1117][GB] Northern Ireland Railways:  A new timetable came into force from Saturday 25 November 2000 until further notice.  Presumably it will be short-lived, given the significant changes to services planned early in 2001 (R.1066, 1118, 1119).  A weekend visit on 1-3 December 2000 revealed quite a mixed picture.  Substantial investment was under way at Belfast Central.  The pedestrian ramp serving the western island (platforms 4 and 3) and most of the canopy and structures on that island had been removed, and much of the platform surface had been excavated away.  The signal at the north end of platform 4 remained lit but most of the track was removed, leaving only a stub at the south end, capable of accommodating a three-car unit.  Through track served platform 3, only a narrow strip of which was available for passengers to alight or board.  The original ramp remained to the eastern island (platforms 2 and 1), and a temporary, partially covered, footbridge at the south end linked the two islands.  Posters advised passengers to allow an extra five minutes to negotiate a longer route to catch their trains.  The concourse level was also being rebuilt, with reduced retail facilities.  Station staff said work was to continue until December 2001, and that escalators to the platforms would be included in the final design.  Noteworthy investment was under way also at Bangor, with a new station building under construction.  The northernmost platform road 3 had no track at all and was being completely reballasted.  Brand-new canopies extended three or four coach-lengths along platforms 3 and 2, and above the bus-bays that share the south side of platform 2 east of the shortened platform 1.  Station staff said the work was to be completed in late January 2001, possibly an optimistic estimate.  An NI Railways leaflet offered thanks to the public for their political support in securing inclusion in the provincial Assembly's budget of an additional GBP20M for the railway in 2001-02, which should allow a start to be made on relaying track on the Belfast - Bangor line and on ordering 23 new trains.  The Assembly duly approved this budget on 19 December 2000.

On the debit side, track condition was palpably bad in many locations, not only on the Bangor line.  Clear signs of (still-nationalised) Translink's neglect of proper maintenance over the years were liquid mud visibly pumping through the ballast in places, and missing rail-chair keys.  Train speed near the southern end of the Lisburn - Antrim line was restricted to below 40km/h for a considerable distance.  Several classic metal footbridges (for example at Antrim, Ballymena and Coleraine) had been condemned as unsafe and blocked off, with somewhat rickety-looking temporary scaffolding bridges provided by way of replacement - though at Coleraine at least the scaffolding bridge was being ignored by staff and passengers in favour of a more convenient but more hazardous barrow-way at track-level.  Operating practices seem more informal than in Great Britain, notably treating off-peak calls at less important stations as request-stops.  While fewer bombs and bullets fly in south Armagh, the pastime of stoning the cross-border trains seems still prevalent.  The Eurostar-style coaches that arrived in 1997 for the (well-patronised) Belfast - Dublin Enterprise trains now all bear numerous small scars, carefully filled and repainted.  

Much remains of historical interest.  A Belfast & Northern Counties Railway warning-sign was still standing at a minor crossing near Ballymoney.  The closed Craigavad station east of Cultra on the Belfast - Bangor line retains its station nameboards.  Traces were visible in various places of the old practice of ballasting beneath the running rails but leaving something of a valley in the 'four-foot' between them, bridged by the sleepers.  Coleraine's old turntable no doubt facilitates the running of RPSI steam specials to the Coleraine - Portrush branch.  Somersault semaphore signals remain in use, not only at Dhu Varren and Portrush (R.0747), but on both the up and down sides at Castlerock on the Coleraine - Londonderry main line.  Ballykelly airfield is still used by light aircraft.  The runway runs right up to the track but its level-crossing has gone and the runway extension on the north (seaward) side, used by the RAF's big maritime-patrol Avro Shackletons of yesteryear, is now derelict.  Some 10km to the west at Eglinton, the former Royal Navy airfield that is now Derry's civil airport, both runways 26 and 21 have thresholds close to the track, but no sign was seen of proposed works to extend across the line to the seaward side (R.0128).  

On Sundays before 15:00 stations and train-conductors sell a 'Day Tracker' ticket for GBP3 valid on NIR trains throughout the province.  Main stations also sell a Translink 'Freedom of Northern Ireland' scratchcard ticket for GBP10, which can be validated for any one day's use on both buses and trains.  The latter ticket must be very difficult for conductors to check, for it has been carefully produced so that the scratch panels show the same colour whether scratched or not!

1118][GB] (Belfast -) Bleach Green Jn - Mossley West - Templepatrick - Antrim: (R.0746, 1066; Baker 102C1-102C2)  A six-coach locomotive-hauled special organised by the Irish Railway Record Society and the Modern Railway Society of Ireland duly traversed the entire length of the line on 16 December 2000 with some 200 passengers aboard, pausing at Mossley West, where the new station was still under construction.  It seems regular passenger services, the first since 1978, may begin at the end of February 2001, when Belfast - Londonderry trains are diverted to the more direct route. (irishrailwaynews@hotmail.com)

1119][GB] Lisburn - Knockmore - Antrim: (R.0083)  Diversion of the Belfast - Derry trains is likely to see closure of this section, for NIR have no spare rolling-stock to work it, nor the finance to repair the track to meet safety standards.  However an NIR spokesman mentioned 'creating a circle line from Belfast to Antrim and Lisburn and back' and said 'if we do have to mothball the line we hope in the medium to long term to be able to have it reinstated'.  (irishrailwaynews@hotmail.com)

1120][IE] Belturbet, County Cavan:  Both the 1600mm-gauge Great Northern Railway and the 914mm-gauge Cavan & Leitrim Railway served Belturbet station, opened June 1885 and closed March 1959.  The station and ancillary buildings remained derelict until Belturbet Community Development Association acquired them in 1995.  Following extensive restoration a heritage-tourism project aims to welcome visitors in spring 2001, comprising budget accommodation, restaurant and a railway-theme visitor-centre with old rolling-stock.  The original stone GNR(I) goods-shed has become a conference or training venue, able to seat some 90 people.  (Belturbet Station, Railway Road, Belturbet, Co.Cavan, Ireland; www.belturbet-station.com; e-mail info@belturbet-station.com; fax +353 49 952 2581; telephone +353 49 952 2074 or +353 49 952 2502)

1121][IE] Dundalk Barrack Street: (BLN 741.0318, 749.078, 765.0480, 766.0480, 776.0149; Baker 100B1)  The turnout at Dundalk South Jn remains, giving access to a short storage siding for track-maintenance vehicles, but the Barrack Street branch proper closed in 1995 and has been lifted, while the site of the Barrack Street terminus of the 1847 Dundalk & Enniskillen Railway has been sold and now hosts a headquarters building for Louth County Council.  

1122][IE] Drogheda: Buckey's or Buckie's sidings: (R.0400; Baker 100C2)  The original 1844 terminus of the Dublin & Drogheda Railway later became Buckey's or Buckie's sidings.  The origin of the name is now obscure, and both spellings seem to have been used interchangeably over the years, as for example in the Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society (articles in February 1981, October 1989, June 1997).  The permanent historical display in Drogheda station booking-hall uses the spelling Buckey's, as did notices during Drogheda resignalling in 1997.  Conversely, civil engineering notices during the 1997 redevelopment used Buckie's, as does the Baker atlas and the Quail track atlas of November 1995.  

1123][IE] Dublin Area Rapid Transit: Malahide / Howth - Howth Jn - Connolly - Pearse - Grand Canal Dock - Lansdowne Road - Bray - Greystones: (R.0806, 1037-8; Baker 95A2-95B2)  Although a public timetable for the Dublin suburban lines with a cover showing it to be valid 18 June - 16 September 2000 was certainly printed (our reporter has a copy), it seems not to have been generally issued to passengers because the summer's labour disputes prevented its implementation.  In November 2000 the timetable whose cover is dated 19 September 1999 - 27 May 2000 remained in use - subject to significant amendments including the limited electric service extensions to Greystones from 10 April 2000 and to Malahide from 9 October 2000.  Expanded electric service to both Malahide and Greystones finally commenced on Monday 18 December 2000, with a few difficulties on the first day (the 08:09 from Malahide failed at Portmarnock and the 08:24 Howth - Bray was cancelled due to the absence of a driver).  Early in the first week a summary of the new DART service was on the Iarnród Éireann website (www.irishrail.ie), but not full timings.  Provision is understood to be similar to that in the timetable dated 18 June 2000, which never operated.  The new timetable is not ideal.  The Howth branch has lost about a third of its service, but by cancellation of individual trains rather than by spacing out evenly the intervals between those remaining.  Thus peak-hour trains now run about every 20 minutes, while immediately after the morning peak a 10-minute service runs for a period.  For the remainder of the day, off-peak headways vary from a minimum of 5 minutes to a maximum of 40 minutes, and do not appear to bear any relation to passenger demand.  The south side too seems to have more erratic headways, with at least the perception of an increased number of long gaps.  In fairness to IE, total DART train-kilometres are up 30%, and track-km by 25% with only 12% more coaching-stock, which was needed anyway to cope with traffic growth on the original route.  By 29 December 2000 the long-awaited new station between Pearse and Lansdowne Road was nearly ready and seemed likely to open at short notice.  It had acquired nameboards on its lamp-posts indicating that it is to be called Grand Canal Dock, perhaps a little more upmarket than the provisional name 'Barrow Street' (R.1038).  A new agreement with the staff came into force on 18 December but with most DART drivers refusing to work rostered rest-days, some service disruption was still continuing at the end of the year.

1124][IE] Dublin suburban: (Connolly -) Clonsilla - Leixlip (Confey) - Leixlip Louisa Bridge - Maynooth: (R.0085; Baker 95A1)  Double track between Clonsilla and Maynooth was commissioned on Monday 4 December 2000.

1125][IE] Dublin suburban: Heuston - Kildare: (BLN 729.082; Baker 95A2-94B2)  Iarnród Éireann invited bids by 12 December 2000 for a EUR159M scheme to increase the capacity of the Dublin - Kildare line, including a second pair of tracks on a 19km section, and resignalling over 48km.  (International Railway Journal, December 2000)

1126][IE] Dublin North Wall: (BLN 765.045, R.0057, 0401; Baker 96B1-96B2)  Track remains connected from (Upper) Sheriff Street level-crossing through the car-park alongside the former Point Depot to the North Quay Extension terminal of Pandoro Ltd (P&O roll-on/roll-off).  A photograph in the Irish Railway Record Society Journal (#143, p510) shows locomotive #143 hauling out two Japanese-built 2800 Class diesel railcars delivered from Yokohama by the Mammoet Line vessel Enchanter, itself also clearly shown in the picture, bow-in towards the East Link Toll (road) Bridge, with another railcar being swung ashore.  The accompanying report confirms twenty cars were unloaded between the vessel's arrival on 6 July 2000 and 8 July, and hauled by rail to Inchicore works.  On 18 August 2000 mv Transporter delivered sixteen 8500/8600 Class electric-unit cars from Yokohama.  On 18-19 August these were discharged at North Quay Extension and rail-hauled to Inchicore.  A photo of a vehicle being unloaded appears in Today's Railways #58.  The Alstom electric units for DART delivered in April and May 2000 were however road-hauled from the factory in Spain to Inchicore, via Liverpool and roll-on/roll-off ferry.

1127][IE] (Dublin -) Mallow (- Cork): (Baker 90B1)  At Mallow, junction station for the Mallow - Killarney - Tralee line, the old locomotive shed, once the base of the Great Southern Railway Preservation Society, has been demolished.  A new passenger footbridge with lift was nearing completion in December 2000, so the classic covered footbridge at the north end of the platforms will presumably be removed.  (irishrailwaynews@hotmail.com)

1128][GB][FR] Folkestone East Jn - Folkestone Harbour and Boulogne Bifurcation d'Outreau - Boulogne-Maritime: (BLN 848.0194, BLN 888; Ball 6A2)  Services, latterly seasonal, on the Folkestone - Boulogne sea route were suspended for the winter from 2 October 2000, but ferry-operators Hoverspeed subsequently confirmed that they would not be reopening the route in 2001.  However, the expensively-produced brochures for Venice Simplon Orient Express operations in summer 2001, despatched to customers in mid-December 2000, and the VSOE website at the end of December, both continued to show a detailed itinerary involving running via Folkestone and Boulogne, so perhaps special arrangements will be made for VSOE passengers to continue to use that sea route, Hoverspeed and VSOE both being owned by James Sherwood's Sea Containers group.  The VSOE was already the only passenger train on the short branch to Boulogne-Maritime station, and it may possibly become the only one on the Folkestone Harbour branch - or both branches may now have closed to passengers. 

1129][FR] Lille metro: (R.0182; Ball 7A1-7B2 not shown)  French prime minister Lionel Jospin on Friday 27 October 2000 inaugurated the 3.5km line 2 extension of Lille's driverless VAL metro from Tourcoing to the Centre Hospitalier Dron, close to the Belgian border, and free rides followed on the Saturday.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, December 2000)

1130][FR][BE] (Charleville-Mézières -) Givet SNCF - Heer-Agimont SNCB - Hastière - Dinant: (R.0904; Ball 16B2-17A3)  Passenger reopening is planned for summer 2002, with through TER regional trains from Reims to Namur, worked by SNCF X73500 single diesel railcars.  (L'Écho du Rail, #216, December 2000)

1131][FR] St.Brieuc - Binic - Plouha - Guingamp and Plouha - Paimpol: (Ball 20B2 not shown)  The system of the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer des Côtes du Nord comprised, at its maximum extent, 457km of metre-gauge track spread across the eponymous département in Brittany.  The St.Brieuc - Plouha - Guingamp line opened 1905 and Plouha - Paimpol much later, in 1922.  In later years the département itself owned and operated the railway.  Although narrow-gauge, the system was by no means lightly constructed, having some dramatic concrete viaducts and, at St.Brieuc, a Gare Centrale with an impressive overall roof.  This building, which was not adjacent to the SNCF main-line station, remained in use as a bus-station and depot for many years after the line closed, and may still be extant.  The CF des Côtes du Nord were early users of internal-combustion railcars.  Their first De Dion-Bouton autorails were delivered in 1923, and railcars (popularly known as michelines, since some French railcars had Michelin rubber suspension) were a regular feature on the system from about 1925.  Alas, the sprawling system was unable to withstand competition from improved roads and motor-cars, and 240km had closed by 1939, including the Plouha - Guingamp section, although it is possible it may have been used during World War II.  The final stretches of the CDN, including St.Brieuc - Binic - Plouha - Paimpol, closed in 1956.

