News – Page 564
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NewsKaiserstuhlbahn electrification contract awarded
GERMANY: Local rail infrastructure manager SWEG Schienenwege has awarded Powerlines Group a contract to electrify the 37·6 km Kaiserstuhlbahn linking Riegel-Malterdingen with Gottenheim and Breisach to the northwest of Freiburg. Forming part of the Breisgau-S-Bahn 2020 project, this will enable Kaiserstuhlbahn services to be integrated with the Freiburg – Breisach ...
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NewsBergen airport tram extension opens
NORWAY: The extension of Bergen’s Bybanen light rail line from Birkelandsskiftet to Kokstadflaten and the airport at Flesland was officially opened with a ceremony on April 21. Passenger services started the following day. The opening of the latest section of the line completes the 7 km Lagunen – Flesland third ...
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NewsUnited Wagon Co forms tank container subsidiary
RUSSIA: Rolling stock manufacturing group United Wagon Co has established a subsidiary to arrange multimodal tank container and container shipments in the CIS region, southeast Asia and the Middle East. Unicon 1520 will have a fleet of high-capacity flat wagons produced by UWC, as well as tank containers ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Ukrainian national railway UZ and Polish broad gauge line operator PKP LHS have agreed a 1bn hryvna joint project to electrify the 80 km route from Kovel in Ukraine to the border in 2018-19. According to UZ figures 90% of rail freight between Ukraine and Poland uses the route, and ...
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NewsChinese locomotive arrives in Serbia
SERBIA: The first of two CRRC Zhuzhou locomotives ordered by state electricity generator Elektroprivreda Srbije in April 2016 has arrived in Obrenovac, after being shipped from China to the Romanian port of Constanța then by continuing by river to Sremska Mitrovica. The 7 MW six-axle CRRC Zhuzhou locomotive with a ...
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NewsCapitol Corridor Charger unveiled
USA: The first of six Siemens SC-44 Charger locomotives for northern California’s Capitol Corridor inter-city route from Sacramento to Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley was unveiled on April 18. A 30-day period of revenue testing is expected to begin by the end of April, ahead of entry into ...
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NewsSiemens launches 'internet of trains' Digital Rail Services business
USA: Siemens has formed a Digital Rail Services business to improve rail operations by creating an ‘internet of trains’ making intelligent use of data generated by sensors on infrastructure and vehicles. The Digital Rail Services business is based at the Georgia Institute of Technology Campus in Atlanta. It aims to ...
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Metro Report InternationalBuenos Aires Line B power supply renewal contract
ARGENTINA: Following an international tender, Alstom announced on April 20 that it had been awarded a €17m contract to renew the power supplies on Buenos Aires metro Line B. The 15-month project includes the design, assembly and commissioning of medium voltage ring cables and third rail power supplies, as well ...
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NewsChampagne and nature inspire Tobu Railway’s Revaty EMUs
JAPAN: Tobu Express put eight Series 500 electric multiple-units into traffic on limited express services with its timetable change on April 21. The three-car EMUs are equipped with retractable end gangways and are designed for easy splitting and joining to enable multiple destinations to be served from Tokyo’s Asakusa station. ...
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NewsTerms agreed for SNC-Lavalin to buy Atkins
WS ATKINS: The boards of WS Atkins plc and SNC-Lavalin Group Inc of Canada announced on April 20 that they had agreed terms for SNC-Lavalin to acquire the entire issued share capital of Atkins. This values Atkins at £2∙1bn and represents a premium of 35% on the closing price of ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
A record 470 people took part in HaCon‘s 20th annual HAFAS multi-modal route planning and booking software user conference in Hannover this month, attending lectures and workshops covering trends including bots, big data and mobility as a service. Google presented software that compiles real-time data from across New York MTA’s ...
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NewsPerformance contracts signed despite regulator's concerns
FRANCE: Three 10-year performance contracts between the government and the SNCF group were formally signed on April 20 by Finance Minister Michel Sapin, Transport Minister Alain Vidalies, Frédéric Saint-George as head of the SNCF supervisory board, Patrick Jeantet as President of infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau and Florence Parly, Director-General of ...
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NewsHS2 rolling stock procurement moves forward
UK: The competition for a £2·75bn contract to design, build and maintain trainsets for High Speed 2 was formally launched by project promoter HS2 Ltd on April 20, with the despatch of an OJEU tender notice. The winning bidder would work with HS2 Ltd to develop ‘around 60’ trainsets suitable ...
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NewsPresident launches construction of Tanzanian standard gauge line
TANZANIA: Construction of a 207 km standard gauge line linking Dar es Salaam with Morogoro is set to get underway on May 5, following the ceremonial launch of work by President John Magufuli in Pogo on April 12. The line is to be built by a joint venture of ...
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NewsOpen access operators launch Alliance of Rail New Entrants
EUROPE: The Alliance for Rail New Entrants was launched on April 20 to bring together non-incumbent passenger and freight operators who are ‘committed to fair competition and open markets as the only way to shift freight and passengers from road to rail by offering attractive and additional choices’. ALLRAIL has ...
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NewsUK railway news round-up
Network Rail undertook more than 200 engineering projects with a total value of £70m over the four-day Easter period. RSSB has published guidance to help railway companies cut their non-traction energy bills, reduce their carbon footprint and improve sustainability. RSSB said nearly 20% of energy use is for ...
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NewsStadler selected to supply Szeged tram-trains
HUNGARY: National passenger operator MÁV-Start has selected Stadler Rail Valencia to supply eight electro-diesel tram-trains to operate on the planned route between Szeged and Hódmezővásárhely. The order announced on April 18 includes an option for four more vehicles. The project is being fully financed by the EU, with rolling ...
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Metro Report InternationalSeattle light rail renewable energy agreement signed
USA: Sound Transit has entered into a 10-year agreement with Puget Sound Energy enabling the transport authority to purchase wind-generated energy directly. It hopes to use only renewable energy to power its light rail network from 2019. Through its 2015 Sustainability Plan and Sound Transit 3 network expansion project, ...
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NewsSwedish railcars arrive in Montevideo
URUGUAY: Seven Fiat Y1 diesel railcars originally built for SJ of Sweden were unloaded at the port of Montevideo on April 15. National operator AFE has purchased the vehicles from rolling stock leasing and maintenance company NetRail. With one vehicle to be used to provide spare parts, AFE is to ...
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NewsIndian Railways selects 200 km/h upgrade option
INDIA: The Delhi – Chandigarh line is to be upgraded to permit ‘semi-high speed’ operation at speeds up to 200 km/h, Indian Railways has announced. Reference design studies will now be undertaken with a view to calling a design and build tender by the end the year. The 245 km ...