News – Page 413
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Rail Business UKFreightliner awarded Mendip Rail contract
UK: The Mendip Rail joint venture of aggregate and cement producers Hanson Aggregates and Aggregate Industries has awarded Freightliner a long-term contract to haul an expected eight million tonnes of aggregate a year from quarries in Somerset to terminals in London and the southeast of England. The current contract is ...
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NewsSBB orders Seagulls
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has awarded Stadler a SFr65m contract to supply seven four-car electric multiple-units for use on the Bern – La Chaux-de-Fonds route, where services are to be transferred from BLS to the national operator in December 2020. The EMUs from Stadler’s Flirt family are to be branded ...
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Rail Business UKRENFE joins MTR’s West Coast Partnership bid team
UK: MTR Corp announced on December 20 that Spanish national operator RENFE had joined its bid for the West Coast Partnership franchise. The Department for Transport invited three shortlisted bidders to tender for WCP in March this year. The contract will cover operation of inter-city services on the West Coast ...
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NewsCentral PPK orders Metrowagonmash DMUs
RUSSIA: Central Suburban Passenger Co has awarded Transmashholding subsidiary Metrowagonmash a contract to supply 23 newly designed RA-3 diesel multiple-units, to be financed by Sberbank Leasing. The agreement was signed on December 5. An initial 17 two-car DMUs are scheduled to be delivered between August and November ...
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NewsState aid for road to rail freight shift approved
GERMANY: A German state aid programme designed to promote a shift of freight from road to rail has been given the go-ahead by the European Commission. A total of €350m is being made available in 2018-23 to cover up to 45% of the track access charges paid by freight operators, ...
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NewsModi lays metro foundation stones in Mumbai and Pune
INDIA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stones for three metro projects in the state of Maharashtra on December 18. Two of the projects are in Mumbai. Line 5 will run in the northeast of the city, linking Thane with Kalyan via Bdiwandi. Line 9 will serve the north ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
Virgin Trains has completed the roll-out of Avocet hand-held ticketing issuing machines supplied by The Ticket Keeper. These will be able to issue digital tickets to a mobile device, reducing paper usage. ‘Avocet is giving us flexibility‘, said Nick Dodd, Director of digital projects at Virgin Trains. ‘Our people can ...
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NewsHeavy freight locomotive delivered
AZERBAIJAN: National railway ADY has taken delivery of the first of 40 Prima T8 AZ8A twin-section 25 kV AC heavy freight locomotives ordered for use on the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars corridor. The EKZ joint venture of Alstom (75%) and Transmashholding (25%), which is based at Astana in Kazakhstan, ...
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NewsDMUs to bring a ‘qualitative quantum leap’ for Bayerische Oberlandbahn
GERMANY: Bayerische Oberlandbahn has awarded Alstom a contract to supply 25 two-car Coradia Lint diesel multiple-units, which it plans to use from mid-2020 on the regional routes running south from München to Holzkirchen, Lenggries, Tegernsee and Bayrischzell. They are expected to replace the Jenbach-built Integral DMUs introduced ...
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Metro Report InternationalTunnel failure delays Perth airport rail link
AUSTRALIA: Opening of the Forrestfield-Airport Link in Perth is now expected in the second half of 2021, Western Australia’s Minister of Transport & Planning Rita Saffioti announced on December 18. Being built at a cost of A$1·86bn, the 8·5 km suburban railway to the airport and Forrestfield will diverge from ...
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NewsMayor attends Makati Subway groundbreaking ceremony
PHILIPPINES: A groundbreaking ceremony on December 12 attended by Makati Mayor Abby Binay marked the start of preparatory works for the Makati Subway project being developed in the city southeast of central Manila. Due to open in 2023, the 10 km underground metro line will serve 10 stations including ...
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NewsCFL orders EMUs with ‘a concentration of the latest innovations’
LUXEMBOURG: National railway CFL has awarded Alstom a €360m contract to supply 34 Coradia regional high-capacity double-deck electric multiple-units from December 2021. The order announced on December 18 includes 80 m and 160 m long units with a maximum speed of 160 km/h. Designed for 25 kV 50 Hz operation, ...
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NewsBayerische Oberlandbahn wins Chiemgau-Berchtesgaden operating contract
GERMANY: Following an open tender, Bayern railway agency BEG has awarded the Chiemgau-Berchtesgaden passenger operating contract to Transdev company Bayerische Oberlandbahn. The contract covers operations on the 19 km Freilassing – Berchtesgaden line for 15 years from December 2021, and on the 13 km Traunstein – Ruhpolding branch for 14 ...
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NewsFerlemann demands ‘fundamental reform’ of DB
GERMANY: State Secretary for Transport Enak Ferlemann has instructed Deutsche Bahn to come up with a proposal for a revised business structure that would deliver a higher level of performance. Calling for initial proposals to be made available in January, he told Welt am Sonntag that he expected the DB ...
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Rail Business UKRail section of China to UK service extended
INTERNATIONAL: Freight forwarding company Davies Turner has extended the rail element of its Express China Rail less-than-container-load service linking Wuhan in China with the UK. Containers were previously transferred from rail to road in Warszawa, but now continue to Duisburg, from where they are sent by road under bond to ...
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NewsNorfolk Southern to move headquarters to Atlanta
USA: Norfolk Southern Corp has confirmed its intention to relocate its corporate headquarters from Norfolk in Virginia to Atlanta in Georgia. The railway’s operating team is already based in Atlanta, and the company has previously announced plans to consolidate eight regional dispatching centres in the city. NS announced on December ...
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NewsAcciona backs open access high speed project
SPAIN: Prospects for on-rail competition in the high speed market have increased, with Madrid-based international construction group Acciona expected to take a majority stake in open-access promoter Intermodalidad de Levante SA. Founded by Valencia-based regional airline Air Nostrum, ILSA has applied to launch a twice-daily Madrid – Montpellier service, calling ...
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NewsLVMH buys luxury train operator
INTERNATIONAL: High-end wine, fashion, cosmetics, hotel and retail group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Belmond, which owns or manages 46 hotel, restaurant, train and cruise brands including the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, British Pullman, Royal Scotsman, Grand Hibernian, Andean Explorer, Hiram Bingham and ...
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NewsCNG buses delivered to Abidjan
CÔTE D’IVOIRE: Iveco Bus officially handed over 26 compressed natural gas buses to Abidjan transport operator SOTRA on December 13, at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly and Transport Minister Amadou Koné. In January the government signed a contract with Iveco for the supply of 450 ...
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NewsForchbahn rolling stock to be refurbished
SWITZERLAND: Metre-gauge interurban operator Forchbahn has awarded Stadler Rail a contract to modernise its 13 type Be 4/6 electric multiple-units, with Voith to supply new traction inverters. The custom-designed metre-gauge vehicles supplied by Stadler in 2004 operate using 600 V DC overhead on the Zürich tram network, and at ...