International & UK Railway News Wednesday 24th September 2014

..Total Railway News




The words Tube and squeeze seem interchangeable...see the Lucy Tobin article ..
And what will it be like when the Tube is  24/7??
Party conference season sees the first of (likely) many pledges to railway passengers...
Crossrail (in the present) uncovers some of Brunel's handiwork (from the past) outside Paddington.
InnoTrans 2014 sees the unveiling of the new Thameslink's trains....
Will maglev(tested again and reaching 500kph) ever take off..outside Japan, that is?
And if you should be thinking about crossing the sea to Ireland, it won't cost too much (£15 to Limerick from Dublin) to watch the sun go down in Galway Bay!


Click on the links....






Headlines
UK
'Night Tube' weekend service to launch in September 2015.(BBC News)


Rush hour Tube carriage 'filled with smoke'.(BBC News)


Lucy Tobin: We’re feeling the squeeze on the Tube now.(London Evening Standard)







Labour pledges to put 'rail passengers before profits'.(BBC News)


Labour conference: shadow transport secretary warns of ‘market failure’.(The Guardian)


Transport for Greater Manchester boss calls for more power and control over cash(Manchester Evening News)


In pictures: Borders to Edinburgh railway.(BBC News)


Teen hurt in power line incident at Ardrossan railway crossing.(BBC News)


Sonning Cutting railway tree-felling 'is carnage'.(BBC News)


Tata Steel plans R&D link with University of Warwick.(insidermedia)
Tata Steel's website.....rail products...




Crossrail Press Release....

Win an exclusive tour of a Crossrail tunnel.Send us your selfie to be in with the chance of a guided tour of a Crossrail tunnel...

Win a trip to the Crossrail Tunnels

If you want to see what goes on behind Crossrail's hoardings then all you need to do is send us a selfie.

The selfie needs to be taken against one of the "Behind the hoardings" posters located at the following Crossrail sites across London - Paddington, Bond Street, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Moorgate, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House and North Woolwich.
The winning selfies will win a guided tour of a section of Crossrail’s new rail tunnels in 2015.

How to enter

To enter the competition, just fill in the form HERE and upload your selfie.  The selfie must be a JPEG or JPG image file and must be no more than 5MB.
All entries will be entered into a prize draw.
Please read the Terms & Conditions below before entering the competition.
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Crossrail uncovers Brunel’s railway heritage..

• Victorian-era rail infrastructure excavated near Paddington as part of the UK’s largest archaeological programme
• Engineering marvels of the Great Western Railway are uncovered for the first time in more than 100 years

Remains of structures built by celebrated engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel for his Great Western Railway have been unearthed near Paddington in west London.
Newly excavated by Crossrail as part of the UK’s largest archaeological programme, findings include foundations of a 200 metre long engine shed, a workshop and train turntables. The structures were used for Brunel’s famous broad-gauge railway, which first ran steam trains through the area in 1838.

The Crossrail archaeology team is documenting the remains using laser scans, creating 3D models of the buildings which date from the 1850s and were levelled in 1906 to make way for a goods storage yard. These records will help historians understand the early development of railways in the UK and the methods of Brunel, widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest engineers.

Jay Carver, Crossrail’s Lead Archaeologist said: “Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway is the most complete early mainline railway in the world. Whenever we expose parts of the original infrastructure it is vital to record these for posterity and the history of rail in this country. Using the latest 3D scan technology provides a permanent and accurate model Brunel’s distinctive architectural legacy.”
The remains were found on a construction site known as Paddington New Yard, to the east of Westbourne Park Tube station. From 2018 the area will accommodate Crossrail tracks, turn-back sidings, an elevated bus deck and cement factory, which had to be temporarily relocated to accommodate the building of Crossrail. The works at Paddington New Yard are being undertaken by Costain.

The engine shed shows evidence of the change from 7 foot wide broad-gauge train tracks used by Brunel’s Great Western Railway, to the standard gauge tracks prescribed in an Act of Parliament in 1846 and widely implemented by the 1860s. Brunel initially resisted this change in the so-called ‘Gauge Wars’.

To date, Crossrail’s archeology programme has discovered over 10,000 items spanning 55 million years of London’s history across 40 construction sites. Notable finds include Roman remains, plague pits, the Bedlam hospital burial grounds and a Tudor manor house.
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World premiere: British Secretary of State launches state-of-the-art train to be used on Thameslink route.(European Railway Review)


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Network Rail on YouTube








Birmingham New Street station’s new atrium roof installation
Published on 24 Sep 2014

Watch the Birmingham New Street station’s new atrium roof covering being put into place, marking another important milestone in the station’s redevelopment. Made from the same high-tech material as the Eden Project in Cornwall and the Allianz Arena in Munich, the translucent roof covering will allow natural light to stream down through the atrium onto the huge new concourse below – but not before demolition experts remove around 6,000 tonnes of concrete over two floors of the old Pallasades shopping centre. This timelapse was recorded between 7 July and 16 September 2014. Find out more about the Birmingham New Street redevelopment at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/622...

