News
on August 13 that the National Infrastructure Committee has approved the initial phase of Israel Railways’ (IR) national electrification programme. The Ministry of Transport
expects to invite tenders in the first quarter of next year for the electrification of 420 route- km at 25kV 50Hz ac. An
Go-ahead for Israeli electrification programme I
SRAELI transport minister Mr Yisrael Katz announced
invitation to prequalify was issued last October and seven proposals have been submitted in the prequalification phase, which is due to be completed next month. The National Roads Company will oversee electrification on the new railways it is constructing, including Tel Aviv - Kfar Sava (30km) and Acre - Carmiel
(23km), while IR will implement the electrification of the existing network. According to Katz the first
lines to be electrified will be the new direct line to Jerusalem and the Acre - Carmiel line. The total cost of the first
phase is expected to be Shekels 11.2bn ($US 3.1bn) including rolling stock.
Longer trains boost Transnet capacity
T
RANSNET Freight Rail (TFR), South Africa, is to
introduce 200-wagon trains between the coalfields of Mpumalanga and the port of Richards Bay in an effort to increase the capacity of the corridor to 81 million tonnes in the next financial year. Project Shongololo (millipede) involves running longer trains directly from the mines to the port, bypassing the yard at Ermelo, where 100- wagon trains are currently paired into 200-wagon consists for the remainder of the journey along the heavy-haul line to Richards Bay. TFR says Project Shongololo
will significantly improve fleet utilisation, reducing average cycle times from 58 to 41 hours for locomotives and from 63 to 48 hours for wagons. According to TFR, the
service will increase weekly railed export coal capacity by 30% from 1.4 million tonnes per week to as much as 1.95 million tonnes per week in the fourth quarter.
German hybrid shunter project launched G
ERMAN Rail (DB), Alstom, the state
government of Bavaria, and leasing company DAL launched a joint project on August 1 to trial hybrid traction technology on shunting locomotives in southern Germany. Under the agreement, DAL
will purchase five three-axle H3 hybrid locomotives from Alstom, which will be leased to DB Regio for a period of eight years. They will be used for shunting duties at Nuremberg and Würzburg,
KLAHOMADepartment of Transportation and the
where they will enter service in 2015. The locomotives will be equipped with a 350kW diesel engine, which will be compliant with European Stage IIIB emissions standards, but DB says it expects the locomotives to operate on battery power 80% of the time. The project is being financed
with the aid of a ƒ600,000 grant from the state of Bavaria and is intended to demonstrate the capabilities of mass-produced hybrid shunting locomotives in daily
United States Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) have launched the Tulsa-Oklahoma City Passenger Rail Corridor Investment Plan to evaluate the feasibility of launching
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passenger services between the state’s two largest cities. The Corridor Investment
use. The trial will study the operating characteristics of hybrid technology, as well as fuel consumption, emissions, and maintenance costs. Last year Alstom signed an
agreement to supply four H3 hybrids to Volkswagen for shunting at its Wolfsburg plant. Alstom announced on
August 14 that it will invest more than ƒ10m in upgrading facilities at its Stendal plant, in readiness for the start of H3 production. The site will have capacity to build up to 50 H3 locomotives per year.
Tulsa - Oklahoma City passenger rail study launched O
Plan includes an evaluation of service options, environmental impacts, and costs for the 169km route. Oklahoma City is currently
served by Amtrak’s daily HeartlandFlyer, linking the state capital with Fort Worth. Three public meetings were
held last month seeking input on topics including the scope of the study and transport needs along the route.
AnsaldoBreda plans V250 court appeal
has filed an appeal against the verdict of the Court of Justice in Utrecht, which ruled on July 3 that Netherlands Railways (NS) and Belgian National Railways (SNCB) will not be required to disclose technical reports commissioned prior to the cancellation of their orders for V250 Fyra trains. AnsaldoBreda has initiated
I
an appeal as it wants to establish which technical issues were cited in the reports and whether the findings led SNCB to cancel its order, lift the bank guarantees on the contract, and prepare compensation and indemnity claims. The appeal hearing is due to take place this month. AnsaldoBreda wants a new, independent report to be commissioned on the V250. NS Financial Services, which
placed the Dutch V250 order, has still not cancelled its contract for 16 trains.
IRJ September 2013
TALIAN rolling stock manufacturer AnsaldoBreda
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