All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1255
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News
Market
Australia: Alcoa World Alumina has sought expressions of interest for the supply of nine 1067mm gauge locomotives and 283 bauxite, alumina, and caustic soda wagons if it signs a new haulage contract in 2003.Tenders have been called for the relocation of Townsville station inQueensland, and provision of a new access ...
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Separation can be made to work - with state support
INTRO: This year Swedish State Railways’ operating divisions have become independent companies, marking another stage in the restructuring of Sweden’s railways. Rail’s share of freight hauled over more than 100 km beats that in all other EU countries, and passenger traffic is at a record high. Stig Larsson* offers an ...
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SMRT wins Marina line
SINGAPORE’s Land Transport Authority announced on August 8 that it had selected existing metro operator Singapore MRT Ltd for a 10-year concession to run the city’s new medium-capacity Marina line. The agreement includes an option to extend the concession for up a further 30 years. The SMRT bid was selected ...
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Yunusobod line opened
UZBEKISTAN President Islam Karimov formally inaugurated the third heavy metro line in Toshkent on August 28, as part of the country’s celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union.The initial 7·6 km section of the Yunusobod line links Shahriston in the north with Lokhutiy in the ...
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‘Zero tolerance’ could kill rail
THE INSTITUTE of Logistics & Transport has warned Britain’s Health & Safety Executive that ’the railways face the risk of long-term decline, leading to increased road traffic problems, if heavy safety regulation is imposed on the industry and a zero tolerance approach taken to the risk of an accident.’ ILT ...
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Taurus spreads its wings
FOUR more rail operators are buying Taurus electric freight locomotives from Siemens, based on the 400-strong fleet being built for Austrian Federal Railways. Siemens has already built a batch of the Class 1116 dual-system version for the Dispolok leasing pool. On September 7, Siemens announced that it had signed a ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Australia: Victoria Department of Infrastructure will shortlist three bidders for a A$300m redevelopment and operation of Melbourne’s Spencer Street station this month. A winner will be announced early next year.Austria: Graz-K
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Multi-mode information
XEPHOS is a transport information database, intended to give call centres and ticket agents access to multi-modal public transport timetable and service data for Great Britain.Interchange times are taken into account, and fares and routing data can be added. A demonstration version is running with train operator c2c, showing all ...
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Gwadar link in PR plans
THE CONSTRUCTION of a 400 km rail link from Dalbadin on the Quetta - Zahedan line to the port of Gwadar forms a key element in an Rs6bn programme for developing the Pakistan Railways network. PR Chairman Saeeduz Zafar said on August 23 that surveys for the route had been ...
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Great Lakes rail study
PROPOSALS to develop a rail network serving Africa’s Great Lakes region have been unveiled by Uganda’s Ministry of Tourism, Trade & Industry, following a meeting of transport and communications ministers in the Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa. Comesa has commissioned Makhosi Holdings of South Africa to undertake a ...
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News
Gauteng pulls investors
STRONG interest was shown in plans to develop a high speed railway in South Africa’s Gauteng province (RG 3.01 p146) at the delayed investor conference held in Johannesburg on September 7-8. Among companies present were Bombardier, Skoda, Alstom, Siemens, RATP of Paris, and Nisho Iwai, representing Mitsubishi and Hitachi; Gauteng ...
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News
Train theft foiled
TEXAS police have arrested a man accused of attempting to steal a 107-wagon Union Pacific grain train. Seeing the train idling at a station, he boarded it and released the locomotive brakes. However, finding himself unable to release the train brakes, he radioed the crew of an oncoming train for ...
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LA flyover opened
Pulling a ceremonial lever to switch a signal to green, US Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta inaugurated the Redondo Junction Grade Separation in southeast Los Angeles on August 21. Allowing speeds of 80 km/h, the double-track flyover carries Metrolink and Amtrak passenger trains into LA Union Station above the future ...
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MBTA fleet renewal
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has awarded a $172m contract to Siemens Transportation Systems Inc to supply a new fleet of 94 metro cars for Boston’s heavy metro Blue line. Due for delivery from 2003, the new vehicles will replace 70 cars built by Hawker Siddeley of Canada in 1978-80, and ...
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Finance
China: China International Trust & Investment Corp has provided a 1bn yuan loan to the Shanghai Transrapid project.Iran: Officials confirmed onSeptember 12 that final terms had been agreed for Chinese banks to provide US$100m for a 25 km extension of the Tehran Suburban Railway from Mehrshahr near Karaj to Hashgerd; ...
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News
Fast train shortlist
THE AUSTRALIAN state of Victoria shortlisted five consortia in mid-September for the A$550m Fast Rail Links project (RG 10.00 p660). This involves upgrading of 500 route-km on the lines from Melbourne to Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the LaTrobe Valley.The five consortia are: Thiess-Alstom Joint Venture, Fastrax Victoria (Leighton Contractors), BLM ...
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Terror fall-out will be long-lasting
JUST WHAT long-term effects the appalling terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11 will have on the rail business is hard to foresee. Washington metro stations at the Pentagon and National Airport closed immediately, but reopened next day, with restricted access at the Pentagon.In New York all ...
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Safety regulation to be expanded
MAJOR changes to the way safety on Britain’s rail network is regulated and managed were proposed by Lord Cullen on September 20, in Part 2 of his report into the collision at Ladbroke Grove which killed 31 people on October 5 1999. All 74 recommendations were immediately accepted by Transport ...
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Pendolinos expand
FINNISH Railways will increase its range of Pendolino services on October 22, when new tilting EMUs will replace InterCity2 trains on three daily Helsinki - Tampere - Jyväskylä services.VR is taking delivery of eight more Italian-built Pendolino sets to augment its two locally-built prototypes. The first new trains entered service ...
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Curve lubricants
A high performance lubricant to prevent track and wheel flange wear on curves has been developed by ITW Polymers & Fluids. Rocol Rail Curve Grease contains graphite dispersed in highly refined mineral oil, with a lithium thickener. It is non-flammable, and offers a working temperature range of -10°C to 150°C. ...