All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 403
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NewsVTG increases Hungary – Italy payloads by 350 tonnes
EUROPE: VTG Rail Logistics has operated a trial higher-capacity freight service from Hungary to Italy via Croatia and Slovenia. Regular services are now planned, along with additional routes including from Romania. Subject to infrastructure limitations, VTG hopes to offer trains up to 2 200 gross tonnes and 1 600 tonnes ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Visa has launched Visa Global Transit Solutions with the aim of accelerating the roll-out of bank card payment on public transport. ‘We want to make the transportation experience faster, easier and more secure whether someone is traveling by car, flying on holiday or taking public transportation to work‘, said Michael ...
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NewsMakkah – Madinah high speed line demonstration service planned
SAUDI ARABIA: A demonstration service on the 450 km Haramain High Speed Rail line between Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah is planned by the end of the year. There would be two trips in each direction for invited guests on Fridays and Saturdays. With the planned opening date of March 15 ...
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NewsBrexit must not undermine the Single European Rail Area, says CER
EUROPE: The UK’s impending departure from the European Union must not undermine the ongoing development of the Single European Rail Area, Community of European Railway & Infrastructure Companies Executive Director Libor Lochman said on November 22. Speaking at a hearing organised by the European Parliament Committee on Transport & Tourism ...
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NewsVectrons to be used on Praha – Germany services from December
CZECH REPUBLIC: One of 10 Siemens Vectron electric locomotives which are being leased from European Locomotive Leasing for use on passenger services to Germany was unveiled by national operator ČD on November 22. From the December 10 timetable change, ČD will use the Vectrons to haul the Praha – Dresden ...
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NewsKVSZ sleeping car to be deployed on Kyiv – Wien services
EUROPE: A sleeping car designed by Ukrainian manufacturer KVSZ for use on international services running from 1 520 to 1 435 mm gauge networks is expected to enter service on the Kyiv – Wien route from the December 10 timetable change. Representatives of the national passenger operators of Ukraine, Hungary ...
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NewsUK railway news round-up
Network Rail is seeking to establish a framework agreement for the development of a Signal Controlled Warning System – Strategic, intended to reduce the risk of workers being struck by trains whilst working on or near open lines. SCWS(S) would be implemented in three phases: feasibility study & concept demonstrator; ...
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NewsWork begins on new Berlin S-Bahn fleet
GERMANY: Assembly has started of the first of 30 pre-series electric multiple-unit cars that a Stadler-Siemens consortium is supplying for the Berlin S-Bahn. The occasion was marked with a ceremony at Stadler’s Pankow factory in Berlin on November 20. The first bodyshell arrived in Berlin on a low-loader from ...
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NewsTyne & Wear Metro fleet replacement funding announced
UK: The government is to provide £337m towards the planned replacement of the Tyne & Wear Metro’s current fleet with ‘modern energy-efficient trains’, which would ‘cut running costs while boosting performance and reliability’, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said when presenting his budget to parliament November 22. Transport authority ...
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Rail in the November 2017 UK budget
UK: A new railcard, replacement of the Tyne & Wear Metro fleet, signalling and communications upgrades and the East West Rail corridor were among the rail projects highlighted in the budget presented to parliament by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond on November 22. A £1·7bn Transforming Cities Fund will ...
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NewsNewag and Siemens present first Sofia Line 3 metro train
BULGARIA: The first metro train for Sofia metro Line 3 is nearing completion in Newag’s Nowy Sącz factory, where it was presented to officials from Sofia Metropoliten on November 15. In September 2015 a consortium of Siemens and Newag was awarded a €140m contract to supply rolling stock and ...
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NewsHyundai Rotem EMU maintenance contract extended
UKRAINE: Hyundai Rotem’s contract to maintain the 10 nine-car inter-city electric multiple units it supplied to Ukrainian Railways has been extended for a further five years, the Korean company announced on November 22. The extension from 2022 to 2027 is worth 65bn won. The 160 km/h EMUs were ordered in ...
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NewsStadler launches Wink multiple-unit offering a range of traction options
STADLER: A recent order from Arriva marked the launch of Stadler’s latest multiple-unit family, which it has named Wink, meaning Wandelbarer Innovativer Nahverkehrs-Kurzzug (‘convertible, innovative short train for local transport’). The Wink platform is intended for less busy secondary routes, and Stadler believes it could find applications in western and ...
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NewsGrant to support interoperable signalling development
LITHUANIA: The Strategic Council for Research, Experimental Development & Innovation has awarded Lithuanian Railways a grant of €2·3m to support the development of a natural gas-fuelled locomotive as well as €2m for the development of signalling equipment which would be compatible with both EU-specified ERTMS and legacy or neighbouring systems ...
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NewsProgress Rail to acquire Downer EDI’s freight activities
AUSTRALIA: Downer EDI announced on November 21 that it had signed an agreement to sell its freight business to Progress Rail for A$109m. The sale of the freight rolling stock, aftermarket and services activities is expected to close in January. It includes customer contracts, 15 facilities including those at Malaga, ...
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NewsWay forward seen as Hudson Bay Railway dispute escalates
CANADA: Investment group Fairfax Financial Holdings has expressed interest in partnering with the Missinippi Rail and One North first nations consortia to acquire the flood-damaged Hudson Bay Railway, the Port of Churchill and associated assets from short line group OmniTRAX, the federal government announced on November 16. Minister of Natural ...
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NewsARA emphasises the Value of Rail
AUSRAIL: Australia’s rail industry contributed around A$26bn to the national economy in 2016, according to the Value of Rail report launched by the Australasian Railway Association at AusRail Plus on November 21. Prepared for ARA by Deloitte Access Economics, the report is intended to highlight the many ways that rail ...
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NewsTrainline launches Google Assistant app
TICKETS: Independent ticket retailer Trainline has launched a voice-activated Google Assistant rail app, which customers in the UK can use to access advance or real-time information on journey times and details, prices, delays and disruption. Trainline said the app can handle ‘deep conversational complexity’, including requests such as ‘I’d like ...
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NewsSiemens to develop Queensland ETCS hub
AUSRAIL: In a ceremony during the first day of the AusRail Plus 2017 exhibition, Siemens announced on November 21 that it is investing A$4·8m to develop an ETCS technology centre in Brisbane, to support its signalling activities across Australia, New Zealand and the Southeast Asia region. The company said it ...
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NewsArtesyn enters Indian rail market
INDIA: Artesyn Embedded Technologies is to collaborate with Lab To Market Innovations to bring its ControlSafe range of SIL4 computing platforms to the Indian rail market. ‘The ControlSafe portfolio is designed for a wide range of onboard and wayside applications and is already saving integrators years of time-to-market and millions ...