All News articles – Page 281
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News
Metro duty-planning improved
BILBAO Metro is planning its train schedules using ILOG’s Solver and CPLEX software. It is used as part of a planning package designed to simplify the rostering of drivers and producing exact work shift calendars adapted to the real service needs. Supplied by Thales Information Systems, the system relies on ...
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Fire detection
SEVEN stations on Rotterdam metro’s Benelux line (p20) have been fitted with fire detectors from Apollo. There are over 400 Apollo XP95 analogue addressable smoke detectors and manual call points, with beam detectors to protect platforms and waiting areas. A CEL Discovery control panel with a graphical display is used. ...
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Hallandsås deal
SWEDISH rail infrastructure authority Banverket awarded a contract on November 8 to a joint venture of Skanska and Vinci of France for completion of the troubled 8·5 km Hallandsås tunnel. The double-track bore is intended to form part of the West Coast main line upgrading between Göteborg and Malmö. ...
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UIC launches timetable database
ON DECEMBER 3 the International Union of Railways unveiled the Merits project to develop a European timetable database. Unveiled just ahead of the timetable change on December 15, Merits allows around 30 operators to exchange timetable data electronically. Any participating railway can access the timetable of any other. The database ...
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High speed contracts let
THE SPANISH CABINET has given its approval for construction authority GIF to call tenders for civil works on 11 km at the southern end of the Madrid - Valladolid high speed line between Fuencarral and Tres Cantos. Divided into two lots, work is expected to take 24 months within a ...
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Communications underground
TUNNELS on the Italian national rail network operated by RFI are being fitted with radio communications from Teko Telecom. Teko offers a range of 88MHz to 2GHz analogue and digital radio communications equipment for use in tunnels. These can be controlled remotely as well as locally, and offer GSM-R, TETRA, ...
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Zhuhai closer
WORK IS expected to get underway this year on a 139·8 km railway serving the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone in southern China. Costed at 21bn yuan, the line is being promoted by the Guangdong Provincial Development Planning Commission, which completed a detailed feasibility study in December. Construction work is expected ...
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Climate chamber simulates snow and sun
Ralf Roman Rossberg reports on the opening of the rolling stock climate chamber in Floridsdorf that replaces older facilities at Wien Arsenal
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More capacity in cross-city tunnel
GERMAN Railway is to install LZB inductive train control in its 4·2 km cross-city S-Bahn tunnel in München, to increase capacity from 24 to 30 trains/h in each direction. This will entail closing the tunnel between Hauptbahnhof and Ostbahnhof from Saturday evenings until Monday mornings from January 11 until November ...
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IE orders CAF inter-city stock
IARNRóD éireann has ordered 67 inter-city coaches from CAF for €117m. Due to enter service from autumn 2005, they will be suitable for 200 km/h running, and feature a streamlined design with a new livery. They will operate in nine-car push-pull trains, formed of six standard class carriages, one buffet, ...
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Products in Brief
Exterior and interior information and seat reservation LCD, LED and TFT displays are being supplied to Siemens by Focon, for installation on high speed trains being built for German Railway.MTM Power Messtechnik Mellenbach’s SMM DC/DC 50W converter series has been designed for use in on-board power systems on rail vehicles.Tertio ...
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Passenger News in Brief
Italian-based company Grandi Stazioni has won a public tender for a long-term lease and refurbishment of Praha’s Hlavni station, and the stations at Karlovy Vary and Mari
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Break-up delayed
PLANS TO restructure Austrian Federal Railways have been gestating for years, but until now no transport minister has been prepared to grasp the nettle. In mid-December plans surfaced for a dramatic restructuring programme, together with suggestions that it could be rushed through parliament before Christmas so that the first stage ...
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Block trains revised
GERMAN Railway’s freight arm DB Cargo is relaunching its unit train business from January 1, in an attempt to fight back against the growing number of open access carriers now operating in Europe. The package was announced on November 25, having been drawn up in detail following DB’s decision to ...
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PPP bidders indemnified
THE LONG-RUNNING battle between the government and London’s Mayor, Ken Livingstone, over the Public-Private Partnership for London Underground’s infrastructure took another twist on December 4. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced that the preferred bidders for the three infrastructure companies (Infracos) and their financial backers would be offered ’an indemnity against ...
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International best practice supports local experience
INTRO: Keolis is now operating more than a dozen urban and regional rail services in five European countries. Drawing on local expertise and partnerships, the group is seeking to spread best practice between contracts and franchises with very different structures and levels of risk transferBYLINE: Bruno Auger and Benoît Chevalier ...
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Benelux metro line inaugurated
INTRO: Harry Hondius reports from RotterdamON NOVEMBER 4 the Dutch Minister of Transport formally opened the 11·8 km Benelux extension of the Rotterdam metro network. The route is worked as an extension of the Caland line from Marconiplein through Schiedam Centrum and the Benelux tunnel under the Nieuwe Maas river ...
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Separation benefits
IN CONTRAST to the separation of infrastructure and operations prevalent in Europe, a slightly different kind of split is planned in Israel. Under an agreement reached by the economic committee of the Knesset, within the next six months Israel Railways Ltd may be established as an independent state-owned company separated ...
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ZSR restructuring bears fruit
INTRO: The transformation of Slovak Railways from a single organisation into two joint-stock companies has seen new contractual relationships established with the state. Progress in the first year includes a smaller payroll and a long-needed boost in investment BYLINE: Ing Ladislav DimunDeputy Director-General, Technical Development,Slovak Republic RailwaysEXACTLY ONE year ago, ...
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Generator bearings
AMONG products unveiled at Railtex 2002 in Birmingham was an integrated generator bearing (below). Two versions have been designed, one rated at 5W and another at 100W. Schweinfurt-based FAG, now owned by INA, originally developed the high-power version as part of the Febis project to test EP braking on freight ...