1132][FR] St.Pierre-du-Vauvray - Louviers - Acquigny - Hondouville (- Gravigny - Evreux-Embranchement): (BLN 851.0295; Ball 24A3 partly shown)  St.Pierre-du-Vauvray - Louviers - Acquigny track remains in place and can be used if necessary, but SNCF subsidiary Voies Ferrées Locales et Industrielles operate the Acquigny - Hondouville section in isolation from the French network solely for movements between works of a paper manufacturer.  (L'Écho du Rail, #211, July 2000)

1133][FR] La Loupe - Senonches: (Ball 24A1)  This branch, once part of the south-to-north La Loupe - Evreux route and now a 10.2km freight-only stub, may see a tourist train formed of four ex-RATP vehicles hauled by a diesel locomotive bringing visitors to attractions in the forest of Senonches.  Local press reports say that the Association du Train Touristique et du CF Musée du Perche are studying the possibility, though no start-date has been quoted.  (L'Écho du Rail, #214, Oct 2000)

1134][FR][DE] Lorraine colliery railway: (BLN 839.0590; Ball FR-29B3)  Noted for running their own international passenger trains carrying miners between nearby pitheads in France and Germany, French colliery-operators Houillères du Bassin de Lorraine now plan to outsource various activities, including their standard-gauge industrial railway and its tunnel under the frontier near Merlebach.  The 273 employees hope SNCF will take over, but whoever secures the operating contract, the railway's future is uncertain.  Coal extraction is planned to end in 2005.  (L'Écho du Rail, #212, August 2000)

1135][FR] Blois - La-Chapelle-Vendômoise - Villefrancœur (- Selommes - Vendôme): (R.0662; Ball 35A2)  Passenger trains ceased 2 October 1938.  The 5km La-Chapelle-Vendômoise - Villefrancœur section then closed completely some time between 1980 and 1990, but reopened on 30 June 2000.  (L'Écho du Rail, #216, December 2000)

1136][FR] Les Aubrais - Châteauneuf-sur-Loire - Sully-sur-Loire - Argent-sur-Sauldre - Aubigny-sur-Nère - Bourges: (Ball 36A3-36B1)  Closed to passengers Les Aubrais - Argent 15 May 1939 and Argent - Bourges 1 March 1940, this line still sees freight from Les Aubrais to Châteauneuf or Sully once or twice each working day, and on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, through to a gas depot at Aubigny.  (L'Écho du Rail, #213, September 2000)  To the south, the Aubigny - Bourges section was shown as open in SNCF's freight atlas of 1980 but as closed in the 1990 edition.

1137][FR] Dunières SNCF - Dunières-Ville - Montfaucon-en-Velay - Tence - Le Chambon-sur-Lignon - St.Agrève: (BLN 815.0566, 817.04, 822.0119; Ball 56A1)  Summer tourist trains of preservation group Voies Ferrées du Velay on this section of the metre-gauge Vivarais system generally operate to and from Dunières-Ville, a little way short of the northern end of the line, but locotracteur-hauled VFV trains continue through the tunnel to run round at Dunières-Gare, the former interchange station with the SNCF standard-gauge.  Passengers are conveyed there if they wish.  (Narrow Gauge News, #241, November 2000)

1138][FR] Arles - Fontvieille: (Ball 75A3)  Passenger trains on this 10km CF des Bouches-du-Rhône branch were first withdrawn as long ago as 1933, then restored during the German occupation of France in World War II, and finally withdrawn in 1947.  The preservation group AJECTA ran summer Sunday tourist trains in 1979, 1980 and 1981.  The line was still serving a French army base in 1999 (BLN 849.0240).  On Thursdays and Fridays in August 2000 and on Wednesdays in December 2000, the local-authority Régie Départementale des Transports des Bouches-du-Rhône ran three shuttle trips to Fontvieille, using 1954-built Renault autorail X5845 as Le Train des Alpilles.  Departures appear to have been from the RDT yard at 17bis Avenue de Hongrie, close to Arles SNCF station.  

1139][FR] La Ciotat Gare - La Ciotat Ville: diesel light rail: (Ball 76A2)  This branch was built as a standard-gauge line of intérêt local and was open for passengers from 1887 to 1955, with 600V dc electrification from 1935 to 1955, remaining in use for freight thereafter.  Since closure of the naval dockyard in the mid-1980s the line has lain out of use, but the track remains in place - and a German wagon still stands at the old Ville station.  On 28 September 2000 La Ciotat town council approved passenger reopening of the line from the SNCF station for 5.1km past the marina to the present bus-station.  On the section next the port de plaisance, not served by bus routes, the three articulated light autorails to be obtained from Germany could call at as many as eleven intermediate stops.  Beyond the bus-station terminus, a 700m section along the quays could be reopened as a second stage.  Finance for the EUR6.29M project would come from the European Union, the French government and the local authorities.  Local sources report that the town council (conseil municipal) have now purchased the line from the county council (Département des Bouches-du-Rhône).  (L'Écho du Rail, #217, January 2001)

1140][NL] Den Haag trams: (R.0328)  Trams were restored to Grote Marktstraat from 18 November 2000.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, December 2000)  

1141][NL][DE] Schin-op-Geul - Simpelveld - Kerkrade: (BLN 840.0613, R.0304; Ball NL-9B2-10A2, DE-37A1)  Timetabled steam and diesel tourist trains of preservation group Zuid Limburgse Stoomtrein Maatschappij (www.zlsm.nl) now generally use Kerkrade Centrum NS station.  Previously the ZLSM railbus used ZLSM's own platform 100m short of the end-on junction, while steam workings continued to the NS station, but the railbus has been tested to make sure NS signalling can detect it reliably, so it is no longer barred from main-line tracks.  From time to time when ZLSM trains are hauled by small diesel locomotives not cleared to run on NS, they do terminate at the ZLSM platform, but conductors always go to the NS station to look for passengers waiting there.  ZLSM charter trains not in the timetable usually use the ZLSM platform, giving the operators more freedom to plan the trip, not having to take into account movements of NS trains terminating at Kerkrade.  Opening date of the ZLSM's international branch (Simpelveld - Bocholtz [NL] - Vetschau [DE]; R.0329) was 13 April 2000.  

1142][DE][NL] Leer - Weener DB - Nieuweschans NS (- Groningen): (R.0627, 0713; Ball DE-15B2-15A2, NL-2A2; KBS397)  Temporary closure of this cross-border line, with bus substitution, was continuing during December 2000.

1143][DE] Bremerhaven-Speckenbüttel - Kaiserhafen/Nordhafen - Bremerhaven Columbusbahnhof: (R.1103; Ball 16B3)  In 1986 the branch electrification extended into sidings at the north end of the docks complex, but not beyond.  It seems unlikely that the now virtually disused Columbusbahnhof has since been wired, and indeed a photograph of one of the special passenger trains for the 'tall ships' event of 31 August - 3 September 2000 shows haulage by a diesel shunting-locomotive for the final leg of the journey down the branch.

1144][DE] Halle (Saale) trams: (R.0037, 0098; Ball 42B3 not shown)  The extension west of S-Bhf Halle-Neustadt to Eselsmühle opened 20 August 2000.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, December 2000)  

1145][DE][FR] Saarbrücken Hbf - Saarbrücken Ost - Brebach - Hanweiler-Bad Rilchingen DB - Sarreguemines SNCF: (BLN 817.02; Ball DE-56A2; KBS684)  Rolling-stock not fitted with German standard Indusi signalling equipment may be barred from working over DB lines, perhaps from 1 January 2001.  This could mean withdrawal of the few Saarbrücken - Sarreguemines (- Strasbourg) through services, which are worked by SNCF autorails and are the only passenger trains on the short Saarbrücken Ost - Brebach section.  Frequent Saarbrücken - Sarreguemines local service is provided by Saarbahn light-rail vehicles (R.0219), but these use their own tracks within the German city and only join the DB line at Brebach.  An extension of the Saarbahn tramway from Cottbuser Platz to Siedlerheim (R.0219) was to open on 12 November 2000.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, December 2000)

1146][DE] Germany: sun power for night-time signals:  Deutsche Bahn's 15,000 semaphore signals are mostly illuminated at night by propane gas, but Siemens are to supply light-emitting diodes, partly powered by solar cells, yielding savings on the costs of gas bottles and maintenance, and reducing carbon-dioxide emissions by 13,400t/year.  (Wirtschaftswoche, 7 December 2000)

1147][AT] Austria: closures?:  The following passenger services are reported to be listed for withdrawal at the June 2001 timetable change.  The last three sections of line have not hitherto appeared to be threatened.

Gmünd NÖ - Gross Gerungs: (R.0978; Ball 63B2-63B1; KBS84; 43km; 760mm-gauge)
Retz - Drosendorf: (R.0983; Ball 64A2; KBS94a; 41km)  
Drösing - Zistersdorf Stadt: (R.0984; Ball 65A1; KBS93c; 12km)
Haiding - Eferding - Aschach an der Donau: (R.0638, 0786; Ball 73B3; KBS15a; 22km)
Leoben Hbf - Vordernberg Markt: (R.0909, 0985; Ball 74B1; KBS61; 18km, electrified)  
Ober Grafendorf - Ruprechtshofen: (R.0981; Ball 75A3-74B2; KBS11c; 28km; 760mm-gauge)  
Friedberg - Oberwart: (R.0987; Ball 75B1-84A3; KBS52; 26km)
Siebenbrunn-Leopoldsdorf - Engelhartstetten (R.0988; Ball 76A3; KBS71a; 23km)

Bad Aussee - Stainach-Irdning: (Ball 73B1; KBS17; 30km, electrified)
Arnoldstein - Kötschach-Mauthen: (Ball 82A1-81A1; KBS67; 62km)
Zeltweg - Wolfsberg: (Ball 83A3-83A2; KBS62; 51km)

1148][PT] Aveiro - Agueda - Sernada do Vouga - Oliveira de Azemeis - Espinho: (BLN 851.0310; Ball 17A3)  Though Aveiro - Agueda (21km) and Oliveira - Espinho (34km) retain more frequent services, the 24 September 2000 supplement to the CP timetable shows few trains on the 39km middle section, Agueda - Sernada - Oliveira.  Sernada is served by two round-trips from each end (Sernada 07:37 - 08:38 Aveiro 10:42 - 11:40 Sernada 13:55 - 14:56 Aveiro 17:32 - 18:32 Sernada; and Espinho 06:46 - 08:51 Sernada 09:40 - 11:40 Espinho 14:06 - 16:15 Sernada 17:05 - 19:15 Espinho).  Traversing the whole of this metre-gauge line in either direction thus takes over eight hours, with a five-hour break in Sernada (northbound Aveiro 10:42 - 11:40 Sernada 17:05 - 19:15 Espinho; southbound Espinho 06:46 - 08:51 Sernada 13:55 - 14:56 Aveiro).

1149][PT] Lisboa: Entrecampos - Campolide - Pragal - Fogueteiro - Coina - Penalva - Pinhal Novo: (R.0570; Ball 25B1-26A2)  On 24 September 2000 a PTG tour visited the line beyond the south-bank passenger terminus at Fogueteiro as far as the Fertagus depot at Coina, and on 25 September it visited the industrial branch heading west from Pinhal Novo to serve the Volkswagen factory at Penalva.  Beyond the freight loop near Penalva, new track disappeared west into the distance, but it seems c.5km still remains to be completed of the Coina - Penalva link.  (Portuguese Traction Group newsletter)

1150][PT] (Lisboa -) Setil - Santana-Cartaxo - Vale de Santarem (- Santarem - Entroncamento): (R.0571; Ball 26A3)  Visited in December 2000, Setil (56.4km from Lisboa Santa Apolónia) is the junction station for the important link to Vendas Novas and CP's southern lines, but it is situated in a somewhat desolate location at the end of a road some 5km from the nearest town, Cartaxo.  The station was remodelled in early 2000 and comprises two island platforms on each side of the Lisboa - Porto main line.  No tickets are issued but one member of staff remains in a little office, with the rest of the large station building apparently locked up and disused.  To the north, Santana-Cartaxo (60.3km), with three platforms, two of them on an island, remains open but unstaffed, with a vandalised station building.  The station-master's house was apparently unoccupied, with some ground-floor windows broken.  Vale de Santarem (66.3km) is similar in layout to Santana, again unstaffed, but the station building was in good repair. 

1151][PT] (Pinhal Novo -) Vendas Novas - Torre da Gadanha (- Casa Branca): (Ball 26A2-26B2)  Visited in December 2000, Vendas Novas, junction station for the link to Setil and the north, has two through platforms and a west-facing bay.  The station café was open, and the booking-office was still issuing Edmondson-card tickets.  A water-tower was standing between the station and the former locomotive-yard to the east, where some old stock was parked or dumped.  Some 18km to the south-east, Torre da Gadanha (75.2km from Barreiro) was a former junction station, still with two through platforms and a bay at the Casa Branca end, no doubt once occupied by the Montemor branch train.  Station buildings were in good repair, but tickets are no longer sold, and no sign was seen of any staff.  A water-tower was still standing.

1152][PT] Torre da Gadanha - Paião - Montemor-o-Novo: (R.0449; Ball 26B2)  The Ramal de Montemor, opened 2 September 1909, closed 28 May 1987, had track removed from its whole length when visited in December 2000.  The only intermediate station on the branch was Paião, whose crossing-keeper's house still indicated its distance from Barreiro, the station itself (at 81.0km), and the hamlet of Paião being about 1km away.  The station house was occupied and in good repair.  The passenger platform faced west and the goods platform was behind it facing east.  A metal girder-bridge remained c.1km out of Montemor.  Though now trackless, the layout at Montemor (88.0km) seemed to have been fairly extensive for a short rural branch.  Both the station and the goods-shed were in good repair.  The passenger building (including the platform, enclosed by a fence) is in use as a nightclub.  

1153][ES] Mallorca: (Palma -) Inca - Llubi - Muro - Sa Pobla/La Puebla: (R.0341, 0425, 0504, 0714; Ball 38A1-38A2) The former Inca - La Puebla branch, opened 1878 and closed 31 March 1981, has reopened, regauged from 914mm to 1000mm.  Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca ran an inaugural passenger train on 28 December 2000, and revenue service was to begin 6 January 2001.  Reopening south-eastward from Inca to Manacor by 2003 is also planned, and work on a completely new northward extension to the coast (Sa Pobla - Alcudia) is said to be 'already under way'.  (www.majorcadailybulletin.es)

1154][IT] Mondovì funicular: Breo - Piazza: (Ball 45B2 not shown)  The funicular from the commercial quarter up to the historical centre of Mondovi closed in 1975, but is to reopen on a slightly modified alignment.  The lower station at Breo is to become a funicular museum.  Reopening is planned for Christmas 2002.  (L'Écho du Rail, #211, July 2000)

1155][IT] Firenze: Bivio Pellegrino - Bivio San Marco Vecchio: (R.0494; Ball 49A1)  This rebuilt west-to-north chord, opened 5 November 2000, will - perhaps from January 2001 - allow Firenze - Borgo San Lorenzo passenger trains to run from the city's principal station, Firenze Santa Maria Novella, making a new stop at San Marco Vecchio, and ceasing to reverse at Firenze Campo di Marte.  (Today's Railways, January 2001)

1156][IT] Italy: new Direttissima lines:  The International Railway Journal for December 2000 reports the following progress with high-speed line construction in Italy.

Roma - Napoli:  The 204km line, including 38km in tunnel, is 71% complete, and should open end-2003.  The last 14km section into Napoli may be built later, or existing lines may be upgraded instead.
Firenze - Bologna:  The 92km line, including 73km in tunnel, is 45% complete, and should open in 2007.
Bologna - Milano:  Work has just begun on this 182km line, to open in 2006.
Milano - Novara - Torino:  Work is to begin in early 2001 on this 125km line.  The Milano - Novara section is to open at end-2005, and a branch to Milano Aeroporto della Malpensa is to open before the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.
Milano - Verona:  Planning of this 148km line is under way.
Milano - Genova:  Planning has yet to start.
Padova - Venezia:  Planning has yet to start.

