Passenger rail news – Page 125
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NewsTrenitalia’s first Rock rolls
Hitachi Rail Italy has rolled-out the first Rock double-deck regional electric multiple-unit for Trenitalia. Toma Bačić reports from Pistoia
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NewsStadler signs Slovenian multiple-unit contract
SLOVENIA: Stadler formally signed its first contract in Slovenia on April 17, a €170m deal to supply 26 multiple-units to national railway Slovenske Železnice. Stadler had been the sole bidder for the contract, which covers 11 Flirt multi-system electric multiple-units, five Flirt diesel-electric multiple-units and 10 Kiss double-deck EMUs. Deliveries ...
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NewsHaramain High Speed Rail market study commissioned
SAUDI ARABIA: Haramain High Speed Rail project concessionaire Al-Shoula Consortium has appointed Royal HaskoningDHV to carry out a detailed market study for the line. This is intended to help Saudi Railways Organization predict passenger numbers and needs, and support the development of targeted operations strategies to offer the most ...
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NewsBudapest – Esztergom electric services begin
HUNGARY: Regular electric services on the Budapest – Esztergom route began on April 9, building on a single daily electric train between Piliscsaba and Budapest Nyugati which had been operating on a trial basis since the December 2017 timetable change. Some services are still operated using diesel multiple-units, with ...
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NewsVIA Rail begins procurement of new Québec – Windsor fleet
CANADA: National passenger operator VIA Rail formally launched the process to procure a new fleet of trainsets for the Québec City – Windsor corridor when it issued a request for qualifications on April 16. Following the government’s allocation of funding in the 2018 federal budget announced in March, VIA Rail ...
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NewsFirst Greater Anglia Aventra EMU nears completion
UK: The first of 111 Class 720 Aventra electric multiple-units ordered by leasing company Angel Trains for use by Abellio’s Greater Anglia franchise is now nearing completion at Bombardier Transportation’s factory in Derby. Two production lines have been set up at the plant, where the pre-glazed aluminium bodysides, roofs, floor ...
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NewsRegioJet Traxx locomotives on test
CZECH REPUBLIC: Trials of the first two of eight Bombardier Transportation Traxx MS electric locomotives ordered by open access operator RegioJet in April 2017 got underway at the Velim test circuit on April 16. Approval has now been obtained for operation at up to 160 km/h on the Czech, Slovak ...
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NewsGatwick Airport station upgrade planned
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail has submitted a planning application for the modernisation of Gatwick Airport station, which is to be undertaken in partnership with airport operator Gatwick Airport Ltd, the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership and the Department for Transport. The aim is to reduce congestion and ...
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NewsFirst Newag Impuls II EMU nears completion
POLAND: The first next-generation Impuls electric multiple-unit is nearing completion at Newag’s factory in Nowy Sącz. It is expected to be completed next month and begin tests at the Żmigród test circuit in June. Newag is supplying 14 Impuls II EMUs to Łódź suburban operator Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna under ...
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NewsAnkara suburban line reopens following upgrade
TURKEY: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım attended a ceremony on April 12 to mark the reopening of the Başkentray suburban line in Ankara following its upgrade. The 37 km route between Kayaş in the east and Sincan in the west, operated with a fleet of ...
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NewsTCDD signs high speed train contract
TURKEY: National operator TCDD Taşımacılık has formally signed a contract for preferred bidder Siemens to supply a further 10 Velaro high-speed trainsets. The contract announced on April 13 is worth around €340m, including three years of maintenance, repair and cleaning. The latest order will take TCDD’s Velaro fleet to 17 ...
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NewsDB Regio to operate Trier service RB83
EUROPE: Following a European tender, Rheinland Pfalz transport authority SPNV-Nord has selected DB Regio to operate the German section of a new hourly Wittlich – Trier – Luxembourg service RB83 which is scheduled to be launched in December 2019. The contract covers the operation of 470 000 train-km/year within Germany. ...
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NewsFirstGroup rejects Apollo takeover proposal
FIRSTGROUP: The board of UK-based rail and bus operator FirstGroup plc confirmed on April 11 that it had received a ‘preliminary and highly conditional’ indicative cash takeover proposal from US private equity firm Apollo Management IX LP. In a statement, the FirstGroup board said it had ‘considered the proposal in ...
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NewsThe Canadian coaches to be refurbished
CANADA: VIA Rail has awarded Cad Railway Industries a C$46m contract to upgrade 25 coaches used on The Canadian service between Toronto and Vancouver. Announcing the contract on April 10, VIA Rail said the stainless steel coaches dating from the 1950s would be ‘completely refurbished and transformed to better meet ...
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NewsPhnom Penh airport shuttle train launched
CAMBODIA: A shuttle service from Phnom Penh’s main station to the international airport was inaugurated by Minister of Public Works & Transportation Sun Chanthol on April 10. Travel is free until the end of July. Services run every 30 min and take around 25 min to cover the 9·6 km ...
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NewsTMH to maintain San Martín fleet
ARGENTINA: The TMH-Argentina subsidiary of Russia’s Transmashholding has been awarded a contract to maintain the locomotives and coaches used on the 76 km San Martín commuter route between Retiro San Martín station in Buenos Aires and Pilar. Running for 24 months, the US$29·7m contract announced on April 9 covers 24 ...
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NewsTRC returns as vertical separation ends
TANZANIA: A new Tanzania Railways Corp has been established to bring together railway infrastructure and operations, following a decade of vertical separation, Minister of Construction, Transport & Communications. Prof Makame Mbarawa explained at a ceremony in Dar es Salaam to launch the organisation. Under the terms of the Tanzania Railway ...
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NewsRZD awards 327-loco supply and maintenance contracts
RUSSIA: Transmashholding has signed two contracts to supply main line locomotives to Russian Railways. For the first time TMH will take sole responsibility for whole-life maintenance of locos it has supplied to the national operator. Announcing the contracts on April 4, TMH said it expected the inclusion of long-term maintenance ...
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NewsEurostar’s first Amsterdam service an ‘exciting and momentous day’ for high speed rail
EUROPE: ‘It is an exciting and momentous day, not just for Eurostar but the story of high speed travel across Europe’, Eurostar Chief Executive Mike Cooper told Railway Gazette International on the cross-Channel operator’s first revenue service from London to Amsterdam on April 4. The service runs twice daily ...
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NewsIsaka – Kigali electrification proposed
AFRICA: The governments of Tanzania and Rwanda have commissioned a feasibility study into electrification of the long-planned 521 km cross-border rail link between Isaka and Kigali. Provisionally costed at US$2·5bn, the line is intended to connect the landlocked countries of Rwanda and Burundi with the inland container terminal at Isaka ...