Passenger rail news – Page 78
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NewsEuropean coalition to improve international rail travel
EUROPE: A willingness to co-operate to increase rail’s share of the international passenger market is a set out in political statement signed by a ‘coalition of the willing’ comprising all EU member states except Croatia, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta (the latter two having no railways) and including ...
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Metro Report InternationalKobe line transferred to metro operator
JAPAN: Kobe Rapid Transit Railway Co’s Kitajin Line was transferred to Kobe City Transport Bureau on June 1, and is now branded as the Kobe Municipal Subway Kitakami Line. The 1 435 mm gauge line starts at Tanigami on the Kobe Electric Railway’s Arima Line, and runs ...
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NewsFirst trainset for Rielsfera low cost high speed rail services heads to Spain
SPAIN: The first of nine double-deck TGV Duplex trainsets being modified for use by SNCF’s Spanish subsidiary Rielsfera was despatched from the Technicentre Est-Européen at Pantin in France on June 6 following the installation of signalling and train protection equipment needed for operation in Spain.
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NewsNew tunnel in Nürnberg – Schirnding electrification plan
GERMANY: Plans to electrify the 140 km line from Nürnberg via Marktredwitz to Schirnding near the Czech border in northeast Bayern have been unveiled by DB Netz at events in Lauf and Schwandorf.
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Rail Business UKAlerting passengers to busy trains and stations before leaving home
UK: Intending passengers can see how busy a specific train or station is likely to be before leaving home, using technology launched as part of efforts to help people stagger their journeys while social distancing measures remain in place The system developed by ...
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NewsAssociations emphasise importance of public transport in tackling climate change
EUROPE: The International Union of Railways, International Association of Public Transport and European railway suppliers’ association UNIFE have called for ‘a new sense of urgency’ in developing a more sustainable transport mix, arguing that decision makers need to look beyond the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath and not forget that ‘the rising danger’ of climate change ‘has not stopped during the crisis’.
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NewsJeantet ousted from Keolis over ‘strategic differences’
FRANCE: Former SNCF Réseau chief executive Patrick Jeantet has been dismissed as Chairman of Groupe Keolis with immediate effect, the company’s Supervisory Board announced on June 2. A new Executive Committee has been formed to oversee the business pending the appointment of a successor.
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Rail Business UK£2·7bn plan for transport links to Toton HS2 hub
UK: A £2·7bn vision to provide fast and frequent rail, tram, bus and road connections to the future HS2 East Midlands Hub station at Toton has been published by a partnership of councils, transport bodies and East Midlands Airport. More than 20 ...
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NewsLimited inter-city service restarts in Turkey
TURKEY: Limited inter-city services on the national network restarted with the departure of a high speed train from Ankara to Istanbul at 07.00 on May 28, the first such train since services were suspended as part of coronavirus lockdown measures on March 28. Passenger services have restarted ...
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NewsCaltrain’s first Stadler EMUs on test
Stadler Kiss EMUs for Caltrain (Photos: Caltrain) USA: On-track testing of the Kiss electric multiple-units ordered by Californian commuter operator Caltrain has started at Stadler’s plant in Utah. Stadler is supplying an initial batch of 16 six-car EMUs under a $551m ...
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NewsBombardier to supply 28 BiLevel coaches to two operators
USA: Bombardier Transportation has signed contracts totalling US$108m to supply 28 BiLevel double-deck coaches to two West Coast transport operators. The order anounced on May 27 covers three push-pull driving cars and eight intermediate coaches for Seattle’s Sound Transit, which led the procurement, as well as five ...
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NewsSMART to acquire freight operations
USA: The board of California’s North Bay area commuter rail operator Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit has approved plans to acquire 33 km of railway between Healdsburg and the Mendocino-Sonoma County line from the North Coast Rail Authority, which the state is to dissolve, and the purchase of ...
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NewsAutomatic operation of regional passenger trains to be tested
GERMANY: The automatic operation of regional trains in passenger service is to be tested in a ‘regulatory sandbox’ in Niedersachsen, the project partners announced on May 27. Due to launch in 2021, the project brings together Alstom, aerospace research centre DLR, the Technical University of Berlin, train ...
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NewsCoronavirus app as part of Turkey’s transport restart
TURKEY: To support the restart of inter-city public transport, a mobile phone app is being used to track passengers in case anyone should subsequently test positive for the coronavirus. Intending passengers must install the app and input their date of birth, national identity number, ticket number, telephone ...
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NewsSydney capacity enhancement contracts awarded
AUSTRALIA: The New South Wales government has awarded two infrastructure enhancement contracts totalling around A$600m for works on the southern section of the Sydney Trains suburban network as part of its A$4·3bn ‘More Trains, More Services’ investment programme.
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NewsSmartron locomotives ordered for passenger services
BULGARIA: National operator BDZ has signed a contract for Siemens Mobility to supply 10 Smartron electric locomotives between February and May 2021 for use on passenger services. Siemens’ local subsidiary Siemens Tron was sole bidder for the contract, although Bombardier Transportation, Stadler Rail and the Excelor-EL consortium ...
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NewsWellington regional train study funded
NEW ZEALAND: Greater Wellington and Horizons regional councils have been awarded funding from the NZ Transport Agency to develop the final business case for a fleet of hybrid multiple-units to replace ageing loco-hauled stock used on two regional commuter routes. Citing the regions’ growing population, the councils ...
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NewsBaden-Württemberg seeks ‘interim arrangement’ with Go-Ahead
GERMANY: The Transport Ministry in the Land of Baden-Württemberg has agreed with UK-based private operator Go-Ahead that assistance with running services on the 180 km Frankenbahn linking Stuttgart with Würzburg via Heilbronn should be sought temporarily from another company. Two diagrams on this route were allocated to ...
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NewsOver 500 trainsets to replace Swiss regional fleets
SBB Stadler Flirt. SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways, Thurbo and RegionAlps have jointly called tenders for the supply of 194 single-deck regional trainsets of a ‘tried and tested platform already in use in a European country’. The order worth up to SFr1∙5bn which was announced on May 18 ...
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NewsElectronic Ticket Control Database enters service
INTERNATIONAL: A centralised system for the real-time exchange of ticket control information has been launched to enable rail ticket issuers and carriers around the world to increase their electronic ticketing capabilities and prevent fraud. The Electronic Ticket Control Database has been developed by not-for-profit European rail industry ...