All News articles – Page 353
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News
Finance
Armenia: Tenders are to be called shortly for a $15·2m upgrading of the Airum - Giumry line, which will be funded by a US$40m loan being negotiated from the World Bank for railway modernisation.China: Shanghai Municipality has launched a five year bond issue raising 1bn yuan towards construction of metro ...
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Mexican ferry link
THIS MONTH is due to see the start of train ferry services between Mobile, Alabama, and Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. To be operated by International Shipholding Corp of New Orleans as a joint venture with Ferrosur, it will give eastern US railways independent access to Mexico. Ferrosur will handle traffic in Mexico, ...
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Faster turnouts
SPANISH high-speed infrastructure authority GIF has awarded a consortium led by JEZ Sistemas Ferroviarios a Pts3·3bn contract to supply 35 high-speed turnouts for the Zaragoza - Lleida section of the 350 km/h Madrid - Barcelona high speed line. Designed for a maximum diverging speed of 230 km/h, the turnouts feature ...
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Edelaraudtee sold to GB
ON NOVEMBER 27 Estonia’s privatisation agency announced that it had signed an agreement with Britain’s GB Railways for the sale of the independent state-owned south-west railway, Edelaraudtee. GB is paying 10m kroons (US$550000) for the business, and has agreed to invest 260m kroons over the next five years. Of this, ...
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Docklands keeps growing
FOLLOWING the completion of the public enquiry process in November, London’s Docklands Light Railway has invited proposals for a concession to design, build and maintain a 4·4 km branch from Canning Town to London City Airport and North Woolwich. Prequalification bids are due by January 12, and the aim is ...
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THSRC signs shinkansen deal
ON DECEMBER 12 Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp signed the Core System contract for supply of rolling stock and electrical and mechanical equipment with the Japanese-based Taiwan Shinkansen Corporation. Initialled in a Tokyo hotel by THSRC Chairman Nita Ing and TSC President Kazuo Sato, the deal is worth NT$95bn. TSC ...
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Customer focus keeps Renfe on course
INTRO: As state support declines year by year, close customer focus and an emphasis on service quality is keeping passenger traffic at Spanish National Railways on an upward trend. Robert Preston put the questions to Renfe President and UIC Chairman Miguel CorsiniPreston: What impact will the policy of interoperability being ...
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VIA launches parcels courier
VIA Rail Canada has introduced a same-day and next-day courier service between Québec City, Montréal, Toronto and Windsor in partnership with Montréal’s Intelcom Courier. The Viapaq Courrrier service will be extended in phases to more than 30 stations, with smaller towns along the corridor being added over the next few ...
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GIF contracts
SPANISH high-speed infrastructure authority GIF has awarded a Pts13·8bn contract to Ferrovial-Agrom
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Expansion starts as Metrorail’s core network is completed
INTRO: After 31 years of continuous construction, the 166 route-km metro network in the US Federal Capital will be completed this month. But as the region’s population continues to expand, work is already getting under way on the first of up to 19 expansion projects. Further investment will be needed ...
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Queens Connector completed
REVENUE services will start this month on the complex and expensive link between New York’s overcrowded Queens Boulevard subway and the 63rd Street line leading under the East River to Manhattan. Construction of the 457m link has taken six years and cost $645m, in part because of the intricate work ...
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SJ splits into six companies
JANUARY 1 marks the end of Swedish State Railways as a national operator after 145 years. Under a restructuring which received government approval on December 14, SJ is being broken up into six independent state-owned companies.The railway’s staff of 11600 is being split between the six businesses, which were set ...
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Cheetah Rail
ZULU King Goodwill Zwelithini has launched a new luxury trainset for charter operations in and around Durban. Commuter operator Metrorail has invested R9m in the conversion of the Cheetah Rail train, which draws its inspiration from European and Far Eastern high speed trains. The train is part of a bid ...
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Careful revenue management underpins investment programme
INTRO: With patronage running at record levels, Moscow Metro needs to expand and modernise its network. A continuing fall in state investment is focusing attention on ways to increase revenue through automated fare collectionBYLINE: Dmitry GaevHead of Moscow MetroLIFE HAS NOT been easy for Moscow Metro in the past few ...
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Paris smart card conversion starts
THIS MONTH is due to see the start of conversion work on around 2000 gate controllers on the Paris metro network to accept contactless smart cards as well as magnetic stripe tickets. To be completed by July, the work is being undertaken by Ascom under a contract worth around Fr60m ...
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Politicians broker next compromise
ANOTHER faltering step was taken on November 22 in the tortuous process of introducing competition into the European rail freight industry. Strongly opposed by France from the outset, the liberalisers have had to give way on several counts, and the agreement falls far short of what was once envisaged.Building on ...
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Trunk haul brings return
CONCESSIONED in April 1999, Cameroon operator Camrail returned a profit in its first year. Major participant in Camrail is the Comazar consortium with a 72·1% interest; Comazar is 31·6% owned by South Africa’s Transnet, 30·72% by the South African Infrastructure Fund, 20·4% by the transport group Bollore, and 12·8% by ...
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Passenger News in Brief
Hong Kong metro operator MTR Corp has started installing bright red straps between vehicles on some trains, to alert visually-impaired passengers and prevent them mistaking the space for a door and falling into the gap. The fitting of 95 trainsets on the three urban lines is due to be completed ...
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Products in Brief
Transport & Travel Research Ltd is undertaking the European Commission funded GENESYS research and development project to reduce energy consumption on urban rail services through better driver training. A spreadsheet model is used to calculate energy consumption, and this is used to encourage staff to drive in a more energy ...
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Barcelona progress
LAST MONTH Barcelona transport administration ATM signed the formal concession contracts for the city’s planned 16·8 km light rail line. The GroupTramMet consortium led by FCC Construcción, which includes CGEA Transport and Alstom, will design, build operate and maintain the network, which is due to open between the city and ...