Passenger rail news – Page 143
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NewsBombardier to supply 750 EMU cars for South Western franchise
UK: FirstGroup and MTR Corp have awarded Bombardier Transportation a £895m contract supply 90 five-car and 10-car Aventra electric multiple-units for the next South Western franchise. The contract announced on June 20 covers a total of 750 cars which are to be built at Bombardier’s Derby plant. The EMUs are ...
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NewsAlliance drops Pendolino plan as Southampton paths identified
UK: Open access passenger service promoter Alliance Rail Holdings has dropped plans to procure Alstom Pendolino trainsets for its proposed London Euston – Blackpool North service. The Arriva subsidiary reports that it is now discussing with leasing company Eversholt the use of Class 91 locomotives and MkIV coaches which are ...
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GE signs 'holistic' agreement to supply 100 locos to Egypt
EGYPT: The Ministry of Transport and Egyptian National Railways have signed a US$575m letter of intent for GE to supply 100 Evolution Series mixed-traffic locomotives. Training of more than 275 staff and the provision of 15 years of support and spare parts for the state railway’s existing and future GE ...
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NewsTwo lines open in China
CHINA: Trial services on the 40·7 km Ningbo – Yuyao Intercity Railway in Zhejiang province began on June 10. Services are operated by a fleet of eight-car CRH6F Cinova trainsets supplied by CRRC Nanjing Puzhen. These operate at a maximum speed of 160 km/h and have a high capacity of ...
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NewsSyntus Flirt3 EMU unveiled
NETHERLANDS: The first of 16 Flirt3 electric multiple-units for Syntus has been unveiled at Stadler’s commissioning centre at Erlen in Switzerland. In March 2016 Syntus ordered nine three-car and seven four-car Flirt3 units for use on services from Zwolle to Kampen and Enschede which it is to operate from December ...
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NewsIndian Railways to order 25 high speed trains
INDIA: A 10-car variant of JR East’s Series E5 Shinkansen trainset has been selected to operate the country’s first high speed line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, according to the Ministry of Railways. Indian Railways is expected to order an initial build of 25 trains at an estimated cost Rs50bn. Construction ...
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NewsSüdostbahn plans automatic train operation
SWITZERLAND: A pilot project to develop automatic train operation was unveiled by Südostbahn AG on June 15. The ultimate intention is to achieve Grade of Automation 3, full automatic train operation with no driver but retaining staff on board for customer service and to take control when necessary. SOB has ...
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NewsSNCB seeks to develop BeNeRail distribution partnership
EUROPE: Speaking on the sidelines of the Amadeus Rail Innovation Forum in Praha on June 13, SNCB’s Manager for International Sales Paul Geyssens indicated that the Belgian national operator is planning to expand its collaboration with travel software specialist Amadeus through the BeNeRail distribution joint venture of SNCB and Dutch ...
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NewsElectro-diesel Flirt unveiled
ITALY: The first electro-diesel version of the Flirt multiple-unit family was unveiled at Stadler’s Bussnang plant in Switzerland on June 15, two years after the Valle d’Aosta region awarded a €43m contract for the supply of five units and the provision of five years of maintenance. The Flirt3 units are ...
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NewsBrisbane to start work on Cross River Rail
AUSTRALIA: Enabling works to facilitate construction of the A$5·4bn Cross River Rail project in Brisbane are to start in September, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Minister for Infrastructure Jackie Trad announced on June 14. The Cross River Rail Delivery Authority has approved demolition work at the GoPrint site, a former ...
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NewsSNCB does not expect DB to run to London
EUROPE: Deutsche Bahn has effectively deferred its high-profile plan to run direct high speed trains between Germany and London. Reports in the French press last week had quoted Birgit Bohle, Managing Director of DB Fernverkehr, suggesting that the German operator had no desire to compete directly with its French counterpart ...
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NewsVästtrafik awards EMU refurbishment contract
SWEDEN: Västtrafik has awarded Alstom a SKr90m contract to refurbish 18 ASEA/ABB X12 and X14 two-car electric multiple-units dating from 1991-95 which are used on Göteborg – Borås and Uddevalla – Borås – Varberg services. The refurbishment to be undertaken between autumn 2017 the end of 2020 includes ...
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NewsÖBB starts Pyhrnstrecke station upgrading
AUSTRIA: ÖBB-Infrastruktur launched a €26·9m programme to modernise three stations on the Pyhrnstrecke in Oberösterreich with a groundbreaking ceremony at Neuhofen an der Krems on June 7. Expected to take around 18 months at a cost of €9·3m, the work at Neuhofen will see the realignment of both main lines ...
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NewsGo-Ahead selected for Stuttgart – Nürnberg operating contract
GERMANY: The Länder of Baden-Württemberg and Bayern have selected Go-Ahead as preferred bidder for the Netz 3A Murrbahn contract to operate Stuttgart – Schwäbisch Hall – Hessental – Crailsheim – Nürnberg services totalling 1∙3 million train-km/year for 13 years from December 2019. Go-Ahead will procure a fleet of Stadler Flirt3XL ...
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NewsWork starts on San Martín viaduct
ARGENTINA: Transport Minister Guillermo Dietrich joined head of the city government Horacio Rodríguez Larreta on June 8 to mark the start of work on a new 5 km elevated alignment for the San Martín commuter route in Buenos Aires. Replacing a surface alignment between Palermo and La Paternal stations which ...
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NewsThalys aims for full trains and happy customers
EUROPE: High speed operator Thalys is to introduce a new fares structure and onboard service proposition on September 12. The current Comfort 1 and Comfort 2 classes of travel are to be replaced with Standard, Comfort and Premium, improving flexibility and increasing the proportion of discounted fares on offer from ...
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NewsLong-distance Lastochka agreed
RUSSIA: An agreement to develop a long-distance variant of the successful Lastochka electric multiple-unit family has been reached between Russian Railways and the Urals Locomotive joint venture of Sinara and Siemens. The accord to draft revised technical specifications was signed during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum by the head ...
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NewsGabon takes delivery of refurbished DB Regio coaches
GABON: Coaches formerly used by DB Regio in Germany are being refurbished by Electroputere VFU Pașcani in Romania for use on Libreville – Franceville overnight services operated by Sociéte d'Exploitation du Transgabonais. The first batch of nine vehicles was shipped at the end of May and is expected to arrive ...
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NewsPakistan Railways orders GE locomotives for the north
PAKISTAN: GE Transportation announced an agreement to supply 20 FDL C20EMP diesel locomotives to Pakistan Railways on June 7. The 1 676 mm gauge C20EMP locomotives are to be supplied from Erie in the USA by the end of 2018. They will be a lightweight 2 000 hp mixed ...
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NewsPrime Minister inaugurates Napoli Afragola station
ITALY: The landmark high speed station at Napoli Afragola, designed by the late Zaha Hadid, was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on June 6, ahead of the start of regular services on June 11. Arriving on a Freccciarossa 1000 high speed train, Gentiloni was accompanied by Minister of ...