Railway Gazette International articles from September 2006

Railway Gazette International archives from September 2006

The engine of change.(COMMENT)
September 1, 2006... THROUGHOUT their 200-year history, railways have been drivers of change, be it economic, political, social or military. It is probably no understatement to suggest that our railways have played a fundamental part in shaping the modern world....

Security fears bring opportunities.(COMMENT)
September 1, 2006... THE IMPOSITION of the highest 'critical' terrorist threat warning at UK airports in the early hours of August 10 caused massive disruption. London Heathrow--one of the world's busiest airports that handles the most international...

Questions remain over THSRC start-up.(COMMENT)
September 1, 2006... TEST running on Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp's 346 km line between Taipei and Kaohsiung is being stepped up as the revised October 31 deadline for completion creeps nearer. Demonstration runs for politicians and journalists have been...

Korea to develop 400 km/h train.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... SOUTH KOREA'S Ministry of Construction & Transport announced on July 27 that it intends to develop jointly with the Ministry of Science & Technology a high speed train capable of running in service at 400 km/h. The project to build a...

Private sector to run CDG Express.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... ANNOUNCING the start of the tendering process for CDG Express, French Transport Minister Dominique Perben promised on July 24 that the [euro]640m project for a dedicated rail link to Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport will be funded 'without any...

Access legislation now complete.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... WITH THE PUBLICATION of ministerial order FOM/2520/2006 in the official journal on August 2, the legal framework is now in place for new freight operators to gain access to the Spanish national network. Coming into force the following day,...

Royal start on line to Nador.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... KING Mohammed VI of Morocco presided at a ceremony on July 5 to mark the start of construction of a 117 km line from Taourirt to Nador. Due for completion in 2008, the railway is expected to carry 500 000 passengers a year together with 1.5...

Namibia completes Northern extension.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... THOUSANDS OF Namibians gathered at Ondangwa on July 15 when President Hifikepunye Pohamba and Founding Father Dr Sam Mujoma officially opened the town's new station, marking the completion of Phase 1 of the country's northern extension railway....

East African concessions make progress.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... THIS MONTH is due to see the transfer of operations on Tanzania Railways Corp's 2 707 km metre-gauge network to RITES under a 25-year concession. The transfer is being partially funded by the World Bank and African Development Bank. ...

OSE DMUs enter service.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... JULY 27 saw the entry into revenue service of the first of 15 Class 621 two-car DMUs being delivered to Greek railway operator OSE. Ordered in 1997 from a consortium of Hellenic Shipyards and Bombardier, the 125 km/h sets were originally...

CAF scoops medium-distance MU order.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... SPANISH national operator RENFE has awarded CAF a [euro]588.2m contract to supply 107 multiple-units for medium-distance services. Of these, 50 will be 160 km/h three-car DMUs each seating 187 passengers. These will be delivered for...

Three chase high speed contract.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... ON JULY 25 the Argentinian government received bids from three consortia seeking to prequalify for a contract to build a high speed line from Buenos Aires to Rosario and Cordoba (RG 6.06 p305). The government is expecting the contractor to...

Port network to be rebuilt.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... PLANS are being drawn up to rebuild and modernise the 370 km rail network serving the German port of Hamburg. DB Netz and Hamburg Port Authority expect to complete a detailed document by the end of the year which is likely to propose...

Madrid-Cordoba tendering.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... TENDERS have been called within a budget of [euro]114m for a contract to upgrade the 46.7 km section of the Madrid-Cordoba main line between Alcazar de San Juan and Manzanares. Under the Spanish government's PEIT infrastructure plan (RG...

Four-tracking nears completion.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... BELGIAN infrastructure authority Infrabel expects to put into operation the four-tracking between Leuven and Schaarbeek, with the December 10 timetable change, enabling SNCB to introduce a second hourly inter-city service linking Brussels and...

United Goninan.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... Now on test in Sydney are the first of 122 'Oscar' outer-suburban EMU cars being built for CityRail by United Goninan, which are due to enter service this year. Formed of driving trailers and intermediate motor cars, the 'H sets' will run on...

Chinese officials confirmed on August 9 that the recently-opened Golmud-Lhasa railway is to be extended to serve Tibet's second-largest city.(NEWS)
September 1, 2006... Chinese officials confirmed on August 9 that the recently-opened Golmud-Lhasa railway is to be extended to serve Tibet's second-largest city. Work on the 270 km extension to Xigaze is due to start in 2007 for completion within three years.

