Latest news – Page 1012
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NewsKochi metro agrees French loan
INDIA: Kochi Metro Rail Ltd and Agence Française de Développement signed a €180m long-term loan agreement on February 8 to finance the first phase of the Kochi metro. The 25 km elevated north-south line would run from Aluva to Petta with 22 stations. Tenders for 25 standard-gauge ...
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NewsSwiss voters back long-term rail funding plan
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has welcomed the result of a referendum on February 9 which saw voters approve a long-term strategy to finance and upgrade rail infrastructure. SBB said the Finanzierung und Ausbau der Bahninfrastruktur strategy which was supported 62:38 on a 55% turnout would provide a solid foundation ...
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NewsBangkok metro projects face mixed outlook
THAILAND: Work on urban rail projects in Bangkok is continuing amid the ongoing political turmoil, interim Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt reported following a tour of construction sites in the city on February 5. Sittipunt provided a progress report on three metro projects. These were the extensions of the Blue Line ...
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NewsSound Transit approves 2014 budget
USA: Seattle’s Sound Transit has approved a 2014 budget of $1·1bn. This includes $146·9m for construction of the University Link, $141·1m for East Link final design, and $138·6m for Northgate Link Extension tunnelling and station construction. Another $31·2m will continue project development for light rail extensions south from South ...
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NewsLinz orders more Cityrunner trams
AUSTRIA: Linz Linien has ordered six more Cityrunner 100% low-floor trams for €19m, Bombardier Transportation announced on February 10. The trams, from Bombardier’s Flexity family, are to be manufactured in Wien. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in mid-2015. The trams will be 40 m long and 2 300 mm ...
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NewsSalvador metro train order
BRAZIL: Salvador metro PPP concessionaire CCR has ordered 49 four-car trainsets from a consortium of Hyundai Rotem and Iesa. The cars are to be assembled in Iesa’s Araraquara plant, with some components manufactured in South Korea. They will join the six trainsets built by a Mitsui-Rotem consortium that were ...
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NewsColombian railway revival gets underway
COLOMBIA: As part of a strategy to remove damaging heavy freight traffic from the roads, the government has awarded contracts for rehabilitation of two sections of the 914 mm gauge rail network which have been out of use since the 1980s. Work by local contractors to return the lines to ...
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NewsFritz Rössig
Fritz Rössig (left) has joined greater Braunschweig public transport authority ZGB as Director of Transport Services, a role he takes over from Managing Director Hennig Brandes (right). Rössig’s main task will be to oversee the tendering and enhancement of the Diesel-Netz Niedersachsen Süd Ost regional rail network.
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NewsRail plus property project gets underway
CHINA: MTR Corp has begun construction of its first rail plus property project in mainland China, based on the model it has used in Hong Kong. MTR Corp is paying a premium of 2bn yuan to develop the site above the Longhua depot on Shenzhen Metro Line 4, which ...
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NewsSaudi Railways Organization reviews safety
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Railways Organization has awarded DB International a contract to undertake a comprehensive review of its safety regime and operating standards. The review will be completed by the end of the year, with DB contracted to provide a further year of ‘supervision and follow-up’. Under the agreement, DB ...
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NewsParis regional transport authority approves €787m budget
FRANCE: Paris regional transport authority STIF has approved an investment budget of €787m for 2014, including a new funding agreement for the extension of metro Line 14 to Mairie de Saint-Ouen. The €450m cost of the project, including four new stations and a depot, is to be met by ...
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NewsGB Railfreight orders more Class 66s
UK: GB Railfreight announced an order for a further 13 Electro-Motive Diesel Class 66 locomotives on February 7. This follows an order for eight announced in September 2013, and will take the operator's Class 66 fleet to 71 locomotives when they are delivered in late 2014. GBRf said it had ...
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NewsIC double-deckers to serve Baden-Württemberg
GERMANY: Inter-city operator DB Fernverkehr has reached agreement with Baden-Württemberg to introduce double-deck inter-city trainsets on its Gäubahn route between Stuttgart and Zürich. A fleet of 17 push-pull trainsets will provide an hourly service from December 2017. In order to free up paths for the enhanced IC service, the Land ...
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NewsMacedonian railway reinstatement contract
MACEDONIA: Work is set to start in March to reinstate the 31 km Kumanovo – Beljakovce line as the initial phase of a long-planned railway between Kumanovo and Deve Bair on the Bulgarian border, after infrastructure manager MZ Infra and Wiebe signed a €39·8m contract during December. The route forms ...
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NewsGreenbrier plans safer tank car design
USA: Responding to growing concern over the safety of crude oil movements by rail in North America, rolling stock builder The Greenbrier Companies announced on February 5 that it is to develop a new-generation ‘Tank Car of the Future’ for the transport of hazardous freight, including crude oil and ethanol. ...
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NewsBombardier wins Crossrail train contract
UK: Bombardier Transportation has beaten bids from Hitachi and CAF to be selected for the contract to supply and maintain trains and a depot for London's Crossrail project, the Department for Transport and Transport for London announced on February 6. With a capital value of £1bn, the 32-year contract is ...
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NewsPriority rail investment projects identified
PORTUGAL: Eight rail projects have been included in a list of 30 investment schemes identified as priorities to encourage economic development as the country seeks to recover from its financial problems. Expected to be completed by 2020, these schemes represent a total investment of €5·1bn, of which between 54% ...
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NewsHeathrow Airport western rail link could be completed by 2021
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail announced on February 5 that it had developed proposals for a rail link from Reading and Slough on the Great Western Main Line to London Heathrow airport. This will enable public consultation to begin. The Western Rail Access to Heathrow study was undertaken in response ...
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NewsHoek van Holland light rail vehicle order placed
NETHERLANDS: Rotterdam transport authority RET has exercised a €66m option with Bombardier Transportation for a further 16 Flexity Swift light rail vehicles. These are to be delivered in 2016 for use on the Schiedam Centrum - Hoek van Holland Strand route which is to be converted from heavy rail ...
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NewsBNSF announces record capital investment plan
USA: BNSF Railway announced a 'single-year record capital commitment plan' on February 4. The total value is $5bn, up almost $1bn on its 2013 capital spend. The 2014 plan includes: $2·3bn for infrastructure works on the 52 000 route-km network in 28 US states and two Canadian provinces; $1·6bn ...