All News articles – Page 421
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News
INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: Netherlands freight operator Shortlines has introduced open access container shuttle services between Rotterdam and Born using three MAK DE-1024 diesel locos owned by Häfen und Güterverkehr K
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INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: Korean National Railroad is testing two 25 kV 60 Hz locos developed from German Railway’s Class 152 by Daewoo Heavy Industries and Siemens. With a continuous rating of 5 200 kW and a tractive effort of 330 kN, the 140 km/h units are forerunners of a fleet of mixed-traffic ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Australia: National Rail and TNT Automotive Logistics have begun moving cars between Melbourne and Brisbane in 3·2m high containers on two TRAY wagons with a deck height of 830mm and a wheel diameter of 725mm.NRC’s Trailerail has ordered 10 refrigerated road/rail trailers from Maxi-Cube and 15 curtain-sided vehicles from Air-Ride ...
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Information meets passenger needs
INCREASED internet use is revolutionising access to pre-journey information, but passengers still need a wide range of media providing details to guide them through the journey.SNCF is about to expand its internet service to include the ability to make seat reservations direct. The website (www.sncf.fr) requests journey details, which are ...
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INSIDE INDUSTRY
Canada: Class B shares in Bombardier Inc began trading on Germany’s Frankfurt - am - Main stock exchange on September 3. The shares are also traded in Montréal, Toronto and Brussels.Finland: Under the restructuring of the Transtech rolling stock business, Rautaruukki has sold its Taivalkoski works to Telatek Oy.Great Britain: ...
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High speed rail reaches maturity
BYLINE: Philippe RoumeguèreDirector GeneralInternational Union of RailwaysMORE THAN three decades have passed since Japan’s pioneering bullet trains carried their first passengers. Over 5·5 billion people have since ridden the trains whose performance surpassed the previous limits of conventional railway technology. Around 700 million people have experienced high speed rail travel ...
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UP restructures for growth
On August 18 Chairman & CEO Dick Davidson announced a major reorganisation of Union Pacific’s rail operations. This reverses a centralisation plan adopted more than 10 years ago, since when the acquisition of three railways has doubled UP’s size and made it unwieldy. ’We’re trying to flip the pyramid’, said ...
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WestRail gets the go-ahead
THIS MONTH will see the formal start of work on the first phase of Hong Kong’s ambitious WestRail link between Kowloon and Tuen Mun, following the final approval of the project by the region’s government on September 15. Transport Secretary Nicholas Ng said the project would generate 13000 jobs and ...
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GSM-R gathers speed
ANY DOUBT that GSM-R might fail to become the standard radio platform for Europe’s railways can be set aside. The June decision by the board of Deutsche Bahn AG to replace eight disparate analogue radio systems with a single GSM-R radio network will result shortly in a service supplier agreement ...
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Outsiders to help FS restructure
CONSULTANTS are due to submit bids on October 8 for a contract worth up to 2·5bn lire to help Italian State Railways with restructuring. Whoever wins this enviable little task will have their work cut out, but as a consultant they will have the benefit of being one step removed ...
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Frankfurt offers seamless transfer
From September 21 Lufthansa passengers travelling through Frankfurt from Düsseldorf, K
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SBB launches fleet update
SWISS Federal Railways is to spend up to SFr290m a year on modernisation of its inter-city rolling stock fleet. Covering new build and refurbishment, the programme was launched on August 26 when SBB announced a SFr143m order for a third series of double-deck coaches. This will include 19 first ...
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Muni metro extends
SAN FRANCISCO Municipal Railway began through services to the CalTrain terminal at 4th & King Streets on August 22, when the N-Judah route was extended from Embarcadero. The through service from Ocean Beach replaces the route E shuttle which has served the extension since January 10. Through running was delayed ...
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Shinkansen fleet expands
BYLINE: Yoshihiko SatoGeneral Manager, Transport & Rolling Stock DepartmentEast Japan RailwayFOLLOWING THE inauguration of three new routes last year, JR East has ordered extra trains to expand its Series E2, E3 and E4 fleets, and has launched a drive to refurbish older units.In March 1997 we opened the Akita mini-shinkansen, ...
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Eurotunnel tries on-board fire suppression
INTRO: Sprinklers inside freight shuttle wagons are the favoured option for protecting the Channel Tunnel from the costly damage caused by the November 1996 fire. Richard Hope watched a full-scale test in a specially constructed wind tunnelPERCHED INCONGRUOUSLY on a concrete apron behind Darchem Engineering’s works in Stillington, County Durham, ...
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éole opens in June
FRENCH National Railways confirmed at the end of August that the first phase of its cross-Paris RER Line E is to open on June 26 next year. The Est-Ouest Liaison Express (éole) will eventually connect the Est and St Lazare suburban networks, but the first phase provides for selected services ...
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Embankment reinforcement
MONITORING under traffic conditions of an 80m embankment built in Hannover on the route to Celle using Fortrac¨ 80/30-20 geogrids from Huesker Synthetic has revealed minimal deformation in the millimetre range over a period of 12 months. Using one vertical and two horizontal inclinometers, monitoring followed approval of the geogrid ...
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Derailment detectors
BACK in 1994 Swiss Federal Railways had two lucky escapes. The first was in March when a broken axle caused a train of petrol wagons to derail and catch fire at Zürich Affoltern. Five houses were burnt down and petrol leaking into sewers exploded, blasting manhole covers into the streets; ...
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Deregulation demands portable qualifications
PRIVATISATION, deregulation and restructuring of the world railway industry have highlighted a need for recognised qualifications for staff at all levels, according to Gerard Langes, CEO of Transport & Distribution Training Australia. Addressing a seminar in London on September 10 organised by Rail Training International, he instanced a private firm ...
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Rival trains cut Kowloon-Guangzhou timings
August 28 saw the introduction of faster trains between Kowloon and Guangzhou, cutting journey times for the 174 km non-stop journey from 105 to 90min and bringing the promise of increased capacity on this busy route.Five round trips were providing the through service between the two cities up to that ...