All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1032

  • News

    Only TfL bids for Metronet

    2007-11-26T06:07:00Z

    LONDON Underground Managing Director Tim O'Toole confirmed on November 6 that Transport for London has submitted the only bid to acquire the failed PPP infrastructure concessionaire Metronet. Metronet BCV and SSL had been put into administration by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone on July 18 (RG 8.07 p461). Administrator Alan ...

  • News

    Focus on France as Commission approves EWS takeover

    2007-11-25T12:29:00Z

    CONDITIONAL APPROVAL for Deutsche Bahn to acquire 100% of EWS Holdings was announced by the European Commission on November 7. Welcoming the decision, EWS said 'both companies look forward to working together to develop freight in Europe', stressing that 'the business strategy of EWS remains the same: to continue ...

  • News

    Brush buys Hunslet-Barclay

    2007-11-25T06:35:00Z

    BRUSH Barclay is the new name adopted for the former Hunslet-Barclay Ltd, after FKI announced on November 12 that it was paying £2·1m to acquire the assets of the rolling stock engineering business on behalf of Brush Traction. On October 26 KPMG Restructuring had announced the appointment of joint administrators ...

  • News

    Paris RER contract

    2007-11-25T06:08:00Z

    A CONTRACT worth €103m for the supply of components for the mid-life refurbishment of 119 four-car RATP Class MI79 and SNCF Class Z8100 suburban EMUs used on Paris RER Line B was awarded to Alstom last month. The vehicles were delivered by Alstom from 1980, and the manufacturer will now ...

  • News

    Wheels to roll from China

    2007-11-24T06:37:00Z

    STANDARD Car Truck Co announced on October 18 that it had formed Barber Tianrui Railway Supply Co as a joint venture with China's Tianrui Group for the global marketing of cast steel wheels. The joint venture agreement was signed in Chicago by the Chairman of Standard Car Truck Richard ...

  • News

    Pioneer railway revival

    2007-11-24T05:28:00Z

    CHILDREN in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv once again have the chance to operate their own railway, with the completion of a three-year project to restore the country's last remaining Pioneer railway. On September 22 Transport Minister Petar Mutafchiev and city Mayor Ivan Chomakov formally reopened the 600 mm gauge ...

  • News

    Durchmesserlinie will give Zürich an east-west axis

    2007-11-23T16:24:00Z

    Construction work began on September 20 on the 9·6 km link between Oerlikon and Altstetten that will see a further set of through platforms created beneath Zürich's increasingly-congested central station

  • News

    SNCB leases 40 locos from Angel Trains

    2007-11-23T15:42:00Z

    BELGIAN national operator SNCB is to lease 40 Bombardier Traxx multi-system electric locomotives from Angel Trains, the Royal Bank of Scotland's leasing firm announced on November 23. Five of the 40 four-voltage locos were already on order from the manufacturer, while a further 35 have been ordered specifically ...

  • News

    DB sale bill hits the rocks

    2007-11-23T06:02:00Z

    LEAVING aside the unusual spectacle of German railway staff striking for higher pay, controversy continues to dog government plans to privatise all or part of Deutsche Bahn. Officially, the aim is still to push a bill through parliament before the next general election in 2009, but this is looking increasingly ...

  • News

    UK franchises remapped

    2007-11-22T13:57:00Z

    FURTHER rationalisation of the passenger train operating franchises in the UK has been completed. November 11 saw the launch of the East Midlands, West Midlands and CrossCountry franchises, replacing the former Central Trains, Midland Main Line, Silverlink and Virgin CrossCountry operations (RG 7.07 p403). Stagecoach subsidiary East Midlands Trains now ...

  • News

    Three presidents launch Turkey - Georgia rail link

    2007-11-22T12:36:00Z

    CONSTRUCTION of the rail link between Turkey and Georgia formally got underway on November 21, with the presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey laying a foundation stone at Marabda station in the Tetri-Tskaro region of Georgia. Turkey is providing US$220m to fund the 76 km of new line to be ...

  • News

    Pointers November 2007

    2007-11-22T06:52:00Z

    Freight traffic on the metre-gauge Belgrano network in Argentina is expected to reach 850 000 tonnes in 2007, according to Eduardo Lamaison who heads emergency operating company SOE (RG 9.06 p490). Less than 500 000 tonnes were carried in 2006, since when SOE has increased the ...

  • News

    Caspian corridor plans agreed

    2007-11-21T14:13:00Z

    SECTIONS of new line to be built in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran will open up a north-south rail corridor parallel to the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. An agreement to implement the 650 km project was signed by the presidents of the three countries at the second Caspian ...

  • News

    World rail market November 2007

    2007-11-21T06:51:00Z

    Argentina: National Railway Equipment Co of the USA is supplying two E2300 diesel locomotives to Ferrosur Roca. They are similar to the General Motors GT22 design already operated by the railway. Austria: Last month ÖBB placed a €76m order for a further 17 Class 4124 four-car Bombardier Talent EMUs, bringing ...

  • News

    Monster machine masters multiple functions

    2007-11-21T06:50:00Z

    The RPM-RS-900 track renewal machine handles formation renewal, reballasting and tamping in a single pass with the option of recycling used ballast

  • News

    High Speed 1 for sale as LCR to be split

    2007-11-20T17:39:00Z

    LONDON & Continental Railways, owner of the £5·2bn Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the UK share of Eurostar, is to be separated into three businesses, UK Rail Minister Tom Harris announced on November 20. The recently-completed 109 km high speed line between London at the Channel Tunnel will be ...

  • News

    RATP orders more MF2000 cars

    2007-11-20T17:30:00Z

    PARIS transport operator RATP announced on November 20 that it had placed an order for 49 more MF2000 metro trainsets with a consortium of Alstom Transport, Bombardier Transportation and AREVA TA. Valued at €189m, the order is the second to be placed under a framework agreement covering up to 161 ...

  • News

    Metro and light rail news

    2007-11-20T16:13:00Z

    Port Authority of New York & New Jersey announced on October 17 that it will spend $500m to install communications-based train control on the PATH metro network. Replacing a fixed-block signalling system installed in 1969, the CBTC will reduce headways to give an estimated 20% increase in capacity. Work is ...

  • News

    CAF cars to Santiago

    2007-11-20T15:48:00Z

    SANTIAGO Metro has selected CAF of Spain as preferred bidder to supply 18 eight-car trainsets. Under a deal worth €175m, the new trains are due to be delivered to the Chilean capital within 24 months of contract signature. Alstom and Bombardier also submitted bids. Increasing the size of the ...

  • News

    News in Brief

    2007-11-20T15:05:00Z

    Algerian state railway SNTF has shortlisted eight bidders to purchase its infrastructure engineering business unit Infrafer. Reported bidders include Russian railway RZD, OHL of Spain, Sateba and Seco Rail of France, Alstom, Orascom of Egypt plus Yapi Merkezi of Turkey and Mota Engil of Portugal. Technical and financial bids will ...