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NewsNormandie upgrading moves ahead
FRANCE: Plans for improving rail connections to and from Haute-Normandie were announced by Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau during a visit to Rouen on October 15. The long-term aim is to develop a new high speed line linking Paris, Mantes, Rouen and Le Havre, as announced by President Sarkozy on April ...
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NewsMineral line accord signed
MONGOLIA: Surveying and detailed design of a new railway to open up the mineral deposits in the South Gobi area is expected to get underway in November, following the signing of a formal accord between the Transport Ministry and Russian Railways on October 15. The memorandum of agreement was signed ...
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NewsCTL restructures to boost east-west traffic
POLAND: Open access rail freight operator CTL Logistics is to restructure its cross-border operations from December 1, in a bid to boost its share of the rail freight market between Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. CTL Logistics President Krzysztof Sędzikowski announced on October 15 that the company wants to become ...
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NewsTrenitalia orders more Class E464s
ITALY: Trenitalia has awarded a further contract to Bombardier Transportation for an additional 100 Class E464 electric locomotives, to be delivered in 2010-12. Valued at approximately €258m, the contract announced on October 14 includes options for a further 50 locos. Rated at 3·5 MW, the single-ended Class E464 was developed ...
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NewsPassenger reforms take shape
RUSSIA: Proposals for the reform of Russian Railways’ long-distance passenger business and the creation of a new operating company have been agreed in principle by the RZD management team. The detailed proposals will now be presented to the board of directors for formal approval. Restructuring of the long-distance passenger business ...
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NewsIntermodal accord signed
EUROPE: International consultations will start shortly to find a new operator for the trans-Alpine intermodal services on the Lyon – Torino corridor, following the signing of a bilateral accord between France and Italy on October 9. In a bilateral meeting alongside the European Union council of transport ministers in Luxembourg, ...
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NewsMember States warned over First Railway Package
EUROPE: The European Commission is stepping up the pressure on EU Member States over their failure to implement fully or correctly the Directives in the First Railway Package, which are intended to open up the rail freight market to competition. This package includes Directives 91/440/EEC as amended, 95/18/EC as amended ...
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NewsContainers to the Caucasus
ARMENIA: Russian intermodal operator TransContainer has expanded its international network with the launch of its first service to Armenia, in co-operation with the South Caucasian Railway. An initial shipment on October 7 carried containerised traffic for Russian aluminium supplier Rusal. As a subsidiary of Russian Railways, TransContainer is developing its ...
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NewsTrans-Alpine RoLa still growing
SWITZERLAND: Despite the general slump in rail freight and trans-Alpine transit traffic, the international rolling motorway service between Freiburg im Breisgau in southern Germany and Novara in northern Italy is continuing to attract more business, according to René Dancet, Chairman of RAlpin AG. Presenting on October 7 the results for ...
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NewsItino clean diesel unveiled
SWEDEN: Bombardier Transportation unveiled its first Itino diesel railcar equipped with C.L.E.A.N. diesel technology at the Elmia Nordic Rail exhibition in Jönköping on October 7, conducting a series of demonstration runs with the prototype train at Jönköping station. The first production trainsets equipped with the Catalyst based Low Emission ApplicatioN ...
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NewsRail industry has cause for optimism, survey suggests
GLOBAL: A survey of 961 respondents across the rail, aviation and shipping industries by law firm Norton Rose has indicated that the rail industry is best placed to withstand the impact of the recession. Norton Rose launched its report detailing the results, entitled The Way Ahead for Transport, at ...
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NewsTrans-Siberian in seven days
RUSSIA: Meeting in Moscow on April 29, RZD’s Scientific & Technical Council endorsed plans to improve the efficiency of container transport, notably transit shipments on the Trans-Siberian landbridge. According to the railway, achieving international quality standards for container transport is one of RZD’s strategic priorities. Although freight volumes have fallen ...
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NewsNS may lose its stations
NETHERLANDS: Further reforms are needed to open up the rail market, according to a review commissioned by Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings. A committee chaired by former minister Winnie Sorgdrager was asked to consider the relationship between NS, ProRail and the state. Its report, Over 't Spor, was published on April ...
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NewsDesertXpress consultation starts
USA: Public consultation hearings are taking place this week in California and Nevada into the Environmental Impact Statement for the privately-promoted DesertXpress high speed line linking the southern California region with Las Vegas. The meetings in Las Vegas, Victorville and Barstow follow approval of the Draft EIS by the Federal ...
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NewsChavez backs expansion drive
VENEZUELA: President Hugo Chavez has confirmed that more than 13 600 km of railway is to be built by 2030 under the National Railway Development Plan. Proposals for a national network have existed since the 1950s, but state-owned IFE currently operates just two isolated 1 435 mm gauge lines totalling ...
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NewsAuckland to install ETCS Level 1
NEW ZEALAND: National infrastructure manager Ontrack has selected Invensys Rail Group to supply and install ETCS Level 1 train control equipment for its Auckland metropolitan area resignalling, in conjunction with the modernisation and electrification of the suburban network. This is the first application of the European Rail Traffic Management System ...
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NewsLoubinoux to lead UIC headquarters
INTERNATIONAL: The current Managing Director of SNCF International, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, has been selected as the first Director-General of Services at the International Union of Railways. The appointment was decided at an assessment meeting in Paris on March 30, ahead of a special meeting of UIC’s General Assembly on March 31. ...
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NewsAlstom takes stake in Transmash
RUSSIA: Alstom Transport agreed on March 31 to take a 25% plus one share stake in Transmashholding. The move builds on an existing partnership between the two companies that has seen the Alstom-TMH joint venture selected by RZD as a strategic partner to supply 1 210 double-deck passenger cars. ...
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NewsMehdorn to step down from DB
GERMANY: The controversy over accusations that Deutsche Bahn had undertaken covert surveillance of its own staff claimed its most high profile victim on March 30, when Chairman & CEO Hartmut Mehdorn tendered his resignation. Although by the end of the day Mehdorn’s offer had not been formally accepted, it was ...
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NewsCorridor X in 35 h
EUROPE: Headed by two gleaming black locomotives, the Bosphorus Europe Express pulled into the Halkal? Container Terminal in Istanbul’s western suburbs on the evening of March 17, just 35 h after setting out from Ljubljana at 08.30 on the morning of March 16. The record-breaking container train was organised by ...