All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 975
-
NewsNetwork expansion is in full swing
IRAN: Railway development is continuing apace, the intention being to provide rail connections between all major cities as soon as possible. The ultimate objective is to double the size of the current 8 300 route-km network, reports David Brice.
-
NewsCoal Master Plan drives capacity investment
CAPACITY: With expenditure of A$1·3bn in the next financial year, infrastructure manager QR Network is delivering the largest capital investment programme in its history, but planning assessments suggest that much more capacity will be needed to meet projected demand in the next five years.
-
NewsEurotunnel seeks safety changes
EUROPE: Three months after the devastating fire on September 11 that burned out every lorry on a shuttle train in the Channel Tunnel, we were able to inspect on December 10 the full extent of the damage to 610 m of the concrete lining as repairs continue around the clock. ...
-
NewsMadrid plans another €5bn suburban spend
SPAIN: Development Minister Magdalena Álvarez has presented the cabinet with an €5bn investment programme for the Madrid suburban network in 2008-15, which would see 115 km of new routes constructed and capacity increased by quadrupling a further 66 km. The programme envisages the construction of five new interchanges and 24 ...
-
News
Tests to cease on Emsland guideway
GERMANY: ‘This is not the end of the Transrapid maglev technology’, affirmed Transrapid International on April 2 last year after the proposed 37 km maglev line linking München city centre with the airport was abandoned (RG 5.08 p290). The words returned to haunt the company on December 10 when ...
-
News
No-poaching accord
AFRICA: A framework agreement ‘to help contain the unregulated movement of technical staff’ between railways in different countries is being drawn up by the Southern Africa Railways Association, in a move to prevent skill shortages from crippling their members’ operations. The move was announced following by a SARA committee meeting ...
-
News
Reaching out to young talent
UK: We have remarked before about skills shortages in the rail sector, with operators and suppliers from Australia to Europe and North America voicing concerns about the age profile of their technicians and the lack of suitable recruits. This is particularly marked where productivity improvements in the 1980s and ...
-
NewsDijon and Brest agree joint order
FRANCE: The cities of Dijon and Brest signed an agreement on November 27 covering the joint purchase of 53 trams at an estimated cost of €120m. Tenders are due to be issued to prospective suppliers by the end of 2008, with bid submission set for May and contract award expected ...
-
NewsRed Line to proceed
THAILAND: An 8·7bn baht contract for construction of the first phase of the Red Line in suburban Bangkok was signed on December 12. State Railway of Thailand has finalised the agreement for a 15·3 km line from Taling Chan to Bang Sue with the Unique-Chun Wo joint venture of ...
-
NewsA fair market needs regulation
EUROPE: An EU study of progress with railway liberalisation was presented in Brussels on November 7, as part of a process to recast the legislation in the First Railway Package. But the weighting of the responses risks understating the need for further change, warn Monika Heiming and Jan Möllmann.
-
NewsRemodelled network off to a shaky start
FRANCE: This month SNCF relaunches its troubled wagonload business with shuttle trains linking three main hubs and 30 yards. Laurent Charlier reports.
-
NewsCeremony starts Sofia Line 2
BULGARIA: Mayor of Sofia Boyko Borisov, Minister of Transport Petar Mutafchiev and Meglena Plugchieva, Deputy Prime Minister responsible for EU funding, attended a ceremony on December 15 to mark the start of work on metro Line 2. The route comprises a 6·4 km first phase running south from Nadezhda to ...
-
NewsAccurate measurements
WHEEL INSPECTION: A laser system for the inspection of wheelsets and running gear has been successfully deployed by Polish passenger operator PKP Intercity. Developed by Polish company Graw and Germany’s LAP, the system uses lasers to measure tyre and flange profiles and running gear geometry with high precision, making it ...
-
NewsUS seeks high speed PPP proposals
USA: On December 15 the federal Department of Transportation invited statements of interest from the private sector for the design, finance, construction, operation and maintenance of high speed rail services in 11 inter-city corridors, beginning with the route between New York City and Washington DC. The programme, which will include ...
-
NewsETCS Level 2 for entire Danish network
DENMARK: Banedanmark has announced plans to replace all signalling on the country's national rail network by ERTMS over the next 12 years. Much of the existing equipment is obsolete or nearing life-expiry, and the infrastructure manager has been working for two years to develop an optimum renewal strategy for both ...
-
NewsThird autoroute ferroviaire planned
In a keynote speech opening the Freight without Frontiers conference, French Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau gave details of his government’s views on further development of autoroute ferroviaire services. He said that France and Italy had decided to continue beyond 2008 with the pilot shuttle service over the ...
-
NewsWorld infrastructure market December 2008
China: China Railway Group has been awarded a 4·7bn yuan contract for Section 1 of the Shijiazhuang - Wuhan line, a 2·9bn yuan contract for Section 1 of the Changdu - Dujiangyan line, and a 1·8bn yuan contract for works on the Wuhan - Guangzhou project and in Shenzhen. The ...
-
NewsNext ICE3s to have different axle dimensions
GERMANY: DB has signed a contract with Siemens for 15 more ICE3 trainsets. Inked by DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn and Siemens Chairman Peter Löscher on December 17 at DB's headquarters in Berlin, the deal is worth €500m. DB's future ICE3 sets will be designed specifically for international services, which ...