All News articles – Page 442
-
News
Olympic S-Bahn revived
BERLIN S-Bahn trains returned to the city’s famous Olympiastadion station on January 16, with the reinstatement of a further 4·8 km section of the network disused since 1980. The Westkreuz - Pichelsberg line serves the Charlottenburg quarter in the northwest of the city, with intermediate stations at Eichkamp, Heerstra§e and ...
-
News
Midwest Rail Upgrade nears mid point
INTRO: In preparation for the planned break-up of Conrail between CSX and Norfolk Southern, CSX is investing US$220m in upgrading 435 route-km of main line between central Ohio and ChicagoTHIS MONTH will see further progress towards completion of the first phase of a major route upgrading programme in western Ohio ...
-
News
Metros
Australia: Victoria’s Public Transport Corp has called tenders for construction of 1·6 km of tram route in Melbourne, along Exhibition Street to connect with the Wattle Park line.Bulgaria: Sofia Metro opened a 5 km section of its first line on January 28. China: Creative Star Ltd had sold 3·7million Octopus ...
-
News
Market
Australia: On February 10 Queensland Rail ordered 38 heavy-haul diesel locos from Evans Deakins’ subsidiary Clyde Engineering for A$132m to work coal trains in the Bowen basin; EDI’s Manufacturing & Construction Division will supply 350 coal wagons for A$34m. ANI will build 700 wagons and supply bogies and components for ...
-
News
Seattle makes a start
CENTRAL Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority has awarded a $23m contract for conceptual and preliminary engineering for Seattle’s planned Link light rail network (RG 1.98 p33). This will connect the communities of Seattle, Tukwila and SeaTac airport, with a separate route joining central Tacoma with Tacoma Dome commuter rail station. ...
-
News
Managing maintenance on the world’s longest rail network
INTRO: Dense traffic, a difficult climate and an 87000 route-km network mean that maintaining Russian Railways’ track and infrastructure is a major challenge. Modern management methods and up-to-date machinery are being introduced, but the need to cater for fast passenger trains means that possession times on heavily used corridors will ...
-
News
Smoothing the Northern line ride
UNDER a contract worth over £4m, Metalastik Vibration Control Systems is supplying rubber/metal suspension components for bogies being built by Adtranz at Derby for London Underground’s Northern line trains under construction at GEC Alsthom Metro-Cammell near Birmingham. For the bogies, Metalastik is supplying primary and secondary suspension springs, flexible frame ...
-
News
Karachi MTP revived
GROUNDBREAKING ceremonies for Karachi’s long-planned light rail line are scheduled for August 14, according to Sindh senior minister Dr Farooq Sattar. He told the provincial assembly on January 2 that the Memorandum of Understanding for a 30-year BOT concession signed with a Canadian/Turkish consortium in January 1996 had been reactivated ...
-
News
INTELLIGENCE
CAPTION: Ferrovie Nord Milano has outshopped the first of its refurbished EA750 series EMUs, which are being modified to operate on the cross-city Passante route (RG 1.98 p48). Apart from a new livery, the main change is to provide a switch to transfer the passenger emergency alarm to an audible ...
-
News
Passenger information reaches out
AS RAILWAY operators come under more pressure to increase ridership, both for commercial purposes and because governments are seeking modal transfer for environmental reasons, there is a clear need for passenger information systems to extend their scope. In this new market, the potential traveller is the new focus of PI.Computer-based ...
-
News
Industry News
China: Full production of wheelsets is expected to begin in April or May at Datong ABC Castings Co Ltd, a joint venture between ABC Rail Products Corp of the USA and the Ministry of Railways. Construction of the facility followed the signature of a joint venture agreement in March 1996.Metalastik ...
-
News
IR independence
THE GOVERNMENT of Israel has introduced legislation to transfer control of the country’s railways from the Port Authority to a separate state-owned company. Intended to give the railways more independence and management flexibility, the move announced last year will efectively see IR revert to its pre-1988 status. Director-General A Uzani ...
-
News
Heathrow luminaire
Station lighting for the Heathrow Express airport terminal stations due to open in June was specially developed by Crompton Lighting under a £500000 contract. Sophisticated optical design software ensured that the fluorescent platform lighting conformed to the architect’s requirements, giving a pleasant ambience on the platforms and no glare for ...
-
News
Now it’s Rail Gourmet UK
Six months after SAirGroup’s SAirRelations division bought European Rail Catering on June 29 (RG 8.97 p515), the British train catering organisation has been renamed Rail Gourmet UK Ltd. Terry Coyle retains his position as Managing Director, reporting to Edy Fischer, Chairman & CEO of Rail Gourmet Group.Despite already operating in ...
-
News
Georgian upgrading
PLANS are afoot to nudge the 1575 km Georgian Railway towards a commercial existence. With the help of a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, GR is to be restructured with the aim of ultimately achieving the status of a joint stock company. Closely allied to this ...
-
News
Private finance for high-speed link
THE French parliament has ratified a treaty signed with the Spanish government covering the construction of a high-speed line between Figueres and Perpignan. This includes an 8·2 km tunnel under the Pyrenees at Le Perthus, which is to be built with private finance; the tunnel concessionaire will charge users a ...
-
News
Finance
Canada: CN and CPR both claimed 1997 to be their best year to date. CN’s performance included a profit of C$421m, while CPR made a profit contribution of C$469m to CP group’s overall record C$1·26bn.Europe: GEC Alsthom has appointed Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldmann Sachs to manage its flotation ...
-
News
New lines face funding hurdle
WHEN Britain’s Transport Secretary John Prescott made an ’emergency statement’ to the House of Commons on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link on January 28, he triggered a frantic 30-day scramble to try and put together a financial package that would rescue the 108 km line from collapse (p151). The latest ...
-
News
Engineers under pressure
’The cost of freight must be cut by 50% - and then by 50% again’ was the challenge set by Lyn Fairbrother, Managing Director of the European Railway Research Institute, at its second interactive conference in Paris on February 4-5, organised in conjunction with the Association of American Railroads.The first ...