All News articles – Page 390
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News
CSXT restructures
FOUR Service Groups are to take over responsibility for commercial and operating functions at CSX Transportation under a major reorganisation announced by newly-appointed President Ronald J Conway on August 11. Designed to ’promote customer focus and speed the decision-making process’, the groups will be focused on the railway’s principal product ...
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Cross-border joint venture
A MAJOR assault on the cross-border markets from Oslo to Stockholm, G
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'We must create our own core competences'
JR East Chairman Shuichiro Yamanouchi challenges current thinking on research, suggesting railways can no longer rely on suppliers to develop new products and processes. In this interview with Murray Hughes, Yamanouchi outlines a three-pronged strategy for survival while Japan's economy bounces on the bump stops
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Commuter stations planned
Dallas Area Rapid Transit has called bids for a new station at Esters Road in West Irving, which will form part of a 4·8 km extension of the Trinity Railway Express commuter service due to open next year. It will have a canopied platform with a high block for disabled ...
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Tazara sale moves closer
TRANSPORT Ministers in Tanzania and Zambia have agreed in principle to award concessions for the rehabilitation and operation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, subject to formal approval by the two governments. The agreement was reached on August 29 at a meeting in Ndola of the international council of ministers which oversees ...
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The spirit of your city
INTRO: Alstom Transport’s Citadis low-floor tram family was unveiled at La Rochelle on September 2. Chris Jackson took a rideON A WARM sunny afternoon, a dark blue low-floor tram decorated with seagulls is being put through its paces on the Alstom test track in the French port of La Rochelle. ...
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UP celebrates triple tracking
ON AUGUST 24 Union Pacific announced that it had completed the triple-tracking of its original main line across Nebraska between Gibbon and North Platte. Upgrading the 174 route-km to accommodate up to 140 trains per day running at 113 km/h has cost $327m.UP’s Central Corridor is a key link between ...
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Cold clean carbodies
CAR BODY design is set for radical change. Since the earliest days of railways, rolling stock has been fabricated using ’hot and dirty’ manufacturing processes. Now the days of welding large metal structures are numbered, and they are set to give way to ’cold and clean’ processes like bonding, bolting ...
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Subte car order placed
BUENOS AIRES metro concessionaire Metrovías has ordered 16 five-car EMUs from Alstom Transport to re-equip Line A between Plaza de Mayo and Primera Junta. The deal is valued at 186m euros, and the first deliveries are due 18 months after the contract has been signed.The stainless steel cars are to ...
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First capacity review by SSRA
THE WEST Midlands region surrounding Birmingham, Britain’s second largest city after London, has been selected for the first network capacity review to be undertaken by the ’shadow’ Strategic Rail Authority. Pending legislation to establish the SRA formally, staff of the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising and the British Railways Board ...
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CVRD to buy FCA
LAST MONTH Brazilian mining group Companhia Vale do Rio Doce announced that it had reached agreement to take over Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica, in which it already holds a 12·5% stake. With the backing of its parent steel conglomerate CSN, which also owns 12·5%, CVRD will pay R$218m for the 75% stake ...
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Lounges target business market
IN THEIR continuing efforts to increase ridership as subsidy levels decline, Britain’s inter-city train operators are paying particular attention to the lucrative first class market by offering improved facilities for business travellers. Virgin Trains, holder of the West Coast franchise, opened new first class lounges at Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke-on-Trent ...
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Passenger in Brief
n Swiss Federal Railways and tour operator Kuoni have signed a co-operation agreement to develop rail tourism in Europe. SBB is to take a stake in Kuoni-owned Railtour Suisse and Kuoni will invest in the SBB subsidiary RailAway. To secure a larger share of the short breaks and leisure travel ...
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Steel sleeper breakthrough
Up to now, steel sleepers have typically been used in developing countries where speeds are modest, the climate is dry, wood is vulnerable to termites, and track circuits are short if they exist at all. Steel is normally more expensive than wood or concrete, and the perception has been that ...
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Boxtel rebuild
Work on a new station building for Boxtel in the Netherlands began on September 9, undertaken by NS Railinfrabeheer as part of a programme to quadruple the Boxtel - Eindhoven route. The original station building, dating from 1872 and situated on an island platform, was demolished in July last year. ...
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Car Care prolongs body life
Wagons carrying iron ore or coal are susceptible to rapid deterioration of the body due to corrosion and abrasion. Repairs to carbon steel bodies may be needed after as little as four years, and they rarely last beyond 16 to 20 years6. In South Africa, Spoornet’s coal wagons operating on ...
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R&D optimises stainless-steel ore car bodies
INTRO: Faced with replacing half the bodies of its 2224 car fleet over five years, BHP Iron Ore worked with Lynx Engineering to develop an innovative design which not only boosts fuel efficiency but also cuts substantially the whole life cost of buying and maintaining rolling stockBYLINE: Mike Moynan, Alex ...
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Deli reconstruction blitz
Hungarian State Railways started a six-week renovation programme at Budapest Deli on August 30, with many services diverted to other stations. Funded from MAV’s HF11bn capital investment programme for 1999, the HF550m blitz includes platform reconstruction and rail renewals.
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Berlin interchange renewed
ANYONE who visited Friedrichstraße station in Berlin before the Iron Curtain fell would barely recognise it today. Last month German Railway completed a four-year rebuilding programme of this major interchange, and the grim building where east and west were strictly segregated - with the eastern platforms only accessible under the ...
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Rio governor backs metro
ANTHONY GAROTINHO, Governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, has approved a funding package for a short extension of metro Line 1 in the city’s Copacabana district. The deal clears the way for concessionaire Opportrans to start work on the 760m extension from the present Cardeal Arco Verde terminus ...