1157][CH] (Basel -) Muttenz - Liesthal (- Olten): (R.0281; Ball 86B2)  The new main-line alignment via the 5.3km Adlertunnel opened 4 December 2000.  (Today's Railways, January 2001)

1158][PL] Kraków trams:  An extension south to Kurdwanow opened 1 October 2000. (Tramways & U.Transit, Dec 2000)

1159][HU][SI] Zalalövö - Bajánsenye MÁV - Hodoš SZ - Puconci - Murska Sobota: (R.0017, 0252, 0431, 1034; Ball 46B3)  On 18 December 2000 MÁV opened their new line from Zalalövö westwards to c.4km short of the Slovenian border at Bajánsenye, and Bzmot railbuses have begun a passenger service of four or five round-trips.  However through international services on the new line, the only direct rail link between Hungary and Slovenia, are not to begin until all works on the Slovenian side are completed, about March 2001, and official inauguration by the two prime ministers has been delayed until then.  From the June 2001 timetable change the Budapest - Ljubljana - Trieste - Venezia train Drava should begin to use the new route, initially using diesel haulage, though MÁV and SZ hope to electrify, perhaps by 2006.

1160][BA][YU] Banja Luka - Doboj - Petrovo ZRS - Miricina ZBH - Lukavac - Bosanska Poljana - Zivinice - Kalesija ZBH - Osmaci ZRS - Zvornik Grad ZRS - Zvornik JZ - Šabac - Ruma - Beograd: (R.0352; Ball 51B3-52A3)  The Thomas Cook timetable shows a passenger train starting at Banja Luka on the Zeleznice Republike Srpske (the railway of the Bosnian Serb Republic), passing over the Zeleznice Bosne i Hercegovine (of the Bosnian Muslim-Croat Federation) and running through to Beograd, capital of Serbia and the rump of Yugoslavia.  (Today's Railways, January 2001)  The ill-fated section of this route from Zivinice (on the Banovici branch near Tuzla) to Zvornik Grad (c.50km not shown in the Ball atlas) was planned by 1914 but saw its first train only on 18 January 1992, less than three months before civil war began in Bosnia.  

1161][AU] Melbourne - Adelaide: (R.0181)  The Overland, formerly an overnight train in each direction, continues to run westbound by night, but has been retimed to run eastbound by day.  (www.gsr.com.au)

1162][AU] Adelaide - Kalgoorlie - Perth:  A special charter working of the Indian Pacific transcontinental train is to head west from Adelaide on 22 October 2001, stopping for various events and visits at Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Pimba, Ooldea, Kalgoorlie and Northam, arriving Perth 25 October.  A side-trip to Woomera to see the launch of a space-rocket is promised, but it is not clear that this means the train will traverse the short freight-only Pimba - Woomera branch serving the launch-site, or whether buses will be provided for the 310 passengers.  The trip is to commemorate completion of the standard-gauge Trans Australian Railway on 25 October 1917, which fulfilled the federal promise made to the state of Western Australia when the Commonwealth of Australia became a unified nation on 1 January 1901.  (www.cof.ocmi.wa.gov.au/tracks.htm)

1163][CA] North Vancouver - Squamish - Lillooet - Prince George, BC: (BLN 801.0219, 809.0426)  BC Rail have for many years operated North Vancouver - Lillooet trains daily and North Vancouver - Lillooet - Prince George workings three times a week each way.  However, winter trains on the Lillooet - Prince George section have been carrying fewer than 40 passengers per trip, so from 10 January to 24 April 2001 and again from 24 October to 18 December 2001 Cariboo Prospector trains will run Lillooet - Prince George northbound on Fridays and Sundays only, southbound on Saturdays and Mondays only.  However North Vancouver - Lillooet service on this scenic line remains daily all year, and the summer 2001 timetable will include a new Whistler Northwind locomotive-hauled tourist train of single-level dome-cars, running north to Prince George on a leisurely three-day schedule, marketed as a package including overnight hotel accommodation.   (www.bcrail.com)

1164][US] Schellville, CA - Petaluma (- Willits - Eureka - Arcata, CA): (BLN 845.0127, R.0080)  In November 1998 safety concerns led the federal government to shut down the Northwestern Pacific's entire 458km freight-only system in northern California, but this c.45km section may be allowed to reopen in early 2001.  (www.trainsmag.com)

1165][IE] (Dublin -) Roscommon - Castlerea (- Westport): (R.0359; Baker 98C2)  Major track-relaying and upgrading work recommenced on 8 January 2001 and over the 14 weeks until the Easter weekend buses are to replace trains between Roscommon and Castlerea from mid-morning Monday until lunchtime Friday, and around lunchtime Saturday. (irishrailwaynews@hotmail.com)

1166][FR][BE] Nancy TVR guided-transit: Essey - Brabois:  Stemming from Bombardier's early-1990s experiments on the Guided Light Transit test-track occupying the formation of the former Jemelle - Rochefort (- Houyet) line in Belgium (BLN 704.02, 737.0230), the Transport sur Voie Réservée concept is not exactly a railway, but uses low-floor articulated rubber-tyred trolleybuses powered from overhead wiring but guided mechanically by a rail embedded in the roadway.  Tramways & Urban Transit for January 2001 reported that this first line in revenue service opened on 8 December 2000.

1167]][FR] Lyon trams: (R.0850, 0935; Ball 56B3)  Both lines of this new tramway system, numbered T1 and T2, opened for business on 2 January 2001.  (www.lrta.org)

1168][NL] Houten - Houten-Castellum: light rail: (Ball 4A2)  National rail operators Nederlandse Spoorwegen on 8 January 2001 began a light-rail feeder service shuttling between the existing Houten station and a new platform 1.9km to the south at Houten-Castellum.  The project, set up in four months, involves a second-hand double-ended eight-axle Stadtbahn car built for Hannover in 1974, running on a third track laid alongside the Utrecht - Geldermalsen main line and electrified at 750V dc using a mobile substation loaned from Den Haag.  (www.lrta.org)

1169][DE] Münster (Westfalen) Hbf - Neubeckum - Beckum - Lippstadt - Erwitte - Belecke - Warstein: (Ball 24B1-25A1-39A3)  Westfälische Landeseisenbahn GmbH operate the line and own all but the earliest part of it, the Neubeckum - Beckum section opened by Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn in 1879, which remains part of DB Netz.  WLE also own and operate the two remaining short branches, Neubeckum - Ennigerloh and Belecke - Heidberg (Möhne).  Lippstadt - Belecke - Warstein opened 1883 as the Warstein Lippstadter Eisenbahn, but the system was considerably expanded in 1898-99 with the opening of Beckum - Lippstadt, Neubeckum - Ennigerloh, Belecke - Soest and Belecke - Heidberg - Brilon Stadt.  Münster - Neubeckum opened 1903.  Belecke - Soest has since closed entirely, apart from a short section at Soest, as has Heidberg - Brilon Stadt.  Regular passenger trains ceased running in 1975, but a Münster - Neubeckum service is proposed (R.0239).  This would require upgrading of the line for higher speeds, and doubling the 5km Münster-Wolbeck - Albersloh section.  Local councils along the line offer all-party support, except for CDU-controlled Kreis Warendorf who oppose the project.

The railway is a typical Nebenbahn, single-track, unelectrified and running through a largely rural area.  For most of the way the countryside is quite flat and agricultural, but towards Warstein the line runs through the forested uplands of Arnsberger Wald.  Special passenger trains operated by Eisenbahn-Tradition eV run on a few days each year, but usually only over Münster - Neubeckum.  Apart from these, the line is freight-only, the main traffic being cement from works at Ennigerloh, Beckum and Erwitte.  The last two also receive brown coal.  Much of the cement is routed via Münster, worked onward by the Bentheimer Eisenbahn.  Beckum forwards scrap-metal, Erwitte receives timber and a big quarry at Warstein despatches stone.  Various other sidings serve industry, including the famous Warstein brewery, but traffic at most of these appears light. 

A pleasant Münster - Warstein return trip on 6 January 2001 was made on an excursion train of vintage carriages hauled by a Class 50 steam locomotive.  A supplement of DEM20 for an upholstered second-class seat proved well worthwhile, for it would have seemed a very long day sitting on a wooden seat!  At Neubeckum a portion from Oberhausen was added, after which the train comprised no fewer than 16 carriages, being double-headed by the Class 78 locomotive that had worked from Oberhausen.  Small-town Germany on a Saturday afternoon can be very quiet, and Warstein was no exception.  Despite having several hundred people descending on the town for about three hours, virtually all the shops and most of the restaurants closed as usual at 14:00, immediately after the train arrived - in complete contrast to the brass-band civic welcome that often greets excursions, especially rare ones such as this.

1170][DE] Greifswald - Greifswald Hafen: (Ball 13B1)  In December 2000 this short freight branch seemed recently used.

1171][DE] Charlottenhof (Kreis Pasewalk) - Abzw Belling: Pasewalk avoiding line: (BLN 797.0108; Ball 21A3)  The west-to-north strategic Verbindungskurve, shown in the Ball atlas as out of use, had been lifted by December 2000.  

1172][DE] Jatznick - Tolgelow - Eggesin - Ueckermünde: (R.0270; Ball 21A3; KBS192)  In December 2000 new Bombardier diesel railcars of Ostmecklenburgische Eisenbahn provided the service from Pasewalk north for 11km under the wires, then through on to the 19km Ueckermünde branch.  The junction, Jatznick, had facilities for waste-transfer and timber-handling, and Tolgelow also seemed to have seen recent timber traffic.  Tolgelow, Eggesin and Ueckermünde are all staffed.  The freight-only extension to Ueckermünde Hafen showed no sign of any recent traffic.

1173][DE] Aachen area: (R.0239, 0973; Ball 37A1-37B1)  In December 2000 plans for local train services in the three-country 'Euregio' border area around Aachen were as follows.  In 2001 the existing Heerlen - Landgraaf NS - Herzogenrath DB - Aachen Hbf trains are to run forward, augmenting the service to Stolberg Hbf, where they are to reverse and run south-west as far as Stolberg-Hammer on the currently freight-only northern section of the Vennbahn (Stolberg Hbf - Stolberg-Hammer - Walheim DB - Raeren SNCB).  In 2002 Köln - Düren S-Bahn trains begin, and the present Mönchengladbach - Aachen - Düren - Köln Grenzlandbahn services are to be cut back to run Mönchengladbach - Aachen - Düren.  In 2003 two other sections are to reopen to passengers (Mariadorf - Herzogenrath and Stolberg Hbf - Eschweiler Tal - Weisweiler), and a short new link (Weisweiler - Langerwehe) is to be built.  New light diesel railcars, probably locally-assembled Bombardier (Talbot) VT643 Talent units, are to join and split at Herzogenrath and Stolberg Hbf, on the following two-line pattern: Heerlen / Mariadorf - Herzogenrath - Aachen Hbf - Stolberg Hbf - Stolberg-Hammer / Weisweiler (Euregiobahn) and Mönchengladbach / Mariadorf - Herzogenrath - Aachen Hbf - Stolberg Hbf - Stolberg-Hammer / Düren (Grenzlandbahn).  In 2005, a new light-rail line is to be built (Aachen Bushof - Aachen Nord - Würselen - Mariadorf) and the trains previously starting at Mariadorf are then to start back from Aachen Bushof, making a wide circle to the north before running west-to-east through the Hauptbahnhof to the south of Aachen city-centre.  (http://www.mousepark.de/avvneu/index.html)

1174][DE] Düren - Im grossen Tal - Huchem-Stammeln - Jülich - Linnich: (R.0939; Ball 37B1)  Since 5 November 2000 Dürener Kreisbahn Düren - Jülich trains have called at a new request-stop named Im grossen Tal, which serves a (fairly flat) industrial area not very obviously in a valley (like Lichfield Trent Valley, perhaps).  DKB have announced that regular passenger trains are to begin on the Jülich - Linnich section in June 2001.  Also on 5 November 2000 the freight stations on the Jülich - Puffendorf section (BLN 728.076) were formally closed, and this branch now has no regular traffic. 

1175][ES] Sevilla: (Ball 35A2)  The railways in Sevilla were almost entirely rebuilt between 1985 and 1992 in connection with construction of the standard-gauge high-speed Madrid - Córdoba - Sevilla Alta Velocidad Española line and the world fair, Expo 92.  Before the alterations, the main station was Plaza de Armas, a terminus to the north-west of the city-centre used by most trains from Madrid and Córdoba, and by trains west to Huelva.  On the north-eastern outskirts of the city the main line from Córdoba heading into Plaza de Armas made a triangular junction with a line passing immediately to the east of the city-centre and serving the important station of Sevilla San Bernardo on its way south to Cádiz.  

The centrepiece of the reconstruction work was a splendid new main station, Sevilla Santa Justa, east of the city-centre on the Cádiz line.  This was the worthy winner of the 1992 Brunel Award for outstanding visual design in public railway transport, and is a striking but practical structure.  On its east side are the standard-gauge platforms where Madrid - Sevilla AVE trains terminate, and on the west side are broad-gauge through lines continuing south in tunnel.  This tunnel, slightly to the east of the old surface route of the Cádiz line, includes a new underground San Bernardo station of simple configuration, with one up and one down platform.  

With Santa Justa to replace it, the old terminus Plaza de Armas closed entirely, its access line being cut back to the goods station at San Jeronimo.  The line from Plaza de Armas curving west towards Huelva also closed, not least because it passed through the middle of the Expo site.  To replace it, an entirely new railway was built from a triangular junction on the Córdoba line at Majarabique, about 6km north of Santa Justa, heading west to join the line to Huelva.  A dual-gauge branch off this new Majarabique - Villanueva (- Huelva) line ran Majarabique - Estadio Olímpico - Cartuja, terminating at a special station on the Expo site to the west side of the city.  A further development in preparation for Expo 92 was construction of additional road bridges over the Canal de Alfonso XIII, which separates the city-centre from the Expo site.  One of these, the Puente de las Delicias, was built to carry a railway also and this serves industry to the south-west of the city.

In December 2000, the Expo site has gone the way of the old British Empire Exhibition at Wembley.  Part is in use as an amusement-park, and some other areas are occupied by offices and light industry.  However, much seems to see little or no use, and the huge car-parks are used for storage of dismantled exhibition structures.  The cars from the monorail that served the Expo site are stored in a yard nearby.  Cartuja station, with its huge overall roof comprising fabric slung from steel arches, still stands, but though track is in place at all four platforms, it seems not to see any traffic, and eight years on has become rather tatty.  Slightly to the north the more modest passenger station adjoining the Olympic Stadium is kept in good order, with name-signs on the platforms, and may still see special trains in connection with major events.  Plaza de Armas station has become a smart shopping-centre and cinema.  Work is to a very high standard and it is pleasing to see this fine building well cared for and put to good use. The large signal-box outside Plaza de Armas where the old Huelva line once diverged has become a restaurant.  Much of the surface formation of the old railway through San Bernardo is a main road or has been used for housing development.  One of the bridges that used to span this line is still in place, now serving as a road flyover.  The buildings of the old San Bernardo station are still occupied by RENFE as offices and a fresh-produce market occupies the space under the overall roof where the platforms once were, but in contrast to Plaza de Armas, this station seems shabby and neglected.  

1176][MT] Malta - Gozo train-ferry?:  Neither small island has a railway, and the 11km Malta Railway that closed as long ago as 1931 was metre-gauge (R.0316).  However, one of the inter-island ferries operating in autumn 2000, mv Calypso, has a single track of standard-gauge rails on her car-deck.  Some 88m long, and with a certificate for 550 passengers, she was built by Svendborg Skipsvaerft, Svendborg, Denmark, in 1970 and worked until 1993 as DSB's mv Kärnan.

