All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1088
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Gleeson MCL sold
CONSTRUCTION group Morgan Sindall has acquired the Gleeson MCL subsidiary of MJ Gleeson Group for £23·3m. Gleeson MCL has experience of building and refurbishing non-track assets including stations and bridges for customers including London Underground, Network Rail and local authorities.Morgan Sindall plans to rebrand Gleeson MCL as the Morgan Est ...
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Over the gap
GLIDELOK is a retractable ramp designed to span gaps of up to 1·2m between trains and platforms. The prototype can be automatically deployed in 6sec, and forms a bridge capable of supporting a 350 kg load.The ramp will align itself with platforms above, below or at the same level as ...
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French freight market opens up
UNDER AN agreement reached with the European Commission in March 2005, the French government formally deregulated the domestic rail freight market on March 31. Largely symbolic at this stage, the move has considerable significance for the future of rail freight in Europe.For SNCF, deregulation means that the final tranche of ...
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Three replacement franchises start
UK: Low-key celebrations were held in London on April 3 to mark the start of three replacement train operating franchises. FirstGroup has retained the First Great Western branding for its expanded ’Greater Western’ franchise which combines the FGW Link suburban services and the Wessex Trains regional services formerly run by ...
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Slovenia focuses on upgrades
RECONSTRUCTION of the Koper - Ljubljana line, including a second route from Koper to Divaca, and electrification of the Pragersko - Hodos route are the top priorities for infrastructure investment in Slovenia.At the end of March, Transport Minister Janez Bozic confirmed that planning work was underway on the two schemes ...
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Scott Wilson floats
SHARES in Scott Wilson Group plc began trading on the London Stock Exchange on March 15, following the placing of 43·1 million ordinary shares at 158p, raising £68·1m before expenses for the consultancy.Brokers Brewin Dolphin also placed 2·2million ordinary shares, raising £3·5m on behalf of selling shareholders.Scott Wilson had a ...
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Paris to start fleet replacement
CONTRACTS are due to be placed later this year for 330 single-deck EMUs to work Paris area suburban services. Tenders from Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens are being evaluated by SNCF, which will operate the trains for Syndicat des Transports d’Ile de France. At a board meeting on March 29, STIF ...
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Fitting the fleet slows high speed start-up
DONATO CARILLO, Head of the Alta Velocita Division at Trenitalia, suggests there are good reasons for the cautious start-up of high speed services between Roma and Napoli.Public services with Trenitalia’s new AV branding began on December 22, although there were just two trains a day each way and no fares ...
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Fast lines take priority in Turkish investment
Substantial increases in government support are allowing Turkish State Railways to expand its network, with work underway on new lines for 250 km/h operation
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Murder on the oriental express
THE SUICIDE of a Taiwan Railway Administration ticket clerk on March 23 marked a tragic twist in a bizarre tale of sabotage on the South Link railway between Taitung and Kaohsiung. Over the past two years, six separate incidents have seen track fastenings removed in Pingtung county. On June ...
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Simulation possibilities expand
RECENT customers of simulator maker Corys TESS include railways in Turkey, India and the Netherlands, and the Grenoble-based company is currently upgrading to the latest capabilities simulators used by operators in France and Britain.Turkish State Railways’ Eskisehir training school is to take delivery of a full-motion cab simulator later this ...
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Sydac enters Europe
ADELAIDE-based simulator maufacturer Sydac has won a second rail contract in Europe, to supply First ScotRail with two cab simulators in a deal worth almost £1m. Sydac has been supplying simulation and training equipment to the Australian rail and defence sectors for the past 15 years, and entered the European ...
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Dubai Rapid Link underway
ON MARCH 21 the Prime Minister of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, attended a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction work on the Red Line of the Dubai Metro. The 52·1 km Red Line will link Rashidiya and Jebel Ali from 2009. Work is ...
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Indian Railways tries double-stack service
INDIA'S FIRST double-stack train was flagged off by Minister of Railways Laloo Prasad Yadav on March 23. Starting from the Kanakpura Inland Container Depot near Jaipur in Rajasthan, the train ran to the Arabian Sea port of Pipavav in Gujarat, a distance of 950 km. With accelerated growth in export ...
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Dieter
McDonald's has been selling a million €99 sets of four special tickets valid for a second class journey on German Railway's long distance trains and connecting regional services. DB is hoping to reach infrequent rail travellers through the offer, but Dieter wonders if the railway will reciprocate by offering the ...
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Crushed with success
HAVING WATCHED the first practical test of Crash Energy Management at Pueblo on March 23, US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta declared it a success. A five-car train of decommissioned LIRR and SEPTA commuter coaches rebuilt with strengthened couplers and crush zones was slammed into a stationary locomotive and two wagons ...
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Voice control
VOICE-over-IP is being used in a British train operator’s passenger information system for the first time, with the installation of a Vossloh IT system controlling screens and announcements at stations served by Northern.A central computer at the train operator’s Manchester data centre is operated from two workstations at the information ...