Passenger rail news – Page 49
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NewsSaudi Arabia seeks new inter-city train fleet
SAUDI ARABIA: National railway company Saudi Arabia Railways has called for expressions of interest in a contract to design, supply and maintain its next generation of inter-city passenger trains. The first batch of new trainsets is planned to enter service by 2025, increasing capacity on the ...
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Rail Business UKGovernment allocates £84m to enhance reliability as Manchester Rail Blueprint emerges
UK: An £84m package of work to improve performance and capacity in Greater Manchester and neighbouring regions was announced by Rail Minister Wendy Morton during a visit to Manchester on March 11. The interventions include platform extensions, infrastructure enhancements and depot capacity improvements in what the ...
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NewsNatal’s Linha Sul extended
BRAZIL: Natal’s suburban Linha Sul has been extended by one station from Parnamirim to Boa Esperança. The extension is intended to form the first part of a new Linha Branca, which will effectively extend Linha Sul to Nísia Floresta. The city’s diesel-operated 1 000 mm gauge ...
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Rail Business UKGreat Anglia launches virtual tour of Norwich station
UK: Greater Anglia and Virtual Tour Experts have created an online interactive virtual tour of Norwich station to help people with reduced mobility check how accessible their journey would be. The virtual tour consists of a series of 360° photographs linked by clickable markers, with a ...
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NewsFederal funds allocated to Atlanta – Savannah high speed line study
USA: The Senate has allocated $8m to conduct an environmental impact study for a proposed 400 km high speed line between Savannah and Atlanta via Macon.
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In depthOnboard services: Building a real-time relationship with passengers
Now being rolled out following trials with two UK train operators, the Real-Time Journey Dashboard developed by Whoosh combines live travel information with entertainment and advertising through a platform that also offers CRM functionality.
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NewsFederal grant to boost Twin Cities to Chicago passenger service
USA: The federal government is to provide a $31·8m grant for the Twin Cities – Milwaukee – Chicago Intercity Passenger Rail Project to facilitate the operation of a second daily passenger train each way between St Paul and Chicago by 2024. The TCMC project will modernise ...
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NewsHydrogen train operating contract awarded
GERMANY: Rhein-Main-transport authority RMV has awarded DB Regio subsidiary Regionalverkehre Start Deutschland the contract to operate hydrogen fuel cell trains on the Taunus network for 12 years from December 11 2022. Awarded following an international tender, the contract covers four services in the Frankfurt area: ...
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Rail Business UKLondon Euston HS2 station designs updated
UK: High Speed 2 project promoter HS2 Ltd has published updated design concepts for the future high speed line terminus at London Euston station. The designs have been developed by a consortium of Arup, WSP and Grimshaw Architects for the joint venture of Mace and Dragados ...
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NewsContract negotiations underway for Toronto’s GO Expansion programme
CANADA: Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area transport agency Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario have selected a consortium to negotiate the largest single contact for the GO Expansion passenger rail enhancement programme.
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NewsDB to restore direct inter-city services to Chemnitz
GERMANY: DB Fernverkehr is to relaunch regular inter-city trains to and from Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof in June after a gap of more than 15 years. Zweckverband Verkehrsverbund Mittelsachsen has awarded DB Fernverkehr a contract to run four of its Berlin – Dresden services per day to and ...
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NewsState aid for Italy’s long-distance train operators approved
ITALY: The European Commission has approved under EU state aid rules a €687m Italian government package intended to compensate operators of commercial long-distance passenger rail services for the impact of the coronavirus pandemic over the period between July 1 2020 and April 3 2021. The decision ...
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NewsRolling stock manufacturers keen to support night train market
EUROPE: Rolling stock manufacturers have expressed interest supplying new sleeping cars at a conference in Paris on February 23-24 on best practice in night train operation. The conference in Paris was organised by the French Ministry of Transport as part of the country’s Presidency of the ...
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NewsE131-600 EMUs take over Omiya branches
JAPAN: East Japan Railway has unveiled the Series E131-600 electric multiple-units which are due to take over two 1 067 mm gauge branches in its Omiya division from a timetable change on March 12.
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NewsEtihad Rail signs passenger rail financing agreement
UAE: A 1·99bn dirham agreement for the financing of future passenger rail services has been signed by Etihad Rail and First Abu Dhabi Bank, which will be the certified lead arranger for the loan. Freight services have been operating on the 264 km first phase of ...
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NewsILSA to add a third partner
SPAIN: Intermodalidad de Levante, the high speed joint venture between Trenitalia and Air Nostrum, is poised to agree a deal with Globalvia under which it would become the third partner in the business. Globalvia, a motorway and urban transport infrastructure concessionaire owned by three investment funds, ...
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NewsEuropean Year of Rail raised awareness of sustainability credentials
EUROPE: ‘2021 was an extremely challenging year for railways’, European rail industry bodies said in a joint message marking the formal end of the European Year of Rail. ‘The Covid-19 pandemic hit the sector hard, and its impact is still felt today with more than €50bn ...
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NewsLatvia surveys interest in passenger rail tendering
LATVIA: The Road Transport Administration has launched a survey to gauge market interest in providing domestic passenger rail services. The RTA said this was the first survey of this type in Latvia, and would meet the requirements of EC Regulation 1370/2007 which sets out rules for ...
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NewsEurope’s Rail research initiative launched
EUROPE: The Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking that will co-ordinate EU railway research over the next decade was formally launched in Paris on February 21, during an event organised by SNCF in conjunction with the French Presidency of the European Union.
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NewsPolish operators call for track access charge cut to stem loss of market share
POLAND: The ZNPK federation of independent train operators has called for a ‘serious debate’ on access charges and a ‘radical’ 50% cut in fees, saying infrastructure manager PKP PLK’s current charges for freight trains are amongst the highest in Europe. ZNPK says that PKP PLK’s draft ...