1177][AU] (Melbourne -) St.Albans - Delahey - Sydenham (- Bendigo):  On the 1600mm-gauge network north-west of Melbourne, work has begun on extending 1500V dc suburban electrification out to Sydenham, with a new intermediate station at Delahey.  (http://people.enternet.com.au/~cbrnbill/maps/devel.htm)

1178][AU] Brisbane: Corinda - Yeerongpilly:  The shuttle service on this 1067mm-gauge Queensland Rail link line south of the Brisbane River was withdrawn in December 2000, since when only peak-hour through services remain, with rumours that all trains may be withdrawn at the next timetable change.  (http://people.enternet.com.au/~cbrnbill/maps/devel.htm)

1179][CA] Edmonton, AB: East Jn - West Jn downtown loop: (R.0547)  From 1989 the sole passenger train serving the city, the transcontinental Canadian/Canadien, used a 5km stub from East Jn to reach the CN station, and most of the loop west of that point closed.  From 29 May 1998 the Canadian transferred from the old CN station to the new VIA station, sited on another 1km stub of the former loop south from West Jn, allowing closure of the eastern stub.  West Jn is a triangle, but the east-to-south curve off the transcontinental main line is very sharp for passenger trains, and in practice the west-to-south curve is used, the westbound Canadian reversing into the station and the eastbound reversing out.  

1180][US] Dallas, TX heritage trams: (BLN 801.0221)  In 1989 McKinney Avenue Transit Authority began operating veteran streetcars with volunteer drivers through the city's Uptown area.  From early 1999 extensive road works restricted operations to weekends, and later the 4.5km line was completely closed for several months, but daily (10:00-22:00) service was restored on 4 January 2001.  Work to extend the standard-gauge heritage line some 1.5km to the CityPlace station of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit light-rail system, also standard-gauge, is to start soon and should be complete in December 2001.  Plans also exist to extend to the downtown West End Historic District.  Hitherto largely a tourist novelty, the MATA tramway will become more of a serious transport option once it links with DART.  (Dallas Morning News)

1181][KE] (Mombasa - Nairobi - Gilgil - Nakuru - Rongai -) Maji Mazuri - Sabatia - Equator - Eldoret (- Malaba KR - Tororo UR): (R.1094)  Between Maji Mazuri and Sabatia stations the Kenya Railways metre-gauge main line makes a significant loop north, and some maps suggest that two crossings of the Equator may occur here, though no trackside markers are to be seen.  Officially, the line crosses the Equator at the south-east end of Equator station, 815km from Mombasa, 2665m above sea-level, marked by an attractive metal sign with two interlinked hoops representing the globe and by a smaller concrete sign on the opposite side of the track.  However, immediately north-west of the station a sweeping S-bend results in a further two recrossings of the Equator, marked by more concrete signs.  About 1km beyond, the line begins a spiral.  The roughly parallel road runs in the forest just above the railway and has a roadside Equator marker.  No nearby trackside signs were noted, but it is possible that further brief switches of hemisphere occur hereabouts.  At km826 from Mombasa the line reaches its summit of 2783m, the highest point ever reached by any railway in the former British Empire, and in the Commonwealth that succeeded it.  Traffic is reasonably heavy by local standards, typically between two and four trains a day each way, each loading to up to 1000t, hauled by diesel locomotives of Classes 87, 92, 93 and 94.  

1182][KE] Nairobi - Thika - Sagana - Karatina - Naro Moru - Nanyuki: (R.1094)  Nairobi passenger-station platform 1 has an example of a zero distance-post, 'Nanyuki branch 0km'.  This KR branch also crosses the Equator, but only just, the railway line intersecting the geographical one south of the Nanyuki terminus.  Nairobi - Thika is relatively busy with trains serving rail-connected industrial estates, notably a Del Monte pineapple-canning factory.  Any tin of pineapple labelled as being of Kenyan origin almost certainly travelled by rail from Thika to Mombasa.  Northward the line may possibly be closed beyond Sagana, though in 1997 it was continuing to serve the oil-terminal at Naro Moru, the last southern-hemisphere station, and to pick up agricultural traffic from Nanyuki, a major commercial farming area..  Economic operation was badly handicapped by the steeply graded Sagana - Karatina section where a Class 62 locomotive, the only kind usually available because of axle-load restrictions, could lift only 140t, less than three loaded bogie wagons.

1183][KE] Gilgil - Nyahururu (Thomson's Falls): (R.1094)  This KR branch is effectively closed.  Small loads of agricultural produce and fertiliser were once carried, but like Sagana - Nanyuki the line is penalised by light track and low traffic potential.  In June 2000 staff at Nakuru yard said that no traffic had passed for perhaps a year, though the railway's commercial manager there said the line could be reactivated if trainload freight were offered.  The Rongai - Solai branch was completely derelict.  Judging by the state of the track near Rongai, traffic may have ceased by 1980 or earlier.

1184][KE] (Nakuru -) Kisumu - Maseno - Butere: (R.1094)  In June 2000, the thrice-weekly (TThSO) Kisumu - Butere service offered the only opportunity in Kenya to cross the Equator (indicated by a sign at Maseno station) on board a scheduled passenger train.  Provided KR deploy the second-class coach, it is a pleasant but slow day-excursion, though in third-class it would be rather a scrum among the market-traders and their bags of produce.  Booked haulage is one of the four remaining 1971-built English Electric Class 72 locos, of rare 1BoBo1 wheel-arrangement, though Henschel Class 62 frequently deputise, since the Class 72s are more profitably deployed on the Eldoret - Kitale branch.  Locomotives of English Electric 1960-67-built Class 87, though overweight for the line, make the occasional illicit visit.

1185][UG] (Malaba KR -) Tororo UR - Busambatia - Iganga - Jinja - Kampala:  In February 1999 Uganda Railways were operating only this metre-gauge main line, together with two short branches to the Lake Victoria train-ferry ports, Jinja - Jinja Port and Kampala - Port Bell (R.1186), and no longer ran either passenger or internal freight services.  International freight wagons and containers were handled at Jinja and at Kampala, mainly the latter.  Most traffic passed via the train-ferries and Port Bell to and from Kampala.  The dire condition of the Jinja - Kampala main line was causing such frequent delays due to derailments or track works that the Jinja Port branch was in use as a diversionary route to move wagons between Jinja and Kampala via the ferry.  The northern loop line (Busambatia - Kaliro - Kamuli - Jinja; the original main line) was long disused although track remained in place at both junctions.  Tororo - Pakwach (- Arua), the long branch to the north-west, and Kampala - Kasese, the line west toward the Congolese border, both closed in 1998.  Inspection of the Kampala station-foreman's train-register showed that the last (freight) train to Kasese left on 19 September 1998, arriving back at 06:50 on 23 September.  The projected extension (R.1094) beyond Kasese and across the Equator to Katwe on Lake Edward was never built.

1186][KE][UG][TZ] Lake Victoria train-ferries: (R.0394, 1094)  Metre-gauge train-ferries serve six ports on Lake Victoria: Kisumu in Kenya, Jinja Port and Port Bell in Uganda, and Kemondo Bay, Mwanza and Musoma in Tanzania.  Our reporter visited both Kisumu and Port Bell in February 1999, and travelled Port Bell - Mwanza - Dar by ship and rail.  Before 1977 Kisumu was the hub of East African Railways' lake operations and has quite an extensive port area and marine-engineering workshops with a dry-dock.  A short connection leads down from the main yard to serve sidings for warehouses and the quay, which is parallel to and about 500m downhill from Kisumu passenger station.  Four ferry reception lines curve through a right angle and give access to the track on the link-span perpendicular to the main quay.  KR's 1967-built Barclay Class 46 diesels are booked to do the shunting, though when they are unavailable locomotives of Classes 72 and 87 are used.

Jinja Port is on a steep c.3km branch from the main yards at Jinja station.  Its only function in 1999 was to handle local transfers to and from Port Bell (R.1185).  Port Bell is on a 7km branch from Kampala and has three reception lines for the link-span plus a siding.  Trips on the branch are arranged by UR Control as required.  A floating-dock for maintenance of the train-ferries is moored adjacent to the link-span.  An ordinary quayside berth serves the passenger ships to local islands and the weekly service to Mwanza.  Banknotes for UGS5000 (Uganda shillings) depict a UR Henschel Class 62 or 73 locomotive shunting a hypothetical train-ferry terminal, more like Port Bell than Jinja Port.  Class 73s are indeed the normal shunting power, although our reporter arrived from Kampala by getting a lift on an Alsthom-built Class 82 travelling light-engine.  This helpfully bypassed security procedures at this international border-zone, though he did have written permission to visit. 

Facilities at Kemondo Bay and Musoma were described by the captain of one of the train-ferries as 'wagon sidings'.  Kemondo Bay on the west shore of the lake serves the town of Bukoba, but this port and Musoma on the eastern side are isolated from the TR rail system.  Wagons are disembarked to sidings but no railways serve the hinterland.  Traffic is probably internal to Tanzania and exists because road access around the lake is very poor.  A first-hand report would be welcome.  The main Tanzanian railhead, Mwanza is on the south shore of the lake.  Its train-ferry terminal is attached to the main freight-yard at Mwanza, a few km out of Mwanza passenger station and not at the original quay in the town, so was not seen in transferring from the passenger vessel to the train for Dar. 

Service is provided by five train-ferry vessels, all constructed as kits of parts in European shipyards, sent by sea and rail to Kisumu and assembled there.  KR-owned Uhuru (= freedom) and TR-owned Umoja (= premier) were built 1964, and UR-owned Kaawa (= coffee), Pamba (= cotton) and Kabalega (traditional title for a king in Uganda) were built 1983-86.  Each vessel has four tracks and carries 22 bogie wagons.  Large amounts of deck cargo are also squeezed between the wagons. The prominent sign Défense de Fumer carried on the bridge-deck above the rail-deck seems curious since no francophone country borders Lake Victoria, although significant amounts of the import/export trade of Rwanda, Burundi and eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo do pass this way.  Passengers are not carried on the train-ferries, but Tanzanian Railways' mv Victoria makes a weekly Mwanza - Bukoba - Port Bell passenger trip across the Equator, leaving Mwanza on Sunday and Port Bell on Tuesday.  This traditional passenger vessel, built by Yarrow of Glasgow in 1961, is the most comfortable surface public transport in the region, with maintenance standards well above the local average, including cabin-doors which lock and complete sets of life-jackets and other safety equipment, though her facilities do not come anywhere near what would be expected in Europe.  The portholes of the Gents, Western Lav (sic), necessarily kept open, give a fine view across the lake as one tries out the well-used urinals.  Passengers other than Tanzanians or Ugandans must pay their fares in US dollars, tendering the exact money in small banknotes though, on board, the Tanzanian shilling is the sole currency. 

The economic role of the ferries is to carry landlocked Uganda's imports and exports, especially trade through Indian Ocean seaports with countries outside East Africa, coffee being the most valuable export.  The most important route, served typically by two ferry journeys daily, is Mombasa - Nairobi - Nakuru - Kisumu KR - train-ferry - Port Bell UR - Kampala.  Its main drawback is that capacity is severely limited between Nakuru and Kisumu and the largest permitted locomotives (English Electric Class 87) are elderly and unreliable.  However, freight shippers are said to like this route because Uganda requires only one customs inspection, in Kampala.  If wagons run throughout on rails via the Malaba - Tororo border, two inspections are required, in both Tororo and Kampala, with consequent delay and additional documentation.  The next most important route is Dar-es-Salaam - Tabora - Mwanza TR - train-ferry - Port Bell UR - Kampala, on which bureaucratic Tanzania's customs are probably more demanding.  TR track is poor, evidenced by the remains of many overturned wagons by the line, but the motive-power is reliable, with operations in the remoter parts north of Tabora entrusted to the robust and dependable ex-Indian Railways Class YDM4A locomotives.  Transit is thus assured if the train stays on the track.  Both are equatorial rail routes (R.1094) to the extent that they involve revenue-earning traffic in rail wagons - even if the wheels aren't actually turning at the time they cross the Equator, on Lake Victoria in Ugandan waters!

1187][IE] Dublin DART: (Connolly - Pearse -) Grand Canal Dock (- Lansdowne Road - Bray - Greystones): (R1123; Baker 95B2) Iarnród Éireann announced that Grand Canal Dock DART station at Barrow Street close to the city centre was at last to open on Monday 22 January 2001. (Railway Preservation Society of Ireland Bulletin, 19 January 2001) 

1188][FR] Paris RER: (Gare Austerlitz -) Bibliothèque François Mitterrand (- Boulevard Masséna - Ivry-sur-Seine): (Ball 82A3)  Boulevard Masséna station has closed, replaced on 3 December 2000 by the rather grand six-platform RER line C station nearby at Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, a major new interchange with métro line 14 (the Météor line; Madeleine - Bibliothèque François Mitterrand; opened 15 October 1998; BLN 837.0542).  (Today's Railways, Feb 2001)

1189][FR] Le Rody - Brest Port de Commerce: (BLN 759.0344; Ball 19A3-19A2)  From a junction c.2km west of Le Rody station on the Paris - Rennes - Brest main line a single-track electrified freight branch, not shown in Ball, diverges to descend south-westwards to extensive and well-used railway yards at the newer docks on the eastern edge of the port city of Brest.  From these sidings a line, perhaps out of use, continues west through the streets passing mostly derelict older docks to reach the Port de Commerce, whence ferries ply to Le Fret, Île Molène and Île d'Ouessant.  At this point the line is partly visible from the car-park at Brest passenger station, high above and to the south.  In September 2000, the state of a run-round loop at the Port de Commerce suggested that the line was not entirely disused.  The hand-worked points at both ends of the loop had been dug out of the roadway, their mechanisms looked intact and useable, and they were both protected on two sides by the kind of barriers used for crowd-control.  Was the line perhaps used by passenger trains in connection with the 'tall ships' event in August 2000 (R.1143)?  Continuing beyond the Port de Commerce the line splits, one branch disappearing through a tunnel into the old naval dockyard on the banks of the river, the other vanishing through a gate into what might be a munitions store beneath the walls of the château.  A 1983 Michelin 1:200,000 road-map shows a freight railway emerging from tunnel to cross the river and continue westwards along the shore towards the Pointe de Portzic, perhaps to the Electricité de France plant nearby.  

1190][FR] Mézy - Condé-en-Brie - Artonges - Montmirail: (BLN 844.083, 0660; Ball 26B3)  Though problems remain, preservation group Chemin de Fer Touristique de l'Omois hope their Picasso railcar X3835 will be allowed to run tourist trains on the line in summer 2001.  CFTO are also trying to organise a through Paris Est - Mézy - Montmirail special excursion.  (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/cfto/; telephone +33 3 2371 4605; CFTO, La Mairie, F-02330 Condé-en-Brie)

1191][FR] Alès - St.Julien-les-Fumades - Bessèges: (Ball 64A1-64A2)  The area has many remains of coal-mining and other long-gone industrial processes, and in September 2000 various remnants of closed branches or mineral lines seen from the train looked walkable.  The St.Julien-les-Fumades - St.Florent freight branch shown in Ball had gone.  The intermediate stations appeared somewhat run-down, though the terminus at Bessèges looked in good order.  Track here continued a little way past the platform-end but with buffer-stops shortly before a former level-crossing with the rails now removed or covered over.  Beyond, the track reappeared, running alongside the river for a short distance with various sidings disappearing across the road into seemingly-disused factories. 

