Latest news – Page 1249
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NewsRotterdam metro route rebranding
NETHERLANDS: Rotterdam operator RET has started a rebranding programme under which the Caland and Erasmus line names are being dropped. To be completed by December, the reorganisation is intended to help visitors and occasional travellers to use the metro. It also paves the way for completion of the ...
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NewsCisalpino to be disbanded
EUROPE: Swiss Federal Railways and Trenitalia are to disband their jointly -owned Cisalpino AG subsidiary and take direct responsibility for cross-border inter-city services with effect from the December 13 timetable change. Announcing the move on September 25, SBB said the 40 staff and the rolling stock will be allocated ...
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NewsArctic bridge ceremony marks Yamal progress
RUSSIA: A ceremony held on a remote flood plain on the Yamal Peninsula on September 24 marked completion of the longest bridge within the Arctic Circle. The 3∙9 km structure over the Yuribey River will carry the 572 km line from Obskaya to Karskaya which is currently being built by ...
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NewsFreightliner and Xstrata sign Australian coal contract
AUSTRALIA: Freightliner Australia announced a 10-year haulage agreement with Xstrata Coal on September 25. Trains will start in late 2010, carrying 10 million tonnes of coal a year between Hunter Valley mines and the port of Newcastle. In July Xstrata Coal signed a 10-year haulage deal with Pacific National ...
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NewsPrima II arrives in Casablanca
MOROCCO: The first of 20 Prima II electric locomotives ordered by national railway ONCFM has arrived in Casablanca after being shipped via Antwerpen. It will now undergo endurance tests before entering service next year. The rest of the locomotives will follow by March 2010. ONCFM placed a €75m ...
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NewsCommission to review safety rules
EUROPE: EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani has announced that railway safety rules and practices are to be reviewed and an assessment made of how well they have been implemented. Speaking on September 8 at a railway safety conference held in Brussels in the wake of the freight train derailment ...
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NewsGE Transportation delivers locomotive to Mongolia
MONGOLIA: Mongolian Railways has completed testing of its first Evolution Series locomotive, supplied from GE Transportation's Erie plant. It will be leased to Ulaanbaatar Railway, in which Mongolian Railways holds a 25% stake. The locomotive is similar to those which GE Transportation is supplying to Kazakhstan. 'We chose GE ...
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NewsStrategic review to analyse rail reform
DENMARK: Increasing rail's market share is at the heart of a strategic review of the national rail network outlined by Transport Minister Lars Barfoed on September 23. The discussion paper A Railway In Growth sets out the remit for the review, which is to be completed by autumn 2010 and ...
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NewsDB takes majority stake in Polish freight operator
POLAND: Deutsche Bahn announced on September 24 that it had increased its stake in Polish freight operator PTK Holding to 95%. DB was already a shareholder in the Zabrze-based company as a result of its acquisition of PCC Logistics, completed on July 21. PTK Holding SA has 2 000 ...
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NewsState package will boost French rail freight
FRANCE: Keen to implement strategies arising from its Grenelle de l’Environnement, the French government unveiled on September 16 a €7bn package of measures to reverse the decline in rail’s share of the freight market over the next decade. At present road carries 86%, a figure that the government aims to ...
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NewsIn which funding is allocated for energy efficiency
USA: Flywheel energy storage on the Los Angeles metro is included in the 43 projects allocated a total of $100m of funding under the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas & Energy Reduction grant programme. Los Angeles County MTA has been allocated $4·5m of TIGGER funds for the Westlake wayside ...
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NewsFrench rail regulator rolled out
FRANCE: A law establishing a French railway regulatory body was passed in the National Assembly on September 22. The Autorité de Régulation des Activités Ferroviaires has been set up in advance of the liberalisation of international rail passenger services in Europe, which takes effect on December 13. The law ...
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NewsZentralbahn orders inter-regional trains
SWITZERLAND: Metre-gauge operator Zentralbahn has awarded Stadler a SFr141m contract to supply 10 inter-regional electric multiple-units as part of a double-tracking and modernisation programme which will see the timetable recast in December 2013. Six three-car trains will be used on Brünig services. These will be 54 m long with ...
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News200 km/h on Czech tracks
CZECH REPUBLIC: Infrastructure manager SZDC has launched a programme to raise speed limits on its main lines from 160 km/h to 200 km/h. The main limitation is the presence of level crossings and need for upgraded signalling. A pilot project will take place on the 77 km Brno - ...
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NewsBeijing metro still expanding
CHINA: Last month saw the start of work on the first phase of Beijing metro Line 7, between Beijing West and Jiaohuachang. The project is part of an ambitious plan to expand the capital’s metro network to 560 km and 20 lines by 2015, from 200 km at the time ...
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NewsKarlsruhe orders more tram-trains
GERMANY: Bombardier has been awarded a €129m contract to supply Albtal-Verkehrs GmbH and Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe with dual-voltage Flexity Swift tram-trains between August 2011 and September 2013. The contract announced on September 18 includes an option for up to 45 additional vehicles. The three-section 50% low-floor cars will be ...
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NewsThe hare and the tortoise
VIETNAM: We reported last month on the plethora of nascent inter-city rail projects emerging in the USA on the back of President Obama’s decision to dedicate US$13bn in funding, thus raising the prospect of the country being catapulted up the rankings in the ‘hare and tortoise’ race to develop high ...
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NewsSidetrack - September 2009
CZECH REPUBLIC: A programme is underway to replace the escalators on the Praha metro. However, it is reported that European Union regulations require the replacement escalators to be much slower than the existing ones, with speeds cut from 2·5 m/sec to just 0·7 m/sec. ‘The old escalators, which were ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - September 2009
An experiment that began last September to remove up to 14 seats from six of Chicago Transit Authority's 39-seat 'L' cars to reduce overcrowding has ended, with public opinion against converting any more cars to ‘Maxi' configuration. Additional stanchions and grab handles were added to the test cars for safety, ...
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NewsIndustry must look at whole-life costs
WHEELSETS: Procurement managers must continue to look beyond initial capital cost when making purchasing decisions, despite the pressures of the global recession.