News – Page 398
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Rail Business UK21st Rail Business Awards celebrate the hard work behind the headlines
UK: Almost 700 senior representatives from across the rail sector, from operators to suppliers and consultants, packed the Hilton Park Lane Hotel in London on February 21 for the 21st Rail Business Awards. After what had been a difficult year for the UK’s railways, it was a chance to ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Founder of Angel Trains International and former CEO of RATP Dev’s UK and South African operations Tim Jackson has joined Centrus, which is planning to expand its UK rail financing activities into the Continental European market. Centrus European Rail Management aims to offer operators, manufacturers and transport authorities access to ...
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NewsSNCF registers Rielsfera brand for Spanish passenger business
SPAIN: French national passenger operator Voyages SNCF has registered the Rielsfera trademark and appointed a legal practice in Barcelona with a view to establishing a train operating business in Spain. The EU trademark registration for the Rielsfera brand was lodged by SNCF Voyages Développement last November, and is currently listed ...
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NewsAfghanistan approves fourth section of Khaf – Herat railway
AFGHANISTAN: Design and construction of the 43 km first phase of the fourth section of the railway being built from Iran to Herat was approved by the National Procurement Commission at its meeting on February 18. The 1 435 mm gauge line is being built in four sections. Work has ...
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Metro Report InternationalAlstom wins Bangalore metro electrification contract
INDIA: Bangalore Metro Rail Corp has awarded Alstom a €71m contract to provide power supplies and electrification for the extension to the city’s two metro lines being built as part of Phase 2 of BMRC’s network development plan. Alstom is to install 750 V DC third-rail electrification, along with ...
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NewsAzerbaijan announces north–south route modernisation
AZERBAIJAN: National railway ADY has announced a plan to modernise the 167 km route between Sumqayit, 30 km north of Baku, and Yalama on the Russian border. Work is to get underway this year. The enhancement project would support the wider scheme to develop a north–south freight corridor linking Russia ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
CAF has started design and engineering work for the 51 two-car and 26 three-car Civity UK diesel multiple-units which it is to supply from its Newport factory for use on the Wales & Borders franchise from early 2022. The Department for Transport says it is close to reaching an agreement ...
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NewsDB to spend €10·7bn on infrastructure this year
GERMANY: Plans to spend €10·7bn on infrastructure and station works during 2019 were announced by Deutsche Bahn on February 20. This includes 50 separate projects covering the modernisation of 1 500 km of track, 1 500 turnouts, more than 300 bridges and around 650 stations. Management board member for Infrastructure ...
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NewsFRA pulls funds from California high speed project
USA: The Federal Railroad Administration announced on February 19 that it intended to cancel $929m of federal grant destined for the high speed rail project in California. In addition, FRA ‘is actively exploring every legal option to seek the return from California of $2·5bn in Federal funds FRA previously granted ...
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NewsKiwiRail shakes off earthquake impact
NEW ZEALAND: KiwiRail has announced a 12% year-on-year increase in revenue to NZ$328·8m for the six months to December 2018. This generated an operating surplus of NZ$16·3m, up 7% up on the previous year. ‘We are shaking off the impacts of the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake’, said KiwiRail Chairman Greg Miller ...
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NewsInterCity New Generation EMU prepared for testing
NETHERLANDS: The first of the Coradia Stream electric multiple-units which national passenger operator NS has ordered from Alstom under the Intercity New Generation programme has been moved from the manufacturer’s factory at Katowice in Poland to its Salzgitter plant in Germany for static testing. This will be followed by dynamic ...
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NewsArctic Ocean railway plan put on ice
EUROPE: The construction of a railway between Finnish Lapland and the Arctic Ocean is not currently commercially viable, a joint Finnish-Norwegian working group has concluded. Last year Finland’s Ministry of Transport & Communications published a report into route options which concluded that a 465 km line from Rovaniemi ...
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NewsSpain – Luxembourg rail motorway service launched
EUROPE: A ‘rail motorway’ service carrying unaccompanied lorry trailers 1 219 km between Barcelona and Luxembourg was launched on February 19. Augmenting the existing Le Boulou – Bettembourg service, it is the fifth rail motorway route to be launched by SNCF subsidiary VIIA, and the first in Spain. It ...
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NewsBNSF announces $3·57bn capital investment plan
USA: BNSF is planning to spend $3·57bn under its 2019 capital investment plan, up from $3·4bn in 2018 and 2017. It said the emphasis would continue to be on maintaining and expanding its 52 000 route-km network in 28 US states and three Canadian provinces. The infrastructure and rolling stock ...
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NewsUrban transport news in brief
A one-station 2 km extension of Tianjin metro Line 5 opened on January 31, serving Beichenkejiyuanbei. Moscow city authorities have approved a 3·1 km northern extension of metro Line 10 from Lianozovo to Fiztekh. Bordeaux tram Route C was extended by 1·4 km from Lycée Vaclav ...
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NewsTrams on test in Piraeus
GREECE: Testing on an extension of the Athens tram network to Piraeus began on February 7. The 5·4 km single-track loop runs through the centre of Piraeus to the port. Starting at Neo Faliro station on metro Line 1, it runs to Akti Posidonos, before returning to terminate at ...
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Metro Report InternationalSiemens to upgrade Medellín metro signalling
COLOMBIA: Siemens Mobility has won a €42m contract to modernise signalling on Line A of the Medellín metro, the company announced on February 19. Siemens is to install the wayside equipment outside operating hours, with the work on Line A and in the Patio de Bello depot due to ...
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Rail Business UKUK rail ticketing reform proposals published
UK: Outline proposals for a ‘radical’ reform of the rail ticketing system in Great Britain were published by the Rail Delivery Group on February 18. Branded ‘Easier Fares for All’, the proposals are designed to bring about major changes to the existing national ticketing rules, sweeping away accumulated layers of ...
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NewsOperail to lease rebuilt GE locos to Ukrainian operator
EUROPE: Estonian freight operator Operail has awarded CZ Loko a contract to supply kits for the rebuilding of a further four of its C30-7Ai diesel-electric locomotives to the C30-M design, taking the total to seven. Operail has also agreed to lease two C30-M locos to Ukrainian freight forwarder Lemtrans as ...
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NewsChelyabinsk – Yekaterinburg high speed rail plan
RUSSIA: A non-binding memorandum of understanding to plan a high speed railway between Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg was signed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund sovereign wealth fund, Siemens Mobility and the Economic Partnership Ural High-Speed Rail on February 15, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference 2019. The proposed ...