1192][BE] Brussel-Schaarbeek/Bruxelles-Schaerbeek: (R.0623; Ball 10B2)  Since the May 2000 timetable change the car-sleeper trains have been handled at Denderleeuw, and the sidings at Schaarbeek where the cars were once loaded and unloaded had been lifted by January 2001, to allow for construction work on the Bruxelles - Liège high-speed line.

1193][BE] Bruxelles/Brussel metro and trams:  Extensive work to improve the environs of Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid, the city's main station, caused temporary closure of Rue Theo Verhaegen Straat from 17 October 2000, with tram routes #81 and 82 diverted via Avenue Wielemans Laan using an unusual curve at the junction with Avenue Van Volxem Laan.  Tram route #18 is diverted to run direct from Midi/Zuid via Avenue Van Volxem Laan to Saint Denis/Sint Denijs, following the regular route of tram #52.  In connection with the Bizet - Erasme extension of metro line 1B, tram route 56 was cut back to terminate at Saint Nicolas/Sint Niklaas with effect from 12 January 2001.  The former north-western terminus of metro line 1A, Stade, was in the open, but the recent Stade - Roi Baudouin/Koning Boudewijn extension is entirely in tunnel, including a new subsurface station at Stade.

1194][DE] Dessau trams: Museum - Dessau-Alten: (Ball 28B1 not shown)  This 3.1km westerly extension of the system (line 3) was inaugurated 31 October, and came into full service 5 November 2000.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, Jan.2001)

1195][DE] Bad Salzungen - Leimbach-Kaiseroda - Tiefenort - Merkers - Dorndorf (Rhön) - Vacha: (Ball 41A1-40B1; KBS576)  For a threatened branch the 16km Werratalbahn was doing good business on 8 December 2000, in contrast to the September report (R.1048).  The 13:47 Bad Salzungen - Vacha comprised two Class 771 railbuses with c.25 passengers, with someone joining or alighting at every station, and the 14:15 return working also saw useful traffic.  Leimbach-Kaiseroda had a freight siding in use.  Just beyond, the short north-to-west (Oberrohn - Tiefenort) curve avoiding Bad Salzungen, shown in the Ball atlas as out of use, was disconnected at both ends.  Merkers retained a passing-loop, both sides of which were traversed.  Dorndorf had a single operational siding where 11 wagons were being loaded with timber, but the rest of the layout was out of use, including the Dorndorf (Rhön) - Kaltennordheim branch (Ball 40B1-52A3; exKBS577), still in place and retaining its signalling.  At Vacha only one line other than the platform road showed any sign of recent use.

1196][DE] Düsseldorf - Düsseldorf-Unterrath - Düsseldorf Flughafen - Angermund (- Duisburg): (R.0760; Ball 33A1)  At the new Düsseldorf Flughafen through-station on the main line, check-in is available for most flights, but rail tickets can be purchased only from a machine, for the station has no booking-office and few railway staff.  At the older Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal, the branch terminus served by S-Bahn trains, the DB ticket-office is closed and dismantled, but tickets can now be bought at a DB counter in the arrivals hall of terminal C.  A Schwebebahn to link the airport terminals and the main-line station is under construction, but is not expected to open until mid-2002.  Meantime a free bus service is provided.

1197][AT] (Innsbruck -) St.Anton-im-Arlberg (- Feldkirch): (Ball 78B3)  The railway at the eastern end of the 10.3km Arlberg tunnel was diverted to a new alignment, and a new station at St.Anton-im-Arlberg replaced the old one from 11 September 2000.  (Today's Railways, December 2000, February 2001)

1198][SE] Luleå - Boden - Karungi - Haparanda (- Tornio VR): (R.0187, 0422, 0603, 0825; Ball 3A1-3B1)  It is reported that Tågkompaniet have decided not to run seasonal Boden - Haparanda trains again in summer 2001.

1199][ES] Coruña trams: (R.0574; Ball 1B2 not shown)  The metre-gauge heritage tramway in A Coruña/La Coruña was further extended in August 2000 to Playa Riazor.  (Today's Railways, February 2001)

1200][ES] (Madrid -) Alcázar de San Juan - Vadollano (- Córdoba): (Ball 30A3-30A1)  Some 150km south of Madrid, the main line to Valéncia diverges from the classic but now under-used broad-gauge route to Córdoba at the important junction of Alcázar de San Juan.  Its large and lofty refreshment-room has an attractive timber-panelled ceiling and ornate wall-tiling, but it is the vast collection of objects on the wall that make it remarkable.  Locomotive works-plates, number-plates and the like mingle with oil-lamps and spanners, a working model of Joy's steam-locomotive valve-gear and a number of technical objects whose function is unclear.  However, it is not just railwayana that the successive operators of the room have accumulated, for the brass- and copper-ware ranges from warming-pans to coach-horns, and is accompanied by bellows, scales, wooden buckets and tubs, glassware and china.  The collectors clearly preferred to have at least six examples of each kind of artefact, if possible.  Behind the bar is a huge and ornate glass case, incorporating a clock and containing three monumental ceramic urns.  Posters and other documents adorn the walls, and include the special menu served to mark the eclipse of the sun on 28 May 1900.  It appears that in the past RENFE have proposed station modernisation, thus threatening dispersal of the collection, but it has achieved such fame that they have always backed off.  Another slightly bizarre collection can be found just outside the station, where the local Asociación de Amigos del Ferrocarril Alcázar de San Juan have a railway museum housed in a windmill that appears straight from the pages of Cervantes' Don Quixote.

1201][ES] (Madrid -) Vadollano - Linares-Baeza - Espelúy - Córdoba: (R.0539; Ball 30A1-36B3)  Some 158km south of Alcázar de San Juan, from a junction just north of the closed Vadollano station, a line diverges south-west.  Only a short stub of this remains, apparently to serve an army camp north of Linares, but it was once a through Vadollano - Linares - Espelúy route carrying trains from Madrid which ran via Linares and passed through Espelúy station west to east before heading south on what is now the Espelúy - Jaén branch.  Later, the Vadollano - Córdoba main line was built, passing to the south of Linares town through the present Linares-Baeza station and continuing through Espelúy parallel with and north of the line to Jaén.  On this new line trains from Madrid ran through Espelúy east to west.  Later still, the original through route via Linares closed.  Madrid - Jaén trains now run via Linares-Baeza to a point c.1km east of Espelúy where the main line and the branch from Jaén run parallel, using a connection there on to the branch to arrive and reverse at a platform on the south side of Espelúy station.  The layout at Espelúy resembles some German country junctions, with the main line on one side of the buildings and goods-yard, and the local line on the other side.  Just east of the station, it is possible to shunt between main and branch lines via sidings, and immediately to the west is a second running connection.  These somewhat lavish arrangements look set to change.  In December 2000 a new alignment was being prepared east of Espelúy, apparently to allow trains to run direct from the main-line platforms on to the branch.  This may result in much rationalisation of the layout and closure of the Jaén side of the station, but reversal at Espeluy is likely to continue, for an east-to-south curve directly on to the branch would require an expensive bridge over the Rio Guadalquivir.

1202][ES] Córdoba - Sevilla: (R.0539; Ball 36A3-35A2)  Under RENFE's original plans a 1668mm broad-gauge high-speed line was to be built from the outskirts of Madrid south as far as Córdoba, after which trains were to use this existing line west to Sevilla, but the Spanish government took the strategic decision to build the Madrid - Ciudad Real - Córdoba - Sevilla Alta Velocidad Española line to standard-gauge throughout, and it came into operation in 1992.  The AVE scheme included a new partially-underground passenger station some 400m to the west, ceremonially opened over two years later, on 9 September 1994.  Córdoba's old station building remains, and was being renovated in December 2000.  The broad-gauge west of Córdoba was realigned to the north of the standard-gauge, so broad-gauge Córdoba - Bobadilla trains cross the AVE line on a flyover to head south, and the old formation of the Bobadilla line south of the standard-gauge to the west of Córdoba now hosts a gauge-changing installation.  This is used by the Talgo trains that run on the standard-gauge from Madrid to Córdoba, then join the broad-gauge to Bobadilla and thence through to Málaga or Algeciras.  Córdoba also sees the Garcia Lorca, a classic broad-gauge locomotive-hauled Barcelona - Málaga day train comprising portions for Badajoz and Sevilla daily, and for Granada and Almería on alternate days (Tuesdays excepted).  Its timekeeping is not good, and its schedule is very slow because of all the shunting.  Though only the Sevilla and Málaga portions reach Córdoba, re-marshalling here is quite complicated because each includes a car-carrying wagon.  One can see why most European railways have abandoned multi-portion domestic daytime services.

1203][ES] Sevilla - Utrera - Jerez de la Frontera - Cádiz Cortadura (- Cádiz Término): (BLN 711.010, 754.0235; Ball 35A2-34B1)  In December 2000 the line was being reconstructed through Jerez de la Frontera, famous for sherry, and with a fine station.  To the south, the railway was also being rebuilt through Cádiz, in a new tunnel.  During these works trains are terminating and starting on the north side of the town at a new station, Cádiz Cortadura (= 'cutting'), opened on 25 June 2000.  It appears that Cádiz Término passenger station, close to the rail-served port, will reopen once its access is restored.

1204][ES] Sevilla - Utrera - Pedrera - Fuente de Piedra - Bobadilla - Antequera - Granada: (BLN 754.0236, R.0505, Ball 35A2-37A2)  The south-to-east curve at Utrera noted as rusting in January 2000 had been removed by December 2000, so the newer north-to-east curve (not shown in the 1993 Ball atlas) carries all the traffic, avoiding Utrera station.  The Pedrera - La Roda de Andalucía line remains but has no passenger service.  Sevilla - Granada workings take the west-to-south Pedrera - Fuente de Piedra cut-off, and avoid Bobadilla using the north-to-east Fuente de Piedra - Las Maravillas cut-off.  Neither of these is shown by Ball.  The new cut-offs and new north- and south-facing junctions at Fuente de Piedra enable trains to run direct from either Sevilla or Córdoba to either Granada or Málaga, but despite its apparent potential as an interchange, Fuente de Piedra station is not used as such.  Indeed it appears moribund, though remaining a live station on RENFE's website.  The main station in the area is still Bobadilla, a classic country junction that serves only a few houses and is used mainly by passengers changing trains.  Good connections are offered once a day in the period 14:23-15:05, when trains arrive and depart on five lines, from and to Córdoba, Algeciras, Granada, Sevilla and Málaga.

1205][ES] Linares-Baeza - Moreda - Granada and Moreda - Huéneja-Dólar - Almería: (BLN 754.0236; Ball 37A3-37B1)  Linares-Baeza - Moreda - Granada and Moreda - Huéneja-Dólar are incorrectly shown in the Ball atlas as electrified, and both remained unwired in December 2000.  However the Huéneja-Dólar - Marquesado iron-mine branch and the main line south are electrified to handle heavy ore traffic down to the coast at Almería.  The original 1911 electrification of 21km, later extended to 46km, was 5500V three-phase ac but the wiring is now RENFE standard 3000V dc.  Several sections of the line have been rebuilt to give easier gradients through the mountains.  Almería has a new rail-and-bus station building, recently opened and immediately north of the old railway-station building, with the platforms remaining in much the same position.  A new rail-wagon unloading-hopper stands nearby, with conveyors to carry the ore towards the port, and the line onward to the Estación Marítima had been disconnected.  

1206][IT] Torino rack tramway: Sassi - Superga: (Ball 45B3 not shown)  After closure since perhaps 1997 (BLN 817.010, 823.0162), the line reopened in summer 2000, but shortly afterwards suffered a derailment.  It is not clear whether it is again running.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, January 2001, February 2001)

1207][CZ] Praha metro:  Just north of Praha-Krc station is a link from the CD national network to the city metro system.  An unelectrified siding leaves the 3000V dc Praha-Krc - Praha-Vrsovice line to pass through a gate across the rails, remaining unelectrified for about two metro train-lengths before the 750V dc bottom-contact metro third-rail begins.  The single metro track then parallels the CD line towards Praha-Vrsovice for about 1km before curving away out of sight in a cutting towards the Kacerov district where the metro depot is.  The track is unobstructed, well-maintained, signalled and looks operational though it may not be in regular use.

A city metro/tram/bus/funicular 'transfer ticket' in January 2001 cost CZK12, valid for 90 minutes on Saturday or Sunday or 20:00-05:00 Monday-Friday, and 60 minutes at other times.  Price of a 24-hour ticket was CZK70.

1208][AL] Fier - Kraps - Kasnice - Ballsh: (BLN 781.0268; Ball 52A1)  In the 1999-2000 timetable this 25km branch in southern Albania still had two passenger trains daily each way, for workers at the Ballsh oil-refinery, but the HSH timetable valid from 1 November 2000 no longer shows any services.  Have they ceased running or do they now operate unadvertised?

1209][SG][MY] Singapura - Johor Bahru (- Gemas - Kuala Lumpur):  Although on Singapore's soil, the 1923-built metre-gauge line linking the island city-state to the railway system of the Malaysian peninsula is operated (and apparently owned) by the Malaysian state railway Keretapi Tanah Melayu, successors to the Federated Malay States Railway, whose initials remain over the portico at Singapore station.  The KTM passenger terminus, whose nameboards say simply Singapura, is on the south coast of Singapore island just to the west of the central business district, an impressive concrete edifice from the great days of the British Empire, opened in 1932 to replace an earlier station on a different site.  In late 2000, amid all Singapore city's prosperity, the station had clearly seen better days, looking sad and run-down, a poor advertisement for a journey to Mahathir Mohamad's Malaysia.  The station hotel, integral with the passenger building, and doubtless once magnificent, had closed, and the roof of the concourse was letting in tropical downpours at numerous inappropriate places.  Presumably the railway has been starved of investment because neither country is motivated to spend much on it as a link with the other.  KTM staff there issue tickets and make reservations by computer but were unable to provide a copy of their current timetable.  The goods-yard, hidden from the passenger station by the hill on which stands the Spottiswoode Road estate, seemed still to handle traffic.  The KTM line heads north-north-west across Singapore island, being joined at Bukit Timah by a freight branch built in 1966, and passes beneath both the metro (R.1210) and the Ten Mile Junction shopping-centre served by the light-rail system (R.1211).  At Woodlands, the train runs on to the international causeway across the Selat Johor strait to make its first stop at Johor Bahru in Malaysia.  In the timetable that came into effect on 1 November 2000, KTM run six pairs of passenger trains a day from and to Singapura: three north up Malaysia's west coast on the line for Kuala Lumpur, two north up the east coast on the line for Gua Musang, and one local to Gemas, the junction where the west and east coast lines diverge.  

