Passenger rail news – Page 92
-
NewsEgyptian locomotive renewal programme underway
EGYPT: Egyptian National Railways has invited expressions of interest in the supply of up to 100 diesel-electric locomotives for use on long-distance passenger services, with tendering expected to get underway by the end of the year. The project is to be funded with a €290m loan from ...
-
NewsMetrolinx orders double-deck coaches
CANADA: Ontario transport authority Metrolinx has ordered a further 36 double-deck coaches from Bombardier Transportation to bolster GO Transit services in the Toronto area. The 31 standard and five accessible BiLevel cars will be produced Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant. ‘Our government is committed to building the transportation ...
-
NewsUkrainian railway reform legislation introduced
UKRAINE: Bills for the reform of the railway and inland waterway sectors were introduced to parliament on September 6. The proposed changes follow on from Ukraine’s 2017 Association Agreement with the European Union. ‘These bills present a European model for the rail and inland waterway market’, said ...
-
NewsNiederbarnimer Eisenbahn leases additional DMUs
GERMANY: Regional passenger operator Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn has leased four more three-car Bombardier Talent diesel multiple-units from Alpha Trains to handle growing ridership on its Ostbrandenburg and Heidekrautbahn services. The DMUs are scheduled to enter service with NEB from 2020, after a general inspection and component overhaul which ...
-
NewsFirst Léman Express EMU enters service
FRANCE: The first of 17 three-system Régiolis EMUs being supplied by Alstom to operate SNCF’s share of the Léman Express RER network in Genève entered service on September 4, operating regional trains between Annemasse and Evian-les-Bains.
-
NewsIcomera wins GO Transit wi-fi contract
CANADA: Transport authority Metrolinx has selected Icomera to roll-out wi-fi and an entertainment system across the GO Transit fleet of 943 rail vehicles and 532 buses in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas. Installation is scheduled to begin later this year, with the first wi-fi expected to ...
-
NewsVictoria expands VLocity fleet
AUSTRALIA: The Victoria state government has ordered a further batch of VLocity diesel multiple-units from Bombardier Transportation, in order to meet growing demand on regional routes radiating from Melbourne. Due to enter service in 2021, the six three-car units will follow on from the nine sets ordered ...
-
Rail Business UKHS2 benefits ‘substantially undervalued’ amid rising costs
UK: The Chairman of High Speed 2 Ltd Allan Cook believes that ‘the benefits of the current scheme are substantially undervalued’, according to a ‘stocktake report’ presented to the House of Commons by Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps on September 3. Updating Parliament on progress ...
-
NewsRegioJet to standardise on Traxx locomotives
CZECH REPUBLIC: Expanding independent operator RegioJet has ordered 15 Bombardier Transportation Traxx MS3 multi-system electric locomotives, with an option for more. The contract announced on September 3 follows RegioJet’s 2017 order for eight Traxx MS2e locomotives, which entered service last year. The additional locos are intended to ...
-
NewsČD fined for anti-competitive bidding
CZECH REPUBLIC: National operator ČD has been fined KC274·8m after anti-monopoly office ÚOHS ruled that it had abused its dominant position in an effort to prevent competitors entering the passenger market. ÚOHS found that ČD had violated Czech and EU competition laws by submitting artificially low bids ...
-
NewsHamilton – Auckland commuter service funded
NEW ZEALAND: Daily commuter services are to be introduced on the northern section of KiwiRail’s North Island Main Trunk line between Hamilton and Auckland from mid-2020, following the approval of an NZ$92·4m funding package by the NZ Transport Agency. Combining NZ$79·8m from the national government with NZ$12·6m ...
-
Rail Business UKWest Coast Partnership contract signed
UK: The West Coast Partnership contract was formally signed by the Department for Transport and First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Ltd on August 28. The 70:30 joint venture of transport group FirstGroup plc and the Trenitalia UK Ltd subsidiary of Italy’s national railway holding group FS had ...
-
NewsDMU operating contract awarded pending battery train deployment
GERMANY: The Rhein-Ruhr and Westfalen-Lippe transport authorities have awarded incumbent NordWestBahn the Emscher-Münsterland-Netz 2021 contract, which covers the operation of service RE14 Essen-Steele – Dorsten – Borken/Coesfeld for seven years from the December 2021 timetable change. The Transdev subsidiary is to lease Bombardier Transportation Talent diesel multiple-units from Alpha ...
-
Rail Business UKRail projects funded to support housing plans
UK: The government has announced the allocation of grants from its Housing Infrastructure Fund to transport projects which are intended to facilitate the development of new homes. This includes £80·8m for the Greater London Authority’s East London Line – Growth Capacity programme to support the development of 14 000 ...
-
NewsFlirt fleet refurbished
GERMANY: Leasing company Alpha Trains has completed one of its largest refurbishment projects, handing over to operator Keolis the last of 44 Stadler Flirt electric multiple-units which have been modernised for use on Teutoburger Wald-Netz and Hellweg-Netz services. The comprehensive modernisation programme was undertaken by Stadler in Berlin, ...
-
NewsEstonia plans rail electrification to meet 2030 climate goals
ESTONIA: The Ministry of Economic Affairs & Communications and the Ministry of the Environment are preparing a railway electrification strategy after receiving cabinet backing for the development of proposals. The government envisages that electrification works could be undertaken in 2022-28, supporting the aim of reducing greenhouse gas ...
-
NewsBLS and SBB agree to share long-distance concession
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways and BLS AG have reached ‘an amicable solution’ to share the operation of long-distance services, the Federal Ministry of Environment, Transport, Energy & Communication announced on August 22. This will enable BLS to re-enter the long-distance passenger market with effect from the December 2019 timetable change. ...
-
NewsDB to refurbish SBB coaches
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has awarded Deutsche Bahn a contract to refurbish 93 Einheitswagen IV coaches at its Wittenberge and Neumünster workshops from 2020. The first of the EW IV coaches were delivered to SBB in 1981, and they are expected to remain in service until the 2030s. The ...
-
News
PKP Intercity orders Flirts as ridership grows
POLAND: National long-distance train operator PKP Intercity has signed a contract for Stadler to supply a 12 eight-car Flirt electric multiple-units and maintain them for 15 years. Stadler and a consortium of Pesa Bydgoszcz with its subsidiary ZNTK Mińsk Mazowiecki submitted bids in response to the operator’s December 2017 ...
-
Rail Business UKEast Midlands Railway announces three brands
UK: Abellio officially launched East Midlands Railway as the new operator of the East Midlands franchise on August 19, the day after it formally took over from Stagecoach which had operated the services for 11 years under the East Midlands Trains brand. More than £600m is to be spent ...