Amtrak.(In Brief)
September 1, 2006... Amtrak has proposed converting the New York--St Albans Vermonter service to DMU operation for a three-year demonstration project, saving the state $4.2m in subsidies because of lower fuel and crew costs. Under the proposal Vermont Agency of...

Niedersachsen Hartmut Mollring.(In Brief)
September 1, 2006... Finance Minister for Niedersachsen Hartmut Mollring announced on July 21 that the Land will negotiate with six bidders for the sale of Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG after expressions of interest closed on July 11. 'I am confident that we will...

Ceremonies.(In Brief)
September 1, 2006... Ceremonies were held in Nurnberg on August 10 to mark the start of quadrupling work on DB's main line between Nurnberg and Furth. To be completed by 2010 at a cost of [euro]170m, the extra tracks will permit the expansion of local S-Bahn...

Spoornet.(In Brief)
September 1, 2006... As part of its programme to upgrade the 861 km heavy-haul Sishen-Saldanha iron-ore line, Spoornet was due to run a 342-wagon test train on August 27, to confirm the feasibility of increasing its normal train length from 216 to 342 wagons. The...

Shima, Roggio and Emepa.(In Brief)
September 1, 2006... At the end of July the government of Argentina transferred operations on the Belgrano Cargas network (RG 7.06 p376) to emergency operating company SOE for an initial period of 180 days, during which time it will receive 22.5m pesos a month in...

Prorail.(In Brief)
September 1, 2006... Prorail announced on August 15 that the completion of quadrupling between Utrecht and Amsterdam due for December would be postponed by up to four months because of delays in the safety approval process. NS Reizigers is preparing a temporary...

Dubai Phase II awarded.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... ON JULY 26 the Dubai Rapid Link consortium confirmed that it had received the formal order from the Dubai Roads & Transport Authority for construction of the second phase of the municipality's automated metro network. Valued at 4bn...

Bush backs commuter rail.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... GOVERNOR Jeb Bush announced on August 2 plans to develop commuter rail services in central Florida under a complex deal totalling almost $1bn. The plan calls for development of a north-south route through Volusia, Seminole, Orange and...

Tram-train proposed for Cadiz.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... A DRAFT agreement for construction of a 13.6 km tram-train route connecting the city of Cadiz with the neighbouring communities of San Fernando and Chiclana de la Frontera has been sent to the two municipalities by the Andalucia regional...

BA to test LRT.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... UNDER AN AGREEMENT signed on August 1 in the presence of President Nestor Kirchner, Alstom is to supply two LRVs for trial operations in Buenos Aires. The trials will take place on dockside tracks in the Puerto Madero redevelopment area....

Line 4 low bidder.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... THE METROQUATRO consortium is reported to have submitted the lowest bid for the public-private partnership to equip, operate and maintain metro Line 4 in Sao Paulo. Bids were opened on August 10 following several delays including a legal...

Hudson tunnel contract goes to joint venture.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... MEETING ON August 1, the New Jersey Transit board awarded an $82.5m contract to a joint venture of Parsons Brinckerhoff, STV and DMJM Harris/AECOM for preliminary engineering work on the Trans-Hudson Express tunnel. Over the next 18 months...

More money for Recife.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... BRAZIL'S FEDERAL Ministry for Cities announced on August 10 that it was releasing a further tranche of funding worth R$30m for Recife's urban rail network. The ministry has agreed to provide a total of R$78m, of which R$38m was released last...

St Louis Cross-County line opens.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... AUGUST 26 was due to see the formal opening of the 12.9 km Cross-County light rail line in St Louis, with Metro President Larry Salci and other VIPs joining a festival near Shrewsbury station. This was to be followed by two days of free rides...

Kawasaki wins M-8 order.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... NEW YORK Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Connecticut State Bond Commission have selected Kawasaki Rail Car Inc to build a new fleet of dual-voltage EMUs for Metro North's New Haven Line. Under the $522m base contract, Kawasaki will...

Maracaibo metro on show.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... RESIDENTS in the second-largest Caribbean city had their first look at their new metro network when the first trainset for the Maracaibo metro was unveiled to the public on August 2. Siemens is supplying seven three-car sets derived from...

Kolkata airport rail link opened.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... INDIA'S first airport rail link was inaugurated at the end of July, when Kolkata Circular Railway services were extended from Dum Dum to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport. Construction of the airport branch was approved in December 2002 by...

