All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1389
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News
NY expansion
NEW YORK’s Metro-North Commuter Railroad has announced plans to relieve a major bottleneck its 123 km Harlem line, which has seen ridership increase by an average of 2·6% annually since 1984. Whereas the Hudson and New Haven lines each have three or four tracks throughout, the mid-Harlem section has only ...
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Redwing puts drivers in the picture
Driver-only operation offers cost savings, but the associated equipment - cameras, TV monitors and mirrors - are prone to vandalism. To view train doors, the driver must be able to stop the train accurately at the viewing point, and it is often difficult to continue to view the area around ...
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SNCB to renew diesel fleet
Belgian National Railways is to purchase a fleet of 80 two-car diesel multiple-units for its non-electrified secondary routes. SNCB’s Board of Directors decided on June 27 to award the contract to GEC Alsthom Transporte of Spain, following a Europe-wide bidding process which started in January 1996.To be delivered in 1999-2002, ...
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Heathrow Express passes delivery milestone
JUNE 23 saw the first Heathrow Express Class 332 EMU built by Siemens and CAF handed over to airport operator BAA plc at a ceremony at the new HEx Old Oak Common Train Care facility in west London. BAA Chief Executive Sir John Egan received a three-car set from his ...
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Sale delayed
AS BIDDING was about to close on the sale of Australian National, the federal finance ministry announced on June 20 that privatisation would be delayed by a month. The Office of Asset Sales had shortlisted 15 bidders, who were given until July 31 to submit offers for AN’s freight operations ...
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Refurbishment deal
BANGLADESH Railways diesel 2410 was rolled-out of the company’s Central Locomotive Works at Parbatipur on June 2, marking a milestone in a loco maintenance programme being funded by the Canadian International Development Agency. BR Director-General M A Manaf and Canadian High Commissioner Nicholas Etheridge participated in the ceremony to mark ...
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Out for the day
AVAILABLE until September 27, Passbask offers a day’s unlimited second class travel on French, Spanish and Basque Railways services between Bayonne and San Sebasti
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Faster through the curves on JR-Central
INTRO: Since Japanese National Railways was divided into separate companies in 1987, JR-Central has put into service around 600 new vehicles for its 1067mm gauge network that carries over half a million passengers a day. Tilting trains have helped cut journey times on key routesBYLINE: Kazuhiro YoshikawaManager, Rolling Stock DepartmentConventional ...
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Cruising through the Rockies
AMERICAN Orient Express ran a series of three-day luxury rail cruises through the Rocky Mountains between Denver and Salt Lake City in July and August, hauled by two Genesis locos provided by Amtrak. On each of the 14 scheduled trips, a maximum of 100 passengers were carried in 15 refurbished ...
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Coruña tramway
JUNE saw the inauguration of a 4 km tramway in the Spanish city of A Coruña, linking the castle of San Antón and the Tower of Hercules. A 15min interval service is provided by two ’heritage’ trams built in the 1920s which have been rebuilt by CAF at Zaragoza.The line ...
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Netherlands sizes up power conversion
INTRO: Everybody agrees that 25 kV AC is essential on three primary international routes; phased conversion between 2005 and 2017 is the best option for the rest of the trunk network, but who will pay?BYLINE: Robin HemelrijkSenior Project LeaderRailned InnovatieTHE DUTCH national network is 2739route-km of which 1991 km is ...
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Connex fleet replacement
French-owned Connex Rail Ltd has ordered 30 four-car Class 375 ’Electrostar’ EMUs from Adtranz for £90m, to operate Connex South Eastern services from London to Dover and Hastings. The contract signed on July 16 includes options for up to 800 more cars, up to half of which could be for ...
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Making concessions
DECREE 605 signed by President Menem and published on July 3 opened a 120-day window for the government and Argentina’s five private freight railways to renegotiate the 30-year operating concessions signed between 1991 and 1993. Some months ago the operators suspended payments for use of Argentine Railways’ infrastructure and rolling ...
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Financing closer
A DM2·8bn funding package for reconstruction of German Railway's Sachsenmagistrale main line linking Hof with Dresden and Leipzig will be agreed later this year, according to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Federal Transport Minister, Johannes Nitsch. He told Sachsen Economics Secretary Dr Wolfgang Zeller on June 9 that the funds ...
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Gas tensioner supports JR Central wires
Spring and balance-weight tensioners have been superseded by a gas-cylinder model developed by JR Central, offering a smaller, lighter unit with improved performance.Whereas conventional tensioners absorb the slack produced when overhead line cables expand in the heat, the gas cylinder model actively tensions in response to changes in temperature. As ...
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Pizza express car
ITALIAN Railways has taken delivery of a prototype ’Pizza Express’ restaurant car conversion from Fervet of Castelfranco Veneto, developed in conjunction with train caterer Agape. The ex-TEE vehicle now has seats for 44 customers, divided between an area with 12 stools and a second with tables for two or four. ...
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Cali wants light rail
TENDERS were due last month for construction of a US$973m two-line light rail network in the Colombian city of Cali, 450 km southwest of Bogota. Work is expected to start next year, with the first segment opening in 2000, when the city’s population is predicted to reach 1·8 million. The ...
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Lake Titicaca bypass
PERU’S Ministry of Transport has invited tenders for consultants to review the technical and economic feasibility of building a standard-gauge railway between Puno and Desaguadero to replace the present train ferry across Lake Titicaca. The bi-weekly ferry severely constrains capacity on Enafer’s main link to Bolivia, and recent droughts and ...
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Rail Gourmet buys ERC
ON JUNE 29 the SAirRelations division of SAirGroup (formerly Swissair Group) signed a purchase agreement with the management of British-based European Rail Catering. The new acquisition will be integrated with Rail Gourmet, thereby more than doubling its revenue and increasing its European market share from 6 to 11%, according to ...
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CalTrain boost
BIDS ARE due by September 17 for supply of up to 20 double-deck gallery cars for the CalTrain commuter rail line, including five cab control vehicles. Each must have a wheelchair lift and disabled-accessible toilet. The Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board has $30m to buy additional vehicles to ...