All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 650
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NewsChina approves three new lines
CHINA: The National Development & Reform Commission approved plans for the construction of three lines serving Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi on October 30. The Tibetan line is to start at Xierong on the Lhasa – Xigaze route which opened in August, and will run eastwards for 402 km to ...
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NewsHokkaido Shinkansen tracklaying completed
JAPAN: JR Hokkaido held a ceremony at Kikonai station on November 1 to mark the completion of tracklaying for the Hokkaido Shinkansen, which will bring high speed train services onto the country’s northern island in 2016. JR Hokkaido President Osamu Shimada was joined by Hokkaido Governor Harumi Takahash to ...
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NewsHigh speed contract award cancelled
MEXICO: President Enrique Peña Nieto has instructed the Secretariat of Communications & Transport to run a new competition for the contract to build a 210 km high speed line between Mexico City and Querétaro, citing the ‘doubt and disquiet’ that had arisen from the decision to award a 50∙8bn pesos ...
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NewsSuriname railway plan announced
SURINAME: Detailed proposals for a rail link between the capital Paramaribo and Onverwacht were announced by the government on November 5. Strukton Systems has completed a feasibility study and preliminary designs for the project and is a possible construction contractor, although there is no date as yet for the award ...
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NewsKeolis wins Teutoburger Wald operating contract
GERMANY: Keolis subsidiary Eurobahn was named as the preferred bidder for the next Teutoburger Wald passenger operating contract on November 6. The new contract is being awarded by Westfalen-Lippe transport authority NWL, in co-operation with Niedersachsen's LNVG and the Netherlands' Regio Twente and Overijssel province. It will run for ...
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NewsKeolis signs Wuhan commuter rail letter of intent
CHINA: Keolis signed a letter of intent to participate in the operation of the future Greater Wuhan commuter rail network when a delegation from Hubei province visited Lille in France on November 3. The province is developing a network of six commuter lines up 80 km long to link Wuhan ...
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NewsItalian government to assess FS Group privatisation options
ITALY: The Ministry of Economics & Finance is to ‘consider the various feasible options’ for the privatisation of some or all of the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group, its Managing Director Michele Mario Elia said in Brussels on November 5. Speaking on the fringes of the European Rail Summit, Elia ...
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NewsFourth Railway Package debated at the European Rail Summit
The urgency for rapid implementation of the Technical Pillar of the Fourth Railway Package was underlined by several speakers at the European Rail Summit, which was hosted by Railway Gazette at the Representation of the Free State of Bayern in Brussels on November 4-5. Bringing together senior representatives from the ...
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NewsBelmond to launch Irish land cruise train
IRELAND: Luxury hotel, river cruise and train operator Belmond has announced plans to launch a land cruise train in Ireland in summer 2016. The company said Belmond Grand Hibernian would be ‘the first luxury overnight rail experience of its kind in Ireland’, with two, four and six-night trips visiting destinations ...
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NewsEdinburgh - Glasgow electrification contracts awarded
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail announced on November 5 that it had awarded Costain and Morgan Sindall the main civil works and electrification contracts for the Edinburgh – Glasgow Improvement Programme. The alliancing contracts have a total value of £250m, and follow on from earlier contracts covering detailed design. The ...
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NewsMogilev Carriage Works delivers modern wagons
BELARUS: Mogilev Carriage Works has delivered its first batch of wagons built to modern designs developed under a November 2013 co-operation agreement with Russia’s United Wagon Co, which supplied components including the 25 tonne axleload bogies. The 50 bottom-discharge open wagons of 75 tonne capacity have been delivered to Vostok1520 ...
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NewsGATX and Trinity announce four-year wagon deal
USA: An agreement for Trinity Industries to supply leasing company GATX with 8 950 wagons over four years was announced on November 3. The majority of the order will be for tank cars. The agreement comes into effect in 2016 when an existing five-year deal covering 12 500 wagons ...
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NewsGB Railfreight operates first Channel Tunnel train
EUROPE: UK freight operator GB Railfreight ran its first service through the Channel Tunnel on the night of November 3, hauling a Dourges – London intermodal service between Calais-Fréthun and Barking International Rail Freight Terminal. The train was operated under a ‘hook-and-haul’ agreement with sister Groupe Eurotunnel company Europorte ...
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NewsFasTracks commuter train delivery begins
USA: The first four 25 kV AC commuter cars for Denver’s FasTracks programme left Hyundai Rotem’s assembly plant in Philadelphia on October 31. The steel bodyshells were manufactured in South Korea before being shipped to Philadelphia for final assembly. Denver Regional Transportation District has ordered 66 cars to enter ...
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NewsAfghan railway tendering begins
AFGHANISTAN: The Afghanistan Railway Authority has invited expressions of interest in three performance-based contracts to operate, maintain and manage the 75 km railway from Hairatan on the Uzbek border to a freight terminal near Mazar-i-Sharif. Responses from ‘experienced, high calibre and competent national and international’ companies should be submitted to ...
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NewsCSR Sifang to set up in Argentina
ARGENTINA: On November 4 Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo announced that he had signed an agreement with CSR Sifang, under which the Chinese rolling stock manufacturer would establish a facility in Buenos Aires. Randazzo said that the facility would be located within the Liniers workshops that maintain ...
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NewsContract awarded for Mexico City – Querétaro high speed line
MEXICO: On November 3 the federal Secretariat of Communications & Transport announced that a consortium including China Railway Construction Corp and CSR had been selected for the turnkey contract to build, operate and maintain a high speed line between Mexico City and Querétaro. Including rolling stock and other railway equipment, ...
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NewsNetwork Rail acquires leased freight sites from operators
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail completed the acquisition of the head leases for 105 sites from three freight operators on October 31, saying this would make the sites ‘more readily available to the growing number of rail freight operators and end users, increasing competition and supporting growth’. The transactions cover ...
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NewsDetroit selects Inekon trams
USA: Project promoter M-1 Rail Corp announced on November 3 that it has formally selected Inekon Group of the Czech Republic to supply six 100% low-floor trams for the M-1 line in Detroit. The final contract value is expected around $30m. The 22 m long bidirectional vehicles would use ...
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NewsAlstom acquires Areva transport business
FRANCE: Nuclear energy company Areva transferred its Command & Control for Transportation activities and staff to Alstom with effect from October 31. The CCT business designs and produces signalling equipment for trams and metros, as well as radio communications and the Train Control Management System as used on the ...