1210][SG] Singapore metro: (BLN 758.0339, 763.0433, 778.0202)  Operators Singapore MRT Ltd seem now to refer in their publicity material only to MRT and never 'Mass Rapid Transit'.  At end-2000 the extent of their 1435mm-gauge left-hand-running system, mostly underground or on overhead concrete spans, remained as in our 1995-96 reports.  The two lines seem not to be officially named or numbered but they are colour-coded by direction, a rather unusual practice, and their stations are numbered.  Green represents the west-to-east line (W12 Boon Lay - W9 Jurong East - W1 Tanjong Pagar - C1 Raffles Place - C2 City Hall - E1 Bugis - E12 Pasir Ris) and Blue east-to-west.  Red represents a clockwise run round the Woodlands loop to the north, then south through the centre (W9 Jurong East - N23 Bukit Batok - N21 Choa Chu Kang - N16 Woodlands - N1 Dhoby Ghaut - C2 City Hall - C1 Raffles Place - M1 Marina Bay), while Yellow is northbound then anticlockwise.  From the two central-area stations C1 Raffles Place and C2 City Hall, the station numbers spread out E1-12 to the east, W1-12 to the west, N1-23 round the northern loop and M1 to Marina Bay in the south-east.  The lines run in tunnel between stations W4 and E3, E7 and E8, N8 and M1, all these six stations except M1 being on the surface.  Depot branches diverge between N8 and N9 (Bishan depot spur faces north), E9 and E10 (Changi depot spur faces west), W8 and W9 (Ulu Pandan depot spur faces east).  Jurong East is a junction between the west-to-east line and the north loop.  Two island platforms flank a single track where north line trains terminate, the outer platform edges hosting the west- and east-bound trains.  Passengers to/from the north line generally have to make the cross-platform interchange here.  However, north-west of the station, the eastbound track crosses the north line on an overbridge.  A chord from the north line to the eastbound platform, and a crossover from the north line to the westbound platform allow through running.  From 28 August 2000 five morning trains (c.07:15-08:15) start on the north line (possibly from Bishan depot) and use the linking chord to run through to E12 Pasir Ris, but it was not established if any return workings are advertised.  The metro twice crosses KTM's metre-gauge Singapura - Johore line (R.1209), on overbridges between W6 and W7 and between N18 and N20.  No N19 station has yet been built, but doubtless Sungei Kadut industrial estate will get its station at some time.  On 7 November 2000 the junction was in place between E9 and E10 for the new branch which should open during 2001 to serve Singapore's Changi International Airport.  New construction was also under way on the so-called North/East Line (Ponggol - N1 Dhoby Ghaut - W2 Outram Park - Harbour Front).  Ponggol is on the north-east coast of the island, and Harbour Front is on the south coast, at Keppel, opposite Sentosa Island.  Another line, the so-called Marina branch, is to run from N1 under the main hotel area at Raffles Boulevard to the National Stadium east of the central business district, and is planned to open in 2005.

1211][SG] Singapore light rail: (BLN 843.077)  Metro operators Singapore MRT Ltd have a subsidiary, Singapore LRT, who operate the Bukit Panjang Light Rapid Transit system on the west side of the island.  Unlike 'MRT', the three words Light Rapid Transit are spelled out on company publicity.  The system, opened in 1999 or 2000, is an elevated guideway with rubber-tyred vehicles, not unlike the people-movers at Gatwick and Stansted airports, and has 14 stations, A1-14.  Station A1 is grafted on the side of N21 Choa Chu Kang metro station.  A short 'trunk' line runs east to A6 Bukit Panjang, junction for a balloon-loop around Bukit Panjang New Town.  Clockwise trains are service A on the outer loop, anti-clockwise service B on the inner loop.  At the west end of Bukit Panjang station is a second junction, facing east towards the balloon-loop.  This is the access to the short single-station branch to A14 Ten Mile Junction, worked by service C which includes a clockwise circuit of the balloon-loop.  As well as saving customers from having to cross the busy Woodlands Road to reach the shopping development called Ten Mile Junction, the branch also hosts the SLRT depot.  Because the SLRT track is elevated and in many places passes close to residential property, the vehicles have special 'modesty' windows with a liquid-crystal layer that is automatically rendered non-transparent as the car comes alongside an apartment-block; the effect is as if the window-glass suddenly steamed up!

1212][AU] Alice Springs - Darwin:  (R.0836)  Construction work on the new railway began during 2000.  The Sydney / Melbourne - Adelaide - Alice Springs Ghan is indeed to be extended north from Alice Springs to Darwin, and trips on the inaugural train, planned for 2003, are already being marketed.  (http://people.enternet.com.au/~cbrnbill/maps/devel.htm)

1213][CA] Toronto - London, ON:  Since 12 December 2000, VIA trains calling at London, Ontario, have used a temporary station adjacent to the old CN Tower on York Street, pending clearance of the site of the town's old station.  Demolition of the old building was scheduled for 09:15 Sunday 4 February 2001, with a local contest to choose who is to trigger the explosives.  A new London station is planned to open on the site in summer 2001.  (canadian-passenger-rail@egroups.com)

1214][US] New Jersey Transit light rail: Newark City Subway: (Newark Broad Street Station -) Newark Penn Station - Heller Parkway/Branch Brook Park - Franklin Avenue (- Belleville - Bloomfield): (R.0467, 1089)  Notwithstanding the reports quoted in R.1089, Branch Brook Park station is not yet open, but NJT plan to complete it by the end of 2001.  It is not exactly replacing Heller Parkway station, for the present access from the Heller side will still be available, but the old and new facilities are being combined into one and renamed Branch Brook Park.  Franklin Avenue station did not close on 30 October 2000.  The entrance by the park was closed, but the station remains the outer terminus of the Newark City Subway.  The park entrance is to remain closed and a new access to the station is being designed.  At the beginning of 2001 work was under way to extend the City Subway beyond Franklin Avenue station, with two additional stops.  One is to be in Belleville, in the Silver Lake area, off Franklin and Belmont Avenues.  The new outer terminus is to be in Bloomfield, on Grove Street by the Wendy's fast-food restaurant.  (New Jersey Transit e-mail response to our reporter)

1215][MX] Mexico City metro: Villa de Aragon - Ciudad Azteca:  This 10km extension (line B) was inaugurated on 30 November 2000.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, January 2001)

1216][BE] Bruxelles/Brussel metro and trams: (R.1193)  The Heysel/Heizel - Roi Baudouin/Koning Boudewijn extension of metro line 1A opened in August 1998, when the present subsurface Heysel (not 'Stade') station serving the stadium replaced the original open-air station, provided in some haste at a time when the city was to host both a football cup competition and a papal visit.  The works under way in early 2001 in Avenue Fonsny Laan near Midi/Zuid station are complex and involve relocation of tram-tracks from side to centre reservation, but the diversion of tram routes #18, 81 and 82 has been occasioned rather by renewal of rails and paving in Rue Theo Verhaegen Straat, some of the worst track remaining on the STIB system, which has seen an extensive programme of track and overhead renewal in recent years.  The cut-back of the western end of tram-route #56, from Érasme/Erasmus to St.Nicolas/Sint Niklaas, took place in January 1999.  The Bizet - La Roue/Het Rad - CERIA/COOVI - Maurice Careme - Érasme/Erasmus metro extension is to have four new stations, the first two opening perhaps in 2002-03 and the rest of the extension in 2004.  So as not to duplicate the metro, tram #56 may then be rerouted, closing the interesting post-war tramway extension from Bizet south to the educational campus at CERIA.  Clemenceau - Delacroix - Gare de l'Ouest/Weststation - Beekkant (Beekkant = 'Brookside') should be the next metro extension, filling a gap so that line 2 can become a complete circle.  A day-ticket giving unlimited travel on STIB's metro, trams and buses from time of validation until 02:00 the following day can now be used by two people travelling together on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.  On working days it is valid for one person only.  The February 2001 price was BEF145=EUR3.59=c.GBP2.30. Websites of relevant interest are http://bsubway.ibelgique.com/bsubway/ (for pre-metro and metro maps and chronology) and http://www.tramwayresources.org.uk (for trams).  Place- and street-names in the above text generally follow the bilingual French/Flemish format conventionally used on city street-maps.

1217][DE] Guntersblum - Rheindürkheim - Osthofen: (BLN 850.0268; Ball 49A1)  The Altrheinbahn, an unelectrified loop off the Mainz - Worms (- Mannheim) main line with both its junctions facing north, was reported in spring 1999 as out of use except for occasional special trains.  However, just south of the junction at Osthofen, the line had in late 2000 acquired a new bridge crossing a recently-built link road.  Are Land Rheinland-Pfalz contemplating passenger reopening, as earlier reported?

1218][DE][FR] Saarbrücken Hbf - Saarbrücken Ost - Brebach - Kleinblittersdorf - Hanweiler-Bad Rilchingen DB - Sarreguemines SNCF: (R.1145; Ball DE-56A2)  SNCF autorails continue to provide a sparse passenger service over the short Saarbrücken Ost - Brebach section.  At 17:10 on 8 February 2001 a lightly-loaded twin railcar set carried our reporter south from Saarbrücken Hbf to Kleinblittersdorf.  The three timetabled workings are somewhat unbalanced. 

	Mondays to Saturdays		(Strasbourg 08:02 -) Sarreguemines 09:27 - 09:46 Saarbrücken Hbf
	Saturdays only			(Strasbourg 11:00 -) Sarreguemines 11:27 - 11:46 Saarbrücken Hbf
	Daily					Saarbrücken Hbf 17:10 - 17:27 Sarreguemines (- 19:00 Strasbourg)

Saarbahn trams, running on street tracks out to Brebach, by contrast offer a half-hourly cross-border service (Siedlerheim - Cottbuser Platz - Saarbrücken Hbf (Bahnhofvorplatz) - Römerkastell - Brebach - Kleinblittersdorf - Hanweiler-Bad Rilchingen DB - Sarreguemines SNCF).  The DB sidings at Hanweiler seem disused and the running-line has been singled where it crosses the frontier.  International freight is probably all routed via Saarbrücken - Forbach.  

1219][AT] Austria: closures?: (R.1147)  It is difficult to predict what closures might actually happen.  Yet another different list was promulgated in an ÖBB press release of 12 February 2001.  This said that 'with the new summer timetable' - which starts on Sunday 10 June 2001 - 'some secondary lines will no longer appear in the Kursbuch' (Mit dem neuen Sommerfahrplan werden einige Nebenbahnen nicht mehr im Kursbuch aufscheinen), and lists these as:

Retz - Drosendorf: (R.0983; Ball 64A2; KBS94a; 41km)  
Freiland - Türnitz: (R.0986; Ball 75A1; KBS11a)  
Siebenbrunn-Leopoldsdorf - Engelhartstetten: (R.0988; Ball 76A3; KBS71a; 23km)
Drösing - Zistersdorf Stadt: (R.0984; Ball 65A1; KBS93c; 12km)
Ehrwald - Reutte in Tirol - Schönbichl: (R.0989; Ball 79A3-70B1; KBS41)  
Leoben Hbf - Vordernberg Markt: (R.0909, 0985; Ball 74B1; KBS61; 18km, electrified)  
Zell am See - Krimml: (R.0982; Ball 81A3-80B3; KBS23; 760mm-gauge)  

(http://www.oebb.at/kal-cgi/showPresse.pl?FILE=/news/presse/presse18_2.html

1220][PT] Porto Trindade - Senhora da Hora (- Trofa / Póvoa de Varzim): (R.0280; Ball 7A1)  The double-track line out from the present city terminus, Trindade, to the junction at Senhora da Hora is to see its last metre-gauge passenger service on 3 March 2001, after which the section is to be rebuilt and partially rerouted to become part of the new standard-gauge Metro do Porto light-rail system.  The Portuguese Traction Group hope to run a farewell trip on 3 or 4 March, to include also the original terminus and depot, Porto Boavista, on a stub branch some 2.2km from Trindade, adjacent to Avenida de França halt and the old Boavista tram terminus.  (PTG leaflet; http://www.ptg.org.uk)

1221][PT] Lisboa metro and trams: (R.0157)  A day-ticket valid both on the Metropolitano de Lisboa and on Carris trams has been available since 15 November 2000, price PTE500=EUR2.49=c.GBP1.60.  

1222][PT] Mouriscas-A - Pego: (BLN 819.060; Ball 26B3)  A Portuguese Traction Group railtour on 28 January 2001 was the first passenger train to use the 8.7km Ramal do Pego.  The present layout at the junction, Mouriscas-A, appears to date from the branch opening in 1991.  It seems that rather than work the points remotely CP chose to install signalling equipment and a new staffed station at Mouriscas-A - which looks a commercially unpromising spot, though the two passenger platforms do allow it to function as a passing-place on the Entroncamento - Mouriscas-A - Castelo Branco Linha da Beira Baixa.  The single-track branch, electrified 17 May 1995, diverges on the north side of the not-yet-electrified main line, climbing up and swinging south to cross above it and the river Tejo on a bridge shared with a road.  The branch then curves westward and at km6.7 enters the gate of the thermal power-station.  Coal imported at Sines docks (Ball 26A1) is brought in by block-train, but no balloon-loop for merry-go-round operation is provided, and two sets of dead-end sidings arranged in a vee both seem to have separate discharge facilities at the far end.  The northernmost siding, seemingly the more used of the two, was visited by the special.  The layout of this branch, incorrectly shown on the 1994 Quail map, has been corrected in the January 2001 edition. 

1223][PT] (Cuba -) São Matias - Reprezas - Santa Vitória: (Ball 26B1-33B3 not shown; see 1994 or 2001 Quail map)  Remains of this old alignment, closed 14 January 1971, can still be seen on the ground west of Beja.  At the former triangular junction just north of Beja station, the south-to-west curve was in January 2001 still in use as a siding to serve the EPAC grain-silos at about the western vertex of the old triangle.  The abandoned alignment ran to the north of the present Linha do Alentejo, whose new Beja - Penedo Gordo - Santa Vitória-Ervidel section opened 15 January 1971, and seems to have crossed it just east of Santa Vitória, whose old station is still extant south of the present station, the two alignments then again converging just east of the Ponte do Roxo.  Why was the railway realigned here?

1224][PT] Évora - Arraiolos - Pavia - Mora: (R.0449; Ball 26B2)  The Ramal de Mora opened to Arraiolos 20 April 1907, to Pavia 25 May 1908, and to Mora 11 July 1908, closing 28 May 1987.  Track had been removed along its length when visited in December 2000.  Just north of Évora (116.6km from Barreiro), more or less still in the suburbs of the town, was the first station, Leões (119.6km).  Just to the south of the station the line crossed the Évora - Estremoz road, and the crossing-keeper's house retained its tiled numbers showing the distance from Barreiro.  An old crane stood on the goods platform, but no sign remained of a goods shed.  The station building was occupied and in good repair, but the trackbed between the two platforms was waterlogged.  The track once crossed three level-crossings before the site of the next halts at Loredo and Senhor dos Aflitos (= 'Lord of the Afflicted'), neither of which had left any trace.  About 1km east of Graça was an overbridge carrying the road to the station, itself about 1km east of the village, whose full name is Nossa Senhora da Graça do Divor.  The passenger platform was on the north side of the station building, which looked slightly dilapidated, though occupied.  The goods-shed on the south side of the station was in very bad repair and the trackbed was strewn with rubbish.  Arraiolos station (141.2km) was about 2km east of the town in splendid isolation though close to the Montemor - Estremoz road.  Approached by a drive past a small very dilapidated cottage, the two-storey station building, all its windows bricked up, stood on the eastern side of the two through platforms.  The goods-shed and a water-tower were to the south, and opposite the goods-shed was a platform with warehouse which appeared once to have had a couple of sidings.  A broken concrete 'station this way' sign indicated the site of Vale de Paio station, approached by a drive, but the whole area was fenced off by barbed-wire.  A goods-shed and passenger platform with a single-storey building appeared in good order.  Pavia station (159.9km) was down a drive off the Évora - Mora road, about 1km south of the village.  Overshadowed by a huge grain silo, the remains of the station, once a busy layout with perhaps four tracks, were sad to see.  The passenger building, the goods-shed and two small buildings were all vandalised and virtually roofless.  Cabeção (167.6km), several km from the village but adjacent to the Évora - Mora road, also had a vandalised and roofless station building and goods-shed.  On this very overgrown site, even the platform edging had vanished.  At the terminus, Mora (176.6km), was a turntable pit and an old wooden shelter for a single locomotive.  The goods-shed still stood, with a goods platform at one end and a cattle-pen at the other.  The passenger building was a fine two-storey edifice which appeared in use by a chemical firm.  Toilets seemed in good repair, and the awning remained above the passenger platform.

