Passenger rail news – Page 240
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NewsHigh speed scramble
USA: As expected, the decision by the Obama administration to allocate $8bn of stimulus funding for high speed rail development, followed by $5bn from the transport budget over the next five years, has triggered a flood of interest across the country. Earlier this year the federal government invited proposals ...
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NewsDB assault forces Eurostar reform
EUROPE: Five years after the collapse of Project Jupiter, another attempt has begun to transform Eurostar from an unincorporated tri-national partnership into a single coherent entity. The operator confirmed last month that negotiations were underway to position the business ready for the introduction of competition in the international passenger sector ...
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NewsFirst CityRail double-deckers delivered
AUSTRALIA: The double-deck commuter trains being built for Sydney under the Reliance Rail PPP contract were officially named 'Waratah' when Minister for Transport David Campbell unveiled four pre-production cars at Newcastle on July 29. Waratah is a shrub native to southeast Australia, and the floral emblem of New South Wales. ...
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NewsWheelset troubles strike again
GERMANY: Passengers turning up for S-Bahn services in Berlin on July 20 were confronted with a drastically reduced timetable. S-Bahn Berlin GmbH had been forced to withdraw a huge proportion of its rolling stock fleet, leaving just 165 of its 630 two-car units operational. Under the emergency timetable, 19 stations ...
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NewsPlanning for growth
SOUTH AFRICA: Putting forward his budget in July, Minister of Transport S’bu Ndebele said the government is spending R25bn over the medium term to stabilise and upgrade passenger rail services. R14bn is allocated for infrastructure and rolling stock, the rest for operations. Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa CEO ...
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NewsCork - Midleton commuter line open for business
IRELAND: A full commuter service between Midleton and Cork began on August 4, following the inauguration of an introductory service on the re-opened line by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey on July 30. The minister had launched the €75m rehabilitation of the 10 km Glounthaune - Midleton section of ...
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NewsRotterdam Centraal rebuilding begins
NETHERLANDS: Work has begun to transform Rotterdam Centraal station, with the aim of creating a showpiece facility equalling major stations in Paris, Madrid and London. The completion of Randstadrail and HSL Zuid is expected to lead to a tripling of traffic to 323 000 passengers a day by 2025, requiring ...
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NewsSapsan run marks high speed train depot opening
RUSSIA: A Sapsan high speed train made its first demonstration run on the Moscow - St Petersburg line on July 30, reaching 250 km/h as it carried guests including RZD President Vladimir Yakunin and Governor of St Petersburg Valentina Matviyenko to the formal opening of a maintenance depot in St ...
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NewsWinners of largest German tender named
GERMANY: Berlin-Brandenburg transport authority VBB has selected DB Regio and Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn as the winners of regional operating contracts with a total value of €1·3bn in the largest rail tendering process undertaken in Germany. VBB managed the tendering on behalf of the Länder of Berlin, Brandenburg, Sachsen-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. ...
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NewsRussia orders international sleeping cars
RUSSIA: RZD has ordered 200 sleeping cars which will be supplied with interchangeable standard and broad -gauge bogies for services to central and western Europe. A contract was signed with Siemens Mobility and Transmash Holding's TVZ subsidiary onboard a Sapsan high speed train on July 30. According to RZD, ...
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NewsEnquiry service Tweets train delays
UK: Up-to-the-minute information on disruption to train services is now available from National Rail Enquiries via the Twitter microblogging service. Passengers can 'follow' the main National Rail Enquiries profile to receive updates from across the network, or can select feeds for individual train operators. The messages ('Tweets') include links to ...
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NewsCzech passenger tendering plan
CZECH REPUBLIC:Plans to let 10 to 15-year franchises covering up to three-quarters of the country’s long-distance passenger rail services were unveiled by Transport Minister Gustav Slamecka on July 3. The first contracts could be placed by October. The franchises would be awarded gradually over the next decade, with ...
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NewsMilano operator orders GTWs
ITALY: Milano-based regional operator FNM has become Stadler's eighth Italian customer, with a €90m order for 19 GTW diesel-electric multiple-units to be delivered in 2011. Stadler is to supply 11 four-car GTW 4/12 units for use on Milano - Molteno - Lecco services, and eight two-car GTW 2/6 units ...
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NewsBuilding on growth
ISRAEL: According to current projections, Israel Railways expects to carry more than 37 million passengers this year, a 5% increase on the 35·1 million handled in 2008, and more than eight times the 4·3 million recorded in 1994. Whilst the economic downturn has slowed the rate of ...
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NewsSoutheastern rehearses Olympic shuttle
UK: Former Olympic athlete Daley Thompson took the controls of a Class 395 EMU on July 27 for a special ‘time trial’ to rehearse the intensive ‘Javelin’ service that will operate between London St Pancras and Stratford International during the 2012 London Olympics. The shuttle is intended ...
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NewsTalgo’s 380 km/h Avril train to take on the airlines
SPAIN: In its first 18 months of full operation, the Madrid - Barcelona high speed line has made significant inroads into market share on what was the country’s busiest domestic air corridor. But RENFE Operadora believes it needs to do more if rail is to achieve total dominance. With 300 ...
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NewsAmtrak calls bids for locos and passenger cars
USA: Amtrak is in the market for 130 passenger cars and at least 20 electric locomotives, to be funded under a five-year $5·3bn capital grant programme which forms part of last year's Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act. The national passenger operator is seeking 130 Viewliner 2 long-distance single-deck passenger ...
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NewsTesting tweaks AGV to Italian specifications
CZECH REPUBLIC: Following 7 500 km of trial runs at up to 360 km/h on LGV Est in France, Alstom's AGV demonstrator trainset has returned to the Velim test circuit east of Praha to be fine-tuned to the requirements of launch customer NTV. As well as meeting Europe-wide Technical ...
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NewsMerger of Veolia Transport and Transdev under discussion
FRANCE: State-owned investment body Caisse des Dépôts announced on July 22 that it had decided to enter into exclusive negotiations with Veolia Environnement with a view to merging their Transdev and Veolia Transport subsidiaries. The new company would be owned equally by Caisse des Dépôts and Veolia Environnement, have ...