All News articles – Page 325
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News
Brave Efforrt collapses
FROM October 1, the OverNight Express that was launched in May 2000 as a mixed passenger and freight operation between Amsterdam and Milano ceased to carry freight. It then became just another sleepers and seats operation, but that too was due to be withdrawn from October 28.Six months ago, ONE ...
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Double-layer capacitors store surplus braking energy
INTRO: Electricity savings exceeding 20% have been recorded in tests on K
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Boldness needed
FURTHER DETAILS are emerging about the Rakesh Mohan committee’s report into restructuring of Indian Railways (RG 9.01 p557). Speaking to The Hindu Business Line, Dr Mohan put much of the blame for IR’s current financial problems on poor investment decisions in the last decade, in particular the gauge conversion programme ...
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Moving block does work
Sir - In your October issue, you published an article on the Invensys TBS100 transmission-based train control system and the trade-offs between a distance-to-go implementation and a moving block design (RG 10.01 p689).I found the article very informative, but it is important to stress that the problems which it associated ...
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Four bidders in NRC/FC sale
A PREFERRED BIDDER is expected to be announced this month for the sale of Australia’s National Rail Corp and New South Wales’ FreightCorp. The joint trade sale was launched with a call for expressions of interest on September 4, following a formal announcement by the federal government and the state ...
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Zürich vote backs S-Bahn expansion
IN A REFERENDUM on September 23, the residents of all 182 districts in Zürich approved plans for a fourth expansion of the city’s S-Bahn network. The vote clears the way for a cantonal grant of SFr580m towards the SFr1·45bn scheme.The biggest element in the package is the construction by 2012 ...
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More AVE contracts
MEETING on October 5, the Spanish cabinet authorised high speed infrastructure authority GIF to tender further sections of the Córdoba - M
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Wheelset association formed
ON SEPTEMBER 20 the European Railway Wheels Association was launched at the 13th International Wheelset Congress in Roma, at which 84 papers were presented. The association aims to promote improvements in wheelset technology, focusing on safety, reliability and economy. It will provide the industry and public with information covering product ...
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Bangor & Aroostook sold
THE TROUBLED US-based Bangor & Aroostook Railroad System was sold to a railway management and investment consortium on October 4 for $62m. The group, which includes Ed Burkhardt’s Rail World Inc, reached agreement with Iron Road Railways to buy the network at the end of July. Other partners include ...
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Alstom sells stake in GTRM
AS PART of an ongoing portfolio review, Alstom Transport announced on September 27 that it had sold its 51% stake in British infrastructure maintenance company GTRM to its partner civil engineering group Carillion plc for a total of €82m (ú51m). This includes £34m in cash, dividends paid prior to completion, ...
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Airline crises benefit inter-city
WITH AIRLINES begging for state funds to stave off bankruptcy as traffic plunged in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the USA, some inter-city rail services are seeing a spectacular surge in business. In Australia, the collapse on September 13 of Air New Zealand subsidiary Ansett - ...
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Lyon - Torino moves ahead
LAST MONTH saw the legal formation of a company to manage preliminary engineering works for the proposed Mont Cenis base tunnel. Formally announced in mid-September, Lyon Torino Ferroviaire is owned 50:50 by Réseau Ferré de France and RFI. Headed by the local Préfet François Lepine, it has a registered office ...
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Death of Railtrack clears the way to start again
JACK SHORT, the recently appointed Secretary General of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport, had an important message for delegates to the 28th IRCA-UIC Congress in Wien at the end of September. He said governments must provide a framework for railways that encourages innovation and productivity and that gives ...
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African wagon
KWIK Fab Projects has developed a low-cost, low-maintenance wagon for 40ft or smaller containers, aimed at metre and Cape gauge railways with limited resources. Designed to cost the same as a similar second-hand refurbished vehicle, drop side, stanchion and hopper models of the EA01 are available.Steel parts are protected from ...
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Railtrack enters administration
ON OCTOBER 7 the operator of Britain’s national railway network entered administration, after the High Court granted a Railway Administration Order at the request of Transport Secretary Stephen Byers. Alan Bloom, Chris Hill, Scott Martin and Mike Rollings of Ernst & Young were appointed ’joint special railway administrators’, charged with ...
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Line 3 opens to Canyelles
SEPTEMBER 21 saw the inauguration of the 2·4 km extension of Barcelona metro Line 3 to Canyelles. Serving the populous district of Nou Barris, the extension has intermediate stations at Mundet and Valldaura. The line has been built over the past three years at a cost of €84·1m; the Generalitat ...
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Touch-screen ticketing
LONDON Underground ’Queue Buster’ ticket machines being built by Cubic Transportation Systems are to use acoustic-wave touch screen colour displays from Planar.The 10·4 inch TFT active matrix liquid crystal screens are based on similar designs installed on the New York and Singapore metros last year. They feature high back-lighting to ...
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Training signallers through simulation
INTRO: Signalling and traffic control centres continue to grow, with the operator’s task increasingly assisted by features such as automatic route-setting and integrated train scheduling. But the size and complexity of such installations can create problems when incidents occur, making thorough preparation through training essential if staff are to manage ...