All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 813
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NewsTransmashholding sales up 38%
RUSSIA: Transmashholding has announced total sales of 106·3bn roubles for 2011, up 38% on the figure for 2010. The company said this growth was driven by fleet renewal programmes being undertaken by its customers, in particular Russian Railways. Products launched in 2011 included the EP20 electric locomotive for RZD and ...
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NewsBombardier opens traction electronics Powerlab
SWEDEN: Bombardier Transportation officially opened the Mitrac Powerlab at its Västerås plant on March 25. The centre of competence for medium-power technology including traction and auxiliary converters, motors and gearboxes is the company's second development and test laboratory, after the Zürich site which was opened in 2009. Bombardier ...
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NewsHealthcare train enters service
SOUTH AFRICA: A second healthcare train was launched last month. Built by Transnet Rail Engineering at cost of R82m, 'Phelophepa II' has 20 permanent staff and 40 students providing health, dental, optometry and psychological treatment and education services. It will travel 15 000 km a year, serving 100 000 ...
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NewsWabtec converts Mk III coaches
UK: Wabtec Rail Scotland is converting 15 Mk III catering vehicles owned by leasing firm Angel Trains into standard class cars under a project to add capacity to First Great Western's HST inter-city trainsets. The catering vehicles require extensive work, including stripping out existing interiors and kitchen equipment, treating corrosion ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market April 2012
Australia: Bombardier has awarded Balfour Beatty Rail an A$14m contract to supply overhead line equipment for the Gold Coast tram project (RG 2.12 p59). China: China Railway First Survey & Design Institute has begun construction of a 25 km line to serve Zangge Potash Co’s Qaidam Basin site in ...
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NewsDB places three orders for EMUs
GERMANY: DB has awarded Alstom, Bombardier and Stadler firm orders for the supply of electric multiple-units within the terms of a series of existing framework agreements. On April 3 DB Regio announced orders for EMUs which are to be used from 2014 on services operated under contract in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Stadler ...
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NewsNews in Brief - April 2012
According to the Association of American Railroads, US freight railways will make capital investments totalling a record $13bn in 2012. The Bulgarian government has dropped plans to award a concession for management of Sofia Tsentralna station, which is to undergo a €30m refurbishment in 2013. This year the Metrans subsidiary ...
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NewsCameroon rail master plan unveiled
CAMEROON: Economy, Planning & Regional Development minister Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi has announced details of a national railway master plan ‘to provide Cameroon with a low-cost, integrated and efficient transport network’. The programme was developed in partnership with South Korea firms Korpec and Chunsuk Engineering, and is to be followed ...
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NewsVIA Rail adopts condition-based strategy
CANADA: National passenger operator VIA Rail has appointed BMT Fleet Technology to develop a condition-based maintenance pilot programme and review its current maintenance strategies. VIA Rail hopes the results will help improve fleet performance and availability while reducing costs. The condition-based maintenance project runs to October and is focusing on ...
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NewsMadrid - Ourense high speed PPP contracts awarded
SPAIN: Two PPP contracts for the supply and installation of railway equipment on the Madrid - Ourense high speed line were approved by the board of infrastructure authority ADIF on March 30. Both contracts include maintenance over a period of 25 years. A consortium of Ferrovial Agromán, Tecsa, Vías y ...
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NewsNorth Shore Connector opens
USA: Regular services on Pittsburgh's 1·9 km North Shore Connector extension of the T light rail line began on March 25, following inauguration ceremonies two days before. The Connector runs through a twin-bore tunnel under the Allegheny River to link the city centre with the North Shore area, a developing ...
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News
Amanda Nair
Amanda Nair has been appointed Chairman of the Gautrain Management Agency for a three-year term, with Abel Mawela as Deputy Chairman. Also on the Board are Donovan Nadison, Mogopodi Mokoena, Doris Dondur, Motseaoa Alix-Mary Lugemwa and Professor Wellington Thwala.
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NewsRejuvenated Blackpool tramway reopens
UK: Transport Minister Norman Baker officially reopened the Blackpool tramway on April 3, following a four-year project to revitalise the only traditional tram line to have survived in the UK. The first journey carried 40 'golden ticket' competition winners, with regular passenger services scheduled to start the following day. ...
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NewsCalifornia revises high speed plans again
USA: The California High Speed Rail Authority released a third substantially-revised business plan on April 2, covering construction of an initial 480 route-km of dedicated high speed tracks between Merced and the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. CHSRA's original vision of a 1 100 km network running from ...
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NewsSNCF orders 40 Euroduplex sets
FRANCE: SNCF has exercised an option for a further 40 third-generation Duplex high speed trainsets from Alstom Transport under a framework agreed in June 2007. SNCF is already taking delivery of 55 of the 320 km/h multi-system double-deck trainsets, branded Euroduplex by Alstom. The first entered traffic in December 2011 ...
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NewsUkrainian Railways to be restructured
UKRAINE: A restructuring of Ukrainian Railways is to be undertaken after President Viktor Yanukovych approved the plans during March. Subject to final approvals, the government aims to implement the changes by the end of the year. National railway UZ will become a joint stock company owned 100% by the state. ...
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NewsWien metro line U1 to be extended to Oberlaa
AUSTRIA: The Wien city authorities have selected the spa at Oberlaa rather than Rothneusiedl as the southern terminus of a planned extension to metro line U1, saying this would serve a larger population. The decision, announced on March 21, will enable main works on the €600m project to begin this ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - April 2012
MPK Lódz formally takes over responsibility for operating the city’s entire tram network from April 1, resuming control of the Podmiejskie and Miedzygminna interurban lines which were split off in 1993. The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso has launched a tender to design and build two light rail lines in ...
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NewsIndustry News in Brief
Having won an order worth R$28m from Bombardier, Brazilian plastics manufacturer MVC is investing R$2m in a new railway production line at its São José dos Pinhais plant. Deliveries of composite parts including front ends for passenger trains are due to start in June. The Kaztemirtrans subsidiary of Kazakh state ...
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NewsRAI commissions new turntable
IRAN: It is not often that we receive reports about the commissioning of new turntables, but on February 29 one was formally inaugurated at Mashhad by Mohammad Hadi Ziari, President & Director-General of national railway RAI. In the past, single-ended diesel locomotives had been turned at Mashhad using a triangle. ...