All News articles – Page 273
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News
Europe tiptoes towards higher axleloads
TRACK ENGINEERS, commercial experts and industrial specialists met in Paris at a conference organised by the European Rail Research Institute on March 11-12 to try and answer the question ’heavy haul - the solution for Europe’s future?’. The event was an opportunity for heavy haul experts from North America and ...
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Sevilla contract awarded
A CONSORTIUM led by Dragados and Sacyr has been awarded a contract to build Sevilla’s first metro line, which will be the first in Spain to be operated by the private sector under a 30-year contract. The winning bid was based on a cost of €382m for civil works and ...
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Audit launches project debate
ON MARCH 4 the French Ministry of Transport published an ’audit’ of major infrastructure projects commissioned last August from the Conseil Général des Ponts et Chaussées (RG 3.03 p136). Transport Minister Gilles de Robien had called for the report because he had inherited projects ’begun, studied or announced by ...
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Malmö tunnel approved
THE SWEDISH government announced on March 6 that it had approved construction of the Citytunnel link in Malmö. As well as confirming detailed plans for the 17 km cross-city route, the decision paves the way for the calling of tenders for civil engineering work. The link will connect Malmö Central ...
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More trouble at Alstom
SO FAREWELL, Michel Moreau. The President of Alstom Transport left the company last month, and will be replaced by Philippe Mellier, who will join Alstom from the Volvo Group on May 1. Meanwhile, Deputy President of the Transport sector Gérard Blanc has been named Acting President. Confirming rumours that all ...
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DLR starts airport branch
CEREMONIES were held in East London on March 4 to mark the start of work on the 4·4 km extension of the Docklands Light Railway to London City Airport and King George V station in North Woolwich. Completion is scheduled for autumn 2005. Participants at the event included DLR Ltd ...
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Hard times in Buenos Aires
THE FAILINGS of the once-vaunted privatisation of suburban operations in Buenos Aires were thrown into sharp relief when senior executives from concessionaires Ferrovías, Metropolitano, Trenes de Buenos Aires and Metrovías where summoned to a meeting on February 27 with Minister of Production Aníbal Fern
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Spanish reform moves ahead
FOLLOWING SEVERAL months of consultation with the major trade unions, at its meeting on March 14 the Spanish cabinet agreed to submit the government’s railways bill to the lower house of parliament. This will write European Union directives 2001/12/CE, 2001/13/CE and 2001/14/CE into Spanish law, separating infrastructure management from operations ...
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Straight Ahead ’risks re-regulation’
CANADIAN Minister of Transport David Collenette published Straight Ahead - a Vision for Transportation in Canada at the end of February. Intended as a strategic document, Straight Ahead sets out principles and guidelines designed to ’reflect the currents of change that will shape Canada’s economy and society’ for the next ...
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Rough ride ahead
THE STAGE is set for serious discord between Austrian Federal Railways and the newly-elected government, a coalition of conservative and far-right forces. Transport Minister Hubert Gorbach is not expected to favour the status quo, and there are early indications of trouble. ÖBB’s new Director of Infrastructure Dr Alfred Zimmerman said ...
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NS adopts standard pointwork
INTRO: A range of standard high performance turnouts and crossings being introduced across the Dutch network uses ’plug-and-play’ technology to reduce possession time and ensure rapid availability after installationWITH two new lines under construction and several major upgrading projects in hand, track renewal has become a significant issue on the ...
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Achieving public value through co-operation
Alexander van Altena, Director for Rail in the Ministry of Transport & Public Works, spoke to Andrew Grantham about the new Railways Act, and the Dutch government’s plans for the future of the national rail network
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Karelia accord signed
A TRIPARTITE agreement boosting railway investment in the Russian republic of Karelia was signed at Petrozavodsk on February 22. First Deputy Minister of Railways Vladimir Yakunin was joined by October Railway President Gennady Komarov and Karelia's Governor Sergei Katanandov. The ministry has allocated 7·2bn roubles for electrification of 410 km ...
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GE plant accord
GENERAL Electric Transportation Systems confirmed on March 7 that it was planning to build a diesel engine factory near St Petersburg. Director of Locomotive Programmes Douglas Rockwell said the company was negotiating to supply 765 engines to Russian Railways over the next five years. He expected an agreement with the ...
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Line 9 gets CBTC
BARCELONA Line 9 is to be equipped for fully-automatic driverless operation using communications-based train control. On March 6 the regional government’s construction authority GISA signed a €72·5m contract with a consortium of Siemens Transportation Systems and Invensys subsidiary Dimetronic SA.Due to open in phases between 2005 and 2008, the 41·4 ...
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Record attendance at Rail-Tech 2003
UTRECHT is the location for Rail-Tech Europe 2003, which will be held at the Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs exhibition complex from April 1 to 3. Organiser Europoint expects a record attendance at the fourth Rail-Tech event, which will be opened by Antoine Martens, Chief Operating Officer of Belgian National Railways. Tickets ...
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Somport study
SPAIN’s Ministry of Development has awarded AEPO a contract worth €809911 to study the technical feasibility of reopening the 7·9 km Somport tunnel under the Pyrenees, closed to rail traffic since 1970. To be completed within 20 months, the study will also consider the remodelling required at Canfranc to ...
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Rapid recording
THE EFFECTS on the track geometry of rail wear and sleeper movement can be measured at up to 30 km/h using DataTaker DT800. Track twist angles are measured every 3m, and transmitted to a laboratory by GSM network. Readings are compared with previous measurements to establish if the angle meets ...
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Road rail shunter
TNT Logistics has put into service a Mercedes-Benz Unimog U400 road-rail shunter at its warehouse in Staffordshire to handle wagonloads of spare parts arriving by rail from Germany. The vehicle is equipped with automatic couplers and a front-mounted brush for site cleaning at the rail terminal or warehouse.Unimog, United KingdomReader ...
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PUBLICATIONS
Le Grand Livre du TGVby Claude Soulié and Jean TricoireThis French-language 350-page hardback about France’s high speed lines and the trains that run on them is informative and comprehensive. Starting with the world speed records of 1955 and trials in the early 1970s using the gas turbine powered TGV001, the ...