All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1206
-
News
Connex wins in Boston
MASSACHUSETTS Bay Transportation Authority board of directors has approved the award of a five-year contract to Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail Corp for operation of the Boston suburban network at a cost of $1·1bn. MBCR is led by Connex North America Inc, with Bombardier Transportation and Boston consultancy Alternate Concepts Inc, ...
-
News
Upgrade to the border
RENFE President Miguel Corsini joined Spanish Secretary of State for Infrastructure Benigno Blanco and Castilla y León Development Minister José Manuel Fern
-
News
Crucial reform bills stalled
FOUR BILLS to transform the structure of Russia’s railways were approved by the Russian Duma on December 24, but three days later the reform package was stalled when one of the four was rejected by senators in the Federation Council (the upper house). This puts in doubt the scheduled signing ...
-
News
Desiro UK's big sister emerges
INTRO: Later this year the first of 45 five-car EMUs being built for UK franchisee South West Trains will be delivered by Siemens Transportation Systems. Designed to operate long-distance commuter services between London and south coast towns up to 230 km from the capital, they are expected to ...
-
News
Wiring bids
NEXT MONTH is due to see a call for tenders for electrification work on Israel Railways, according to General Manager Yossi Snir. On December 30 he announced that the master plan for electrification would be published in February, setting out details of which routes will be wired first. He ...
-
News
BDZ restructures
THE BULGARIAN Transport Ministry awarded a contract on December 18 for a team of consultants led by Systra of France, CIE Consult of Ireland and Railplan of the Netherlands to advise on the restructuring of Bulgarian State Railways.BDZ has already been split into three state-owned entities in line with European ...
-
News
Remote barrier controls
DEFECTIVE or non-machine readable tickets, bulky luggage and restricted wheelchair access can provide potential problems for passengers using a station’s automatic ticket barriers. To tackle this, Help Point and Cubic Transportation Systems have developed Help Zone, which allows staff situated elsewhere on a station to provide help to passengers at ...
-
News
Fare balancing
GREAT North Eastern Railway is to plan the numbers and types of tickets it offers in different fare categories using software and consultancy services from Manugistics. Controlling passenger demand through differential ticket pricing is well established, but Bruce How of Manugistics believes that the more sophisticated demand management techniques which ...
-
News
BA rescue deal
SUBURBAN CONCESSIONAIRES in Buenos Aires have agreed to an emergency investment package that will see the Argentinian government provide 725m pesos in 2003-05. Track renewal will take priority and has been allocated 287m pesos; 197m pesos will be spent on traction and rolling stock, and 117·5m pesos on signalling. Station ...
-
News
Pendolino to attack the London - Manchester market
INTRO: Virgin Trains showed off its Class 390 Pendolino on December 16 with a high speed run from London to Manchester and back. Murray Hughes wason boardON JANUARY 27 Virgin Trains planned to launch its first Pendolino Britannico in revenue-earning traffic between London and Manchester. Virgin had originally intended its ...
-
News
Malaysian export ambition
MMC Metal Industries plans to enter the Asian passenger rolling stock market, according to Chief Executive Officer Lew Chin Hoi. The company hopes to build metre-gauge vehicles in Malaysia for export to Myanmar and Vietnam. ’Most of the Asean countries use metre gauge, and this creates a niche for us’, ...
-
News
Cabling under the Alps
NEXANS has been awarded a €30m contract to supply power cables and optic fibre links for the L
-
News
Railtrack agreements
AS PART of its voluntary liquidation process, RT Group plc (formerly Railtrack) reached an agreement with Marconi Corp in December covering the Ultramast joint venture. This was established in December 2000 to construct and operate telecommunications masts for use by mobile and fixed wireless networks. Marconi provided cash and the ...
-
News
AFE restructures
THE MINISTRY of Transport & Public Works in Uruguay has begun the task of splitting operating functions from infrastructure at the state railway company AFE. On the basis of the railway’s Southern, Eastern and Northern regions, the ministry is to assume responsibility for infrastructure management and maintenance as well as ...
-
News
S-Bahn tunnel accord
MEETING in München on December 19, German Railway Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn and Bayern Transport Minister Otto Wiesheu announced the go-ahead for a second cross-city S-Bahn tunnel. Construction is expected to begin in 2006 for completion by 2010. Running up to 40m below ground, the new tunnel is expected to cost ...
-
News
Lugano accord sets up north-south freight corridor
MEETING in the Swiss town of Lugano on January 9, transport ministers from Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a rail freight corridor stretching from Rotterdam to northern Italy. The agreement covers a range of short, medium and long term measures lasting until 2015. ...
-
News
Swedes test high speed on-board internet access
ON JANUARY 30, a Swedish high speed train will become the first in the world to offer passengers real-time internet access on the move. One Linx X2000 tilting trainset operating between Göteborg, Malmö and København has been fitted with a wireless communications network which can also support passenger information and ...
-
News
A$56m funds model railway
WORK has started on an ambitious research programme to develop a national repository for computer modelling and simulation tools for the Australian rail industry. Funded by an A$56m partnership between the federal government, rail industry and universities, the Co-operative Research Centre for Railway Engineering & Technologies will be based at ...
-
News
Spain sets i4·4bn spend
INVESTMENT by the Spanish Ministry of Development and its agencies including GIF, Renfe and Feve is expected to total €4·4bn in 2003, with the high speed programme once again at the head of the list with a planned spend of over €3·6bn. Of this, €3·3bn will be spent by GIF, ...
-
News
225 km/h diesel option
WITH more than 90 High Speed Trains dating from 1976-79 still in use by four British operators, decisions must be made soon on a replacement for these pioneering 200 km/h diesel trainsets. MAN B&W based near Manchester has re-engineered its 18-cylinder VP185 engine for rail traction specifically to address this ...