All News articles – Page 294
-
News
Renfe buys more
THE MINISTRY OF DEVELOPMENT has given its approval for Spanish National Railways to invite bids for the supply of 80 commuter EMUs within a budget of €344m. As the Madrid network extends to Colmenar Viejo, gains a new cross-city tunnel between Atocha and Chamartín and faces increased demand as routes ...
-
News
Passenger News in Brief
Hertz has signed a deal to provide rental cars at 24 DB stations.X2000 trainsets began operating Oslo - Stockholm services on June 16, reducing the journey time to 4h 50min. In the autumn Linx high speed trainsets will be introduced, reducing journey times by a further 20min.A £150m redevelopment of ...
-
News
Products in Brief
DB’s PPSFR-Zug schedule planning software is using ILOG View components as part of its graphical user interface.Holland has supplied a MobileWelder road-rail flash-butt welding vehicle to Lion Pacific of Kuala Lumpur, and a containerised welding unit to Estonian Railways.ITW Switches has developed a range of illuminated vandal-proof switches for use ...
-
News
Industry News in Brief
Romanian wagon builder Remar Pascani is to lay off 710 of its 2400 staff by the end of the year. The company is currently working at 70% of its capacity, with orders until March next year.In 2001-02 India’s Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala in Punjab produced 1204 carriages, including double-deck ...
-
News
Capacity boosted
IRANIAN firm Wagon Pars Co has installed a new rolling stock production line, doubling the company’s production capacity to 200 vehicles/year. The company is exporting 66 passenger carriages to Bangladesh Railways under a US$18m order, and hopes to participate in supply of the 18000 freight vehicles Iranian Islamic Republic Railways ...
-
News
Boardroom farce
READERS following the political tragi-comedy being played out in Brussels will recall that we left them in suspense at the end of the last act (RG 6.02 p281). Candidates for the post of Managing Director of Belgian National Railways had been invited for the third time, with the hero of ...
-
News
Tenerife bids
TENDERS will be called later this year for a 16·7 km light rail line on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Costing €178m, the 12·5 km first phase will link Intercambiador in central Santa Cruz to La Laguna. An extension to the airport and a branch from Hospital Universitario to La ...
-
News
Benguela revival in prospect
WE HAVE lost count of the number of attempts made to revive Angola’s 1302 km Benguela Railway that have foundered because of civil war. Once again, efforts are being mounted to rebuild the 1067mm gauge line from the port of Lobito inland towards the Democratic Republic of Congo, over which ...
-
News
The cost of being profitable
Rail freight rates in North America are not merely the lowest in the world, but they have been falling steadily since deregulation over 20 years ago. Independent consultant David Burns asks how the US railroads have been able to charge such low rates and still show a positive balance sheet
-
News
Sliding tram battery racks
PENTAIR Enclosures Scotland is using telescopic ball-bearing slides from Accuride International to mount battery packs in electronic switching units for Nottingham Express Transit.The roadside cabinets contain four trays, mounted on slides capable of carrying 180 kg of batteries. The slides can be extended beyond their own length so the trays ...
-
News
TramMet wins in Barcelona
BARCELONA transport authority ATM announced on July 4 that it had selected the Alstom-led TramMet consortium for a 27-year concession to build and operate the city’s second light rail network. The same consortium is currently building the 16·8 km Baix Llobregat network in western Barcelona under a 25-year concession awarded ...
-
News
Fast Rail contracts awarded
CONTRACTS to upgrade 500route-km in the Australian state of Victoria were signed on June 25. The A$550m project to expand regional passenger services covers four corridors, linking Melbourne to Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Traralgon via the Latrobe Valley. The work to allow trains to operate at up to 160 km/h ...
-
News
Remote monitoring improves locomotive availability
INTRO: Maintenance staff can now monitor the actual performance of diesel engines and other locomotive components working thousands of miles away thanks to on-board networked computers and radio links that make each locomotive a node on the internet. EMD began proof-of-concept testing last year with US railwaysBYLINE: Curt A SwensonDirector, ...
-
News
Automation deal
A PARTNERSHIP of Beijing Hollysys Systems Engineering Co and Rockwell Automation has been awarded a US$10·5 million contract to supply automatic controls for the first phase of the Shenzhen metro project. Rockwell Automation's part of the contract is worth US$1·7m, and includes the supply of environmental control and monitoring systems ...
-
News
Austrian lesson
ALL TOO OFTEN urban authorities bemoan the low share of traffic moving by public transport. For an example of a city where the reverse is true, look no further than the Austrian capital. Figures released by Wien city council last month show that a record 729 million passengers rode public ...
-
News
Asean boost
CHINA’s Minstry of Railways has allocated funding to start work on its share of the Trans-Asia rail link in 2003. This will allow upgrading of the 660 km metre-gauge Kunming - Hekou line, which forms part of the 5600 km corridor to Singapore via Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia (RG ...
-
News
Alpine motive power orders
SWISS Federal Railways has ordered 59 Type Am843 diesel-hydraulic locomotives from Vossloh Schienenfahrzeugtechnik, with an option for 37 more. For delivery from autumn 2003, they will replace SBB’s existing diesel loco fleet at a cost of SFr146m. The four-axle units will have a nominal rating of 1500 kW and a ...
-
News
Incheon airport link
PLANS are being drawn up to operate through services from Seoul metro Line 9 onto the express rail link to Incheon airport. The Ministry of Construction & Transport announced on July 10 that discussions were under way with KNR and Seoul Metropolitan Government over the proposals. A through service would ...
-
News
Railtrack agrees sale terms
UK RAILWAY infrastructure owner Railtrack Group confirmed on June 27 that terms had been agreed for the sale of its assets to Network Rail, the government-backed, not-for-dividend company limited by guarantee (RG 5.02 p242). This follows moves by the former Secretary of State for Transport Stephen Byers in October 2001 ...
-
News
Travel agents supported
SPANISH National Railways has introduced new software enabling rail tickets to be sold at 1 200 smaller travel agencies using the Amadeus airline booking network. Savia Net provides low-cost access to the Savia Amadeus network, which is already being used for rail ticketing by 5 300 larger agencies.On June 28 ...