Los Teques on course for October start.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... DURING a worksite visit on August 14, Venezuela's Minister of Infrastructure Jose David Cabello Rondon confirmed that Metro Los Teques from Las Adjuntas to El Tambor (MR 05 p28) was on course to open on October 22, and that the route would be...

AnsaldoBreda at Caserta and Pistoia.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... Delivered to Ferrovie Nord Milano on August 1 was the first TSR double-deck EMU built by AnsaldoBreda at Caserta and Pistoia. A derivative of the successful TAF design, the TSR has distributed power with motor bogies under all vehicles. This...

Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced on August 1 that the government had approved in principle the construction of three more metro lines in Bangkok. The Red Line will run for 40 km from Phya Thai to Rangsit and Chiang Rak Noi...

Infrastructure & Transport Ministry.(CITY NEWS)
September 1, 2006... Japan's Land, Infrastructure & Transport Ministry announced on August 16 that it was looking to develop light rail networks in 10 cities over the next decade, using low-floor LRVs. It has requested on initial appropriation of [yen]300m in the...

Belgium.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Belgium: UK private equity company 3i announced on August 3 that it had completed the acquisition of ABX Logistics Worldwide from SNCB Holding. The latter has retained the local road distribution business in Belgium. SNCB transported 173...

Cambodia.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Cambodia: Last month Sokhom Pheakavanmony, Director-General of Royal Cambodian Railways, said that negotiations were underway with the Asian Development Bank for a US$42m loan towards the US$67m cost of upgrading the Siahnoukville-Phnom...

Czech Republic.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Czech Republic: The CD Executive Committee has approved plans to hive off its freight business and rolling stock maintenance into separate subsidiaries CD-Cargo and DPOV. Since 2004 CD has separated out non-core activities including track...

Ethiopia.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Ethiopia: CDE has returned to service a further four locomotives to bring its operational fleet to nine. CIM Logerail and Wartsila supplied spares and technical training from Europe, funded by a [euro]1m EU grant.

Europe.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Europe: The EU has approved a [euro]32.4m plan to reopen the 7 km cross-border line between Lanaken in Belgium and Maastricht in the Netherlands for freight traffic by the end of 2007. The majority of the expected 400 000 tonnes/year will be...

France.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... France: RFF is due to complete a [euro]28.5m programme of track renewals between Culmont-Chalindrey and Neufchateau on the Dijon-Metz route this month.

Ghana.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Ghana: During a visit to the USA by President John Kufuor last month, Minister for Harbours & Railways Prof Ameyaw Akumfi signed a memorandum of understanding giving Canadian firm SNC Lavalin rights to begin a study for rehabiliting rail lines...

Hungary.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Hungary: This month MAV will call tenders for construction of a rail link between Terminal 1 of Budapest Ferihegy airport and Szemeretelep station, and rehabilitation of the existing line between Vecses and the city centre. Loans totalling...

Netherlands.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Netherlands: On July 28 the Dutch government presented the Infraspeed consortium with a Certificate of Availability for the southern section of HSL-Zuid, from Rotterdam to the Belgian border.

Pakistan.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Pakistan: PR has announced plans to rebuild the out-of-use 762 mm gauge railway between Bostan and Zhob as a 1 676 mm gauge line. The 295 km route which was last used around 20 years ago would be extended by 150 km from Zhob to Dera Ismail...

Russia.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Russia: On July 25 RSD announced that Far Eastern Railway had begun using a second 1 278 m Lagar-Aulskiy tunnel which has been constructed over six years at a cost of 1.17bn roubles. The new bore will allow the original double track tunnel to...

United Kingdom.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... United Kingdom: The Department for Transport has extended National Express Group's franchise to operate Silverlink passenger services from October 15 2006 to November 11 2007. This aligns the end dates of four current franchises which are to be...

USA.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... USA: Norfolk Southern coal trains began using the Shelocta Secondary route in western Pennsylvania on August 7. Rehabilitation of 18 km of disused track and construction of 8 km of new route at a cost of $44m has cut 51 km from the journey...

Zambia.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Zambia: Spoornet has withdrawn from the 20-year Rail Systems of Zambia concession signed in 2003, in which Transnet held a 17% stake, New Limpopo Projects Investments 80% and employees 3%. RSZ General Manager Babe Botana said RSZ will not be...

