All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 767
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NewsReopening closer for Arica - La Paz
CHILE: The reopening of the 206 km railway between the port of Arica and the Bolivian border at Visviri moved a step closer this month with the operation of the first test train along the entire route. A locomotive hauling six wagons carrying track materials left Arica at 18.07 ...
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NewsInvensys wins Great Northern Great Eastern signalling contract
UK: Network Rail has awarded Invensys Rail a £57·8m contract to undertake the Great Northern Great Eastern signalling upgrade project. The 16-month programme forms part of the East Coast Main Line Capacity Relief Project, which aims to upgrade the Doncaster - Lincoln - Peterborough line for use as the primary ...
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NewsMetro cars blown up to test bomb resilience
EUROPE: Controlled explosions have been carried out on a decommissioned Madrid Metro car and a prototype redesigned vehicle as part of a research project which aims to develop blast-resilient metro cars better able withstand a terrorist attack. The three-year EU-funded SecureMetro project is being led by the NewRail research centre ...
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NewsVossloh expands in Brazil and Argentina
SOUTH AMERICA: Vossloh Group has acquired Brazilian turnout component manufacturer Metalúrgica Barros Monteiro with effect from January 18, and has announced the formation of a consortium which is to build a turnout plant in Argentina. Barros Monteiro has its headquarters at Sorocaba in São Paulo state, and recorded sales of ...
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NewsFirst Emilia Romagna FLIRTs handed over
ITALY: On January 21 Stadler Rail and AnsaldoBreda handed over five FLIRT ETR-350 multiple-units to Ferrovie Emilia Romagna in Bologna. These are part of a €200m order for two operators. FER is to get 12 five-car EMUs. Sistemi Territoriali will get four six-car EMUs, 16 four-car EMUs and two ...
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NewsBNSF announces $4·1bn capital spending programme
USA: The 2013 capital spending programme announced by BNSF on January 18 has a total value of $4·1bn, an increase of $450m on 2012. The largest component is $2·3bn allocated to infrastructure and related assets on the 52 000 km network, which serves 28 US states and two Canadian provinces. ...
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NewsFyra halted by ice build-up
EUROPE: All Fyra International trains between Amsterdam and Brussels were suspended on January 17, after Belgium’s national safety authority DVIS withdrew permission for the AnsaldoBreda-built V250 trainsets to carry passengers. Three of the nine trainsets delivered so far had been damaged by a build-up of ice and snow under the ...
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NewsRail network proposed in Sulawesi
INDONESIA: The six provincial governments of Sulawesi have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Transport to draft a development plan for the construction of up to 2 000 km of railway under the government’s MP3EI national infrastructure programme. According to Deputy Transport Minister Bambang Susantono, the next ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market January 2013
Australia: The state of Victoria has placed a A$200m order for a further 40 Bombardier VLocity DMU cars for delivery in 2014-16, a mix of new units and extra cars to lengthen existing units to three cars for when the Regional Rail Link opens in 2016. Botswana: BR is ...
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NewsWheel plant agreement signed
INDIA: State-owned steelmaker RINL-VSP and Indian Railways signed a memorandum of understanding on December 21 to establish a forged wheel factory at Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. The plant is scheduled to be completed within 36 months at a cost of Rs10bn. It would have a production capacity of 100 ...
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NewsWorld rail market January 2013
Australia: Frazer-Nash is to work with the Rail Industry Safety & Standards Board to provide independent validation of the draft Rail Systems Interoperability Standard AS7450, covering the introduction or upgrading of infrastructure, rolling stock and other systems. Denmark: Compliance software specialist Comply Serve is to supply cloud-based risk assessment ...
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NewsAlstom to test onboard flywheel energy storage
ENERGY: Alstom Transport and Williams Hybrid Power signed an agreement on January 17 to test Williams’ energy storage technology on a Citadis tram. Under the exclusive relationship, the two companies will adapt Williams’ composite MLC flywheel energy storage. Trials will start in 2014, with a view to installing a ...
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NewsAustralia consolidates rail safety regulation
AUSTRALIA: A consolidation of safety regulation and accident investigation for the rail industry comes into force on January 20, when National Rail Safety Regulator Rob Andrews officially takes up his post and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau becomes the National Rail Safety Investigator. Replacing separate state and territory regulatory regimes ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market January 2013
Australia: Abigroup Contractors, Theiss, a Salini-Bielby-Winslow joint venture and John Holland Queensland with Leighton Contractors have been shortlisted to develop 'innovative' proposals for the Moreton Bay Rail Link in Queensland, a planned 12·6 km electrified outer-suburban branch to Kippa-Ring. Completion is planned for late 2016. China: Hong Kong MTR ...
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NewsAmtrak and California join forces on high speed fleet procurement
USA: Amtrak and the California High Speed Rail Authority held a joint event at Washington Union station on January 17 to issue a joint Request for Information with a view to the procurement of a common fleet of high speed trains. The partnership agreement is intended to ...
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NewsSBB to consolidate infrastructure fleet maintenance
SWITZERLAND: Following last year's announcement that it is to invest SFr606m replacing its fleet of infrastructure maintenance vehicles, Swiss Federal Railways has decided to consolidate overhauls at Biel from 2014. Light and heavy maintenance of the infrastructure fleet of 2 500 vehicles with an average age of 33 years is ...
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NewsTurkish PowerHaul order confirmed
TURKEY: Plans to build 50 PowerHaul diesel locomotives in Eskişehir over the next two years were announced by General Electric and Tülomsaş on January 14. Under the strategic partnership between the two companies, the Turkish builder is to assemble 20 locomotives for state railway TCDD and a further 30 for ...
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NewsLooking into the future of Northern Ireland Railways
UK: Northern Ireland's Department for Regional Development has begun public consultation on the future of the rail network, seeking views on how to prioritise transport investment in 2015-35. A consultation document sets out a range of options, starting with a basic package necessary to retain the rail network at current ...
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NewsBudapest updates fleet management system
HUNGARY: Budapest’s integrated public transport authority BKK is to install IVU Traffic Technologies’ fleet management and passenger information systems on its tram network in the next few months. Around 600 trams are being fitted with the IVU.fleet operational control system. This will send data to the control centre using ...
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NewsBelkommunmash to supply trams to Daugavpils
LATVIA: Belkommunmash has been selected to supply 12 trams to the city of Daugavpils. The Belarusian company, bidding with the local Agmen Consulting Bureau, was chosen over the Daugavpils Locomotive Repair Factory on January 8. The value of the bid is around 4·6m lats, and the trams are to be ...