At InnoTrans on September 24 Siemens Mobility and Dhaya Maju Infrastructure (Asia) signed an MoU to support the Malaysian rail industry with the digitalisation of railway technologies.
SSAB is to supply Alstom with steel made with ‘close to zero fossil carbon emissions’. The first delivery of SSAB Zero produced from recycled steel using fossil-free electricity and biogas will be this year for use in Alstom’s first Traxx Shunter locomotives. Alstom said this would significantly reduce the embodied carbon footprint of the new hydrogen, battery or electric loco platform.
MerMec has completed its acquisition of Hitachi Rail’s signalling businesses in Germany and the UK and its mainline signalling activities in France. Hitachi Rail was required to divest these as part of EU and UK regulatory approval for its acquisition of Thales Ground Transport Systems. MerMec Deutschland has been established to manage operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and MerMec has revived the historic Compagnie des Signaux name for activities in France.
Distribusion Technologies has been awarded a contract to develop a multi-carrier sales system enabling Deutsche Bahn to sell non-German rail ticketing products including for travel with SBB, Trenitalia, SNCF and ÖBB. ‘Utilising the Open Sales & Distribution Model standard in this exciting project promotes greater standardisation while its feature depth greatly improves the booking and post-sales process for customers’, said Distribusion Technologies CEO Thomas Doering.
India’s Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently met with the American Society for Non-Destructive Testing and the American Welding Society to discuss the implementation of training programmes for Indian Railways personnel. ASNT plans to establish a state-of-the-art training centre in India which would specialise in providing computer-based certifications and training in advanced NDT technologies.
Siemens Mobility and the MSI Global subsidiary of Singapore’s Land Transport Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate to identify industry challenges and discuss joint ventures and cross-border initiatives to integrate technologies such as infrastructure-in-the-cloud with local operating needs.
Arriva Group has appointed Chris Hardy to its management board as Group Business Development Director from September 30. He spent 11 years at Mobico (formerly National Express) where he was Managing Director of the Coach Division and prior to that Group Commercial Director. ‘We will benefit from the wealth of experience he brings with him to Arriva as we look to grow our business and consolidate our position as one of Europe’s leading passenger transport companies’, said Mike Cooper, CEO of Arriva Group which is now owned by I Squared Capital.
Rail Europe‘s RailAPI, RailFlash and RailPortal now offer b2b customers Deutsche Bahn services between Germany and Denmark in the cross-border travel options, and it is to add domestic Danish routes. ’This expanded connectivity to Denmark marks an important step for Rail Europe’, said Chief Product & Technology Officer Jürgen Witte. ‘By providing new routes from major European hubs into Denmark, we give our customers more options for sustainable travel.’
Mitsubishi Electric Klimat Transportation Systems is to supply 1 170 saloon and 180 cab HVAC systems with natural propane refrigerant R290 for the EMUs that Siemens Mobility is to build for München S-Bahn services. Mitsubishi Electric said this would be the first Japanese affiliate to supply R290-refrigerant HVAC systems for use in trains.