All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1249
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News
JR companies go commercial
THE THREE Japan Railways Group companies operating on Honshu became fully-fledged commercial companies on December 1, when a law change approved by the Diet on June 15 came into force (RG 7.01 p446). The law frees JR East, JR Central and JR West from many state controls, giving them the ...
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Interstate standards coming into line
DESPITE the paucity of Federal funding available, Australia has moved a step closer to achieving uniform standards of speed and axleload on interstate corridors, thus helping freight operators to compete with road. Australian Rail Track Corp announced on December 2 that the two routes for which it is responsible in ...
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Weight and comfort dominate seating strategies
INTRO: Quality improvements by rival modes are leading to growing demand from passenger train operators for higher standards of comfort. Marrying this pressure with the need to keep down vehicle weight is spurring innovation among seat manufacturers and component suppliersGREATER COMFORT, more space for passengers, lighter weight and lower cost ...
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NewsNIR staves off closure
UK: Rail services in Northern Ireland look more secure after a ruling by the Northern Ireland Assembly to consolidate rather than shut down the 357 km network. Following a report commissioned by Translink from A D Little, a task force convened by the Assembly carried out public consultation. Four ...
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Chinese projects start to roll
PROMINENT AMONG the headline projects in Chinese Railways’ 2001-05 five-year plan is construction of the 1300 km Beijing - Shanghai high speed line, although a choice between maglev and steel wheel technology has still to be made (RG 1.01 p19). While this 100bn yuan scheme may attract most publicity, many ...
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Railtrack counts the cost of Hatfield chaos
AS NORMALITY slowly returns to Britain’s railways in the wake of the unprecedented shambles of November and December, Railtrack and the Train Operating Companies are adding up the cost of the disruption. The problems are not over yet, and temporary timetables may last on some routes beyond the Easter deadline ...
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IR centralises control
ON DECEMBER 2 Israel Railways called tenders for the construction and fitting out of a Network Management & Traffic Control Centre at Hof Ha-Carmel station near Haifa. The NMC will take over supervision and management of the entire rail network, whilst the TCC will assume direct control of operations on ...
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Nippon Sharyo shares in US commuter car deal
JAPANESE rolling stock supplier Nippon Sharyo clinched an important deal in December when it was awarded a role in a contract with Sumitomo Corp of America to supply 250 bi-level cars to Metra, Chicago’s operator of commuter services. The US$398·6m procurement funded from the Illinois FIRST public works investment programme ...
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Double-deck power cars expand EMU capacity
INTRO: Shoehorning power equipment and auxiliaries into the limited roof space available above the bogies on an EMU car with upper and lower saloons between vestibules was first achieved in Sydney. Now Europe is beginning to follow suitBYLINE: John Dunn *Transit Design Pty LtdGROWING CONGESTION on urban roads is forcing ...
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Railtrack invests in grinding capability
INTRO: Advice from international consultants following the Hatfield derailment has led Railtrack to move from corrective grinding to a preventative regime. A partnership contract will be awarded for the management and operation of an expanded fleet of high-capacity rail grinders BYLINE: Richard MiddletonTechnical DirectorRailtrack plcTHIS MONTH Railtrack expects to take ...
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Canfranc study
SPAIN’s Ministry of Development has invited bids for consultancy work on the Zaragoza - Tardienta portion of the project to create a 1435mm gauge electrified route between Zaragoza and the French border at Canfranc. Part of the government’s 2000-07 Railway Infrastructure Plan, this project is costed at Pts60bn.With a total ...
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Change mooted in Canada
AN INTERIM REPORT commissioned by Transport Minister David Collenette into competition on Canada’s rail network has ruled out a suggestion that the tracks should be passed to a government-owned corporation. Published on January 10, the report was a response to calls from shippers for more competition, which could include some ...
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An inspector calls
AFICIONADOS of our Sidetrack column will not have missed the story in our January edition entitled ’Police state’ (RG 1.01 p15). Nor did the British Transport Police.On January 16 we received an aggressive phone call from a senior and somewhat irate police officer who was determined to put his view ...
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DB’s bumpy ride
PASSENGERS travelling on one of German Railway’s ICE services on the Hannover - Hamburg main line had a lucky escape on November 17. Their train was close to Bienenbüttel, near Lüneburg, when it passed through a crossover limited to 80 km/h at around 180 km/h. The ICE did not derail, ...
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Products in Brief
Aperio has carried out impulse ground penetrating radar inspection of ballast thickness and condition at Frampton Mansell for Railtrack. A two-man team inspected 200m of track overnight, producing a series of longitudinal profiles of ballast settlement and contamination. The data was used to analyse the ground condition to a depth ...
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Industry News in Brief
Global Railway Industries has signed a letter of intent to acquire track component maker G&B Specialties Inc for US$11m.Nortrak has opened a fourth trackwork manufacturing plant at Irondale, Alabama.UK-based suspension components supplier Trelleborg Industrial has started work on the construction of a £10m factory on the outskirts of Leicester. Opening ...
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Passenger in Brief
On December 15 Chicago commuter rail operator Metra activated GPS equipment developed by GeoFocus on 261 carriages. The $11m project provides dispatchers with the exact location and speed of each train. The GPS equipment is also used to drive automated on-train announcements. Metra hopes to expand the system to drive ...
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Passenger News in Brief
Swiss Federal Railways is to build a new Customer Contact Centre at Brig to merge the operations of 10 local offices spread across the country. Around 60 staff dealing with telephone enquiries and ticket renewals will transfer this year, increasing to 250 by the completion of the project in 2005.New ...
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Geogrids bridge unstable land
A multi-layer geogrid supplied by Huesker is being used to stabilise a high speed junction site at Gröbers between Leipzig and Halle. The junction is located over a disused coal mine, but information on the position of the 30m deep mine tunnels is not available.A 1 km strip of land ...
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Regional reforms could breach SNCF’s monopoly
INTRO: Jean-Paul Masse examines legislative changes in France that empower the regions to fund regional railservices directly and take their own investment decisionsON JANUARY 1 2002 an act will come into force that will change the way regional transport is organised in France. Despite its significance, the act has remained ...