All News articles – Page 223

  • News

    Composite noses

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    COVIA will be showing designs for an aerodynamic front end being supplied to Bombardier for use on 22 Itino trainsets being built for commuter services in the Odenwald region of Germany from 2005.The Danish company has produced more than 1000 composite front ends since its first order to supply components ...

  • News

    Freight operators must embrace the competitive spirit

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    BYLINE: Klaus-J MeyerSecretary General European Rail Freight AssociationINTRO: Rail’s share of the European freight market has risen to 35%, and competition between major private operators and a few state-owned companies ensures cost-effective and reliable service. Non-discriminatory access applies throughout Europe. All an illusion? Not so, according to Klaus-J Meyer, Secretary ...

  • News

    Linimo hovers close to take-off

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: Test running has started on a 9 km light metro being built to serve next year’s World Expo and a research and development zone to the east of Nagoya’IN HARMONY with the environment’ proclaims the yellow flag, fluttering high above Nagoya’s main station. It is advertising the 2005 World ...

  • News

    Madrid picks Citadis

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    ON AUGUST 3, Alstom announced that it had been selected to supply 70 Citadis LRVs to operate the planned 31 km light rail network in Madrid. Signing of the €144·6m contract is expected this month. The cars are to be built at the company’s Spanish plant, which assembled the Citadis ...

  • News

    Chinese source

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    RAIL Sourcing Solutions (International) Ltd has been launched by Hong Kong’s MTR Corp, which is aiming to expand internationally its rolling stock, infrastructure, maintenance supply and sourcing services. The wholly-owned subsidiary will initially focus on Europe, North America and mainland China. According to Marketing Director Angus Stewart ’the rail industry ...

  • News

    Channel Tunnel Rail Link

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    This 64-page special issue of the Arup Journal covers the construction of the 109 km Channel Tunnel Rail Link, whose route was proposed by Arup in March 1990 and accepted in October 1991. The book includes a description of the route, a list of facts and figures, details of the ...

  • News

    Polish changes

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    SIGNING of an agreement on July 29 formally established the first regional passenger train operator in Poland. Koleje Mazowieckie is owned 49% by Polish State Railways’ regional business unit PKP Przewozy Regionalne and 51% by the Mazowieckie district administration. From the beginning of this year, regional governments have been allowed ...

  • News

    DB challenged to be truly profitable

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: With a move to the private sector now a real talking point for transport policy-makers, German Railway faces a serious challenge to prove that it can become a profitable companyON AUGUST 16 German Railway was due to publish its interim results covering the first six months of this year. ...

  • News

    CargoSpeed demonstrated

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    A PROTOTYPE of the CargoSpeed intermodal wagon loading system was unveiled near Chesterfield on July 29. Being developed by BLG Consult, Warbreck Engineering and Newrail in collaboration with Cholerton Ltd, CargoSpeed is an attempt to use roll-on roll-off ferry concepts to reduce the time spent at rail terminals and lower ...

  • News

    Feeder cable

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    ONJULY 30 the President of Colombia Álvaro Uribe inaugurated a 2 km aerial cable transit system designed to act as a feeder to the Medellín metro network.Built in 14 months at a cost of US$23m, MetroCable serves the northeast part of the city, which lies on the steep side of ...

  • News

    Estonians buy Latvian Lokomotive

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    LATVIAN rolling stock repair business Lokomotive has been bought by two Estonian firms for an undisclosed sum. Wagon parts supplier Skinest Projekt acquired its share through the purchase of Remlok, which owned a 49% stake in the company, while freight shipper Spacecom acquired a 36·4% stake in Lokomotive from Parangon.One ...

  • News

    Competition brings change to regional routes

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    INTRO: Traffic on Germany’s regional and local rail routes has flourished in the last 10 years as services have been opened up to competition. David Haydock finds that private companies and operators owned by regional governments now run around 11% of services, and many of them have invested in new ...

  • News

    Technology conquers the break of gauge

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    Development of variable-gauge powered bogies will bring significant time savings on multi-gauge routes

  • News

    On the box

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    TNX UK has signed an agreement to install six to eight television screens in each car of London commuter operator c2c’s EMU fleet. The project is being funded by advertising and sponsorship. Passengers will receive ’near real-time programmes’ including news, sport, weather and general interest features; real-time travel information is ...

  • News

    Virgin may lose both franchises

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    on August 6 when Strategic Rail Authority Chairman Richard Bowker met Sir Richard Branson and Brian Souter, who head Virgin Group and Stagecoach with 51% and 49% stakes respectively in Virgin Rail Group, he rejected outright VRG’s best and final offer under which its CrossCountry (VCC) franchise could ...

  • News

    Bonds to build London projects

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    MAYOR of London Ken Livingstone has been authorised by UK Secretary of State Alistair Darling to issue bonds to raise £2·9m for transport projects in the capital.’This ground-breaking agreement means that London, for the first time, has the opportunity to make long-term decisions on planning major capital projects without the ...

  • News

    Crossing borders with Bombardier

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    BOMBARDIER’S theme for the 2004 InnoTrans exhibition is ’crossing borders’, and this will be emphasised with the first public display of one of its multi-system locomotives being built for SBB Cargo services between Switzerland and Italy.The Traxx F140 MS, or Class 484, has a rating of 5·6MW. The locomotives can ...

  • News

    One board on-board

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    MEM Mikro Elektronik will be exhibiting at InnoTrans for the first time, promoting the recently-announced PP01 single board 384MHz computer.Based on a PowerPC MPC 5200, the computer supports Linux and VxWorks and is designed for use in on-train control applications.

  • News

    Dubai metro bidders line up

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    PLANS to build a two-line automated metro in Dubai (RG 3.04 p164) are set to move forward this month with the announcement of a shortlist of bidders for the civil engineering work. Six groups are reported to have qualified for a shortlist chosen from around 50 bidders. Odebrecht of ...

  • News

    Flat battery

    2004-09-01T10:00:00Z

    SCHALTBAU will be showing its recently-launched flat battery power supply with static converter, for preventing deep discharge of the batteries on rolling stock which is operated under more than one electrical supply system.Able to be fed from a range of voltages and supply frequencies, the ZH1801 and ZH1804 are suitable ...