International Railway Journal

View more issues:

Articles in April, 2005 issue of International Railway Journal

• SA heavy-haul upgrade deal signed
• India starts first ETCS project
• Rail alliance concept launched
• Canadian Pacific Railway has agreed to allow RailPower Technologies, Canada, to convert seven yard locomotives to hybrid low-emission Green Goat locomotives
• The first container train for a new twice-monthly service from Huh Hoto, China, to Duisburg, Germany, arrived in Duisburg on March 15
• The 26,445m Hakkoda tunnel has been holed through on the 81.2km extension of Tohoku Shinkansen from Hachinohe to Shin Aomori
• Flourish of metro activity in India
• Siemens Transportation Systems has won a 54 million [euro] contract extension to maintain the Bangkok Transit System for a further 10 years
• After one year, Nottingham Express Transit has carried 8.4 million passengers, requiring light rail frequencies to be increased twice during the year to meet demand
• Austrian Federal Railways is negotiating with German Rail the purchase of 19 diesel ICE trains for cross-border services
• Israel Railways has issued a tender for the supply of a variety of standard-gauge turnouts
• The Skane Region has placed an SKr 530 million order with Bombardier for eight more three-car 180km/h emus for services across the Oresund to Denmark
• Work starts on link to Bangkok's new airport: construction was due to start last month of a new line to connect the centre of Bangkok with the city's new Suvarnabhumi Airport. The line is due to open in October 2007
  by David Briginshaw
• DB agrees major restructuring
• China's first express line
• Dr Mike Mitchell has been appointed director of railways within the Department for Transport's new Rail Group which will shortly replace the Strategic Rail Authority
• Ostmecklenburg Railway , a subsidiary of Connex, plans to merge with Mecklenburg Rail
• Passenger services will resume between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on April 9 following the reconstruction of the line at a cost of Shekels 600 million
• The Japan Bank for International Cooperation has signed an Official Development Assistance loan worth Yen 98.7 billion with the Turkish government for the construction of the 13.6km rail link under the Bosphorus linking Istanbul and Haydarpasa
• CTA appoints programme manager
• Japan's first commercial maglev opened on March 6 on a 8.9km route that will serve as one of the main links to the 2005 World Exposition
• Siemens has won a $A 28 million contract to electrify the new 70km line from Perth to Mandurah as part of the $A 1 billion Southern Suburbs Railway project
• DB has awarded a contract to Bombardier to install its EBI Lock 500 computer-based
• Bombardier has won a SFr 25 million order from SBB for 200 four-axle freight wagons fitted with synthetic brake shoes to reduce noise
• Chicago plans to run express trains on metro: Chicago, already blessed with metro links to its two airports of O'Hare and Midway, is working to set up an express service to cut the running time and increase comfort and reliability
  by Tom Judge
• RFF approves Rhine-Rhone TGV
• The Queensland premier, Mr Peter Beattie, has endorsed a $A 25 million feasibility study for the construction of a 78km line from Goonyella to Newlands
• German Rail has started the process to obtain planning permission to build a 37km maglev line from the centre of Munich to the airport
• The International Union of Railways plans to make a demonstration run this year for the so-called NEW project to develop a sea-rail container service between North America, Europe, Asia, and the Far East
• The Transport Ministry is to conduct a feasibility study into a rail link to serve Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport
• UITP launches Security Group
• The Lagos state government has signed a $US 24.5 million contract with Lemna International, United States
• Bids are to be invited for a 20-year concession to operate a passenger service between Buenos Aires and Posadas
• DB Regio wants to lease eight dual-system LRVs from May 1 this year to December 31 2006 on the Kassel tram-train network
• Banverket has awarded two contracts to Balfour Beatty Rail, as part of a joint venture, worth 50 million [pounds sterling]
• Open-access boosts freight traffic: the rapidly changing railfreight scene in the Netherlands, where the number of open access operators continues to grow, seems to be boosting rail traffic overall
  by Peter Badcock
• Website directory
• Accusations fly in Rome
  by David Briginshaw
• Indian rates held steady
