All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 390
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NewsRail Baltica detailed design tenders called
EUROPE: Tenders have now been called for the detailed technical design of sections of the Rail Baltica standard gauge railway project in all three Baltic States. A tender announced by tri-national project promoter RB Rail on January 26 covers the Upeslejas – Riga Central station, Tornkalns – Imanta and Riga ...
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NewsEIB backs upgrade of Polish broad gauge line
POLAND: Broad gauge freight line manager PKP LHS signed a 121m złoty loan agreement with the European Investment Bank on January 25 to part-finance a 263m złoty investment plan. The plan allocates 184m złoty for the installation of modern signalling to improve capacity and for the provision of optic fibre ...
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NewsNew trolleybuses enter service in Ostrava
CZECH REPUBLIC: The first Škoda 26Tr trolleybuses entered revenue service in Ostrava on January 23. Deliveries of the vehicles, for which Solaris has supplied the bodies, started in December, with six arriving so far. The 12 m long trolleybus has a maximum speed of 70 km/h and 34 seats. ...
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NewsWorld rail market - January 2018
Canada: Wagon repair company Caltrax has begun using RailcarRx’s cloud-based Repair Management System to manage its daily operations in western Canada. Scheidt & Bachmann has supplied ticket machines and gates for Ottawa’s O-Train Trillium line. Germany: Köln transport authority KVG has awarded Cubic Transportation Systems a contract to ...
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NewsHS2 slab track, electrification and tunnel equipment contacts tendered
UK: The process of appointing contractors to supply slab track, electrification and tunnel ventilation systems for the Phase 1 London – Birmingham and Phase 2a Birmingham – Crewe sections of High Speed 2 was formally launched by project promoter HS2 Ltd on January 30. The Lot 1 Track & Overhead ...
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NewsCZ Loko submits best offer for Warszawa metro shunter
POLAND: CZ Loko has submitted the lowest bid to supply a shunting locomotive to Warszawa metro operator Metro Warszawskie. Its bid of 3·25m złoty excluding VAT beat one from ZPS Stargard, which came in at 3·47m złoty. The tender specifies a 9 m long loco with a minimum 250 ...
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NewsDB hosts ‘smart scrubber’ robot cleaning competition
GERMANY: In order to demonstrate the potential for the automation of routine station cleaning tasks, DB hosted a ‘smart scrubber’ event at Berlin Hbf on January 30. The Automated Cleaning Challenge organised by DB Services and the DB Mindbox digital innovation lab pitted cleaning machines from four international manufacturers ...
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NewsUTM begins tram deliveries to Kolomna
RUSSIA: Uraltransmash delivered the first of 21 single-section Type 71-407-01 trams to Kolomna on January 27. The partly low-floor 15·9 m long tram has 27 seats and three 1 300 mm double doors. Operator Mosoblyelektrotrans placed the 430·5m rouble order in November 2017.
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NewsInnovative traction and electrification in Bayern plan to reduce diesel dependency
GERMANY: Proposals to significantly reduce the use of diesel traction in favour of low-emission alternatives have been presented to the Bayern cabinet by Land Transport Minister Joachim Herrmann. The Bayerische Elektromobilitäts-Strategie Schiene (BESS) is intended to support the federal government’s 2050 climate targets, and to make rail a more attractive ...
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NewsTransmashholding buys stake in Moscow commuter operator
RUSSIA: Demikhovsky Engineering Plant’s 2·3bn rouble purchase of Moscow oblast’s 25% plus one share stake in Central Suburban Passenger Co has been approved by the federal anti-monopoly service. Founded in January 2006, Central PPK is the largest commuter and regional train operator in Russia. It is also the largest customer ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market - January 2018
Australia: Three consortia have been shortlisted for a contract to replace the NSW TrainLink regional rail fleet of XPT, Endeavour and Xplorer trains: Regional Futures, led by Downer; a Bombardier consortium; and Momentum Trains led by CAF. Transport for NSW aims to award the contract in 2019 for delivery from ...
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NewsRail associations call for NAFTA renewal
NORTH AMERICA: The Association of American Railroads, Railway Association of Canada and Asociación Mexicana de Ferrocarriles issued a joint letter on January 22 calling for ‘a constructive effort’ to negotiate a new North American Free Trade Agreement. 'To ensure that a new NAFTA can build upon the success of its ...
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NewsFS to fund Brescia tram construction
ITALY: State railway FS Group intends to finance the construction of a tram line in Brescia, CEO Renato Mazzoncini told an industry forum organised by local newspaper Giornale di Brescia on January 21. Expected to cost €150m to build, the line would run from Pendolina in the northwest to ...
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NewsYeongdeok – Pohang line opens
SOUTH KOREA: The 44·1 km Pohang – Yeongdeok section of the Donghae Line which is being developed to run from south to north parallel to the east coast was opened with a ceremony on January 25. The single-track extension is designed for 150 km/h operation. It is initially being used ...
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NewsWork starts on Infrabel Academy
BELGIUM: Infrastructure manager Infrabel announced on January 25 that it had started work on a new national training centre, due for completion by the end of 2020 at a cost of €20m. Located next to Brussels Ouest station, the centre will bring together activities currently undertaken across Belgium, including initial ...
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NewsNew trams enter service in Kazan
RUSSIA: Three BKM-84500K trams supplied by Belkommunmash and assembled at operator Metroelektrotrans’ workshops entered revenue service on route 5 in Kazan on January 25. BKM delivered kits for the three-section trams between July and September 2017 under a 161·7m rouble contract signed in late 2016. This includes a guarantee ...
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NewsTrial shipment from Russia to Vietnam by rail
INTERNATIONAL: Russian Railways’ RZD Logistics and Ratraco have completed a trial delivery of a container by rail from the Vorsino terminal south of Moscow to Hanoi. Delivery of the container carrying cosmetic products for Russian company Red Line took 20 days, around half the time required by sea. TransContainer ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Russian company Repetek has become the full owner of ZMK-Trans with the purchase of the 50% stake held by an outside shareholder. ZMK-Trans has around 300 flat wagons used for timber and general purpose transport, which will now supplement GK Maximum‘s fleet of more than 10 000 wagons. Malcolm Logistics ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market - January 2018
Australia: 4Tel is to supply signalling and communications for the Newcastle light rail project. Brazil: Rumo has awarded Wabtec a US$5m contract to supply a train management and dispatching system to improve safety and efficiency at its yard serving the port of Santos. Canada: Parsons is providing design, ...
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NewsGotthard Base Tunnel maintenance vehicles handed over
SWITZERLAND: The first six of 13 custom-designed maintenance ‘base vehicles’ which Harsco is building for use in the Gotthard Base Tunnel were officially handed over to SBB during December. The 80 tonne electro-diesel vehicles include an air-conditioned personnel module with a kitchenette and toilet, and can be operated from the ...