All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1169
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News
Nanjing grows
CONSTRUCTION of metro Line 2 in the Chinese city of Nanjing began on December 28, at the site of Xiangxinyu station. The 21·6 km line is due to open in 2009, at a cost of 9bn yuan. Running from Xishang Bridge to Maqun via Jiangdongmen, Suiximen and Mingu-gong, it will ...
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Planning Freight Railways
Edited by Nigel G Harris and Felix SchmidtThe editors of this handbook set out to bring together in a single volume the key material needed by railfreight practitioners, policymakers and transport students, as well as companies which are considering sending freight by rail for the first time.The 246 pages contain ...
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France tests high speed Wi-Fi
FOR A six-month experimental period Wi-Fi access is being made available to passengers on trains operating at up to 300 km/h between Paris, Bordeaux and Pau. The trial was launched in November by Clic TGV, a joint venture of 11 transport and telecoms firms and content providers.A total of 15 ...
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Finance
Australia:The Queensland government has announced A$184m of funding to double-track the 7 km Ormeau - Coomera section of the Gold Coast line used by QR Citytrain, and extend the dual gauge by 9·5 km from Salisbury to Kuraby. A further A$63m has been allocated for additional trainsets.China:Asian Development Bank has ...
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Ferrovías invests
SPEAKING AT the Emepa workshops in Chascomús on December 30 before invited guests including President Néstor Kirchner and Transport Secretary Ricardo Jaime, Ferrovías President Gabriel Romero announced a programme of station and rolling stock refurbishment for the Belgrano Norte commuter concession in Buenos Aires.Work to modernise 22 stations on the ...
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Maglev triumphs and falters
PROMOTERS of magnetic levitation technology in China celebrated the launch of the world’s first fare-paying high speed regular maglev service on December 29 between Shanghai Airport and Pudong. Maglev vehicles formed of five sections depart at 20min intervals, reaching a maximum speed of 430 km/h on their 71/2min journey over ...
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Samjhauta Express reinstated
THE CHAIRMAN of Pakistan’s Railway Board Kurshid Ahmad Khan joined ceremonies at Lahore station on January 15 to dispatch the first cross-border train to India for more than two years. The Samjhauta Express between Lahore and Delhi had been discontinued in 2001.A three-year agreement to restore freight and passenger services ...
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Waterfall exposes safety management failings
TWO senior managers in RailCorp have been sacked and others faced the prospect of disciplinary action following publication on January 15 of Commissioner Peter McInerney’s interim report into a derailment at Waterfall in New South Wales on January 31 2003. Seven died and 42 were injured (RG 3.03 p122). He ...
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Sounder expands
US URBAN rail operator Sound Transit ran its first commuter rail service between Everett and Seattle on December 21 carrying spectators to a Seattle Seahawks game. A regular daily train in each direction began the following day. The launch followed lengthy negotiations between ST and BNSF. On December 17 ST ...
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Powerpacks expand the range of hydraulic transmissions
INTRO: As builders move towards subcontracting larger modules as complete units, Voith Turbo has launched a range of complete power packs and uprated its hydraulic transmissions for higher performance. Harry Hondius MSc reports from HeidenheimWITH A turnover of €3·3bn in 2003, Voith AG employs 24000 staff around the world. It ...
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IR electrification to be tendered
ISRAEL Railways confirmed on January 14 that it expected to call tenders in April for electrification at 25 kV 50Hz of 300 route-km. Expected to cost around US$270m, the work will take 4½ years. IR had originally envisaged wiring its entire passenger network, which is expected to grow from 450 ...
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Recording geometry effectively
THE Technology Research & Development Department at JR Central has developed a small and lightweight device to give high precision measurements of rail geometry.LightRec is manually pushed along the rails on conventional and Shinkansen lines, and calculates in real time the track gauge, level, alignment and twist.At less than US$34500, ...
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Duplex deal
FRENCH National Railways decided last month to exercise a further option for TGV Duplex double-deck trainsets, in addition to the 82 already built or on order for delivery by 2005.The latest €305m order covers seven complete trainsets with two power cars and eight intermediate vehicles, plus another 15 sets of ...
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NewsCzech station lease signed
AN AGREEMENT has been signed for Grandi Stazioni SpA to manage commercial and retail space at three major Czech stations. Under the terms of the 30-year lease the Italian firm will carry out refurbishment work at Praha Hlavni, Karlovy Vary and Marianske Lazne. It is to spend KC658m upgrading ...
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Scientific ways to cut noise
TWO wagons which have been modified to reduce emitted noise were officially launched by Jacqueline Tammenons-Bakker, Director General, Freight Transport, at the Dutch Ministry of Transport & Public Works’ in a ceremony held in Den Haag on November 25.Noise pollution is of particular concern in the highly urbanised and densely ...
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Crossing and signal lights with LEDs
THE LIFE of level crossing warning lights can be extended, and the need for maintenance reduced, by using light emitting diodes in place of conventional bulbs. The 433 Series module from Dialight has been designed for use with existing crossing equipment as well as fitting to new installations. The red-tinted ...
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Co-operation underpins open-source ticketing
Transport operators and authorities in the Calypso Networks Association have been developing standards for smart card ticketing and related applications
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Information and control
TWO contracts have been awarded for station management and passenger information computer systems for use in London.Transmitton is to supply a real-time passenger information system for the interim London St Pancras station, which will be used by Midland Main Line trains during the refurbishment and major redesign of the historic ...
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Modi’in contracts let
WORK began last month on two new stations in Modi’in, which will be served by a line branching at Daniel Junction from Israel Railways’ planned fast line from Ben-Gurion Airport to Jerusalem. The US$26m contract for Modi’in Central was awarded to Shafir Engineering. The four-platform station will be built underground ...
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Regional contracts
SWISS FEDERAL Railway’s subsidiary EuroThurbo GmbH has been selected to operate the Seehas line in Germany, linking Konstanz to Engen via Singen. However, German Railway has retained control of the Schwarzwaldbahn between Karlsruhe and Konstanz against a wide range of rival bidders including Connex.International tenders for operation of the two ...