News – Page 608
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NewsMinho line electrification contract signed
PORTUGAL: Infraestruturas de Portugal announced on October 19 that it had signed a contract worth €16m with Mota-Engil, covering electrification of the 44 km Nine – Viana do Castelo section of the route between Porto and Valença on the Spanish border. The contract also covers the construction of 750 m ...
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NewsGaudí interior for FGC train
SPAIN: Catalunya regional operator FGC has decorated the interior of one of its trainsets in the style of the crypt at the church in the Colònia Güell designed by Antoni Gaudí. The train’s ceiling, doors, walls and seat backs are decorated with 3M Envision vinyl incorporating details from ...
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NewsG&W and Macquarie to buy Glencore Rail coal haulage business
AUSTRALIA: Genesee & Wyoming Inc announced on October 20 that it had entered into agreements to acquire mining company Glencore’s Hunter Valley coal haulage business for A$1·14bn. G&W will concurrently issue a 49% equity stake in Genesee & Wyoming Australia to funds managed by Macquarie Infrastructure & Real Assets, saying ...
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NewsMumbai to Moscow intermodal freight arrives
INTERNATIONAL: The first containers to be transported on the newly-established north–south freight corridor from Mumbai to Moscow arrived at the Vorsino freight terminal southwest of the Russian capital on October 12, 23 days after leaving India. The containers were loaded onto a ship in Mumbai on September 20, and travelled ...
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NewsFlood-damaged DMU returns to service
UK: A diesel multiple-unit which had been seriously damaged by floodwater has returned to service with ScotRail after being bought and repaired by Brodie Engineering. The company has set up its own leasing business with funding from Clydesdale Bank. Two-car unit 156 478 suffered underframe and internal damage when the ...
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NewsUkraine to create stand-alone passenger business
UKRAINE: Next year Ukrainian Railways is to begin a five-step process to form a separate passenger business. This would more clearly separate the costs of its loss-making passenger activities from the profitable freight operations, providing greater clarity in the allocation of subsidy. UZ envisages that the assets and liabilities of ...
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Metro Report InternationalT4 extension gets underway in Paris
FRANCE: Ceremonies were held to the east of Paris on October 18 to mark the start of work on the 6·5 km tram-train route T4 extension to Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil. Participating in the event were Valérie Pécresse, President of the Ile-de-France region, and Minister of Cities, Youth & Sport Patrick ...
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Metro Report InternationalValley Metro extension groundbreaking
USA: A balloon release marked the official start of construction on the Gilbert Road Extension of the Valley Metro network in the city of Mesa, Arizona on October 15. A 5 km extension from Phoenix to central Mesa opened in August 2015. The latest project will extend this route 3 ...
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NewsEQT submits offer to buy GB Railfreight
UK: Channel Tunnel concessionaire Groupe Eurotunnel announced on October 18 that it had received a binding and irrevocable offer for its UK rail freight operating subsidiary GB Railfreight from Swedish private equity investor EQT Infrastructure II. EQT said the offer through through an indirectly-owned company within its Hector Rail group ...
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NewsAutozug Sylt car-carrying service launched
GERMANY: RDC Deutschland launched its Autozug Sylt car-carrying shuttle train service over the Hindenburgdamm causeway between the North Frisian island of Sylt and the mainland on October 18. Passengers on the maiden journey which left Westerland at 09.40 included RDC founder and owner Henry Posner III, who said he was ...
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NewsMipro to provide signalling spares software
FINLAND: Transport agency Liikennevirasto has appointed Mipro Oy to provide inventory management software to control the supply of spare parts for signalling equipment across the national rail network. Mipro’s cloud-based software will support all maintenance organisations and equipment providers under the contract, which runs for six years with an ...
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NewsDB Cargo plans to cut 893 jobs in face of ‘unprecedented’ market changes
UK: Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Cargo UK has announced changes to its business model and proposals to eliminate 893 roles in response to what it says are ‘rapid and unprecedented changes’ in the freight market. The measures announced on October 17 include revising of the number and locations of operational ...
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NewsBayern signs IR 25 operating contracts
GERMANY: Two contracts for the operation of long-distance regional passenger services were signed by Bayern railway agency BEG and preferred bidder Die Länderbahn on October 17. The services, which Netinera subsidiary Die Länderbahn currently operates under the Alex brand, were tendered as two lots, designed as transitional contracts ...
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NewsEast Anglia franchise is ‘deliberately ambitious’
UK: ‘This is a deliberately ambitious franchise’, insisted Rail Minister Paul Maynard, speaking at London Liverpool Street station on October 17 to mark the launch of Abellio’s nine year contract to operate the East Anglia franchise. ‘We are using the franchise system to deliver a step change ...
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NewsCRRC to build Indian metro car factory
INDIA: A memorandum of understanding for the development of a metro car factory at the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub & Airport Nagpur industrial site was signed by the government of Maharashtra and China Railway Rolling Stock Corp on October 15. During the event Nagpur Metro Rail Corp handed CRRC ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Đuro Đaković Specijalna Vozila signed a €7·2m contract on October 3 covering the supply of additional Zacns calcium carbonate tank wagons to a French customer during the first half of 2017. Australian operator SCT Logistics ran its first ‘official’ train from the new A$18m Logic Intermodal Terminal at Wodonga in ...
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NewsSolar-powered guard’s van unveiled
INDIA: A guard’s van equipped with solar panels and a toilet with biological waste digestion has been unveiled by Indian Railways. The Brake Van Z-frame Improved vehicle was modified by Indian Railways Organisation for Alternate Fuels with the assistance of Northern Railway’s Amritsar workshop. The four roof-mounted solar panels charge ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market October 2016
Argentina: Under an agreement signed by Trenes Argentinos Operaciones, CRRC and Caterpillar, turbochargers are to be replaced within three months on all 24 locomotives supplied for the San Martín commuter route in Buenos Aires. This will be at no cost to Trenes Argentinos as the equipment is still under guarantee. ...
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NewsKiruna Wagon signs Australian licensing agreement
AUSTRALIA: Perth-based engineering and infrastructure company RCR Tomlinson has signed a 10-year agreement to manufacture and distribute Swedish company Kiruna Wagon’s Helix Dumper wagon and unloading terminal design in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. The Helix Dumper system uses a spiral-like structure to tip 100 tonne capacity wagons ...
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NewsVanessa Giraud
Vanessa Giraud has succeeded Pierre Farin as Investment Director at Croissance Rail, an investment fund created by the French government in 2013 with the aim of supporting smaller companies within the railway supply sector.