Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
According to Radio Free Iraq, quoting “Iraqi officials”, foreign firms will be invited to take part in a tender to build an elevated monorail as well as subway lines in Baghdad. Mayor Salih Abdel Razzak said these facilities will help unsnarl a city notorious for its traffic jams. Iraqi railways Director Rafil Yussef Abbas told RFI [...] [...more]
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
According to the Dubai Road and Transport Authority (RTA), construction work on those Red Line stations as yet uncompleted will be finished by 25 April. All will then be opened for public service. [...more]
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
On 28 February, Iraqi minister of transport Amer Abduljabbar opened the 50km second stage of the Hilla-Basra railway project. The Aswat al-Iraq news agency quoted Babel province railways department chief Anwar al-Rehimi explaining that in the second stage the al-Hashemiya district has been linked to al-Diwaniya city, as part of the larger Hilla-Basra project. Work [...] [...more]
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
America’s General Electric (GE) has signed an agreement with the government of Pakistan to help modernise infrastructure in “critical” areas, including rail. A long-term (18-year) maintenance agreement for the proposed 150 locos, GE suggests, will ensure that Pakistan Railways (PR) has “a highly reliable fleet with improved availability that translates into better asset utilisation”. According [...] [...more]
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
JR Tokai (Central Japan Railway Company) says it will compete in the developing of Florida’s planned high-speed railway. The former state-owned company may partner with America’s General Electric in supplying Shinkansen trains for the proposed line connecting Tampa, Orlando and, ultimately, Miami. Travel time for the proposed Tampa-Orlando link would be around 45 minutes, with [...] [...more]
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
The Oregon Department of Transportation (Odom) is to buy two new 13-coach Talgo passenger trains for $36.6 million, using federal stimulus money, for delivery in 2012. They will be used in the corridor between Eugene, Oregon, and Vancouver (Canada), supplementing five existing Talgo trainsets. Washington state owns three of these, and Amtrak owns two. The two [...] [...more]
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
According to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee in the British parliament, “poor and inadequate” management by the Department for Transport (DfT) of Metronet – the company contracted to do maintenance on large parts of London’s underground railway – cost taxpayers hundreds of millions. A warning in 2004 by the National Audit Office (NAO) [...] [...more]
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
On 24 February, India’s minister for railways Mamta Banerjee announced a target for gauge conversion projects totalling 800km during the next financial year. Unlike the situation in several African countries, where 1,435mm “standard” gauge is the objective of ambitious politicians, India does not use 1,435mm anywhere. The projects in this year’s pipeline all involve changing [...] [...more]
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Bradken, a rail industry supplier, is to close its manufacturing facility in Australia’s Newcastle on 9 April. The country’s strong currency coupled with competition from China are given as the reasons for the plant running out of work. The decision came as a shock to the firm’s employees and the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union. “There [...] [...more]
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Many of the small towns in Tasmania have beautifully maintained old buildings dating back to when the British first settled the island. Hobart, apart from being the second oldest city in Australia, has something in common with Cape Town: it lies at the foot of an imposing mountain (Mount Wellington), apparently first also named Table [...] [...more]
