All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 866
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NewsToronto unveils revised transit plan
CANADA: Top officials of the City of Toronto and the Province of Ontario announced a new C$12·4bn transit plan on March 31. This envisages a fully-underground 25 km Eglinton Avenue light rail line and two extensions of the Sheppard subway totalling 13 km. The province will contribute C$8·4bn towards the ...
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NewsPortland light rail extension starts final design
USA: The Federal Transit Administration has approved the start of final design for the $1·5bn MAX light rail extension to the Portland suburb of Milwaukie. The 11·7 km project, dubbed the Orange Line, is already at the 30% design stage. TriMet had previously received FTA permission to start building the ...
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NewsBursa light rail receives international funding
TURKEY: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development has approved a 15-year loan worth €50m towards construction of the second phase of the light rail network in Bursa. The loan is part of a financing package which also includes €100m from the European Investment Bank. The BursaRay light rail network ...
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NewsGauge-enhancement work completed
UK: The completion of a £71m programme to allow 9 ft 6 in containers to be carried on conventional flat wagons from the UK's second-largest container port was marked with a ceremony at Southampton Central station on April 4. The enhancement of the loading gauge on the key artery between ...
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John Fullerton
John Fullerton took over as Chief Executive of Australian Rail Track Corp at the end of February, succeeding David Marchant. He was previously Chief Executive for Asia Pacific Transport and Freightlink, and before that Divisional General Manager of Operation Services at Pacific National.
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NewsRhein-Neckar Verkehr orders more supercapacitor trams
GERMANY: Rhein-Neckar regional transport operator RNV has ordered a further 11 low-floor Variobahn trams for €33m, Bombardier Transportation announced on April 4. They will be fitted with Bombardier's Mitrac Energy Saver technology, which uses roof-mounted double-layer supercapacitors to store electricity regenerated during braking for reuse when accelerating. Trials in ...
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NewsFyra shuttles run through to Breda
NETHERLANDS: NS Hispeed finally began running Fyra services between Amsterdam and Breda on April 4, when the interim locomotive-hauled shuttle was extended from Rotterdam to Breda. Operating at half-hourly intervals, the trains take 67 min from Amsterdam Centraal to Breda, including intermediate stops at Schiphol Airport and Rotterdam Centraal. The ...
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Akhtar returns to Pakistan Railways
Pakistan: Saeed Akhtar has returned to Pakistan Railways as General Manager, Operations, replacing Ashfaq Khattak who has been moved to General Manager, Development. Akhtar had been GM Operations before being appointed Federal Government Inspector of Railways. The former General Manager, Development, Shahid Ahmad has been named Managing Director of Pakistan ...
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NewsAlaska Railroad tenders Port MacKenzie extension works
USA: Tenders are to be invited this month for construction work on the first section of Alaska Railroad’s 51 km Port MacKenzie Extension, following the publication of the final Environmental Impact Statement by the Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis on March 25. The line is intended to connect ...
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NewsAlstom and CNR exhibiting at SIFER
FRANCE: Held every two years, the Sifer trade exhibition returns to its accustomed venue at Lille's Grand Palais on April 5-7 with more than 200 exhibitors from 13 countries already finalised. Two headline names stand out. Alstom will be exhibiting for the first time as part of the Northern France ...
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NewsSpeedier data collection
GERMANY: Trimble has added to its rail data product range with the acquisition of the GEDO CE Trolley from German firm Vermessungsbedarf. The trolley is designed to speed the collection of track alignment and loading gauge data for maintenance purposes; it is particularly suited to measuring older infrastructure. The vehicle ...
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NewsExpo branch revived
SPAIN: ADIF has awarded a joint venture of Iberovías, Sando and Elecnor a €324m contract to convert the branch to La Cartuja into route C2 of the Sevilla suburban network. Covering a total of 12 km, the project includes conversion of 53 km originally built for high speed ...
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NewsGO Transit tracks change hands
CANADA: Metrolinx, the regional transport agency for Greater Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, confirmed on March 30 that it had completed the purchase of a section of CN's Kingston Subdivision for C$299m. Running eastwards from Toronto’s Union station to Pickering, Ontario, the two and three-track line is primarily used by GO ...
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NewsDSB CEO dismissed over accounting irregularities
DENMARK: National passenger operator DSB has confirmed the dismissal of its Chief Executive Søren Eriksen following an extraordinary board meeting on March 29. Eriksen had been fired by the board and Transport Minister Hans Christian Schmidts on March 17, ahead of the publication of DSB’s annual results the following day. ...
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SNCF Proximités appoints senior management team
France: SNCF Proximités Director General Jean-Pierre Farandou (photo) has announced several senior appointments to strengthen the management team at the national railway’s business unit which operates urban and regional passenger services in France.Christian Cochet has been appointed Deputy Director General with responsibility for development, while Céline Sibert becomes Secretary General ...
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NewsAdelaide orders A-City EMUs
AUSTRALIA: The Government of South Australia has placed an A$269m order for 22 three-car suburban EMUs from Bombardier Transportation, the manufacturer announced on March 31. The trains are required to operate suburban services around Adelaide on four lines that are to be electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz AC by ...
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NewsCalifornia applies for federal high speed funding
USA: At a board meeting on March 30, California High-Speed Rail Authority voted unanimously to apply for federal high speed rail funding previously allocated to Florida. The $2·43bn grant was rejected by Florida Governor Rick Scott on February 16, effectively cancelling that state’s plan to build a 135 km line ...
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NewsVossloh reports record sales
EUROPE: Vossloh Group has reported full-year pre-tax profits of €152·1m in 2010, a 10·3% increase on the previous year. The company also recorded its highest-ever sales of €1·35bn, up by 15·1% on 2009. Vossloh attributed almost half of its revenue growth to its Rail Services business unit, formed following the ...
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NewsDriverless metro line opened in Busan
SOUTH KOREA: Busan Transportation Corp inaugurated its driverless light metro Line 4 on March 30, following 11 days of trial running between March 15 and March 25. The 12·7 km route runs east from Minam on metro Line 3 to Anpyeong and provides an interchange to metro Line 1 ...
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NewsADB loan supports Hanoi metro Line 3
VIETNAM: The Asian Development Bank has agreed to provide US$293m in funding to support construction of Line 3 of Hanoi’s urban rail master plan. The decision adds to loans already in place from EIB and Agence Française de Développement. The 12·5 km first phase of the heavy metro line will ...