News – Page 665
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NewsHoek van Holland metro conversion contract awarded
NETHERLANDS: VolkerRail and Mobilis have been awarded a €72m contract to convert the 24 km railway between Schiedam Centrum and Hoek van Holland to metro operation. The work is to be complete by February 2018 and will require a five-month blockade of passenger traffic. The scope includes the modernisation ...
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NewsCRRC to supply Noida metro trains
INDIA: Project promoter Delhi Metro Rail Corp and CRRC Nanjing signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply of 19 four-car trainsets for the Noida metro on March 17. The trainsets would be delivered by May 2017 at a cost of Rs8bn. They are intended to meet the metro’s ...
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NewsJakarta – Bandung DBOM concession agreed
INDONESIA: A 50-year design build operate maintain concession was signed in Jakarta on March 16 between the government and the Sino-Indonesian consortium promoting a 142 km fast passenger line between the capital and Bandung.The concession held by the Kerata Cepat Indonesia Cina consortium takes effect on May 31 2019, when ...
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NewsTehran metro serving Mehrabad Airport
IRAN: The Tehran metro started running to Mehrabad Airport on March 15, when a branch of Line 4 opened with a station serving Terminals 1 & 2 and one serving Terminals 4 & 6. The 2·8 km branch runs southwest from a new station at Bimeh, between Meydan-e Azadi ...
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NewsArriva wins London Overground concession
UK: Transport for London named Arriva Rail London Ltd as preferred bidder for the next London Overground inner-suburban passenger operating concession on March 18, with formal award subject to the 10-day regulatory standstill period. The £1·5bn agreement will run for 7½ years from November 13 2016, with an option for ...
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NewsTrain delay refund process to be improved
UK: The Office of Rail & Road made recommendations for improving the process for claiming refunds for train delays on March 18. ORR was responding to a ‘super-complaint’ made by consumer organisation Which? in December, which claimed the current process is neither clear nor straightforward. Following the super-complaint ORR undertook ...
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NewsDB needs ‘quality, quality and more quality’ to return to economic success
GERMANY: ‘A self-critical look shows us that we did not achieve the targets we set’, said Deutsche Bahn CEO Rüdiger Grube when presenting the group’s 2015 annual results on March 16. Grube said three events had a major impact on the national railway last year: ‘unusually fierce’ storms; the longest ...
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NewsKnorr-Bremse wins sugar cane wagon brake systems contract
BRAZIL: Freight operator RUMO ALL has awarded Knorr-Bremse a contract to modernise the braking equipment on 8 500 sugar cane wagons, and take exclusive responsibility for maintaining the brakes over the next 15 years. The agreement announced on March 17 covers DB60-II control valves, slack adjusters and other components complying ...
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NewsQueensland to fund rail upgrading
AUSTRALIA: A$95m has been allocated for upgrading work and capacity improvement projects on Queensland’s North Coast Line in a A$500m State Infrastructure Fund announced by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on March 13. The additional capacity is needed to support growing freight traffic, including minerals and agricultural produce. The announcement was made ...
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NewsTransdev signs Wellington operating contract
NEW ZEALAND: Greater Wellington Regional Council signed a contract on March 15 for Transdev Wellington Ltd to operate suburban rail services in the capital. Transdev Wellington is a joint venture of Transdev, which has operated rail services in Auckland since 2004, and Hyundai Rotem which will maintain ...
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NewsRail in the 2016 UK budget
UK: Funding allocations for a number of railway projects were set out in the budget presented to parliament by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne on March 16. Following recommendations by the National Infrastructure Commission, Osborne said the government would back the High Speed 3 and Crossrail 2 schemes. It ...
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NewsNR privatisation ruled out as Shaw focuses on growth
UK: Identifying ‘a compelling vision for growth’, the report into Network Rail’s structure and financing prepared for the government by HS1 Chief Executive Nicola Shaw was published on March 16, in conjunction with the presentation of the national budget in Parliament. Citing feedback from extensive consultation over the past few ...
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NewsThe rail industry’s international meeting place
INNOTRANS: More than two-thirds of the 31 rail associations which will be represented at InnoTrans 2016 will be representing countries outside Germany, organiser Messe Berlin has announced, with organisations coming to Berlin from as far away as the USA, Taiwan and Japan. Industrial associations account for 18 of these ...
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NewsTramwaje Śląskie plans investment
POLAND: Tramwaje Śląskie has announced its modernisation plan for the 2014-20 EU budget period. The estimated cost is 885m złoty, with EU funds expected to cover at least 63% of this. The plan envisages the purchase of 44 trams and some maintenance vehicles, as well as the modernisation of ...
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NewsTrójmiasto EMUs presented
POLAND: Newag officially handed over two Impuls 31WE electric multiple-units to Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot suburban operator SKM w Trójmieście on March 4. The trains made an inaugural run between Gdańsk Główny and Gdyna Cisowa. Newag signed a 35·6m złoty contract on March 23 2015 to supply two four-car EMUs, which are ...
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NewsBART Silicon Valley Phase II extension advances
USA: The Federal Transit Administration has approved Phase II of the BART Silicon Valley extension project for the project development phase of the New Starts funding programme. Project promoter Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is now to develop designs and identify funding for the $4·7bn project. VTA can now ...
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NewsVolker Schenk
German industry association VDB has elected Vossloh Group Managing Director Volker Schenk as its next President, following the end of the tenure of Dr Martin Lange.
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NewsNew shareholders take VTG stakes
VTG: Leasing and logistics company VTG AG announced on March 15 that part of the 35% stake held by funds managed by Wilbur Ross would be sold to new shareholders. Purchase agreements were expected to close shortly, with the Joachim Herz foundation becoming the third largest shareholder with 10% of ...
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NewsNacala Corridor wagon lease signed
AFRICA: Northern Mozambique railway concessionaire Corredor De Desenvolvimento Do Norte has signed a five-year agreement to lease 100 grain wagons from GPR Leasing Africa for use between Bakhresa Malawi Ltd’s grain terminal at the Port of Nacala and a milling and packing plant in Malawi. The 1 067 mm gauge ...
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NewsBART’s fleet of the future on its way
USA: The first car ordered under the Fleet of the Future programme to renew the fleet of the San Francisco Bay Area’s BART metro network has left Bombardier Transportation’s factory in Plattsburgh, New York. It is being transported on a flatbed lorry to BART’s testing facility in Hayward. Nine ...