News – Page 455
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NewsCo-ordinated roll-out of ERTMS between London, Paris and Brussels agreed
EUROPE: The co-ordinated deployment of ERTMS on the high speed rail routes linking London, Paris and Brussels was agreed by the four infrastructure managers at a meeting in Paris on July 19. Channel Tunnel operator Getlink, the UK’s High Speed 1, France’s SNCF Réseau and Belgium’s Infrabel have committed to ...
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NewsCAF selected to develop Spanish test track
SPAIN: The ADIF Board of Directors has approved the award of a concession for CAF to develop and operate a railway test centre at Corella, 92 km from Pamplona in the Navarra region. The site is around 100 km from CAF’s existing research and testing facilities at its Zaragoza plant. ...
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NewsFerrocarril de Antofagasta renews locomotive fleet
CHILE: Ferrocarril de Antofagasta has taken delivery of seven Progress Rail GT42 locomotives and awarded GE Transportation a contract to supply five C23EMP locos, as part of a fleet renewal programme which will see a total of 14 new locos delivered by the end of 2019. FCAB ordered the GT42 ...
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NewsThree 'key challenges' to ensure UK railways remain safe
UK: The Office of Rail & Road published its annual health & safety performance report on July 17. No passengers died as a result of using trains in the past year, however one child died following an accident in a freight depot, and there were two worker fatalities, one through ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Alstom booked €2·6bn of orders in Q1 2018-19 between April 1 and June 30, compared to €1·9bn over the same period last year. Group sales were up 14% to €2·0bn, and the backlog on June 30 was €35·5bn, with around 30% being services. Steer Davies Gleave has shortened its name ...
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NewsDigital transport and the challenges of urbanisation
Digitalisation was the key topic of the SITCE conference in Singapore, held for the first time as part of the World Cities Summit.
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NewsFirst Line 3 metro train arrives in Sofia
BULGARIA: Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova and Sofia Metropoliten CEO Stoyan Bratoev have visited the first train for metro Line 3 following its delivery to Sofia. The train was transported by road from Newag’s Nowy Sącz factory in Poland. Each of the three cars was carried on a separate vehicle. ...
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NewsUkrainian Railways locomotives under construction in the USA
UKRAINE: GE Transportation has rolled out the first of 30 TE33A Evolution Series locomotives which it is building for Ukrainian Railways at its plant at Erie in the USA. The final 10% of assembly work as well as painting of the locomotives is to be undertaken in Ukraine under a ...
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NewsLondon Walking Action Plan published
UK: London Walking & Cycling Commissioner Will Norman published the city’s first Walking Action Plan on July 19. The plan is part of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s aim to increase the combined modal share of walking, cycling and public transport to 80% by 2041, from 63% now. The ...
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NewsRotterdam orders 55 electric buses
NETHERLANDS: Rotterdam public transport operator RET has awarded VDL Bus & Coach an contract to supply 55 Citea SLF-120 Electric buses. The 12 m long low-floor buses are due to enter service in Rotterdam, Schiedam and Vlaardingen in late 2019. The batteries will be charged through a roof-mounted pantograph. ...
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NewsIsrael Railways to build cybersecurity centre
ISRAEL: National operator Israel Railways has awarded government-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems a US$8·2m contract for the development of a Cyber Security Operation Centre. This is intended to provide ISR with improved monitoring and control capabilities, and better protection against attempts to penetrate and attack its electronic systems. ...
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NewsAbuja metro starts operation with diesel-hauled trains
NIGERIA: President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the initial section of the Abuja metro on July 12. China Civil Engineering & Construction Corp acted as main contractor, and construction started in 2007. The 27·3 km Yellow Line runs from Abuja station to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and the 18 km ...
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NewsTajikistan – Afghanistan railway construction could start this year
ASIA: Design work has been completed and Tajikistan could begin construction of a cross-border rail link to Afghanistan by end of 2018, the Afghanistan Railway Authority said on July 16. An ARA team led by Chief Executive Mohammad Yamma Shams recently travelled to Tajikistan to discuss the project, and technical ...
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NewsPadma Rail Link project launched
BANGLADESH: The project to build the 225 km Padma Rail Link formally got underway on July 3, following the signing on April 27 of US$2·67bn loan agreement between the government and China Eximbank. Bangladesh Railway and China Railway First Group Ltd had signed a US$3·14bn contract for civil works and ...
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NewsNice transport operator partners with Uber
FRANCE: Nice public transport operator Lignes d’Azur is partnering with on-demand taxi service Uber for a one-year pilot project. Services on tram Line 1 run until around 02.30 but the last buses linking some tram stops with residential areas leave around 20.00. To fill the last-mile gap, ...
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Rail Business UKTrans-Pennine upgrade will include electrification, Grayling confirms
UK: The planned Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade will include electrification, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling has confirmed. In a letter to the Railway Industry Association dated July 12, Grayling said the upgrade of the route between Manchester and York would include ‘both major civil engineering projects and electrification’, and ...
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Rail Business UKUpgraded capacity indicators for road-rail vehicles
ROAD-RAIL: Pro Rail Services has taken delivery of four Doosan DX140 Parallel offset road-rail excavators fitted with the latest version of GKD’s 3RCi+ capacity indicator. The indicators include slew and height limits with ‘virtual walls’. There is selective intelligent hydraulic motion cut of any boom or slew function at the ...
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NewsAlstom shareholders approve Siemens Mobility merger
ALSTOM: All proposed resolutions related to the proposed merger of Alstom and Siemens Mobility were approved with majorities of more than 95% at Alstom’s special and combined shareholders’ meetings held in Paris on July 17. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019, subject to ...
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NewsSBB challenges long-distance concession split
SWITZERLAND: Insisting that ‘legal clarification is necessary’, on July 16 Swiss Federal Railways lodged a formal challenge with the Federal Administrative Court against the decision to split the concession to operate long-distance passenger services. According to SBB, the decision by the Federal Office of Transport to award two inter-regional ...
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NewsSNCF Logistics buys Spanish freight operator
SPAIN: An agreement for SNCF Logistics to acquire Comsa’s stake in private operator Comsa Rail Transport was signed on July 9. The transaction is subject to Spanish regulatory approval. Founded five years ago, Comsa Rail Transport now has a turnover of €32m, nearly 200 employees and operated 19 200 trains ...