All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 550
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NewsSydney Trains to build integrated control centre
AUSTRALIA: Sydney Trains is to develop an integrated Rail Operations Centre at a cost of A$276m, New South Wales Minister for Transport & Infrastructure Andrew Constance announced on March 2. To be located at Green Square, on the Airport line south of the city centre, the ROC is expected to ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news in brief
The Rail Cluster for Southeast Europe has been established to facilitate collaboration between companies and other organisations involved in rail infrastructure projects. A total of 36 representatives from 32 organisations in six countries attended the founding meeting in Beograd on February 10. Wells Fargo & Co’s wagon finance, leasing ...
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NewsMetrolinx receives first Tier 4 locomotive
CANADA: Greater Toronto regional transport agency Metrolinx has taken delivery of a prototype Tier 4 compliant diesel locomotive from Wabtec’s MotivePower subsidiary, and has signed a US$97m contract for 16 more to be delivered from 2017. According to Wabtec, the MP54 prototype is the first commuter locomotive to be delivered ...
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NewsContactless ticketing to be tested in Singapore
SINGAPORE: Land Transport Authority announced on March 1 that it will conduct a pilot for account-based contactless fare payment in the fourth quarter of the year. Passengers will be able to use contactless debit or credit cards and will be charged for travel on their card bills. ‘LTA has ...
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NewsChanges at SBB
Currently Vice-Chair of the Management Board, Monika Ribar (photo) is to take up the role of President of Swiss national railway SBB from June 15. A former Chief Executive of freight forwarding company Panalpina World Transport, Ribar is expected to be closely involved in discussions over the future direction of ...
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NewsSoftware for Izy low-cost high speed train launch
SALES: Dutch company Sqills has supplied Thalys with the sales and distribution software for the Izy low cost service which it plans to launch in April. The S3 Passenger platform includes revenue management, pricing and booking engines, seat reservations, inventory management, a customer relationship management front-end and station and ...
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NewsMaryland Purple Line PPP contractor selected
USA: Maryland Department of Transportation has selected the Purple Line Transit Partners consortium of Meridiam (70%), Fluor Enterprises (15%) and Star America (15%) as preferred bidder for the 25·7 km Purple Line light rail line serving the northern suburbs of Washington DC. The PPP contract for ...
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NewsSingapore sovereign wealth fund takes stake in Railpool
RAILPOOL: Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC has taken a 49% stake in München-based electric locomotive leasing company Railpool, joining funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. Railpool is ‘a high quality business with a strong track record and a proven business model’, said Stuart Baldwin, Head of Infrastructure at GIC. Founded ...
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NewsPesa to develop metro train
PESA: Polish rolling stock manufacturer Pesa has announced that it is to develop a metro train design with the aid of a 24m złoty grant from the National Centre for Research & Development. The ‘energy-saving metro with a higher level of comfort and safety’ project was awarded a grant for ...
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NewsRegional bidding dropped under NS reform plan
NETHERLANDS: National passenger operator NS announced a programme of structural reforms for 2016-19 on March 1, saying its primary future focus would be on the designated core rail network. NS will no longer bid to operate local services under contracts tendered by the provinces, and the Qbuzz rail and bus ...
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NewsParis metro hackathon
FRANCE: Alstom and programming school Ecole 42 are organising a ‘connected metro’ hackathon in Paris on March 17-18. Students will have 48 h to develop a vision for how the Paris metro would look in 2030 by creating mobile applications, services, Internet of Things applications and APIs offering ‘connected ...
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NewsSyntus orders Flirts for Zwolle services
NETHERLANDS: Stadler Rail is to supply Syntus with 16 Flirt3 electric multiple-units for use on the services from Zwolle to Kampen and Enschede which the Keolis subsidiary is to operate from December 2017. The €125m contract announced by Stadler on March 2 covers the delivery of nine three-car and ...
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NewsKochi metro begins test running
INDIA: The first test run of the Kochi metro took place on February 27, on a 1 km section between Muttom Yard depot and Kalamassery at speeds of up to 10 km/h. Two crew and technical assistants were on board. Project manager Delhi Metro Rail Corp is ...
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NewsBuilt awarded Flinders Street station contract
AUSTRALIA: Built Pty Ltd has been awarded a contract to refurbish the historic administration building at Melbourne’s Flinders Street station, Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan announced on March 1. The work will include repairing the leaking roof, restoring the ‘crumbling’ façade and re-painting ...
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NewsAccenture to support Madrid’s Digital Metro Station project
SPAIN: Metro de Madrid has appointed Accenture to support the design of a ‘Digital Metro Station’ model for the control and management of station technology such as security and passenger information systems. The project aims to define an open and scalable architecture to support future expansion and Internet of ...
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NewsRovos Rail buys Shongololo Express
SOUTH AFRICA: Luxury cruise train operator Rovos Rail has completed the purchase of the Shongololo Express, taking over 19 coaches and agreeing to employ all of the staff. Shongololo Express operates three routes from Pretoria, with the Southern Cross to Victoria Falls and Dune Express to Swakopmund ...
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NewsIzy budget Paris – Brussels train service to offer €10 standing tickets
EUROPE: Plans to launch a low-cost train service between Paris Nord and Brussels Midi were revealed by high speed operator Thalys on March 1. Branded Izy, it is due to launch on April 3 using Thalys staff and two green and purple liveried trainsets. Izy will operate on conventional rather ...
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NewsDB Schenker Rail rebrands as DB Cargo
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn's rail freight business DB Schenker Rail AG was renamed DB Cargo AG with effect from March 1. All DB Schenker Rail companies in Germany and elsewhere are to be rebranded by the end of 2016. DB's passenger and rail freight transport business units were combined into ...
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NewsBelgian ETCS Level 2 pilot line to be ready this year
BELGIUM: The first of three pilot projects to prepare for the implementation of ETCS Level 2 across the national network is due to be ready later this year, according to Infrabel project director Yves Werner. Three sections of line are being used to test different applications of Level 2 as ...
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NewsRicardo completes Lloyd’s Register Rail acquisition
RICARDO: On March 1 engineering and consulting company Ricardo plc announced that it had completed the acquisition of Lloyd’s Register Rail, following Chinese government approval for the transfer of a small joint venture owned by Lloyd’s Register Group and China Classification Society. Ricardo had announced an agreement to acquire the ...