All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 776
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NewsWorld rolling stock market November 2012
Brazil: Porto Alegre operator Trensurb has called tenders for 15 four-car EMUs worth up to RS$220m, funded by the federal government's PAC programme to stimulate economic growth. Price is the main criterion, but preference will be given to domestic production. Vale has commissioned Romanian firm Astra Vagone to supply ...
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NewsEVRAZ sells wagon business to NefteTransService
RUSSIA: Steel, mining and vanadium business EVRAZ signed an agreement to sell its EvrazTrans rail freight subsidiary to NefteTransService on November 22. The transaction is worth approximately US$300m, and subject to regulatory approval is expected to close by the end of the year. The deal includes assets worth US$243m, including ...
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NewsHigh speed opening dates confirmed
SPAIN: Work on the high speed line between Barcelona and the French border will be completed this year, Development Minister Ana Pastor said on November 12, enabling services to start running from April 2013. ADIF announced that overhead electrification equipment would be energised on the last 18·4 km of the ...
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NewsConcrete sleeper factory opens
KAZAKHSTAN: The Tines Manufacture Railway KAZ joint-venture between Polish firm Tines and local company Kazakhs Magnetik officially opened a concrete sleeper and ballastless track component production facility on November 2. The plant will produce Tines’ EBS and LC-L track systems, adapted for 1520 mm gauge networks.
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NewsNews in Brief - November 2012
The Nordhessen and Rhein-Main transport authorities have directly awarded incumbent DB RegioNetz’s Kurhessenbahn a contract to operate Kassel – Korbach, Korbach – Brilon Wald and Frankenberg – Marburg services totalling 1·32 million train-km/year from the December timetable change. Mittelsachsen transport authority VMS is investigating acquiring its own fleet of 25 ...
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NewsJoin the Young Railway Professionals social rail network
EUROPE: UK-based development and networking association Young Railway Professionals has relaunched its website to include a social networking function to facilitate joining the organisation, attending events and debating industry topics. Taking its inspiration from high-profile social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, YRP Chairman Paul Cooper believes the community ...
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NewsConstruction of Sofia airport metro extension begins
BULGARIA: Minister of Transport & Communications Ivaylo Moskovski and Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova attended a sod-turning ceremony on November 21 to formally launch construction of the airport extension of Sofia metro Line 1. The extension from Tsarigradsko Shose to the airport will be 5 km long, with four stations. ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market November 2012
Australia: TasRail has appointed VEC Civil Engineering to replace the Forth River Rail Bridge, the latest in a series of contracts with a total value of A$20m won by VEC, which is also to build new bridges over the Blythe and Leven rivers and rehabilitate the River Don bridge. MB&A ...
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NewsWi-fi proves popular with passengers
AUSTRALIA: Nomad Digital has announced details of passenger usage trends to mark the millionth user session on Queensland Rail's free onboard wi-fi. Two-thirds of Queensland Rail's commuter trains are now equipped with Nomad Digital's wi-fi technology, and on average it is used by 58 000 passengers a week, for 30 ...
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NewsTrains take to the water to bypass damaged bridge
DENMARK: Infrastructure manager Banedanmeark and engineering company MT Højgaard have announced delays to the reopening of the Limfjorden bridge at Aalborg, which was hit by a container ship on March 28. On April 21 the damaged section of the lifting bridge was removed to allow maritime traffic to resume, but ...
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NewsRefrigerated container service launched
INDIA: South Central Railway has announced the launch of its first refrigerated container service in partnership with Container Corp Of India Ltd. The inaugural train was flagged off from Sanatnagar Container Depot in Hyderabad on November 7, carrying seven refrigerated containers of pharmaceutical products for export through Jawaharlal Nehru Port ...
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News
Flora Castillo
Flora Castillo of the New Jersey Transit Corporation has been elected Chair of the American Public Transportation Association’s Executive Committee for 2012-13. Peter Varga of the Interurban Transit Partnership becomes Vice-Chair and Foothill Transit’s Doran Barnes is Secretary-Treasurer, while former Chair Gary Thomas takes up the post of Immediate Past ...
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NewsCAF wins Tallinn tram contract
ESTONIA: Tallinn urban transport operator Tallinna Linnatranspordi has selected CAF for a contract to supply 15 low-floor trams. Deliveries are scheduled to start within 21 months and be completed within 32 months. The 1 067 mm gauge trams will be 2 300 mm wide and equipped for regenerative braking. They ...
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NewsSunbury electrification inaugurated
AUSTRALIA: The latest extension of the electrification on Melbourne's suburban network was inaugurated on November 18, when Victoria's Minister for Public Transport Terry Mulder boarded the first electric train to carry passengers from Sunbury. The A$270m project to electrify the short section of the Melbourne - Bendigo line beyond the ...
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NewsCoaches designed for a long and cold run
CHINA: Drawing on vehicles developed for the Lhasa route, CSR Qingdao Sifang is building a family of 120 km/h passenger coaches to replace K3 and K4 cars operated on services from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar and Moscow. The 13-day round trip requires vehicles able to cope with sandstorms as well as ...
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NewsRail motorway, electrification and passenger plans announced
FRANCE: Visiting Boulogne-sur-Mer on November 12, Transport Minister Frédéric Cuvillier announced that a third piggyback service is to be launched to connect Bayonne near the Spanish border with Dourges south of Lille. Expected to start operations around 2015, the Autoroute Ferroviairie Atlantique would run via Bordeaux and Longueau. Cuvillier also ...
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NewsNews in Brief - November 2012
In a local referendum 50·2% of voters rejected the SFr920m TransRUN plan to build a new tunnelled alignment between Neuchâtel and La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland. This would have replaced the existing sharply-curved route, cutting journey times from 30 to 14 min. Canadian Pacific introduced faster schedules for trans-Continental intermodal trains ...
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NewsHuawei wins Turkmenistan Railways telecoms contract
TURKMENISTAN: Huawei has been awarded a contract to supply telecoms for the 288 km Chilmammet - Buzhun section of the north-south rail corridor which is under construction to link Kazakhstan and Iran. The Chinese firm will work with ASPMK-519 and KEC International. The scope of the contract includes provision of ...
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NewsWorld rail market November 2012
Denmark: Banedanmark has awarded Siemens a DKr200m contract to supply and support GSM-R digital radios. Germany: Dräger is to supply 36 containerised transport, equipment and fire-fighting units for DB’s rescue trains. Self-contained air supplies mean passengers can be protected within the trains without using respiratory equipment. Indonesia: A ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - November 2012
The Swiss government has approved plans to extend Bern tram Line 9 to Kleinwabern and build a new line from Ostermundigen to Köniz; the state will contribute up to SFr74·4m. A 3·4 km extension of Daegu metro Line 2 from Sawol to Yeongnam University with four stations opened on ...