All News articles – Page 227
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Bleak outlook at embattled SNCF
OFFICIAL confirmation of the disarray threatening the smooth operation of the French national railway came on July 8 with the publication of Train de Réformes, a highly critical parliamentary report drawn up for the Commission des Finances.SNCF is not having a good summer. Recent weeks have seen computer malfunctions cripple ...
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PATH calls car bids
TENDERS have been called for the first stage of a programme to renovate and renew the PATH metro operating between Newark, Jersey City and Manhattan.Port Authority of New York & New Jersey issued a request for proposals in June for 246 new cars, together with alternative bids for the mid-life ...
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BHP Billiton raises the limits
DRIVEN by booming demand for steel in China and elsewhere, BHP Billiton expects to invest up to A$3bn over the next few years as it ramps up capacity to haul export iron ore from its mines in the Pilbara region of northwestern Australia to the docks at Port Hedland.Maintaining a ...
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Consulting between continents
SINCLAIR Knight Merz acted as principal design consultant for the civil engineering, structure, track and building elements of Dublin’s €675m Luas light rail project, the first line of which was officially opened on June 30.Staff from Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Ireland worked on the scheme, and according to Assistant ...
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Betuwe Route under fire
NETHERLANDS: On July 5 the European Rail Freight Association called for the Dutch government, the European Parliament and the European Commission to halt construction of the Betuwe Route in the Netherlands 'before it is too late and before €10bn of national and European public money is wasted with an effect ...
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Putting the cart before the horsepower
BYLINE: Dave Meyer and Mark RickerbyCanadian Pacific Railway*INTRO: To get ahead in the capacity game and meet unprecedented growth in container traffic, CPR has introduced remote-control distributed power on its transcontinental intermodal trainsDURING THE first quarter of 2004, there was a huge surge in container imports at North America’s west ...
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BAM spending boosted
VISITING Tynda to join celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the start of work on the Baikal - Amur Magistral, RZD President Gennady Fadeyev announced on July 9 that the railway expected to invest more than 30bn roubles in the Siberian trunk route over the next few years.Among the priority ...
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Wagon backlogs up
HAMILTON-based rolling stock builder National Steel Car expects to take on an additional 500 staff this summer to cope with an upturn in wagon orders.In the first quarter of 2004 the company had a backlog of 42000 vehicles, up from 6400 for the period two years ago. First quarter orders ...
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Trans-Kazakhstan link will complete standard-gauge transcontinental artery
An international consortium is to be formed to close the gap between the standard-gauge networks of China and Europe, and construction of an initial 320 km section has already started
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Commission backs Alstom deal
ALSTOM SHAREHOLDERS voted to accept resolutions allowing the company to implement its amended financing plan at an Ordinary and Extraordinary Meeting held in Paris on July 9.Two days previously the European Commission had confirmed its agreement to a May 26 plan (RG 7.04 p435) for the French state to participate ...
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Ben Gurion International Airport link ready
ISRAEL Railways has set September 4 as the official opening date for the rail link between Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion International Airport. There will be 32 trains each way per day, covering the 8 km from the city centre in 10min. To mark completion of the US$83m single-track branch, ...
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Airport beckons
OFFICIALS from the Praha city transport department have backed plans to extend metro Line A to the international airport at Ruzyne, and endorsed private-sector proposals to upgrade an existing heavy rail line to carry airport express services.On June 17, the city transport committee approved plans to develop an airport station ...
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Lea moves ahead
CONSTRUCTION of the 14·7 km Lea tram route in Lyon is on course to start in September, following the award of the formal Declaration of Public Utility by the Préfet of Rh
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Rail production agreement
VOESTALPINE Schienen and Egyptian Iron & Steel Co signed a memorandum of understanding on June 6 for the production of rails under licence in Egypt.Part of the state-owned Egyptian Metallurgical Industries group, EISCO would use technology and technical support from Voestalpine to produce 36m rails at an upgraded heavy-section rolling ...
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BC Rail absorbed
CANADIAN National confirmed on July 14 that it had completed its C$1·1bn takeover of BC Rail under a ’partnership agreement’ with the British Columbia government. The deal had been cleared by Canada’s Competition Bureau on July 2.Under the agreement announced on November 25 2003 (RG 1.04 p6), CN is acquiring ...
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Series N700 trainset takes shape
CENTRAL and West Japan Railways have unveiled a mock-up of the planned Series N700 trainset being developed for the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen. JR-Central has ordered a pre-production trainset which is now under construction and due for completion in March 2005. After two years of test running, the train is ...
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Restructuring on course for 2006
Kazakhstan Temir Zholy has undergone significant changes in the past two years, as part of a restructuring that will see all train operations and ancilliary activities privatised by 2006.Under legislation approved in July 2001, KTZ was restructured as a joint stock company in March 2002, with all shares held by ...
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Better ballast spreader saves 10%
CANADIAN Pacific Railway is increasing the efficiency of its ballast spreading operations with the introduction of the PLUS train. The Programmable Linear Unloading System cuts the time needed to drop ballast, reducing possession times and minimising the impact on revenue trains.A track maintenance supervisor in a road-rail vehicle surveys a ...
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Wiring tenders
JULY 4 has been set as the deadline for proposals to electrify 300 route-km of the Israel Railways network; a request for information was published by Israel Railways at the beginning of June. This followed a call by former transport minister Avigdor Liebermann on May 31 for Prime Minister Ariel ...
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Sidetrack
DieterCAPTION: Barely three months after South Korea’s first high speed line opened, Korail is apparently faced with the prospect of replacing the fixed second class seats in its KTX trainsets, after passengers objected to the idea of travelling backwards. The first class vehicles were fitted with rotating seats from the ...