All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1099

  • News

    Transmission modelling promises a quieter railway

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    INTRO: Selection of the right trackform for an underground railway has been simplified by the development of a simulation model that accurately predicts the transmission of ground-borne sound and vibration from the rail surface to nearby buildingsBYLINE: Ulrik Danneskiold-Samsøe, Uffe Degn and José Luis Eguiguren*BYLINE: * Ulrik Danneskiold-Samsøe is Marketing ...

  • News

    Metros

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    Australia: The first of 11 Bombardier Flexity trams entered service in Adelaide last month. Six will be running by April, and the rest of the A$58m fleet at the end of the year.Brazil: São Paulo has called international tenders for a 30-year PPP concession covering metro Line 4. The first ...

  • News

    Market

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    Argentina: Benito Roggio and Esuco have been awarded a contract for track renewals on the 750mm gauge Río Turbio to Río Gallegos route in Santa Cruz province. Maximum speed is to be raised to 40 km/h.Australia: Siemens has an €85m share of a €150m order placed by QR with the ...

  • News

    Spanish projects make progress

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    SPANISH INFRASTRUCTURE authority ADIF has awarded the last civil works contract for the Córdoba - M

  • News

    Investing in Talgo

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    ON DECEMBER 22 Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking and MCH Private Equity announced investment in a capital increase in Patentes Talgo SA.Purchase of shares from the Oriol family and corporate restructuring will give LBMB a direct and indirect voting equity stake of 49·9%. The transaction is expected to close in the ...

  • News

    Intermodal sale

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    SYDNEY-based Babcock & Brown has acquired Swiss intermodal operator Crossrail AG, with all shares and staff transferred on January 1.Crossrail was the brand name used since January 2004 for unaccompanied intermodal services operated by the Logistics & Freight Traffic business of Burgdorf-based Regionalverkehr Mittelland. This included five trains a week ...

  • News

    Independent review

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    LLOYD’S REGISTER Rail carried out an independent review of Hong Kong MTR’s asset management practices in 2005, after public concern about high-profile incidents.Asset management was assessed through verification of processes and inspection of asset condition, with the international cross-sector BSI PAS 55 asset management standard as a benchmark. Maintenance ...

  • News

    Leased locos to work HSL-Zuid

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    FACED WITH the prospect of having no ETCS-equipped trainsets available to operate the Antwerpen - Rotterdam - Amsterdam high speed line when it opens on July 1 2007 (RG 9.05 p519), HSL-Zuid concessionaire High Speed Alliance has decided to start with loco-hauled trains.On December 23 HSA signed an agreement to ...

  • News

    ‘Investment will be of historic proportions’

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    INTRO: Unprecedented levels of investment are transforming Spain’s national railway with new high speed lines and a huge rolling stock acquisition programme. Robert Preston put the questions to Renfe Operadora President José SalgueiroPreston: What were Renfe’s results for 2005 and what are its financial targets for 2006?Salgueiro: One key fact ...

  • News

    Heavy haul study

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    AUSTRALIAN mining group Murchison Metals Ltd announced on December 22 that it had reached a preliminary agreement for ’industrial partners’ to undertake a feasibility study for a 380 km heavy haul railway in Western Australia.The line would link the Jack Hills deposits to a new port at Okajee, 23 ...

  • News

    Guangzhou grows as two lines open

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    TWO FURTHER sections of the growing metro network in Guangzhou were put into operation on December 26.Revenue services started on the first section of Line 3, six months ahead of schedule. Trains are operating between the Line 1 terminus at Guangzhou Dongzhan and the interchange with Line 2 at Kecun, ...

  • News

    KL plans to grow

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    PLANS TO expand both of Kuala Lumpur's urban rail networks were unveiled on January 3 by the Chief Executive Officer of the state-owned holding company Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd, which was formed to integrate the bus and rail network in the Malaysian capital. Shaipudin Shah Harun said work would get ...

  • News

    Finance

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    Canada: CP plans capital spending of C$810m to C$825m for 2006, down from C$920m in 2005. C$570m will go on infrastructure, C$160m on locos, C$50m on IT and C$25m to expand intermodal terminals.Croatia: Zagreb city council has agreed to guarantee financing for the purchase of 18 EMUs for HZ’s suburban ...

  • News

    Israel plans massive expansion

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    DURING 2005 nearly 27 million trips were made on the 853 route-km Israel Railways network, more than three times as many as in 1999. If that sounds a spectacular increase, consider what ISR envisages in the future: no fewer than 65 million trips are expected in 2010. The freight forecast ...

  • News

    Unbundling plan could end NRZ ’paralysis’

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    APPOINTED AS General Manager of National Railways of Zimbabwe on November 1, Mike Karakadzai was charged with ’turning around and possibly restructuring NRZ to make it a viable entity’ (RG 12.05 p760).Six weeks on, the retired Air Commodore announced in mid-December that he had come up with a restructuring package ...

  • News

    Edmonton extends light rail line

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    NEW YEAR'S Day saw the start of revenue operation on the first addition to Edmonton's light rail line in 14 years, although formal inauguration ceremonies were not held until the following day. Costing C$100m, the 600m extension from University to the Health Sciences station is the first part of the ...

  • News

    East London Line shortlists

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    MARCH 31 has been set as the bidding deadline for the £500m main works contract to build the East London Line extensions. Part B of the tender documentation was issued by Transport for London to four shortlisted consortia in December. The E-link consortium is led by Laing O'Rourke Civil Engineering, ...

  • News

    High speed lines will drive forward Refer's long-term strategy

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    Portuguese infrastructure authority Refer has launched a comprehensive review of rail's role in the national economy. This will guide development of the conventional network and the construction of standard gauge high speed lines

  • News

    VR unveils double-deck sleepers

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    THIS month VR is to put into service the first five of 20 double-deck sleeping cars being built by Talgo Oy. The €2·9m cars will enter revenue service between Helsinki and Rovaniemi from February 1. The entire fleet will be in service by August, allowing 33 older vehicles to be ...

  • News

    National database

    2006-02-01T11:00:00Z

    LAST year SNCF introduced a unified computer system to manage the maintenance of its locomotive fleet. Known as Lionne, it replaced a system called Badem dating from 1987 to which several other applications had been grafted in an attempt to update it.Lionne was piloted at several sites before national launch, ...