All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1017
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NewsIstanbul to build second light metro
TURKEY: The Municipality of Istanbul has awarded a joint venture led by Italian firm Astaldi a €751m contract for civil, electromechanical and signalling works on the Kadiköy - Kartal light metro line. The contract covers the construction of a 20 km double-track underground line on the Asian side of the ...
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Improved Class 66 arrives
FRANCE: During March the first EMD JT42CWRM loco for Euro Cargo Rail arrived in France for testing, after being shipped from Canada in December for final fitting out at NedTrain's Tilburg plant in the Netherlands. Better cab isolation offers improved driver comfort compared to the JT42CWR, which was restricted by ...
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Locos into cross-border service
EUROPE: Warszawa-based CTL Logistics put two Siemens Eurosprinter multi-system locomotives into service on February 29. Leased from Dispolok, the ES64F4 locos are approved for use in Germany and the Netherlands, where they will haul cross-border freight trains using the Betuwe Route.
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Roca wiring out to tender
ARGENTINA: On March 11 the federal government launched tendering for a programme to complete electrification of the Roca suburban network in Buenos Aires at a cost of US$1·39bn. At present, 55 km of the 198 km Roca system is electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz AC. Work has been divided ...
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Sprinter on the start line
NETHERLANDS: Harry Hondius MSc rides the first of NS Reizigers' new-generation of Sprinter EMUs, which are due to enter service between Den Haag and Utrecht this year.
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Seeing eye to eye
UK: A range of counter service security screens that offer increased protection for staff and improved access for mobility-impaired customers has been launched onto the UK market by Safetell. Branded as Eye2Eye, the screens combine bullet-resistant glazing with a height-adjustable counter that can be positioned to meet the height requirements ...
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NewsCross-city expansion gets underway
LONDON: Network Rail has begun work on the long-planned upgrade of the Thameslink cross-city route, where tendering is now in hand for major works due to commence in January. Under a two-stage programme costing a total of £5·5bn, platforms will be lengthened to accommodate 12-car trains operating at a frequency ...
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Wagon builder revived
FRANCE: Wagon supplier Arbel Fauvet Rail expects to return to profit this year. Since acquisition by investment company IGF Care in January 2007, the renamed IGF Industries-AFR has reaped benefits from investment totalling €20m. This year's order book stands at 850 wagons, and next year the company hopes to deliver ...
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Pantographs pushed for higher speed
DEUTSCHE BAHN and Stemmann-Technik are collaborating on a project to develop an actively-controlled single-arm pantograph capable of operation at up to 400 km/h. The design will be an evolution of Stemmann's existing DSA380 model that is already in production, which is approved for speeds in excess of 320 km/h. The ...
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Trains in temporary accommodation
TUBE Lines has erected a temporary workshop at Stratford Market depot on London Underground's Jubilee Line to enable trains to receive train control equipment modifications as part of the resignalling of the route. The 1 960 m2 temporary workshop provides a dedicated facility to fit the additional equipment to each ...
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FGC completes upgrade
SPAIN: On February 9 Catalan regional operator FGC introduced a new timetable on its metre-gauge route to Martorell, Igualada and Manresa, having completed a €264·7m programme of capacity enhancements to enable trains to operate every 5 min in the peaks between Barcelona Plaça d'Espanya and Martorell-Enllaç. Trains now operate every ...
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NewsWest Coast upgrade enters the final stage
Launched in 1998, the upgrading of Britain's busiest inter-city and freight route from London to Glasgow has proved a challenging task that Network Rail now expects to complete by 2009
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Branches on Canaries
SPAIN: Work is now underway on the two branches that will form Line 2 of the light rail network in the Spanish city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (RG 10.07 p597). Under a contract worth €11·4m, a joint venture of Acciona Infraestructuras, Comsa, Promotora Punta Larga and Tinerfeña Obras ...
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NewsKeep it simple
NIGERIA: Following the collapse of the agreement for Chinese engineering companies to fund as well as build its ambitious standard-gauge rail network, the Nigerian government has been looking for alternative sources of finance. But a recent approach to the World Bank seems to have come away empty-handed. The bank's advisers ...
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São Paulo airport rail concession
BRAZIL: Bids are to be invited in May for a 35-year concession to build and operate the long-planned Airport Express rail link in São Paulo, with the aim of having the line in service by the end of 2011. The state government hopes to receive bids for the US$800m finance-design-build-operate ...
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Infrastructure market March 2008
Argentina: The federal government has awarded Martínez y de la Fuente SA a contract worth 28·3m pesos to build a new broad-gauge connection to the Port of Buenos Aires, which by using the existing metre-gauge route should enable 300 000 containers a year to be handled. Under the second phase ...
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Through the Andes, not over them
ARGENTINA: At the end of January the governments of Argentina and Chile formally abandoned tendering for the project to restore the rail connection between their two countries, having received a single, non-compliant bid. Originally developed by Argentinian engineering consultancy Tecnicagua, the project would have seen the 225 km metre-gauge ...
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News'The nightmare scenario'
Thalys International's Chief Executive Jean-Michel Dancoisne explains how capacity constraints and cross-border regulatory inconsistency risk making his job anything but a dream.