All articles by Rail Business UK – Page 115
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Rail Business UKElectroflex battery EMU plan to end Southern diesel operation
An electric multiple-unit is to be equipped with batteries for ’first of a kind’ testing which could lead to the end of diesel traction on the Ashford – Hastings and Oxted – Uckfield routes.
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Rail Business UK‘Think about the total energy needed to move the trains’
UK: ‘Think about the total energy needed to move the trains’, was the message Helen Simpson, Innovation & Projects Director at leasing company Porterbook, presented to policymakers at a well-attended meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group on January 14. Simpson said achieving ...
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Rail Business UKOffice for Statistics Regulation calls for National Rail Passenger Survey improvements
UK: The Office for Statistics Regulation has published an assessment of the National Rail Passenger Survey statistics produced by Transport Focus. The statistics have been produced for the last 20 years and have been included as a performance measure in franchise agreements since 2008. OSR has concluded ...
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Rail Business UKRailway supply industry benchmarking tool launched
UK: Rail industry buyers can now compare suppliers’ capabilities using a online benchmarking tool which has been made available through the Railway Industry Supplier Qualification Scheme. Almost 4 000 suppliers have had their credentials verified through the RISQS scheme, which is managed by the Rail Safety & ...
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Rail Business UKWork underway on Bow Street station
UK: Transport for Wales has launched work on Bow Street station on the Cambrian line between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury. Opening is scheduled for later this year. The £8m project is being undertaken by TfW, Network Rail and Ceredigion County Council with funding from the Welsh Government and ...
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Rail Business UKLondon Overground Aventra maintenance contract to run to 2035
UK: Bombardier Transportation is to continue to maintain the London Overground Class 710 Aventra electric multiple-unit fleet until July 2035, under an agreement with Transport for London which has moved the break point in the manufacturer’s servicing contract from July 2025 to July 2035. Bombardier said the ...
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Rail Business UKTarmac’s Birmingham asphalt plant receives first train
UK: The first trains have delivered aggregate to an asphalt and aggregates facility which Tarmac is developing to support infrastructure projects in and around Birmingham. The site is to be entirely supplied by rail, with DB Cargo UK using converted coal hopper wagons to transport aggregates from ...
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Rail Business UKGreater Anglia’s first Class 720 commuter EMU delivered for testing
UK: The first of the Class 720 Aventra electric multiple-units which Bombardier Transportation’s Derby factory is supplying for Greater Anglia’s London commuter services has been delivered to Ilford depot ahead of testing. Entry into passenger service is planned for spring this year, with the entire fleet expected ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
The Office of Rail & Road has published its estimates of passenger entries and exits at 2 566 stations in the year to March 31 2019. London Waterloo remained in the top spot at 94·2 million. Denton and Stanlow & Thornton were the least used with each ...
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Rail Business UKFirst freight train to East Midlands Gateway Terminal
UK: DB Cargo UK operated the first commercial rail freight service to the new East Midlands Gateway Terminal in Castle Donington on January 7. The Strategic Rail Freight Interchange has been developed SEGRO and is operated by Maritime Transport under 25-year lease signed last year DB Cargo ...
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Rail Business UKGB Railfreight to lease Ecofret2 triple-platform container wagons
UK: GB Railfreight is to lease 32 Ecofret2 triple-platform container wagons from VTG Rail UK, which said it had made ‘significant investments’ in the latest version of the Ecofret design. The wagons are being built at WH Davis’s Shirebrook site, with the first 16 scheduled for delivery ...
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Rail Business UKNetwork Rail announces Design Services Framework contracts
UK: Network Rail has awarded 82 framework contracts for the provision of design services, with an estimated value of £400m during Control Period 6 (2019-24), and potentially up to £640m if it exercises options to extend the framework into Control Period 7 (2024-29). The Design Services Framework ...
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Rail Business UKFirst of a Kind competition offers £9·4m to support rail innovation
UK: Innovate UK and the Department for Transport have launched the 2020 First of a Kind competition, which will provide £9·4m to support the development of innovative technologies in the rail sector. ‘For two centuries the UK has been at the cutting-edge of rail technology’, said Transport ...
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Rail Business UKRail Accelerator & Innovation Solutions Hub for Enterprise plans announced
UK: Siemens Mobility has announced plans to create a rail research, development and innovation hub near its future assembly plant at Goole in East Yorkshire. The £6m building on the Goole 36 enterprise zone site close to the M62 motorway is intended as ...
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Rail Business UKHitachi makes changes at Newton Aycliffe factory as IEP production ends
UK: Hitachi Rail has announced changes at its Newton Aycliffe factory which it said were intended to provide ‘greater flexibility, agility and global competitiveness’ as the production of 122 trainsets under the government’s Intercity Express Programme comes to an end. As part of the transition to a ...
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Rail Business UKNew Measurement Train maintenance contract awarded
UK: Following a competitive tender, Network Rail has awarded Loram UK a £8m five-year contract to maintain its New Measurement Train. The NMT was converted from a passenger trainset and can carry out infrastructure inspection at up to 200 km/h. It is to be maintained at Loram ...
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Rail Business UKNorthern franchise is no longer viable, says Shapps
UK: The current Northern rail franchise is no longer financially viable and will have to be replaced by some form of management contract, Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps confirmed in a written statement to the House of Commons on January 9.
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Rail Business UKGreater Anglia’s first Stadler inter-city trainset enters service
UK: The first of the Class 745/0 Flirt inter-city trainsets which Stadler is supplying for Greater Anglia’s Norwich – London Liverpool Street main line route entered service on January 8. All 10 are expected to be in traffic by mid-April. The 12-car 25 kV 50 Hz ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
Greater Anglia has stopped selling first class tickets for its regional routes, as it rolls out new standard class only trains. First class tickets for other routes will remain on sale until September 6, after which they will only be available on the Norwich – London ...
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Rail Business UKAvanti West Coast Pendolino refurbishment and maintenance contract awarded
UK: Operator Avanti West Coast and leasing company Angel Trains have awarded Alstom a £642m, seven-year contract to overhaul and maintain the 56 Class 390 Pendolino tilting trainsets which entered service on the West Coast Main Line from 2003. Alstom said the £127m refurbishment element of the ...