All News articles – Page 97
-
NewsSNCB in the firing line
BELGIUM: Early last month La Libre Belgique published excerpts from an interim report drawn up by the Audit Commission (Cour des Comptes) which said Belgian National Railways had broken European rules on public financing. Specifically, the newspaper highlighted a sum of €426m forming part of a €510m government grant ...
-
NewsStudy to look at Berlin - Moscow Talgo service
RUSSIA: RZD and Patentes Talgo have signed a memorandum of intent to study the feasibility of using Talgo VII gauge-changing rolling stock on hotel train services between Moscow and Berlin. RZD will provide forecasts of future passenger volumes and the economic benefits of improved services between Moscow, Minsk and ...
-
NewsCapacity boost is needed
DENMARK: September 22 saw the start of a public enquiry into plans by the national rail authority Trafikstyrelsen into ways of expanding capacity on the country’s busiest line between København and Ringsted. The project was launched in 1998, when the former rail infrastructure authority Banstyrelsen recognised that the existing main ...
-
NewsWorld rolling stock market October 2008
Australia: Refurbishment of the 60-car CountryLink XPT fleet has been completed. This included modernising the seats, fitting new toilets and carpets, upgrading the air-conditioning and installing new equipment in the buffet cars. Stage two of the A$42m upgrade is the overhaul of the 19 XPT power cars, due for completion ...
-
NewsUS$560m loan for Tikhvin wagon plant
RUSSIA: Vnesheconombank, Eurasian Development Bank and Nomos-Bank have agreed a US$560m loan to ICT Group towards the US$800m development of Tikhvin Railway Car Building Plant, which is due to start production in 2010 on a former Transmash site in Leningrad oblast. Vnesheconombank and EDB are each proving US$215m for ...
-
NewsLG takes up option on 10 Eurorunners
LITHUANIA: State railway Lietuvos Geležinkeliai has exercised an option for a further 10 Siemens ER20CF freight locomotives, which will be delivered between May and September 2010 in a deal worth more than €35m including maintenance. The 120 km/h locomotives are an option on a €123m order for 34 placed ...
-
NewsContracts October 2008
Chile: Zenitel and Sometec are to supply and maintain communication links between train drivers and the control centre on two extensions to Santiago metro lines 1 and 5. China The Ministry of Railways has awarded HLS Systems and Hitachi a contract to provide control systems for the 105 km ...
-
NewsPorterbrook Leasing sale agreed
UK: On October 27 Porterbrook Leasing confirmed reports that the company is being sold by its parent Abbey National. A consortium of three European banks has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the rolling stock leasing company, with completion expected by the end of this year subject ...
-
NewsPilbara open access from November 20
AUSTRALIA: Three heavy haul iron ore railways in West Australia are to be 'declared' permitting third parties to negotiate open access with effect from November 19, Commonwealth Treasurer Wayne Swan announced on October 27. Swan will 'declare' BHP Billiton's Goldsworthy railway and Rio Tinto's Robe River and Hamersley lines ...
-
NewsWorld infrastructure market October 2008
Australia: QR had awarded the Synergy Alliance joint venture of United Group and Ansaldo STS a A$250m signalling contract as part of a coal capacity upgrading programme. Bulgaria: The Ministry of Transport has awarded Pöyry contracts totalling €1·7m to undertake feasibility studies and design for the modernisation of the 53 ...
-
NewsThings are going to get better
SUSTAINABILITY: The world is starting to understand the challenge of climate change, and the public transport sector is demonstrating that it can help to change people's perceptions about the impact of their mobility choices, believes Heather Allen.
-
NewsRZD and RENFE sign co-operation agreement
RUSSIA: State railway RZD announced on October 24 that it had signed a six-year agreement with Spain's RENFE Operadora under which the organisations will co-operate to share their experiences in areas including the selection, production, operation and maintenance of high-speed trains. The companies will also discuss passenger and ...
-
NewsBeNEX wins second Bayern contract
GERMANY: BeNEX has announced the award of its second passenger operating contract in Bayern this year, with the section of the partnership of Hamburger Hochbahn and Babcock & Brown to opertate Dieselnetz Oberfranken services from mid-2011 to 2023. The contract covers 4·5 million train-km a year. 'This success is ...
-
NewsOpen access operator to take on ÖBB
AUSTRIA: Plans to run passenger services in competition with Austrian Federal Railways were unveiled in Wien on October 16. Starting in 2011, trains would run hourly between Wien and Salzburg, with Bratislava and München to follow if they are successful. The project is the brainchild of industrialist Hans-Peter Haselsteiner ...
-
NewsSBB Cargo pulls potential partners
SWITZERLAND: Strong interest in SBB Cargo was evident when bids to work in partnership with the freight operator closed. As many as 25 organisations had submitted expressions of interest by September 22, and 14 of these had handed in firm offers by the October 15 deadline. Head of SBB ...
-
NewsNorrström Tunnel contract placed
SWEDEN: Banverket has awarded NCC Construction the SKr1·5bn contract for the Norrström tunnel, the section of the Stockholm Citybanan project between Riddarholmen and Gamla Brogatan. The work will be carried out under a new partnership model with Banverket. The contract covers the construction of a two-platform City station beneath ...
-
NewsCross-city high speed contract
SPAIN: Infrastructure authority ADIF has awarded a joint venture of Dragados, FCC, Copisa and Tecsa a €206m contract to build the third underground route connecting Atocha and Chamartín stations in Madrid, comprising two 1 435 mm gauge tracks for use by high speed services. The 7·3 km route will run ...
-
NewsCourt decision favours heavy haul access
AUSTRALIA: A unanimous decision of the high court has ruled that BHP Billiton Iron Ore's Mount Newman and Goldsworthy railways are 'services', rather than part of the 'production process', and so the miner is obliged to negotiate third party access with competitor Fortescue Metals on a commercial basis. ...
-
NewsWinterised wider Flirt
FINLAND: The first 1 524 mm gauge EMU to be built by Stadler was rolled out at the Bussnang plant in Switzerland on October 7. The four-car Flirt is part of a €190m order for 32 units placed in August 2006 by Pääkaupunkiseudun Junakalusto, a body formed by state railway ...
-
NewsKiwiRail structure finalised
NEW ZEALAND: The final structure of the renationalised rail industry came into effect on October 1. Operator KiwiRail and infrastructure manager Ontrack are now separate operating units of New Zealand Railways Corp, the legacy body which held remaining assets after the now-reversed privatisation in the 1990s. The previous NZ ...