All News articles – Page 416
-
News
Industry In Brief
Australia: Evans Deakin Industries has abandoned its attempt to takeover Australian National Industries (RG 1.99 p51) and will sell the 18% of ANI shares it has acquired to rival bidder Smorgon Steel.Czech Republic: Construction company Subtera Praha has purchased a 90% stake in track maintenance contractor Stavební obnova zeleznic, which ...
-
News
End of year blues
ON JANUARY 13 French National Railways revealed that passenger traffic had responded well to the range of service enhancements and fares initiatives it had introduced last year. Long-distance business (measured in passenger-km) was up by 5·3%, with the figure for all passenger traffic up 4·4%. SNCF’s aim this year is ...
-
News
Shenzhen bids to follow Guangzhou
CEREMONIES were held in two southern Chinese cities on December 28 to mark significant developments on their respective metro networks.Guangzhou Metro celebrated the official completion of its 18·5 km Line 1, five years to the day since the start of construction. Linking Xilang with CR’s East station, Line 1 has ...
-
News
Istanbul bidding
FIVE consortia have submitted prequalification bids to supply electrical & mechanical equipment for the Istanbul metro extension from Taksim to Yenikapi. They include SNC Lavalin of Canada, Adtranz and ABB with Yapi Merkezi, Alstom with Gülermak, Guris and Yüksel, and Gama Endüstrie. The municipality has received bids from Siemens, Alstom ...
-
News
'I don't want to privatise, and I don't believe we need it'
Etienne Schouppe, Managing Director of Belgian National Railways, is treading a delicate path of reform in a country where performance of the national railway is a deeply political issue. The restructured company lends itself to privatisation, but Schouppe told Murray Hughes in Brussels that the changes were needed to put ...
-
News
Union wins Belgrano at last
ARGENTINE President Carlos Menem participated in a ceremony on December 18 to transfer the country’s last state-owned railway to a private-sector consortium. Railway trades union Unión Ferroviaria gains control of Ferrocarril Belgrano Cargas SA after operating the 10000 km metre-gauge network on a temporary basis since mid-1997. At that time, ...
-
News
Bangalore deal
INDIA’s United Breweries group has been authorised to form joint ventures with three foreign firms in order to develop its planned US$16m elevated light rail network in Bangalore. UB is working with US-based ICF Kaiser Engineers, Transportation & Transit Associates and Nippon Sharyo Ltd of Japan. The Reserve Bank of ...
-
News
Axe falls on FOX
JEB BUSH, son of former US President George, took office as governor in Florida on January 5. One of his first actions was to dash the plans to build a 515 km high-speed line linking Miami, Orlando and Tampa. Saying ’we have to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money’, ...
-
News
Saboteurs arrested
TORNADO jets and army helicopters patrolling main lines were among the more drastic measures taken in Germany before Christmas in a short-lived but deadly serious battle to prevent saboteurs derailing trains if a DM10m ransom were not paid. German Railway was first alerted by telephone calls to its Frankfurt headquarters ...
-
News
Amtrak joins loyalty scheme
Alaska Airlines has extended its frequent flyer programme benefits to allow air-miles to be redeemed against rail tickets for the Coast Starlight and local trains in Amtrak’s Pacific Northwest region. Mileage is accumulated by flying Alaska or using partner airlines Northwest, TWA and KLM.While a first class return ticket for ...
-
News
Kok puts Amsterdam on the HS map
NETHERLANDS Prime Minister Wim Kok revealed details on January 15 of the arrangements for funding and building the HSL Zuid high speed line between Amsterdam and the Belgian border. The public-private partnership formula developed by the government’s HSL Zuid planning agency will see the state procure the civil engineering works, ...
-
News
Alstom wins in Fortaleza
CONSTRUCTION of the long-planned metro network in the northern Brazilian city of Fortaleza is set to get under way at last, following the transfer of the local railway construction and operating company Metrofor from CBTU to the Cear
-
News
Arco, Alaris and Talgo
THIS MONTH sees Spanish National Railways launch another bid in the European speed stakes for services on conventional lines. On February 16 Renfe puts its 10-strong fleet of Alstom-Fiat Pendolino trains into service on the Madrid - Valencia inter-city run, where they will be branded as Alaris. Timed to cover ...
-
News
Star airlines offer HK package
Passengers using airlines forming part of the Star Alliance are now able to have travel on MTR Corp’s Airport Express included in their ticketing package. Participating airlines are Air New Zealand, Ansett Australia, Thai Airways, Air Canada, SAS, United, Varig, and Lufthansa. If air travellers choose to include the Hong ...
-
News
Votes clear the way ahead
BYLINE: Moritz LeuenbergerSwiss Federal Minister for Environment, Transport, Energy & CommunicationsHISTORIC national referendums in September and November 1998 have set the direction which rail infrastructure development will take in the next century. Over the next two decades SFr30·5bn will be spent on major rail projects. This puts the proportion invested ...
-
News
Setting the freight agenda
INTRO: Charged with breaking even in 2000, Fret SNCF is looking to master costs and boost receipts whilst increasing capacity and improving reliability. Freight Director Armand Toubol outlined his strategy to Robert PrestonOver the last three years SNCF freight traffic has been on an upward trend, rising from 46·5bn tonne-km ...
-
News
Talgo accord
A DUAL-VOLTAGE gauge-convertible tilting trainset is to be developed by Adtranz and Talgo under an agreement signed on December 21. The President of Patentes Talgo signed the deal with Adtranz Executive Vice-President Heinz Cronimund within the framework of the two companies’ high speed trainset co-operation agreement reached in April 1998 ...
-
News
Trans Africa starts open access
REGULAR rail freight services between South Africa and Uganda were launched in mid-December by Tanzania-based Trans Africa Railway Corp. Running from Gauteng province to Kampala, the service is expected to handle 80000 tonnes in the first year. End-to-end time by rail and train ferry across Lake Victoria is 14 days, ...
-
News
Frustration boils over at Intermodal 98
INTRO: Shippers vented their anger in Rotterdam at foot-dragging by state railways over open access, cost reductions and priority for freight. Yet Richard Hope found many convinced that Europe has the potential to match intermodal volumes hauled in North America’WE ARE experiencing a deterioration in service levels as the cost ...
-
News
U-Bahn to Riem
MÜNCHENER Verkehrsbetriebe has unveiled details of the revision to U-Bahn services which will come into effect with the opening of a 7·7 km branch to the new trade fair at Riem on May 30 1999. Work on the line was delayed by a tunnel collapse linked to the use of ...