All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1093
-
News
Projects revived as concessionaires share expansion costs
Railways in Brazil are in the ascendant as investment projects bear fruit on the back of the iron ore boom. Construction work on the revised Transnordestina scheme is due to start in August
-
News
Double-deck concept offers see-through train
ON MARCH 29 the Syndicat des Transports d'Ile-de-France was due to vote on its 2006 budget, expected to be worth €3·6bn. STIF has responsibility for organising public transport in Ile-de-France, and a green light for the budget should clear the way for several major investment projects. One of these is ...
-
News
Trans-Karakum link completed
PRESIDENT Sparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan participated in ceremonies on February 8 to mark completion of the 540 km Trans-Karakum railway from Ashkabad to Dasoguz. Congratulating the 1500 staff who built the line across the Karakum desert over the past five years, the President expressed a hope that the 'golden link' ...
-
News
Railcar sales on the climb
AMERICAN Railcar Industries’ sales for the year to December 31 2005 were $608·2m, with net earnings attributable to common stock of $1·5 million, or $0·14 per diluted share. This was up from 2004 sales of $355·1m and a net loss attributable to common stock of $11·3m or $1·12 per diluted ...
-
NewsWaterloo & City Line closes for upgrade
LONDON Underground's 2·4 km Waterloo & City Line is closed to traffic between April 1 and September 1 as Metronet undertakes a £40m upgrade under its 30-year Public-Private Partnership contract. As well as relaying track to restore the line speed to 55 km/h on straight sections and improve the minimum ...
-
News
Crew change at the front end
YOUR EDITOR’S last official engagement was to give the keynote presentation at JR East’s 12th Research & Development Symposium in Tokyo on March 28. It seemed a fitting culmination to 15 years ’at the controls’, during which this journal has constantly striven to give the best coverage in the world ...
-
News
Rotem scoops Metrolink car order
THE SOUTHERN California Regional Rail Authority board voted on February 24 to order new double-deck push-pull rolling stock from Rotem for the Los Angeles Metrolink commuter rail network. The base order covers 33 driving cab cars and 54 intermediate trailers at a price of $176m. Some are needed for ...
-
News
Slovak freight sale hits the buffers
POLITICAL expediency has dictated a halt to the privatisation of ZSSK Cargo (RG 3.06 p112). A political crisis in Slovakia has led to elections being called on June 17, and the outgoing government has deemed it convenient to halt all sell-off plans in the face of widespread opposition. Six bidders ...
-
News
Putting the world's longest trams into service in Budapest
Over the next year, BKV will take delivery of 40 low-floor trams from Siemens to operate the Grand Boulevard trunk routes in Budapest; at almost 54m in length, the six-section cars will be the longest trams in the world
-
News
Industry News in Brief
Oregon Iron Works and Skoda Transportation have signed an agreement for the US firm to produce tram components under licence (RG 9.05 p574).The CXT subsidiary of L B Foster Co is to build a concrete sleeper plant in Tucson, Arizona, with Grimbergen long-line manufacturing equipment. Production will begin this summer, ...
-
News
City News in Brief
Ottawa city officials are expected to announce on April 21 a preferred bidder for the C$725m project to develop a 31 km light rail line between Rideau Centre and Barrhaven, serving 34 stops. SNC Lavalin/Bombardier, Kiewit-Ellisdon/ Kinki Sharyo, and PCL/Dufferin Construction/Siemens submitted financial offers on March 3, having lodged technical ...
-
News
Passenger News in Brief
Amtrak has ordered over 200 blast-mitigating waste bins from BlastGard International for $828750. The MTR91 and MTR101 bins are designed to avoid fragmentation, blast shock and thermal effects from improvised bombs.The Ministry of Railways recorded 1·15 billion passengers carried on China’s railways in 2005, a 10-year high and up 3·3% ...
-
News
Products in Brief
Ferrovie Nord Milano is installing Westermo Lynx 328 Ethernet switches and optic fibre links to replace analogue communications between trackside equipment and its control centre. So far 10 stations have been covered by the network, and work on two more lines with 22 stations is now underway.Westermo Teleindustri, SwedenLEDtrain arrivals ...
-
News
Consultancy bought
HALCROW has acquired the remaining 51% interest in Bangkok-based civil engineering consultancy Pyramid Development International Corp.PDI and Halcrow have worked together since the mid-1990s on projects including the Bangkok metro and double tracking for State Railway of Thailand, and in 2002 Halcrow acquired a 49% stake in PDI from Asian ...
-
News
Record investment boosts EFE's passenger business
A stable political and economic climate has enabled Chilean State Railways to undertake its largest-ever three-year investment programme, which involved spending of US$1bn in 2003-05. This included increased capacity on commuter networks and improved long-distance services, as John Kolodziejski reports
-
News
Peijs ignores MoU on Betuwe Route
CONFUSION has deepened over who will operate and maintain the new freight railway linking the port of Rotterdam to the German network at Emmerich. Contrary to our last report (RG 2.06 p68), no contract has been signed for maintenance and operation of the Betuwe Route.In a statement on February 14, ...
-
NewsBenchmarking identifies good practice in rolling stock maintenance
An international review comparing rolling stock maintenance and performance at passenger operators around the world found a wide variance in cost-efficiency, reliability and availability. An exchange of good practice offers the potential for significant gains in cost and reliability
-
News
Mixed messages puzzle Beijing - Shanghai bidders
LAST MONTH we reported extensively on China’s technology transfer deals which have given the country’s railway industry expertise in heavy haul and high speed EMU technology. So we were not unduly surprised to learn that Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun had said on March 9 that foreign technology was not ...
-
News
World Bank funds MZ split
PLANS to separate the Macedonian rail network into infrastructure and operating companies are due to be authorised by the government this month, in line with legislation approved last year. On February 17 Makedonski Zeleznici signed a loan agreement with the World Bank which will provide US$15m to support the restructuring. ...
-
News
Balfour Beatty rail profits down
PROFIT before exceptional items in Balfour Beatty’s Rail Engineering & Services sector fell by 27% to £32m in the year to December 31 2005, affected by Network Rail taking maintenance work in-house during 2004. The fine incurred by Balfour Beatty Rail Infrastructure Services in respect of the Hatfield rail accident ...