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International

Africa
Railways Africa.
Selected headlines.........


‘Africa on Track 2014′
TRANSNET BUYS USED QR LOCOS
PRASA’S NEW TRAINS
BIG TFR AUCTION
TRAMS MAY RETURN TO PRETORIA
GAUTRAIN REALITIES


Continue reading.....Here


France
DB and SNCF extend cross-border high-speed rail partnership.(Global Rail News)


Germany
Fuel cells to power regional trainsets - Railway Gazette


India
Railway to launch cleanliness campaign.(The Hindu)




Japan
Is Maglev Rail Japan’s ‘Spruce Goose?’(The Diplomat)

USA
www.progressiverailroading.com

 

New York MTA proposes $32 billion in capital investments for safety, reliability and expansion
 
 
LACMTA preps to pursue federal funding for subway project's next phase
 
 
BNSF on track to train 600 first responders in Washington come October
 
 
Long Beach port reduced emissions for seventh-straight year in 2013
 
 
Silver Line ridership beats projections, WMATA says
 
 
B&H Rail completes line renovation in New York
 
 
University of North Texas students win IANA's 'intermodal challenge'


Rail supplier news from Nomad Digital, New York Air Brake, Ritchie Bros., Alstom, Bowman, Gannett Fleming and RAIL.ONE (Sept. 24

 

 

Other Railway Press Releases and Announcements



www.railway-technology.com.
Denmark's Port of Esbjerg invites bids to develop its new terminal
Denmark's Port of Esbjerg has issued an expression of interest for a private operator to run and develop its new combi terminal, located in the Sydhavn section of the port, from the first quarter of 2015 onwards. 
       
Network Rail extends deployment of HaCon's train planning system
The UK's railway infrastructure operator Network Rail will continue to use HaCon's train planning system (TPS), after extending its contract with the software solutions provider. 
       
UK rail passengers dissatisfied with delay information
Nearly a third of rail passengers have expressed dissatisfaction with the way their train company manages disruption announcements, a survey carried out by the UK's independent rail consumer organisation Passenger Focus has revealed. 
       
Metrans receives first TRAXX locomotive from Bombardier
Czech railway operator Metrans has received the first of twenty TRAXX multi-system locomotives ordered from Bombardier.





These are exciting times in the tunnelling world. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Eurotunnel. Meanwhile, tunnelling for Crossrail is inching closer to finish, and tunnelling of London’s deepest tunnel, Lee Tunnel, has now been successfully completed.

As the UK continues to develop new infrastructure schemes, from transportation to renewable and environmental projects, tunnelling will undoubtedly be a vital component of such schemes. Now is the time to form lucrative relationships with new contacts and pinpoint new opportunities with the next-generation of projects.

Focusing on the design, procurement and delivery of current and upcoming projects, NCE’s Tunnelling Summit is the best opportunity for the tunnelling community to gather, build lucrative contacts and share crucial project updates.

3 new features on the 2014 programme: 1. Lightning talksA session bringing together major clients from the next-generation of UK projects to outline their delivery plans, timeframes and expectations from the supply chain. 2. Spotlight on the UK’s current projectsA panel of client speakers discussing the key learnings from Crossrail, Lee Tunnel and London Power Tunnel, and how those lessons can be applied to future projects. 3. Asset Management SeminarA new seminar exploring best practice for the optimisation of existing assets through cost-effective maintenance and refurbishment strategies.

Download the event brochure for full details of the programme and speaker line-up.
Book before 24 October to save £50








SmartRail World
Crossrail update: Automatic Train Operation, CBTC & more.

With Terry Morgan, Chairman of Crossrail speaking at the CBTC World Congress (London, 4-6 November) we caught up with his team at this mega-project to find out more about their latest signalling developments. "Construction of Crossrail, Europe’s largest construction project, has been underway since 2009 and earlier this year the programme passed the half-way point. Rail services through central London are due to commence in late 2018. Presently, over 10,000 people are working across 40 construction sites to construct the new tunnels and stations for the major new railway which will transform rail travel in London and the South East. Tunnelling is more than 80 per cent complete and by 2015 all the major civil engineering for Crossrail will be finished. The second half of the Crossrail programme is dominated by railway systems. As major construction concludes, work will get underway to fit-out the new tunnels and stations with the necessary equipment and services to enable Crossrail services to operate. This will include the installation of over 40km of track, power equipment as well as signalling, ventilation and drainage systems. Read more » =======================================

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