All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1334
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News
Benefits justify higher BHP axleloads
INTRO: Innovative management and a commitment to research have halved the cost of hauling iron ore to Port Hedland in Western Australia in the last five years. A key lever has been less variable loading that sees axleloads now nudging 37 tonnes, with 40 tonnes in prospectBYLINE: Mike Moynan, Alex ...
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Auto-local tickets
Schlumberger has completed roll out of 165 ticket vending machines at stations across Denmark. The light-flow-ticket machines allow passengers to use cash, credit cards or electronic purse payment to buy tickets, but have low running costs. DSB is able to manage them remotely using a communications link over the public ...
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Aluminium Trakrat
Group Engineering has unveiled an innovative utility vehicle for track maintenance gangs. Trakrat’s novel design features include lightweight aluminium construction, a bucket seat for the driver and a well-cushioned longitudinal seat for up to six passengers. The high seating position, vibration dampers and triple-disc braking ensure a comfortable ride compared ...
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Alarming rise in rail breaks
BRITAIN’S Health & Safety Executive took the drastic step on April 29 of serving on Railtrack a Prohibition Notice limiting trains in the 7 km tunnel under the Severn estuary to 32 km/h. First Great Western’s inter-city services between London and South Wales were disrupted, along with those of other ...
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Berlin air-rail link plan
At the International Air-Rail Organisation workshop in Berlin on April 27-28, DB unveiled preliminary proposals for an Airport Express shuttle service between the expanded Berlin hub station at Lehrter and Sch
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Kuala Lumpur airport link contract signed
MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur airport rail link concessionaire Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd formally awarded on May 6 an Engineering, Procurement & Construction contract for construction of the 57 km line (RG 12.98 p826). The contract was signed by ERLSB Executive Chairman Dato' Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh and representatives of the ...
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Still up in the air
COMPETITION to obtain federal funds towards magnetic levitation projects is hotting up again in the USA. Congress has appropriated initial funding of $12m to kick start three or four schemes, and 10 applications have been sent in so far - not that $12m will go very far. One proposal covers ...
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African concessions at risk
CONCESSIONS to operate three rail corridors radiating from the Mozambique capital Maputo are in jeopardy; CFM’s chief negotiator Miguel Matabel said in April that negotiations had collapsed because the latest offers were ’not good enough’. Last year CFM selected a Spoornet-led consortium to take over the Maputo - Ressano Garcia ...
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Ticino - Malpensa accord
MEETING in Lugano on May 4, representatives of Swiss Federal Railways, Italian State Railways, the Swiss canton of Ticino and the Italian province of Lombardia agreed to develop a cross-border rail link between the Gotthard and Simplon corridors. An international committee has been set up to manage the project and ...
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Open access proposal threatens profitable harmony
INTRO: Four years after the amicable separation of Finland’s rail infrastructure administration and restructuring of Finnish State Railways as a profitable commercial company, the government has decided to introduce more competition. Chris Jackson discussed the implications with RHK Director-General Ossi Niemimuukko and VR Group President & CEO Henri Kuitunen ON ...
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Stuttgart goes AC motored
THE first of 23 DT8.10 Stadtbahnwagen A articulated LRVs for Stuttgarter Straßenbahn AG was handed over by Adtranz and Siemens on April 16. The air-conditioned all-steel vehicles are a derivative of the standard-gauge design which SSB has been ordering since 1984, and will bring the fleet to 114 cars.The cars ...
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Production VAL208 arrives in Lille
Transpole has taken delivery of the first production VAL208 trainset. Matra Transport International is building 60 two-car sets for the Lille metro (MR98 p42), including the 16 station 12·5 km Line 2 extension from Fort de Mons to Tourcoing Centre, due to open on August 18. Trial running starts on ...
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Mubarak opens Cairo Line 2 extension
EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak formally inaugurated the third phase of Cairo metro Line 2 at the end of April. The 5 km extension carries the line below the Nile en route to the southwestern suburb of Giza. Starting from the interchange with Line 1 at Sadat, the Line 2 extension ...
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Metro Report 1999
SUBSCRIBERS will receive with this issue a copy of Metro Report 1999, our annual snapshot and overview of the latest developments in urban railways worldwide. Articles contributed by chief executives from metro and urban rail operators describe investment plans and programmes in cities ranging from Ankara to Taipei.Also in Metro ...
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Westrail sale will start soon
EXPRESSIONS of interest are to be called shortly for a private concessionaire to operate rail services in Western Australia; the intention is to complete the sale this year. The state’s Rail Access Committee presented its recommendations to the government last month.Westrail’s rolling stock, depots, terminals and existing contracts are to ...
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Under or round
AT THE behest of Bavarian Transport Minister Otto Wiesheu, German Railway has been asked to examine proposals to increase capacity for cross-city services in München. Specifically, he wants DB to assess the feasibility of upgrading the southern ring linking the main station and the Ostbahnhof, with four tracks throughout and ...
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Publications
Arab Railway StatisticsStatistics for 13 members of the Arab Union of Railways covering 1997 show that Moroccan Railways carries the most freight, followed by Tunisia, whereas Egypt has the highest passenger traffic. Various network and traffic statistics are complemented by a directory of operators and suppliers in Arab countries. Eng ...
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PEOPLE
As part of the Canadian National corporate restructuring to integrate Illinois Central, announced on April 14 (p261), President & Chief Executive Officer Paul M Tellier has named Michael Sabia as Executive Vice-President & Chief Financial Officer and E Hunter Harrison as Executive Vice-President & Chief Operating Officer. Senior Vice-President, Network ...
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NEWS
On April 15 Guatemala President Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen and Transport Minister Fritz Garcia-Gallont joined Ferrovias Guatemala Chairman Henry Posner III and General Manager Renato Fernandez Ravelo to celebrate the return of freight services to the 914mm gauge network after a three year break. The thrice-weekly train will haul cement 60 ...
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NEWS
Finnish infrastructure authority Ratahallintokeskus expects to call tenders this month for the extension of 25 kV electrification from Oulu to Rovaniemi and Tuomioja to Raahe. This forms part of a two-stage programme to wire the remaining trunk lines in northern Finland.CAPTION: Russian Railways’ Demikhovo EMU factory has completed a prototype ...