All News articles – Page 284
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News
The human face of interoperability
INTRO: Much of the discussion surrounding cross-border operation of passenger and freight trains is focused on technical issues of traction supply and signalling. Lesley Hodsdon* reports on the related need for training staff to deal with foreign languages, differences in rulebook principles and route knowledgeTHE RATIONALE for interoperability is to ...
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‘In five years it will be necessary to think very differently’
Two years after it came into existence, Italy’s state-owned train operator has laid the groundwork to cope with liberalisation in its domestic market. Trenitalia Chief Executive Roberto Renon outlined his vision to Chris Jackson
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Determination at Hitachi
BACK in 2000 Hitachi decided to explore the opportunities for securing a share of the UK’s rolling stock market. At the time there was much excitement about the need to replace MkI rolling stock by a legally-imposed deadline of December 2004, with a requirement for around 1600 EMU cars. Casting ...
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High horsepower demonstrators planned
ALSTOM Transport and the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors are to build two high horsepower diesel-electric demonstrator locomotives aimed at the European freight market. To be completed in mid-2004, the six-axle units will be derived from Alstom’s Prima design supplied to Israel Railways.With a UIC rating of 4300hp, the loco ...
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RFI defines its new role
INTRO: Since its birth on July 1 2001, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana has been working to establish a new operations and management structure. Meanwhile, the government is investing over i120bn to upgrade the national network and boost capacity on the core corridors EARLIER THIS YEAR the Italian government approved a huge ...
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Malagasy deal
COMAZAR Group’s subsidiary Madarail has been awarded a 25-year concession to operate the northern network in Madagascar from January 1 2003. The agreement was signed on October 10 by Minister for Privatisation Horace Constant and Comazar’s Managing Director Eric Peiffer. The concession can subsequently be extended every 10 years.The government ...
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Czech Pendolino on test
LAST MONTH saw the start of static testing with the first Class 680 Pendolino car for Czech Railways at the Alstom Ferroviaria plant in Savigliano. Two vehicles for the first seven-car trainset are now on their bogies, and fitting out of the rest of the set is well advanced (above). ...
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Caracas extends
CONSTRUCTION of the next phase of Caracas metro Line 3, from El Valle south to La Rinconada, is set to get underway next year, following the award of a US$240m turnkey contract to the Frameca consortium on September 30.Frameca (France Métro Caracas) is led by Spie subsidiary SGTE, with Alstom, ...
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Mexican car order
ON OCTOBER 15 Mexico City’s metro operator STC formally confirmed a US$478m contract for a new fleet of AC-motored trains. They will operate on Line 2, which is now carrying approximately one million passengers a day. The deal was announced on October 11, and Notice To Proceed was expected by ...
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Calabria joint venture formed
EARLIERTHISYEAR, a new joint venture was established to develop a rolling stock manufacturing and refurbishment business in Reggio di Calabria. CFE is backed by firms from northern Italy (50%), southern Italy (25%) and Germany (25%), including Bestgroup Industrie (RG 7.02 p361). It expects to benefit from EU and Italian ...
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Brussels grows
BRUSSELS public transport operator STIB confirmed on September 19 the service pattern which will be adopted when the current round of metro extensions is completed. The Métro 2005-10 plan approved by the regional government envisages four self-contained services, with two on each route.Next year will see Line 1 extended southwest ...
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Italferr plans a bright future
IT IS ALMOST exactly one year since Riccardo Bonasso took over as Chief Executive of Italferr, after working in the construction industry for over 30 years. He feels that the FS-owned engineering consultancy is well placed to pick up business as investment in the national rail network expands.New legislation that ...
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Passenger Portfolio in Brief
With effect from December 15, SNCF is to withdraw smoking provision from first class in all TGVs. The move follows the success of a pilot ban on TGV Atlantique introduced on June 16.To mark the introduction of a half-hourly Thalys service between Paris and Brussels on September 2, the Director-General ...
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Work starts on Brenner link
SIX YEARS of preparation and planning culminated on October 2 when work began on a 40 km double-track main line along Austria’s Lower Inn valley. Infrastructure Minister Mathias Reichhold and General Manager of Brenner Eisenbahn Gesellschaft Dipl-Ing Hans Lindenberger jointly launched the project at the western portal of a 10·6 ...
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EIM justifies the break-out
WHEN A GROUP of European infrastructure companies decided in December 2001 to leave the Community of European Railways and establish a separate lobbying group known as the Association of European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM), the move was seen in many quarters as a serious rift among Europe’s national railways. Taking ...
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Talgo double-decker offers gangways on both decks
FINNISH company Talgo Oy is offering a novel design of double-deck EMU to Finnish Railways and Swiss Federal Railways. Describing the design as ’the first real double-decker’, Talgo says that its concept makes better use of space than conventional double-deck trains. Traction equipment would be supplied by Elin of Austria.Of ...
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Nacala boost
INTERNATIONAL donors have agreed to fund repairs to a critical section of the Nacala Railway in Mozambique, which connects Malawi with the Indian Ocean. The 77 km between Cuamba and the border at Nanyuci is in poor condition, although the 538 km from Nacala to Cuamba was rehabilitated over the ...
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Boom may be short-lived
SINCE restructuring its Montevideo - 25 de Agosto suburban service on July 1 to provide more stops at Progreso, Uruguayan state operator AFE has seen a dramatic increase in passenger traffic. In June 2001 the trains carried 17000 passengers, and AFE Vice-President Roberto Médica told Ultimas Noticias that with a ...
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ETCS lessons are being learnt
SWISS FEDERAL Railways’ Level 2 ETCS pilot project installed over the 35 km between Zofingen and Sempach on the Olten - Luzern main line is yielding valuable lessons for future ETCS applications elsewhere. SBB has conceded that during August and September ’we had a very difficult time’, the worst incident ...
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ICF banks on X.net expansion
THIS MONTH sees 12 more services added to Intercontainer-Interfrigo’s embryonic X.net hub-and-spoke network based at Herne on the Wanne-Herner Railway in Germany’s Ruhr district (RG 7.02 p354). New destinations for X.net traffic include Sopron in Hungary, and Hirtstals and Frederikshavn in northern Denmark. Since start-up on September 1, X.net has ...