Passenger rail news – Page 91
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NewsThalys-Eurostar merger planned under Green Speed initiative
EUROPE: SNCF, SNCB and the Patina Rail investment vehicle announced on September 27 their intention to combine the Eurostar and Thalys high speed rail operations, reporting that outline proposals were being presented to their respective boards. The proposed merger is being taken forward under a project ...
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NewsNewag awarded locomotive contracts
Trako POLAND: PKP Intercity has awarded Newag a contract to supply a further 10 Griffin 160 km/h electric locomotives. The 183·8m złoty order has been placed as an option on a May 2018 contract for an initial 20 locomotives. It was announced at the Trako ...
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Metro Report InternationalBeijing Daxing airport opens with high speed rail and metro links
CHINA: Two rail links to Beijing’s second international airport were opened for revenue services on September 26, the same day that commercial passenger flights began using Beijing Daxing Airport. This followed official inauguration of the airport by President Xi Jinping the previous day. ...
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NewsVDB calls for faster digital roll-out strategy
GERMANY: Rail industry association VDB has put forward a seven-point plan to accelerate the introduction of digital train control across the national rail network, suggesting that an industrial scale roll-out of digital interlockings and ETCS could begin as soon as 2022. The proposals follow the signing on ...
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NewsCircumvesuviana EMUs ordered
ITALY: Napoli regional transport operator EAV has selected Hitachi Rail to supply and maintain 40 1·5 kV DC electric multiple-units for the 950 mm gauge Circumvesuviana railway. President of the Campania region Vincenzo De Luca said the €314m order announced on September 24 would provide a significant ...
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NewsMBTA orders double-deck coaches
USA: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has awarded Hyundai Rotem a $278·5m sole-source contract to supply 80 double-deck coaches. These will replace single deck vehicles to increase capacity on the Boston commuter rail network by more than 14 000 seats/day. A $41m contract for engineering and programme management ...
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Metro Report InternationalCeremonies mark start of Dallas Silver Line construction
Dallas Silver Line USA: Dallas Area Rapid Transit held a series of ground-breaking ceremonies along the route of the future Silver Line on September 19 to officially launch construction of the $1·1bn commuter railway in the northern suburbs of Dallas. Previously known as the Cotton Belt ...
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NewsBayerische Oberlandbahn increases DMU order
GERMANY: Bayerische Oberlandbahn has placed a €25m order for six Alstom Coradia Lint diesel multiple-units. The firm order announced on September 16 has been placed using an option on a 2018 contract for 25 DMUs. All 31 are scheduled to be delivered by 2020, and will be ...
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NewsDB to order more high speed trains as government cuts VAT on fares
Photo: DB AG/Georg Wagner GERMANY: Rail spending is to be increased significantly as part of a €54bn package of measures to mitigate the effects of climate change, which was announced by Chancellor Angela Merkel on September 20. In order to reduce the environmental impact of transport and ...
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NewsDB rejects Audit Office claims
Photo: DB AG/Volker Emersleben GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has strongly rejected concerns raised by the Federal Audit Office that it had failed to manage federal funds effectively and that its finances were in disarray. Reports published by press agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur and subsequently in national media said that ...
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NewsKeolis operating contract terminated because of driver shortage
VRR is to directly award incumbent DB Regio a contract to continue to run the services (Photo: DB) GERMANY: Rhein-Ruhr transport VRR has decided to terminate a contract for Keolis to operate two S-Bahn services from December, and will instead directly award incumbent DB Regio an emergency ...
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NewsFrecciargento 700 to serve Bari from September 29
ITALY: Trenitalia’s Frecciargento trainsets will begin serving Bari from the end of September, working two trains a day between Milano and Bari via the Adriatic corridor. Presenting the new trains to local decision makers at Bari Centrale on September 19, Trenitalia’s Director, Long Haul, Paolo Attanasio explained ...
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NewsLong Island Rail Road M-9 cars enter service
MTA Long Island Rail Road has put the first of its Kawasaki M-9 EMUs into service (Photo: Joseph M Calisi) USA: New York commuter operator MTA Long Island Rail Road has put the first of its Kawasaki M-9 electric multiple-unit cars into service. The 750 V DC ...
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NewsNordjyske Jernbaner expands fleet
DENMARK: Local railway operator Nordjyske Jernbaner has ordered a further four Alstom Coradia Lint diesel multiple-units for delivery by mid-2021. This will expand its fleet of 13 similar units which were delivered in 2017. The two-car 140 km/h units will have 120 seats, wi-fi, air-conditioning, a passenger ...
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NewsSNCF selects CAF to supply inter-city fleet
FRANCE: SNCF Mobilités has selected CAF as preferred bidder for a €700m contract to supply 28 electric multiple-units for medium and long-distance Intercités services on the Paris – Clermont-Ferrand and Paris – Limoges – Toulouse routes. There would be options for up to 75 more trainsets, including ...
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NewsTransdev selected for emergency operating contract
GERMANY: Oberelbe transport authority VVO has selected Transdev Regio as preferred bidder for an emergency contract to operate four passenger services in the Dresden area. The services were previously provided by Städtebahn Sachsen, which ceased train operations on July 25 after a period of poor performance and ...
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NewsLeo Express takes delivery of CRRC EMU
CZECH REPUBLIC: The first of three Sirius electric-multiple-units being built for Leo Express has arrived in the Czech Republic, having been shipped from China via the port of Bremen. Tailor made for the open access operator by CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive, the multi-system EMU ...
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NewsRegioJet expands capacity on Bratislava commuter route
RegioJet SLOVAKIA: On September 16 RegioJet introduced double-deck coaches to increase morning and evening peak capacity on the Bratislava – Dunajská Streda – Komárno route, where ridership in the first half the year reached 2·3 million, a 50% increase on the same period last year. The ...
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NewsKLM replaces plane with high speed train
Thalys EUROPE: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is to replace one of its five daily flights between Brussels and Amsterdam Schiphol with reserved seat capacity on a Thalys high speed train service from March 29 2020. This is intended as the first step in a programme to gradually ...
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Rail Business UKIsle of Wight line’s future secured with £26m investment
UK: Investment of £26m to secure the future of the 13·7 km line between Ryde and Shanklin on the Isle of Wight was announced on September 16. This includes infrastructure modernisation and replacement of the life-expired fleet of small profile ex-London Underground trains which date back to ...