All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1036
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News
Four left in MÁV Cargo sale
WHEN the second-round bidding for the sale of MÁV Cargo closed on October 19 it rapidly became clear that only four of the seven contenders who had passed the first round were still in the running. The selection team must now choose between a Slovak consortium called Spedtrans-Slavia Capital, a ...
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NewsVIA Rail fleet to roll on
CANADA: Inter-city and long-distance passenger trains are to benefit from a C$691·9m funding package unveiled on October 11. Hon Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure & Communities, said 'we are launching the largest capital program in VIA Rail's history'. The five-year package will ensure that VIA's 'current network and service ...
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News
AGV tipped to win NTV contract
ALSTOM is reported to have preferred bidder status in the competition to supply rolling stock to Italian open access high speed operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori, but the supplier is unable to confirm this, saying only that the company has been shortlisted. The French company is offering its AGV trainset with ...
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News
China awards €1bn high-speed train contract
A BILLION euro order for 40 high-speed trainsets including 20 sleeper trains was signed by China's Ministry of Railways and manufacturer Bombardier Sifang Power (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd on October 31. The 16-car electric multiple-units will be 430 m long and capable of speeds up to 250 km/h. The order ...
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News
High Speed 1 inaugurated as London - Brussels joins the 2 h club
Eurostar set a record time of 1 h 43 min from Brussels to its new London St Pancras terminus on September 20. Murray Hughes was on board
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News
High Speed 1: the stations
St Pancras PASSENGERS from Paris and Brussels will now arrive at the stunningly-renovated St Pancras station, which with the adjacent Midland Hotel forms a masterpiece of Victorian architecture on the government's list of 9 137 buildings considered of Grade ...
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Who is who in High Speed 1
THE BRITISH government selected London & Continental Railways in February 1996 to build and operate High Speed 1 (then called the Channel Tunnel Rail Link), and to own and operate the UK arm of Eurostar. LCR's shareholders are Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow and Systra, transport operators National Express Group and SNCF, ...
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News
Dutch urban tendering retreat
PROSPECTS for the opening up of public transport in the biggest Dutch cities have fallen sharply, following an EU decision that cities with in-house operating companies need not call competitive tenders. The European Commission has retreated from its free-market approach at the behest of several member states, not least ...
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News
Norfolk line cleared by Congress
A CEREMONY to mark the approval of federal funding for the $232·1m light rail project in Norfolk, Virginia, took place on October 1, two days after the project was cleared by the US Congress. The $128m Full Funding Grant Agreement was approved only days after the Transportation District ...
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News
Kyiv - Kharkiv wired
UKRAINIAN Railways General Manager Volodimir Kozak attended celebrations at Ogultsy station on September 20 to mark the formal completion of electrification of the route between Kyiv and Kharkiv. Work to electrify the missing section between Yahotin and Radnarkomivska began in 1994, with the extension of 25kV wires from Yahotin ...
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News
SNCF calls for interoperable diesels
FRENCH national operator SNCF planned to call tenders by the end of October for between 30 and 50 main line diesel locomotives to haul international freight traffic. According to Denis Martin, Senior Manager at SNCF's Rolling Stock Department, the need for these interoperable locomotives is 'very urgent'. The urgency ...
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NewsAt home with the High Speed 1 domestic stock
THE FLEET of Hitachi EMUs for UK domestic commuter services will be housed in a purpose-built depot at Ashford. The £53m depot adjacent to the high speed line was officially opened by Japanese ambassador Yoshiji Nogami and UK Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly on October 2, the same ...
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NewsEurlings puts back HSL-Zuid 'Go' date
AS WE have reported before, the prospects for a start of passenger services on HSL-Zuid with the December 2007 timetable change have been declining steadily. Now it is official: Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings has confirmed that the start of revenue operation had been postponed indefinitely. On October 4 ...
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NewsBrussels Diabolo PPP agreement signed
BELGIUM: The first PPP in Belgium reached financial close on September 28, allowing infrastructure authority Infrabel to announce the formal go-ahead for the long-planned Diabolo project, which will improve rail links to Brussels Airport and Antwerpen. Infrabel is working with private-sector investors HSH Nordbank AG and Babcock & Brown, who ...
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NewsEurotunnel acts to recapture freight
WITH through rail freight in the first nine months of 2007 down to just 1·16 million tonnes, Eurotunnel has slashed and simplified its pricing in a bid to avoid the 'complete disappearance' of this traffic, once forecast to reach 10 million tonnes a year. The changes announced on October ...
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News
Crying out loud
FOLLOWING the successful deployment of 65 units last year, Netherlands Railways has purchased a further 110 Minivox portable public address units from Anchor Audio for use by station staff in emergencies or power cuts. NS required a PA device which would not obstruct the users' view, and so adopted ...
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News
Station news in brief
On August 28 Sound Transit broke ground for Mukilteo station, a multi-modal interchange in Washington state which will be linked to Seattle by Sounder commuter rail, bus and ferry services when it opens next year.Mace Ltd and Travel Point Trading have launched Station Solutions, a joint venture focused on providing ...
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News
München lounge reopens
THE DB Lounge at München's main station has been reopened after a 10-week refurbishment programme costing €400 000.The lounge has been enlarged, and a 26-seat first class area created where passengers are offered drinks, snacks, and free wi-fi access. The work was undertaken under a programme to upgrade DB's ...
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NewsParis projects prosper despite diversity
Over the past 15 years Paris has opened four orbital light rail lines, providing links between the city's radial metro and RER corridors. But the four routes exhibit a high degree of technical incompatibility, reports Harry Hondius