All News articles – Page 342
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News
Estonian agreement
THE LONG-RUNNING saga of Estonia’s rail privatisation moved a step closer to completion on April 30, when the Estonian Privatisation Agency signed a formal agreement with the Baltic Rail Services consortium on the last day allowed under the privatisation legislation. The transaction cannot be concluded because a Tallinn administrative court ...
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Cross-London links back on the agenda
BRITAIN’s Strategic Rail Authority and Transport for London have signed an accord to develop two more cross-London rail links. Transport Minister Lord Macdonald said on May 3 that £150m from the government’s 10-year transport plan has been allocated for ’project definition and design development work’. Both arise from the London ...
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Adtranz takeover completed
BOMBARDIER completed its acquisition of DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems GmbH (Adtranz) on May 1, following the approval by the European Commission’s competition authorities (RG 5.01 p349) of the sale and purchase agreement with DaimlerChrysler AG announced last August. The purchase was completed for a cash consideration of C$1·1bn (k790m), subject ...
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Open access denied
AN APPLICATION by two operators seeking access to Canadian National’s tracks (RG 4.01 p210) was rejected by the Canadian Transportation Agency on May 3. Hudson Bay Railway, owned by US short line operator Omnitrax, sought authority to collect grain from silos and haul it over 2400 km of CN track ...
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Connex launches 375s at last
CAPTION: British Transport Minister Keith Hill (left of inset) and Connex Managing Director Olivier Brousse (right) were among the dignitaries present at London Victoria on April 30 to welcome the first scheduled service into the capital worked by Class 375 EMUs (RG 6.00 p351). Adtranz is supplying a total of ...
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30 tonnes on the Malmbanan
SWEDISH heavy-haul iron ore operator MTAB held ceremonies on March 7 to mark the start of regular operations with 30 tonne axleloads on the Luleå - Kiruna - Narvik corridor. The opening celebrations also marked the entry into revenue service of MTAB's first new trainset, funded by iron ore mining ...
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Pointers June 2001
The New South Wales Rail, Tram & Bus Industry Union has said it will not oppose the privatisation of FreightCorp as long as it is sold with National Rail Corp. Secretary Nick Lewocki said the union is not pro-privatisation, but has to be pragmatic. It hopes to persuade the Commonwealth ...
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SWT confirms £1bn train deal
STAGECOACH Holdings announced on April 24 that it was to lease 785 Siemens Desiro UK 750V DC electric multiple-unit cars for its South West Trains franchise (RG 3.01 p161). Options would take the total to 1201 vehicles. Around one-third of the £1bn contract value covers maintenance of the fleet at ...
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Upgrade on track
LAST MONTH was due to see the completion of track and overhead renewals on São Paulo suburban Line C, as part of a R$450m upgrading which is expected to be finished by the end of this year. CPTM’s 24 km cross-city line links Osasco in the west of the conurbation ...
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Touch-screen ticketing
ON March 26 the first of 600 new ticket vending machines entered service at Amsterdam Centraal. Offering both single and return fares, the Ascom Autelca machines can sell 80% of ticket combinations, accepting payment by smartcard only. Maximum transaction time of the euro-compliant machines is 25 sec, faster than ...
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Sidetrack
Metro goes to the dogsMoscow Metro Director Dmitry Gayev has announced the creation of a dog breeding centre to supply up to 80 dogs to sniff out explosives and drugs at stations.Stressing that violent crimes are not rising and that the Metro is working with the Federal Security service to ...
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Publications
Competition, Regulation & the Privatisation of British Rail by Jon ShawPart of the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers Transport Geography Research Group’s Transport & Mobilty series, this 244-page monograph reviews the process of rail privatisation in Great Britain, covering the ideology, the different models considered, and the actual processes ...
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PEOPLE
President Bush has nominated Allan Rutter as Administrator of the US Federal Railroad Administration. He had been Director of Transportation Policy in the Texas Governor’s Office since 1995.British Columbia Railway has appointed Robert Phillips as President & CEO.Queensland Rail has made a number of appointments. Mike Scanlan has become Group ...
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Neckar S-Bahn
MARCH 20 saw the signing of an accord between German Railway and the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar to expand the scope of the planned Rhein-Neckar S-Bahn network. First proposed in 1996 to serve the region around Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg, the S-Bahn is due to be launched with the December 2003 timetable ...
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PPP nears the ’point of no return’
ON APRIL 17 Mayor of London Ken Livingstone joined Commissioner for Transport in London Bob Kiley to attack the British government’s decision to press ahead with the Public-Private Partnership for London Underground (RG 3.01 p139). On April 10 Transport for London had been granted permission to seek a judicial review ...
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Reform pressure mounts
YET ANOTHER official report has recommended major reform of Indian Railways. This time it originated with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways, which last month published a document in response to IR’s requests for grants in 2000-01. The report went much further than commenting on the grants, making strong criticism ...
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Metro news
Argentina: Revised plans for the redevelopment of the Retiro complex in Buenos Aires unveiled by the city government include a metro station on the proposed Line H and a relocated terminus for Trainmet’s San Martín commuter services. A light rail line from Retiro to the Puerto Madero waterfront development area ...
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Letter
Belgian rail problemsSir - Your article on SNCB (RG 4.01 p253) brought a smile to my face. A Prime Minister intervening in the Belgian Railway administration! That can’t have been what Brussels had in mind with Directive 91/440, can it?Seriously though, new rolling stock and new lines may be all ...