All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1238
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News
Drawbar gear
RAIL operators using North American standard couplers have the choice of two new DrawGuard drawgear springs introduced by Miner Enterprises for drawbar-connected wagons.The lightweight all-steel DrawGuard FS is designed for heavy duty applications, with a double-coil spring enclosed in a high-strength steel housing, The 150 kg unit has a maximum ...
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Korea launches domestically-built high speed train
THIS MONTH is due to see the start of test running with a domestically-built high speed train in South Korea. The Ministry of Construction & Transport announced on March 13 that South Korea had become the fourth nation in the world to build a trainset capable of running at over ...
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Sniffer dog goes to pot
MILLIE, a black Labrador dog employed by the US Customs Service to sniff out illegal drugs, was taken for a ride on San Francisco’s BART trains recently. The aim was to demonstrate how the service’s working dogs interact with passengers in a friendly and passive manner.Things then took an unexpected ...
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Trenitalia updates visual displays
ITALIAN STATE Railways’ operating business Trenitalia has launched a programme to update its station information displays, in conjunction with Ansaldo. This uses a new design of video monitor developed for FS by CA&G Elettronica, the Vicenza-based subsidiary of Global Display Solutions. GDS was formed last year through the merger of ...
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DEMU order
ROLLING stock leasing company HSBC Rail confirmed on February 14 that it is to buy 127 diesel-electric multiple-unit vehicles from Bombardier. They will be leased by UK operator Midland Main Line, under a two-year franchise extension to 2008. Capital value is £154m, and the spares and maintenance provision for the ...
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Deicing fluid sticks to rail
MIDWEST Industrial Supply Inc is supplying anti-icing fluid for third rail electrified railways. Using ’smart fluid’ technology licensed from NASA, the anti-ice treatment is sprayed or poured onto the rail, where it forms a thin film, before the onset of freezing conditions.The fluid prevents ice bonding to metal, and is ...
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Interlocking deal
PARIS Transport Authority awarded a €7m contract to Alcatel Transport Automation Solutions on January 31 to install new electronic interlockings across the metro and RER networks. The first Series 6271 LockTrac/PIPC installation, which uses a PC platform and software-based data preparation, is due to replace relay interlockings on RATP Line ...
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German Railway telecom deal
GERMAN telephone operator Arcor AG & Co sold Telematik, its railway-specific telecommunications business, to Deutsche Bahn AG for €1·15bn on January 24. Arcor’s former parent Mannesmann AG had purchased Telematik from DB in 1996.An agreement is expected to be concluded by April 1 for the creation of a joint venture ...
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Mexican merger deal
PROPOSALS to bring two of Mexico’s three principal rail concessionaires under common ownership were announced on January 25. The plan is to transfer all the shares in Ferrocarril del Sureste to a subsidiary of the mining company Grupo México, known as Infraestructura y Transportes México. FerroSur is currently controlled by ...
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Curitiba funding
JAPAN BANK for International Co-operation is to provide a loan of US$274·6m to fund construction of a 13 km surface metro route in Curitiba, capital of the state of Paran
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CPTM keeps growing
S??O PAULO state governor Geraldo Alckmin and Transport Secretary Jurandir Fernandes (below) joined CPTM President Oliver Salles de Lima and other officials on March 8 for a test run on metro Line 5 from Capão Redondo to Vila das Belezas. The 9·6 km route from Capão Redondo to Largo Treze ...
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Screen display controls
NET Display Systems has developed Public Area Display System, a software package for controlling passenger information displays connected by LAN or internet. The computers can operate arrival and departure information, paging and emergency data, and display multimedia advertising. Plasma screens can display text, pictures and complex video presentations. PADS can ...
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Connex grows in Germany
A NEW open access freight operator emerged in Germany on January 24, when Connex Cargo Logistics GmbH unveiled one of its three Bombardier-built Class 185 electric locos at Osnabrück. The 140 km/h dual-system locos are being leased from Porterbrook, and will be operated in co-operation with NordWestCargo, a joint venture ...
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Spoornet wins ZR concession
SOUTH AFRICAN rail operator Spoornet has been awarded the 25-year concession to manage and operate Zambia Railways. Spoornet International was one of four prequalified bidders shortlisted for the concession, in a consortium with Canarail and New Limpopo Bridge Investments (RG 2.02 p62). The official date for the handover has been ...
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Maputo concession
SPOORNET Chief Executive Zandile Jakavula visited Mozambique in January to sign a memorandum of agreement for the long-awaited concession to operate the 90 km railway from Maputo from the South African border at Machava, east of Komatipoort. The concession will be held by the newly-formed Ressano Garcia Railway Company, which ...
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Super Voyager completes tilt trials in France
A Virgin Trains Class 221 tilting trainset was put through a stiff programme of trials on SNCF's corkscrew line between Brive and Cahors. Murray Hughes reports from the test site
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Rail recovery trains completed
Jarvis Rail has completed three Rail Recovery/Delivery Trains at its York workshops. They are to be used to retrieve and deliver rail in a £12m, five-year contract with Railtrack’s National Logistics Unit. Fitted with eight electric 1·25 tonne cranes operated by a single remote control unit, each train can handle ...
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Comparison processes are robust, but subjective
In its value for money review, Ernst & Young found the processes adopted by London Underground to have been ’robust’ and in overall terms ’appropriate’. But the PPP contract structure ’does not allow the presentation of an indisputable quantified assessment of value of money’, due to its 30-year term with ...
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Spain moves closer to reform
THE SEPARATION of infrastructure from operations as required by European Union directives will be implemented in Spain by the end of 2003, according to Development Minister Francisco Álvarez-Cascos. This year, the government aims to reach agreement with the unions on how to proceed, and with other political parties on what ...