News – Page 444
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Metro Report InternationalCrossrail opening delayed
UK: The opening of the Crossrail tunnels under London has been delayed from December 2018 until ‘autumn 2019’, project promoter Crossrail Ltd announced on August 31. The Paddington – Abbey Wood section of the future Elizabeth Line will open later than scheduled because the contractors need more time to ...
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NewsOmneo Premium inter-city trainset on test
FRANCE: Bombardier Transportation has begun dynamic testing of the first Omneo Premium inter-city version of the Omneo double-deck regional train family. SNCF placed a €585m order for 40 Omneo Premium electric multiple-units in November 2016, acting on behalf of the Normandie region as part of an agreement to transfer responsibility ...
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NewsFurka Base Tunnel modernisation gets underway
SWITZERLAND: Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn has begun work on a major project to modernise the 15·4 km Furka Base Tunnel, which opened in 1982. The main contractor is the Arge Furka 1618 consortium of Pizzarotti and Luigi Notari. New cabling and electrification equipment are to be installed, and changes to ...
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NewsJapan to Moscow intermodal service tested
INTERNATIONAL: A 40 ft container equipped with temperature, moisture and vibration sensors has been transported by sea and rail from Kobe to Moscow in 14 days as part of a trial of enhanced freight services which is being undertaken by Russian Railways and Japan’s Ministry of Transport, ‘The use of ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Knorr-Bremse has sold its Sydac driver training simulator business to the Oktal subsidiary of the Sogeclair group. This includes Sydac's activities in Australia, India and the UK, as well as the TDS unit of New York Air Brake. 'We are continuing to focus on our core competencies as a key ...
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NewsKnorr-Bremse shows innovations across four stands at InnoTrans
KNORR-BREMSE: The braking and services specialist will be using the motto ‘Systems, People, Connected’ to describe its presence at InnoTrans 2018, which will be located across four separate stands reflecting the various businesses within the group. Focusing on four core market drivers of ‘system connection, life-cycle efficiency, transportation capacity and ...
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NewsEU funding for Łódź tunnel
POLAND: The European Commission announced on August 28 that it is providing €411m in cohesion funding towards a project to build a tunnel between three stations in Łódź. The Y-shaped underground route linking Fabryczna, Kaliska and Żabieniec stations is due to be completed in January 2022. Two new stations ...
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NewsChangsha to Tilburg container service launched
INTERNATIONAL: A container service between Changsha in China and Tilburg in the Netherlands has been launched by RZD Logistics and Hunan Xiangou Express. They plan to operate two trains per month, with a 16-day transit time on the route via Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. The first service left ...
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NewsUnited Wagon Co targets the 1 435 mm gauge market
EUROPE: Russian wagon manufacturer United Wagon Co is now targeting the 1 435 mm gauge market, where Deputy CEO for Business Development Maxim Kuzemchenko believes there are ‘as-yet-untapped growth opportunities’ for the company. ‘The European market is a key market for us in terms of both the 1 520 mm ...
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NewsCuban rail market opens to foreign companies
CUBA: Legislation published in the country’s official gazette on August 21 allows railways to be operated by foreign entities for the first time in 60 years. Cuba is currently implementing various projects to modernise its railways by 2030, with government funding supplemented from Russian and French sources. National railway Unión ...
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NewsDefence ministry disposes of stake in Wagon Pars
IRAN: The defence ministry has ended its involvement with rolling stock manufacturer Wagon Pars, Defence Minister Amir Hatami said on August 27. He explained that the ministry was divesting its shares in 130 companies including Wagon Pars, but did not state what stake the military holds in the company ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
Plans to merge British Transport Police in Scotland into Police Scotland have been postponed. This follows ‘recent advice from Police Scotland around the practicalities of a number of issues and timing of implementation, particularly relating to ICT, which have emerged as part of the re-planning exercise commissioned by Scottish Ministers’, ...
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NewsTrain cleaning equipment on show at InnoTrans 2018
VOGELSANG: The TUnit for the environmentally friendly and hygienic supply of drinking water to trains and the vacuum disposal of waste water will be presented by Vogelsang at InnoTrans 2018. The TUnit SP variant is a compact, single-station system equipped with a VX series rotary lobe pump which is particularly ...
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Rail Business UKHitachi trainsets for Hull Trains under construction
UK: The first bodyshell for the fleet of five Hitachi AT300 electro-diesel trainsets ordered by open access operator Hull Trains has been completed at the manufacturer’s factory at Kasado in Japan. Fitting out will be undertaken at Hitachi’s Pistoia plant in Italy ahead of delivery to the ...
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NewsBLS opens Rosshäuser Tunnel
SWITZERLAND: BLS celebrated the completion of the Rosshäuser Tunnel on the Bern – Neuchâtel line on August 25, ahead of the planned start of regular services on September 3. The 1 910 m long single bore tunnel with two tracks on a new 2·4 km alignment will replace a winding ...
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NewsOpen access operator plans Praha – Berlin service
GERMANY: Czech open access operator Leo Express has confirmed it is interested in adding a Praha – Berlin service to its network. ‘Germany has a huge liberalised transport market on which we want to further develop and which we want to connect with the Czech one through the Praha – ...
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NewsStagecoach pledges Manchester electric bus investment
UK: Bus operator Stagecoach announced on August 28 that it will invest £34·6m into the procurement of a fleet of electric buses for Greater Manchester. If £21·5m can be secured from the government’s Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme, 105 double-decker Enviro400 EV City battery buses would be purchased from Alexander ...
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NewsAnti-trespass panels approved
ANTI-TRESPASS: Prime Rail Solutions’ GRP anti-trespass panels designed for use at level crossings, stations, bridges and other locations where an access deterrent is required have been approved for use on the ProRail network in the Netherlands and by Network Rail in the UK, and trials are to be undertaken by ...
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NewsNS to run a fast train to InnoTrans
EUROPE: Dutch national passenger operator NS is to run a one-off fast inter-city service from Amsterdam to Berlin on September 17, to demonstrate how journey times between the cities could be reduced. The train will take passengers including NS CEO Roger van Boxtel to the German capital ahead of the ...
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NewsRussian companies to co-operate in South American freight market
SOUTH AMERICA: Russian suppliers Transmashholding and United Wagon Co have signed an agreement to co-operate to win orders in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, as well as the South American rail freight market in general. They envisage this could include the supply of integrated packages combining TMH locomotives and UWC ...