All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 888
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NewsCorridor X funds awarded
EUROPE: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is providing two loans to support the development of Pan -European Corridor X through the Balkans. On October 15 EBRD signed its first rail sector loan in Macedonia, allocating €17·6m for upgrading of 53 km of track on three sections of Corridor ...
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NewsQbuzz wins Utrecht sneltram concession
NETHERLANDS: Utrecht regional transport authority BRU has selected Qbuzz for a concession to operate bus services and the sneltram light rail line from the city of Utrecht to the satellite towns of Nieuwegein and IJsselstein. The contract runs for eight years from December 11 2011, and is the first Dutch ...
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NewsAppian sells Skoda
SKODA TRANSPORTATION: Regulatory approval is expected in November for the sale of US investment company Appian Group’s 100% stake in the Czech Republic’s largest rolling stock manufacturer for an undisclosed price. Under the deal announced on September 20 more than 50% of the company is to be bought by Tomás ...
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NewsStadler opens train commissioning centre
SWITZERLAND: Stadler Rail officially opened its train commissioning centre in Erlen on October 22. The Inbetriebsetzungs-Zentrum will enable Stadler to test and commission trainsets up to 150 m long, too long for the tracks at its Bussnang and Altenrhein assembly plants. Construction of the centre on a site alongside Swiss ...
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NewsJapanese suppliers agree rolling stock component alliance
JAPAN: Hitachi and Toyo Denki Seizo have agreed a strategic alliance covering the supply of electrical components for rolling stock in export markets. The companies will supply each other's products to benefit from their strengths, and will look into joint product design and development. The alliance was announced on ...
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NewsDSB wins fifth Swedish passenger contract
SWEDEN: Upplands Lokaltrafik has awarded DSB Uppland a 10½ year contract to operate Upptåget local passenger services from June 12 2011. The new operator is a subsidiary of Danish national passenger operator DSB's Swedish business DSB Svergie. The contract announced on October 21 covers the 157 km route north from ...
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NewsRail Automation Business Unit opens
SLOVAKIA: Siemens Mobility officially opened a dedicated Rail Automation Business Unit at its Zilina Engineering Centre in northwest Slovakia on October 20. The company expects to increase the number of signalling and control specialists at the site to 130 over the next five years, in response to 'encouraging market trends' ...
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NewsMontréal metro car order placed at last
CANADA: Société de transport de Montréal confirmed on October 22 that it had signed a C$1·2bn contract with a consortium of Bombardier and Alstom for the supply of 468 rubber-tyred metro cars. The 52 nine-car trainsets will allow STM to replace its MR-63 fleet, which has been in service since ...
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NewsRail revival to replace Cambodia's bamboo trains
CAMBODIA: Rehabilitation of the run-down and war-damaged railway network reached a milestone when the initial section was officially reopened on October 22. The first cement traffic was carried in early October on a 117 km stretch between Phnom Penh and Touk Meas, and passenger services are planned for the ...
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NewsBusiness confidence grows
INTERNATIONAL: Business confidence in the rail sector has improved significantly, and is close to the levels recorded before the economic downturn, according to the latest quarterly results in the Global Rail Index survey undertaken by SCI Verkehr. None of the companies surveyed were unhappy about the current business market, ...
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NewsSão Paulo orders Alstom suburban trains
BRAZIL: São Paulo suburban train operator CPTM has awarded Alstom Transport a €80m contract to supply nine electric multiple-units for Line 11 Expresso Leste services, the manufacturer announced on October 19. Part of Alstom's Metropolis range, the eight-car 1 600 mm gauge 3 kV DC units will be produced at ...
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NewsGATX to manage wagon fleet
USA: Asset leasing company GATX Corp has purchased a 12·5% stake in Adler Funding LLC, a newly-created entity which has acquired a fleet of 5 350 wagons. GATX will manage the portfolio on behalf of the financial institutions which own the remainder of the firm. 'This opportunity demonstrates GATX's ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market October 2010
Algeria: General contractor Astaldi has awarded a consortium of Bombardier and Site SpA a €19m order to supply Interflo 250 ETCS Level 1 equipment for the 120 km line under construction between Saida and Moulay Slissen. Telvent is to supply Isolux-Corsan with its Smartmobility light rail system to ...
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NewsHigh temperature locomotives ordered from EMD
MAURITANIA: Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière has awarded Electro-Motive Diesel a contract to supply six SD70ACS heavy haul diesel locomotives with AC traction motors, the manufacturer announced on October 20. To be delivered from late 2011 they will allow the operation of heavier mineral trains through the ...
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NewsCo-operation renewed
MOROCCO: As part of a bilateral forum between Italy and Morocco, national railway authority ONCF signed a new co-operation agreement with Italy's FS Group in Rabat on October 11. The event was attended by Italy's Vice-Minister of Economic Development Adolpho Urso. The agreement continues a railway co-operation accord signed by ...
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NewsDB ready to link London with Amsterdam and Frankfurt
EUROPE: Deutsche Bahn expects to launch regular services from London to Frankfurt and Amsterdam in 2013, DB Chairman Rüdiger Grube confirmed on October 19, presenting an ICE3 trainset at St Pancras station for the first time. Grube was joined for the announcement by UK Minister of State for Transport ...
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NewsKolkata metro reaches New Garia
INDIA: A 2·8 km extension of Kolkata's north-south metro line from Kavi Nazrul to Kavi Subhash was officially inaugurated by Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee on October 7. Named after Indian poet Subhash Mukhopadhyay, the terminus at Kavi Subhash serves the New Garia district to the southeast of the city. Opening ...
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NewsLuas opens to Cherrywood
IRELAND: The 7·5 km Cherrywood extension of Dublin’s Luas light rail Green Line from Sandymount to Brides Glen was officially inaugurated by Taoiseach Brian Cowen on October 16, in a ceremony at the new Central Park stop. The event was also attended by the Chair of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market October 2010
Africa: Tazara is to repair the 865 defective wagons out of the fleet of 1853 that are currently out of use. US$500000m has been allocated to repair an initial 500 wagons by the end of 2010. Australia: On September 1 CSR Ziyang signed a 100m yuan contract to ...