Delivery of the 12 Siemens DMUs for the Oceanside-Escondido Sprinter diesel light rail line in north San Diego County began on August 15 when unit 4001 arrived at North County Transit District's maintenance depot in Escondido.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Delivery of the 12 Siemens DMUs for the Oceanside-Escondido Sprinter diesel light rail line in north San Diego County began on August 15 when unit 4001 arrived at North County Transit District's maintenance depot in Escondido. No 4002 arrived...

Europe.(Finance)
September 1, 2006... Europe: Norton Rose lawyers in 23 European jurisdictions have advised Dresdner Bank on a [euro]273m securitisation of lease rentals from two wagon fleets owned by AAE subsidiaries; Allen & Overy acted for the AAE group.

France.(Finance)
September 1, 2006... France: EIB has agreed to lend Marseille [euro]150m towards the construction of its light rail network, expected to cost a total of [euro]468m. The first 11.2 km section costing [euro]387m is due to open next year.

South Africa.(Finance)
September 1, 2006... South Africa: Electricity supply parastatal Eskom is to fund the new R1.8bn railway linking the Richard's Bay heavy-haul coal line to Majuba power station, as its cost of capital stands at 12.5%, compared with Spoornet's 17% to 18%. Spoornet...

USA.(Finance)
September 1, 2006... USA: FRA has awarded a $6.7m grant to Georgia's Department of Transportation for a study of a proposed high-speed passenger railway linking Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The study will look at the environmental impact of possible routes...

Vietnam.(Finance)
September 1, 2006... Vietnam: South Korea has agreed a US$1.2m grant to fund a study into the feasibility of constructing a standard gauge double-track electric route between Hanoi and Vinh. DSVN has put forward a US$30bn plan to construct a 1 435 mm line between...

Belgium.(Market)
September 1, 2006... Belgium: Infrabel has awarded Siemens a [euro]105m contract to supply and install TBL1+ and ETCS Level 1 equipment at 4 000 signals; Siemens will also be responsible for maintenance over 20 years.

Germany.(Market)
September 1, 2006... Germany: Angel Trains has placed a [euro]25m order with Siemens for 11 Eurorunner ER 20 diesel-electric locos. They will be leased to Arriva for use under its 10-year contract to operate services from Munchen to Oberstdorf. Lindau, Regensburg,...

India.(Market)
September 1, 2006... India: Rail Vikas Nigam has awarded Indonesian firm Adhi Karya a US$67m contract for civil and bridge works on a 100 km double track line in Orissa.

Italy.(Market)
September 1, 2006... Italy: Rail Traction Company has purchased five ES64F4 multi-system locomotives which it has being leasing from Dispolok for two years for use on Munchen-Verona freight trains. RTC has also leased an additional three locos from Dispolok, which...

Netherlands.(Market)
September 1, 2006... Netherlands: The first of 43 low-floor GTW diesel railcars ordered by Arriva from Stadler (RG 7.05 p412) arrived in the country on August 8, and has since begun night time testing. They will replace 16 single-car DH1 and 31 two-car DH2...

Poland.(Market)
September 1, 2006... Poland: Transmash Holding's Bryansk works has supplied a TEM18 six-axle diesel-electric shunter for the PKP LHS 1 520 mm gauge line. Orders for similar locos have been received from Kazakhstan and Guinea. A consortium led by Arcadis has...

Spain.(Market)
September 1, 2006... Spain: Tenders have been invited for a contract worth up to [euro]110.4m to build a new alignment at Puebla de San Julian on the Monforte de Lemos-Lugo route, avoiding 16 level crossings. A single 1 668 mm gauge track is to be laid at first on...

Sweden.(Market)
September 1, 2006... Sweden: Last month Hector Rail signed an order with Vossloh for a 2 700 kW G2000 diesel loco, which will be used to haul timber trains on the Hoting-Forsmo line from early 2007 on behalf of forest products company SCA.

Turkmenistan.(Market)
September 1, 2006... Turkmenistan: TPK has taken delivery of the last of 30 sleeping cars and 20 day coaches ordered under a contract signed with Chinese Capital-Longji Sci-Tech, which is providing an eight-year credit to fund the acquisition of the coaches and 48...

United Kingdom.(Market)
September 1, 2006... United Kingdom: Network Rail has commissioned Transmitton to upgrade traction power supply Scada equipment at Paddock Wood and to migrate the Slough electrical control room to Romford. Work will be completed during 2007. Vrigin West Coast...