1225][PT] Funcheira avoiding line: Montenegro - Panóias: (R.0449; Ball 33A3)  Though shown by Quail as complete by 1994, this curve was not brought into freight use until the beginning of December 1999.  A Portuguese Traction Group railtour on 27 January 2001 is believed to have been the first passenger train to traverse it.  The curve runs from km160.9 on the Linha do Sul, south of Montenegro, to just short of Panóias on the Linha do Alentejo.  At 2.2km it is a rather longer curve than the 1994 and 2001 Quail maps imply.

1226][PT] Castro Verde-Almodôvar - Aljustrel: (R.0449, 0573; Ball 33B3 not shown)  The 8.2km Ramal de Aljustrel served a mine, but in recent years has seen little use.  Floods following storms on 21-22 January prevented an inspection car reaching the end of the branch, and the Portuguese Traction Group railtour was unable to visit Aljustrel on 27 January 2001 as planned.  A Canadian firm have bought the mining operation, however, so traffic may resume.  

1227][IT] (Bolzano - Fortezza -) Colle Isarco - Brennero: (BLN 779.0226, R.0946; Ball 43A3)  The new late-1990s alignment through the 7338m Aster tunnel runs west of the old route through Moncucco station, closed without replacement.  At the north end a very short stretch of the old line was retained as access to a ballast-quarry, where a train was seen loading on 22 September 2000.  When was the new alignment brought into use?

1228][IT] Gemona del Friuli - Carnia - Pontebba - Bagni San Caterina - Ugovizza-Valbruna - Tarvisio Boscoverde FS (- Thörl-Maglern ÖBB): (R.0076; Ball 44A2)  Today's Railways #59 describes the gradual rebuilding since 1985 of this international route, involving major realignment between Carnia and the Austrian border just south of Thörl-Maglern.  The first new section, Carnia - Pontebba, with no intermediate stations, opened 12 July 1995, followed on 12 December 1999 by Pontebba - Ugovizza-Valbruna and on 26 November 2000 by Ugovizza-Valbruna - Thörl-Maglern.  East of Pontebba the new line runs to the north of the original route, eventually sweeping out of a tunnel to cross above the old line just east of the closed station of Ugovizza, then passing through the new station of Ugovizza-Valbruna and continuing south of the old line all the way to the frontier (not as shown in Ball).  Local trains have disappeared from the line, and the two FS stations now open between Pontebba and Tarvisio have sparse services indeed.  In late 2000 the new station Bagni San Caterina (replacing Bagni di Lusnizza on the old line) had one daily train, northbound only, and the equally new Ugovizza-Valbruna (replacing Ugovizza and Valbruna-Lussari) one daily train northbound, plus one each way on Sundays and holidays.  Tarvisio Città and Tarvisio Centrale have closed, replaced by a large new Tarvisio Boscoverde station on the site of the former Tarvisio - Jesenice line east into Slovenia.

1229][AL] Fier - Kraps - Kasnice - Ballsh: (BLN 781.0268, R.1208; Ball 52A1)  The Fier - Ballsh line, opened 9 March 1975, was not originally a branch, for the present Fier - Vlorë main line to the south did not open throughout until 14 October 1985.  The 1978 timetable showed one of the three daily Tiranë - Fier trains running through to Ballsh, plus two Fier - Ballsh shuttle workings.  By 1987 the other two Tiranë - Fier trains had been extended to Vlorë.  During the civil unrest of 1991 the through Tiranë - Fier - Ballsh train ceased and was never reinstated.  The branch trains seem sometimes to have been unadvertised, and omitted from the station timetable posters at Tiranë and Durrës.  Timings appeared in the November 1999 timetable (Ballsh 04:45 - 05:40 Fier 05:50 - 06:40 Ballsh; Ballsh 15:40 - 16:33 Fier 18:30 - 19:19 Ballsh) but not in the November 2000 issue.  Nevertheless, the trains have been described as essential for the workers at the Ballsh oil-refinery, so are likely still to be operating.  HSH statements to the media via the Albanian telegraph agency have been somewhat confused.  On 31 July 2000 HSH said that the Ballsh line had closed at the end of May for two months work to repair the track and replace sleepers, but freight service had now resumed.  In October 2000 HSH said closure had been since February, possibly the date when the passenger service was suspended.  In November HSH said that closure had lasted from March for eight months until the line reopened to passengers on 13 November 2000.

1230][PK] Peshawar Cantonment - Jamrud - Medanak - Changai - Shahgai - Landi Kotal:  The broad-gauge (1676mm) railway west to the Khyber Pass was built by the British in 1920-26 essentially to facilitate deployment of troops to their Indian Empire's frontier with Afghanistan, then as now a violent place.  The line still appeared in the April 1987 issue of Pakistan Railways public timetable with a pair of passenger trains (P-475/6 Fridays-only 1st & 2nd class Peshawar Cant 09:00 - 11:55 Landi Kotal 14:00 - 17:05 Peshawar Cant) but, with their two reversals (at Medanak and Changai) and the fierce ruling gradient of 1 in 33, the trains were no match for frequent local buses.  By the timetable for 15 October 1989 - 14 April 1990 no train service was shown, the line's distances (52km) and heights (365m at Peshawar Cant, climbing to 760m at Landi Kotal) alone remaining.  (These heights are not necessarily correct, for another table in the same book shows Peshawar Cantonment as 319m above the sea!)  In the current PR timetable, valid 15 October 2000 - 14 April 2001, the line has vanished altogether.  Nevertheless tourist trains run, and seem well-supported, though they cannot be particularly profitable given the high operating costs of a locomotive on each end.  Peshawar motive-power depot has five 2-8-0 HGS Class steam locomotives available to work to the Khyber Pass.  Consideration is being given to tourism elsewhere in the area, including use as a tourist base of one of the stations on the Rawalpindi - Attock - Nowshera Jn - Peshawar main line, Attock Khurd, a charming building close to an attractive section of the river Indus.  A small railway museum is being planned within Peshawar depot, with the support of PR's District Superintendent.  On the debit side, the 2000-01 timetable has also marked the disappearance of the branches Nowshera Jn - Mardan Jn - Durgai and Mardan Jn - Charsadda.

1231][CN] Golmud - Lhasa:  China plans to build a 1125km strategic railway from Golmud in Qinghai province through the Kunlun mountains and over two 5000m passes to Lhasa in the autonomous region of Tibet.  Some 80% of the line would be higher than 3600m above sea-level and 50% of it would be built over terrain permanently frozen.  The business case for this challenging project is both economic (exploitation of mineral resources) and political (better links with the heartland may encourage Chinese workers to settle in Tibet).  (Guardian, Daily Telegraph, 10 Feb 2001; Economist, 17 Feb 2001)

1232][NZ] Wellington - Auckland:  The last all-sleeper service was the Silver Star which ran 5 September 1971 to 8 June 1979.  Much of its 1971 Japanese-built 1067mm-gauge stock - after eventual asbestos removal - went to form the Eastern & Oriental Express, a luxury rail-cruise train owned by James Sherwood's Venice Simplon Orient Express group, which has run in the Malaysian peninsula since 1993.  From 1979 the Wellington - Auckland overnight trains were locomotive-hauled with seating and sleepers, and the day trains were Silver Fern railcars.  The further reorganisation of workings in December 1991 released the Silver Fern railcars for other duties (BLN 798.0150) by using the same air-conditioned seating-only locomotive-hauled sets for the day Overlander and the night Northerner, and this pattern continues for the present, though the future is uncertain with operators Tranz Rail having put their Tranz Scenic passenger operation up for sale.  The rear coach has all seats facing forwards, but has a small unreserved lounge area and observation window at the back of the train, so the sets have to be turned at each end of the journey.  In November 2000 the day train from Wellington was booked to arrive via Tamaki and to depart Auckland 65 minutes later via Newmarket as the night train back to Wellington, while the night train from Wellington arrived via Newmarket and had 90 minutes in Auckland before leaving again via Tamaki.  At Wellington the layout does not permit similar movements, so the vehicles must be turned by turntable during their twelve-hour layover.  

1233][NZ] South Island passenger services: (R.1011, 1060, 1063, 1064)  Connecting with the Wellington - Picton inter-island ferry, Tranz Rail's Picton - Christchurch train is generally busy, loading to more than New Zealand's usual two carriages and a van, and conveying a non-air-conditioned vehicle for passengers travelling at reduced 'backpacker' fares.  Formerly the Coastal Scenic, it was renamed TranzCoastal from May 2000.  It is second to the Christchurch - Greymouth TranzAlpine in popularity, but both have seen traffic increase appreciably in recent years.  The Christchurch - Dunedin - Invercargill Southerner trails a poor third.  Nevertheless, Tranz Rail's corporate relations manager told The Press, a Christchurch newspaper, on 6 November 2000 that despite poorer loadings, the company had no plans to scrap the Southerner.  In acknowledging that the train had been replaced by buses when flooding had affected the line, the official said that, with very light loadings on the Southerner and an unexpectedly late finish to the dairy season, Tranz Rail might use buses 'when passenger numbers were very low', in order to release the locomotives for freight work.  Economies in working the Southerner (and indeed the Overlander and Northerner on the North Island) include the on-board staff (though not the footplate crew) working out and back in a shift, swapping between the up and the down trains at unadvertised crossing-stops.

1234][CA] Toronto - Parkdale - Snider - Rutherford - Newmarket - Bradford, ON and Toronto - Scarborough - Hagerman - Stouffville (- Uxbridge - Lindsay, ON): (BLN 783.0321, 797.0126, 799.0176, R.0019, 0121)  CN intend to retain ownership of the southern part of their Newmarket Subdivision (Parkdale - Snider), used for freight diversions (and in one direction by VIA's Canadian/Canadien; R.0590).  CN are however selling the Snider - Bradford section to GO Transit, the commuter-rail agency set up by the Government of Ontario.  GO Transit already sponsor the line's passenger service, and on 8 January 2001 opened an additional commuter station north of Snider at Rutherford to handle increasing traffic.  The Newmarket Sub north of Bradford lost GO Transit services 5 July 1993 and VIA's Canadian 21 September 1996, and was abandoned in 1998 or 1999.  CN are also selling GO Transit the remaining active section of their Uxbridge Sub (Scarborough - Hagerman - Stouffville).  GO Transit in 1993 bought the Stouffville - Uxbridge section of this Subdivision with a view to possible extension of their Stouffville commuter service, but it has not yet seen any passenger workings other than (since 14 September 1996) summer tourist trains of the York-Durham Heritage Railway.  (canadian-passenger-rail@egroups.com)

1235][US] Stockton - Livermore - Niles - Fremont-Centerville - San Jose, CA: (BLN 836.0540, 846.0160, R.0657)  The successful Altamont Commuter Express passenger service that started in 1998 operates over the ex-Western Pacific, now Union Pacific, single track through Niles Canyon, which is prone to landslides.  A section of the parallel ex-Southern Pacific single track through the Canyon is now a tourist line, the Niles Canyon Railroad.  In January 2001 construction was under way at each end of the Niles Canyon RR to allow it to be used as an emergency bypass route for the ACE.  (commuterrail@egroups.com)

1236][US] Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal - Downtown Pomona - Riverside-Downtown, CA:  On 5 February 2001 Los Angeles-area commuter-rail operators Metrolink opened Downtown Pomona station, served by six weekday and two Saturday round-trips on the Riverside line.  (http://www.metrolinktrains.com/images/routemap.gif)

1237][US] Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal - Pasadena, CA: light rail: (BLN 847.0192)  Pasadena Metro Blue Line Construction Authority were to begin work in January 2001 with removal of old Santa Fe railroad tracks and relocation of underground pipes and cables, followed in February 2001 by construction of the sub-surface cut-and-cover section in Old Pasadena.  Target for opening the 22km 13-station light-rail line is July 2003.  (commuterrail@egroups.com)

1238][US] Los Angeles heritage trams:  The greater Los Angeles metropolitan area owed its early development not to the automobile but to the Pacific Electric Railway's 'Red Car' trolleys and interurban cars which once served the region with more than 1600km of track, the last line closing to passengers in 1961.  From about June 2001 replica 1909 trolley-cars are to return to 2.4km of ex-Pacific Electric trackage, currently freight-only but being re-equipped with 600V dc overhead, connecting the San Pedro cruise-ship terminal with other points in the Port of Los Angeles Waterfront area.  The cars are to work at weekends (Friday-Monday).  Information about this and other North American heritage operations can be found on the website http://www.railwaypreservation.com/vintagetrolley/vintagetrolley.htm.

1239][US] Los Angeles funicular:  The historic little 160m-long 762mm-gauge Angels Flight Railway is out of service following a fatal collision on 1 February 2001.  It seems the traction cable slipped off the pulley at the top leaving enough slack in the cable for the descending car to strike the ascending one.  (partly from http://www.funimag.com)

1240][US] Chicago, IL - St.Louis, MO - Texarkana, AR/TX - Mineola, TX - Dallas - Fort Worth - San Antonio, TX: (R.0722; EGTRE US5)  To fit in more readily with Union Pacific's one-way system for long-distance freight trains, instituted in 1998 to reduce network congestion, Amtrak's Texas Eagle in May 2000 adopted an unusual asymmetric running pattern (Texarkana - Mount Pleasant - Big Sandy - Mineola southbound; Mineola - Big Sandy - Longview - Marshall - Texarkana northbound).  However, from 12 March 2001 the Eagle is to revert to its former route via Longview southbound as well as northbound.  (Amtrak)

1241][US] Washington, DC metro: Anacostia - Congress Heights - Southern Avenue - Naylor Road - Suitland - Branch Avenue:  Free travel on Saturday 13 January 2001 inaugurated this five-station south-western extension of the Green Line, marking completion of the original 165km plan for the Metrorail network, begun in 1976.  The US capital now has the nation's second-busiest rapid-transit system after New York city, beating Chicago into third place.  (www.wmata.com)

1242][BE][DE] Eupen - Raeren - Roetgen - Lammersdorf - Konzen - Monschau - Kalterherberg - Sourbrodt - Weywertz: (Ball BE-10A1, DE-47B3)  Since just after World War I the Vennbahn has occupied a unique corridor of Belgian territory passing south through several German villages near the border, its unusual history being summarised in BLN 717.05 and http://www.rinbad.demon.co.uk/be_venn.htm.  The line was badly damaged in World War II, and some of its track still dates from 1945 when American Army engineers made the basic repairs necessary for reopening.  By the time SNCB closed the Vennbahn to normal traffic in 1989, the track was so bad that in places on the Raeren - Konzen section trains were limited to 5km/h, and even on the rather better Monschau - Sourbrodt section to 40km/h, reduced in 1993 to 20km/h.  After the preservation group took over, thousands of sleepers and several kilometres of rails were replaced, especially on the northern section, but some of the contract work was not done adequately, particularly as regards the sleepering beneath the rail-joints, and the many dipped joints make the trains ride badly.  Overall, track condition is again poor.  Furthermore, the relatively few active preservation-group members have six locomotives and nearly 40 vehicles to maintain, and ensuring the service of seasonal trains operated wholly by volunteers cannot be easy.  For many ordinary customers the single train in each direction may not be a particularly attractive offer, especially when a one-way trip from Raeren south to Weywertz, then east to Bütgenbach, takes nearly 2h30min.  Around 80% of the customers come from Germany, and have to make a not-very-convenient journey from Aachen by bus, or come by car to Eupen or Raeren, neither of which has good parking facilities.  The result is that passenger numbers have been falling in recent years.  In early 2001 it was rumoured that Prignitzer Eisenbahn, commercial operators of regional trains in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg, might take over passenger workings on the Vennbahn, perhaps using their Class VT798 railbuses, whose low axle-load would minimise further track damage.  

