All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 908
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NewsMiners make cash bid for Queensland rail infrastructure
AUSTRALIA: The Queensland Coal Industry Rail Group of 13 mining companies has submitted an unsolicited cash offer to buy QR's Central Queensland rail network from the state government, which is intending to sell up to 75% of QR National as a vertically -integrated railway through an IPO in the last ...
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NewsQR hauls first coal from Moolarben mine
AUSTRALIA: On May 27 QR ran the first of an estimated 17 000 trains it will operate from Felix Resources' new Moolarben coal mine to the Port of Newcastle during an 11½ year haulage contract worth A$870m. QRNational Coal is spending A$190m on locomotives and wagons to support the ...
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NewsDen Haag Centraal station rebuild gets underway
NETHERLANDS: Work has begun to rebuild the 1970s Den Haag Centraal station as 'a spacious, bright and comfortable' multi -modal public transport interchange. Construction was formally launched on May 25 when Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings, ProRail Projects Director Patrick Buck, city councillor Marnix Norder and Gert Jan Vos of contractor ...
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NewsKTMB to leave central Singapore
SINGAPORE: The Prime Ministers of Singapore and Malaysia announced an agreement on May 24 for Malaysian national railway KTMB to vacate its Tanjong Pagar terminus in Singapore by July 1 2011. Trains from Malaysia will instead terminate at Woodlands, the Singapore end of the cross-border causeway, with a bus ...
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NewsBombardier to test wireless trams in Augsburg
GERMANY: The Primove induction-based catenary-free electrification system developed by Bombardier Transportation is to be piloted on the tram network in Augsburg, the manufacturer announced on May 26. Formally unveiled at Bombardier's Bautzen factory in January 2009, Primove uses cable buried beneath the track to produce a magnetic fields which ...
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NewsDanish timetables integrated with Google Maps
DENMARK: Travellers in Denmark can now use the Google Maps website to plan multi-modal public transport trips. Users type an address or click on the start and end points of their journey, and Google Transit provides details of train and bus times and connections along with a map of the ...
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NewsHard as rails
USA: BNSF has taken delivery of JFE Steel's first shipment of 600 tonnes of Super Pearlite Type 3 rail from Japan. In -service tests which were carried out for more than a year in Nebraska and Idaho predict that SP3 will offer a 10% longer life than previous head hardened ...
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NewsNTV readies for Italo high speed launch
ITALY: Open access high speed operator NTV confirmed on May 25 that it is on track to launch commercial services in September 2011, having reached agreement with infrastructure manager RFI for paths linking 12 stations in nine principal cities. NTV Chairman Luca di Montezemolo announced that the first of its ...
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NewsTrains talk to avoid collisions
GERMANY: Trials are being undertaken at the Wegberg-Wildenrath test centre near Düsseldorf with a collision avoidance technique based on short-distance train-to-train transmission. The trials are being led by aerospace research agency Deutches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, which is providing researchers from its institutes for Transportation Systems, Communications & Navigation ...
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NewsMonitoring responses
USA: Alion Science & Technology has supplied a Cab Technology Integration Laboratory to the US Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Valued at $16m, the full-size simulator recreates a typical locomotive cab, enabling crew behaviour to be monitored by video, audio and eye-tracking technology. ...
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NewsTransport orders down at Alstom
ALSTOM: ‘Fiscal year 2009-10 was marked by a major contraction in demand for power generation due to the strong economic downturn, whilst the transportation market resisted better, supported by the focus on rail projects in government budgets’, said Alstom Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Patrick Kron on May 4 as ...
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NewsOut of gauge?
UK: Siemens has installed a laser-based object detection device at Old Oak Common depot in London, where it maintains the Class 332 and Class 360 EMUs used on services to Heathrow Airport. The Out of Gauge Warning System developed by Zonegreen uses a series of non-contact laser rangefinder sensors to ...
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NewsProducts & Technology in Brief
Donaldson has updated its range of hydraulic fluid filters by introducing an updated version of its Triboguard product with a Synteq XP medium. The filters offer a 47% lower initial pressure drop in new condition compared to previous versions whilst dirt capturing capacity is enhanced by up to 73%. South ...
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NewsHitting the right notes
AUDIO: EAO has extended its Series 56 range of sound modules with the launch of a TSI PRM-compliant offering. The module can be pre-programmed with three TSI-compliant tones that are intended to help mobility-impaired passengers board trains and orientate themselves within the saloon. The module allows volume ...
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NewsSecond Avenue Subway tunnelling starts
USA: Tunnelling for the first phase of New York’s Second Avenue Subway project got underway on May 14 when a 485 tonne TBM began boring through Manhattan bedrock south from a launch pit between 96th Street and 92nd Street. The machine will dig two tunnels, each around 2 350 m ...
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News10-year KiwiRail turnaround plan approved
NEW ZEALAND: On May 18 the government gave its backing to KiwiRail's NZ$4·6bn 10-year turn-around plan, providing the long-term commitment needed to retain the network and make rail 'relevant' to freight shippers. The government has allocated NZ$250m this year and agreed to a three-year package worth NZ$750m, subject to individual ...
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NewsChina's rail expansion continues
CHINA: The rapid expansion of the Chinese rail network continues, with a series of significant openings in recent weeks. Two years to the day after a devastating earthquake hit Sichuan province, a 65 km high speed link between Chengdu and Dujiangyan was opened on May 12. The 13bn yuan ...
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NewsFederal funds for faster freight
AUSTRALIA: The 2010-11 Commonwealth budget presented by the government on May 11 allocates A$1bn for capital investment by Australian Rail Track Corp, in addition to A$1·2bn provided under the Nation Building economic stimulus package in 2008. The money will be used on projects which ARTC has identified as being able ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief
Canadian National has sold a section of track west of Toronto Union station to Greater Toronto transport authority Metrolinx for C$168m. It is part of the busiest GO Transit commuter corridor and provides access to a depot. Queensland's Gold Coast rapid transit project team is evaluating expressions of interest from ...
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NewsFour-way split proposed for Pakistan Railways
PAKISTAN: The national railway would be split into passenger, freight infrastructure and manufacturing businesses under a reform and privatisation strategy announced by the Cabinet Committee on Restructuring of Public Sector Enterprises in March. Despite protests from opposition parties and unions, the government has committed to a draft timetable which covers ...