International Railway Journal

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Articles in Dec, 2004 issue of International Railway Journal

• Shinkansen suffers first derailment
• Bendery station is to be bypassed at a cost of $US 22 million
• The government is considering proposals for three new links
• The German government plans to provide 52 million [euro] in loans and grants for the improvement of commuter services in greater Jakarta
• Tianjin to resume metro operation
• Alstom has won a contract for the installation of light rail infrastructure for the LEA eastern line of Sytral's LRT network
• Point machine with clamplock
• Portec Rail Products has reached an agreement to take over Kelsan Technologies, Canada, in a deal worth $US 16.4 million
• Airport rail link approved
• Indian Railways has drawn up a five-year freight development plan from 2005 in which it will develop dedicated freight corridors, linking key ports and facilities
• The Ministry of Transport has granted an operating licence
• Latin America Logistics has signed a 23-year railfreight transport contract with Bunge, a global agribusiness and food company
• Brisbane Orders 24 EMUs
• Wynn Rail
• Accurate measurements extend monitoring scope: the evolution of longitudinal rail profile measuring equipment has resulted in highly accurate measurements which can be used to monitor rail noise problems, and to assure the quality of rail grinding and wel
  by Stuart Grassie
• Website directory
• Turkmenistan detour to be eliminated
• Rendezvous
• Belgian National Railways' president and chief executive officer, Mr Karel Vinck, has resigned
• Fonterra makes road-to-rail switch
• Northwest Rail Company plans to build a line from Chingola to Solwezi at a cost of $US 55 million which will haul 74,000 tonnes of freight annually
• Taiwan Railway Administration has ordered six tilting A-Train concept emus from Hitachi, Japan, at a cost of about Yen 9 billion
• Stadwerke Bonn has ordered a real-time passenger information system from IVU Traffic Technologies, Germany
• Cubic Transportation Systems has received an extra $US 3.4 million from Bay Area Rapid Transit to expand its fare collection equipment contract
• Hybrid traction system benefits environment: Japan's New Energy Train project uses a hybrid diesel-electric traction system to achieve major reductions in energy consumption, noxious emissions, and noise
  by David Briginshaw
• PR on the right financial track
• New Brazilian freight wagon JV
• The prime minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, and the minister of transport, Mr Meir Shitrit, have agreed to increase Israel Railways' budget to Shekels 4 billion in 2005
• A new scheduled railfreight service has been launched between Lljubljana and Istanbul
• The Ministry of Railways has ordered 78 diesel-electric locomotives from GE Transportation, United States
• Japanese loan may extend manila LRT
• Vapor Rail, a subsidiary of Wabtec Corporation, United States, has won a contract to design and manufacture door systems for 376 cars being built by Bombardier Transportation for London Underground's Victoria Line
• Integrated in-sleeper switch drive unveiled: Vossloh Switch Systems unveiled at InnoTrans this year its new integrated in-sleeper switch drive called Easyswitch and a remote monitoring and predictive maintenance system for points and crossings called Surv
• The 185km line between Rajkot and Veraval has been converted to broad gauge
• East African transport ministers have agreed at a summit in Nairobi to support an ambitious plan to develop a 4100km standard-gauge network at a cost of $US 750 million
• Slam door trains stay another year
• Nebraska, Kansas & Colorado RailNet has acquired the Oxford-Franklin and Culbertson-Imperial lines
• The first civil engineering contracts have been awarded for the Citytunnel Project in Malmo
• FERROCARRILS de la Generalitat Valenciana , which manages and operates railway, metro, and light rail lines in the Spanish region of Valencia
• The Cubic Nordic branch of Cubic Transportation Systems, United States, has won a 3.5 million [euro] contract for an advanced fare collection and revenue management system that will link bus and rail services to a common contactless smart card
• In-sleeper point machine
• Debt relief grant helps RFF finances
• More ERTMS in Spain
• Irish Rail
• Plans to restore services on the disused Karachi Circular Railway network have moved a step forward following a decision by a committee led by the prime minister, Mr Shaukat Aziz, to go ahead with the rehabilitation scheme next month
• National Grid Transco
• Guangzhou metro orders new trains
