International Railway Journal

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Articles in Jan, 2005 issue of International Railway Journal

• The first 8.67km section of the metro, on which construction began in 1997, is due to open in August 2005
• Faiveley buys SAB Wabco
• Five pre-qualify for East African concession
• Mainline passenger ridership reached 1.07 billion this year
• The chairman of Indian Railways, Mr R K Singh
• Slovenian Railways was expected to make a profit of 4.17 million [euro] in 2004, despite remaining heavily in debt
• Go Transit, Toronto, has placed a $US 22 million order with Bombardier for 10 BiLevel double-deck commuter cars
• A judge has extended indefinitely a restraining order preventing the mayor of Makati, Mr Jejomar Binay, from auctioning the four Metro Rail Transit stations in Makati, one of 13 cities in the National Capital Region
• HSBC Rail, the rolling stock leasing company, has awarded a 45 million [pounds sterling] contract to Bombardier Transportation to refurbish 61 class 315 four-car emus operated by the passenger operator, One
• Botniabanan has awarded a contract to Alcatel
• Railways must adopt a comprehensive approach: passenger security was already an issue for an increasing number of railways, but the New York and Madrid terrorist attacks have forced railways to take security much more seriously. It is already clear that a
  by Jacques Colliard
• NS spending nears $US 1 billion
• Pay up—or we close the doors!
• The government has given the go-ahead, and up to 402 million [pounds sterling], for a new Eurostar maintenance depot linked to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link to be built at Temple Mills near Stratford in east London
• China eyes Argentina for investment
• The Bureau for Public Enterprise has started the process to privatise Nigerian Railway Corporation by appointing consultants
• Sydney makes local service cuts
• The Nigerian government has announced its intention to invest Naira 40 billion on a new mass transit rail system in the former capital
• Commuter rail operator, CPTM, has seen a good return on recent investment in emus, track, structures, and stations
• Italian Rail Network has invited bids for a contract to install an ACS signalling system
• European cuts
• Rendezvous
• Swiss Federal Railways successfully launched a complete revamp of its timetable on December 12 2004—the changes affected about 90% of services
• GM close to selling EMD
• The Pendolino tilting train that reached a record 237km/h in southern Moravia recently
• JR East reopened the 72km Echigo Yuzawa-Nagaoka section of the Joetsu Shinkansen on December 28 following the earthquake that hit the area on October 23
• A consortium of Siemens and B Grimm International has been tipped to win the Baht 26 billion contract to build a high-speed line linking Makkasan in Bangkok and Suvarnabhumi international airport
• AirTrain seeks more riders
• The opening of an eastern extension of Line 2 of the metro, by one station to Bereyovaya Roshcha, is due this year
• Orient-Express Hotels, Trains & Cruises is to acquire the Royal Scotsman luxury train from L&R Group
• Turkish State Railways
• Technical advances expand the options available: urban rail operators face increased demands for greater security and safety. Advances in technology now make it possible to use the same basic network infrastructure to transmit both train control and secur
• Indonesian coal lines improved
• RFF seeks TGV line approval
• The Ministry of Railways has appointed Systra, France, to supervise construction of the rail section of the 4.7km Tianxingzhou cable-stay bridge across the Yangtze River
• The Asian Development Bank has made a loan of $US 313.6 million to India Railways for the Golden Quadrilateral project and its diagonals
• RZD may set up a joint venture with China to jointly manage Russia's growing volume of container shipments to Chinese customers
• Washington Group teams up with RATP
• London Underground passengers travelling to and from Terminal 4 at Heathrow airport will have to use a dedicated bus shuttle between the terminal and Hatton Cross for 20 months from January 7
• The budget bill passed by Congress in November includes $US 84 million for Sound Transit projects
• Latvian Railways has awarded a 47.6 million [euro] signalling contract to Alcatel
• Good planning and user input pays dividends: extensive use of mock-ups and prototypes, consultation with a wide group of users, and close cooperation between all parties involved, have been the key to a successful train refurbishment project
