Passenger rail news – Page 226
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News
PR restarts tourist operations
PAKISTAN: Having been instructed by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani that it needs to become 'more commercial' and profitable ahead of its planned restructuring and possible privatisation, Pakistan Railways has decided to relaunch tourist services. The Ghandhara Heritage Steam Safari was officially inaugurated at Rawalpindi in October by ...
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NewsChinese trains to expand KL Komuter fleet
MALAYSIA: Siemens Mobility announced on November 26 that it is to supply traction equipment for a build of 38 six-car EMUs being supplied by CSR Zhouzhou Electric Locomotive Co Ltd to expand the capacity of KTMB’s Komuter suburban rail network around Kuala Lumpur. The 4bn yuan train order had been ...
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NewsBig decisions still awaited as government confirms commuter electrification
UK: The go-ahead for two previously-announced commuter electrification projects was confirmed by Secretary of State for Transport Philip Hammond in a statement on November 25, along with full completion of the Thameslink Programme. However an decision about electrification from London to Bristol and south Wales has been deferred ...
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News10-year contract will trigger PKP Intercity Pendolino order
POLAND: The Ministry of Infrastructure signed a 10-year contract for PKP Intercity to provide long distance train services on November 24. This will see the government pay an initial subsidy of 240m z?oty in 2011, rising by inflation +1% each year. The long-term operating agreement will enable PKP Intercity to ...
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NewsTGV tickets to Figueres on sale
EUROPE: SNCF and RENFE began selling tickets for Paris – Figueres TGV services on November 23, ahead of the launch of through trains on December 19. Two return trips from Paris-Lyon will operate daily over the new Perpignan – Figueres high speed line, with a journey time of 5 h ...
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NewsSiemens looks to 1520 commuter train market
RUSSIA: On November 18 Siemens and RZD signed an agreement in the presence of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin under which they are to set up an engineering centre to develop and manufacture multiple-units for the 1 520 mm gauge market. The centre will be part of the joint venture which ...
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NewsWeinberg tunnel holed through
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways held celebrations in Zürich on November 22 to mark the breakthrough of the Weinberg tunnel, which forms the centrepiece of the Durchmesserlinie cross-city rail link project. The tunnel boring machine finally reached its destination below the city’s Hauptbahnhof following a 4·5 km drive under the Limmat ...
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NewsPrivate commuter operator launches
RUSSIA: Perm Express launched commuter services on 47 km of the Sverdlovsk Railway between Perm II and Divya on November 1. The privately-owned company was formed in January and received a passenger licence in September. Perm Express is independent of both Russian Railways and the regional government, which operate commuter ...
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NewsTalent 2 to work Leipzig S-Bahn
GERMANY: Bombardier Transportation confirmed on November 19 that DB Regio had placed a further order for Class 442 Talent EMUs valued at around €200m. The 36 three-car and 15 four-car EMUs will be used on the new Mitteldeutsche S-Bahn network radiating from Leipzig, which is due to open in ...
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NewsBDZ becomes holding company
BULGARIA: Plans to restructure state rail operator BDZ on a holding company model were signed-off by Minister of Transport, Communications & Information Technology Alexander Tsvetko on October 22. National Railway Infrastructure Company is already responsible for infrastructure. The latest plans will see BDZ EAD established as a holding company with ...
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NewsItalian open access passenger operator launches
ITALY: Privately owned open access operator Arenaways launched its first passenger service on November 15, competing with state-owned passenger operator Trenitalia between Milano and Torino. Arenaways received confirmation of its two daily paths in each direction on November 12, however it did not obtain approval to call at intermediate stations ...
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NewsUkrainian Railways to order Korean trainsets
UKRAINE: Visiting South Korea on November 2, Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov announced a provisional agreement for UZ to buy 160 km/h inter-city trainsets from Hyundai-Rotem, as the first step in a programme to renew the national railway’s rolling stock fleet. A protocol signed in Changwon covers ...
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NewsConnecticut orders more M-8 commuter cars
USA: The state of Connecticut has exercised an option for another 42 M-8 commuter EMU cars from Kawasaki Rail Car Inc, bringing the total order to 342 vehicles costing $860m. The announcement was made by outgoing Governor Jodi Rell on November 15, when she and a group of Department of ...
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NewsTalgo to renew Kazakh inter-city train fleet
KAZAKHSTAN: Talgo announced an order to supply KTZ with 420 coaches on November 11, part of an agreement signed the previous week which could see the national railway's fleet of 3 000 inter-city vehicles replaced. The initial contract is worth more than €300m for the Spanish firm, with further revenue ...
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NewsMoscow - St Petersburg high speed study to be submitted next year
RUSSIA: A report setting out the functional requirements for a Moscow - St Petersburg high speed line is to be completed by the start of 2011, Denis Muratov, Director-General of RZD's high speed rail subsidiary Skorostnye Magistrali, told the High Speed World 2010 conference in Madrid on November 9. The ...
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NewsAlstom pursues Eurostar challenge
EUROPE: The European Commission confirmed on November 4 that it was reviewing Eurostar International’s decision to order e320 Velaro trainsets from Siemens as part of its planned £700m expansion programme. Described as ‘preliminary’, the four-week investigation has been triggered by a complaint from Alstom alleging that Eurostar’s tendering process ...
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NewsSwivel seats
INTERIORS: London-based design agency SeymourPowell has released its FLEX saloon layout targeted at the premium long-distance rail travel segment. The agency claims that, by using six swivelling seats, a major increase in internal layout permutations is possible, with the loss of just four to five seats from the overall capacity ...
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NewsJR Central unveils L0 maglev
JAPAN: Central Japan Railway announced on October 26 that it is to build 14 pre-production maglev vehicles as prototypes for the 500 km/h trainsets that it expects to put into commercial operation on the Chuo Shinkansen route between Tokyo and Osaka from 2027 onwards. The first five-car trainset will be ...
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NewsSuburban expansion in Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla
SPAIN: Under its 2009-15 investment programme for the Madrid suburban network, the Ministry of Development has awarded study and design contracts worth a total of €22m. Prorail Ingenieros Civiles is to design the Humanes – Illescas extension of route C5, including track doubling, electrification and two stations, while Técnicas ...
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NewsArriva awarded 10-year Polish operating contract
POLAND: On October 26 Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship selected incumbent Arriva RP for a 10-year contract to operate local passenger services on non-electrified routes from December 11. Arriva's bid included a lower subsidy than the rival tender from Przewozy Regionalne, the former PKP regional train business. A joint venture of Arriva ...