All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 881
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NewsTamping accuracy
GERMANY: Amberg Technologies has supplied infrastructure manager DB Netz with a tamping surveying system which combines track position and distance surveying. It is suitable for use on both new installations and during maintenance, and the manufacturer claims it can cut the cost of tamping surveying by up to 70%. ...
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NewsWorld rail market December 2010
Italy: CoFren has ordered a Renk Test System flywheel dynamometer for testing tread and disc brakes at speeds of 500 km/h. Kazakhstan: IBM has won a US$8m contract to provide KTZ with a z10 mainframe computer and two 'disaster proof' data centres. New Zealand: Zonegreen is to supply ...
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NewsNews in Brief
Having agreed to take over ÖBB's 760 mm gauge Mariazellerbahn with effect from December 12, the Land of Niederösterreich has announced plans to invest €60m in new rolling stock. Nine three-car EMUs will arrive from Stadler in 2012, together with four first-class Panorama coaches. The line ...
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NewsONCF orders 14 Duplex high speed trains
MOROCCO: Alstom Transport is to supply national railway ONCF with 14 Duplex high speed trainsets for Tanger – Casablanca services under a contract worth ‘nearly €400m’.The contract, signed in Tanger on December 10, foreshadows the opening of Morocco’s first high speed line between Tanger and Kénitra in December 2015. ...
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NewsCrossrail awards tunnelling contracts
UK: On December 10 Crossrail Ltd awarded tunnelling contracts worth £1·25bn covering 18 km of the 21 km of twin bores required for the cross-London rail link. Contracts covering four sections of tunnel have been provisionally awarded, subject to the mandatory 10-day review period required under European contract law. The ...
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NewsCarbon efficiency must be addressed
SUSTAINABILITY: Despite the impact of railway construction projects in terms of carbon emissions, new lines still offer significant advantages in terms of long-term sustainability where there is sufficient traffic. But the carbon impact of materials and working methods needs to be optimised in the planning of future projects.
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NewsRailway construction launched with a bang
IRAN: President Ahmadinejad attended a ceremony at Konarak in the southeastern province of Sistan va Baluchestan on December 6 where a groundbreaking blast in the colours of the national flag officially launched construction of the Chabahar - Zahedan railway. Work on the 600 km line linking the Gulf of Oman ...
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NewsUrban rail network to underpin Qatar World Cup
QATAR: The successful bid to host the football World Cup in 2022 includes plans to invest US$24bn in transport infrastructure, including high speed rail lines to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and construction of a 340 km public transport network serving Doha and its environs. The proposals are based ...
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NewsHammond puts reform back on the agenda
UK: Efficiency savings worth between £600m and £1bn are achievable by 2018-19 without reducing service quality or network size, according to an interim report examining the cost of operating and maintaining Britain’s railways. Its author, Sir Roy McNulty, is expected to submit his completed Value for Money Review to government ...
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NewsFS and Cube Infrastructure selected to buy Arriva Deutschland
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn's supervisory board formally selected a consortium of Italian state railway Ferrovie dello Stato and investment fund Cube Infrastructure to acquire Arriva's German activities on December 8. The price offered was a decisive factor, according to DB Chairman Dr Rüdiger Grube, but is not being disclosed. Completion ...
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NewsBuenos Aires Line H extended to Corrientes
ARGENTINA: A one-station extension of Buenos Aires metro Line H from Once to Corrientes entered service at 15.00 on December 6, following its inauguration by Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri. Construction took 4½ years. Corrientes is located 23 m below the surface and cost US$160m to build. Like the rest ...
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News
Isaías Táboas
Isaías Táboas has been appointed Spain’s Secretary of State for Transport. He previously held various posts at Renfe, and worked as an advisor to Iberrail and Comfersa.
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NewsBTS to operate SkyTrain extension
THAILAND: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration subsidiary Krungthep Thanakom has awarded SkyTrain operator BTS a 674m baht contract to operate and maintain the 5·3 km Sukhumvit Line extension from On Nut to Bearing which is due to open on August 12 2011. The contract is initially valid for one year from the ...
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NewsOpening of Shin-Aomori extension completes Tohoku Shinkansen
JAPAN: JR East launched revenue services on the final phase of the Tohoku Shinkansen on December 4. The 81·8 km extension runs from Hachinohe to Shin-Aomori in mountainous northern Honshu, and includes the 26·5 km Hakkoda tunnel, the longest land bore on the Japanese rail network. The line features ...
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News
Janine Pilloud
Janine Pilloud has been named as the next head of Swiss Federal Railways’ Passenger division, succeeding Urs Schlegel who has been acting divisional manager; she will also join the SBB Board in the first quarter of 2011. The head of SBB’s long-distance passenger unit Vincent Ducrot will be leaving in ...
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NewsMetro projects approved in Hong Kong
CHINA: The Executive Council of Hong Kong approved two metro projects on November 30 that will extend the MTR network by almost 10 km when they open in 2015.The 7 km South Island Line (East) will run from Admiralty to South Horizons, in Aberdeen, with intermediate stations at Ocean Park, ...
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NewsEIB supports Ho Chi Minh metro Line 2
VIETNAM: Magdalena Álvarez Arza, Vice President of the European Investment Bank, signed a finance contract worth €150m with Vietnamese Deputy Finance Minister Tran Xuan Ha on December 6. The loan is part of a funding package for the first phase of metro Line 2 in Ho Chi Minh City. The ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief
The consortium of Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Infocomm and Canada’s SNC Lavalin has achieved financial closure for the Rs115bn PPP project to build the 32 km Mumbai metro Line 2 from Charkop to Mankhurd (RG 9.09 p17). The consortium, which is investing Rs70bn, has set up the Mumbai Metro Two SPV ...
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NewsDallas Green Line opens
USA: Two sections of the Dallas Green Line totalling 38·6 km opened on December 6, marking completion of the $1·8bn project. A special ‘Super Saturday’ event previewing six of the 15 new stations took place on December 4, with the entire 45 km Green Line open to the public during ...