  by Andy Norris
• Beijing-Tianjin new line proposed
• India pursues HS ambition
• The Chinese economy's thirst for energy will be partially satisfied by a promise from Russia to supply at least 70 million barrels of crude oil by rail this year
• European Rail Freight Association
• SBB Cargo has launched a new door-to-door freight service to the north of Italy
• Pennsylvania faces transit funding crisis
• The National Economic and Development Authority says construction of the $US 1.2 billion MRT Line 7 is expected to start by the middle of this year
• Metronet Rail has awarded a $US 22 million contract to Vapor-Stone
• SJ, the passenger operator, has awarded a two-year rolling stock management contract to Stibi in partnership with BMT Rail, a subsidiary of British Maritime Technology
• Advances in technology improve CCTV surveillance: digital technology is improving the sophistication and effectiveness of closed-circuit television systems in railway applications
  by Ad Biemans
• Bombardier announces more job cuts
• KTX tunnel work restarts
• Bulgarian State Railways is purchasing 25 two-car dmus from Siemens
• Siemens and Nortel share the spoils
• Russian Railways has announced a net profit of Roubles 13.9 billion for the first half of 2004
• Madrid Metro goes for CBTC
• The Spanish government has approved a $US 170 million credit to complete construction of the Peruvian
• Sound Transit has awarded a contract to Parsons Brinckerhoff for construction management services for the 7.8km southern-most section of the 22.5km Tukwila light railproject
• Kenya Ports Authority is seeking to acquire 400 freight wagons
• Portuguese emus renovated under partnership deal: Alstom is modernising and refurbishing a fleet of emus dating from the 1970s for Portuguese Railways. The upgraded trains are now expected to last another 30 years, but at only about half the cost of new t
  by David Briginshaw
• Website directory
• India takes over Beira rail system
• The chief executive officer of Great North Eastern Railway , Britain, Mr Christopher Garnett, wheels GNER's bid to retain the InterCity East Coast franchise along the platform at London King's Cross
• Only two of six companies prequalified to bid for the privatisation of the Ethio-Djibouti Railway sent representatives in response to an invitation to visit the railway
• Malayan Railway is investing $US 58 million to acquire 20, 120km/h locomotives from China
• Montana Rail Link will next year take delivery of 16 SD70Ace locomotives from the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors
• URS Corporation has been selected to lead a team of consulting companies in the conceptual design of a light rail line for Charlotte as part of the city's long-term 2025 transit plan.
• Voters in Phoenix have supported a half-cent sales tax for 20 years to generate an estimated $US 15 billion, part of which will be used to revitalise a twice-delayed light rail project.
• Chilean State Railways has awarded a contract to Comsa, Spain, to rehabilitate and maintain a 376km network north of Santiago
• Alaska Railroad Corporation has awarded a contract to Union Switch & Signal
• Knorr-Bremse sets up service centres in Europe: Knorr-Bremse is setting up a network of service centres in Europe that can service, overhaul or repair any braking equipment or door system that it has supplied. The objective is to be able to maintain such
• More interest in Belgrano Railroad
• Public transport statistics for 2004 show that light rail journeys in England increased by 4.2% compared with a 2.3% increase for local buses
• CBRail, a new rolling stock leasing company created by Babcock & Brown and the Bank of Scotland , has purchased the European arm of Porterbrook Leasing, which has lease contracts in several European countries for 28 locomotives an d 67 coaches
• After two decades of discussion, the Ministry of Transport has set aside 164 million [euro] for the replacement of the mainline viaduct in Delft by a 2.3km tunnel including one new underground station
• Newly-elected president, Mr Tabare Vazquez, wants to privatise the country's railways by having private enterprise take over the system
• Delhi Metro Rail Corporation reached another milestone at the end of November 2004 with the successful conclusion of testing of the Automatic Train Operation system that allows trains to run automatically at speeds up to 80km/h
• Construction will begin soon on a 1.2km, one station extension of Line 1 to serve the famous Copacabana district

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