All News articles – Page 57
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News'Bloody slaughter' beckons
GERMANY: Whilst the past decade has seen a steady expansion of competitive tendering for the operation of regional services, Deutsche Bahn's monopoly of long-distance services has remained largely intact. Competition has been limited to a token daily InterConnex service between Leipzig, Berlin and Rostock and the locally-supported Alex inter-regional routes ...
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NewsGE locomotives in cold-climate biofuel tests
CANADA: A five-month trial of biodiesel is being undertaken in what Canadian Pacific says is its first use with locomotives operating in the cold Canadian climate. Four GE Transportation AC4400 locomotives in dedicated service between Calgary and Edmonton are using a 5% biodiesel blend from November until the end ...
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NewsPöyry creates Urban & Mobility business group
PÖYRY: Engineering and consulting firm Pöyry announced a restructuring on December 2, to focus on higher value activites including project management and management consulting. As part of this, from January 1 the Transportation and Construction Services business groups will be merged into an Urban & Mobility business group. This ...
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NewsDSB wins Krösatågen operating contract
SWEDEN: Jönköpings Länstrafik has selected Danish state railway subsidiary DSB Småland to run Krösatågen services on five routes around Jönköping and Nässjö from December 12 2010. The 10-year contract is worth SKr800m and covers the operation of 2·1 million train-km a year using 14 local authority-owned Bombardier Itino and Y1 ...
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NewsNext-generation Thales interlocking commissioned
FRANCE: Infrastructure manager RFF brought the first Thales PIPC G2 computer-based interlocking into service on December 1. Installed at Longueau on the outskirts of Amiens, it sets 178 routes, controlling 65 sets of points and 75 signals. LockTrac 6171 PIPC G2 is an upgrade of PIPC V1 which is ...
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NewsMore manganese please
SOUTH AFRICA: The increasingly busy Orex heavy haul iron ore railway between Sishen and Saldanha may gain a second source of traffic in the coming years. Transnet Freight Rail is in discussion with a consortium of mining companies about using the route to export manganese through the deep-water port at ...
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NewsRegulator calls for train information code of practice
UK: In an effort to encourage a competitive market in the provision of live train-running information, the Office of Rail Regulation has asked the Association of Train Operating Companies to publish a code of practice setting out criteria against which it will assess applications for access to its 'Darwin' database ...
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NewsVeolia Cargo sale finalised
FRANCE: On December 1 Veolia Environnement announced that its Veolia Transport subsidiary had finalised the sale of Veolia Cargo to Transport Ferroviaire Holding and Europorte 2. Eurotunnel subsidiary Europorte 2 is acquiring Veolia Cargo's businesses in France, which include Socorail, Veolia Cargo France, Veolia Cargo Link and CFTA Cargo. ...
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NewsGlobaltrans to be biggest private tank wagon owner
RUSSIA: Private freight operator Globaltrans has agreed to acquire a 50% interest in BaltTransServis from TIHL, the controlling shareholder in Globaltrans, in exchange for ordinary shares of company with a value of US$250m. Globaltrans is also raising capital of US$175m for rolling stock acquisition and general corporate purposes. BTS ...
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NewsPKP PR rebrands
POLAND: National regional train operating business PKP PR is being renamed Przewozy Regionalne, reflecting the transfer of ownership from state railway PKP to the 16 voivodships. 'We wanted to emphasize our separateness from the PKP Group, and also indicate the effects of restructuring to passengers through a new ...
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NewsChina may be next Desiro customer
CHINA: Working in partnership with a local company, Siemens Mobility is hoping to secure an order for around 50 suburban trainsets in Guangzhou, having tendered a version of its Desiro product platform. Of major interest to Siemens and rival bidders are options that could see up to 1500 further ...
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NewsWagon works auction
RZD: A further two wagon repair plants have been sold by Russian Railways as part of a privatisation programme which aims to increase competition in the rolling stock maintenance market. In an auction held on October 23 the Cheremkhovo wagon repair depot in the Irkutsk oblast was bought by ...
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NewsFactory grows
HUNGARY: A bogie production hall was opened at Bombardier’s Mátranovák plant in northeastern Hungary on November 6. The investment in the former Ganz Steel Structure works cost €22m, with half the funding coming from the national government via its Economic Development Operations Programme. The extension of the factory has ...
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NewsVTG to fit stronger axles
EUROPE: Hamburg-based wagon leasing group VTG announced on November 16 that it is to equip its fleet with new wheelsets suitable for heavier axleloads. Starting with all newly-built wagons, plus those registered in Germany and Austria, the programme will cover up to 20000 vehicles and is expected to take between ...
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NewsInfrastructure managers to merge
EUROPE: Two of the Nordic region’s railway infrastructure authorities are to disappear in 2010, as their respective governments move to consolidate their transport administrations. First to disappear will be Finnish rail infrastructure manager RHK, which is to become part of a new Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency from January 1. Liikennevirasto ...
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NewsMan eating lions - not (as) many dead
KENYA: Lieutenant-Colonel John H Patterson attributed the deaths of 135 people to the ‘man-eaters of Tsavo’, a pair of lions which terrorised railway construction workers in Kenya in 1898. The Uganda Railway hired Patterson to hunt down the lions, but thought the number of deaths was more like 28. Now ...
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NewsRFF to launch Perpignan – Montpellier study
FRANCE: Following a public consultation between March and July 2009, infrastructure manager RFF announced on November 26 that it is to launch formal design studies for the high speed line between Montpellier and Perpignan. According to RFF, the public consultation led to the emergence of a ‘preferred corridor’ in terms ...
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NewsPowerHaul brings Evolution technology to Europe
UK: Capacity is the reason a new locomotive design was ordered from GE Transportation, Freightliner Ltd Managing Director Adam Cunliffe said as the first was named 'PowerHaul' in Leeds on November 24. The Class 70 PowerHaul locomotives will provide faster acceleration and higher running speeds than Freightliner's existing fleet. ...
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NewsNomad to supply inter-city wi-fi
NETHERLANDS: Train operator NS has awarded an initial five year contract to Nomad Digital and T-Mobile for the installation of 3G broadband services on its services. Under what the supplier describes as one of its largest transport awards, Nomad Digital will deploy its R3500 mobile broadband gateway on 187 inter-city ...
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NewsDB places firm order for DMUs
GERMANY: DB Regio has placed the first firm order for Alstom Coradia Lint 41 diesel multiple-units within the terms of a 2008 framework agreement for up to 180 units. The €40m order announced on November 26 covers 16 two-car units, designated VT648.4 by DB, for use on regional services ...