Passenger rail news – Page 116
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News‘Gorgeous beast' will change perception of rail travel
UK: Speaking at the unveiling at InnoTrans on September 20 of a Class 755/4 Stadler Flirt for Greater Anglia, Mark Swindell, CEO of investment company Rock Rail, described the four-car electro-diesel trainset as ‘gorgeous’. Wishing that Greater Anglia passengers were present to see ‘this beast’, he said that Rock Rail ...
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NewsIdeenzug moves from concept to reality
GERMANY: Some of the concepts being developed under the Ideenzug (Ideas Train) project will be implemented on a train running in commercial service by 2020. DB Regio has chosen the Muehlendorf – Muenchen route in Bayern for its pilot scheme under which two or three modules taken from the development ...
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NewsTraverso offers space and comfort
INNOTRANS: Swiss operator Schweizerische Suedostbahn and Stadler used the InnoTrans trade show in Berlin on September 19 to present what Stadler Group CEO Thomas Ahlburg described as the longest Flirt trainset yet built. The copper coloured eight-car low-floor units will replace SOB’s existing rolling stock on the St Gallen - ...
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NewsLocos for French leg of Paris - Moscow service
EUROPE: A deal for Voyages SNCF to lease three Bombardier Transportation locomotives from MRCE to haul part of Russian Railways’ Paris – Moscow passenger service was confirmed at InnoTrans 2018 on September 19. From December 2018, Voyages SNCF will extend its section of the route from Paris as far as ...
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NewsKorail to receive distributed power E320 EMUs in 2019
SOUTH KOREA: Testing and commissioning of the first of a fleet of high speed EMUs for Korail is expected to start by the end of the year. Hyundai Rotem will deliver 21 distributed power trainsets to a design known as E320 to Korail in 2019-21. Two of the sets will ...
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NewsRock and Pop launch ‘biggest ever' fleet renewal for Trenitalia
ITALY: FS Italiane President Gianluigi Castelli announced that the group was investing €6bn in new regional trains at the launch of two types of rolling stock at InnoTrans. In the ‘biggest-ever' fleet renewal programme, FS would receive 600 trains by 2023, with deliveries running at nine sets per month ...
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NewsSt Petersburg suburban service proposed
RUSSIA: A proposal for the launch of frequent suburban rail services on a 53 km semi-circular route around St Petersburg has been submitted to the government by Russian Railways. The project is inspired by the success of the Moscow Central Ring service which RZD launched in 2016 in partnership with ...
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NewsBrightline to develop Las Vegas – Los Angeles corridor
USA: Private passenger operator Brightline announced on September 18 its intention to develop a second inter-city corridor linking Las Vegas with southern California. The Fortress Investment Group subsidiary has agreed to acquire the XpressWest project which holds the rights to develop a federally-approved rail corridor paralleling Interstate 15. The group ...
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NewsMadrid - Montpellier open access service approved
SPAIN: National competition authority CNMC announced on September 17 that it had approved Intermodalidad de Levante SA's plans to launch an open-access passenger service between Madrid and Montpellier. The Air Nostrum subsidiary has applied to run two trains each way per day, calling at Zaragoza, Barcelona, Perpignan and Narbonne. EU ...
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NewsFreiberger Eisenbahn contract extended
GERMANY: Mittelsachsen transport authority VMS has exercised an option to extend Freiberger Eisenbahn’s contact to operate local passenger services between Freiberg and Holzhau near the Czech border southwest of Dresden for a further five years from December 2019. The agreement with the Rhenus Veniro subsidiary includes cost savings which will ...
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NewsHydrogen multiple-units enter service
GERMANY: The two prototype Coradia iLint fuel-cell powered multiple-units began operating in revenue service on September 17, following a formal launch the previous day with a ceremony at Bremervörde attended by representatives from the federal and Land governments, regional transport authority LNVG and operator Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser. ...
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NewsWaratah Series 2 EMUs enter service in Sydney
AUSTRALIA: The first of the Waratah Series 2 double-deck suburban electric multiple-units entered passenger service with Sydney Trains on September 6. All 24 of the eight-car units are scheduled to be progressively introduced by early 2019. Transport for New South Wales ordered the EMUs from Downer EDI in December ...
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NewsFirst Greater Anglia Aventra completed
UK: Bombardier Transportation rolled out the first of 111 Class 720 Aventra electric multiple-units ordered by leasing company Angel Trains for use by Abellio’s Greater Anglia franchise at its Derby factory on September 13. The order comprises 89 five-car and 22 10-car 25 kV 50 Hz EMUs to operate ...
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NewsSNCF targets autonomous trains in five years
FRANCE: SNCF expects to see ‘semi-autonomous’ trains running on the French rail network by 2020 and fully automatic trains within five years, following the establishment of two consortia of suppliers and research institutes to develop and implement the technology. Providing an update on progress with the Train Autonome research programme ...
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NewsFNM and Hitachi sign EMU framework agreement
ITALY: An eight-year framework agreement for the supply of between 50 and 120 high-capacity double-deck electric multiple-units was signed by Hitachi Rail Italy and Lombardia regional operator FNM on September 12. The agreement follows a call for tenders issued in 2017. There is a firm order for an initial ...
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NewsBattery EMU unveiled at Hennigsdorf
GERMANY: A prototype Talent 3 EMU equipped for battery operation was formally unveiled at Bombardier’s Hennigsdorf plant on September 12, at a ceremony attended by State Secretary of Transport & Digital Infrastructure Enak Ferlemann and Brandenburg Transport Minister Kathrin Schneider. The trainset has been developed over the past two years ...
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NewsGE Transportation locomotive arrives in Ukraine
UKRAINE: The first of 30 TE33A Evolution Series diesel locomotives which GE Transportation’s Erie plant is building for national railway Ukrzaliznytsya was delivered to the port of Chornomorsk on September 11. The second locomotive left the USA on September 7 and is scheduled to arrive on September 25, with delivery ...
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Rail Business UKShared blame for Virgin Trains East Coast franchise failure
UK: Operators Stagecoach and Virgin and the Department for Transport share responsibility for the failure of the InterCity East Coast franchise earlier this year, the House of Commons Transport Committee says in a report published on September 12. The Intercity East Coast Franchise report also warns that the government’s proposal ...
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NewsOrbital CityRail service expands
RUSSIA: Nizhny Novgorod suburban passenger operator JSC Volga-Vyatskaya announced on September 10 that its CityRail Priokskaya Line service linking the two halves of the city will become a year-round service with effect from October 15. The 50 km orbital route was launched in 2013, but unlike the CityRail Sormovskaya Line ...
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NewsIC2 trainsets ready to return to service
ROMANIA: Open access operator Astra Trans Carpatic ran a demonstration Timișoara - Arad - Oradea - Baia Mare service on September 8 using one of the AnsaldoBreda IC2 diesel multiple-units it has acquired from Denmark’s DSB. Regular services are planned from the December timetable change. The IC2 units would ...