All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1124
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News
Brasil Ferrovias restructured
THE BRAZILIAN transport ministry announced on May 6 that it had completed a recapitalisation of Brasil Ferrovias, which controlled the Ferronorte, Ferroban and Novoeste concessions.Earlier this year federal investment bank BNDES agreed to take a 31% stake in Ferronorte (RG 4.05 p181). The completed package provides an injection of R$1·5bn ...
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NewsBauhinia line will expand Queensland's coal exports
November should see completion of a 110 km addition to QR's extensive 1 067 mm gauge heavy haul network feeding the port of Gladstone. This is the major element in a A$335m enhancement of the Blackwater coal routes, and more investment will follow as demand rises for low-ash thermal coal
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News
Base tunnel holed through
AN EXPLOSION shook the ground at 10.52 on April 28 near the Swiss mountain resort of Kandersteg, marking the final breakthrough in construction of the 34·6 km L
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News
Barcelona to lease more stock
BARCELONA TRANSPORT authority ATM has signed a contract worth €65m to lease 10 Series 6000 trainsets for metro Line 1. Due to be delivered between May and December 2007, the five-car trainsets each accommodating up to 1116 passengers are to be leased for an initial term of 18 years, with ...
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News
Ban on the Bong line
LIBERIA: Revival of the fortunes of the iron ore market has triggered the reopening of the 78 km line between the mines at Bong and the port of Monrovia in Liberia. The move means the end of a practice that saw the 1435mm gauge line kept in unofficial use since ...
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News
Sydney backtracks on double-deckers
FOUR groups have been shortlisted to submit detailed proposals for a contract to supply replacements for the 498 cars in Sydney’s suburban fleet of 1514 double-deckers that are not air-conditioned.They are: Aurora Rail, formed of Siemens and Commonwealth Bank; Bombardier, working with Plenary Group and Deutsche Bank; Reliance Rail, formed ...
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News
PKP PLK awards signalling contracts
POLAND: Infrastructure manager PKP PLK SA has awarded two contracts for main line resignalling, which will be supported by the European Union's Cohesion Fund. A €30·5m contract has been awarded to Alcatel and Kommunikacyjne Zaklady Automatyki I Teletechniki for work in the Poznan area, including computerised interlockings at six ...
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News
Pre-series Avanto starts test running
Now undergoing trial running at the Siemens test centre in Wegberg-Wildenrath is the first of 15 dual-system Avanto low-floor light rail vehicles ordered by French National Railways in 2002. Harry Hondius reports
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News
Spanish association expands
AS WELL as organising its own joint stand, the Spanish Association of Manufacturers & Exporters of Equipment & Services for the Railway Industry will be co-ordinating other Spanish exhibitors at the event.MAFEX has over 20 member companies, covering infrastructure, rolling stock, signalling, electrification, maintenance and consultancy businesses.Engineering firm Affix Electronics ...
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News
ASFA upgrade
RENFE Operadora and infrastructure authority ADIF have approved a joint programme to upgrade the ASFA intermittent automatic train protection system, including new in-cab displays of braking curves and target speeds. The first phase running until the end of 2006 should see a prototype developed with ASFA supplier Dimetronic Signals, which ...
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News
ARTC studies train control
AUSTRALIAN Rail Track Corp has selected Lockheed Martin to assist with a A$20m technical and economic study of the potential for cab signalling based on satellite navigation and radio communications, allied to radio control of points. The contract award follows confirmation of federal funding earlier this year (RG 5.05 p246).Lockheed ...
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News
Bypass approved
ON MAY 17, French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien announced the award of a Declaration of Public Utility for construction of a rail bypass around Nîmes and Montpellier.Initially designed as part of TGV Méditerranée, the 70 km line is now to be built as a mixed-traffic route, helping to keep ...
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News
Competitive pressure may lie behind Amagasaki crash
SHOCKWAVES spread across Japan on April 25 as the country struggled to come to terms with the disastrous derailment of a heavily-loaded JR West commuter train at Amagasaki in the suburbs of Osaka.At 09.18 a seven-car Series 207 EMU forming a Commuter Rapid service from Takarazuka to Doshisha-mae derailed on ...
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News
Consulting alliance
SENECA Group and Railistics announced the formation of an alliance on May 12. The Washington DC and Wiesbaden-based companies will jointly market their complementary consultancy services, including project management, planning, analysis and organisational restructuring. The alliance will be directed by President of Seneca Christopher McCarthy and Railistics Managing Director Udo ...
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News
Wayside monitoring with ATSI aids wagon maintenance
The first phase of the AAR's Advanced Technology Safety Initiative has enabled wagon owners to share data on wheels exceeding impact limits, giving them the opportunity to undertake maintenance when and where it is most efficient and economical to do so
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News
Are there better times ahead?
INTRO: The prospects for Argentina’s freight operators are set to brighten once the protracted process of renegotiating their concession contracts comes to an end, but government funding will be needed for infrastructure investment if rail is to meet its full potential. Enrique Garibotto reportsBY THE END of the 1980s the ...
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News
Ministers agree high speed timetable
MEETING in Lisboa on May 4, Spanish Development Minister Magdalena Álvarez and Portuguese Minister of Public Works, Transport & Communications Mario Lino confirmed the timetable for completing high speed links between the two countries. A Vigo - Porto route would open in 2009, followed by a Lisboa - Madrid route ...
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News
Heavy haul railways address a booming market
As the world's experts in heavy haul technology gather in Rio de Janeiro for the 8th IHHA Conference on June 14-16, China's insatiable demand for iron and steel is driving the pace of development on the world's heavy haul railways. Operators of iron ore lines on three continents are moving ...
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News
Tracking machines across borders
DANISH infrastructure manager Banedanmark has ordered tracking equipment to monitor the location and utilisation of around 700 wagons and maintenance machines.The DKr4m contract for GSM-GPS tracking technology was won by Pivotex Oy, which will begin supplying its PivoTrack package this month. PivoTrack will work across national boundaries regardless of the ...
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News
EWS acquires bogie portfolio
BRITISH rail freight operator English Welsh &Scottish Railway announced on April 28 that it had acquired the assets of wagon suspension developer and supplier Probotec Ltd. The Cardiff-based company had been placed in administration earlier in the month.Formerly known as Powell Duffryn Rail, Probotec has 40 staff and offices in ...