USA.(Market)
September 1, 2006... USA: New Jersey Transit Corp has awarded Wabtec Corp's MotivePower subsidiary a $8m contract to supply five remanufactured 'clean diesel' shunting locomotives in 2007. Norfolk Southern has ordered two RP20BD low-emission shunting loco...

Venezuela.(Market)
September 1, 2006... Venezuela: IAFE has signed a contract worth US$825m with Astaldi, Ghella and Impregilo for the construction of seven stations, two freight terminals and two rolling stock maintenance depots on the Puerto Cabello-La Encrucijada route. Including...

Bombardier.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... This month Bombardier expects to start dynamic testing at Derby with a full eight-car prototype trainset ordered by Metronet Rail for London Underground's Victoria Line (RG 12.05 p780). Low-speed EMC tests with a four-car half-train began at...

Goteborgs Sparvagar.(INTELLIGENCE)
September 1, 2006... Two years later than planned, Goteborgs Sparvagar has put into revenue service the first three of 40 Sirio low-floor LRVs ordered from AnsaldoBreda in 2001. Two prototypes undertook extensive testing in Sweden before returning to Italy for...

RFF.(Pointers)
September 1, 2006... RFF has completed an initial report on the project to build a TGV line from Bordeaux to the Spanish frontier at Hendaye. This paves the way for the start of public consultations, which are due to be completed by December 29.

The government of Parana in Brazil is proposing the construction of a 44 km ring route around the state capital Curitiba which would enable freight trains to avoid the city center.(Pointers)
September 1, 2006... The government of Parana in Brazil is proposing the construction of a 44 km ring route around the state capital Curitiba which would enable freight trains to avoid the city centre. The R$140m project has been included in the federal Ministry...

Connections between rail and Great Lakes water transport in central Africa are being studied within the Consensual Central African Transport Master Plan (PDCT-AC).(Pointers)
September 1, 2006... Connections between rail and Great Lakes water transport in central Africa are being studied within the Consensual Central African Transport Master Plan (PDCT-AC). Comesa has initiated a transport corridor project, which envisages the...

Sundance Resources Ltd of Australia.(Pointers)
September 1, 2006... Sundance Resources Ltd of Australia is considering the development of an iron ore mine at Mbalam on Cameroon's southern border. The US$2.46bn project would include construction of a port and 400 km connecting railway estimated to cost US$1bn,...

China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corp.(Pointers)
September 1, 2006... A Chinese consortium headed by the China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corp is considering the development of an iron ore mine at Belinga on the northern border of Gabon. A new 200 km railway would connect at Booue with the...

China.(Metros)
September 1, 2006... China: Shanghai Shentong Group has awarded Alcatel Shanghai Bell a [euro]30m contract to supply its SelTrac communications-based train control system for the 33.1 km metro Line 6.

France.(Metros)
September 1, 2006... France: The Val de Marne local assembly has backed the inclusion of a proposed east-west metro line in the forthcoming Etat-Region plan to be adopted in the first half of 2007. The 22 km orbital line to the south of Paris would run from Arcueil...

Italy.(Metros)
September 1, 2006... Italy: On July 26 Bombardier announced that it had finalised a [euro]47m contract to supply Palermo city transport authority AMAT with a Cityflo 150 traffic management system and 17 bi-directional Flexity Outlook trams which it will maintain...

Malaysia.(Metros)
September 1, 2006... Malaysia: Datuk Mohd Rashidi Mohd Noor, Chairman of the Jalur Mudra special purpose vehicle, said last month that sufficient funds have been raised to construct a 12.5 km elevated monorail in Johor Bahru. The 1.3bn ringgit elevated line will...

Netherlands.(Metros)
September 1, 2006... Netherlands: Opening of the first phase of RandstadRail has been put back for several weeks from September 3, after a cable fire and high temperatures in July hampered work to convert the Den Haag-Rotterdam Hofplein line from heavy to light...

Pakistan.(Metros)
September 1, 2006... Pakistan: On August 9, Planning & Development Board Chairman Salman Ghani told a feasibility study seminar organised by the Punjab Transport Department that work on a Lahore mass transit scheme will begin in July 2007. The line will be...

Poland.(Metros)
September 1, 2006... Poland: On June 26 Gdansk tram operator ZKM signed a contract with Bombardier and Vossloh Kiepe for three 26 m long 70% low-floor trams, to the same design as vehicles previously ordered by the city of Krakow.