Passenger rail news – Page 149
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NewsAmsterdam – Brussels EMUs approved
NETHERLANDS: Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem informed the lower house of parliament on March 8 that he had approved a request from national passenger operator NS to purchase two additional Alstom electric multiple-units, as an option on its Inter-city New Generation procurement programme. Authorised by the Ministry of Finance as the ...
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NewsLéman Express moves closer
EUROPE: During a ‘summit’ between the two railways held in Paris on March 9, SBB CEO Andreas Meyer and SNCF President Guillaume Pepy signed a co-operation agreement for the operation from December 2019 of the Léman Express network of cross-border regional and suburban services centred on Genève. Under the agreement, ...
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NewsSiemens rolls out first Cascades Charger locomotive
USA: The first of eight SC-44 Siemens Charger diesel-electric locomotives ordered by Washington State Department of Transportation has been rolled out at the manufacturer’s Sacramento plant. The locomotives are to be used with Talgo coaches on the Cascades service from Eugene, Oregon, to Vancouver in Canada, which is operated by ...
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NewsRhein-Ruhr-Express depot construction launched
GERMANY: The foundation stone for the Rhein-Ruhr-Express maintenance depot was laid in Dortmund-Eving on March 7. Siemens is building the 70 000 m2 facility on the site of a former marshalling yard on the Dortmund – Lünen main line. A 163 m long, 63 m wide and 12·4 m ...
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NewsiDTGV brand to disappear
FRANCE: The iDTGV brand for high speed services which can only be booked online is to be phased out, SNCF announced on March 7. The brand will first be withdrawn on routes from Paris to Bretagne and the southwest with the opening of the LGV Bretagne Pays de la Loire ...
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NewsScotRail EMU refurbishment contract awarded
UK: Leasing company Eversholt Rail has awarded Knorr-Bremse RailServices a contract to undertake a £6m refurbishment of 22 three-car Class 320 electric multiple-units operated by ScotRail. KBRS will undertake the work at its Springburn site in Glasgow between October 2017 and early 2019. The scope includes repainting all surfaces, installing ...
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NewsPassenger services to return
EUROPE: Passenger services are to be reinstated on two branch lines in Slovakia this summer, mostly targeting leisure traffic. Polish regional operator PolRegio has received approval for the use of SA135 and SA134 diesel multiple-units on cross-border services to Medzilaborce in Slovakia. Between July 1 and September 3 there will ...
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NewsGautrain expansion study completed
SOUTH AFRICA: A feasibility study for the expansion of the Gautrain network has been completed by the Gautrain Management Agency and submitted to the Gauteng provincial and national treasuries as well as major stakeholders. GMA commissioned the study in October 2014 from the SMEC Consortium of SMEC South Africa, ...
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NewsTurkish ‘National Train' set to roll in 2019
TURKEY: The first of 21 five-car electric multiple-units being developed under the 'National Train' programme to enhance local manufacturing capabilities is set to carry passengers in late 2019. The 160 km/h inter-regional trainsets are to be produced at the Tüvasaş factory in Sakarya province and will make use of a ...
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NewsOpen access operators could pay public service obligation levy
UK: The Department for Transport has begun a two-month consultation on proposals to introduce a public service obligation levy which open access passenger operators would pay to support loss-making franchised services deemed to be socially and economically desirable. This follows the Competition in passenger rail services in Great Britain report ...
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NewsCRC orders 250 km/h trains for Diamond Economic Circle
CHINA: China Railway Corp has awarded the Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation joint venture a contract to supply 18 eight-car CRH1A-A high speed trainsets. The 250 km/h trainsets designated Zefiro 250NG by the manufacturer are to be operated by the Chengdu and Kunming railway bureaux in the ‘Diamond Economic Circle’ region ...
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NewsThree prequalify for next East Midlands franchise
UK: Three bidders have prequalified to bid for the next East Midlands passenger franchise, the Department for Transport announced on March 1. They are: Arriva Rail East Midlands Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn's Arriva UK Trains Ltd; First Trenitalia East Midlands Rail Ltd, a 70:30 joint venture of ...
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NewsNewag signs Łódź EMU contract
POLAND: Łódź suburban operator Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna signed a contract on February 28 for Newag to supply 14 three-car Impuls 2 electric multiple-units for 236·8m złoty, and maintain them for 12 years at a cost of 1·476 złoty/train-km. Stadler supplied ŁKA’s current fleet of 20 two-car Flirt3 EMUs and had ...
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NewsDeadlines extended as Caltrain seeks to save electrification programme
USA: San Francisco to San Jose commuter operator Caltrain announced on February 27 that it had reached agreement with contractors Balfour Beatty and Stadler to extend the contractual deadlines for start of work on the Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project.Caltrain had been expected to issue ‘Notice to Proceed’ ...
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NewsLong-distance operating contract tender cancelled
SLOVAKIA: The Ministry of Transport & Construction has formally cancelled the tendering of a €10m contract to operate subsidised long-distance passenger services between Bratislava and Banská Bystrica via Šurany and Levice. As a result, all passenger services on the 230 km route will continue to be operated by state-owned ZSSK ...
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NewsKTZ expects traffic growth in 2017
KAZAKHSTAN: A business development plan for 2017-21 has been approved by the board of national railway KTZ. Net income in 2017 is expected to reach 29bn tenge and operating profit 127bn tenge, up from 28bn and 90bn tenge respectively in 2016. Traffic is expected to be 188·7 billion tonne-km in ...
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News‘Modernisation, movement and beauty’ of Algeria’s future inter-city trainsets
ALGERIA: National railway SNTF and Alstom have revealed the final design for the 17 Coradia Polyvalent electro-diesel multiple-units which are under construction in France for use on inter-city services between Alger, Oran, Annaba, Constantine and Béchar from January 2018. The SNTF units will be similar to the Coradia Polyvalent units ...
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NewsSaudi Railway Co launches first passenger services
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Railway Co began operating its first regular passenger service between Riyadh and Al-Qassim on February 26, using one of its CAF-built diesel trainsets which can operate at up to 200 km/h. Until April 1 the service will run five days a week, leaving the terminus close to ...
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NewsGerman contracts more attractive than UK franchises, says National Express CEO
NATIONAL EXPRESS: German passenger train operating contracts offer more attractive business opportunities than UK franchises, National Express Group CEO Dean Finch said when the transport group's annual results were published on February 23. 'The current UK rail market is one that we believe is not as attractive as our other ...
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NewsHS2 Phase 1 bill receives Royal Assent
UK: The parliamentary bill for the first phase of the High Speed 2 project received Royal Assent on February 23, marking the final legislative step before full civil works can begin.‘HS2 will be the world’s most advanced passenger railway and the backbone of our rail network’, said Transport Secretary Chris ...