Passenger rail news – Page 160
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NewsSoftware for Izy low-cost high speed train launch
SALES: Dutch company Sqills has supplied Thalys with the sales and distribution software for the Izy low cost service which it plans to launch in April. The S3 Passenger platform includes revenue management, pricing and booking engines, seat reservations, inventory management, a customer relationship management front-end and station and ...
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NewsRegional bidding dropped under NS reform plan
NETHERLANDS: National passenger operator NS announced a programme of structural reforms for 2016-19 on March 1, saying its primary future focus would be on the designated core rail network. NS will no longer bid to operate local services under contracts tendered by the provinces, and the Qbuzz rail and bus ...
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NewsSyntus orders Flirts for Zwolle services
NETHERLANDS: Stadler Rail is to supply Syntus with 16 Flirt3 electric multiple-units for use on the services from Zwolle to Kampen and Enschede which the Keolis subsidiary is to operate from December 2017. The €125m contract announced by Stadler on March 2 covers the delivery of nine three-car and ...
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NewsBuilt awarded Flinders Street station contract
AUSTRALIA: Built Pty Ltd has been awarded a contract to refurbish the historic administration building at Melbourne’s Flinders Street station, Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan announced on March 1. The work will include repairing the leaking roof, restoring the ‘crumbling’ façade and re-painting ...
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NewsRovos Rail buys Shongololo Express
SOUTH AFRICA: Luxury cruise train operator Rovos Rail has completed the purchase of the Shongololo Express, taking over 19 coaches and agreeing to employ all of the staff. Shongololo Express operates three routes from Pretoria, with the Southern Cross to Victoria Falls and Dune Express to Swakopmund ...
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NewsCommuter operator c2c launches automatic delay repay
UK: Essex to London commuter operator c2c announced the launch of its automatic delay repay scheme on February 25, enabling passengers using its smartcard to receive automatic compensation for delays without needing to apply for it. Passengers can check their journey record and how much compensation they are owed on ...
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NewsNewrest wins SNCF catering supply contract
FRANCE: Newrest announced on February 22 that its subsidiary Facilit’Rail had been awarded a contract by SNCF to provide logistics for on-train catering on TGV, iDTGV and Intercités services, as well as the Alleo high speed joint venture with DB. Running for ‘just over’ four years, according Newrest, the contract ...
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NewsPremium fleet envisaged under TET revival plan
FRANCE: Setting out the first progress update in the government’s ‘road map’ to reviving France’s conventional long-distance passenger trains, Transport Secretary Alain Vidalies confirmed on February 19 that the ‘rolling stock fleet for these trains would be entirely renewed by 2025’. Suggesting that a major factor in the decline in ...
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NewsKončar KEV DMU enters service
CROATIA: Passenger operator HŽ PP’s first Končar KEV Class 7023 diesel multiple-unit entered revenue service on February 15, operating on the route between Zagreb, Varaždin and Kotoriba. The three-car articulated DMU is 58·5 m long. It has 151 fixed and nine folding seats, two wheelchair spaces, space for two bicycles ...
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NewsHuman error caused Bad Aibling collision
GERMANY: A ‘human error with disastrous consequences’ led to the fatal train crash near Bad Aibling on February 9, Bayern’s state prosecutor Wolfgang Giese has confirmed. Killing 11 people and injured another 80, the head-on collision between two Flirt EMUs on a single-track line was the worst railway accident in ...
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NewsAmtrak reviews Gulf Coast revival
Sunset Limited was cut back to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005." src="https://d1x8q5iq3n6y12.cloudfront.net/CMS/s3/dvv-library/web/import/pics/tn_us-amtrak-sunset_limited_02.jpg?w=660" />USA: Proposals to reinstate inter-city passenger services between New Orleans and Jacksonville are moving forward, with the operation of a special inspection train by Amtrak and the Southern Rail Commission on February 18-19 to examine the ...
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NewsRock Rail signs first rolling stock financing deal
UK: Rock Rail Ltd has entered the rolling stock market with the signing of a deal worth more than £200m to finance a fleet of Siemens electric multiple-units for use by Govia Thameslink Railway. Equity for the deal announced on February 17 is being provided by Standard Life Investments ...
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NewsVilnius – Klaipėda DMU delivered
LITHUANIA: The first of seven Pesa 730ML diesel multiple-units which national operator LG has ordered for the Vilnius – Klaipėda route was unveiled in Vilnius on February 15. The 140 km/h units are similar to DMUs which Pesa has supplied to Belarus Railways, but with an upgraded interior suitable for ...
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NewsBretagne funds EMU order
FRANCE: On February 16 Bombardier announced that SNCF had placed a €34m order for an additional four eight-car Regio 2N double-deck electric multiple-units. They are being financed by the Bretagne region and are scheduled to be delivered in 2019. The order is an option on a 2010 framework agreement ...
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NewsQueensland NGR maintenance depot completed
AUSTRALIA: On February 13 Bombardier and Queensland government ministers will officially open the depot to maintain the electric multiple-units that it is supplying under the Queensland New Generation Rollingstock programme. The facility at Wulkuraka near Ipswich cost A$190m to build. Work was undertaken by Laing O’Rourke between February 2014 ...
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NewsNishi-Nippon orders EMUs
JAPAN: Kawasaki Heavy Industries is to supply 18 Series 9000 electric multiple-units to Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co for use on the 78 km Tenjin Omuta Line between Fukuoka and Omuta. To be manufactured at KHI’s Hyogo factory near Kobe, the EMUs are due to be delivered by March 2017 and ...
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NewsMelbourne’s Cranbourne – Pakenham line to be elevated
AUSTRALIA: A 2·7 km section of the Cranbourne – Pakenham suburban line in southeast Melbourne is to be rebuilt on an elevated alignment under a A$1·6bn contract announced by Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews on February 9. Upgrading of the busy line serving the Dandenong region is part of a ...
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NewsBelarus Railways orders Pesa DMUs
BELARUS: On February 9 Pesa signed a contract to supply Belarus Railways with a further four Type 730M diesel multiple-units to be delivered this year. There is an option for a further four which would be delivered in 2017. Pesa supplied an initial three Type 730M three-car 140 km/h partially ...
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NewsBombardier to overhaul Maryland commuter coaches
USA: Maryland Transit Administration announced a $36·8m contract for Bombardier Transportation to overhaul 63 MARC III coaches on February 4. The double-deck commuter cars have been in service for coming up to 17 years. ‘Overhauling our MARC III cars is a cost-effective way to improve the safety and reliability of ...
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NewsNorway starts passenger service tendering process
NORWAY: The Ministry of Transport & Communications announced on February 4 that it had called competitive tenders for an initial two contracts for the operation of passenger services from December 2018. Tender 1 covers the Sørlandet, Jær and Arendal lines in the south of Norway. Tender 2 covers Trondheim – ...