News – Page 409
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NewsFrance to tender operation of two inter-city routes
FRANCE: The government on January 9 formally launched the process of opening the French domestic main line passenger railway to competition when it announced the publication of a Prior Information Notice covering two routes. Issued by the Ministry of Environmental Transformation & Sustainability and to be published this week ...
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Metro Report InternationalMünchen second S-Bahn crossing contracts awarded
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has awarded three further major contracts for the construction of the second cross-city S-Bahn route through central München. The 11 km route including a 7 km tunnel under the city centre is scheduled to open in 2026, relieving pressure on the existing S-Bahn tunnel where trains operate ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
Planning permission has been granted for the construction of a station at Horden on the Durham Coast line near Peterlee, with work expected to begin shortly for opening in spring 2020. The station will have two 100 m platforms, an accessible footbridge, shelters, a 136-space car park, bus stops, a ...
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Metro Report InternationalBART launches end-to-end journey planner for the San Francisco area
USA: Bay Area Rapid Transit has worked with HaCon to develop BART Trip Planner web, iOS and Android apps for multimodal door-to-door journey planning in the San Francisco Bay Area. Siemens-owned technology company HaCon said it was a ‘major upgrade’ from the previous system, which was solely based on the ...
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NewsNS to test contactless card payment
NETHERLANDS: National passenger operator NS is to test the use of contactless bank card payment as an alternative to the OV-chipkaart national multimodal transport smart card. NS said using a bank or credit card for travel was a ‘logical and easy’ choice for many people, as they would not need ...
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NewsCourt overturns Fehmarn Belt tunnel financing approval
EUROPE: The Court of Justice of the European Union has overturned the European Commission’s approval for the financing model for the Fehmarn Belt fixed link project, finding that procedural errors were made. The Commission must now provide a new approval. Project promoter Femarn A/S told Railway Gazette it had secured ...
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News‘Engineering masterpiece’ Bogibeel Bridge opens
INDIA: The country’s longest combined rail and road bridge was officially opened when Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off a Northeast Frontier Railway inter-city train from Tinsukia to Naharlagun on December 25. The 4·94 km Bogibeel Bridge crosses the River Brahmaputra between the Dibrugarh and Dhemaji districts of the northeastern ...
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NewsCN and CP exceed grain revenue entitlements
CANADA: The Canadian Transportation Agency has ruled that Canadian National and Canadian Pacific exceeded their maximum grain revenue entitlements for the crop year running from August 2017 to July 2018. The Canada Transportation Act requires the CTA to set an annual limit to the average revenue per tonne which the ...
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NewsRNV takes delivery of Mercedes-Benz eCitaro buses
GERMANY: Daimler handed over three Mercedes-Benz eCitaro battery buses to Rhein-Neckar transport authority RNV on January 7. RNV is the launch customer for the eCitaro, having signed a memorandum of understanding with Daimler subsidiary EvoBus in 2017. As part of the agreement, the operator and supplier would exchange information ...
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NewsJR Central to test N700S at 360 km/h
JAPAN: President of Central Japan Railway Shin Kaneko announced on January 6 that the N700S prototype trainset will be tested at up to 360 km/h later this year. Running trials with the 16-car N700S prototype began in March last year, and the train has since achieved a maximum speed of ...
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NewsLocomotives delivered to Tunisia
TUNISIA: National railway SNCFT has taken delivery of the first 10 of 20 EMD Type GT42AC diesel locomotives which are being supplied by Progress Rail under a 165m dinar contract awarded in December 2016. The locomotives are being produced at Progress Rail’s site in Muncie, Indiana. Numbered 060DS651 to ...
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NewsThree tram-train trials in Manchester investment plan
UK: Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham introduced the city region’s revised long-term spatial strategy on January 7, which includes a transport investment vision running to 2040. The transport vision sets out how Greater Manchester’s wider economic objectives can be met through targeted infrastructure investment. It includes a Draft ...
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Rail Business UKElectro-diesel multiple-units ordered for postal services
UK: Leasing company Porterbrook is to supply Rail Operations Group with two Flex electro-diesel multiple-units equipped to carry postal and other just-in-time light freight traffic. Delivery is planned for early 2020. The trains are to be rebuilt from Class 319 EMUs formerly used on Thameslink passenger services, and will be ...
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NewsIncomplete approvals delay TEX Rail opening
USA: The opening of the 43 km TEX Rail commuter line in Texas was postponed the evening before the planned January 5 launch date, with transport authority Trinity Metro saying it had been unable to get clearance from the Federal Railroad Administration to operate the entire route. A new opening ...
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Rail Business UKBreeze UK hydrogen multiple-unit proposal unveiled
UK: Alstom and leasing company Eversholt Rail have unveiled their ‘Breeze’ proposal to convert surplus Class 321 electric multiple-units to hydrogen power. The 25 kV 50 Hz Class 321 EMUs which were built by BREL in 1998-90 are scheduled to be withdrawn by the end of this year. Greater ...
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Metro Report InternationalToshkent elevated metro line under construction
UZBEKISTAN: The first section of an elevated metro line in Toshkent is being built by national railway company UTY to designs by the Boshtransloyiha engineering institute. Starting at the Olmazor terminus of the Toshkent metro’s existing Chilonzor Line, the 7·1 km Sergili Line will run south above Choshtepa, Mirzo Tursunzoda ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
At the end of December Aurizon delivered the first coal from MACH Energy’s new Mount Pleasant mine in the Hunter Valley to AGL’s Antiene power station in New South Wales. ‘We have been working collaboratively over the past couple of months to test the loading of trains at the Mount ...
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NewsCroatia awards 10-year passenger train operating contract
CROATIA: The government has formally awarded incumbent national operator HŽPP a public service obligation contract covering the operation of all passenger services for 10 years from January 1 2019. Awarded to meet the requirement of the European Union’s Fourth Railway Package, the contract was signed by Minister of Maritime Affairs, ...
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NewsVR Group restructures maintenance business
FINLAND: National railway VR Group transferred its rolling stock maintenance activities to a new VR Kunnossapito subsidiary with effect from January 1. The wholly-owned subsidiary has 990 staff headed by Kimmo Soini. VR Group CEO Rolf Jansson said the aim was to grow the maintenance subsidiary’s customer base ...
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Metro Report InternationalMTA accepts revised approach to Subway tunnel blockade
USA: New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on January 3 that it had accepted a series of recommendations put forward by academics and engineering specialists to limit the disruption of a planned rebuilding of the Canarsie/L Subway line’s tunnel under the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan. The Canarsie/L Subway ...