Passenger rail news – Page 119
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NewsRussian passenger fleet renewal continues
RUSSIA: National railway RZD has updated the details of its passenger rolling stock procurement for 2018. Pavel Burtsev, Head of Passenger Transport at RZD, told Railway Gazette in July that a total of 686 vehicles would be acquired for long-distance traffic. These would comprise 611 single-deck hauled coaches (589 couchette ...
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Rail Business UKSouthampton – London open access proposal rejected
UK: The Office of Rail & Road has rejected Alliance Rail Holdings’ application for track access rights which would enable it to launch an open access passenger service between London Waterloo and Southampton Central. Arriva subsidiary Alliance had applied to operate nine trains each way per day under the Grand ...
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NewsSunRail heads south
USA: Orlando commuter rail operator SunRail began revenue operations on its 27·4 km southern extension from Sand Lake to Poinciana on July 30. Serving central Florida’s Orange and Osceola counties, the extension adds a further four stations to the 51·5 km route with 12 stations which opened in May ...
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NewsTrenitalia signs Umbria operating contract
ITALY: Umbria’s regional government has agreed a contract for Trenitalia to continue to operate local passenger services until 2032. The deal signed in Perugia on July 27 includes investment of more than €236m in improvements to service quality and the replacement of around 80% of the rolling stock used in ...
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NewsCoastal Pacific service to restart in December
NEW ZEALAND: KiwiRail’s tourist-focused Coastal Pacific service from Christchurch to Picton is to restart on December 1, two years after being suspended as a result of damage to the line caused by the 7·8 magnitude Kaikoura earthquake of November 14 2016. Infrastructure repairs allowed the Main North Line to be ...
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NewsItalo-NTV orders more high speed trainsets
ITALY: A €330m firm order for Alstom to supply a further five Pendolino Evo high speed trainsets and maintain them for 30 years was signed by Italo-NTV on July 31. The open access operator has previously ordered a total of 17 Pendolino Evo trainsets under a framework agreement reached in ...
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NewsTrenitalia awards €1·6bn regional DMU framework contract
ITALY: Trenitalia has awarded Hitachi Rail Italy a framework contract for the supply of up to 135 regional diesel multiple-units. The agreement signed on July 27 includes a firm order for 70 units, and there are options for 65 more which would take the total value to €1·6bn. Trenitalia ...
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NewsMorocco’s Al Boraq high speed service to launch by year end
MOROCCO: Africa’s first high speed railway is now expected to open for traffic by the end of the year as commissioning trials continue. LGV Maroc comprises a 183 km high speed line between Tanger and Kénitra which is being built for operation at up to 320 km/h, as well as ...
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NewsSNCF orders 36 EMUs
FRANCE: Bombardier Transportation is to supply further 36 Francilien high-capacity suburban electric multiple-units to SNCF, which has placed the €261m order announced on July 30 on behalf of Greater Paris transport authority Île-de-France Mobilités. The firm order has been placed within a 2006 framework agreement covering up to 372 EMUs, ...
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Rail Business UKORR requires four actions following Network Rail timetabling failures
UK: The Office of Rail & Road has required that Network Rail immediately take four actions to improve its timetable planning, after an investigation by the regulator found systemic failings. There are two annual timetable changes, in May and December. The May 2018 change included the biggest service revisions in ...
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NewsSNCF confirms TGV of the Future order
FRANCE: SNCF Mobilités confirmed an order for Alstom to supply 100 high speed trainsets under the TGV of the Future programme at a board meeting on July 26. Branded Avelia Horizon by Alstom, the double-deck trains will be acquired at a cost of €25m per trainset, which SNCF says ...
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NewsVictoria orders more Alstom EMUs
AUSTRALIA: Transport for Victoria has awarded Alstom a €60m contract to supply a further five X’Trapolis electric multiple-units to increase capacity on Melbourne’s 1 600 mm gauge suburban network. Each of the 145 m long six-car 1·5 kV DC EMUs will have a capacity of 1 238 passengers, with ‘enhanced’ ...
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NewsFans take to the rails as RZD reports World Cup success
RUSSIA: According to statistics released by Russian Railways, no fewer than 319 000 football fans were carried on the national railway’s special free passenger trains during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The ‘cluster’ approach adopted by Russia to group football venues in the west of the country favoured rail ...
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NewsRussian Railways orders 293 coaches
RUSSIA: An agreement for Transmashholding’s Tver Carriage Works to supply 293 coaches to Federal Passenger Co was signed on July 17. Deliveries are scheduled to start this month and run until October. The order covers 271 second class coaches and 22 cars with staff compartments and facilities for passengers with ...
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NewsÖBB chooses Siemens to build day and night fleets
AUSTRIA: National operator ÖBB has picked Siemens Mobility as the supplier of a fleet of inter-city rolling stock. Bids closed on June 29, and ÖBB said on July 20 that it had concluded its evaluation of the tenders, allowing the preferred bidder to be named. The deal is subject to ...
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NewsLEO Express launches Praha – Kraków service
EUROPE: Czech open access operator LEO Express ran its inaugural service from Praha to Kraków on July 20, saying it had become the first private operator to be certified to operate long-distance passenger services on the Polish network. ‘We are looking forward to our new customers from Poland and hope ...
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NewsSBB challenges long-distance concession split
SWITZERLAND: Insisting that ‘legal clarification is necessary’, on July 16 Swiss Federal Railways lodged a formal challenge with the Federal Administrative Court against the decision to split the concession to operate long-distance passenger services. According to SBB, the decision by the Federal Office of Transport to award two inter-regional ...
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NewsDB Netz introduces ‘green’ driver advisory functions
GERMANY: This month, infrastructure manager DB Netz has introduced ‘green wave’ train running functionality to support the use of connected driver advisory systems. Train operators seeking to improve their energy efficiency have been encouraged to sign up to the service at 0·315 euro cents per path-km. Available on all routes ...
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NewsEnvironmental approval paves way for Linha do Oeste upgrading
PORTUGAL: National environment agency APA has approved plans for the modernisation of part of the Linha do Oeste which links Lisboa with Louriçal and Figueira da Foz. Being undertaken as part of the government’s Ferrovia 2020 investment programme, the upgrading covers the 87 route-km between Meleças on the Lisboa suburban ...
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NewsFranco-Belgian passenger services to be enhanced from December
EUROPE: Amid concern from policymakers and rail advocates about the extent and quality of cross-border passenger services in Europe, SNCB is to reintroduce conventional services linking Charleroi and Mons with Maubeuge and Aulnoye in France from the December timetable change. Direct inter-city trains had linked Paris with the Wallonie region ...