Passenger rail news – Page 185
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NewsFirst Haramain high speed trainset revealed
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Railways Organization President Mohamed Khaled al Suwaiket visited the first trainset for the Haramain High Speed Rail project at the Talgo’s factory at Rivabellosa in Spain on August 11. The 450 km high speed line will link Makkah with Madinah, via Jeddah and King Abdul Aziz International ...
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NewsTendering starts for high speed line to Querétaro
MEXICO: During a ceremony held in the city of Querétaro on August 15, federal Secretary of Communications & Transport Gerardo Ruiz and Querétaro state governor José Calzada formally signed off tendering documentation for the project to build a high speed line between Mexico City and Querétaro. Representing an investment in ...
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NewsNorthern and TransPennine Express franchise shortlist announced
UK: On August 19 the Department for Transport announced the six bidders which have been prequalified to submit ‘innovative and ambitious proposals’ to operate two passenger franchises in northern England. Invitations to tender are expected to be issued in December, with the winners to be announced by October 2015. The ...
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NewsToronto airport rail link DMU delivered
CANADA: The first two of 18 diesel multiple-unit cars being supplied by Sumitomo for Toronto’s Union-Pearson Express airport rail link has been delivered to regional transport agency Metrolinx. The US$75m order placed in 2011 covers 12 Type A driving cars and six Type B intermediate cars with toilets, which will ...
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NewsPerth airport rail link approved
AUSTRALIA: Detailed proposals for an 8·5 km rail link to serve Perth Airport and the city’s ‘eastern foothills’ suburbs were announced by the Premier of Western Australia Colin Barnett on August 11, following the endorsement of the A$2·2bn scheme by the state cabinet. The line would will diverge from Transperth’s ...
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NewsHSL-Zuid Traxx locomotive delivered
NETHERLANDS: The first of 19 Traxx F160 MS electric locomotives being built at Bombardier Transportation’s Kassel plant for NS Reizigers arrived in Amsterdam on August 11. The 160 km/h locomotives are to be operated with refurbished ICR coaches on domestic services from Amsterdam to Rotterdam and Eindhoven using the HSL-Zuid ...
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NewsSoftronic launches open access service with Hyperion EMU
ROMANIA: As part of a promotional campaign for its 160 km/h Hyperion electric multiple-unit, the Softrans subsidiary of rolling stock manufacturer Softronic is running a daily Craiova – București – Constanța open access return service between August 1 and September 12. This follows trials undertaken by national operator CFR ...
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NewsČD orders long-distance EMUs ahead of market opening
CZECH REPUBLIC: National passenger operator ČD announced a KC2·6bn order for 14 long-distance electric multiple-units based on Škoda Vagonka’s RegioPanter regional EMU family on August 5. Deliveries are scheduled for 2015-16. The routes the EMUs will be deployed on are still be finalised, but ČD said the order forms part ...
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NewsMetronom wins Niedersachsen-Ost operating contract
GERMANY: The Braunschweig, Niedersachsen and Hannover transport authorities have jointly selected Metronom for a contract to operate Elektro-Netz Niedersachsen-Ost passenger services for 10 years from December 2015. The ENNO contract covers the operation of 2·1 million train-km/year on the Wolfsburg – Gifhorn – Hannover and Wolfsburg – Braunschweig – Hildesheim ...
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NewsDB Regio awarded Allgäu operating contracts
GERMANY: The Länder of Bayern and Baden-Württemberg have awarded DB Regio two contracts to operate Dieselnetz Allgäu passenger services between December 2017 and December 2029. The services were tendered as two lots, with Lot 1 covering regional express services between München, Augsburg and Nürnberg which are to be operated using ...
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NewsIsrael Railways calls tenders for electric locomotives
ISRAEL: Israel Railways has called tenders for the supply of between 62 and 78 electric locomotives, with options for more. These are required as part of ISR’s 25 kV 50 Hz electrification programme. ISR is seeking mixed traffic locomotives with three-phase asynchronous traction equipment. These should be suitable for regenerative ...
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NewsAppeal court ruling provides high speed funding fillip
USA: Three judges of the State Appellate Court in Sacramento ruled on July 31 to support an appeal by California High Speed Rail Authority against a prior judgment blocking the sale of $9·95bn in so-called ‘Proposition 1A’ bonds. Judge Michael Kenny had ruled on November 25 that when Californian voters ...
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NewsÖBB orders more Railjets
AUSTRIA: Siemens announced an €145m order to supply Austrian Federal Railways with a further nine rakes of Railjet push-pull coaches on August 1. Delivery of the seven-car sets is scheduled for December 2016. ‘Thanks to the increased profitability in passenger services, we are able to make this investment on ...
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NewsSNCF orders more Francilien EMUs
FRANCE: SNCF has exercised an option for 22 additional eight-car Francilien electric multiple-units for use on Transilien suburban routes H and K around Paris, Bombardier Transportation announced on July 29. The firm order has been placed under a 2006 agreement for up to 372 units, and takes the total ...
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NewsCompete and co-operate, says HKX
GERMANY: Open access company Hamburg-Köln-Express marked the second anniversary of its operations on July 23, saying it has now carried 800 000 passengers on more than 3 000 trains. The second anniversary is ‘is longer than many observers expected’, said CEO Carsten Carstensen. ‘We’re proud of this success.’ However HKX ...
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NewsWearable journey planners
GERMANY: Scheduling and journey planning software supplier HaCon has opened a ‘Mobility Lab’ in Berlin which will focus on research and development projects. It will look at smart and wearable technologies, and ways of linking up data on different modes of transport. ‘In addition to opening new markets, we ...
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NewsNew fleet boosts Sarmiento capacity
ARGENTINA: On July 21 the first seven nine-car EMUs supplied by CSR of China entered service between Once and Moreno on the Sarmiento commuter route in Buenos Aires. Introduction of the new trainsets has enabled capacity to be increased from 241 536 to 399 233 passengers/day, with the number of ...
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NewsHitachi unveils modular EMU designs
UK: Hitachi Rail Europe unveiled full-size mock-ups of its AT100 and AT200 EMU designs in London on July 21. Aimed primarily at the UK market, the two designs are intended to augment the existing AT300 (Class 395/Class 800) design to create a family of trains. These can be configured using ...
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NewsDutch smart ticket roll-out completed
NETHERLANDS: The much-delayed national roll-out of the OV-chipkaart smart card across the rail network was completed on July 9. All passengers are now required to check in and out at station readers using a ticket with either a smart chip or a printed barcode. Testing of the multimodal smart ...