All News articles – Page 314
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News
Finance
China: Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China are providing 3bn yuan and 2bn yuan loans respectively to the Shanghai Transrapid maglev scheme. Agricultural Bank of China is providing an 8bn yuan credit extension to Shanghai’s Yangpu metro project. Due to open in 2005, the 23 km Line 8 ...
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In favour of vertical integration
Sir - Please count me as a ’vertical integrationist’ (RG 1.02 p3). The brave reforms of Great Britain’s railways have quite obviously not produced the intended results. One can admire the courage of the proponents, and the political will for implementation, but objectively one cannot dismiss the negatives. These include ...
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Tseung Kwan O Extension prepares to open
INTRO: Civil engineering and tracklaying is now complete on Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway’s HK$20bn Tseung Kwan O extension. A critical part of the project has been interfacing the new line with existing infrastructureBYLINE: David SortonProject Manager, Hong Kong MTR CorpINSTALLATION of power supplies and signalling is well advanced on ...
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Eskisehir starts
NEXT MONTH will see the start of construction work on the 14·5 km light rail network in Eskisehir. The line will be built under a US$121m turnkey contract awarded by the municipality to a consortium of local engineering group Yapi Merkezi and Bombardier. The project is being financed by 20-year ...
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Enterprise refurbishment underway
NORTHERN Ireland Railways is refurbishing 14 De Dietrich carriages used on the flagship Belfast - Dublin Enterprise cross-border services. According to NIR Engineering Executive M McGreevy, the vehicles, built in 1997, are being refurbished at a cost of up to £150000 each to ensure a high-quality passenger environment ’before they ...
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Metro-North to refit EMUs
OVER the next six years about $150m is to be spent refurbishing 241 M-2 EMU cars used on Metro-North Commuter Railroad’s New Haven line. The 25-year-old fleet is in a rundown condition, with 30 to 60 cars sidelined for repairs most weekdays. The overhaul should keep the cars running for ...
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Electronic seat reservations
VIRGIN Trains’ Pendolino and Voyager trains are fitted with VMS2000 Electronic Seat Reservation equipment. This automatically retrieves data from the national reservations system and displays it above the seat, removing the need for paper labels.In the past data has had to be manually uploaded to electronic displays. Using a dual-processor ...
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Electrification upgrade
CROATIAN Railways awarded design contracts on December 12 for renovation and upgrading of electrification equipment on its two sections of the Budapest - Sarajevo - Ploce Corridor Vc, which total 129 km. VPS Design of Zagreb will be responsible for the northern section linking Beli Manastir on the Hungarian border ...
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Dual-mode LRVs ordered
REGIONALBAHN Kassel GmbH announced on December 21 that it had ordered 28 dual-system light rail vehicles to work regional services. These will be operated in conjunction with city tram operator Kasseler Verkehrsgesellschaft, enabling through services from electrified and non-electrified local rail routes onto the city centre tram network.Alstom Transport will ...
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Dr Yellow UK
RAILTRACK is to invest heavily in automated infrastructure monitoring as part of its new engineering strategy following the Hatfield derailment in October 2000 (RG 12.00 p810). Technical Director Richard Middleton stressed last month that this ’is all about measuring and monitoring and verifying the condition of the infrastructure. We have ...
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Metro refurbishment pays dividends
INTRO: Private sector concessionaire Metrovías has let contracts worth US$700m under a comprehensive investment programme designed to win back passengers to the metro network in Buenos Aires. Traffic has grown by 78% since the concession beganBYLINE: Juan OrdoñezExecutive Vice-PresidentMetrovíasTURNING what had traditionally been a loss-making activity into a profitable and ...
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Dieter
CAPTION: Midland Metro users literally got the goat in December, when they found one wandering around the platform at West Bromwich. They were even more surprised when the animal ran on board the next tram. While some intrepid passengers sat stroking the goat, the vehicle was driven to the depot, ...
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Siemens to take over ICE depot
SIEMENS Transportation Systems has signed a letter of intent with German Railway and the Land of Bavaria to keep open the Nürnberg ICE maintenance facility. DB had planned to close the depot as part of a workshop rationalisation strategy. It is now to be taken over by Siemens, on undisclosed ...
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EC declares ’state of emergency’
HOT ON THE HEELS of last September’s White Paper on Transport from the European Commission (RG 10.01 p651) comes a further set of measures intended to inject entrepreneurial drive into the European railways. Published on January 23, the Second Railway Package bundles together five legislative proposals and a series of ...
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Decision time in Switzerland
ON JANUARY 21 Swiss Federal Railways announced that a letter of intent for contracts worth SFr210m had been sent to an Alstom-led consortium to equip the 45·1 km Mattstetten - Rothrist line with ETCS Level 2. The decision follows tests with a pilot installation between Olten and Luzern (RG 12.01 ...
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High spending DB tidies up its structure
GERMAN Railway announced on December 21 that it had ordered a further build of 40 Class ET425 EMUs from Bombardier and Siemens for €184m. Due for delivery between April and November 2003, they will be used on the Rhein-Neckar S-Bahn network scheduled to open at the end of that year. ...
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Co-ordination is key to subway resignalling
INTRO: New York City Transit has embarked on a 20-year programme to resignal its entire 370 km subway network using Transmission-Based Train Control. Parsons Transportation Group is providing engineering and programme management services to NYCT, and Chris Jackson discussed the state of progress with Parsons Vice-President Alan Rumsey DECEMBER 4 ...
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ÖBB fits radio remote control
FITTINGof Redacom radio remote control to 20 Austrian Federal Railways Class 1044 locomotives began in December, and another 70 units may be equipped later. Redacom was developed to meet the need for improved radio control of remote locomotives in tunnels without the need to install repeater stations or other fixed ...
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Easy electrical contacts
FOLLOWING trials at a number of locations in Switzerland, Swiss Federal Railways has approved the use of newly-developed contact discs and strips to ensure good electrical connections to rails.Kago discs and strips are intended for use at locations where welding is prohibited or drilling is impossible because of restricted space, ...
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Dubai metro closer
CONSTRUCTION work is expected to start next year on an urban rail network in Dubai. Director-General of the Municipality Qassim Sultan announced on December 22 that two routes had been selected for the first phase of a network which could be extended to the adjacent emirates of Sharjah and Abu ...