Adelaide - Darwin route in Australia, celebrated its first anniversary of hauling traffic to Darwin on January 15. Traffic in the first year amounted to around 600000 tonnes. 'We hoped to carry about 380000 tonnes in our first 12 months, so we are delighted with our ...
-
News
Software agreement
AUTOMATIC fare collection technology supplier Cubic Transportation Systems has signed an agreement to resell CODA e-Finance and CODA-XL accounting software with its Nextfare ticketing equipment. The CODA back-office software can cope with different national accounting practices, languages and currencies. According to Cubic’s Senior Vice-President of Engineering James Karam, ’e-Finance will ...
-
News
Traffic to treble again
RECORDS have been shattered again as Israel Railways Ltd clocks up yet another huge increase in passenger travel. Our correspondent reports that the total of 23 million passengers carried in 2004 was 15·3% higher than in 2003, exactly as predicted. At a press conference called to announce the 2004 figures, ...
-
News
Joetsu Shinkansen fully restored after earthquake damage
THROUGH services between Tokyo and Niigata on JR East’s Joetsu Shinkansen resumed on December 28, more than two months after a train travelling at around 200 km/h was derailed by an earthquake (RG 12.04 p826).JR East has now released further details of what happened and the measures it has taken ...
-
News
Kenya-Uganda accord
TRANSPORT Ministry officials from Kenya and Uganda signed an agreement at the end of December to form a dedicated fleet of container trains to operate ’seamless services’ between Mombasa and Kampala.The accord was signed in Kampala by the Permanent Secretary of Uganda’s Ministry of Works, Transport & Communications Charles Muganzi ...