Passenger rail news – Page 123
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NewsWunderline looks beyond replacement of the Friesen Bridge
EUROPE: Irreparable damage caused to the Friesen Bridge over the River Ems when it was hit by a freight ship in in December 2015 has disrupted the EU-backed Wunderline project’s ambitions to boost traffic on the regional railway corridor running east from Groningen in the northern Netherlands to Leer, Oldenburg ...
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Rail Business UKA ride on TransPennine Express Nova 3 coaches
UK: Railway Gazette went to the Velim test circuit in the Czech Republic for a ride on a set of the Mark 5A locomotive-hauled coaches being built by Spanish company CAF for TransPennine Express inter-city services across the north of England. The push-pull trainsets financed by Beacon Rail will ...
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Rail Business UKUniversity alliance to promote high speed rail
INTERNATIONAL: The International Union of Railways has moved to strengthen its nascent network of academic institutions which are intended to work together to promote the development of high speed rail. UIC first announced plans for its alliance of universities at the World Congress on High Speed Rail in Tokyo in ...
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NewsSKM Warszawa signs Pesa Elf2 order
POLAND: Suburban operator SKM Warszawa signed a contract with Pesa on May 21 for the supply of up to 21 Elf2 electric multiple-units. Deliveries of the base order of eight five-car and five four-car trainsets are due to be completed within two years. The contract is worth 310·5m złoty ...
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NewsTrenitalia signs Sicily operating contract
ITALY: Sicily regional President Sebastiano Musumeci and Trenitalia CEO Orazio Iacono signed an operating contract on May 17. This is the first operating agreement since the transfer of responsibility for rail transport to the region. The 10-year contract is worth €1·2bn and includes infrastructure enhancements, new rolling stock, increased ...
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NewsHigh speed line tunnel breakthrough in China
CHINA: Boring on the Qifengshan tunnel was completed on May 16. China Railway No 5 Engineering Group was responsible for boring the 5·2 km tunnel in Fangcheng county in Henan province, which forms part of the 818 km Zhengzhou – Wanzhou high speed line. The 118bn yuan project to ...
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Rail Business UKGreater Anglia electro-diesels under construction
UK: Swiss manufacturer Stadler is producing a total of 58 Flirt UK electric and electro-diesel multiple-units for use by Greater Anglia. The order placed in August 2016 as part of a programme to completely renew the Greater Anglia fleet includes 24 four-car and 14 three-car electro-diesel units which will ...
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NewsCelebrations as Brightline trains reach Miami
USA: A weekend of celebrations entitled ‘Welcome to the 305!’, referencing the city’s historic telephone code, marked the launch of Brightline inter-city services to Miami on May 19. Brightline’s first public trains ran in January over the 74 km between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The extension to Miami ...
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NewsLagos – Kano standard gauge contract signed
NIGERIA: China Civil Engineering Construction Corp is to complete the long-planned 1 435 mm gauge railway linking Lagos and Kano, under a U$6·68bn contract signed in Abuja on May 15. During the signing ceremony Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi said the line should be completed in two to three years, ‘depending ...
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NewsBy Coradia to Batna
ALGERIA: National operator SNTF has introduced a direct passenger service between Alger and the eastern part of the High Plateau line, with the launch of a daily Alger – M’Sila – Batna round trip. Introduced on May 3, the service is operated by one of SNTF’s new Alstom Coradia El ...
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NewsVolgograd airport rail link opens
RUSSIA: Passenger services on the Volgograd airport rail link began on May 18, following an inauguration ceremony the previous day Services use a 1·2 km branch which Russian Railways has built to connect Gumrak station with the airport passenger terminal, which has been rebuilt ready for when the city hosts ...
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NewsBangladesh Railway orders 10 locomotives
BANGLADESH: Hyundai Rotem is to supply 10 mixed-traffic diesel-electric locomotives to Bangladesh Railway under a 41bn won contract announced on May 18. Intended for mixed traffic use on the metre gauge Dhaka – Chittagong route, the locomotives will be delivered from Hyundai Rotem’s Changwon plant in South Korea starting ...
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NewsRegioJet puts Traxx locos into service
CZECH REPUBLC: The first of eight Bombardier Transportation Traxx multi-system electric locomotives ordered by open access operator RegioJet in April 2017 entered service on May 16. The first passenger train to be hauled by one of the new locomtives was RJ1017, the 17.48 from Praha to Ostrava and Návsí. After ...
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Rail Business UKGovernment terminates Virgin Trains East Coast franchise
UK: The current InterCity East Coast franchise held by a joint venture of Stagecoach Group (90%) and Virgin Holdings (10%) will be terminated on June 24, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling informed the House of Commons on May 16. From that date, DOHL, a government-owned ‘operator of last ...
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NewsZillertalbahn selects hydrogen train supplier
AUSTRIA: Zillertalbahn operator ZVB announced on May 15 that it had selected Stadler to supply five hydrogen fuelled multiple-units for its 760 mm gauge line. A prototype is expected to be ready for trials in 2020, with the remaining four trainsets expected to be delivered in 2022. ZVB currently ...
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NewsCompetition is key as high speed rail keeps growing
Global ridership has surged by 40% in the three years since UIC last staged its World Congress on High Speed Rail. Yet operators and policymakers must work hard to keep the rail mode ahead as competition grows both in and for the market. Benjámin Zelki reports from the latest summit ...
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NewsAlstom and Eversholt plan fuel cell EMUs
UK: Plans to fit hydrogen fuel cells to redundant electric multiple units were announced by Alstom on May 14. Confirming that ‘hydrogen technologies and solutions will play a key role in our global vision for the future’, the manufacturer said it was working with rolling stock leasing company Eversholt Rail ...
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NewsDigital guide to the Bernina Express
SWITZERLAND: Following a successful launch in first class, from May 10 Rhätische Bahn is making its Infot(r)ainment digital route guide available to all Bernina Express passengers. Accessible on smartphones, tablets or laptops, Infot(r)ainment provides information and interactive maps covering the route from Chur and Davos to St Moritz and Tirano. ...
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NewsRevolution VLR railcar to be demonstrated in 2020
UK: Leasing company Eversholt Rail has joined the Revolution VLR consortium of Transport Design International, Cummins, Prose, Transcal Engineering, RDM Group and the University of Warwick, which has secured government funding to design and build a lightweight diesel-battery railcar demonstrator by early 2020. The concept is intended for low-traffic and ...
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NewsHull Trains reveals ‘luxurious and aesthetically appealing’ AT300 design
UK: Open access operator Hull Trains has revealed the appearance of its future fleet of five Hitachi AT300 trainsets, following the completion of the engineering and design phase and the sign-off for production to begin. The £60m order for five five-car inter-city electro-diesel multiple-units was placed by ...