All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1256
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News
Euro-Interlocking promises lower life-cycle costs
INTRO: Europe’s railways are plagued with a host of different mechanical, electrical and electronic interlockings. A pan-European programme to standardise functional requirements and interface specifications will cut costs through the use of common equipment and enable railways to harness emerging technology more easilyBYLINE: Niklaus K
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Lower locomotive fuel costs
FUEL savings and lower emissions are promised by the use of an auxiliary power unit on large American diesel locos. A prototype APU was demonstrated by CSX Transportation on August 9. The diesel-fuelled APU automatically shuts down the main locomotive engine when the train is stopped, but provides power to ...
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Corsican upgrade
THE REGIONAL government in Corsica has reached agreement in principle with French National Railways for a major upgrading of the 232 route-km network by 2005. Over €100m will be invested to cut 1h off the present 3h 40min journey time between Ajaccio and Bastia. SNCF has operated the metre-gauge network ...
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Doubling contract
SOUTHERN FLORIDA’s Tri-County Commuter Rail Authority has awarded a $231·6m contract for further double-tracking work on the Miami - Fort Lauderdale - West Palm Beach corridor. Segment 5 of the operator’s upgrading programme was awarded to Tri-County Rail Constructors on August 24. The group is a joint venture of Herzog ...
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Reservations computerised
AUSTRALIAN firm OneRail has developed a point-and-click computerised booking system for use by travel agents, marketed as Orion. Originally developed to replace an ageing mainframe legacy system at VIA Rail Canada, Orion is also used by Queensland Rail, State Rail Authority of New South Wales and Orient Express Trains. The ...
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Estonian privatisation completed
THE long-running privatisation of Estonian State Railways was finally completed on August 31, with the sale of a 66% stake in Eesti Raudtee (EVR) to the Baltic Rail Services OÜ joint venture for US$58m. The deal follows the signing on April 30 of a provisional agreement with the Estonian Privatisation ...
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Jerusalem revival cleared
ISRAELI PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon approved US$85m of funding for the long-planned upgrade of the line to Jerusalem on August 22, and a contract is expected to be signed this month. Work will begin with the 21 km Na’an - Bet-Shemesh section, at a cost of US$24m. The second stage ...
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Cleaning staff management
KØBENHAVN-based cleaning and services group ISS has developed a computer system to manage staff deployment over a wide area. British subsidiary ISS Transport is using the equipment to supervise 1500 staff working on cleaning and maintenance contracts across the London Underground network from a control centre in Docklands. When beginning ...
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Chinese orders
KOWLOON-Canton Railway Corp has awarded two contracts worth a total of €44m to Siemens Transportation Systems. One covers the provision of signalling, control and electrification equipment for a 4 km 10-station extension of the Tuen Mun light rail network to connect with West Rail. Together with rehabilitation work on the ...
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White Paper charts rail future
ON SEPTEMBER 12 the European Commission published a White Paper on Transport. European Transport Policy for 2010 - Time to Decide includes 60 measures in an Action Plan, with a mid-term review in 2005. Described as ’the first practical contribution to the sustainable development strategy adopted by the G
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Certification management
BRITISH engineering support consultancy Interfleet Technology has launched a computer service to manage and track vehicle certification for rolling stock owners. Customers connect to their private area on Interfleet’s secure server via a World Wide Web interface. Using their web browser, customers can access all of the certification associated with ...
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GOVIA takes over South Central
THE GOVIA consortium of Go-Ahead and Keolis (formerly VIA-Cariane) took control of Britain’s Network South Central franchise on August 26, after Industry & Energy Minister Brian Wilson decided not to refer the deal to the Competition Commission. GOVIA already operates the Thameslink franchise which competes with South Central on the ...
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Onwards by car
Swiss Federal Railways, DaimlerChrysler and Mobility CarSharing have launched a carpool service designated RailLink, which offers rail passengers local car hire from 42 Swiss stations. SBB has a 55% stake in the venture, which involved an investment of SFr2·5m. Cars can be reserved by telephone or internet, and must be ...
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Sokol can't fly yet
FIVE MONTHS of trials have been completed with the prototype Sokol (Falcon) high speed train developed by the Russian High Speed Railway Shareholding Co (RAO VSM). The results have now been assessed by an inter-ministerial committee, which published its findings in August. The committee found that the six-car train's main ...
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Canberra trams
AUSTRALIA’s Capital Territory government has backed a proposed 7 km tramway connecting the War Memorial and the National Museum via the Canberra Centre. ACT will make available land set aside for light rail when the city was first laid out, mainly along grassed median strips. The federal government has been ...
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British problems
Sir - Your extensive reports on the situation in Britain (RG 9.01) leave one in no doubt that the method of privatisation chosen for British Rail has been a total disaster. Of course, it is not possible to judge how some other system would have performed, or how BR would ...
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Passenger News in Brief:
Chinese Railways announced on September 4 that it was putting into service luxury trainsets on the premier Beijing - Shanghai trains 21/22 by the end of the month, offering eight hard and four soft class sleepers. The soft class cars will have televisions in each compartment, plus toilets, showers and ...
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Industry News in Brief
To support future bids for MBTA ticketing contracts, Cubic Transportation Systems Inc has opened an office in Boston. This complements existing US offices in Washington DC, New York and Chicago.CAF USA Inc has signed a lease for a 5000m2 site within the McClellan Business Park in Sacramento, California, where production ...
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Products in Brief
Over 23 km of HDPE pipes with a 50+ year design life made by Bauku have been used on the Bleach Green line reinstatement in Northern Ireland, and a further 5 km on the K
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Distributed control previews the future shape of braking
Early next year Westinghouse Brakes will be launching the EP2002 distributed braking system for passenger vehicles, built around the company's new RBX4 valve. Operational trials on the München Metro have followed an extensive factory testing programme