All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1364
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News
Integral slips
CZECH railwaymen looking forward to running 200 km/h tilting trains between Berlin, Praha and Wien may have to wait a little longer. CKD Praha announced last month that delivery of the prototype Class 680 Integral had slipped by another nine months to April 15 next year.When the contract for 10 ...
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INSIDE INDUSTRY
China: Siemens, Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Plant and the Zhuzhou Research Institute of Electric Locomotives are to invest 300m yuan in a joint venture, Zhuzhou Siemens Traction Equipment Co, to build up to 60 AC locos a year. The Austrian government is to provide start-up fundingEurope: After GEC Alsthom’s flotation on ...
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Incentro order
On April 20 the French city of Nantes announced a contract worth ’under Ecu50m’ for 23 all-low-floor trams to the Adtranz Incentro design, with an option for four more. The first order for the ’modular product platform’, delivery is scheduled for the first half of 2000.The chosen configuration is 36·4m ...
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Unlikely partners at high speed wedding
INTRO: A 10-car ICE-TGV combination was demonstrated to Taiwanese officials on May 4 as part of Taiwan High Speed Rail Consortium’s efforts to secure a US$17bn build-operate-and-transfer concession for the Taipei - Kaohsiung high speed lineFIVE YEARS ago such a marriage would have been unthinkable. The improbable union of French ...
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Point heater monitors
BOWARD Computer Services has supplied a telemetry system to Railtrack to monitor point heaters between London and Birmingham on the West Coast main line. A total of 74 Mitsubishi programmable logic controllers, controlling 60 point heating systems and 14 standby generators, report to a central monitoring computer in Birmingham which ...
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Görlitz launches third ICE generation
WELL OVER 1500 people were present at an emotional ceremony on April 3 in the DWA works in Görlitz to mark completion of the first two series-built end cars for German Railway's 230 km/h ICT tilting train fleet (RG 5.98 p279). The Görlitz factory had turned out the legendary Fliegender ...
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Gardermobanen prepares to open in October
ALL BEING well, Oslo’s 48 km rail link to the new twin runway Gardermoen airport will open in October 8. Airline traffic is expected to reach 11·7 million in 2000 and 16·8 million in 2010, with 50% of passengers travelling by train. Some doubt remains about the rail link’s opening ...
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Finance
Australia: The Victoria state budget for 1998-99 has allocated A$37·5m to relocate tram tracks in Melbourne as part of the Federation Square project, and A$34·8m for improving rail safety facilities. A total of A$10m has been allocated to track renewal on the Geelong - Warrnambool route.China: The French government has ...
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Swiss S-Bahnen expand
THE SUMMER timetable change on May 24 sees the expansion of S-Bahn services in the Swiss capital Bern. Two new cross city routes are being added to the two already operational. Services are run by a joint venture of SBB, BLS, Regionalverkehr Mittelland and the Sensetalbahn, with a common fares ...
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Patience exhausted
BACK in 1992 Norwegian State Railways placed a NKr300m order for a small fleet of Type Di6 diesel locomotives from Krupp-MAK and Siemens for delivery in 1994-95. They arrived in Norway two years behind schedule.Since then the locos have had a chequered history, and at one stage they were returned ...
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Europeans try heavy haul techniques
MORE North American technology developed for heavy haul freight is migrating across the Atlantic. French National Railways and German Railway are expected to call tenders imminently for pilot ECP braking projects that could see two trains equipped and operating later this year or during 1999.Meanwhile, experiments are going ahead in ...
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SARCC starts EMU renewal
MAY 14 was the closing date for prequalification bids to supply new EMU trainsets to South African Rail Commuter Corp. Formal tender invitations are due to be issued on June 23 for a fleet of five 12-car trains to be introduced on the Johannesburg - Soweto line in mid-2001. Managing ...
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FRA revises emergency rules
ON APRIL 29 the US Federal Railroad Administration released an Emergency Preparedness Final Rule, requiring all passenger operators to develop emergency response plans to minimise risks following an accident.Employees must receive special training including use of onboard emergency equipment and instruction on liaising with police and fire departments along their ...
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Developers hold the key to recovery
INTRO: Even after a long period of apparent decline, rail still enjoys significant potential to help solve the transport problems of the Philippines. Michael Reilly reports on initiatives to develop the national network and mass transit using private and public fundingYears of neglect and gross mismanagement have taken their toll ...
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Ultrasonic level crossing safety
TRIALS have shown that road vehicles which have stopped on level crossings can be detected by ultrasonics. Stationary or stalled vehicles cause a quarter of the 350 level crossing accidents which occur each year in Japan, and automatic detection linked to signals could avoid or mitigate many of these incidents.Since ...
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Options confirmed
ON April 29 Dallas Area Rapid Transit confirmed that it would take up its option for an extra 21 LRVs from Kinki Sharyo USA at a cost of $60m. The option was included in an order for 34 cars placed last year (RG 12.97 p835), and will bring the DART ...
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Concession renegotiated
TRENES de Buenos Aires became the first suburban operator to renegotiate its concession on April 16, when the Argentinian cabinet approved a 20-year extension to the contract ending in 2005. Although requiring approval from the parliamentary privatisation committee, the deal commits TBA to investing US$2·2bn in the Mitre and Sarmiento ...
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Geismar develops Railtrack MPV concept vehicle
ON MAY 8, Railtrack’s Director, Engineering & Production, Brian Mellitt unveiled a multi-purpose infrastructure service vehicle at London’s Waterloo station. Intended to replace a miscellaneous collection of converted equipment, the MPV combines high-pressure railhead cleaning jets to remove leaves from the line, application of Sandite gel to improve adhesion, weedkiller ...
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Strasbourg Eurotrams commission Derby test track
FIRST vehicle to be trialled on the 1·1 km test track commissioned at the Adtranz Litchurch Lane works in Derby was the launch unit in a follow-on order for 27 all-low-floor trams for Strasbourg. The vehicles are similar to the original 26 cars supplied from Derby in 1994, but 17 ...
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Tanayong cars ready to start trials
ON APRIL 17 Siemens SGP Transport Systems unveiled in Wien the first of 35 three-car metro sets for the Bangkok Mass Transit System. The blue, white and red-flashed vehicles are due to enter service in early 2000.They form part of a DM4bn turnkey contract for Tanayong subsidiary Bangkok Mass Transit ...