News – Page 600
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NewsInfrabel installs Train Management System
BELGIUM: Infrastructure manager Infrabel announced on November 17 that it had successfully commissioned a Traffic Management System supplied by CSC. According to Infrabel, the new system was brought into use at signalboxes and control centres across the national network ‘in record time’ overnight from November 11 to 12. Identical to ...
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NewsDarren Caplan
The UK’s Railway Industry Association has appointed Darren Caplan as Chief Executive. He succeeds interim CEO David Tonkin, who took over from Jeremy Candfield in the summer.
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NewsBombardier takes over Montréal commuter services
CANADA: Bombardier Transportation took over the operation of commuter rail services on six routes in Montréal on November 18, under a C$331m operations and maintenance contract awarded by transport authority Agence Métropolitaine de Transport which runs for eight years with an option for a two-year extension. AMT ...
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NewsStadler Metelica trams selected for Ostrava
CZECH REPUBLIC: Ostrava Mayor Tomáš Macura announced on November 22 that Stadler had been selected to supply 40 trams to operator DP Ostrava. This would mark the first tram order from a foreign supplier in modern Czech history. Tenders were called on July 25, and Stadler reportedly beat one ...
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NewsDublin commuter link inaugurated
IRELAND: Direct rail services between the southwest suburbs of Dublin and the capital’s central business district began running on November 21, following the completion of a €13·7m project to adapt the orbital link through the 690 m Phoenix Park tunnel for regular passenger services. Dating from 1877, the 4·4 km ...
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Metro Report InternationalSevilla metro extension progresses
SPAIN: Rails and sleepers are being laid on the final section of Alcalá de Guadaíra branch of the Sevilla light metro, the Andalucía regional government announced on November 7. This covers a section between two viaducts near the line’s western end. Tracklaying is due to finish next ...
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NewsBombardier takes over Montréal commuter services
CANADA: Bombardier Transportation took over the operation of commuter rail services on six routes in Montréal on November 18, under a C$331m operations and maintenance contract awarded by transport authority Agence Métropolitaine de Transport which runs for eight years with an option for a two-year extension. AMT manages the second-largest ...
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NewsMelbourne High Capacity Metro Trains contract close
AUSTRALIA: Infrastructure investor Plenary Group announced on November 22 that it had reached contractual close on the Victorian government’s A$2bn High Capacity Metro Trains project. The PPP contract will see the Evolution Rail consortium of investor Plenary, design and technology lead CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles and delivery and maintenance lead ...
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NewsMelbourne High Capacity Metro Trains contract close
AUSTRALIA: Infrastructure investor Plenary Group announced on November 22 that it had reached contractual close on the Victorian government’s A$2bn High Capacity Metro Trains project. The PPP contract will see the Evolution Rail consortium of investor Plenary, design and technology lead CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles and delivery and maintenance lead ...
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NewsTwo-line metro in Beograd master plan
SERBIA: The city of Beograd published a transport master plan on November 17, which includes proposals for a two-line metro network. The presentation was attended by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, Mayor Siniša Mali and French Ambassador Christine Moro, as well as representatives from Alstom and Egis. One line would ...
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NewsQingdao – Rongcheng PDL opened
CHINA: The final 32 km section of the Qingdao – Rongcheng Intercity Railway opened on November 16. The Passenger-Dedicated Line starts from the Qingdao Bei station in the north of the city and runs to Yantai, Weihai and Rongcheng. Construction of the line on the Shandong peninsula was approved in ...
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NewsGrand Est agrees TET transfer
FRANCE: Meeting in plenary session on November 18, the Grand Est regional council approved an agreement that will see it become responsible for three routes within the loss-making Trains d’Equilibre du Territoire network of conventional passenger services operated by SNCF. Grand Est, formerly the Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine regions, is ...
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NewsBNSF and KCSM announce cross-border intermodal service
NORTH AMERICA: An intermodal freight service connecting locations on BNSF’s network including Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth with Mexican destinations served by Kansas City Southern de México is to be launched on December 1. Shipments are to travel in bond, clearing customs at the Mexican origin or destination, and there would ...
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NewsGolden Phoenix and Blue Dolphin trainsets complete test programme
CHINA: The two prototype China Standard high speed EMUs being tested by China Railway Corp have successfully completed more that 600 000 km of trial running, under a programme that began in June 2015. The 350 km/h China Standard EMUs have been developed using purely domestic technology, unlike the 23 ...
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NewsModertrans unveils its first fully low-floor tram
POLAND: Modertrans unveiled its first fully low-floor tram at its factory in Poznań on November 18. The official premiere of the Moderus Gamma was followed by a ceremonial test run. The five-section Gamma is 32 m long with capacity for 244 passengers. There are 66 seats including three tip-up ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
TMH’s Bryansk Engineering Plant has delivered two TEM18DM shunting locomotives to Kazakh chemical company TK Zhetysu. Argentina’s Minister of Transport Guillermo Dietrich has welcomed the first sugar traffic to move by rail in the province of Tucumán for 34 years. He attributed this to the government’s current investment programme to ...
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NewsSouth Bohemia operating contract award approved
CZECH REPUBLIC: GW Train Regio subsidiary GW Jihotrans expects to take over the operation of subsidised regional passenger services on three lines in the Šumava mountains in December 2017, after the Brno supreme court ruled on November 4 that the regional authority can proceed with signing the contract. The Jihočeský ...
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NewsGermany asked to change rolling stock inspection rules
GERMANY: The European Commission has submitted a reasoned opinion formally asking Germany to bring all its national railway safety rules into line with Directive 2004/49/EC, which EU member states were required to transpose by December 2010. If Germany does not ‘react satisfactorily’ within two months of the November 17 ...
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NewsSuseo open access operator poised to launch
SOUTH KOREA: High speed open access services will commence on December 8 with the launch of trains operated by Supreme Railways. Owned 41% by national operator Korail, SR will use a new line from Suseo in the southern district of Seoul which joins the Gyongbu high speed line to Busan ...
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NewsSamsun receives Durmazlar trams
TURKEY: The second Durmazlar tram arrived in Samsun on November 17 after a journey by road from Durmazlar’s factory in Bursa that began the previous day. Samsun Metropolitan Municipality ordered eight five-section trams for Durmazlar in 2015 under a €12·3m contract. The first arrived in the city in late ...