News – Page 581
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NewsSeibu Railway unveils Series 40000 EMUs with rotating seats
JAPAN: The first of eight Series 40000 EMUs being built for Seibu Railway’s 1 067 mm gauge Tokyo suburban routes was unveiled on February 13. The 10-car sets are scheduled to enter revenue service from March 25. An evolution of the railway’s earlier Series 30000 design, the aluminium-bodied trainsets are ...
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NewsSerbian infrastructure contractor privatised
SERBIA: The government has sold a 90·6% stake in rail infrastructure construction and maintenance company ZGOP to Kazakh transport infrastructure contractor Zhol Zhondeushi for €3·6m. The contract was signed on February 8. ZGOP is based in Novi Sad and has 290 employees. Austrian, Russian, Chinese, French and Turkish companies ...
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NewsAlgarve electrification timetable
PORTUGAL: Infraestruturas de Portugal has announced the timetable for electrifying at 25 kV 50 Hz the 46 km Tunes – Lagos and 56 km Faro – Vila Real de Santo António routes in the Algarve as part of its 2020 investment programme. Following design and environmental impact studies, a contract ...
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Metro Report InternationalPrototype snow-clearing tram on test in Moscow
RUSSIA: Moscow tram operator Mosgortrans began testing a prototype maintenance vehicle designed to clear snow from tram tracks on February 13. Testing is to continue for one year. The 10·5 m long bidirectional vehicle, branded Rost, has been supplied by Tikhoretsk-based TMZV. It is equipped with a rotating brush ...
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NewsTramino XL presented in Leipzig
GERMANY: The first Solaris Tramino XL was presented to the public in Leipzig on February 11, and is on display until February 19 at the Leipziger Messe. In February 2015 Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe selected Solaris to supply five trams for €7·7m, with options for up to 36 more. LVB exercised ...
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NewsBerner Oberland-Bahn EMU enters service
SWITZERLAND: The first of six Stadler ABDeh 8/8 electric multiple-units ordered by Berner Oberland-Bahn entered revenue service on the metre-gauge route between Interlaken Ost, Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald on February 13. This followed a ceremony on February 10 during which a depot at Zweilütschinen was formally opened and the first of ...
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Metro Report InternationalNew tram and bus washing plant inaugurated in Kraków
POLAND: City transport authority MPK Kraków officially inaugurated a new tram and bus washing plant at its Nowa Huta depot on February 8. This replaces a washing plant commissioned in the 1980s, which was unheated and could therefore not operate all year round. The new plant is heated and ...
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NewsTrams delivered to Nizhny Tagil
RUSSIA: Uraltransmash has delivered 30 trams to Nizhny Tagil. Three are already in regular service, with the remaining 27 expected to enter service by the end of February. The partly low-floor Type 71-407 trams are being purchased under a seven-year leasing deal with Sberbank Leasing. The total cost is ...
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NewsTrenitalia completes c2c acquisition
UK: Italian national railway FS Group has completed the first step in its plan to establish a major presence in the UK rail market, with the closing of Trenitalia UK’s acquisition of Essex Thameside franchisee c2c from National Express Group. The transaction was completed on February 10, after the Department ...
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NewsPesa to supply more trams to Łódź
POLAND: Pesa submitted the best offer to supply 12 trams to Łódź, city transport operator MPK Łódź announced on February 10. The Bydgoszcz-based supplier is to supply five-section trams from its Swing family for 99·6m złoty, with deliveries due to be completed before the end of September 2018. ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
The VIIA Britanica 'rail motorway' service connecting Calais with Le Boulou near the Spanish border resumed operating on February 7. It had been suspended on July 10 2016 after migrants had attempted to gain access to lorry trailers on the approaches to Calais. The China-Europe Land-Sea Fast Intermodal ...
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NewsA pivotal year for Norfolk Southern
USA: ‘2016 was a pivotal year as Norfolk Southern began implementing its new strategic plan’, said Chairman, President & CEO James A Squires when presenting the railway’s annual results on January 25. ‘We delivered $250m of productivity savings and recorded our best ever operating ratio, notwithstanding challenging business conditions.’ Net ...
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NewsBiomass paint tested on Polish locomotives
POLAND: Rolling stock manufacturer Newag is using two Type 15D diesel locomotives to test paint supplied by Lankwitzer Lackfabrik which incorporates Covestro’s Desmodur Eco N 7300 coating hardener made from renewable raw materials. ‘The coating formulated with this product performs just as well as a conventional coatings, but uses primarily ...
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NewsPresident opens renovated Baku station
AZERBAIJAN: President Ilham Aliyev attended a ceremony on February 10 marking the completion of a two-year project to modernise Baku station and national railway company ADY’s offices. The Moorish-style station building dating from 1884 has been restored externally, while the interior dating from a refurbishment in 1926 and the adjacent ...
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NewsMallorca electrification contract awarded
SPAIN: A joint venture of Siemens, MAN and Sampol has been awarded a €25m contract to electrify at 1∙5 kV DC the 31 km of single track between Enllaç and Manacor on the 1 000 mm gauge SFM network on Mallorca. Main works are expected to begin in March. The ...
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NewsTX Logistik launches Leipzig – Verona service
EUROPE: Mercitalia Rail company TX Logistik has expanded its freight network with the launch of a service between the DUSS terminal at Leipzig in Germany and the Quadrante Europa Terminal in Verona in Italy. Traffic is expected to include vehicle components, chemicals and consumer goods. ‘We are providing the first ...
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NewsCAF delivers first Luxembourg tram
LUXEMBOURG: The first tram for the line under construction in Luxembourg City arrived in the early hours of February 9 from CAF’s factory in Zaragoza. CAF is supplying 21 Urbos trams under an €83m contract signed in 2015. Nine are required for the first section of the line, which ...
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Metro Report InternationalBangkok Orange Line construction contract awarded
THAILAND: Mass Rapid Transit Authority signed a 79·2bn baht contract for construction of the first section of the Orange Line on February 9. Work is due to begin in June, with opening of the metro line due in 2023. A joint venture of CH Karnchang, Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction, ...
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NewsInterpipe delivers wheels for a harsh environment
SAUDI ARABIA: Ukrainian company Interpipe has delivered an initial batch of 3 000 wheels to Saudi Railways Organization, under a long-term contract awarded last year which covers the supply of 14 000 wagon and locomotive wheels of 838 mm, 920 mm and 1 046 mm diameter. Local conditions in Saudi ...
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NewsCN performing well in a mixed economic environment
CANADA: ‘Despite facing difficult winter conditions in December, CN delivered very strong fourth-quarter results and throughout 2016 demonstrated once again its ability to perform well in a mixed economic environment’, said President & CEO Luc Jobin when presenting the company’s annual results on January 24. ‘We saw weaker volumes during ...