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Found 138 bulletins. The archive was last updated on 18 October 2005 and there are 2345 bulletins.
A pre-feasability project to build an inland railway between Melbourne and Brisbane both on Australia's east coast, was completed in July. The consultants concluded that minimalist options to create a Melbourne - Brisbane inland freight corridor demonstrated strong financial viability and could be implemented on a no cost to Government basis. (July 27th 2000, thanks David Bromage)
A $600 million incentives package for Speedrail's Sydney-Canberra hst has been announced by the NSW Government. NSW Premier Bob Carr released details of a proposal by his Government to negotiate the provision of line power for the trains as well as rail infrastructure in metropolitan Sydney. This news story is written by an aviation writer. See also another story, Sydney Morning Herald story, earlier story. (July 27th 2000, thanks Alan Reekie)
Canadian National and BNSF are terminating their merger; their Boards of Directors have both voted to approve an immediate, mutual termination of the combination agreement that would have created North American Railways, Inc., after carefully considering the implications for customers, employees and shareholders. See also Globe & Mail story and the press release. (July 21st 2000, thanks Bengt Mutén)
Amtrak is introducing an unconditional satisfaction guarantee. If a customer brings a problem to any Amtrak employee and is still dissatisfied with the railroad's efforts, they will get a certificate for a free equivalent journey in the future. Amtrak research shows that 15 percent of its riders never return. For every one percent increase in customer retention, the railroad stands to increase its revenues by $13 million a year. To encourage Amtrak's 25,000 employees, they will get a bonusequal to the average Amtrak ticket price (about $50) every month that 99.9 percent of customers are satisfied. (July 14th 2000, thanks Richard Mlynarik)
The BNSF-CN merger suffered a further setback on Friday the 14th when a U.S. appeals court ruled that the Surface Transportation Board was justified when they imposed a 15-month moratorium on rail mergers in March. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled 2-1 that the Surface Transportation Board was within its rights when it imposed the moratorium in March after shippers complained about poor service resulting from recent rail mergers. (July 14th 2000, thanks Bengt Mutén)
Alstom buys Fiat
Alstom is buying 51% of Fiat Ferroviaria, maker of the successful Pendolino tilting trains, for an estimated 153 million euros. The deal, financed entirely by Alstom itself without loans, includes an option to buy the rest within two years. Fiat Ferroviaria is expected to become profitable starting next year. Alstom, which has sold hundreds of 300 km/h TGV trains, is already collaborating with Canadian Bombardier to make a tilting version of the TGV for Amtrak. These trains, the Acela, are heavier than European and Asian HSTs to conform to American crash safety standards. But Fiat has already sold 1000 tilting vehicles and will be selling another 3000 in the next three years, Alstom says. The president of Alstom Transport, Michel Moreau, says that the purchase will give Alstom access to the Italian market and give syngeries in research & development.
Fiat Ferroviaria has annual direct sales of approximately 375 million euros, and indirect sales of 110 million euros via its 50-50 joint-venture with Alstom, West Coast Traincare. It employs 2300 people in Italy, Switzerland and the UK. The company is specialised in the design and manufacture of rolling stock, associated equipment (propulsion and bogies), as well as maintenance services. Fiat Ferroviaria is the world leader in tilting technology – its tilting trains designed for existing intercity main lines have been sold in Italy, Finland, Israel, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. More recently, Alstom and Fiat Ferroviaria have created a consortium for the supply and maintenance of the UK's West Coast Main Line fleet of high-speed tilting trains, operated by Virgin Trains. The project, worth 1.8 billion euros, is the largest rail contract ever signed in the UK. See also AFP story in French. (June 25th 2000, thanks Richard Mlynarik)
Borderless Europe
The German, Swiss and Austrian railways are starting a joint-venture in passenger rail and ordering 130 tilt trains late this summer. The trains will enter service in 2005. The railways are exploiting the advantage of a common electrical system in the three countries. Today, ICE1 and tilting Cisalpino trains cross the borders between these countries. The name of the new company evokes the glamour of a past age: "TEE Rail Alliance". (June 7th 2000)
The Nordic Triangle will be connected by Linx trains starting next summer, when modified X 2000 EMUs will run Olso-Göteborg-København. Oslo-Stockholm trains will follow in 2002, taking 4hrs30mins (six hours today). Göteborg-Oslo will take under 4 hours (4½ hours today), while Göteborg-København will take 3hrs15mins (4hrs40mins today). (May 16th 2000)
Rhealys is the name for a HSR joint-venture between the German, Swiss, French and Luxemburg railways for co-ordinating high-speed rail connections. The goal is to achive travel times Frankfurt-Paris in 3hrs40mins, Luxemburg-Paris in 2hrs15mins, and Zürich-Paris in 4hrs30mins. Rhealys will conduct market research and determine service and price levels, as well as prepare operations and marketing. The company will strive to standardize the different international trains in order ease interoperability. Rhealys will build on TGV Est, a 300km long new railway for 320km/h between Paris and Metz. Trains will also use an upgraded railway for 250km/h between Saarbrücken (about 100 km NE from Metz) and Ludwigshafen (near Mannheim). The trains will start running in 2006. See also DB AG press release. (May 9th 2000, thanks Richard Mlynarik)
CN's and BNSF's legal challenge to the Surface Transportation board's 15-month moratorium has been speeded by a decision to make the process "expedited". Oral argument on expedited judicial review will be held June 13, 2000. See also BNSF press release, Globe and Mail story, and ERN backgrounder. (April 29th 2000)
ÖBB's Taurus
Austrian ÖBB's 75 new 1016 "Taurus" loco look like this. They will also be produced in a dual-system version, the 1116 series, for services to Hungary. 1116.001 is to start tests between Hegyeshalom and Budapest for about 2 weeks from February 1st. This will be delayed if there is a strike. The locos develop 7MW, reach 230 km/h and are similar to the German 152s, initially designed by Siemens as the "Eurosprinter". The mechanical part of the loco is being built by Krauss-Maffei. Similarly to the Italian E412, the new ÖBB loco is both fast and powerful, suggesting mixed service. This is in contrast to DB AG's passenger-only 101 and freight-only 152 locos. See also HunRail.
Both Märklin and Roco are making HO scale models of the locos. (February 6th 2000, thanks Tobias Köhler)
Commuters who flock to Chennai, India in search of employment or to attend to their jobs each day from the western and northern suburbs are frustrated by a combination of inadequate services, inordinate delays and last minute cancellation of trains. "The pattern of giving priority to long distance trains, keeping commuter trains carrying office-goers, casual labour and students waiting, has eroded the credibility of the train service," says a regular passenger. (December 13th 1999)