All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1375
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News
In Brief
n On January 29 the Panama congress formally approved the award of a 25-year concession to rehabilitate and operate the country’s railway, in exchange for 5% of gross revenue. A consortium led by Kansas City Southern plans to invest US$70m over the next two years to develop a trans-isthmus container ...
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Pollution rules boost costs
FINAL RULES on exhaust emissions issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency are estimated to add $252000 to the whole-life cost of a locomotive - though the impact will be gradual as the tighter standards are phased in between 2000 and 2005.There are three levels, or tiers, of standards. Tier ...
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Traffic surge and debt relief boost SNCF prospects
INTRO: After several years in the doldrums, French National Railways is starting to improve its financial performance. Increasing traffic during 1997 has boosted the balance sheet, and the transfer of historic debt to RFF has relieved the interest burden. Jean-Paul Masse looks at the story behind the figuresON JANUARY 8 ...
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Spending boost
NORFOLK Southern is to invest $903m on capital projects this year, compared to $781m in 1997. Of this, $149m will go towards the proposed Conrail acquisition. Major programmes include $279m for rail, sleepers, ballast and bridge replacement, up 4% from 1997, and $237m for rolling stock including 116 six-axle diesel ...
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Exports bolster Ganz-Hunslet
SINCE being taken over by Oakdale Ltd, an international investment company based in Cyprus, Ganz-Hunslet has been striving to cope with a dearth of orders from its traditional customer, Hungarian State Railways, by revamping its product range and seeking more export business. Oakdale acquired Hungary’s principal rolling stock manufacturer from ...
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Turkish bids go in
FINAL bids are due on March 3 for a contract to build the planned 3 km extension of the Istanbul heavy metro from Taksim to Unkapan?µ. Including a bridge across the Golden Horn, the extension is provisionally costed at 36 trillion lire.Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has prequalified nine consortia for the ...
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Swiss transit deal may fund base tunnels
YEARS of negotiations between Switzerland and the European Union about transit freight culminated on January 23 with heads of agreement being signed after a final 6h session. Often acrimonious discussions centred on the conflicting wishes of the Swiss to protect their environment and the EU to eliminate a bottleneck to ...
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Ottawa backs light rail
TRAMS could be running in the Canadian capital before the millennium, if a fast-track plan adopted in January goes ahead. The regional government’s transportation committee unanimously backed the proposals to develop an initial network by December 1999. The project has also been endorsed by 11 of the city’s 19 regional ...
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UP starts the long haul back
SPEAKING in Omaha on January 19, Union Pacific Chairman & CEO Dick Davidson said that operations on his 56000 route-km network were back to near normal apart from the problem-plagued line between Houston and New Orleans. Average train speed during the first week in January improved to 23·5 km/h, the ...
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Auto Trains get TSM brake upgrade
Rockwell’s TSM Inc subsidiary has won a contract to equip Amtrak’s Auto Train fleet with its EABS
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Reform package authorised
MEETING on January 29, the Cabinet of the Russian Federation government headed by Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin formally approved the package of structural reforms for the Russian Railways network (RG 2.98 p83). However, with the agreement of the Minister of Railways Nikolai Aksyonenko, a timescale has only been agreed for ...
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Atlantic line awarded
COLOMBIA’s rail infrastructure authority Ferrovías finally awarded a 30-year concession at the end of January for the reconstruction and operation of its 1490 km Atlantic line linking Bogot
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Atlanta picks Breda cars
ON FEBRUARY 4 Italian rolling stock supplier Breda Costruzione Ferroviarie announced that it had won its largest ever international contract, to supply rolling stock for the Atlanta metro. The US$257m deal brokered by its US arm Breda Transportation Inc covers the provision of 100 new vehicles and the supply and ...
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Ankara upgrade
TURKISH Minister of Transport & Communications Necdet Menzir announced on February 3 that tenders would be called shortly for a US$237m upgrading of TCDD’s main line between Ankara and Haydarpasa, cutting the journey time to 4h. He said this would be more immediate and cost-effective than completing the high-speed line ...
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Inter-Rail relaunched ... again
The International Union of Railways has relaunched the Inter-Rail ticket, familiar to students and young travellers since 1972, as a ticket for all ages. It combines the traditional under-26 offer covering all 30 participating countries with the existing 26+ ticket. After France and other southern European countries complained of receiving ...
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African venture moves closer
NEXT MONTH is due to see the formal launch of Trans-Africa Railway Corp, an international venture to operate rail freight services from Johannesburg to the countries of central and East Africa (RG 2.98 p82). Among TARC shareholders are Spoornet of South Africa and its joint venture concessionaire Comozar which includes ...
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Safe and secure bridge access
THE Caretaker enclosure system developed by Designer Composites Technology has been designed to provide secure, permanent access to bridge undersides for inspection and maintenance. Fitted to road bridges over Railtrack routes at Bromley South and near the western entrance to the Severn Tunnel, the Caretaker enclosures remove the need for ...
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Athens orders AC fleet
A GREEK-GERMAN consortium has been selected to supply 40 AC-motored EMUs for the Athens metro in time for the 2004 Olympic Games. Athens-Piraeus Electric Railways has awarded a DM300m contract to the consortium of Hellenic Shipyards, Adtranz and Siemens Verkehrstechnik. First deliveries are due in December 1999, with the last ...
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AAR shake-up announced
RADICAL changes to the organisational structure of the Association of American Railroads were announced by AAR President & CEO M B Oglesby Jr on January 12. The association will be split into three separate entities to provide ’the highest levels of service’ to member railways. The three will cover technical ...
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Paris - Marseille in 3h
TGV MéDITERRANéE forms the longest construction site in France. Joining end-on at Saint-Marcel-les-Valence with the Lyon bypass - itself an extension of the TGV Sud-Est line - it runs for 225 km south to the outskirts of Marseille. A 25 km spur will leave the principal route at a triangular ...