Passenger rail news – Page 189
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NewsFinancial close on PRASA train order
SOUTH AFRICA: Alstom announced financial close on the €4bn contract for the supply of 600 X'Ttrapolis Mega commuter electric multiple-units to Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa on April 29. Financial close on the deal follows the signing on October 14 2013 of the contract covering the delivery of 3 ...
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NewsAuckland launches electric suburban services
NEW ZEALAND: Auckland Transport’s first electric trains began revenue operation on April 28, when operating concessionaire Trandev Auckland switched its half-hourly Southern Line service between Britomart and Onehunga from DMUs to EMUs. The electrification was formally launched by Auckland Mayor Len Brown on April 27 with a ...
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NewsCSR fleet enters service on San Martín route
ARGENTINA: President Cristina Fernández joined Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo at Sáenz Peña station on April 23 to mark the entry into service of the new fleet supplied by CSR of China for the San Martín commuter route in Buenos Aires. Fernández said that the new fleet ...
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NewsRegioJet plans to expand in Slovakia
SLOVAKIA: Czech open access passenger operator RegioJet has announced plans to enter the non-subsidised long-distance rail market in Slovakia, with an application for train paths for four daily return inter-city services on the Bratislava – Žilina – Košice route from the December 14 2014 timetable change. Services would connect with ...
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NewsState Railway of Thailand plans southern track renewal programme
THAILAND: A 6bn baht programme of track renewals and earthworks enhancement is due to begin next month, according to State Railway of Thailand Governor Prapat Chongsanguan. The work is focused on the 1 200 km main line running south from Bangkok, with the aim of raising line speeds and improving ...
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NewsHokkaido Shinkansen trainsets ordered
JAPAN: JR Hokkaido confirmed on April 16 that it had ordered four 320 km/h trainsets from Hitachi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries to operate its share of services on the Hokkaido Shinkansen. Designated Series H5, the trains are based on the Series E5 sets which JR East operates on the Tohoku ...
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NewsKŽC awarded Praha suburban contract
CZECH REPUBLIC: Praha urban transport authority Ropid has awarded private operator KŽC Doprava a 10-year contract to operate subsidised services on the 19 km suburban route S34 between Praha Masarykovo and Čakovice. Although Ropid had announced plans for an open competition in January, the contract was awarded without tendering following ...
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NewsMore capacity needed in Sweden
SWEDEN: In a report commissioned by the government, infrastructure manager Trafikverket has recommended that planning for a Y-shaped high speed network linking Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö should continue because the extra capacity is needed. The study found that currently approved projects including the 150 km Ostlänken high speed line between ...
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NewsLEO Express plans Košice service
SLOVAKIA: Following the failure of its plans to enter the Polish market, Czech open access passenger operator LEO Express has announced its intention to extend its Praha - Ostrava - Bohumín - Karviná/Staré Město u Uherského Hradiště trains to Košice in eastern Slovakia from the 2014-15 timetable. LEO Express has ...
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NewsLoans to fund Croatian upgrading
CROATIA: Infrastructure manager Hrvatske Željeznice Infrastruktura has applied for a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development to help finance a €120m rehabilitation programme for the Savski Marof – Zagreb section of Trans-European Corridor X. The project covers 22 km of double-track on the western approach to the ...
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NewsS-Bahn Rhein-Main EMU deliveries begin
GERMANY: The first of 91 ET430 electric multiple-units ordered in November 2011 for use on S-Bahn Rhein-Main services was displayed to the public at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof on April 11. DB Regio Hessen is initially putting the units into service on route S1 and airport services, before deployment across routes S1, ...
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NewsFinancial close on £2·7bn East Coast IEP contract
UK: Financial close on the £2·7bn contract for 65 Hitachi Super Express Trains to operate on the East Coast Main Line was announced on April 16. The trainsets are being procured from the Agility Trains consortium of Hitachi Rail Europe and John Laing under the Department for Transport’s Intercity Express ...
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NewsGreater Anglia direct award franchise agreed
UK: The Abellio Greater Anglia subsidiary of Dutch national operator NS is to continue operating passenger services between London Liverpool Street and eastern England under a new 27-month franchise agreement announced by the Department for Transport on April 16. The short-term direct award franchise runs from July 14 2014 to ...
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NewsMTR Express to launch in March 2015
SWEDEN: On April 15 MTR Nordic announced that its MTR Express service between Stockholm and Göteborg is expected to launch in March 2015. MTR has applied to infrastructure manager Trafikverket for 10 daily train paths in each direction from the start of the 2015 timetable in December; this is one ...
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NewsMelbourne Airport link endorsed
AUSTRALIA: A programme for construction of the long-planned rail link to Melbourne Airport will be included in Victoria’s state budget to be published on May 6, the state Premier Denis Napthine announced on April 13. Identified as one of several major expansion projects in Public Transport Victoria’s Metropolitan Rail Network ...
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NewsMore EMUs for London Overground
UK: Transport for London announced on April 9 that it would be inviting expressions of interest in a contract to supply electric multiple-units to operate routes that are to be transferred to its London Overground network in 2015. New rolling stock will also be required following electrification of London Overground’s ...
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NewsCSR locos arrive in Pakistan
PAKISTAN: CSR Ziyang has delivered an initial batch of five 2 000 hp diesel locomotives to Pakistan Railways. Unloading at the port of Karachi began on April 7, with the new locos due to undergo two weeks of testing before being accepted by PR. CSR is supplying a total of ...
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NewsHigh speed station planning progresses
ASIA: A high speed station is planned for the Sungai Besi regeneration zone south of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on April 7 at the end of the fifth ‘leaders’ retreat’ with his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong. The two leaders reported that ‘good progress’ was being ...
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NewsGouda – Alphen concession awarded
NETHERLANDS: The province of Zuid-Holland has awarded NS Reizigers and Abellio Rail NRW GmbH a contract to operate passenger services on the 18 km Gouda – Alphen aan den Rijn route. Worth €3m a year, the contract is due to commence on December 11 2016 and will run for a ...
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NewsTCDD to order more high speed trains
TURKEY: National railway TCDD has issued a tender notice requesting offers by May 9 for the supply of a further 10 high speed trainsets. Respondents are requested to include in their bids three years of maintenance and the supply of 47 kits of spare parts. Last July TCDD placed an ...