All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1264
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News
Industry in Brief
On July 2 Westinghouse Signals Ltd changed its name to Westinghouse Rail Systems Ltd to reflect its new and wider product range.Patentes Talgo SA recorded a turnover of €182m in 2000, up 62·8% from the previous year. EBITDA was €17·6m, with 51% of group revenue coming from manufacturing and 38% ...
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Straits bridges
WE REPORTED last month that Russian Railways’ plans for construction of a link to the island of Sakhalin were firming up. Head of the Sakhalin Department of Transport & Communications V Romanov confirmed last month that a bridge rather than a tunnel will be built, crossing the Tatar Strait between ...
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BHP breaks its own ’heaviest train’ record
ON JUNE 21 BHP Iron Ore set a new world record by running the longest and heaviest freight train, between Yandi mine and Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (below). The run was the latest manifestation of BHPIO’s ongoing programme of leading-edge research. Vice-President Mike Darby said ...
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Work begins on Tibet line
CEREMONIES were held in Lhasa and Golmud on June 29 to mark the start of work on the 1118 km Qinghai - Tibet railway (RG 5.01 p319). The two cities were decorated with bunting, flags and balloons for the ceremonies, with auspicious Tibetan designs displayed prominently. Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji ...
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The wave crests as the big four become three
Bombardier's purchase of Adtranz represents the largest industry acquisition to date and may just be the last, as results finally start to improve at the major suppliers. Andrew F Saxe of Accenture presents his annual review of the rolling stock supply industry
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Freight fights back
ALTHOUGH the rail freight sector was hit hardest by Romania’s economic changes, CFR Marfa has now started the long climb back. In 2000 it handled 13·6% more traffic than the low point in 1999. This represented 19·7% of the national freight tonnage lifted and 41% by tonne-km.Director General Vasile Tulbure ...
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BA to build three more lines
THE Buenos Aires city council has approved plans for three more metro routes totalling 22 km. Bringing a metro station within 400m of some 2 million residents or 70% of the city’s total population, Lines F, G and I are likely to be taken forward as build-operate-transfer projects. The aim ...
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Praha automates
PRAHA Metro has awarded a contract worth €7·6m to Matra Transport International for the installation of automatic train control equipment on 47 trainsets by 2004. Operator DphmP has been developing proposals for automatic operation over the past five years, and this contract for automatic speed control and supervision equipment marks ...
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Automated lookout on test
ENDURANCE testing of the Track!02 automatic track warning system from Track Warning AB of Sweden is to begin on Railtrack’s Midland Zone. Track!02 detects rail vibrations using rail-mounted ultrasonic sensors. A microprocessor identifies vibrations caused by trains, and a radio signal is sent to a master unit.The master then warns ...
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Pilbara peace deal will take tracks to West Angelas
TRAINS COULD be hauling iron ore out of the West Angelas mine in the Pilbara, northwestern Australia, ’early in the second half’ of next year, thanks to an agreement reached on July 2 between Rio Tinto and the Robe River Joint Venture Partners. A year ago Rio Tinto successfully pushed ...
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Aluminium car ends
SUPERFORM Aluminium is to manufacture front ends for Desiro UK trains ordered by Angel Trains (RG 3.01 p161). The two large panels making up each end will be 2·5m high, 1m wide and 0·7m deep. The aluminium alloy panels are trimmed on five-axis machining centres to produce finished components ready ...
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Window replacement aids phone users
MOBILE telephone users are to benefit from the replacement of carriage windows on Austrian Federal Railways. Windows in ÖBB’s older coaches contain a thin layer of metallic insulation. This blocks mobile phone signals, but is not found in newer vehicles.Spokesman Robert Herbst said the replacement is ’a gradual process and ...
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Maglev all the rage again
ON JULY 16 Nexans announced an order from ThyssenKrupp Transrapid GmbH for supply and installation of the long stator motor winding for the 30 km guideway of the world’s first commercial maglev project in Shanghai, and the first cables arrived in the Chinese city from Germany last month.Although the ...
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Perpignan - Figueres accord
MEETING in Toulouse on July 12, French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot and his Spanish counterpart Francisco Álvarez-Cascos agreed that the two countries would share equally the €709·2m public-sector contribution towards building the 45·5 km Perpignan - Figueres cross-border route. Expressions of interest in a concession to build and operate the ...
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Landbridge accord signed
A MEMORANDUM signed in Ostrava on June 22 will pave the way for construction of a 1524mm gauge rail link across southern Poland from Katowice to a multimodal terminal at Bohumín in northern Moravia by the end of next year. The US$300m project envisages the extension of the existing ’Sulphur-Steel ...
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Open access boosts IKEA Rail
SEPTEMBER 1 will see the start of IKEA Rail AB’s first open-access freight services between Sweden and Germany, following the signing of the necessary track access contracts on June 29. The Swedish-based furniture supplier decided earlier this year to form its own rail division, which is headed by the former ...
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SF6 switchgear
SIEMENS Transportation Systems has received Railtrack product acceptance for Sitras 8DA 25 kV AC SF6 gas insulated switchgear. Later this year 44 panels will be commissioned as part of Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil’s power reinforcement project at Corey’s Mill on the East Coast Main Line.Sitras 8DA is the latest generation of ...
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Intelligence August 2001
Australia: Western Australia government is to spend A$1m building a 1·5 km link to a wood chip mill in Albany. Westnet is to construct the line, with the state meeting interest costs over four years. Victorian Transport Minister Peter Batchelor has identified regauging the Mildura line next year as a ...
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ETCS Level 1 ordered
SWISS FEDERAL Railways has approved its first commercial application of ETCS Level 1 train control on lower-density routes. On June 27 a €9m contract was awarded to Alcatel Transport Automation for resignalling of the 30 km Seetalbahn between Lenzburg and Eschenbach. As well as 24 colourlight signals, 26 point motors ...
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Underfloor transmissions
VOITH Turbo has introduced two hydrodynamic transmissions for underfloor power applications. The T111bre has integrated reversing gear and hydrodynamic retarder, and is suitable for transmission input power up to 300 kW. It is aimed at the light rail market, where it can be fitted close to a bogie to permit ...