News – Page 485
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NewsGE to upgrade Channel Tunnel electrification
EUROPE: Channel Tunnel concessionaire Eurotunnel has awarded GE Power’s Grid Solutions business a contract to supply a static synchronous compensator to improve the stabilisation of the traction power supply in the tunnel. Announcing the contract on March 22, GE said this would be the world’s largest STATCOM application as part ...
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NewsVolvo to supply electric buses to Drammen
NORWAY: Public transport administration Brakan has ordered six 7900 Electric buses from Volvo to operate on the 12 km route 51 between Drammen and Mjöndalen. Volvo is to deliver the buses in January 2019, and will maintain the vehicles and batteries. Siemens has supplied opportunity charging stations for ...
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NewsMore TW3000 LRVs ordered for Hannover
GERMANY: Hannover city transport operator Üstra has ordered a further seven TW3000 light rail vehicles from a consortium of Kiepe Electric and Alstom. Niedersachsen Land transport agency LNVG is financing 50% of the €19·4m cost and Üstra is paying €462 000 from its own funds. The balance is being ...
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NewsThree-section diesel locomotive approved
RUSSIA: Transmashholding’s Bryansk Engineering Plant has obtained certification for its three-section 3TE25K2M diesel locomotive, which has been designed to haul 7 100 tonne freight trains on the 2 800 km Baikal-Amur Magistral route between Taksimo, Tynda, Komsomolsk-na-Amure and Sovetskaya Gavan on the Pacific coast. The operating costs are expected to ...
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NewsMoscow metro reaches Seligerskaya
RUSSIA: A northern extension of Moscow metro Line 10 was opened on March 16, adding 4·3 km. The extension from Petrovsko-Razumovskaya to Seligerskaya includes two stations at a depth of 65 m and a terminus 20 m below ground. A depot at Likhobori is due to open next ...
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NewsUK railway news round-up
The UK rail industry should 'adopt a pragmatic approach to Brexit, given the uncertainty of the final destination', RSSB said on March 16. Rather than focusing on the details of any particular outcome, RSSB advises organisations to analyse their ability to meet six strategic challenges: mutual recognition of certifications; regulations ...
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NewsMyanmar locomotive handed over
MYANMAR: The last of 18 diesel locomotives manufactured for Myanma Railways by Indian Railways’ Diesel Locomotive Works in Varanasi and supplied through RITES was formally handed over with a ceremony on March 19. The order had been financed through an Indian government credit line. The 1 350 hp six-axle metre-gauge ...
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NewsFinland – Arctic Ocean rail route proposed
EUROPE: A report into options for a rail link from Finnish Lapland to the Arctic Ocean has been published by Finland’s Ministry of Transport & Communications. This concludes that a 465 km route from Rovaniemi via Sodankylä to Kirkenes in Norway would be the best option. The cost is estimated ...
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NewsSzczecin suburban expansion funded
POLAND: The EU has agreed to meet 85% of the cost of a 741m złoty project to increase passenger services around the city of Szczecin. The project includes upgrading the lines radiating from Szczecin towards Stardard, Gryfino, Gileniów airport, Swinoujście and Police to accommodate an increase in services, and the ...
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NewsNS studies Lelystad depot plan
NETHERLANDS: National passenger operator NS is studying the feasibility of constructing a new workshop in Lelystad, where there is currently a servicing point and train washing plant. The new workshop employing around 200 people would supplement the existing maintenance workshops at Maastricht, Leidschendam, Amsterdam Watergraafsmeer and Onnen near Groningen. ...
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NewsThameslink first with ATO over ETCS
UK: Working with Network Rail and Siemens,commuter operator Govia Thameslink Railway has successfully operated its first passenger-carrying train using ATO over ETCS Level 2. On March 17 a southbound eight-car Thameslink train to Three Bridges operated automatically through the cross-city core between St Pancras, Farringdon, City Thameslink and London Blackfriars, ...
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NewsShift2Rail launches fuel cell research
EUROPE: Recognising growing interest around the world in the use of fuel cells and hydrogen as an alternative to railway electrification, the Shift2Rail joint undertaking announced on March 19 that it had decided to commission research into the technology. Noting that ‘electrifying the transport system is a major priority to ...
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NewsOuargla tramway inaugurated
ALGERIA: Minister of Public Works & Transport Abdelghani Zaalane inaugurated a tram line in Ouargla on March 20. Construction of the 9·7 km route with 16 stops was undertaken by a consortium of Rover Alcisa, Elecnor and Assignia Infrestructuras under a €228m contract awarded in 2013. The Cital ...
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NewsD-Train to target US transit market
USA: Next year could see the deployment of Vivarail D-Train diesel multiple-units in North America, under proposals being developed by Railroad Development Corp. RDC Chairman Henry Posner III told Railway Gazette that the remanufactured London Underground trainsets offered a unique opportunity to test the market for urban rail services in ...
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NewsEuroest presents battery hybrid locomotive
ROMANIA: Euroest has unveiled its first LHy-M battery hybrid shunting locomotive, which is to be tested by Tehnotrans Feroviar at the Black Sea port of Constanta. Based on an extensively rebuilt LDH1250 diesel-hydraulic locomotive, the 72 tonne four-axle LHy-M has a 400Ah lithium ion battery powering two 155 kW ...
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NewsRegional corridor studies to go ahead
AUSTRALIA: The federal government has selected three projects for development under the Faster Rail Prospectus announced as part of the 2017 budget. The aim of the programme is to develop proposals for faster rail services between major cities and their surrounding regions, to support ‘continued economic success’. The budget allocates ...
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NewsAmber Train to link the Baltic States
EUROPE: The freight businesses of the national railways of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have agreed to co-operate to organise an Amber Train intermodal container service running from Šeštokai on the Polish-Lithuanian border to Riga and Tallinn. Representatives of the three railways met in Riga on March 12, and agreed on ...
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NewsJohn Laing sells Intercity Express Programme stake
UK: Following the receipt of final bids earlier in the week, John Laing Group plc announced on March 13 that it had agreed to sell its 15% stake in the Intercity Express Programme Phase 1 to insurance and asset management company AXA. The deal is worth is £227·5m net of ...
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NewsRail Baltica tram feasibility study commissioned for Tallinn
ESTONIA: Rail Baltica project promoter RB Rail and the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Communications have awarded Egis Rail a €171 000 contract to undertake a feasibility and technical study for proposed a tram connection from the future Rail Baltica station in the Ülemiste area of Tallinn to the Vanasadam ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
The European Rail Freight Association has said government rules which would enable Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail to vary track access charges must ‘reflect the ability of rail to compete with road rather than looking inwardly at the railway system’. ERFA said track access charges account for between 20% and 35% ...