All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 656
-
NewsKoleje Mazowieckie orders Newag EMUs to increase capacity
POLAND: Voivodship-owned operator Koleje Mazowieckie has selected Newag to supply 12 Impuls electric multiple-units between January and November 2015. European Union POIiŚ funding will cover 59% of the 257·3m złoty cost of the order. The five-car Impuls units will be 90·4 m long, enabling them to be operated in pairs ...
-
NewsDEKRA acquires Plurel inspection business
NETHERLANDS: Industrial and automotive safety, quality and inspection services group DEKRA announced the acquisition of the Plurel business on October 6. Utrecht-based Plurel has 65 staff and provides rolling stock and infrastructure testing, inspection and certification services in the Benelux countries, France and the UK. DEKRA Rail is a ...
-
NewsSaarbahn reaches Lebach
GERMANY: A northern extension of the Saarbahn tram-train in Saarbrücken was inaugurated at 10.00 on October 5, with a day of music and free travel until 18.00. The 10·4 km extension from Heusweiler Markt to Lebach-Jabach uses a former heavy rail alignment as far as DB’s Lebach branch, which ...
-
NewsMAPNA to build diesel locos under licence
IRAN: Vossloh and MAPNA Group have reached a ‘long-term partnership’ agreement for the German firm’s G1206 four-axle multi-purpose diesel locomotive to be produced under licence in Iran. Imminent changes to European regulations will preclude future deliveries of the G1206 to customers in the EU, but Vossloh believes the design is ...
-
NewsRail industry news in brief - October 2014
Bosnia’s two railway companies have agreed to operate 10 trains/day carrying ore from Omarska to ArcelorMittal’s Zenica steelworks, with trains to be increased from 1150 to 1450 tonnes to improve efficiency. RFF has begun work to reopen the 25 km Oloron – Bedous route to passenger traffic, disused since ...
-
NewsKing opens refurbished Casa-Port station
MOROCCO: King Mohammed VI has formally opened the refurbished station at Casa-Port in the city of Casablanca. The terminus has been redeveloped at a cost of 400m dirhams under a project led by national railway ONCF. The company says that station’s location ‘at the heart of a city undergoing wholesale ...
-
NewsDoppelbauer to head European Railway Agency
EUROPE: Meeting in Lille on September 30, the Administrative Board of the European Railway Agency voted to appoint Dr Josef Doppelbauer as the next Executive Director, succeeding Marcel Verslype with effect from January 1 2015. Holding both a degree and a doctorate in physics, Doppelbauer started his career at the ...
-
NewsCalifornia begins high speed rolling stock procurement
USA: Expressions of interest are to be submitted to the California High Speed Rail Authority by October 22 from potential suppliers of high speed trainsets for the planned 836 km network that would link the San Francisco Bay Area with the Los Angeles basin by 2028. Issuing its call for ...
-
NewsSRT plans multimodal hub at Bang Sue
THAILAND: State Railway of Thailand has reactivated long-standing plans to develop land around Bang Sue station on the northern edge of Bangkok under a property deal aimed at reducing the company’s debt pile. Three plots of land have been identified by SRT, and these would be developed for mixed ...
-
NewsJapanese railway test centre opens to support export drive
JAPAN: What Mitsubishi Heavy Industries describes as Japan's first comprehensive railway transport system verification facility was officially opened on October 2. The Mihara Test Centre is located at the Wadaoki plant of MHI’s Mihara Machinery Works in Hiroshima Prefecture. It is being made available for use by all private ...
-
NewsNew trams enter service in Daugavpils
LATVIA: The first six of 12 UKVZ trams ordered earlier this year entered passenger service in Daugavpils on September 30. The remaining six are to be delivered in April 2015. Tram operator Daugavpils Satiksme ordered eight type 71-623 single-section trams and four type 71-631 three-section trams from the Russian ...
-
NewsTokaido Shinkansen turns 50
JAPAN: Celebrations were held in Tokyo on October 1 to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the world’s first high speed line, between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. The current operator of the Tokaido Shinkansen, JR Central, re-enacted the launch with a ribbon-cutting at 06.00 before dispatching the first ...
-
NewsAlstom awarded ETCS Level 2 contracts
EUROPE: Alstom has announced contracts to supply ETCS onboard equipment to Belgium’s SNCB and Deutsche Bahn in Germany. The SNCB contract is worth €70m and covers the design, supply and maintenance for 10 years of Atlas 200 ETCS Level 2 onboard equipment for 449 trains of five types. Installation ...
-
NewsBombardier's River Line contract renewed
USA: New Jersey Transit has awarded incumbent Bombardier Transportation a new $296m contract to operate and maintain the River Line diesel light rail service. The contract runs for 15 years from March 14 2015, with an option for a further five years. Bombardier has operated the 55 km River ...
-
NewsClass 66 locos to get engine stop-start technology
UK: DB Schenker Rail UK is to fit Auto Engine Stop-Start technology supplied by ZTR to 90 of its Electro-Motive Diesel Class 66 locomotives by the end of 2015. Announcing the decision on October 1, the freight operator said trials undertaken since February had found that the amount of ...
-
NewsLos Angeles breaks ground on Regional Connector
USA: A groundbreaking ceremony for the Regional Connector light rail line took place in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles on September 30. The 3 km underground line will link the Blue, Expo and Gold lines and add three stations, at 1st Street/Central Avenue, 2nd Street/Broadway and 2nd ...
-
NewsPort Authority requests PATH airport extension proposals
USA: New York-New Jersey Port Authority issued a request for proposals on September 26 for an extension of the PATH metro line from Newark Penn Station to Newark Liberty International Airport. A Port Authority study recommended the $1·5bn project in 2012, and it is included in the $27·6bn 10-year ...
-
NewsFeature articles in the October 2014 issue of Railway Gazette International
Feature articles in the October 2014 issue of Railway Gazette International, the leading business journal for railway operators and suppliers, read in 140 countries. Subscribe to Railway Gazette International today. Comment Money, money, money News Main Line Urban Rail Market Industry Innovations Pointers Analysis ...
-
NewsNational College for High Speed Rail locations announced
UK: The National College for High Speed Rail is to have its headquarters in Birmingham and a second site in Doncaster, the government announced on September 30. The NCHSR is planned to open in 2017, to provide specialist vocational training for engineers to work on High Speed 2 and future ...
-
NewsZafar Alikhan
Zafar Alikhan has been appointed Senior Transit & Rail Manager in the Los Angeles office of consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff.