Passenger rail news – Page 159
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News£800m London Waterloo capacity programme launched
UK: A £800m package of works intended to provide a 30% increase in peak capacity on the routes into London Waterloo station by 2019 was officially launched on March 23. This encompasses a number of previously-announced projects, including: Rebuilding the former Waterloo International terminal to provide an extra five ...
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NewsNew operator for Dakar – Bamako railway
AFRICA: The governments of Senegal and Mali have established Dakar Bamako Ferroviaire to manage the revival of the 1 286 km railway between the port of Dakar and Bamako. The new company replaces concessionaire TransRail, a 51% subsidiary of Advens which had operated the metre-gauge line under a concession awarded ...
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NewsBi-mode order planned as Hull Trains gets 10-year access agreement
UK: The Office of Rail & Road has approved open access inter-city operator First Hull Trains’ application for track access rights for a further 10 years from 2019. The FirstGroup subsidiary said this would enable it to go ahead with a £68m plan to order five Hitachi electro-diesel multiple-units which ...
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NewsFirst train to Moreton Bay
AUSTRALIA: Queensland Rail has started test running on the 12·6 km Moreton Bay Rail Link, which is expected to open for revenue service later this year. Following energisation of the 25 kV 50 Hz electrification in January, the first test EMU operated over the line on March 16. Diverging from ...
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NewsIsrael Railways expands double-deck fleet
ISRAEL: Israel Railways has exercised an option for an additional 60 Bombardier Transportation Twindexx Vario push-pull coaches, and called tenders for the supply and maintenance of 60 double-deck electric multiple-units. The €106m firm order announced on March 21 has been placed within an October 2010 framework contract with Bombardier. ...
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NewsStadler selected to supply Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn EMUs
GERMANY: Rhein-Ruhr transport authority VRR announced on March 17 that it had selected Stadler Pankow to supply 41 electric multiple-units and maintain them for 30 years. Stadler beat three other bidders to be named preferred bidder, and is expected to sign the contract following the customary 10-day standstill period. ...
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NewsJakarta – Bandung DBOM concession agreed
INDONESIA: A 50-year design build operate maintain concession was signed in Jakarta on March 16 between the government and the Sino-Indonesian consortium promoting a 142 km fast passenger line between the capital and Bandung.The concession held by the Kerata Cepat Indonesia Cina consortium takes effect on May 31 2019, when ...
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NewsTrain delay refund process to be improved
UK: The Office of Rail & Road made recommendations for improving the process for claiming refunds for train delays on March 18. ORR was responding to a ‘super-complaint’ made by consumer organisation Which? in December, which claimed the current process is neither clear nor straightforward. Following the super-complaint ORR undertook ...
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NewsDB needs ‘quality, quality and more quality’ to return to economic success
GERMANY: ‘A self-critical look shows us that we did not achieve the targets we set’, said Deutsche Bahn CEO Rüdiger Grube when presenting the group’s 2015 annual results on March 16. Grube said three events had a major impact on the national railway last year: ‘unusually fierce’ storms; the longest ...
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NewsTransdev signs Wellington operating contract
NEW ZEALAND: Greater Wellington Regional Council signed a contract on March 15 for Transdev Wellington Ltd to operate suburban rail services in the capital. Transdev Wellington is a joint venture of Transdev, which has operated rail services in Auckland since 2004, and Hyundai Rotem which will maintain ...
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NewsEurostar passenger numbers steady but profit down
EUROPE: Cross-Channel high speed train operator Eurostar reports that it carried 10·4 million passengers in 2015, the same total as 2014. Sales revenue was impacted by the strength of sterling, being flat year-on-year at constant exchange rates but down 5% at actual exchange rates from £867m in 2014 to ...
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NewsBelfast Transport Hub planning underway
UK: Northern Ireland public transport agency Translink is developing plans for an extensive redevelopment of Belfast Great Victoria Street station and the adjacent bus station to form an integrated Belfast Transport Hub with rail, bus, cycle, taxi and car facilities. The current rail and bus stations handle seven million passengers/year, ...
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NewsTransdev orders Coradia Lint DMUs for Augsburg
GERMANY: Transdev has placed a €115m order for 28 Alstom Coradia Lint diesel multiple-units which its Bayerische Regiobahn subsidiary is to use from December 2018 on Dieselnetz Augsburg I services from Augsburg to Landsberg and Füssen and from München to Füssen. The order announced by Alstom on March 11 ...
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NewsDB Regio awarded Donau-Ostalb operating contract
GERMANY: The Land of Baden-Württemberg has awarded incumbent and sole bidder DB ZugBusRegionalverkehr Alb Bodensee the Netz 5 Donau-Ostalb passenger operating contract which runs for 10 years from the December 2016 timetable change. The current subsidy of €11·69 per train-km will decrease to €10·20 in the first year and then ...
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NewsCBTC goes live on København S-Bane
DENMARK: Infrastructure manager Banedanmark has commissioned the first section of CBTC signalling on the København S-Bane network. The northern section of Line A between Jægersborg and Hillerød was switched over with effect from February 29. The legacy signalling on the 1·5 kV DC electrified network uses a mix of technologies ...
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NewsStation waiting room fitted with timed doors
CANADA: As part of a programme to revitalise underused stations, the waiting room at La Pocatière station in Québec has been reopened through a partnership between VIA Rail and the municipality of Ste-Anne-De-La-Pocatière. It has been equipped with a timed door-opening system synchronised with the timetable of the Montreal – ...
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NewsGreat Western Railway and Network Rail sign alliance agreement
UK: Network Rail and Great Western Railway signed an alliance agreement on March 4, committing the infrastructure manager and franchised train operator to a ‘more aligned approach’ to improve performance and increase efficiency. Joint planning will aim to minimise disruption during major upgrading projects such as the ongoing 25 ...
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NewsGibela starts work on EMU factory
SOUTH AFRICA: The Gibela joint venture of Alstom and local partners marked the start of construction of its new EMU manufacturing plant at Dunnotar on March 4, with a ceremony attended by Alstom Chairman & CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge, PRASA Chairman Dr Popo Molefe, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters and the Mayor ...
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NewsSydney Trains to build integrated control centre
AUSTRALIA: Sydney Trains is to develop an integrated Rail Operations Centre at a cost of A$276m, New South Wales Minister for Transport & Infrastructure Andrew Constance announced on March 2. To be located at Green Square, on the Airport line south of the city centre, the ROC is expected to ...
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NewsMetrolinx receives first Tier 4 locomotive
CANADA: Greater Toronto regional transport agency Metrolinx has taken delivery of a prototype Tier 4 compliant diesel locomotive from Wabtec’s MotivePower subsidiary, and has signed a US$97m contract for 16 more to be delivered from 2017. According to Wabtec, the MP54 prototype is the first commuter locomotive to be delivered ...