1243][DE] DB passenger closures?:  DB on 1 December 2000 replaced Brandenburg - Belzig trains with buses and do not intend to repair the line (BLN 736.0208; Ball 29A3-29A2; KBS209.52).  Poor condition of DB infrastructure and/or other factors may lead to withdrawal of more passenger services before or at the next major timetable change on 10 June 2001.

Löwenberg (Mark) - Herzberg (Mark) (R.0501; Ball 20B1-20A1; KBS209.54)
Hohenwulsch - Kalbe (R.0034; Ball 28A3; KBS307)
Könnern - Baalberge (Ball 28A1-42A3; KBS341)
Rathenow - Neustadt (Dosse) (R.0501; Ball 28B3-19B1; KBS209.50)
Treuenbrietzen - Jüterbog (Ball 29A2-29B1; KBS209.33)
Leinefelde - Teistungen (R.1028; Ball 41A3; KBS599)
Bleicherode Ost - Grossbodungen (BLN 730.0115; Ball 41A3; KBS598)
Bad Salzungen - Vacha (R.1195; Ball 41A1-40B1; KBS576)
Ilmenau - Ilmenau Bad (Ball 41B1; KBS566)
Wechselburg - Rochlitz (Ball 43A2; KBS529)
Pockau-Lengefeld - Neuhausen (Erzgebirge) (R.0039, 0481; Ball 43B1; KBS519)
Eibau - Varnsdorf (Ball 45A2; KBS236)
Bad Schandau - Sebnitz (Sachsen) (BLN 845.0117; Ball 45B2; KBS248)
Leipzig-Connewitz - Leipzig Bayer Bf (Ball 46B2-46B3; KBS531)

1244][DE] Bad Malente-Gremsmühlen - Lütjenburg: (BLN 823.0143; Ball 11A1-11A2)  Malente-Gremsmühlen is to have a new electronic signal-box replacing several mechanical boxes.  If the new box is to be connected up to work the junction on to the Lütjenburg branch, the extra cost - still uncertain - would fall in the first place upon DB Netz AG, who would probably seek to recover their money by charging operators of charter trains on to the otherwise disused branch.  Some local voices claim that retaining a signalled physical link with the national network at Malente is too expensive and should be abandoned, and local politicians and others then interpret this concern as meaning that any kind of connection at Malente would be expensive, and argue for keeping a run-round loop only at the Lütjenburg end!  Serious negotiation about how the line might be taken over, or about what physically should be retained, has not really begun between DB and the local authorities, and no leader has come forward to orchestrate various bodies into contributing to development of the line.  The local Freunde von Hein Lüttenborg do not have the finance to do much at their own hand.  Meanwhile no excursions are planned on the branch in 2001.

1245][DE][FR] Völklingen - Überherrn DB - Hargarten-Falck SNCF: (BLN 836.0491; Ball 55B3)  In February 2001 this electrified line seemed to continue in freight use as far as Überherrn, and a local resident mentioned the car traffic (BLN 809.0410).  DB were seen to have weeded the double track to the west of the disused passenger halt and the main-road level-crossing but only as far as the first crossover beyond.  Further west the dewired tracks are in place towards the nearby frontier with France, but vegetation would need to be cleared before cross-border trains could operate.  Plans call for Saarbahn trams to be extended to restore a passenger service on the Überherrn branch (BLN 829.0308)

1246][DE] Stolberg Hbf - Stolberg-Hammer (- Walheim DB - Raeren SNCB): (R.1173; Ball 37A1)  Construction work is under way, and infrastructure company Euregio Verkehrsschienennetz GmbH (EVS) assured our reporter that this 3.8km German section of the Vennbahn (ex-KBS247, closed to passengers end-May 1962) is to reopen on 10 June 2001 as the first Euregiobahn line, with Heerlen - Landgraaf NS - Herzogenrath DB - Aachen Hbf - Stolberg Hbf - Stolberg-Hammer trains.  

1247][DE] Kaiserslautern Hbf - Lampertsmühle-Otterbach - Wolfstein - Lauterecken-Grumbach: (R.0447; Ball 56B3-48B1; KBS673)  Lautertalbahn trains leave from one of several high-numbered bay platforms at the west end of the north side of Kaiserslautern Hbf, and follow the river Lauter that rises nearby in the northern Pfälzer Wald, heading north-west for 35km till the Lauter joins the river Glan at Lauterecken-Grumbach.  The branch soon leaves the Kaiserslautern - Homburg - Saarbrücken main line, but just before it swings away north it serves the single-platform factory halt Kaiserslautern Pfaffwerk (km1.4).  At the time of our reporter's visit in October 2000, the branch had its usual hourly service of Class 628 diesel units supplemented on the half-hour until 14 October by Landesgartenschau-Express shuttle trains to serve a garden-festival on the edge of town at Kaiserslautern West (km3.3).  Well over half the passengers on the 12:45 northbound train alighted here, and traffic was sparse thereafter, though double figures were attained on the 14:09 southbound run.  The shuttle service was running out as far as Lampertsmühle-Otterbach (7.7km), once a junction with three platforms, still retaining its passing-loop.  The track of the 16.5km Lampertsmühle-Otterbach - Weilerbach - Reichenbach-Steegen branch, whose last section closed in 1995, was in place, but disconnected, not open to freight as shown in the 2001 Schweers+Wall atlas (85D).  At Kreimbach (km20.4) a new platform was under construction at which the train did not call, though a Kreimbach stop was shown in the timetable.  Most calling-points seemed unstaffed except Wolfstein, where the trains crossed.  Many of the pink sandstone stations, built in a standard style, have been converted to other uses, and no sign was seen of any freight activity.  North of Wolfstein is the short Eisenknopf tunnel, probably the line's main engineering feature.  At Lauterecken-Grumbach rail-cycles (Draisinen) could be hired from a covered section of platforms 2 and 3 for use on the otherwise abandoned track of the closed Altenglan - Lauterecken-Grumbach - Staudernheim line (R.0762).  Even at the start of the 21st century, with modern units and apparently reasonable track, the Lautertalbahn with its slow trains (average speed 55km/h, slowing further to hoot at ungated crossings) seemed to epitomise the German rural railway tradition.  

1248][DE] (Kaiserslautern -) Pirmasens Nord - Pirmasens Hbf: (Ball 56B3-56B2)  The Kaiserslautern - Pirmasens line running north-to-south intersects with the Landau - Pirmasens Nord - Zweibrücken - Rohrbach (- Saarbrücken) unelectrified secondary line running east-to-west across the Pfälzer Wald at the sizeable junction station of Pirmasens Nord, inconveniently situated to the north of the settlement it purports to serve.  The north-to-south line therefore continues as a 6.8km single-track branch with no intermediate station, heading up quite a steep grade and through a tunnel to Pirmasens, an industrial town of c.51,000 population and a centre of the shoe industry.  Parallel to the tunnel and to the east of it is an abandoned tunnel with a trackbed leading to it, evidence of former double track, or perhaps a change of alignment.  At one time the branch was served partly by DB Ferkeltaxi railbuses shuttling from the junction (BLN 712.02) to connect with east-west trains, but the present service pattern has trains from the north-east (Bingen - Kaiserslautern - Pirmasens Nord - Pirmasens Hbf; KBS672), from the west (Saarbrücken - Zweibrücken - Pirmasens Nord - Pirmasens Hbf; KBS674) and from the east (Landau - Pirmasens Nord - Pirmasens Hbf; KBS675) running up the hill to terminate at the Hauptbahnhof.  Topped by a small DB office block, and architecturally unattractive even by the standards of recent concrete stations, Pirmasens Hbf is a five-platform terminus.  Four platforms were in use on a Saturday afternoon in October 2000, when our reporter was in the area for the Rheinland-Pfalz Plandampf steam event to celebrate 125 years of the Landau - Pirmasens Queichtalbahn. 

1249][DE] Hinterweidenthal Ost - Hinterweidenthal Ort - Bundenthal-Rumbach: (BLN 803.0255, 828.0287; Ball 56B2; KBS675)  Main-line trains on the Landau - Hinterweidenthal Ost - Hinterweidenthal - Pirmasens Nord route do not normally stop at the large country junction station of Hinterweidenthal Ost, and the branch thence to Bundenthal-Rumbach is freight-only during the week.  However, on Sundays only, main-line trains offer connections into a Class 628 unit that makes four round-trips on the branch.  During the Plandampf weekend event of 30 Sep-1 Oct 2000, the railcar shared its Bundenthaler duties with steam traction.  The scenery is pleasant rather than striking, with traditional castles visible on the heights.  The end of the branch is only a few km from the border with France.  

1250][DE] Rheinland-Pfalz: progress on passenger reopenings:  Land Rheinland-Pfalz have been thorough in undertaking feasibility studies for full passenger-service restoration on nearly all of the branch lines in the province, including even the Brohl - Oberzissen - Engeln Brohltalbahn with its metre-gauge tourist trains (BLN 827.0266; Ball 48A3).  Unsurprisingly, the likeliest prospects were picked first for reopening: - for example, Grünstadt - Eisenberg (Pfalz) - Ramsen (R.0636; Ball 57A3; reopened in two stages) and Alzey - Kirchheimbolanden (R.0635; Ball 49A1; May 1999) - so recent results have been more negative, and scepticism has increased as passenger numbers have levelled out at a disappointing 200 per weekday on the Mayen West - Kaisersesch section of the Eifelquerbahn, reopened 14 August 2000 (R.1029; Ball 48A3-48A2).  

The Guntersblum - Rheindürkheim - Osthofen Altrheinbahn loop (Ball 49A1), closed to passengers 1968, seems unlikely to see passenger services again.  The new overbridge reported in R.1217 is in fact on a short part of the line still in freight use.  About 1km of track south-east of Osthofen serves industrial sidings and sees a daily freight working north from Worms.

However, a few more Rheinland-Pfalz local lines should reopen: Ramsen - Eiswoog (R.0636; Ball 57A3; from 10 June 2001); Wörth-am-Rhein DB - Lauterbourg SNCF (BLN 846.0142; Ball 57A2; upgrading from Sundays-only to a full service); Langenlonsheim - Simmern - Büchenbeuren - Hahn Flughafen (R.0634; Ball 48B1-48A1; maybe in 2003); Engers - Siershahn (R.0974; Ball 48B3); and Diez - Hahnstätten - Bad Schwalbach (R.0729; Ball 49A3-49A2).

1251][DE] Gunzenhausen - Wassertrüdingen - Oettingen - Nördlingen: (BLN 833.0425; Ball 59B2-59A1)  On this section of the former König-Ludwig-Nord-Süd-Bahn main line in Freistatt Bayern, passenger trains ceased 1985 and freight traffic in 1994.  However an important customer of DB Cargo, the cosmetics firm Schwarzkopf, who have a branch plant in Wassertrüdingen, fought for restoration of service.  Freight reopening is to go ahead during 2001, though with a speed-limit of only 30km/h. 

1252][DE] Warthausen - Maselheim - Ochsenhausen: (R.0712; Ball 69B2)  Much of the 19km 750mm-gauge Öchsle-Bahn is in bad condition and needs immediate renewal.  Costly repairs are also required to the century-old and now dilapidated engine-shed at Ochsenhausen, a listed heritage building.  The private operators are unable to finance this work, but the line is important for local tourism, so the county council and the town councils of Warthausen, Maselheim and Ochsenhausen have agreed to form an association to take over operation.  However it will take time to renew several km of track and build a new engine-shed at Warthausen, so the trains, run entirely by volunteers, are unlikely to operate during summer 2001.  

1253][DE][AT] Kempten - Pfronten-Steinach DB - Schönbichl ÖBB - Reutte in Tirol - Ehrwald Zugspitzbahn ÖBB - Griessen DB - Garmisch-Partenkirchen: (R.1219; Ball 70A1-70B1)  BLN 789.0428 and 796.089 noted the closure of the unelectrified Pfronten - Reutte section from 28 September 1996, but its reopening from 24 May 1998 seems never to have been recorded.  More recently, safety concerns about the electric power-supply caused Reutte - Garmisch trains to cease from 16 October 2000, but from 3 February 2001 DB's Kempten - Reutte diesel railcars have run forward to Ehrwald, using what would have been layover time at Reutte, thus reopening the Reutte - Ehrwald section.  The Ehrwald - Garmisch section remains without passenger trains.  ÖBB have threatened to withdraw entirely from the Ausserfernbahn, but it seems DB may take over and run a Kempten - Reutte - Garmisch through service from 10 June 2001.

1254][AT] Wien U-Bahn: (BLN 814.0548)  The 3.1km Erdberg - Simmering extension of line U3 opened 2 December 2000.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, February 2001)

1255][IT] Milano trams: Tram route #24 was extended 1.5km from Vigentino to Fatima (Via Selvanesco) on 6 November 2001.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, February 2001)

1256][SE] Kävlinge - Landskrona - Helsingborg: (R.0893; Ball 25A2)  This cut-off line duly opened on 7 January 2001.  (Railway Gazette International, February 2001)

1257][CH] Oensingen - Balsthal: (BLN 847.0180; Ball 86B1)  From the June 2001 timetable change OeBB passenger services will be mainly by bus, with two train-pairs at peak hours Monday to Friday only.  (Today's Railways, March 2001)

1258][HU] Budapest trams:  From 15 December 2000 express tram line #1 was extended at its southern end to reach the river Duna (Danube) on the Pest side of the Lagymanyosi bridge.  (Today's Railways, March 2001)

1259][JP] Tokyo metro:  Tokyo's already-dense urban railway network continues to extend.  Shinjuku - Tocho-Mae city-centre loop of metro line 12 opened 12 December 2000.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, February 2001)

1260][CA] Vancouver, BC - Matsqui Jn - Nepa/Coho - Ashcroft, BC: (R.0509, 0721)  In January 2000 VIA began one-way working of the transcontinental Canadian/Canadien, with westbound #1 running downriver by the CN route and eastbound #2 running upriver by the parallel CPR route.  Initially passengers eastbound from the four intermediate stations Matsqui, Chilliwack, Hope and Boston Bar on the CN route (south-east bank) were collected by road and taken to North Bend on the CP route (north-west bank) where #2 made a single unadvertised stop t