News – Page 696
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NewsUP opens beer wagon cleaning facility
USA: A ceremony on November 3 marked the opening of Union Pacific’s $40m Kinney County Railport in Texas, which will undertake food-grade cleaning and repairs on boxcars used to carry packaged beer from Mexico to the USA. The site between Eagle Pass and Brackettville covers 40 ha, with ...
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NewsSemi-automated containerised coke unloader inaugurated
AUSTRIA: A facility for the rapid semi-automatic unloading of coke delivered to Voestalpine’s Leoben/Donawitz site in containers has been inaugurated by the steel maker, technology supplier Innofreight and ÖBB’s freight division Rail Cargo Group. The RockTainer ORE system of modular steel containers is designed to speed-up unloading, improve safety ...
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NewsBremen approves tram funding
GERMANY: The Bremen Senate announced on November 10 that it had approved funding for capital expenditure on the city’s tram network. The approved funds include €210m for the purchase of 67 new trams, for which a tender is to be called next year. Deliveries of prototypes are due to ...
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NewsSEPTA orders Siemens electric locos
USA: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has formally awarded preferred bidder Siemens a $118m contract to supply 13 ACS-64 electric locomotives by early 2018, along with spare parts and staff training. The contract announced on November 11 includes an option for up to five more of the locomotives, which are ...
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NewsSEPTA orders Siemens electric locos
USA: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has formally awarded preferred bidder Siemens a $118m contract to supply 13 ACS-64 electric locomotives by early 2018, along with spare parts and staff training. The contract announced on November 11 includes an option for up to five more of the locomotives, which are ...
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NewsTAZARA takes delivery of locos and coaches
AFRICA: Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority has taken delivery of four diesel-electric locomotives and 18 coaches supplied from China. TAZARA expects the new equipment valued at US$22·4m to have a ‘substantial impact’ on its operations, which have been suffering from reduced capacity as a result of the age of the fleet ...
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NewsDieselnetz Augsburg operator selected
GERMANY: Bayern railway authority BEG has selected Transdev’s Bayerischen Regiobahn to operate Dieselnetz Augsburg I regional services from December 9 2018 to December 14 2030. BRB current operates Dieselnetz Augsburg II services. Formal award of the operating contract is subject to a 10-day standstill period which expires on November 20. ...
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NewsAlstom to supply 800 electric locos to Indian Railways
INDIA: The Ministry of Railways issued Alstom with a letter of award for a contract to build a factory and supply 800 twin-section electric locomotives on November 10, a day after announcing a similar deal with GE covering 1 000 diesel locomotives. The electric locomotive factory is to be built ...
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NewsWork starts on Bologna airport monorail
ITALY: Construction of the Marconi Express monorail linking Bologna Centrale main line station with Marconi Airport began on October 31. Works are due be completed in 36 months, with passenger services expected to begin in 2019. The 5 km route will be built at up to 7·6 m above ground ...
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NewsOyster and contactless to reach Gatwick Airport in January
UK: On November 10 Rail Minister Claire Perry announced that an agreement had been reached by the government, Transport for London and train operator Govia Thameslink Railway which will enable passengers to use contactless bank cards and TfL’s Oyster smart card on rail services between London and Gatwick Airport from ...
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NewsFlorida’s Brightline to ‘take the grey out of travel’
USA: Privately-owned inter-city passenger service promoter All Aboard Florida unveiled Brightline as the branding for its future services on November 9. AAF plans to launch Miami – West Palm Beach services in mid-2017, and Miami – Orlando later the same year. The Brightline brand has been developed in partnership ...
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NewsDB launches training programme for refugees
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has launched a railway training scheme for refugees who have previous experience of electrical engineering. An initial group of 15 people originally from Nigeria, Eritrea, Congo, Iran, Algeria, Somalia, Syria and Tunisia have been selected for the programme, which runs for 28 months and starts with ...
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NewsGE wins 1000-locomotive Indian Railways deal
INDIA: On November 9 the Ministry of Railways issued GE with a letter of award for a US$2·6bn joint venture contract to develop a factory to supply and maintain 1 000 diesel locomotives. The contract is expected to be signed within 30 days. GE said the deal was the biggest ...
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NewsSECRET studies electromagnetic security risk
EUROPE: The final conference of the three-year SECurity of Railways against Electromagnetic aTtacks research project was held in Lille last month. SECRET aimed to assess the risks and consequences of electromagnetic attacks on rail infrastructure, identify preventive and recovery measures and develop protection techniques. The project was funded by the ...
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NewsInterPanter EMUs enter service
CZECH REPUBLIC: The first two Škoda Transportation Class 660.1 InterPanter electric multiple-units entered regular service on the Olomouc – Přerov – Břeclav – Brno route on November 4, following a handover ceremony at Olomouc station. Derived from RegioPanter EMUs ordered for regional services, the 160 km/h low-floor dual-system InterPanter ...
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NewsWabtec to supply PTC for Denver’s North Metro Line
USA: Construction contractor Regional Rail Partners has awarded Wabtec a $27m contract to supply Positive Train Control for the first phase of the North Metro commuter rail line. Announcing the contract signing on November 9, Wabtec said that its Xorail division would also be responsible for integration and project management. ...
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NewsToulouse becomes world VAL headquarters
FRANCE: On November 9 the first staff moved into the new world headquarters for VAL driverless light metro systems that Siemens is establishing in Toulouse. Covering 10 000 m2, the new offices will eventually house around 100 staff currently working at the Siemens sites at Châtillon, Roubaix and Colomiers. According ...
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NewsCaracas Line 5 opens to Bello Monte
VENEZUELA: The first section of Line 5 of the Caracas metro, running for 1∙3 km from Zona Rental to Bello Monte, was officially opened by President Nicolás Maduro on November 4, accompanied by Metro de Caracas President Luis Sauce. Serving southeastern Caracas, Line 5 will eventually be 16 km in ...
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NewsMore Siemens Charger diesel locomotives ordered
USA: Siemens has received orders for a further 34 Charger diesel locomotives from three states, the company announced on November 6. This includes 14 locomotives for California, eight for Maryland and 12 for Illinois. All have been ordered as options on the initial $225m contract for 32 locos awarded in ...
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NewsHaifa railway to go underground
ISRAEL: On November 3 the Haifa municipality approved a US$336m agreement with the Finance Ministry which will enable part of the coastal railway through the city to be rebuilt below ground level. Burying the railway will enable the construction of 7 700 flats, and improve public access to the ...