All News articles – Page 267
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News
Web planning
NATIONAL Rail Enquiries has launched an on-line journey planner for Great Britain. Replacing a Railtrack facility, www.nationalrail.co.uk/planmyjourney provides timetable and fare information. It does not offer ticket sales, but provides links to established internet ticketing agents Qjump and TheTrainLine.On March 4 the Finnish Railways web site www.vr.fi began selling tickets ...
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PEOPLE
Bert Klerk has been appointed Chairman of the executive board of Netherlands infrastructure authority ProRail. Anita Arts has special responsibility for the Railned division. Henk van Dijk has been appointed Operations Director of Railned, L J M Bovee of Railinfrabeheer, and J G Los of Railverkeersleiding.As part of a restructuring ...
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UK spending must rise
UKRAIL infrastructure owner Network Rail published its 2003 Business Plan on March 31. It projects an average annual spend of £6·25bn on Operations, Maintenance & Renewals over the next three years - significantly higher than the amount projected by the Rail Regulator in his review which took effect on April ...
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Moving paper mountains
SWISS Federal Railways is replacing paper documentation and hand-written notes issued to drivers with 4000 Psion Teklogix netBook portable computers. SBB drivers were issued with the netBooks in mid-December, replacing an estimated 40 tonnes of paper.Supplied by Excom, the netBooks use Locomotive Electronic Assistant software custom-designed for railway use by ...
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More Minuettos on order
TRENITALIA has ordered a further 100 three-car Minuetto trainsets in a follow-on order with Alstom, which is already building 37 units. Valued at €315m, the latest batch comprises 49 electric and 51 diesel-powered versions, and brings the total number of sets on order to 137 (70 electric, 67 diesel).Destined to ...
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Metros
Bulgaria: Sofia has called tenders for the construction of a 2·3 km extension of the city’s metro to the World Trade Centre, financed by a US$104m loan from JBIC.Canada: The city of Niagara Falls has invited expressions of interest in building and operating a 10·3 km circular peoplemover serving the ...
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Statio metropolitana
AS PART of a public art project by Michael Pinsky, signs at Wallsend station on the Tyne & Wear Metro have been translated into Latin. Around 1 900 years ago, Wallsend was the site of a fort at the eastern end of Hadrian’s Wall, marking the northernmost limit of the ...
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Market
Czech Republic: Citing high prices, CD has abandoned a tender to acquire 20 tri-voltage locomotives to operate at up to 230 km/h (RG 3.03 p123). Denmark: Interfleet Technology has assisted Railion Denmark in tendering and drawing up contracts for maintenance of its 43 locos and 1500 wagons.France: SMC Rail and ...
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Showcase metro opened in Madrid
ANYONE SEEKING advice on how to cut the cost of tunnelling and build a metro at a politically attractive price should attend the 55th UITP Congress in the Spanish capital on May 4-8. The President of Madrid Metro Manuel J Melis will outline to delegates his successful policy of building ...
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Leasing takeover
CIT Rail Resources has acquired rolling stock lessor Flex Leasing Corp. The San Francisco-based firm’s 7200 general-purpose freight wagons, worth around $400m, bring CIT Rail Resources’ total fleet to 54000 vehicles, with an average age of seven years. Along with 550 locos, the wagons are leased to railways across the ...
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Keeping up the power
SAFT-AEG Industrial Systems has introduced an Uninterruptible Power Supply design for railway use. The 25 kV traction supply is used as the main power source, with the local utilities as back-up. If both power supplies are lost at once the battery can provide power for 10 min. Up to four ...
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KCS and TFM to merge
ONAPRIL 21 Kansas City Southern and Grupo TMM of Mexico announced that they had reached agreement to merge their three railways, KCSR, Texas Mexican Railway and TFM SA de CV, under the control of a single holding company, NaftaRail, which will be quoted on the New York StockExchange. The deal ...
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Irish strategic review
A STRATEGIC review of Ireland's railway network was published on April 3. Prepared by Booz Allen Hamilton, it is said to be the first report since the founding of the Irish State in 1922 to recommend an extensive rebuilding and revitalisation of the national network. Transport Minister Seamus Brennan ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Canada: Work is to begin this month on a C$4m station at St Basile le Grand on AMT’s Montréal - Mont St Hilaire line. It is expected to open in September.France: On April 1 Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau formally opened the Dijon-Bourgogne intermodal terminal which was first ...
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Reaching high
HARSCO Corp divisions SGB and Harsco Track Technologies have worked together to develop a rail-mounted elevating hydraulic platform to replace ladders or scaffolding when working on overhead electrification. It has a working height of 12·1m, reach of 5·5m, 359í slew and 180í platform rotation. The four-wheel rough terrain chassis has ...
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Hayate sets Joetsu record
A JR EAST Hayate E2-1000 trainset has achieved a new Japanese speed record for a production train of 362 km/h. A series of night-time trials on the Joetsu Shinkansen culminated on April 6 when 360 km/h was sustained on several occasions, beating the previous record of 345 km/h for a ...
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Ibarra seeks Line H funds
HEAD OF THE Buenos Aires city government Aníbal Ibarra was in Europe at the end of March, seeking to secure funding for the Argentinian capital’s ambitious programme to build four new metro lines and extend existing routes (RG 2.02 p89). As well as the European Investment Bank and UBS, ...
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IR plans funded
ASIAN Development Bank has approved funding for a further tranche of projects in Indian Railways’ Golden Quadrilateral upgrading programme for the lines linking Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai. Newly approved are: third tracks between Ghaziabad and Aligarh (Rs23·8bn) and between Kurdaand Barang (Rs13·3bn), doubling of Raichal - Guntakal (Rs13·6bn) and ...
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Paris projects roll forward
ON APRIL 5 a public enquiry closed for the first section of a planned orbital tram route round the south of Paris. Running for 7·9 km between Pont de Garigliano and Porte d’Ivry, the €185·2m line is due to be completed by 2006. Known as the Tramway Maréchaux Sud because ...
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Finance
Angola: Transport Minister Andre Luis Brandao has announced plans to invest US$4bn on railway rehabilitation. Spoornet has submitted a bid to undertake the work and manage the network; US and European companies are also reported to have expressed interest.Argentina: Under the rescue package agreed in February (RG 4.03 p190), Metrovías ...