Passenger rail news – Page 253
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News
Wabtec wins Class 321 upgrade
UK: Wabtec Corp announced on July 10 that its UK subsidiary Wabtec Rail, based in Doncaster, had been awarded a £26·3m contract to refurbish 308 Class 321 EMU cars for HSBC Rail. Work on the National Express East Anglia fleet is due to take three years to complete, and will ...
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News
CAF signs Izmir commuter train order
TURKEY: On July 10 Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF signed a €123m contract to supply 22 three-car EMUs which will enter service on suburban routes in Izmir from early 2010. The order was placed by IZBAN, a joint venture of state railway TCDD and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. The ...
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NewsScotland orders Desiro fleet
UK: An order for 38 Siemens Desiro EMUs was announced on July 11 by John Swinney, the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Finance & Sustainable Growth. Passenger franchisee First ScotRail led the procurement of the 16 four-car and 22 three-car units, and is expected to sign the contract later ...
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NewsThameslink shortlist announced
UK: On July 10 the Department for Transport named Alstom, Bombardier, Hitachi and Siemens as the shortlisted bidders for a contract worth an estimated £1·4bn to supply trains for Thameslink services. Bidders will be asked to produce 1 100 EMU cars for north-south commuter services through London, increasing the ...
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NewsParis - Le Havre goes regular interval
FRANCE: SNCF and the Haute-Normandie region have agreed a package of measures to improve passenger services on the Paris - Rouen - Le Havre main line. A regular-interval timetable is to be introduced to the route in December, increasing the number of services by 15%. SNCF has also committed to ...
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NewsMadrid tunnel opens
SPAIN: Suburban services began using the 8·5 km Atocha - Chamartín tunnel under the centre of Madrid on July 9. Testing of the new route, which has cost €550m to build, had begun on May 23. The route has two intermediate stations, of which Nuevos Ministerios is due to open ...
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NewsFirst Gautrain EMU unveiled
SOUTH AFRICA: Premier of Gauteng province Mbhazima Shilowa visited Bombardier's Derby factory in the UK on July 8 to witness the unveiling of the first electric multiple-unit for the Gautrain commuter line. Dramatic sounds, lighting effects and dancing heralded the roll-out of the completed trainset. Jerome Govender, Chief Executive of ...
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NewsNorthern Ireland upgrade
UK: An £86m upgrade of the Belfast - Londonderry line was announced last month by Translink, the holding company which runs Northern Ireland Railways. Tenders will be called in early 2011 and the work is to be completed in 2013, cutting 30 min off the 2 h 15 min journey ...
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NewsGautrain from dream to reality
SOUTH AFRICA: The Gautrain rapid rail link between Johannesburg and Tshwane is taking shape, with the first section on course to enter revenue service before the two cities host the 2010 football World Cup.
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NewsCarrying commuters in comfort
SOUTH AFRICA: Bombardier's proven Electrostar EMU family is being customised for South Africa, giving a powerful demonstration of modern high-quality rail services.
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News
London - Cornwall Night Riviera revamped
UK: First Great Western relaunched its London - Penzance Night Riviera service with modernised rolling stock on June 23. The 18 Mk III sleeper and seating cars have been refurbished by Wolverton-based Railcare at a cost of £2m, with Michael Rodber acting as design consultant. FirstGroup said it had worked ...
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NewsOver the top
SWITZERLAND: The first of 13 four-car EMUs being built jointly by Alstom and Bombardier for BLS local services on the original Lötschberg route was rolled out in May. The silver and grey livery is enhanced with images of the Bern - Brig line to highlight the appeal to tourists of ...
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NewsCAF wins Saudi passenger train order
SAUDI ARABIA: On July 4 Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF announced it had signed a €104·9m contract to supply Saudi Railways Organisation with eight 200 km/h passenger trainsets. Each set will be formed of a diesel-electric locomotive and five steel-bodied coaches, designed to operate in desert conditions and ...
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News
DB sacked over S-Bahn quality failings
GERMANY: A dispute erupted in the Ruhr area on June 12 when local transport agency Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr announced that it had decided to cancel its S-Bahn operating contract with DB Regio Nordrhein-Westfalen with immediate effect. An extraordinary resolution to do so had been approved during a meeting of VRR's contracting ...
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NewsDSB issues IC4 ultimatum
DENMARK: Another chapter in the painful saga of DSB's 200 km/h IC4 inter-city DMUs opened in June, when the state-owned operator issued an ultimatum to AnsaldoBreda. With delivery now more than five years behind schedule, DSB has told its Italian supplier that if 14 functional trains have not been delivered ...
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NewsPreferred bidder selected for CDG Express concession
FRANCE: Minister of State for Environment, Energy & Sustainable Development Jean-Louis Borloo and Transport Secretary Dominique Bussereau announced on July 1 that they had selected a preferred bidder to finance, build and manage the Charles de Gaulle Express airport rail link. Five consortia had been prequalified in January 2007 to ...
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News
Brilliant orange
SWITZERLAND: The unprecedented invasion of Swiss cities by football fans attending the UEFA European Championship forced SBB into an unusual strategic re-think. The effervescent performances of the Netherlands team in the group stage of the tournament offered an additional incentive for thousands of Dutch supporters to travel with their team. ...
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NewsSiemens to supply PKP Intercity locos
POLAND: Siemens is to supply PKP Intercity with 10 Eurosprinter ES64U4 multi-system electric locomotives for 200 km/h passenger services, the Polish national operator announced on June 27. Siemens submitted the only bid in response to the call for tenders, pricing the locomotives at €44·5m. The purchase will be financed ...
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NewsKei Rail revival will support regional development
SOUTH AFRICA The return of passenger and freight services on a 282 km branch line in Eastern Cape province is part of a balanced strategy; the railway is driving local economic development, which in turn generates enough traffic to keep the railway sustainable. Rollo Dickson reports
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NewsSBB announces Zürich double deck orders
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways announced major rolling stock contracts worth a total of SFr1·5bn on June 30. The competition to supply Zürich's third generation of double-deck coaches has been won by Stadler, which will supply 50 six-car EMUs worth SFr1·02bn. They will be the first double-deck trains to be ...