Passenger rail news – Page 210
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NewsThree-year investment programme approved
VIETNAM: An investment programme worth US$9·5bn over the next three years has been approved by parliament, paving the way for state railway DSVN to undertake significant modernisation works on key north-south corridors. Due for completion by 2015, the package focuses on raising line speeds to 120 km/h ...
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NewsIC4s return to service
DENMARK: National passenger operator DSB announced on July 2 that it had received authority to put its troubled fleet of IC4 DMUs back into passenger service. The trains had been withdrawn from traffic in November 2011 after problems were identified with the braking system. DSB has been allowed to run ...
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NewsIntelligent planning to minimise disruption
AUSTRALIA: RailCorp of New South Wales has awarded Siemens a contract to supply and support 'intuitive' technology designed to optimise timetabling to improve reliability and punctuality on the busy Sydney - Blacktown corridor. 'Our control system is capable of re-routing and prioritising trains automatically in the event of disruption', according ...
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NewsSlaskie abandons national operator PR in favour of local company
POLAND: Slaskie voivodship's in-house passenger operator Koleje Slaskie has been directly awarded a three-year contract to replace Poland-wide Przewozy Regionalne as the provider of all regional passenger services in the voivodship when PR's current five-year agreement ends in January 2013. PR operates nationally and is owned by the voivodship governments. ...
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NewsFirst phase of Poznan Glówny PPP redevelopment completed
POLAND: A new main building at Poznan Glówny station was inaugurated by President Bronisaw Komorowski on May 29. The €7m building partially spanning platforms 1, 2 and 3 has been developed under a PPP agreement between infrastructure manager PKP PLK which provided the land, and Europa Fund III and TriGranit ...
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NewsNîmes - Montpellier contract signed
FRANCE: The 25-year PPP contract covering financing and construction of the mixed-traffic high speed line bypassing Nîmes and Montpellier was formally signed on June 28, by Réseau Ferré de France President Hubert du Mesnil and Bouygues Construction President & CEO Yves Gabriel on behalf of the OC’VIA consortium. Bringing together ...
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NewsDB orders 38 Coradia Lint regional DMUs
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has signed a €160m contract for 38 Alstom Coradia Lint regional diesel multiple-units, which will be used on Dieselnetz Südwest services in Rheinland-Pfalz, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg from 2015. The contract announced on June 28 includes 14 DMUs with 112 seats ordered under a framework agreement signed in ...
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NewsTrenitalia and Amadeus sign distribution agreement
ITALY: Trenitalia has signed a retail and distribution agreement with transaction processing specialist Amadeus Rail to market its inter-city services internationally using the Amadeus Global Distribution System. Initially covering the Frecce Alta Velocità suite of long-distance services using RFI’s high speed network, the agreement will give Trenitalia ...
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NewsReforms proposed to cut SNCB losses
BELGIUM: In a bid to address the growing debts and operating losses incurred by the national railway, Minister of Public Enterprises Paul Magnette has announced proposals to abolish SNCB-Holding and split the business into two stand-alone companies, operator SNCB and infrastructure manager Infrabel. Last year the group’s accumulated debts reached ...
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NewsPrototype 220 km/h trainset on test
UKRAINE: Testing is underway with the first of two prototype 220 km/h inter-regional electric multiple-units being built by Kriukov Car Building Works for national railway UZ. The nine-car units are rated at 4 MW, and equipped for operation on lines electrified at 3 kV DC and 25 kV 50 ...
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NewsUse Rabbit, get Carrots
THAILAND: Bangkok Smartcard System Co has launched the 'Rabbit' smart card as a common ticketing platform for the city's public transport systems. It is also a stored-value electronic purse that can be used at more than 20 retail outlets. BSS is part of BTS Group Holdings, with Bangkok Bank as ...
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NewsAlstom awarded Stockholm train contract
SWEDEN: Greater Stockholm transport authority Storstockholms Lokaltrafik has placed a €440m order for Alstom to supply a further 46 Coradia Nordic electric multiple-units. The contract announced on June 15 means SL has now ordered 129 Coradia Nordic EMUs under a framework agreement signed in 2002. Alstom has sold a total ...
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NewsStadler rolls out latest Arriva Nederland multiple-units
NETHERLANDS: The first of 14 Stadler GTW electric multiple-units ordered by Arriva Nederland for use on Vechtdal Lines services was rolled out by the Swiss manufacturer on June 12. Arriva Nederland placed a €140m order for 38 diesel and electric units in June 2010, taking the total number of GTWs ...
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NewsMacedonian Railways launches fleet renewal programme
MACEDONIA: National train operator MZ Transport has announced details of a planned fleet renewal programme. Tenders are to be called in the third quarter of 2012 for the supply of up to four three-car diesel multiple-units, two three-car electric multiple-units, 150 wagons, the rehabilitation of three electric locomotives and the ...
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News€870m upgrade to increase RER capacity and reliability
FRANCE: Meeting on June 6, the board of Ile-de-France transport authority STIF approved a package of measures to increase capacity and improve reliability on RER Line A, which it says is 'the busiest line in Europe'. A total of €630m is to be spent on infrastructure, including bringing forward ...
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NewsTrenord orders Alstom commuter EMUs
ITALY: Lombardia regional passenger operator Trenord announced a €67m order for 10 five-car Alstom Coradia Meridian electric multiple-units on June 11. The order is an option on a contract for 14 EMUs which Alstom supplied for Malpensa airport services, but the latest batch will have an interior configured for commuter ...
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NewsResearching smarter transit
USA: Under a five-year programme, Cubic Transportation Systems and the University of California at San Diego are to launch a ‘collaborative partnership’ to study next-generation transport technology in cities, with a strong focus on contactless payments and passenger information systems. Cubic has underwritten the partnership with a $500000 grant to ...
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NewsUpdated BiLevel coaches ordered for GO Transit
CANADA: Toronto regional transport agency Metrolinx has awarded Bombardier Transportation a C$200m order to supply commuter operator GO Transit with 60 double-deck coaches to an updated version of Bombardier's BiLevel design. The contract was announced by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty on May 25 during a visit to Bombardier's Thunder Bay ...
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NewsLeo Express recruitment campaign oversubscribed
CZECH REPUBLIC: Open access operator Leo Express reports that its recruitment campaign to find 80 staff ahead of its launch in December has been heavily oversubscribed. More than 800 people applied for the various positions on offer, many of which are customer-facing, such as call centre staff or onboard service ...
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NewsEuroAirport station proposed in cross-border passenger plan
EUROPE: Plans for a direct rail connection to EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg and the extension of Swiss regional services across the border to Mulhouse in France are included a memorandum of understanding which was signed by SBB, SNCF, the region of Alsace and the cantons of Aargau, Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt ...