Passenger rail news – Page 237
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NewsBombardier preferred for double-deck EMU deal
FRANCE: SNCF confirmed on November 18 that it had selected Bombardier Transportation as preferred bidder for the supply of up to 860 high-capacity double-deck electric multiple-units for regional services. Negotiations are underway with a view to the contract being signed in February 2010. Designated Porteurs a Haute Densité, the ...
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NewsFirst Class 380 car on test
UK: Siemens Mobility's Krefeld-Uerdingen plant in Germany has begun testing the first vehicle from the fleet of 22 three-car and 16 four-car Desiro electric multiple-units being built for ScotRail. Developed from the Desiro UK family, Class 380 has lightweight aluminium bodyshells with a bolt-on steel structure at the front ...
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NewsFinnish Flirt enters service
FINLAND: The first of 32 Stadler Flirt electric multiple-units ordered for commuter services in Helsinki and southern Finland went into regular traffic on November 18. The previous week two units had been formally handed over to national railway VR after a year-long test phase. The second is currently being ...
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NewsPuy-de-Dôme rack railway trains ordered
FRANCE: Stadler Rail has announced a SFr25m order to supply four articulated electric multiple-units for the 5·3 km rack railway which SNC-Lavalin is building on the Puy-de-Dôme in the Massif Central. The vehicles will be based on units which the Swiss train builder has supplied for FGC’s ...
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NewsBombardier hands over first ALP-46A
USA: The first of 36 type ALP-46A electric locomotives being built for New Jersey Transit was ceremonially handed over at Bombardier Transportation's Kassel plant in Germany on November 12. The ALP-46A locomotives were ordered at cost of US$317m as a follow-on from 29 ALP-46 locomotives which have been in ...
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NewsHuge train orders in China
CHINA: The Ministry of Railways has placed three orders for a total of 280 high speed trainsets and 400 freight locomotives. Knorr-Bremse is to supply subsystems worth €500m for one of the high speed contracts in the company's largest ever order. China Northern signed a 40·8bn yuan contract on ...
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NewsKeolis confirmed for Virginia Railway Express contract
USA: The two transportation commissions which administer Virginia Railway Express gave final approval on November 5 to a $85·7m contract under which Keolis Rail Services America will operate VRE commuter rail services into Washington DC for five years from July 1 2010. A VRE spokesman said Keolis' bid ...
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NewsJoint bid wins Italian joint order
ITALY: Two regional operators which co-operated to issue a joint invitation to tender in January have chosen a consortium of Stadler and AnsaldoBreda to supply a total of 34 multiple-units. The €200m order from Sistemi Territoriali of Veneto and Ferrovie Emilia Romagna was announced on November 6. It covers ...
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NewsBarcelona suburban train order
SPAIN: On November 3 the board of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya approved a €155m contract with Alstom and CAF for 24 Class 113 four-car electric multiple-units. They will enter service on the Vallès suburban network in Barcelona from the second half of 2013. The 1 435 mm ...
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NewsHamburg-Köln Express to launch
GERMANY: A joint venture of US-based Railroad Development Corp, Locomore Rail GmbH and London-based investor Michael Schabas has announced that they have established an open-access inter-city passenger operation in Germany. Branded Hamburg-Köln Express, the venture will launch three train pairs between the two cities on August 15 2010. The trains ...
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NewsTrain lessor looking east
EUROPE: The Railpool leasing joint venture of HSH Nordbank and KfW IPEX-Bank is aiming to expand its presence in eastern Europe, according to Account Director Torsten Lehnert, who was speaking during the Nordic Rail 2009 event. ‘Our focus is to go east, perhaps into Hungary or Romania’, said Lehnert. ...
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NewsRefurbishment to take Canadian cars upmarket
CANADA: National passenger operator VIA Rail has awarded US firm Avalon Rail a C$19·5m contract to provide higher-grade accommodation on 12 coaches used on the Toronto - Vancouver Canadian service. The refurbishment is being funded from C$407m allocated to passenger rail under the government's Economic Action Plan. ...
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NewsEurostar prepares for competition
EUROPE: 'Hopefully very soon, we will be a single Eurostar train operating company' in the UK, France and Belgium', Eurostar Chief Executive Richard Brown told the UK's Railway Study Association on October 14. 'At the moment, actually, in France I have no authority, I have no accountability. I ...
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NewsPortland buys more RDCs
USA: Portland operator TriMet has purchased two additional DMU cars to provide backup for its existing four cars, whose reliability has been unpredictable on the 23·7 km Wilsonville-Beaverton Westside Express Service. Instead of new vehicles to match those manufactured by now-defunct Colorado Railcar, the transit agency has acquired a ...
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NewsThrough services vital for high-speed success
EUROPE: Eurostar's share of the rail+air market from London to Paris, Brussels and Lille is now nearly 85%, Commercial Director Nick Mercer told a Railway Forum seminar in London on October 15, and even on routes with 4 h journey times other Railteam members 'take more than 50% market share'. ...
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NewsAlstom out of Thameslink bidding
UK: Alstom Transport was informed late on October 22 that its bid to supply the new Thameslink EMU fleet had been eliminated from the final stage of the contest. This leaves Bombardier Transportation and Siemens Mobility in the running for the major order to be placed by the Department for ...
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NewsRegions confirm €7bn framework TER contract
FRANCE: A framework contract for the supply of up to 1 000 low-floor trainsets to operate regional services was signed in Paris on October 27 by SNCF President Guillaume Pepy and the President of Alstom Transport Philippe Mellier. Within the overall package, orders were confirmed for an initial build of ...
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NewsBangkok Airport Rail Link handover imminent
With trials of Bangkok's Airport Rail Link continuing on a daily basis, Railway Gazette International's Urban Editor Jane Pearce took a ride on an Airport Express train to Suvarnabhumi Airport on October 22.
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NewsMantena awarded Coradia Nordic maintenance
SWEDEN: Alstom Transport has awarded Norwegian train maintenance company Mantena a seven-year contract worth €22m to maintain the 49 Coradia Nordic electric multiple-units which will be delivered to Skånetrafiken from next month. Under the contract announced on October 22 Alstom will supply Mantena with spare parts for the units, ...
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News€10bn rail spend for 2010
SPAIN: Investment in new rolling stock as well as the infrastructure of the national network is set to total €10·2bn next year, according to the Ministry of Development's draft budget. Appearing before a parliamentary committee on October 6, Secretary of State for Transport Concepción Gutiérrez said the ministry was ...