Passenger rail news – Page 201
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NewsVR orders more driving and restaurant cars
FINLAND: National operator VR has awarded Transtech Oy a €55m firm order to supply a further 13 driving cars and 11 restaurant cars for inter-city services. The order for the double-deck vehicles is an option on a €90m contract for 12 driving and 15 restaurant cars which was placed in ...
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NewsSouth West Trains EMUs to get AC traction equipment
UK: Porterbrook Leasing has awarded Vossloh Kiepe UK a £40m contract to supply solid-state inverters and AC traction motors to replace electro-mechanical control equipment and DC motors on the 91 Class 455 electric multiple-units operated by South West Trains on the 750 V DC third rail network serving London Waterloo. ...
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NewsLow-energy ticket machine
LUXEMBOURG: National railway CFL has ordered 83 Dualis 2000 TSI self-service ticket machines and associated Dualis Cemas back-end systems from ICA Traffic. All the operating features of the machines including the 15 in touch screen display will be between 700 mm and 1200 mm above ground level to comply ...
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NewsAustralian high speed rail study published
AUSTRALIA: What Minister for Infrastructure & Transport Anthony Albanese called 'the most detailed and comprehensive study ever undertaken into high speed rail in this country' was published on April 11. The study identifies a potential 1 748 km route for a double-track electrified high speed line between Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra ...
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NewsBombardier signs ICx variation order
GERMANY: On April 8 Bombardier Transportation announced a €336m variation order to its framework agreement to supply components for the ICx inter-city trains which Deutsche Bahn has ordered from Siemens. This reflects DB's decision to add a further 170 vehicles to the initial order. Under the agreement with Siemens, the ...
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NewsFRA assesses Northeast Corridor upgrading options
USA: The Federal Railroad Administration issued on April 2 a Preliminary Alternatives Report to mark the start of the Department of Transportation’s formal study of options to develop the Boston – New York – Washington Northeast Corridor. FRA says its report, entitled ‘NEC Future’, is the first step to developing ...
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NewsRegioJet awarded pilot Czech operating contract
CZECH REPUBLIC: The Ministry of Transport announced on March 26 that it had awarded private operator RegioJet a contract to run subsidised passenger services on the 144 km Ostrava - Opava - Krnov - Olomouc route for 15 years from December 2014. This is intended as the pilot for the ...
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NewsMetLife invests in IEP
UK: MetLife Inc, a US-based provider of insurance and pensions products, announced on April 4 that it had acquired a minority stake in Agility Trains West Ltd for an undisclosed sum. This consortium was formed by Hitachi Rail Europe and John Laing Investments to supply and maintain a fleet of ...
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NewsArriva RP awarded Kujawsko-Pomorskie contracts
POLAND: Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship has awarded Arriva RP two contracts covering the provision of regional passenger services on around two-thirds of the electrified routes in the voivodship. Arriva RP already operates the non-electrified routes under a 10-year contract signed in 2009. The latest contracts run for two years from the December ...
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NewsDB orders Twindexx Vario EMUs for Main-Spessart services
GERMANY: Bombardier Transportation announced a €113m firm order to supply Deutsche Bahn with 12 four-car Twindexx Vario electric multiple units on April 2. The contract has been placed within a December 2008 framework agreement. The latest batch of double-deck EMUs are to be used on Main-Spessart services between Bamberg, Würzburg, ...
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NewsTCDD launches Eskisehir – Konya high speed service
TURKEY: A direct high speed service linking Eskisehir and Konya was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on March 23, accompanied by Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım and TCDD Director General Süleyman Karaman. Introduction of the direct service follows the completion of a 5 km west-to-south connecting curve linking ...
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News'Fastest series-built train in Europe' unveiled
ITALY: The first of 50 ETR1000 high speed trains was unveiled by FS Holding Chief Executive Mauro Moretti at AnsaldoBreda's factory in Pistoia on March 26. FS hailed the ETR1000 as 'the fastest series-built train in Europe', noting that it had been designed for speeds of up to 400 ...
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NewsEuroMaint to refurbish HKX cars
GERMANY: On March 20 RDC Deutschland signed a contract for EuroMaint Rail to modernise six former Austrian Federal Railways Class 4010 electric multiple-unit cars for use as hauled stock on Hamburg-Köln-Express open access inter-city services. The two driving trailers and four intermediate vehicles are to be fitted with electronic reservation ...
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NewsAbellio Rail NRW wins cross-border operating contract
GERMANY: Rhine-Ruhr transport authority VRR has selected Abellio Rail NRW to operate Niederrhein-Netz services for 12 years from December 2016. The operating contract announced on March 22 covers routes RB33 Mönchengladbach - Krefeld - Wesel and RB35 Dusseldorf - Emmerich. RB35 is to be extended to Arnhem in 2017, with ...
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NewsEast Coast to join revised franchising programme
UK: An 'immediate start' to re-letting the InterCity East Coast franchise was announced by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin on March 26, when he unveiled a 'detailed transparent timetable' for the replacement of all passenger train operating franchises over the next eight years. ICEC has been run by the Department ...
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NewsPassenger volumes up at Eurostar
EUROPE: High speed operator Eurostar International reported a doubling in operating profit and modest increase in passenger volumes when reporting full-year financial results for 2012 on March 25. The operator carried 9·9 million passengers in 2012, 2% up from 9·7 million for the prior year, whilst operating ...
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NewsCNR ships passenger fleet to Argentina
ARGENTINA: Following shipment from the port of Dalian, the first batch of diesel locomotives and coaches that CNR of China is supplying for long-distance services is expected to arrive in Buenos Aires by the end of March. Under a US$20m contract signed in July 2010, CNR Dalian is supplying the ...
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NewsAVE trials in France
FRANCE: A RENFE Series 100 high speed trainset undertook trial running at 300 km/h on LGV Est between Paris and Lorraine-TGV station during the week of March 18. Alstom’s Belfort plant has modified the Spanish trainset for use in France, and SNCF’s Technicentre Est-Européen depot has fitted onboard measuring ...
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NewsRail at heart of US$68bn investment programme
THAILAND: Construction of four standard-gauge dedicated passenger lines and the doubling of 3 000 route-km of metre-gauge lines is at the heart of a US$67·6bn infrastructure investment bill approved by cabinet ministers in Bangkok on March 20. Rail infrastructure accounts for the lion’s share of the planned capital outlay, with ...
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NewsJR East introduces 320 km/h running
JAPAN: With the launch of its new timetable on March 16, East Japan Railway began regular operation at 320 km/h between Utsonomiya and Morioka on the Tohoku Shinkansen, using its Series E5 trainsets. This is currently the fastest permitted speed for revenue services in Japan. Derived from the Fastech 360 ...