• The Austrian government has asked Austrian Federal Railways to drop its current plans for a Semmering base tunnel and to start planning a new project from Gloggnitz to Langenwang
• Knorr-Bremse has acquired a 70% majority shareholding in Microelettrica Scientifica, Italy
• A memorandum of understanding has been agreed by the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia to set up a company to design, build and operate a new railway in Iran from Qazvin via Rasht to Astara on the Azerbaijan border
• The upper house of the Swiss parliament has decided to implement all 14 projects to connect Switzerland to the European high-speed network
• Two vie for Sydney order
• Montreal Transit Corporation wants a new dedicated police unit to be created to make the metro safer
• Pacific National Queensland is taking delivery of 13 ac traction 2237kW 1067mm-gauge diesel-electric locomotives from EDI Rail, with the traction package supplied by EMD
• MVV Transport, Mannheim, invites bids by May 3
• Swiss Federal Railways has awarded a SFr 36 million contract to Vossloh for 14 class Am 843 diesel shunting locomotives for delivery in 2007, with an option for another 14
• Rail-Tech Europe 2005 opens in Utrecht: Rail-Tech Europe is being staged this month for the fifth time at Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The conference will take place from April 4 to 6 and the railway equipment exhibition from
• Angel Trains orders locomotive fleet
• China orders luxury coaches for Tibet railway
• The DfT and SRA have earmarked 370 million [pounds sterling]
• Spoornet, South Africa, and United Rail, Ghana, have been shortlisted for a concession to run the national railway
• Trenitalia is to introduce a second TrenOK low-fare train this month
• President Bush has nominated Mr Joseph Boardman as administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration to succeed the current acting administrator
• Metro trains in Atlanta, Georgia, will be the first in North America to be equipped with televisions
• Visiting Dutch transport officials have been told
• Thiess Hochtief Joint Venture has awarded a $A 20 million contact to iQR, a subsidiary of Queensland Rail, and BT Contractors to lay 21.5km of direct fixation track and 4.7km of floating slab track on the new Epping-Chatsworth underground line in Sydney
• Hungarian State Railways has awarded two contracts worth 42 million [euro] to Alcatel to install its 6131 LockTrac interlocking at Komarom station on the Budapest-Vienna main line and on an 85km section of the Budapest-Slovenia main line
• Greenbrier has received orders for 4500 double-stack well wagons and about 500 conventional freight wagons worth about $US 260 million
• Paris revives CDG Express as a PPP project: a project to provide a dedicated express rail link between the centre of Paris and Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport has been revived as a public-private partnership . It is hoped to open the link by 2012
  by David Briginshaw
• NRC privatisation underway
• Artist's impression of a new seven-car class 321 emu
• French Rail Network reopened the line from Cannes to Grasse on March 21 following a 53.4 million [euro] three-year scheme to modernise and electrify it
• Ferrocentral, Argentina, operated a trial overnight service from Cordoba to Buenos Aires on March 16 in preparation for the launch of a new regular service on April 3
• A law was passed on March 1 to restructure Serbian Railways in 2007 into a holding company
• Dubai opens light metro bids
• The 1000th anniversary of the city of Kazan, capital of Tatarstan, Russia, will be marked in August with the opening of the only metro currently under construction in Russia
• Singapore Technologies Electronics has won a $S 10.5 million contract
• Bavarian Railway has invited bids for a concession, to run from December 2008 to December 2018
• The Land Transport Authority has purchased RailSim simulation software from Systra, France
• Rural franchising grows: franchising of secondary rail passenger services is gradually expanding in the Netherlands. Responsibility for letting the remaining 15 concessions will be transferred to the provinces this year
  by Peter Badcock
• Rendezvous
• GNER wins British franchise
• Mr Paul Cote has had his temporary position
• SBB increases profits
• The World Bank is to contribute $US 100 million to a $US 133 million project to restructure Mozambique Railways
• Emergency funding averts service cuts
• Metrorex, operator of the Romanian capital's metro, has awarded a signalling contract to Bombardier to supply its Cityflo 350 mass transit solution on lines 1 and 3
• Construction has started on a 32km light rail line that will connect Phoenix with the adjacent cities of Tempe and Mesa

• 1
• 2