• Construction began in October of Switzerland's first underground metro in Lausanne, a city of 250,000 inhabitants
• New backdrive brings costs down: a new design of backdrive for switches has been unveiled by Corus Cogifer
• Potential bidders from the United States, Canada, India, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa are reported to have expressed an interest in the planned privatisation of Djibouti-Ethiopian Railway
• Rail's environmental benefits
  by David Briginshaw
• SNCB and its subsidiary TUC Rail have pierced through the 6530m-long double-track Soumagne tunnel which will form part of the new high-speed line under construction between Liege and the German border
• Eurostar heads for St Pancras
• Tibet line passes half-way mark
• Uruguayan State Railways has purchased 25 new freight wagons from the Czech Republic for transporting timber and containers at a cost of $US 1.3 million
• Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and its contractor, Barletta Construction, began the rehabilitation of State Street Station in November as part of the Blue Line modernisation project
• Italy leads Europe in infrastructure spending: at more than 7 billion [euro], Italy's railway infrastructure development programme is the largest in Europe
  by Mike Knutton
• New Italian DMU engine: Isotta Fraschini is adapting its series 1300 diesel engines for railway applications to power dmus. This will complement its series 1700 engines, which are already used to power shunting locomotives
• Kazakhstan State Railways is to purchase 200 locomotive upgrading kits from General Electric, United States, to enable it to refurbish 100 of its 18-year-old type 2TE10 locomotives which will have their life extended as a result by a further 15 to 20 yea
• Hitachi's European breakthrough
• Mining giant CVRD plans to invest about $US 400 million next year
• The transport minister, Ms Karla Peijs, has begun renegotiating performance contracts with Netherlands Railways and the national infrastructure authority, ProRail
• Thales is seeking to increase its Asian market share in secure smart card ticketing systems by launching a joint venture company with Panda, one of China's largest electronics manufacturers
• Siemens threatens Tel Aviv pull-out
• A new National Tramways Forum has been established by the Passenger Transport Executive Group, the Confederation of Passenger Transport, the Light Rapid Transit Forum, and Transport for London's London Trams
• Trenitalia Cargo goes off the rails: integration of rail, sea, and road transport, and their transformation into a network in tune with customer needs, are now seen within FS as the keys to resolving problems concerning freight movements
  by Mike Knutton
• Hybrid shunter offers high fuel economy: RailPower Technologies, Canada, is having considerable success with its environmentally-friendly hybrid shunting locomotive called Green Goat
  by David Briginshaw
• Private operators shun some regional franchises: issues about the ownership of, or investment in, rolling stock are behind the wildly different attitudes of private operators towards bidding for regional railway franchises in Italy
  by Mike Knutton
• Japanese group wins Chinese train order
• Trial running has started on the new 58km Tsukuba Express Line linking Akihabara in central Tokyo to Tsukuba
• The government is considering a plan to upgrade the 720km line between Johannesburg and Durban
• French National Railways
• Rotterdam opens new LRT line
• Metronet Rail has launched a 4.5 million [pounds sterling] project to modernise the door system on 36 Bakerloo Line trains
• Surelock points drive to be trialled in Glasgow: Westinghouse Rail Systems showed its new modular Surelock points drive system and its new electro-mechanical linear backdrive at the Railtex exhibition staged in Birmingham, Britain, last month by Mack Broo
• Rehabilitation has been completed of the 475km Limpopo Line from Moambo Junction, 53kin west of the port of Maputo, to Chicualacuala on the border with Zimbabwe
• RZD and Siemens form joint venture
• MRS Logistics plans to replace signalling and telecommunications equipment that is either obsolete or for which it has been difficult to obtain spare parts
• Short Lines, the private railfreight operator which was formed only six years ago, has withdrawn from the business
• Raja Passenger Train Company has ordered two train washing systems from Bingham Rail, Britain, at a cost of 1.1 million [euro], with an option to purchase a further 10 of the flail systems, which the manufacturer claims are more effective than traditional

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