China to Spend Additional $128 Billion on Railways this Year: Report

SHANGHAI: China plans to spend a further 800 billion yuan ($128 billion) on building railway tracks this year after exceeding its 2014 investment target, financial news magazine Caixin reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources at the railways operator.

Caixin said the 2015 forecast was made by China Railway in a report it distributed at a national railway work conference.

It also said the 800 billion yuan target for this year could be adjusted based on investment demands, and could even surpass 2010's record investment of 842.65 billion yuan.

An official at China Railway's media department declined to comment on the forecast. The data was also not released on China Railway's website.

The government has signalled that it is keen to plough more cash into infrastructure both domestically and abroad as the economy slows, spurring the sector's stocks to their highest level since 2009.

On Jan. 16, the national planner approved $8.6 billion of railway projects in the northern and southwestern parts of China.

China Railway said on its website it spent 808.8 billion yuan in 2014 building 8,427 kilometres of new railway lines. The total rail network is now 112,000 kilometres long, while its high-speed rail network, already the world's longest, is now 16,000 kilometres long.

China Railway, formed after the Ministry of Railways was disbanded following a 2011 train crash, said it would focus its construction efforts this year on the central and western regions, and would vigorously promote local rail technology abroad.

Source: The Economic Times

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Posted in International Railway News

Bomb Threat at Paris Railway Station

Paris: A railway station in French capital Paris was closed and evacuated Friday following a bomb threat, media reports said.

The state railway SNCF said the Gare de l'Est rail station was evacuated at 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) but reopened about an hour later, Xinhua reported without offering details.

The scare came as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Paris for a visit in the wake of the terrorist attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last week.

Meanwhile, French authorities said they Thursday night arrested 12 people suspected of helping a gunman, who killed a policewoman and four hostages at a supermarket in eastern Paris last week.

Source: Zee News

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Posted in International Railway News

In New Zealand There is Railroad Cutting the Airport

In New Zealand there is airport that its runway truncated railway line. Strange and unusual sight you will see during a visit to Gisborne airport, New Zealand.

As reported from Amusingplanet on Tuesday (11.11.2014), Gisborne Airport is an airport located in a small area in the western outskirts of Gisborne, East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

Gisborne Airport is one of the few airports in the world that has a railway line that cuts in the middle of the runway. Gisborne Airport has a runway which also serves as a train line. More unique again, the second line was actively operates every day.

Gisborne Airport with an area of 160 acres has three runways of grass and a paved runway. The only paved runway is crossed by railway lines that named Palmerston North property of Gisborne Railway Line.

Runway at once become rail line operates every day from 6:30 until 20:30 local time. Outside of the schedule, the second lane closed until morning.

Gisborne Airport is the main entrance to Gisborne. This airport serves 60 domestic flights. Approximately more than 150,000 passengers are flying to and from this airport each year.

Source: m88news

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Posted in International Railway News