Passenger rail news – Page 139
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NewsRastatt blocked until October 7, says DB
GERMANY: The Karlsruhe – Basel section of European Rail Freight Corridor 1 will remain closed until October 7, following the tunnel collapse at Rastatt on August 12, infrastructure manager DB Netze confirmed on August 22. Explaining that a sudden inrush of water had destabilised the boring of a new tunnel ...
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NewsHKX to suspend services from October to December
GERMANY: Hamburg-Köln-Express is to suspend its open access passenger service from October 4 until the December 10 timetable change. Announcing the decision on August 21, the company said the two-month break in the off-peak season would be used ‘to better adapt HKX to customer needs’ and develop an attractive product ...
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NewsBLS bids to take over Simplon car shuttle
SWITZERLAND: BLS has applied to the Valais canton to take over the car-carrier shuttle service between Brig and Iselle currently run by Swiss Federal Railways, which is not seeking to renew its concession when it expires in December. If its application succeeds, BLS would operate the service from the December ...
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NewsRailways prepare for total solar eclipse
USA: Amtrak is to run a special train on August 21 to enable people to reach one of the best locations for viewing the first total solar eclipse to be visible from the continental USA since 1979, and the first to be visible coast-to-coast since 1918. The Eclipse ...
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NewsLEO Express to relaunch Locomore service
GERMANY: Czech operator LEO Express is to relaunch the Berlin – Stuttgart open access service which was suspended when Locomore began insolvency proceedings, the companies confirmed on August 16. The intention is to offer a Thursday to Sunday service from August 24. LEO Express told Railway Gazette it ...
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NewsElectro-diesel units ordered for Benidorm – Dénia line
SPAIN: Regional operator Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana has awarded Stadler Rail Valencia a €35·8m contract to supply six electro-diesel multiple-units for the metre gauge railway between Benidorm and Dénia. This forms a part of a €72m programme to upgrade the 50 km Benidorm – Dénia Line 9 to match ...
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NewsElron rolls out Ridango ticket sales system
ESTONIA: This month passenger operator Elron will begin its transition to a ticketing system developed by Tallinn-based Ridango to replace the current system dating from 2010. The new system includes terminals for stations and vending machines for use on trains, and also supports online distribution. Contactless bank card payment will ...
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NewsTrenitalia agrees to acquire V250 trainsets
ITALY: Trenitalia has agreed to acquire 17 of the former Fyra V250 trainsets to expand its high speed train fleet. The contract includes five years of ‘full-service’ maintenance with an optional five-year extension. According to a notice published in the Official Journal of the EU on August 11, Trenitalia says ...
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NewsNSW regional train fleet to be replaced
AUSTRALIA: The entire New South Wales regional train fleet is to be replaced and a new maintenance depot built at Dubbo, state Deputy Premier John Barilaro announced on August 14. Plans to replace the XPT fleet of 60 coaches and 19 power cars used on NSW TrainLink serves linking Sydney, ...
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NewsSweco to plan Stockholm Central station modernisation
SWEDEN: Trafikverket has appointed Sweco to provide planning, design and support services for the modernisation of Stockholm Central station. The aim is to adapt the country’s busiest station and its environment to meet future needs and improve accessibility. Announcing the contract on August 14, Sweco said the size, location and ...
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NewsPenn Station co-ordination review
USA: Amtrak announced on August 9 that it had commissioned an independent review of the way in which the three railroads serving New York’s Penn Station work together. The objective is to improve the ‘design, functionality, communications and co-ordination’ of the passenger facilities. While Amtrak is the station owner, commuter ...
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NewsFinland sets out plans for passenger rail tendering
FINLAND: The government’s plans to open the domestic passenger market to competition and bring the country into line with the EU’s Fourth Railway Package were set out by Transport & Communications Minister Anne Berner on August 9. The model which has been chosen is similar to that adopted by Norway, ...
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NewsTrenitalia drops South Eastern bid to focus on West Coast Partnership
UK: The Trenitalia UK subsidiary of Italian’s national railway group has dropped its bid for the South Eastern passenger franchise to focus on the West Coast Partnership competition, the company confirmed on August 10. The company said it had ‘regretfully’ taken the decision to pull of the South Eastern competion ...
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NewsDSB to sell Uppland business to Transdev
SWEDEN: Denmark’s state passenger operator announced on August 10 that its DSB Sverige subsidiary has agreed to sell the DSB Uppland business to Transdev Sverige. DSB Uppland operates Upptåget local passenger services between Upplands Väsby, Arlanda, Uppsala and Gävleon behalf of Upplands Lokaltrafik under a 10½ year contract which began ...
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NewsEast Japan Railway enters UK market with West Midlands franchise win
UK: The West Midlands Trains Ltd consortium led by the Abellio subsidiary of Dutch national operator NS (70·1%) and the JREM Train 50:50 joint venture of East Japan Railway and Mitsui & Co (29·9%) was named preferred bidder for the West Midlands franchise by the Department for Transport on August ...
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NewsLEO Express recruiting for German launch
GERMANY: Czech open access operator LEO Express has started recruiting train crew to operate a long-distance passenger service between Berlin and Stuttgart, which it says it hopes to launch in mid-August. The company’s German subsidiary LEO Express GmbH is looking for qualified train managers to be based at Berlin-Lichtenberg and ...
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NewsThüringen to award 11-year Rennsteigshuttle contract
GERMANY: Thuringen’s Ministry of Infrastructure & Agriculture is to award local operator Süd-Thüringen-Bahn a contract to continue to provide passenger services on the 14 km Ilmenau – Rennsteig line south of Erfurt for 11 years from December 2017. Regular passenger services on the route were revived in December 2015 ...
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NewsSouth Tirol direct award rail contract approved
ITALY: The direct award of a contract for SAD Nahverkehr to continue to operate local passenger rail services was approved by the South Tirol regional government on August 8. The contract with the rail, bus, funicular and cable car operator covers 2·52 million train-km/year. It runs from September 1 until ...
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NewsTermination of Rift Valley Railways concession agreed
KENYA: The termination of Rift Valley Railways’ concession to operate the Kenyan section of the metre gauge Kenya – Uganda railway network has been agreed ‘by joint consent’ after the high court in Nairobi backed Kenya Railways’ attempts to end the contract. KR had sought to end the concession in ...
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NewsDB Regio orders Siemens EMUs for Rhein-Neckar services
GERMANY: DB Regio has formally ordered 57 three-car Mireo electric multiple-units for use on S-Bahn Rhein-Neckar services, Siemens announced on August 8. This is the second order for the Mireo regional and commuter train family, which Siemens launched last year. The 160 km/h EMUs will be supplied from Siemens’ Krefeld ...