News – Page 513
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NewsTyne & Wear Metro fleet replacement funding announced
UK: The government is to provide £337m towards the planned replacement of the Tyne & Wear Metro’s current fleet with ‘modern energy-efficient trains’, which would ‘cut running costs while boosting performance and reliability’, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said when presenting his budget to parliament November 22. Transport authority ...
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News
Rail in the November 2017 UK budget
UK: A new railcard, replacement of the Tyne & Wear Metro fleet, signalling and communications upgrades and the East West Rail corridor were among the rail projects highlighted in the budget presented to parliament by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond on November 22. A £1·7bn Transforming Cities Fund will ...
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NewsNewag and Siemens present first Sofia Line 3 metro train
BULGARIA: The first metro train for Sofia metro Line 3 is nearing completion in Newag’s Nowy Sącz factory, where it was presented to officials from Sofia Metropoliten on November 15. In September 2015 a consortium of Siemens and Newag was awarded a €140m contract to supply rolling stock and ...
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NewsHyundai Rotem EMU maintenance contract extended
UKRAINE: Hyundai Rotem’s contract to maintain the 10 nine-car inter-city electric multiple units it supplied to Ukrainian Railways has been extended for a further five years, the Korean company announced on November 22. The extension from 2022 to 2027 is worth 65bn won. The 160 km/h EMUs were ordered in ...
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NewsStadler launches Wink multiple-unit offering a range of traction options
STADLER: A recent order from Arriva marked the launch of Stadler’s latest multiple-unit family, which it has named Wink, meaning Wandelbarer Innovativer Nahverkehrs-Kurzzug (‘convertible, innovative short train for local transport’). The Wink platform is intended for less busy secondary routes, and Stadler believes it could find applications in western and ...
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NewsGrant to support interoperable signalling development
LITHUANIA: The Strategic Council for Research, Experimental Development & Innovation has awarded Lithuanian Railways a grant of €2·3m to support the development of a natural gas-fuelled locomotive as well as €2m for the development of signalling equipment which would be compatible with both EU-specified ERTMS and legacy or neighbouring systems ...
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Metro Report InternationalBoston Green Line light rail extension contract awarded
USA: The award of a design and build contract for Boston’s Green Line light rail extension was approved by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority on November 20. The winning bidder was the GLX Constructors joint venture led by Flour and including Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Herzog Contracting Group and The Middlesex Corp. ...
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NewsProgress Rail to acquire Downer EDI’s freight activities
AUSTRALIA: Downer EDI announced on November 21 that it had signed an agreement to sell its freight business to Progress Rail for A$109m. The sale of the freight rolling stock, aftermarket and services activities is expected to close in January. It includes customer contracts, 15 facilities including those at Malaga, ...
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NewsWay forward seen as Hudson Bay Railway dispute escalates
CANADA: Investment group Fairfax Financial Holdings has expressed interest in partnering with the Missinippi Rail and One North first nations consortia to acquire the flood-damaged Hudson Bay Railway, the Port of Churchill and associated assets from short line group OmniTRAX, the federal government announced on November 16. Minister of Natural ...
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NewsARA emphasises the Value of Rail
AUSRAIL: Australia’s rail industry contributed around A$26bn to the national economy in 2016, according to the Value of Rail report launched by the Australasian Railway Association at AusRail Plus on November 21. Prepared for ARA by Deloitte Access Economics, the report is intended to highlight the many ways that rail ...
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NewsTrainline launches Google Assistant app
TICKETS: Independent ticket retailer Trainline has launched a voice-activated Google Assistant rail app, which customers in the UK can use to access advance or real-time information on journey times and details, prices, delays and disruption. Trainline said the app can handle ‘deep conversational complexity’, including requests such as ‘I’d like ...
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NewsSiemens to develop Queensland ETCS hub
AUSRAIL: In a ceremony during the first day of the AusRail Plus 2017 exhibition, Siemens announced on November 21 that it is investing A$4·8m to develop an ETCS technology centre in Brisbane, to support its signalling activities across Australia, New Zealand and the Southeast Asia region. The company said it ...
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NewsArtesyn enters Indian rail market
INDIA: Artesyn Embedded Technologies is to collaborate with Lab To Market Innovations to bring its ControlSafe range of SIL4 computing platforms to the Indian rail market. ‘The ControlSafe portfolio is designed for a wide range of onboard and wayside applications and is already saving integrators years of time-to-market and millions ...
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NewsLänsimetro extension opens in Helsinki
FINLAND: The first phase of the Länsimetro extension of the Helsinki metro into Espoo opened to passengers on November 18. The 13·5 km western extension from Ruoholahti to Matinkylä in Espoo has eight underground stations. It was built by Länsimetro Oy and has a forecast ridership of 100 000 passengers ...
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NewsGroupe Eurotunnel rebrands as Getlink
EUROPE: Channel Tunnel concessionaire Groupe Eurotunnel changed its name to Getlink with effect from November 20, saying the new brand reflected ‘the dynamism of connection and exchange’. Getlink is the parent company for four brands: Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel, French private rail freight operator Europorte, railway training centre CIFFCO, and ...
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NewsSt Petersburg metro train order placed
RUSSIA: The Vagonmaš joint venture of Škoda Transportation and Kirovsky Zavod is to supply seven six-car trainsets for the St Petersburg metro. Vagonmaš’ 4bn rouble bid came in cheaper than that of Transmashholding subsidiary Oktyabrsky Electric Car Repair Plant. The first four trainsets are to be delivered in ...
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NewsBishkek trolleybus order placed
KYRGYZSTAN: Bishkek Trolleybus Co has ordered a total of 52 trolleybuses from two suppliers. Russian manufacturer Trolza is to supply 37 vehicles and Belarusian company Belkommunmash is to supply 15. The 12 m long vehicles are being ordered under a €5m contract that is being funded partly through the ...
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NewsCAF awarded Manila rolling stock contract
PHILIPPINES: The Department of Transportation has awarded Mitsubishi Corp and manufacturing partner CAF a €225m contract to supply 30 trainsets for Manila metro Line 1. Announcing the order on November 20, CAF said this was its first contract in the Philippines. Deliveries are scheduled for 2020-22. The bidirectional trainsets powered ...
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NewsEU vehicle authorisation process agreed
EUROPE: A major step towards implementation of the technical pillar of the Fourth Railway Package was achieved on November 16, when the European Commission’s Railway Interoperability & Safety Committee voted to adopt the Implementing Act setting out the practical arrangements for the unified vehicle authorisation process. Since the package was ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
The European Rail Freight Association has 'strongly welcomed' the adoption of EU rules providing consultation and co-ordination obligations for infrastructure managers, aimed at minimising disruptions to services. Keswick Enterprises Group announced on November 17 that it had reached an agreement to sell its Tibbett Logistics subsidiary in Romania to the ...