All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 918
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NewsCapital Metro finally achieves FRA approval
USA: Capital Metro’s nine-station commuter Red Line will begin revenue service between downtown Austin and Leander on March 22. Federal Railroad Administration inspectors gave their approval for commercial operation on March 5, following final testing on the 52 km route during February and early March.The line was within days of ...
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NewsAshton and Didsbury Metrolink extensions funded
UK: Transport Minister Sadiq Khan announced the government's final approval of £121m of funding for two Phase 3b extensions to the Manchester Metrolink light rail network on March 8. Local sources will provide the remaining £49m of the antitipated £170m cost. According to Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, the work ...
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NewsHigh speed tunnels broken through
GERMANY: Federal Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer, DB Chief Executive Rüdiger Grube and Sachsen-Anhalt Transport Minster Karl-Heinz Daehre watched the breakthrough of the 6 466 m western bore of the Bibra tunnel on March 3. The 6 970 m Finne tunnel was also holed through on the same day. Three twin-bore ...
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NewsIndustry News in Brief
This month Electro-Motive Diesel will complete a new facility for the rebuilding of traction motors and other electrical equipment at San Luís Potosí in Mexico. 'EMD continues to invest extensively in providing after-sales service', according to CEO John S Hamilton. 'We have previously established turbocharger and engine remanufacturing capabilities, and ...
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NewsPlastic railway bridges
USA: Two short bridges on a freight line near the Fort Eustis Army Transportation Corps base in Virginia, USA, are to be replaced by structures consisting almost entirely of recycled plastic. The plastic materials should allow the weight limit of the structures to be increased to 118 tonnes, giving greater ...
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NewsRoma Line C cars start tests at Velim
ITALY: The first driverless trainset for Roma Metro Line C has arrived at the Velim test track in the Czech Republic for commissioning trials ahead of the opening of the first section of the line next year. AnsaldoBreda is supplying 30 six-car trainsets to the Metro C consortium which ...
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NewsDSB buys into German passenger market
GERMANY: Danish national railway DSB has acquired 50% stake in Frankfurt-based regional train operator VIAS GmbH, giving it a foothold in the German market which it will use to bid for future operating contracts. Subject to regulatory approval the deal will be completed by May. 'VIAS is a well run ...
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NewsFreight One to order 15 000 wagons
RUSSIA: Modernisation of the national wagon fleet was one of the key tasks allocated to Freight One when it was created as a standalone subsidiary of Russian Railways in 2007. Freight One bought 8 000 wagons in 2009, almost half the total Russian output, and it plans to purchase ...
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NewsDocklands Light Railway rolls out three-car trains
UK: London's Docklands Light Railway ran its first public three-car trains between Bank and Lewisham on February 23. The extended trains will increase capacity on the operator’s busiest route by 50% and will be rolled out across the DLR network as demand increases.The 30-month £325m project involved extending platforms to ...
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NewsFuel cell testing begins
USA: BNSF has begun in-service testing of the experimental hydrogen fuel cell shunting locomotive developed in partnership with Vehicle Projects and the Department of Defense. The trials are being undertaken at the railway's yard in Commerce, California. 'As far as we know, this is the first hydrogen fuel cell locomotive ...
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NewsVeolia strengthens position
GERMANY: With the December timetable change NordWestBahn took over Niers-Rhein-Emscher-Netz services under a 16-year contract with the Rhein-Ruhr transport authority which is expected to generate total revenue of €500m. The contract will be expanded at the end of this year with the addition of services from Oberhausen to Duisburg-Ruhrort and ...
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NewsMetrolink's Crash Energy Management coaches arrive
USA: The first two of 117 double-deck coaches incorporating Crash Energy Management being supplied by Hyundai Rotem to southern California commuter operator Metrolink under a $229m contract were unloaded at the Port of Long Beach on March 2. The initial pair of cars were built in South Korea, but the ...
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NewsOregon joins Wisconsin to get better price on Talgos
USA: Oregon Department of Transportation has announced an $36·6m order for two 13-car passenger trainsets to be supplied by Talgo America for use on Amtrak's Cascades service from 2012. The Eugene - Vancouver route is currently operated using three Talgo Pendular 200 sets owned by the state of Washington and ...
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NewsAlstom signs agreement to acquire 25% stake in Transmash Holding
RUSSIA: During state visit to France by President Dmitry Medvedev, Alstom and Transmash Holding signed documents on March 1 firming up the strategic partnership agreement which had been signed on March 31 last year. Subject to certain conditions being met within six months, Alstom will acquire a 25% + 1 ...
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NewsAngel Trains in Grand Central HST sale and lease-back deal
UK: Rolling stock leasing company Angel Trains has bought three High Speed Train sets from Sovereign Trains, sister company of open access operator Grand Central Railway. The inter-city diesel trains will be leased back to the operator under a contract running to December 2016, Angel Trains announced on March 2. ...
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NewsJR-East prepares to test Series E6
JAPAN: East Japan Railway confirmed in February that it expects to take delivery in July of its first pre-production Series E6 mini-shinkansen trainset, designed for 320 km/h operation on the Tohoku Shinkansen route. The train will undergo an extensive testing and commissioning programme before entering revenue service in March 2013 ...
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NewsNetanyahu’s rail expansion plans approved
ISRAEL: The Ministry of Transport & Road Safety announced on February 24 that the government had approved the US$7·2bn first phase of the ‘Israel Ways’ transport investment package, promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Transport Minister Yisrael Katz. The ambitious plan originally envisaged expenditure of US$14bn ...
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NewsWagon production drops 47%
USA: Production of wagons for the North American market has fallen off dramatically due to the struggling economy. Estimates for 2009 show a 47% drop from the previous year when 21 541 new wagons were rolled out. There is little demand for new equipment, with operators having about 600 ...
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NewsRack superpower for Brazilian freight line
BRAZIL: Stadler Rail is to supply MRS Logística with what the manufacturer claims will be the most powerful rack-and-pinion locomotives ever built. The 5 MW locomotives will haul freight trains on the 9 km steeply-graded section of the 1 600 mm gauge line from São Paulo to the port of ...
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NewsZS awards first of three train contracts
SERBIA: ZS has selected Russian firm Metrowagonmash to supply 10 two-car diesel multiple-units for regional and suburban services. These will form the first of three batches of rolling stock being procured to modernise the national railway’s passenger fleet. The order is being partly funded by a ...