All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 979
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NewsPolish partnership agreed
VTG: A partnership has been formed with Waggon Service which will enable the Hamburg-based rolling stock leasing firm VTG to expand its maintenance support activities in Poland. Waggon Service is a subsidiary of Transwaggon, in which VTG has a 50% stake. VTG has previously worked with Millsharp in Poland, ...
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NewsDB sale ruled out before election
GERMANY: The federal government has effectively cancelled the partial flotation of DB Mobility Logistics. On November 5 the Finance Ministry stated that the DB ML IPO could not go ahead before the general election in September 2009 unless market conditions improved - something which a ministry spokesman conceded was unlikely, ...
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NewsAnkara signalling contract
TURKEY: The city of Ankara has selected a consortium of Ansaldo Segnalamento Ferroviario and Alsim Alarko Sanayi Tesisleri Ve Ticaret as preferred bidder for a €175m contract to design, supply and commission signalling for metro lines M1, M2, M3 and M4 and undertake electro-mechanical works on M1 and M3. ...
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NewsStandard interface will simplify telematics
TELEMATICS: The adoption of a Standardised Message Structure forms a crucial element in the development of an open- standards telematics interface which will allow railway operators and suppliers to work towards cost-effective and compatible systems.
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Barcelona station contracts awarded
SPAIN: Catalunya’s infrastructure manager Ifercat has awarded concessions to build and manage 26 stations on Barcelona metro Line 9 to two consortia headed by FCC and Dragados. Both concessions will last for 30 years after completion of the civil works, and will inject private financing into the project budget. Ifercat ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - December 2008
A 100m taka feasibility study for the Dhaka mass transit project is due to start in December, financed from government funds. Originally proposed in 2002, progress on the proposed rail network in the capital of Bangladesh has been hampered by lack of finance. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority is ...
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NewsCN buys back lines
CANADA: Three lines sold by Canadian National in the 1990s have been repurchased from Québec Railway Corp at a cost of C$49·8m. As well as the Ottawa Central Railway, New Brunswick East Coast Railway and Chemin de fer de la Matapedia et du Golfe, CN will take over a train ...
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NewsCCTV upgrade at major stations
UK: Work to upgrade CCTV security systems at the major stations managed by Network Rail has moved into a second phase, which will bring the total number of cameras in use to more than 4 000. The £8m second phase covers refurbishment of the CCTV installations at Birmingham New Street, ...
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NewsIstanbul metro expands
TURKEY: Test running on the extension of Istanbul heavy metro Line M2 between Taksim and Sishane began on November 7, in preparation for the opening of two extensions to the existing 8·5 km line early next year. Mayor Kadir Topbas has confirmed that the extensions will open for revenue service ...
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NewsRFF signs performance contract
FRANCE: On November 3 Réseau Ferré de France signed a five-year performance contract with the government covering the condition, use and development of its 29 973 km network. It was signed by RFF President Hubert du Mesnil, Minister of Finance Eric Woerth, Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau and ...
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NewsSuburban spending
ARGENTINA: On October 25 Transport Secretary Ricardo Jaime announced a 600m pesos investment plan for 2009-11 on the Belgrano Sur commuter network in Buenos Aires. This has been operated for the government by a consortium of operators since Metropolitano was stripped of its concession on May 22 2007 (RG 6.07 ...
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NewsBotniabanan freight starts
SWEDEN: Freight traffic is now running on a 26 km section of the Botniabanan between Örnsköldsvik and Husum, using 4 km spur to serve M-Real’s pulp and paper mill in Husum. Chief Executive of Botniabanan AB Lennart Westberg told 220 guests at the inauguration event held on October 16 that ...
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NewsIC4 enters regular service
DENMARK: With effect from December 1 DSB has put the first of the troubled IC4 diesel multiple-units into regular passenger service. The trains have been carrying passengers on test services since August 7. They are being deployed on a daily return service on the Aarborg - Århus - København ...
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NewsDB tests 1 km train
EUROPE: DB and Betuwe Route infrastructure manager Keyrail conducted trials with a 1 000 m long freight train between Oberhausen and Rotterdam over the weekend of November 29-30. DB's operations are currently based on trains with a maximum length of 750 m, but the technical and economic feasibility of ...
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NewsPKP Intercity takes over inter-regional services
POLAND: Responsibility for operating 381 Polish inter-regional services was transferred from the state railway's regional business unit PKP PR to PKP Intercity on December 1. The move is a part of the process of transferring ownership of PKP PR to the voivodships. A total of 1 908 coaches, 51 ...
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Dieter - December 2008
SWITZERLAND: Verdi’s opera La Traviata was performed at Zürich’s main station on September 30, in a co-operation between Swiss Federal Railways, the Zürich opera house and television companies. Televised and streamed onto the internet, the opera was performed amidst the normal traffic at the station. ‘If we reach people ...
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People in the News - December 2008
Swiss Federal Railways will adopt a new management structure with effect from January 1 2009. The main change is the establishment of an independent property business with the same status as the passenger, freight and infrastructure divisions. SBB’s management board has been changed and expanded to reflect the change, with ...
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NewsAnkara awards
TURKEY: The city of Ankara has selected a consortium of Ansaldo Segnalamento Ferroviario and Alsim Alarko Sanayi Tesisleri Ve Ticaret as preferred bidder for a €175m contract to design, supply and commission signalling for metro lines M1, M2, M3 and M4 and to undertake electromechanical works on lines M1 and ...
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NewsEIB funds for Sofia Line 2
BULGARIA: The European Investment Bank has announced a €105m loan to the city of Sofia to co-finance the construction of metro extensions totalling 12·8 km and the acquisition of an additional 15 trainsets. As part of the city's development master plan metro Line 1 is to be extended a ...
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NewsHoon backs electrification strategy
UK: There are signs that the long drought in railway electrification since privatisation may soon be over. Around a third of Network Rail's 15 810 route-km is currently electrified, including 3 220 km at 25 kV 50 Hz and 1 995 km using 750 V DC third rail. Much of ...