All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1401
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Osaka opens cross-city link
MARCH 8 sees the inauguration of a 12·3 km cross-city rail link in the Japanese city of Osaka. Built by a public-private third sector company, the Katafuku line links existing JR West stations at Kyobashi and Amagasaki. The route includes 10·2 km in tunnel under the heart of the city. ...
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Creating a path to the future
Superconducting MaglevINTRO: Interest at this month’s high speed railways conference in Okayama commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sanyo Shinkansen will focus on the 300X experimental train, but JR Central is poised to start levitation trials with the maglev train on the Yamanashi test lineBYLINE: Yoshiyuki Kasai PresidentCentral Japan Railway ...
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Counting passengers by laser
The Transcomp trackside passenger-counting system from Eres Industrie comprises a laser transmitter unit and a counting unit installed on existing signalling or electrification masts facing each other across the track. Programmed with the operating timetable for the route in question and equipped with trackside vibration detectors, the equipment scans passing ...
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Tramlink enters the construction phase
A 28 km light rail network to open in Croydon in 1999 will greatly improve east-west orbital journeys through south London and alleviate growing road congestion in Britain's eleventh biggest centre
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Conrail stalemate
CHIEF EXECUTIVES David M LeVan of Conrail, John W Snow of CSX and Norfolk Southern’s David R Goode emerged from a private meeting on January 31 having failed to agree a formula for replacing the three major eastern US railways by two. On January 17, Conrail shareholders rejected overwhelmingly a ...
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Composite trams
BASLER Verkehrsbetriebe has ordered 28 low-floor centre sections from Schindler Waggon AG at a cost of SFr16·4m, to enlarge its Be4/6 articulated trams delivered in 1990-91. This will increase their capacity by 30%, with 14 extra seats and space for wheelchairs or prams. The first car is due to be ...
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TNT storms Queensland citadel
Queensland Railways has stood aloof from the chaotic ’liberalisation’ process under way on Australia’s standard gauge interstate network - until January 23, that is, when the National Competition Council revealed that Carpentaria Transport Pty Ltd had initiated an open access bid. The TNT subsidiary wants the right to run its ...
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Time for change
A software tool developed by Cognos Ltd is helping London Underground to keep ticket machines in full service.Deciding when to refill specific machines with change, so that passengers did not have to enter the exact fare only, was previously up to the judgement of station staff. Instead station managers can ...
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Casting the Net wider
Companies and organisations of all complexions within the global railway industry are embracing the Internet. From discussion groups and bulletin boards run for and by enthusiasts to the research programmes of academic institutions, information on railways is being presented by an ever-growing number of bodies to an ever-growing number of ...
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Car orders
ANGLO-French rolling stock supplier GEC Alsthom announced in February that it had won two contracts to supply metro and commuter rail trainsets to South America.On February 11 GEC Alsthom won a Fr300m order to build a further 6 seven-car trains for Lines 1 and 2 of the Santiago metro. They ...
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Calculating RailNoise
WS Atkins Noise & Vibration has developed RailNoise, a software package for the calculation of operational noise following an official procedure published in 1995 by Britain’s Transport Research Laboratory. A three-dimensional site model is constructed incorporating the railway (of any type) and natural or man-made features that may reflect, ...
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Siemens group takes Bursa light rail
CONTRACTS for construction of a 21·5 km light rail line in the Turkish city of Bursa were signed at the beginning of February. The municipality has selected a consortium led by Siemens Verkehrstechnik, together with Ansaldo Trasporti and three local firms. The deal is valued at DM500m.The first phase of ...
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RZD eliminates regional boundaries
RUSSIAN Railways is implementing a sweeping reorganisation programme that sees the number of regional managements cut from 19 to six. Foreshadowed last May at a special railway congress held in Moscow (RG 7.96 p403), the restructuring has now been approved by both parliament and government. Each of the new regions ...
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Investment boost
Norfolk Southern revealed on January 23 that it will spend $792m on capital projects in 1997, an $84m increase on 1996. A week later Union Pacific announced that its 1997 capital spending would total $2·2bn, including more than $500m to implement the merger with SP.NS has allocated over $100m towards ...
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Operators must be on board at the outset
INTRO: UITP Secretary General Pierre Laconte warns that consortia formed to design, build and fund light rail projects must have operating expertise available from the start or court financial disasterTHERE SEEMS little doubt that cities will face increasing difficulties in raising funds from traditional state sources for major light rail ...
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Maintenance bids
February 12 was the closing date for expressions of interest in bidding for contracts to maintain the infrastructure formerly owned and managed by the State Rail Authority of New South Wales. Rail Access Corp, now responsible for infrastructure in NSW, intends to introduce competitive tendering by 2001 for all maintenance, ...
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LCR shortlists St Pancras bidders
on January 21 London & Continental Railways shortlisted eight groups for a contract to develop St Pancras Chambers. They are: Bouygues, DEGW/TG and Lynton consortia, British Land Co plc, The Burrell Co, Midland Grand Hotel Group, Rainham International and St Pancras Chambers Hotel Group.LCR subsidiary London & Continental Stations & ...
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Tilt trains in prospect as final franchises awarded
ANNOUNCEMENTS on February 11 that Britain’s National Express Group had been chosen as preferred bidder for the ScotRail and Central Trains passenger franchises marked the culmination of the drive to transfer 25 ex-BR train operating companies to the private sector in little more than a year. The Office of Passenger ...
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French light rail awaits the millenium
INTRO: Urban rail projects in France are again the focus of interest in the wake of last year’s municipal elections. Gordon Wiseman finds that smaller cities are investing strongly in light railTWO YEARS after the launch of light rail in Rouen and Strasbourg, the next round of activity is under ...
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Saarbrücken to launch second dual-mode LRT in the autumn
INTRO: Saarbrücken is almost ready to emulate Karlsruhe as other cities prepare to marry light and heavy rail technologies. Richard Hope reports from the tracklaying siteGROOVED RAILS have been laid along Kaiserstra§e in the heart of Saarbrücken, and trial running will begin shortly with the first of 28 dual-voltage light ...