All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 880
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NewsTram Bern West opens
SWITZERLAND: Trams now serve the business and residential areas of Bümpliz and Brünnen in the western suburbs of Bern, replacing two former trolleybus routes. On December 12 public transport operator Bernmobil inaugurated its Tram Bern West project, a 6·8 km Y-shaped extension of the city’s light rail network from Kaufmännischer ...
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NewsEMUs fitted with electric meters
UK: Energy meters are being fitted to 25 kV 50 Hz electric multiple-units in service with UK operator London Midland, enabling the company to pay for actual rather than estimated energy use and monitor individual train consumption anywhere on the network. The equipment is being supplied by FAR Systems of ...
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NewsFalse start for tram line T1 in Toulouse
FRANCE: Industrial action by trade unions representing drivers at local transport operator Tisséo led to the cancellation of the opening celebrations for tram line T1 in Toulouse on November 27-28.Revenue services on the 10·9 km, 18-stop line finally got underway on December 11. The line links the Arènes stop on ...
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NewsGlattfest celebrates Glattalbahn completion
SWITZERLAND: Project promoter Zürcher Verkehrsverbund and concessionaire Verkehrsbetriebe Glattal organised a day of festivities to celebrate the opening of the final Auzelg — Stettbach section of the Glattalbahn light rail project north of Zürich on December 11. The completed route runs from Stettbach to Zürich Airport via Wallisellen, Auzelg and ...
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NewsLight rail contracts awarded in Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA: Public transport authority Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd has awarded the first construction contracts for the 7bn ringgit Kelana Jaya and Ampang light rail expansion project in Kuala Lumpur. Both routes will eventually meet at Putra Heights, creating a ring around the city.The Kelana Jaya Line extension from its current ...
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NewsScottish cities reconnected
UK: A fourth direct route between Edinburgh and Glasgow came into operation on December 12, following the completion of a £300m project to reconnect the Glasgow – Airdrie and Edinburgh – Bathgate branch lines. The work re-establishes a through route which had been truncated for passengers in 1956 and closed ...
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NewsGetting data faster
IRELAND: Iarnród Éireann has taken delivery of two Calipri handheld optoelectronic gauges for non-contact measurement of wheelsets, brake discs, rail profiles or any complex shape. The Irish national operator had previously used mechanical gauges, with details logged manually and then entered onto a computer system. The Calipri system from Austrian ...
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NewsRoyal opening for Madrid – Valencia
SPAIN: The Madrid to Cuenca and Albacete section of the high speed line to Valencia was formally inaugurated by the Prince of Asturias and his consort on December 15. The section from Cuenca to Valencia will follow on December 18. The completion of a further 438 km of high speed ...
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News
Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd
Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd has been named as Minister for Infrastructure in the new Swedish government.
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NewsThird rail heating on test
UK: More than 16000 m of heating strip has been installed on conductor rails at 42 locations on Network Rail’s third rail DC electrified network in southeast England as part of trial which aims to improve reliability during freezing weather. The heating strips are manufactured by German firm Eltherm, and ...
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NewsMulti-mode wagon body
EUROPE: A further type of body has been developed for the Flex Freight System multi-purpose wagons which were launched last year by leasing firm Wascosa. The 20 ft Type R swap body was developed by Wascosa in conjunction with ExTe, which specialises in transport locks for transporting timber. The profile ...
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NewsTangentielle Nord project launched in Paris
FRANCE: Jean-Paul Huchon, President of Ile de France region and STIF, officially launched work on the first phase of the Tangentielle Nord project between Epinay-sur-Seine and Le Bourget on December 13.Speaking at the ceremony at Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Jean-Paul Huchon described the project as ‘historic’. ‘It is the biggest railway achievement in ...
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NewsToronto Transit City project in doubt
CANADA: Newly-elected Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford came into office on December 1 and declared that the ambitious C$8·15bn Transit City light rail expansion scheme was ‘over’ and that he would immediately begin pursuing his campaign promise to expand the metro network. Insisting that ‘the war on the car stops ...
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NewsAlstom wins contracts in Panamá and Santo Domingo
LATIN AMERICA: Alstom announced on December 13 that it had won two contracts in Panamá and Santo Domingo worth €300m. The Línea Uno consortium of Odebrecht and FCC recently appointed to build Line 1 of the Panamá metro has selected Alstom to manage the engineering, integration and commissioning of the ...
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NewsInter-city funding convention signed
FRANCE: A convention providing government support for residual and loss-making inter-city services on the conventional network was signed in Paris by Transport Minister Thierry Mariani and SNCF President Guillaume Pepy on December 13. Designated Trains d'Equibre du Territoire, the initiative forms part of a government commitment to support balanced national ...
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NewsNTA to go ahead with Red Line
ISRAEL: Following the collapse of the concession agreement with the MTS consortium to build the long-planned Red Line in Tel Aviv, the government has decided to push ahead with the 22 km light metro using public funds as ‘a project of national significance’.In a joint statement issued on December 12, ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market December 2010
Australia: QR National has placed an A$35m order with UGL for six standard gauge C44ACi locomotives to support its iron ore haulage activities in Western Australia, along with 227 wagons. Deliveries will begin in the second half of 2011. Rio Tinto has ordered nine GE Evolution locomotives from UGL, ...
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NewsAllegro launch cuts Helsinki - St Petersburg journey times
EUROPE: Helsinki - St Petersburg passenger services were relaunched with the December 12 timetable change, with journey times cut by 2 h to 3½ h following the introduction of Alstom dual-voltage New Pendolino tilting trainsets, infrastructure upgrades to permit running at 220 km/h in Finland and 200 km/h in Russia, ...
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NewsMulhouse tram-train enters service
FRANCE: Tram-train services were inaugurated on a 22 km interurban route between Mulhouse and Thann on December 11, worked by 12 Siemens Avanto vehicles. A third tram route linking Mulhouse and Lutterbach started operation at the same time. Free rides were available between the city centre and Lutterbach during the ...