News – Page 593
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NewsPorterbrook and Northern to develop electro-diesel MU
UK: Faced with an ongoing shortage of diesel multiple-units and delays to Network Rail’s electrification programme, rolling stock company Porterbrook Leasing and Northern franchise operator Arriva announced on December 22 that they are to develop an electro-diesel multiple unit by converting former Thameslink dual-system Class 319 EMUs. Northern has already ...
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NewsWabtec purchases Workhorse Rail
USA: Wabtec Corp has acquired Workhorse Rail, which supplies wagon components including couplers and related parts, mainly for the North American aftermarket, with annual sales of $35m. ‘Workhorse Rail brings an excellent reputation, strong engineering capabilities and new products to our portfolio’, said Wabtec President & CEO Raymond T Betler ...
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NewsSMBC Rail to buy American Railcar Leasing
USA: Wagon leasing company SMBC Rail Services announced on December 19 that it had reached agreement to acquire the American Railcar Leasing business currently owned by investment group Icahn Enterprises. The transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2017. SMBC Rail will pay $2·78bn in cash for ...
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NewsIndian suburban rail development guidelines published
INDIA: In response to an increasing number of requests from state governments interested in the introduction of new suburban rail services, the Ministry of Railways has published draft policy guidelines which states can be use when developing proposals. The strategy envisages that proposals would be led by state ...
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NewsSNCF Réseau approves €46bn spending plan
FRANCE: Meeting on December 20, the board of infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau formally approved the first multi-year performance contract with the national government, as required under railway reform legislation enacted in 2014. Welcoming the government’s long-term commitment to the rail network as a ‘very important step’, SNCF Réseau said the ...
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NewsFirst international ETCS Level 1 in service
EUROPE: ETCS Level 1 signalling was commissioned over the 5 km between Aubange in Belgium and Rodange in Luxembourg on December 11. According to Belgian infrastructure manager Infrabel, this is the first conventional cross-border route in Europe to be equipped with ETCS. With physical work on the Belgian side requiring ...
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NewsVossloh Electrical Systems sold to Knorr-Bremse
GERMANY: On December 21 Vossloh signed a contract for the sale of its Electrical Systems business unit to Knorr-Bremse. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory approval, and would be backdated to July 1 2016. The deal is worth €72·5m in cash, ...
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NewsCAF to supply new fleet for Schönbuchbahn modernisation
GERMANY: Transport authority Zweckverband Schönbuchbahn has selected CAF for a €51·3m contract to supply nine three-car light rail vehicles of a new design for use on the Schönbuchbahn. The 17 km locally-owned railway southwest of Stuttgart is to be upgraded and electrified to accommodate growing ridership. Announcing the agreement on ...
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NewsKiwiRail to end electric freight haulage
NEW ZEALAND: Following two years of studies, national railway KiwiRail announced on December 21 that it had decided to cease electric haulage of freight trains on the North Island Main Trunk line in favour of using diesel locomotives. Electric traction will be phased out over the next two years, but ...
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Alstom to buy Nomad Digital
UK: Alstom announced on December 21 that it had signed an agreement to buy onboard connectivity technology company Nomad Digital for an undisclosed price. Alstom said Nomad would bring ‘complementary leading-edge products’ and a strong global footprint with 80 major customers in more than 40 countries, which would accelerate its ...
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NewsDesert tram delivered to Ouargla
ALGERIA: The first Citadis tram for Ouargla arrived in the city from Cital’s factory in Annaba on December 20. The Cital joint venture of Ferrovial (41%), Entreprise Métro d’Alger (10%), Alstom Transport France (43%) and Alstom Algérie (6%) is supplying 23 trams under a contract awarded in 2014. Each ...
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NewsABC to repower Iranian locomotives
IRAN: Islamic Republic of Iran Railways has awarded Anglo Belgian Corp a contract to repower two of its Class AD43C locomotives as prototypes for a planned repowering programme. The 100-strong fleet of six-axle locomotives entered service from 2002. The first 20 built by Alstom have Ruston 16RK215 engines, while the ...
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NewsMore Cityjets for Wien
AUSTRIA: Transport Minister Jörg Leichtfried announced on December 15 that national operator ÖBB is to order a further 64 three-car Desiro ML trainsets from Siemens. To be deployed mainly on S-Bahn services in eastern Austria, the trains will be delivered between February 2018 and the end of 2019. Worth €400m, ...
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NewsHitachi orders Rolls-Royce PowerPacks
UK: Rolls-Royce has been awarded a contract to supply Hitachi Rail Europe with 136 Series 1600 MTU PowerPacks for use on the 36 Class 802 electro-diesel trainsets which Great Western Railway has ordered for use on services from London to Plymouth and Penzance from 2018. Series 1600 MTU engines are ...
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NewsCatania metro extension opens
ITALY: A 1·9 km extension of the Catania metro opened at 12.00 on December 20, the first since the inauguration of the line in 1999. The new section runs underground from Galatea to Stesicoro, with an intermediate station at Giovanni XIII. The surface section from Galatea to the previous southern ...
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NewsKenyan standard gauge locomotives unveiled
KENYA: The three types of 1 435 mm gauge diesel locomotives which CRRC Qishuyan is supplying for the 473 km Mombasa – Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway were unveiled at the factory in China on December 16. The company is supplying a total of 56 locomotives. There will be 43 DF8B ...
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NewsDhaka – Payra railway to be developed by UK company
BANGLADESH: A memorandum of understanding for the development of a 240 km railway to link Dhaka with a planned deep water port at Payra on the Bay of Bengal was signed on December 20 by the government, Bangladesh Railway and London-based company DP Rail. The memorandum gives DP Rail the ...
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NewsSeoul Line 9 train order
SOUTH KOREA: The Seoul Metropolitan Government has awarded Hyundai Rotem a 44bn won contract for the supply of 32 metro cars for use on Line 9 of the city’s metro. To be built at Hyundai Rotem’s Changwon plant, the cars are to be delivered to Seoul by December 2018. ...
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NewsGerman operating contracts awarded
GERMANY: A series of passenger operating contracts has been awarded by transport authorities in Nordrhein-Westfalen. DB Regio will continue to operate service RE8 Mönchengladbach – Köln – Koblenz for 15 years from December 2019, and RB33 Aachen – Lindern – Heinsberg/Mönchengladbach – Duisburg – Essen for 14 years from December ...
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NewsDB Regio wins latest round of Nürnberg S-Bahn tendering
GERMANY: The protracted tendering of the operation of Nürnberg S-Bahn services came closer to reaching a conclusion on December 19, when Bayern transport authority BEG announced that DB Regio had submitted the best offers for the two parallel contracts running for 12 years from December 2018. Subject to any further ...