All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1200
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News
Fighting 'the new battle of rail'
MARCH 15 came and went like any other day on Europe's rail network, but the date will be written into railway history. For it marked another stage in the European Commission's policy to lift rail freight's market share by opening up the 50000 route-km Trans European Rail Freight Network to ...
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Pajares base tunnel tender
ON MARCH 5 the Spanish Ministry of Development published the official notice inviting bids for the detailed design and construction of the 25 km twin-bore Pajares base tunnel, which is expected to cost a total of €1·1bn to build. The work has been divided into four lots, with bids for ...
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Bamako bidder
CANADIAN consultancy Canac has been selected as preferred bidder for a 25-year concession to operate the 1275 km Dakar - Bamako - Koulikoro railway linking Senegal and Mali. The two governments favoured the Canadian bid over an alternative proposal from SNCF International, Bolloré and Maersk. Final bids from the ...
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Europe tiptoes towards higher axleloads
TRACK ENGINEERS, commercial experts and industrial specialists met in Paris at a conference organised by the European Rail Research Institute on March 11-12 to try and answer the question ’heavy haul - the solution for Europe’s future?’. The event was an opportunity for heavy haul experts from North America and ...
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Sevilla contract awarded
A CONSORTIUM led by Dragados and Sacyr has been awarded a contract to build Sevilla’s first metro line, which will be the first in Spain to be operated by the private sector under a 30-year contract. The winning bid was based on a cost of €382m for civil works and ...
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Audit launches project debate
ON MARCH 4 the French Ministry of Transport published an ’audit’ of major infrastructure projects commissioned last August from the Conseil Général des Ponts et Chaussées (RG 3.03 p136). Transport Minister Gilles de Robien had called for the report because he had inherited projects ’begun, studied or announced by ...
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Malmö tunnel approved
THE SWEDISH government announced on March 6 that it had approved construction of the Citytunnel link in Malmö. As well as confirming detailed plans for the 17 km cross-city route, the decision paves the way for the calling of tenders for civil engineering work. The link will connect Malmö Central ...
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More trouble at Alstom
SO FAREWELL, Michel Moreau. The President of Alstom Transport left the company last month, and will be replaced by Philippe Mellier, who will join Alstom from the Volvo Group on May 1. Meanwhile, Deputy President of the Transport sector Gérard Blanc has been named Acting President. Confirming rumours that all ...
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DLR starts airport branch
CEREMONIES were held in East London on March 4 to mark the start of work on the 4·4 km extension of the Docklands Light Railway to London City Airport and King George V station in North Woolwich. Completion is scheduled for autumn 2005. Participants at the event included DLR Ltd ...
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Hard times in Buenos Aires
THE FAILINGS of the once-vaunted privatisation of suburban operations in Buenos Aires were thrown into sharp relief when senior executives from concessionaires Ferrovías, Metropolitano, Trenes de Buenos Aires and Metrovías where summoned to a meeting on February 27 with Minister of Production Aníbal Fern
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Tokaido upgrade to beat back air competition
Opening of Shinagawa station in Tokyo this autumn will boost the capacity of the Tokaido Shinkansen from 11 to 15 departures in the peak hour. Withdrawing older trains will allow fleet operation at 270 km/h, helping JR Central to win back market share in the world's busiest inter-city corridor
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Spanish reform moves ahead
FOLLOWING SEVERAL months of consultation with the major trade unions, at its meeting on March 14 the Spanish cabinet agreed to submit the government’s railways bill to the lower house of parliament. This will write European Union directives 2001/12/CE, 2001/13/CE and 2001/14/CE into Spanish law, separating infrastructure management from operations ...
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Straight Ahead ’risks re-regulation’
CANADIAN Minister of Transport David Collenette published Straight Ahead - a Vision for Transportation in Canada at the end of February. Intended as a strategic document, Straight Ahead sets out principles and guidelines designed to ’reflect the currents of change that will shape Canada’s economy and society’ for the next ...
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Rough ride ahead
THE STAGE is set for serious discord between Austrian Federal Railways and the newly-elected government, a coalition of conservative and far-right forces. Transport Minister Hubert Gorbach is not expected to favour the status quo, and there are early indications of trouble. ÖBB’s new Director of Infrastructure Dr Alfred Zimmerman said ...
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Traction advances offer lower costs and higher capacity
As part of its strategy to develop advanced technology for tomorrow's high speed trains, Alstom is developing a new range of IGBT-based asynchronous drives and a permanent magnet traction motor that will be installed on derivatives of the AGV prototype
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NS adopts standard pointwork
INTRO: A range of standard high performance turnouts and crossings being introduced across the Dutch network uses ’plug-and-play’ technology to reduce possession time and ensure rapid availability after installationWITH two new lines under construction and several major upgrading projects in hand, track renewal has become a significant issue on the ...
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Karelia accord signed
A TRIPARTITE agreement boosting railway investment in the Russian republic of Karelia was signed at Petrozavodsk on February 22. First Deputy Minister of Railways Vladimir Yakunin was joined by October Railway President Gennady Komarov and Karelia's Governor Sergei Katanandov. The ministry has allocated 7·2bn roubles for electrification of 410 km ...
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GE plant accord
GENERAL Electric Transportation Systems confirmed on March 7 that it was planning to build a diesel engine factory near St Petersburg. Director of Locomotive Programmes Douglas Rockwell said the company was negotiating to supply 765 engines to Russian Railways over the next five years. He expected an agreement with the ...
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Line 9 gets CBTC
BARCELONA Line 9 is to be equipped for fully-automatic driverless operation using communications-based train control. On March 6 the regional government’s construction authority GISA signed a €72·5m contract with a consortium of Siemens Transportation Systems and Invensys subsidiary Dimetronic SA.Due to open in phases between 2005 and 2008, the 41·4 ...
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Record attendance at Rail-Tech 2003
UTRECHT is the location for Rail-Tech Europe 2003, which will be held at the Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs exhibition complex from April 1 to 3. Organiser Europoint expects a record attendance at the fourth Rail-Tech event, which will be opened by Antoine Martens, Chief Operating Officer of Belgian National Railways. Tickets ...