All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 581
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NewsNew guidance on handling passenger complaints
UK: The Office of Rail & Road issued new guidance on complaints handling procedures for the rail industry on October 26, saying it aimed to reflect developments including social media and ‘ensure that the industry is keeping pace with the changing needs and expectations of passengers.’ The previous guidance from ...
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NewsTrans-Laos railway construction could begin in November
LAOS: Construction of the planned standard gauge corridor running north-south through Laos could begin next month, according to officials in Vientiane. The railway would be an extension of China Railways’ existing line running south from Kunming in Yunnan province towards Vietnam. The Chinese and Lao governments agreed to develop ...
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NewsTokyo welcomes new trams
JAPAN: The first two Series 8900 trams have entered service on the Arakawa Line in Tokyo. Six more are due to be delivered by early 2017, and are intended to replace the Series 7000 trams on the line, the oldest of which were built in 1954. The single section ...
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NewsChiltern Railways launches Oxford Parkway service
UK: Chiltern Railways launched passenger services between London Marylebone and new stations at Bicester Village and Oxford Parkway on October 26. The trains use a 1 km chord which has been built to connect the Chiltern main line through Bicester with the existing Oxford – Bicester Town branch. The stations ...
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NewsSeattle selects light rail satellite depot site
USA: The Sound Transit board has selected a site in Bellevue’s Bel-Red corridor between downtown Bellevue and Redmond for a $380m light rail operations and maintenance satellite facility. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2018 for opening in 2020. The depot will be designed to maximise the potential for transit-oriented ...
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NewsRail industry news in brief October 2015
US customer group Consumers United for Rail Equality has been relaunched as Freight Rail Customer Alliance, with a wider remit to lobby government for 'competitive freight rail service and fair prices.' After a 10 year gap, Bulgaria's BDZ reintroduced dining cars on September 7. The initial service is on ...
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NewsSecond City Crossing makes progress
UK: The first section of Manchester Metrolink’s Second City Crossing is now due to open before Christmas, Transport for Greater Manchester has announced. On October 26 overhead electrification equipment carrying current at 750 V DC is due to go live between Victoria and the new stop at Exchange Square. ‘This ...
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NewsCalais opens Modalohr terminal
FRANCE: A terminal for loading lorry semi-trailers onto Modalohr swing-tray wagons was officially opened at the Port of Calais on October 23. Costing €7m, it has been funded by the combined operating company for the ports of Calais and Boulogne as well as the European Union. From January 12 2016 ...
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NewsWorld rail market October 2015
Algeria: Alstom has awarded Indra a €4·2m contract to supply magnetic and contactless fare collection systems for the Setif tramway. Australia: 4Tel passenger information systems using track circuit and GPS data are being insalled on V/Line’s Bendigo Line. Germany: DB Netz has licensed SBB’s Rail Control System train ...
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NewsSiemens to open Turkish tram factory
TURKEY: Siemens announced on October 20 that it is to build a tram factory in Gebze near Istanbul at a cost of €30m. According to Siemens, ‘by localising manufacturing and the supply chain in Turkey, the company expects even better chances for winning tenders as well as substantial cost ...
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NewsThameslink Class 700 testing to begin soon
UK: Siemens has now produced more than 380 of the 1 140 bodyshells for the Thameslink Class 700 Desiro City electric multiple-unit fleet at its Krefeld plant in Germany, with two eight-car Class 700/0 and 10 12-car Class 700/1 EMUs now completed. Two 12-car units have been delivered to ...
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NewsLas Heras line to be revived for freight
ARGENTINA: The isolated 285 km route running from Puerto Deseado to Las Heras in Santa Cruz province is to be reopened for freight traffic at a cost of 90∙1m pesos, the government announced on October 5. Disused since 1978, the route is being upgraded to move materials for state-owned ...
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NewsEIB funds RENFE investment
SPAIN: RENFE President Pablo Vázquez and European Investment Bank Vice-President Román Escolano signed an agreement on October 1 that will see EIB provide up to €600m for investment projects over a period of three years. Among the projects to be financed with EIB funding will be an investment programme ...
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NewsChinese-funded consortium to build Jakarta – Bandung fast line
INDONESIA: Construction could start next year on a passenger-dedicated line linking Jakarta with Bandung over a 140 km alignment that would make use of vacant land next to a toll motorway. The approval of the project is the latest twist in a long-running series of negotiations between the authorities in ...
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NewsNorfolk Southern to stop accepting traffic ahead of PTC deadline
USA: Ahead of the now unachievable December 31 deadline for the introduction on PTC on routes carrying passenger trains and certain hazardous freight traffic, Norfolk Southern announced on October 20 that it would stop accepting shipments of poisonous-inhalation-hazard commodities with effect from December 1. NS has also written to Amtrak, ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market October 2015
Argentina: ADIF has awarded contracts worth 523m pesos for the refurbishment of 23 stations on the Belgrano Sur commuter network in Buenos Aires. Work includes raising platform height to match the new DMUs supplied by CNR. Australia: Australian Rail Track Corp has awarded Telstra a 10-year contract to provide ...
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NewsScrap inter-city franchising, say Virgin and Stagecoach
UK: Stagecoach Group and Virgin have called for the replacement of the ‘confused and damaging’ system whereby franchised and open-access train operators compete on inter-city routes. In their joint response to a Competition & Markets Authority consultation on options for increasing on-rail competition, Stagecoach and Virgin suggest a new ...
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NewsKaohsiung tram begins trial operation
TAIWAN: Trial operations on the Kaohsiung tram line started on October 16, with Mayor Chen Chu riding the inaugural service. Full operation on the first phase is expected to begin next year. Until then, the trams are running a taster service every 30 min between 09.00 and 18.30 through ...
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NewsRhein-Ruhr-Express operating contracts signed
GERMANY: Contracts for the operation of Rhein-Ruhr-Express passenger services from December 2018 to December 2033 were signed by National Express, Abellio and a group of five transport authorities at a ceremony in Hamm on October 19. The five RRX routes totalling around 14·6 million train-km per year were tendered as ...
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NewsRhein-Ruhr-Express operating contracts signed
GERMANY: Contracts for the operation of Rhein-Ruhr-Express passenger services from December 2018 to December 2033 were signed by National Express, Abellio and a group of five transport authorities at a ceremony in Hamm on October 19. The five RRX routes totalling around 14·6 million train-km per year were tendered as ...