All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1178
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News
Transwa railcars start TEST running
SEPTEMBER 8 saw the start of of a five-week programme of commissioning trials with the first of nine new diesel railcars for the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia. The cars are being built by United Goninan’s Broadmeadow plant in New South Wales to re-equip the state’s Prospector and ...
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Pointers
Rio Tinto subsidiary Hamersley Iron has almost completed a feasibility study to determine whether its mines, railway and port at Dampier can be upgraded to produce 114 million tonnes of ore a year. Robe River Iron Associates, also owned by Rio Tinto, now expects the West Angelas mine opened last ...
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PEOPLE
South African Treasury Director-General Maria Ramos is to become Group Chief Executive of Transnet on January 1, when Mafika Mkwanazi will leave to take up a post in the private sector.Nick Newton has become Deputy Chief Executive of the Strategic Rail Authority. He will be Chairman of South Eastern Trains, ...
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Nordic Rail tackles politics and technology
INTRO: Both technical and political themes will be on the agenda at the Nordic Rail event in J
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Metros
Canada: The government has announced a contribution of up to C$25m towards the construction of a planned 10·3 km peoplemover to transport tourists at Niagara Falls.Union Switch & Signal is to supply NS-1 relay-based signalling for the 5·2 km extension of AMT Montréal metro Line 2 to Laval in 2006.Czech ...
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Market
Czech Republic: CD has ordered 11 saloon and 15 compartment coaches and spare parts worth €43m from Siemens for use on cross-border trains. The 200 km/h air-conditioned vehicles are to be delivered from 2005.France: Alstom has signed a €25m three-year contract to maintain cooling units in TGV power cars, with ...
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Ore port link moves to study phase
PLANS to develop a new deep water iron ore port at Krishnapatnam on India’s east coast took a step forward in August. Technical and financial consultants have been appointed to develop the port and a 130 km rail link to serve it. Intended to handle ships up to 200000 dwt, ...
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Russian leasing
BRUNSWICK Rail Leasing has been formed as a Russian rolling stock leasing joint venture of Brunswick Capital and Transgroup AC. Over the next five years BRL plans to invest US$200m, aiming to acquire a fleet of 10000 wagons by 2008.On August 26 Brunswick Capital Chairman Christopher MacKenzie met Russian Railways ...
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Toulouse launches RER line
LINE C of Toulouse’s embryonic RER opened on September 1 between the dormitory suburb of Colomiers and an interchange with metro Line A at St Cyprien-Arènes, giving a journey time from Colomiers to central Toulouse of less than 30 min. Line C is the suburban section of SNCF’s Toulouse - ...
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Tsubame takes to the rails in Kyushu
Series 800 trainsets for the Kyushu Shinkansen were due to start test running last month
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JR-East seeks supremacy in the long-distance market
INTRO: With plans in hand to extend the Tohoku and Hokuriku Shinkansen, JR-East has calculated that to compete with the airlines it must raise the current maximum speed from 275 km/h to 360 km/h, prompting research into noise reduction, bogie stability and ride comfortBYLINE: Takashi Endo Director, Advanced Railway System ...
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IR looks at Suez landbridge
NEXT MONTH is due to see the publication of a report into the feasibility of a rail freight corridor between Eilat and the Mediterranean port of Ashdod. On August 20 Israeli Transport Minister Avigdor Liebermann announced that creation of 'a landbridge alternative to the slow and costly Suez Canal' had ...
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intelligence
Angola: Work is expected to begin next month on the rehabilitation of the 23 km Bungo - Viana section of the Luanda railway.Argentina: Buenos Aires suburban operator Metropolitano was due to begin electric operation over the 6·6 km between Temperley and Claypole last month. Work to install 25 kV 50Hz ...
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Inn tunnel starts
AUGUST 12 saw the formal start of work on a 7·7 km tunnel between Terfens and Vomp in Austria, which will carry the new Lower Inn Valley line between Innsbruck and Wels. Being built by Brenner Eisenbahn GmbH on behalf of the Austrian, German and Italian governments, the 40 km ...
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Russian links to be improved
MEETING in Warszawa on August 20, railway officials from Germany, Poland, Belarus and Russia agreed details of a programme to improve passenger services on the Berlin - Warszawa - Minsk - Moscow corridor. Moscow - Berlin services are to run daily all year round, and the Moscow - K
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Hirers to the rescue
ZIMBABWE Mining & Smelting Co is to hire two diesel locomotives from South Africa in a deal that could pave the way for major rail users to overcome loco and rolling stock shortages crippling the national railway. Chief Executive Sydwell Jena confirmed early last month that Zimasco was about to ...
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The right height
OVH Wizard is an ultrasonic overhead contact wire height and stagger measuring unit, which can be installed in under two hours. Cheaper than laser-based devices, it can be easily mounted on any railway vehicles from 2·75 to 3·75m high. The rugged aluminium beam construction is suited for installation on ...
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Suburban quadrupling heads infrastructure programme
INTRO: Construction of new tracks through the western suburbs of Oslo will relieve the biggest bottleneck on the Norwegian networkDEEP IN THE hills to the southwest of the Norwegian capital, contractors are hard at work boring rock tunnels 2·7 km and 3·6 km long. They will form part of the ...
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Glimmer of hope
WITH TEARS in their eyes, the citizens of Basavilbaso in Argentina congregated at the small town’s station on August 26 to witness the departure at 08.00 of the first passenger train since 1992. Around 21/2h later it arrived at Villaguay 62 km down the line. Local politicians were joined on ...
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Getting a grip
LIFTING the concrete slabs which make up cable troughing frequently installed alongside railway tracks can be made easier using a scissor-action tool developed by J Muscroft Engineering. ’It grips concrete slabs at each end and allows two operators to lift the slab via handles, enabling operators to keep their backs ...