The first of seven TBMs that will bore the 57·5 km twin tubes of the Mont Cenis base tunnel on the Lyon – Torino route was handed over to a consortium of Vinci Construction Grands Projets, Webuild, Dodin Campenon Bernard and Campenon Bernard Centre Est at the Herrenknecht factory on July 7. The 180 m long 10·4 m diameter TBM will bore 9 km of the northern tube between Saint-Martin-la-Porte and La Praz.
Hübner After Sales & Service has completed a six-year project to refurbish 500 gangways from Deutsche Bahn’s ICE3 fleet. The supplier used a customised production line at its Kassel site. ‘Instead of having one-to-one exchange of the entire gangway system, we work out the ideal scheduling and an assembly-based technical solution for each gangway refurbishment’, said Head of Sales Christoph Steinbach on July 14. ‘A solution that is precisely tailored to the overall life cycle of the vehicle and reuses as many components as possible makes our refurbishment both cost-efficient and sustainable.’
Knorr-Bremse has announced a Next Level KB update of its corporate strategy. The first part of the Knorr-Bremse Operational Optimisation Strategy & Transformation programme running to 2026 focuses on efficiency and portfolio optimisation, and strengthening the aftermarket business and R&D. The second part of BOOST is based on growth through digital business models and partnerships such as its minority interest in IoT specialist Nexxiot.
On July 6 the European Passengers’ Federation and the European Union Agency for Railways signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster a mutual understanding of passenger-related issues.
As part of Ineco’s iCampus programme to collaborate with universities, the engineering company is to work with the University of Santiago de Compostela to further develop a tool which researchers have produced to help optimise the design of railways and other linear transport assets. Ineco will also work with the University of Cantabria to characterise the resilience of railway infrastructure materials.
Ticket retailer Rail Europe has appointed Valentine Camusot as General Manager for Europe. She was previously Head of Category Management, handling relationships with European train operators.
Alstom’s near-term emissions reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative as consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Alstom updated its carbon targets following the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation in 2021. It is committed to reducing absolute direct GHG emissions (scope 1) and indirect GHG emissions (scope 2) from Alstom sites by 40% by 2030-31, and scope 3 emissions from the use of its products by 42% per passenger-km and 35% per tonne-km.
Siemens Mobility has renewed its membership of the US High Speed Rail Association’s executive committee.
Škoda Group has published its first Environmental, Social & Governance report. In 2022 the company invested 3% of revenue in R&D of sustainable products, and its Otanmäki sites operated solely on wind energy. By the end of 2024 a third of the company’s electricity consumption will come from solar energy.