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2006 In Rail Transport
Events January events * January – New Kolkata railway station for long-distance passengers officially inaugurated in Chitpur. * January 5 – Railway workers across India begin voting on whether or not to hold a strike against Indian Railways in February. The union's demands center around pay scales, pensions, and private investment into the railway. A Northern Railway Mazdoor Union spokesperson stated that the decision to hold the strike vote was made at the recent All India Railwaymen's Union convention in Mumbai; Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh union members protested at the convention by burning an effigy of Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Voting is scheduled to conclude on January 8, and the vote count, which is expected to begin on January 9, will be monitored by external observers. * January 6 – China's Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun announces details of a 160 billion yuan ( $20 billion) plan for railway construction there in the coming ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kolkata Railway Station
Kolkata railway station (formerly known as Chitpur station) is the newest of the five intercity railway stations serving Howrah and Kolkata, India; the others are Sealdah station in Kolkata and Howrah station, Shalimar station and in Howrah. Kolkata station is situated in the Chitpur locality of North Kolkata. History The place where the station is situated was formerly a large goods yard. The present car and bus parking areas, as well as the path to the station, formed part of a coal loading yard. The present-day platforms were once used as goods lines and formed part of the large Chitpur Rail Yard. Plan & location In 2000, the first plans were made to use this area as a railway station, since the rapid growth of long-distance passengers was overcrowding the Sealdah station. Due to limitations of space, new platform construction is restricted at Sealdah. Two new platforms (9A & 9B) constructed between 2004 and 2005 proved insufficient. Due to its central position in Kolkata ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karakum Desert
The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : "dark" or may pre-date that (be a derivation from a likely broader meaning which the word for black bore: ) in this language family. This refers to the shale-rich sand generally beneath the sand of much of the desert. It occupies about 70 percent, , of Turkmenistan. The population is sparse, with an average of one person per . Rainfall is also rare, ranging from per year. Geography The desert covers roughly seventy percent of Turkmenistan, a long east–west swath. It sits east of the Caspian Sea which has a steep east bank. It adjoins, to the north, the long delta feeding the South Aral Sea further north, another endorheic lake, about higher than the Caspian Sea. The delta is that of the Amu Darya river to the northeast, demarcating the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Dollar
The Australian dollar (sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Island states: Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. It is legal tender in Australia.''Reserve Bank Act 1959'', s.36(1) an ''Currency Act 1965'', s.16 Within Australia, it is almost always abbreviated with the ($), with A$ or AU$ sometimes used to distinguish it from other |
Babcock & Brown
Babcock & Brown LP was a global investment and advisory firm, established in 1977, based in Sydney, Australia, that went into liquidation in 2009. Babcock & Brown Securities LLC was an active investment banking firm focused on equipment and project financing such as aircraft, rail, marine and infrastructure and is based in Greenwich, CT, USA. It is unrelated to Babcock & Brown LP. Babcock & Brown LP was best known in financial markets for structured finance deals. The company had at its peak 28 offices and over 1,500 employees worldwide. Although headquartered in Sydney, it had a significant presence in Europe and the United States. The creditors of Babcock & Brown LP voted to place the company into liquidation on 24 August 2009. At the end of 2008 Babcock & Brown LP had a market capitalisation of just over $8.5 billion, and in 2007 its market capitalisation peaked at above $9.1 billion (A$33.90 per share). However, by October 2008 the share price had collapsed by 95% to A$1.3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queensland Rail
Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Owned by the Queensland Government, it operates local and long-distance passenger services, as well as owning and maintaining approximately 6,600 kilometres of track and related infrastructure. QR was also responsible for all Queensland freight services, and from 2002 operated interstate services under the Australian Railroad Group, Interail and QR National brands. These were all spun out into a separate entity in July 2010, and later privatised as Aurizon. History Beginnings Queensland Railways was the first operator in the world to adopt narrow gauge (in this case ) for a main line, and this remains the systemwide gauge within Queensland today. The colony of Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859, and the new government was keen to facilitate development and immigration. Improved transport to the fertile Darling Downs region situated west of Toowoomba was seen as a priority. As adequate river ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of . It is the second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha Republic. the state has 2.76 million inhabitants percent of the national total. The vast majority (92 percent) live in the south-west corner; 79 percent of the population lives in the Perth area, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated. The first Europeans to visit Western Australia belonged to the Dutch Dirk Hartog expedition, who visited the Western Australian coast in 1616. The first permanent European colony of Western Australia occurred following the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Railroad Group
Australian Railroad Group (ARG) was an Australian rail freight operator. It began operations in Western Australia on 17 December 2000 following its purchase of the Westrail freight business. It was purchased by QR National in June 2006. The main commodities hauled by ARG included grain, mineral sands, alumina, bauxite, coal, woodchips, quartz, nickel and iron ore around Western Australia. In June 2011, it ceased trading as a separate brand, and became part of QR National. History In 2000, the Australian Railroad Group was formed as a 50/50 joint venture between United States rail operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc and Australian rural services company Wesfarmers, to bid for the freight operator Westrail which was being sold by the Western Australian state government. Genesee & Wyoming already had an Australian presence, having purchased the South Australian freight operations of Australian National in November 1997 and rebranded the operation Australia Southern Railroad. In Oc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wesfarmers
Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue of A$30.8 billion in the 2020 financial year, it is one of Australia's largest companies by revenue. Wesfarmers is also one of the largest private employers in Australia, with approximately 107,000 employees. Wesfarmers was founded in 1914 as a co-operative to provide services and merchandise to Western Australian farmers. It was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1984 and grew into a major retail conglomerate. History Westralian Farmers Co‐operative Limited was formed in 1914 as a cooperative company by the Farmers' and Settlers' Association of Western Australia, to acquire the assets of the West Australian Producers' Union, to be focused on the provision of services and merchandise to the Western Australian rural commun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genesee & Wyoming
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and formerly Australia. It operates more than of owned and leased track. G&W owns or leases 116 freight railroads organized in locally managed operating regions with 7,300 employees serving 3,000 customers. The company had its roots in the Class III Genesee and Wyoming Railroad, which began in 1899. G&W's four North American regions serve 42 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces and include 113 short line and regional freight railroads with more than 13,000 track-miles. G&W's UK/Europe Region includes the U.K.’s largest rail maritime intermodal operator and second-largest freight rail provider, as well as regional rail services in Continental Europe. G&W subsidiaries and joint ventures also provide rail service at more than 30 major ports, rail-ferry service between th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ahal Province
Ahal Region ( tk, Ahal welaýaty; from fa, آخال, Axāl) is one of five provinces of Turkmenistan. It is in the south-center of the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan along the Kopet Dag Range. Its area is and population 939,700 (2005 est.).''Statistical Yearbook of Turkmenistan 2000–2004'', National Institute of State Statistics and Information of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 2005. Overview In 2000, Ahal Region accounted for 14% of Turkmenistan's population, 11% of the total number of employed, 23% of agricultural production (by value), and 31% of the country's total industrial production. Ahal's agriculture is irrigated by the Karakum Canal, which stretches all the way across the province from east to west, tracking Turkmenistan's southern border. Another water source is the Tejen River, which flows north from Afghanistan in the southeast corner of the province, passing through two large reservoirs south of the city of Tejen. Ahal is known for the Battle of Geok Tep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
