News – Page 317
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News‘Beware the bubble’, warn level crossing safety campaigners
INTERNATIONAL: The International Union of Railways has selected ‘Beware the bubble’ as the theme for the 12th International Level Crossing Awareness Day, which will take place on June 11.
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NewsLIVE: rail sector responds to coronavirus
Rolling updates on the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the global railway industry.
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NewsCentral Asia transport strategy for 2030
ASIA: The Central Asia Regional Economic Co-operation programme has published its Transport Strategy 2030, building on lessons learned from the Transport & Trade Facilitation Strategy 2020. According to CAREC, 1 800 km of railway was built in the period covered by that strategy. ...
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Rail Business UKZipabout targets European growth with passenger information platform
UK: Real-time personalised customer communication technology developer Zipabout is now targeting European and non-rail markets with its Passenger Connect platform, having completed a £1·35m funding round and appointed Crispin Humm as Chief Business Development Officer. Currently used by National Rail Enquiries, LNER and ScotRail, Passenger Connect ...
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NewsJingye completes acquisition of British Steel assets in the UK and Netherlands
EUROPE: Chinese steelmaker Jingye Group completed the purchase of British Steel’s UK and Netherlands assets from the Official Receiver on March 9. This includes the steelworks at Scunthorpe, Teesside Beam Mill and Skinningrove mill, as well as subsidiary businesses FN Steel in the Netherlands and TSP Engineering. ...
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NewsTesting underway on Ankara – Sivas high speed line
TURKEY: Trial running on the Ankara – Sivas high speed line began on March 5, with Transport Minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan travelling on a test train on part of the route. The 405 km line has 49 tunnels with a total length ...
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NewsEast West Railway Co invites bids for ‘self-powered’ trains
UK: East West Railway Co has called tenders for the provision of rolling stock for use on future passenger services between Oxford, Milton Keynes, Aylesbury and Bedford. The Oxford to Cambridge railway promoter is seeking bids to supply a fleet of 12 or ...
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NewsRail unions call for action on coronavirus
UK: General Secretary of the TSSA trade union Manuel Cortes has written to Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps urging the government to convene a transport sector summit on tackling the Covid-19 outbreak. The summit would bring together train operators, representatives of devolved ...
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NewsCape Town commuter rail recovery plan announced
SOUTH AFRICA: Plans to restart Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s suspended commuter services on the Central Line between Cape Town and Chris Hani were announced by Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula on March 5. The route has been without services since November, when operations were ...
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NewsRotterdam port railway systems contract awarded
NETHERLANDS: Port of Rotterdam Authority has awarded VolkerRail the track, electrification and train protection systems contract for the Theemswegtracé freight line project. The 4·5 km line including a concrete viaduct and two steel-arch bridges across the Rozenburg lock and Thomassen Tunnel is being built to enable ...
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NewsRITES flotation oversubscribed
INDIA: The government’s plans to divest a further stake in railway consultancy RITES attracted mixed interest, with the initial offer being oversubscribed by 132% but retail interest failing to meet expectations. The Finance Ministry had announced its intention to reduce its holdings in various state-owned companies, in ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority and Zambia Railways Ltd have delivered an initial shipment of 1·1 million litres of oil from the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia under an agreement with Delta Energy Zambia which covers up to 6 million litres/month. ...
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NewsTailor-made approach switches freight from road to rail
EUROPE: DB Cargo Logistics has developed a tailor-made transport model to enable cross-laminated timber manufacturer Binderholz to switch its shipments of building products up to 20 m long from road to rail. This has included reopening a disused private siding at Binderholz’s Burgbernheim factory in Bayern to ...
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NewsFS Group gets to work in Uruguay
URUGUAY: The Ministry of Transport & Public Works has appointed Italy’s FS Group to provide it with technical advice during the Ferrocarril Central project to modernise the 273 km route between the port of Montevideo and Paso de los Toros. The upgrading project is being undertaken by ...
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NewsNorfolk Southern develops locomotive-mounted track-inspection technology
USA: Norfolk Southern’s track inspection group has developed a geometry measurement system which can be mounted on a locomotive where it will operate autonomously. This avoids the need to use a converted freight or passenger vehicle, which would require an external power supply and take up space ...
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NewsJacobs to support Sweden’s high speed rail programme
SWEDEN: Transport agency Trafikverket has awarded Jacobs a framework contract to provide planning, systems design and delivery consultancy services for the development of a Y-shaped network of high speed lines linking Stockholm with Göteborg and Malmö. The first phase of the high speed rail programme covers ...
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NewsRail Baltica implements planning, scheduling and risk management software
EUROPE: Rail Baltica project promoter RB Rail has begun rolling out planning, scheduling and risk reporting software to improve the management of its activities and resources and to speed up the implementation of the project. The need for such a system was highlighted in a review carried ...
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NewsRailCarCaddy provides cost-effective wagon mover
USA: DJ Products has launched RailCarCaddy, a compact battery-powered device for moving wagons of up to 100 tonnes around maintenance workshops and freight terminals. The coupler is quickly attached to a wagon, which staff can then move forwards or backwards to the desired ...
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NewsSighișoara – Brașov route upgrading contract awarded
ROMANIA: National railway CFR has awarded the Asocierea RailWorks consortium of Alstom, Aktor, Arcada and Euroconstruct a contract to modernise the Sighișoara – Brașov route.
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News2021 to be European Year of Rail
Source: Christophe Masse EUROPE: The European Commission has proposed designating 2021 as the European Year of Rail. Subject to the proposal being adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, a series of events would promote rail as a sustainable, innovative and safe mode of transport, highlighting ...