All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 839
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NewsAubagne orders Citadis Compact
FRANCE: On October 5 Alstom Transport received the first order for its 22 m long Citadis Compact tram, a fleet of eight vehicles to be supplied for a new network serving the town of Aubagne to the east of Marseille. Under a contract worth €14m containing options for five to ...
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NewsSølvegade 40 goes up for sale
DENMARK: As national passenger operator DSB struggles to restore its finances, new Chief Executive Christian Roslev has announced plans to sell the company’s iconic headquarters building in København. The 240-year old former barracks at Sølvgade 40 has been national railway’s headquarters for the past 83 years, but the idea of ...
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NewsRZD to increase 2011 investment spending
RUSSIA: Presenting the Russian Railways results for the first nine months of 2011 in Moscow on October 5, RZD President Vladimir Yakunin confirmed that the railway was planning to increase its capital spending for the current year by 18%. The railway had initially approved an investment programme totalling 349bn roubles, ...
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NewsRishon Le-Ziyyon West line opens
ISRAEL: Revenue services began running on the new suburban line between Tel Aviv Ha'agana and Rishon Le-Ziyyon Moshe Dayan on September 26, after industrial action over plans to outsource rolling stock maintenance disrupted the formal inauguration scheduled for the previous day. Transport Minister Yisrael Katz and ISR General Manager Boaz ...
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NewsBangalore metro ready to open
INDIA: The first section of the Bangalore Metro Rail network will officially open on October 20, according to D V Sadananda Gowda, the Chief Minister of Karnataka. He said the 6·7 km ‘Reach 1’ from Byappanahalli to Mahatma Gandhi Road would be inaugurated by the national government’s Urban Development ...
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NewsLocal funding for Chinese rail projects
CHINA: The National Development & Reform Commission has approved the Hechi – Nanning railway project submitted by the Ministry of Railways and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The 225 km line is priced at 22·7bn yuan, with funding to be split equally between the ministry and the regional government. Hubei Provincial ...
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NewsAuckland EMU contract signed
NEW ZEALAND: Transport Minister Steven Joyce confirmed on October 6 that Auckland Transport had signed contracts with Spanish manufacturer CAF for the supply and maintenance of 57 three-car electric multiple-units to operate the Auckland suburban network. Speaking at Britomart station in the city centre, Joyce said ‘this ...
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NewsSound and safe
SWITZERLAND: SBB Cargo is providing shunting staff using remote control equipment with mobile phones from Finnish firm Twig Com that incorporate motion sensors and GPS tracking to enable the user to be located in an emergency. If the phone's sensor is motionless for 3 min the phone automatically sets an ...
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NewsToshkent trams
UZBEKISTAN: Celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of independence on September 1 included the launch of the first two of 20 VarioLF low-floor trams supplied by the Alliance TW Team consortium of Czech manufacturers Pragoimex, KOS Krnov and VKV Praha. The rest are scheduled to arrive next year. 'These trams meet ...
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NewsBrunswick Rail’s new-generation wagons arrive
RUSSIA: private wagon leasing group Brunswick Rail announced on October 5 that it had taken delivery of the first of a new design of gondola wagons being supplied by CJSC Promtraktor-Vagon. Under a contract signed in July, Brunswick Rail is buying 70 Type 12-1304 four-axle wagons from Promtraktor-Vagon; these are ...
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NewsLine H opens to Parque Patricios
ARGENTINA: On October 4 the southern extension of Line H from Caseros to Parque Patricios was formally opened by Mauricio Macri, head of the Buenos Aires city government, joined by Juan Pablo Piccardo, President of metro construction authority SBASE. Public services were due to begin at 18.00. The new southern ...
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NewsCAF preferred for Auckland EMU order
NEW ZEALAND: A consortium of Spanish manufacturer CAF and Mitsubishi of Japan has reportedly been selected as preferred bidder to supply and maintain 57 three-car electric multiple-units to operate the Auckland suburban network now being electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz. The deal had been expected to be announced on ...
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NewsChongqing opens monorail and metro lines
CHINA: Chongqing Rail Transit has begun trial operations on its first conventional metro and second straddle monorail lines, expanding the city's urban rail network. The first route to be completed was Line 2, which opened in 2005 using straddle monorail technology from Hitachi. Monorail Line 3 services began running at ...
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NewsTurnout converter
UK: The Points Converter launched by Zonegreen enables hand-operated turnouts to be converted to powered and remote control, helping to streamline the operation of depots, reducing the need for stop-start operations and also reducing the risk of staff accidents. ‘The system is made up of two parts’, explains Technical Director ...
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NewsFreedom takes Flexity to the North American tram market
NORTH AMERICA: Bombardier Transportation President & CEO André Navarri launched the ‘Flexity Freedom’ as the company's tram platform for North America at APTA Expo 2011 in New Orleans on October 4. The 100% low-floor car is a parallel development to the Flexity 2, launched in Blackpool last month and targeted ...
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NewsSNC Lavalin acquires Interfleet Technology
INTERNATIONAL: Montréal-based international infrastructure and engineering group SNC-Lavalin announced on October 4 that it had agreed to acquire the rolling stock engineering and rail operations consultancy Interfleet Technology under a deal signed on October 3. Formed in 1994 through a management buy-out of British Rail’s former inter-city train engineering services ...
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VDB elects new board members
Meeting in Kiel on September 30, the German Railway Industry Association VDB elected Dr Klaus Baur of Bombardier Transportation, as VDB President for 2011-14. He is joined on the nine-member board by Dr Ansgar Brockmeyer of Siemens Mobility as Vice-President with responsibility for rail vehicles, Andreas Becker of Ephy Mess ...
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NewsC4Ks start running to Larne
UK: Northern Ireland’s Transport Minister Danny Kennedy joined the celebrations on October 3 to mark the entry into service on the Belfast – Larne route of the first of Translink’s new Class 4000 DMUs. The 20 three-car units are being supplied by CAF under the operator’s £150m New Trains Programme, ...
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NewsEMD to produce passenger demonstrator loco
USA: Electro-Motive Diesel announced the development of a 200 km/h ‘next generation’ diesel passenger locomotive for the North American market at APTA Expo 2011 in New Orleans on October 3. The design is being produced on a speculative basis, and a prototype is to be rolled out during 2014. The ...
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NewsNordic Rail: a meeting point for the region's railways
The railway industry of Scandinavia and Finland gathers on October 4-6 for the Nordic Rail exhibition. Organised by Elmia in the Swedish town of Jönköping every two years, Nordic Rail and the related Future Transport exhibitions are designed to act both as a showcase for new products and a 'meeting ...