All News articles – Page 372
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News
IR spends to redress problems
INTRO: Rail freight’s market share in India will increase from 40% to 50% if IR can push through a package of commercial incentives and improvements for customers proposed in the 2000-01 budget. There are ambitious plans to build new lines and continue the gauge conversion programme, but Chris Bushell finds ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Australia: The Victoria government has allocated A$70m towards the cost of extending Melbourne’s electrified suburban network to Craigieburn, South Morang and Cranbourne East, as well as a tramway extension from East Burwood to Knox City.Freight Australia Chief Executive Marius van Onselen has called on the NSW government to reopen the ...
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Investment pace hotting up
THE LAST month has seen furious activity in Britain as the industry struggles to keep pace with constant change. A ’Rail Summit’ attended by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was scheduled for May 25, prompting many parties across the industry to try and demonstrate that they were pulling their weight.Among ...
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High speed joint ventures
AN AGREEMENT signed in Brussels on May 8 paves the way for the creation of a four-railway ’project company’ to manage high-speed passenger services on the TGV Est européen corridor linking Paris, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Frankfurt and Basel (p379). To be based in Luxembourg, Rhealys will be owned by French National ...
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HCM upgrade
VIETNAM Railways has commissioned Japan Transportation Consultants and Southern Transport Engineering & Design Inc to undertake a feasibility study for a 47·2 km reconstruction of the southern end of its main line into Ho Chi Minh City through the province of Dong Nai. DSVN hopes to fund the project with ...
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Hamburg studies light rail
CITIZENS in the German port of Hamburg were due to make submissions by May 15 on priority measures to be put in place for the city’s planned light rail network. The formal consultation paves the way for award of a contract for detailed design of the first route.The city is ...
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Seetalbahn goes low-floor
SWITZERLAND: On April 28 Swiss Federal Railways announced that it was to order a fleet of 17 low-floor articulated trainsets to operate its Seetalbahn line between Luzern and Lenzburg. The eight-axle GTW cars will be supplied by Stadler Fahrzeuge AG and Adtranz for SFr100m, and will have seats for 160 ...
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Mehdorn seeks more upgrading funds
GERMAN RAILWAY Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn does not want much. Speaking at DB’s 1999 annual results press conference on May 10 in Berlin, Mehdorn called for both federal government and the Länder to provide further funding for infrastructure modernisation to deal with a ’huge backlog’ from previous years. The backlog was ...
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Refurbishment funded
PAKISTAN Railways’ efforts to modernise its operations received a boost at the end of April, when the government approved a national investment package totalling Rs10bn. This included several railway projects identified as a priority by PR Chairman Javed Ashraf, notably the refurbishing of 240 coaches and 55 diesel locos. PR ...
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Illinois test will fix the future of PTC
INTRO: Born out of the ATCS project of the 1980s, the North American Joint Positive Train Control Programme will see cost-effective train control developed over the next five years. Trials are to be undertaken between Springfield and Mazonia in Illinois, where freight will share Union Pacific tracks with 177 ...
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Kolkata expands
A RANGE of development proposals for the Kolkata suburban network were outlined by India’s Railways Minister Ms Matama Banerjee on April 30, when she laid the foundation stone for a 5·8 km southern extension of the city’s Circular Railway. Rs860m has been allocated for the line from Princep Ghat ...
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Dynamic train scheduling on a national scale
INTRO: Automation of conflict resolution over wide geographical areas can speed up the timetable and train service planning process dramatically. The time to optimise infrastructure capacity, trains and crews to match business objectives can be cut from months to hoursBYLINE: Tom A Greaves CEng MIMechE MCITDirector, VST ComrecoRailHistorically, train schedules ...
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Sustainable transport demands strong rail investment
BYLINE: Philippe RoumeguèreChief Executive, International Union of Railways (UIC)RIGHT ACROSS the world, concern has been growing about the role of transport in society and the part that each mode has to play. A balance must be struck between meeting the needs of the economy and the increasingly serious effects ...
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Trams return to Croydon
UK: Months of frustration turned to celebrations on May 5 when the first 11 km section of Croydon Tramlink opened between the town centre loop and New Addington. Tramtrack Croydon Ltd’s Chairman Bob Dorey said it was an ‘important day’ when TCL ‘brought trams back to London’, 49 years after ...
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TGV Est européen moves towards construction
INTRO: With geophysical surveys and detailed design now in progress, utility diversions and other preliminary works for France’s next high speed line are due to begin in the second half of this year. RFF Project Director Pierre Cerisier spoke to Robert Preston, outlining the programme that should see civil works ...
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Commonwealth wants operators to fund national network
IN A STATEMENT on May 18, Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport & Regional Services John Anderson said the federal government would ’pursue a nationally uniform framework for railway track access arrangements and regulatory and safety regimes for rail transport.’ He proposes to establish this year a national ...
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South coast commuters taste the future
INTRO: British franchisee Connex Rail has demonstrated a Class 375 Electrostar train to Brighton passengers, but the units will not enter service until next yearRESTRICTED running trials have begun in east Kent with the first Class 375 unit for British franchisee Connex Rail. Because Railtrack has only granted the train ...
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Private finance changes the investment rules
MOST SUCCESSFUL technological advances in recent years have focused on enabling people to communicate in new and sophisticated ways, breaking down geographical and cultural boundaries. However, face-to-face communication is still necessary and interaction between people is as important as ever in both social and economic terms. Rail travel, whether inter-city ...
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Seven centres to manage the network
INTRO: This month sees the first application of passenger information systems being driven directly from the data provided to German Railway’s network management centre in Frankfurt. Six out of seven regional operations centres that will eventually take over signalling control functions have now been commissioned. Murray Hughes reports from Frankfurt ...
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Canary takes off
TENDERS are to be invited for construction of a light rail network on Tenerife, following a decision by the Canary Islands regional government in March to push ahead with detailed design. Totalling Pts200bn, the lines are expected to enter service from 2006 onwards.Work could start next year on a short ...