All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 712
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NewsSamsun tram flown from China to Turkey
TURKEY: The first of five trams which Samsun Metropolitan Municipality ordered from CNR Tangshan Railway Vehicles has been delivered from China to Turkey onboard the world's largest heavy freight aircraft. The €7·5m contract signed on December 17 2012 required the first tram to be delivered by December this year, with ...
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NewsTianjin - Qinhuangdao high speed line opens
CHINA: The latest section of Passenger-Dedicated Line opened on December 1, linking the city of Tianjin east of Beijing with Qinhuangdao on the coast of the Bohai Sea to the northeast. The 287 km line cuts travel times between the cities by around a half to 1 h 11 min, ...
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NewsNetwork Rail to launch station parcel shops
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail is to test the concept of providing parcel collection and dispatch facilities at main stations to capitalise on the growing online retail market. The dedicated parcel shops would be open seven days a week, with customers notified by a mobile app, SMS and e-mail. The ...
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NewsStadler buys Voith Rail Services business
NETHERLANDS: Stadler Rail has announced the expansion of its rolling stock maintenance activities through the acquisition of Voith GmbH subsidiary Voith Rail Services, which will now operate under the name Stadler Netherlands BV. The business has around 100 staff at its office in Twello and workshops in Venlo, Leeuwarden and ...
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NewsBonatrans Group to acquire GHH
GERMANY: Czech wheelset manufacturer Bonatrans Group has agreed to acquire Oberhausen-based Gutehoffnungshütte Radsatz GmbH for an undisclosed price. The transaction is expected to close at the end of December, subject to regulatory approval. The deal covers the German business, and does not include the GHH-Valdunes plants in France and Belgium. ...
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NewsRethinking queuing to smooth metro boarding
CHINA: From December 2 Hong Kong's MTR Corp is testing a revised queuing system at Prince Edward station which it hopes will facilitate smoother passenger flows at busy interchanges. Arrows on the platform currently guide waiting passengers to line up on the two sides of the platform screen doors and ...
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NewsColas Rail buys Amey's tamping business
UK: Colas Rail has expanded its on-track plant fleet which it says was already 'the largest and most advanced' in the UK, with the acquisition of Amey's on-track tamping machines business for £5m. The sale announced on November 29 'provides significant synergies with our existing extensive on-track plant business allowing ...
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NewsJR East unveils first Series E7 high speed train
JAPAN: The first Series E7 high speed trainset built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and JR East subsidiary J-TREC was unveiled on November 29. JR East has ordered 17 of the 260 km/h trainsets, while JR West has ordered 10 which it will designate Series W7. Following testing, the first trainsets ...
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NewsRussian support for construction of rolling stock plant in Vietnam
VIETNAM: Russian rolling stock, construction machinery and defence equipment supplier Uralvagonzavod could participate in the development of a rolling stock plant in Vietnam, following the signing of a memorandum of co-operation with Vietnam-Russia Joint Venture Bank. The memorandum was signed in Hanoi on November 12 in the presence of national ...
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NewsTenerife launches smartphone ticketing
SPAIN: Tenerife tram operator Metropolitano de Tenerife has introduced a smartphone-based ticketing system. Vía-Móvil has been developed with local firm Avantic and has been implemented in six months. An Android or Apple iOS application allows tickets to be purchased through a secure internet connection, and validated by scanning QR ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - December 2013
The Polish city of Poznań is to separate tram infrastructure and operations from December, with infrastructure and rolling stock transferred from MPK Poznan to ZTM Poznan, which already manages tram stops and tracks modernised or built after 2008. The track will be leased to back to MPK Poznan for 15 ...
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NewsNeva runs through St Petersburg
RUSSIA: The first Neva metro cars manufactured by the recently formed joint venture of Škoda Transportation and Kirovsky Zavod have entered service in St Petersburg. The joint venture won an order for 54 metro cars for 3·2bn roubles, which will run in six-car formations. Deliveries are planned to run until ...
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NewsFeature articles in the December 2013 issue of Railway Gazette International
Comment UK: still tinkering after 20 years News Main Line Urban Rail Market Industry Innovations Analysis Operators eye French regional services All Aboard FloridaEuropean rail is still getting saferUS tank cars in the spotlightSwiss safety reviews report backArgentina: a happy new year?Network Rail funding determinedTrans-Asian integration debated ...
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NewsProducts & Technology in Brief
Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail has appointed Strukton to design monitoring equipment to verifiy that its ATB Vv train protection systems are functioning. Developed to a tight timescale, the technology is similar to Strukton's microPOSS data loggers used for monitoring turnouts. Alcoa Fastening Systems has introduced the Huck 360 two-piece ...
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NewsStrukton traction equipment to power São Paulo monorail cars
BRAZIL: Strukton Rolling Stock is to supply traction inverters, auxiliary inverters and battery chargers for the vehicles to be used on São Paulo metro Line 17. The monorail is being built by a consortium of Grupo MPE, Andrade Gutierrez, CR Almeida and Scomi Rail, which is providing rolling stock. ...
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News‘MoKaKi’ project breaks ground in Mombasa
KENYA: A ceremony led by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Mombasa on November 28 marked the start of construction of the first phase of the planned 2 937 km standard gauge cross-border corridor linking the Kenyan port city with Kampala in Uganda and the Rwandan capital Kigali. The initial phase of ...
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NewsNew Sarmiento fleet to arrive in February
ARGENTINA: Presenting images of the first of 25 nine-car EMUs to be completed by Chinese supplier CSR for the Sarmiento commuter route in Buenos Aires, Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo confirmed that shipments would start on January 5. ‘In mid-February they are going to be in Argentina’, ...
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NewsXinyi Line opens in Taipei
TAIWAN: The Xinyi Line of the Taipei metro was officially opened on November 23 at a ceremony attended by President Ma Ying-jeou, with public services starting the following day. The 6·4 km line links Chang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall and Xiangshan with five intermediate stations. Interchange is provided with the ...
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NewsRe-engineered EMU offers new train for less
UK: On November 28 leasing company Angel Trains unveiled a re-engineered four-car Class 317 EMU at Bombardier Transportation’s Ilford facility in east London. The concepts demonstrated on the pre-series train, including modernised traction equipment and new interiors, would offer operators the performance, maintenance and passenger ambience benefits of new rolling ...
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NewsOdense light rail funding agreed
DENMARK: In the budget agreement for 2014 the government has agreed to fund DKr1·1bn of the first stage of the Odense light rail project. Odense city council is to provide DKr600m for operation-related costs, including the rolling stock and a control centre, and the Syddanmark region is funding the rest ...