All News articles – Page 63
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NewsFreightliner and Xstrata sign Australian coal contract
AUSTRALIA: Freightliner Australia announced a 10-year haulage agreement with Xstrata Coal on September 25. Trains will start in late 2010, carrying 10 million tonnes of coal a year between Hunter Valley mines and the port of Newcastle. In July Xstrata Coal signed a 10-year haulage deal with Pacific National ...
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NewsPrima II arrives in Casablanca
MOROCCO: The first of 20 Prima II electric locomotives ordered by national railway ONCFM has arrived in Casablanca after being shipped via Antwerpen. It will now undergo endurance tests before entering service next year. The rest of the locomotives will follow by March 2010. ONCFM placed a €75m ...
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NewsCommission to review safety rules
EUROPE: EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani has announced that railway safety rules and practices are to be reviewed and an assessment made of how well they have been implemented. Speaking on September 8 at a railway safety conference held in Brussels in the wake of the freight train derailment ...
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NewsGE Transportation delivers locomotive to Mongolia
MONGOLIA: Mongolian Railways has completed testing of its first Evolution Series locomotive, supplied from GE Transportation's Erie plant. It will be leased to Ulaanbaatar Railway, in which Mongolian Railways holds a 25% stake. The locomotive is similar to those which GE Transportation is supplying to Kazakhstan. 'We chose GE ...
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NewsStrategic review to analyse rail reform
DENMARK: Increasing rail's market share is at the heart of a strategic review of the national rail network outlined by Transport Minister Lars Barfoed on September 23. The discussion paper A Railway In Growth sets out the remit for the review, which is to be completed by autumn 2010 and ...
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NewsDB takes majority stake in Polish freight operator
POLAND: Deutsche Bahn announced on September 24 that it had increased its stake in Polish freight operator PTK Holding to 95%. DB was already a shareholder in the Zabrze-based company as a result of its acquisition of PCC Logistics, completed on July 21. PTK Holding SA has 2 000 ...
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NewsState package will boost French rail freight
FRANCE: Keen to implement strategies arising from its Grenelle de l’Environnement, the French government unveiled on September 16 a €7bn package of measures to reverse the decline in rail’s share of the freight market over the next decade. At present road carries 86%, a figure that the government aims to ...
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NewsFrench rail regulator rolled out
FRANCE: A law establishing a French railway regulatory body was passed in the National Assembly on September 22. The Autorité de Régulation des Activités Ferroviaires has been set up in advance of the liberalisation of international rail passenger services in Europe, which takes effect on December 13. The law ...
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NewsZentralbahn orders inter-regional trains
SWITZERLAND: Metre-gauge operator Zentralbahn has awarded Stadler a SFr141m contract to supply 10 inter-regional electric multiple-units as part of a double-tracking and modernisation programme which will see the timetable recast in December 2013. Six three-car trains will be used on Brünig services. These will be 54 m long with ...
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News200 km/h on Czech tracks
CZECH REPUBLIC: Infrastructure manager SZDC has launched a programme to raise speed limits on its main lines from 160 km/h to 200 km/h. The main limitation is the presence of level crossings and need for upgraded signalling. A pilot project will take place on the 77 km Brno - ...
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NewsThe hare and the tortoise
VIETNAM: We reported last month on the plethora of nascent inter-city rail projects emerging in the USA on the back of President Obama’s decision to dedicate US$13bn in funding, thus raising the prospect of the country being catapulted up the rankings in the ‘hare and tortoise’ race to develop high ...
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NewsIndustry must look at whole-life costs
WHEELSETS: Procurement managers must continue to look beyond initial capital cost when making purchasing decisions, despite the pressures of the global recession.
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NewsERTMS programe consultants chosen
DENMARK: Infrastructure manager Banedanmark has awarded a 12 -year contract for consultancy services throughout its national resignalling programme to a joint venture of Rambøll, Atkins, Emch+Berger and Parsons. The contract is worth DKr1bn, and includes advice on tendering, supplier oversight, implementation of early deployment schemes by 2015 and final ...
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NewsGreengauge 21 proposes UK high speed network
UK: High speed rail lobby group Greengauge 21 published a report on September 16 calling for a 1 550 km network of high speed lines. GG 21 Director Jim Steer said that the message was simple: 'what Britain needs today is a high speed network, not a single line'. ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market September 2009
Australia: Faiveley is to supply United Group with braking equipment for 18 four-car Oscar trains to be delivered from November 2010 in the third phase of the Sydney outer-suburban rolling stock programme. Cuba: Iranian firm Wagon Pars has supplied 100 covered vans to Cuba under a 60bn rial contract, ...
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NewsAlstom unveils X'trapolis UK
UK: Alstom formally presented X’trapolis UK, its contender for the Thameslink electric multiple-unit contract, on September 15. Alongside Bombardier and Siemens, Alstom had submitted its bid to the Department for Transport on June 25. An exhibition accompanying the presentation included models of ...
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NewsPowerHaul locomotives receive Freightliner colours
UK: Freightliner has unveiled the livery for its PowerHaul locomotives, with the four in the second batch nearing completion at GE Transportation's Erie plant in the USA. The two PowerHaul locomotives which formed the initial batch are currently undergoing more than 170 tests including ride, gauge and electromagnetic compatibility, ...
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NewsLocomotive maintenance joint venture created
PORTUGAL: The EMEF maintenance subsidiary of national railway CP has established a joint venture with Siemens Mobility to maintain locomotives which the German firm has supplied to Portugal. Siemens has a 49% stake in the joint venture, which will service 29 LE 5600 and 25 LE 4700 Eurosprinter electric ...
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NewsSNCFT orders LockTrac interlockings
TUNISIA: SNCFT has awarded a consortium of Vossloh Cogifer and Thales a €20m contract to supply electronic interlockings for a total of 14 stations on the Borj Cédria - Kalaâ Seghira section of the Tunis - Gabès line and the Manoube - Ghardimaou section of the Tunis - Alger route. ...
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NewsLow cost coaches developed by RCF Kapurthala
INDIA: RCF Kapurthala has developed a range of stainless steel coaches which it says are 40% cheaper than the previous designs offered under a 2001 technology transfer agreement with LHB. The high cost of stainless steel cars has previously limited their use to the main Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express services. ...