All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1105
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News
Whistle blowing
INTRO: SidetrackNATIONAL Railways of Zimbabwe has launched a whistle-blowers’ fund, which will pay 2% of the value of recovered property to anyone providing information about theft from the company.Public Relations Officer Fanuel Masikati said rewards will be ’given to the first person giving information of theft or other criminal or ...
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Better in Boston
MASSACHUSETTS Bay Commuter Railroad is undertaking a $25m programme to modernise 162 MBTA coaches which are up to 18 years old. The Coach Reliability & Safety project will repair and replace heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment, toilets, scratched windows, bogies, couplers and other mechanical parts. Four vehicles will be out ...
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Nice tram batteries
TRAMS will be able to run for a short distance through Nice without overhead electrification, using power from onboard batteries to be supplied by Saft.The €2m order to supply high-power Ni-MH batteries was placed with Saft by Alstom, which is building 20 Citadis trams ready for the opening of the ...
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EIB's funding portfolio backs TENs and upgrading projects
Ivan Pilip, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, argues that better rail links are crucial for integration of the new member states into the European Union. In this interview with Murray Hughes, Pilip puts the focus firmly on upgrading and rehabilitation, although funding for rolling stock is growing in importance
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Three franchises awarded
THE UK Department for Transport has awarded three more replacement franchises which will start on April 1. They cover three London commuter networks plus long-distance services to the west of England and South Wales.On November 30 DfT confirmed that the Govia joint venture of Go-Ahead and Keolis had won the ...
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Second Avenue design contract
THE BOARD of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted on November 16 to award a $150·4m contract for final design of the 3·5 km first section of the Second Avenue subway. The contract with DMJM+Harris and Arup covers the tunnels from East 92nd Street to East 62nd Street, plus stations ...
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SEITT to attract private finance
THE SPANISH Ministry of Development announced on November 30 the creation of a new state-owned company that will be responsible for the government’s land transport infrastructure projects. In addition, SEITT is to act as a conduit for private finance by raising debt on the capital markets. SEITT has been formed ...
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NewsBulgaria's ambitious plans hinge on reform
Krasimir Krastanov reports on a strategic plan designed to bring about modernisation of the Bulgarian rail network
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DLR reaches City Airport
MAYOR of London Ken Livingstone and UK Transport Minister Karen Buck officially opened the latest extension of the Docklands Light Railway at London City Airport station on December 6. Services on the 4·4 km branch from Canning Town to King George V had already begun on December 2, adding four ...
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Canadian wi-fi goes ahead
VIA RAIL has announced it will provide wi-fi on all trains operating in the Québec - Windsor corridor by November 2006. Parsons is funding the US$2·3m five-year project under a revenue-sharing arrangement with no risk for VIA, and the company will install equipment on 150 coaches, 22 stations and ...
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Leader goes ahead this year
NORFOLK Southern announced on December 5 that, following two years of testing, it had agreed to deploy New York Air Brake’s Leader onboard computers across its locomotive fleet. Leader provides drivers with real-time data on optimal driving techniques to suit the train’s length and weight and the gradients and curvature ...
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News
Rolling motorway agreement
MARCH 31 2007 has been set as the launch date for a rolling motorway service running for more than 1000 km across France, Transport Minister Dominique Perben announced on December 12. He said the autoroute ferroviaire would link Perpignan, close to the Spanish frontier, with Bettembourg in Luxembourg. With an ...
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Grain hopper fleet sale agreed
CANADIAN Transport Minister Jean-C Lapierre and Finance Minister Ralph Goodale announced on November 24 that terms had been agreed for the sale of the government-owned grain hopper fleet, which totals around 12000 vehicles. The hoppers are used at no cost to the major Canadian railways for the movement of export ...
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Australian acquisition
LLOYD’S Register Rail has completed the acquisition of Australian consultancies BlueField and Belrose.BlueField has experience of risk and safety across a range of industries including rail. Belrose’s rail expertise covers safety, risk, engineering management and train and station operations. The companies will be integrated into Lloyd’s Register Rail, whose Australian ...
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Acoustic monitoring of wheel squeal
EQUIPMENT is being trialled at Heathfield on ARTC’s Adelaide - Melbourne main line to detect and measure wheel squeal.Trains negotiating this sharply-curved and steeply-graded section generate high levels of squeal and flanging noise in a densely-populated area, and investigations suggest that a large percentage of wheels with high noise emission ...
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News
Demountable access platform
THREE-MAN access platforms designed and built by LH Access Technology can be demounted from Mercedes-Benz Unimog road-rail vehicles when not in use, allowing the host chassis to be used with alternative equipment.The platform has a working height of 10m with a reach of 7m; it can carry up to 350 ...
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Mixed signals on access charges
INTRO: Cost recovery levels and political priorities favouring passenger over freight traffic have a strong influence on infrastructure access charges. Freight markets need simple single-part charges to grow, whilst some passenger markets would benefit from the efficiency of two-part tariffsBYLINE: Lou Thompson and Stephen Perkins*INFRASTRUCTURE separation is a key plank ...
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Metros January 2006
Argentina: Buenos Aires metro operator Metrovías has put into service on Line D the first of four six-car trains purchased from Nagoya Subway. Arriving in Argentina during the 2001 financial crisis, they were stored in bond pending payment of import duties. Austria: Ascom Security Solutions has won a SFr3m contract ...
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Intelligence January 2006
Australia: QR's pre-tax profit for the year to June was up from A$191m to A$287m. Freight traffic was up 8·4% to 175 million tonnes, with QR winning all the coal contracts it bid for in Queensland, and taking 13% of the market in NSW. Brazil: A pre-feasibility study by the ...