All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 896
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NewsQueensland details 2030 rail vision
AUSTRALIA: An 8 km metro and major expansion of suburban and regional rail services in Brisbane are at the heart of a 20-year transport blueprint published by the Queensland state government on August 31. Entitled ‘Connecting SEQ 2031’, the plan would cost A$123bn if all the projects were adopted. According ...
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NewsTrack machine exports
INTERNATIONAL: US on-track plant manufacturer Harsco Rail announced on August 30 that it had received orders worth US$13m to supply tamping and grinding machines to Bangladesh and Liberia. Bangladesh Railway will receive a Mark VI ballast tamper to support the upgrading of its 1 676 mm gauge ...
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NewsTikhvin signs first major wagon order
RUSSIA: Private sector freight forwarder Transgarant has signed the first major agreement to purchase wagons from Tikhvin Railway Car Building Plant, a state-of-the-art factory being developed by ICT Group on a site 200 km east of St Petersburg in Leningrad oblast. Transgarant has agreed to order 15 000 wagons from ...
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NewsRoyal ceremony marks Botniabanan opening
SWEDEN: A ceremony in Kramfors on August 28 attended by King Carl XVI Gustaf marked the start of a rolling inauguration of the Botniabanan in northeast Sweden. A royal train then left for Örnsköldsvik and Nordmaling, where further celebrations were held, before it reached Umeå in the evening. Revenue passenger ...
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NewsThree Gorges route linked up
CHINA: Work has been completed on the Yiwan Railway, paralleling the lake formed by the Three Gorges dam. Running through mountainous terrain to the south of the Yangtze valley, the 377 km east -west line links the city of Wanzhou east of Chongqing with Yichang in Hubei province via Lichuan ...
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NewsCapita Symonds opens York rail office
UK: Capita Symonds has opened an office in York providing civil and structural engineering services for the rail sector. The company hopes to increase the initial 12 staff to 30 within 15 months, and generate turnover of £3·5m. 'As we are successfully bucking the national downturn trend thanks to contracts ...
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NewsWagon builder sees revival in rail market
USA: 'Recent orders for double-stack equipment represent the early signs of a restoration in demand for this car type', President & CEO of The Greenbrier Companies William A Furman said on August 25, when the company announced contracts to built more than 1 000 double-stack container wagons and 700 hoppers ...
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NewsRoad and rail share Swiss tunnel
SWITZERLAND: Drivers traversing the A13 between Chur and Bellinzona through the San Bernardino Pass may be surprised to see a standard gauge railway laid along the road, 1600 m above sea level. Roads department Astra is spending SFr38m upgrading the A13, including work to improve tunnel safety following the fatal ...
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NewsTwin Cities to get Avantos
USA: Minneapolis Metropolitan Council's Transportation Committee has recommended approval of a $153·2m contract with Siemens Industry Inc for the supply of 41 S70 Avanto light rail vehicles. The Central Corridor route now under construction between central Minneapolis and St Paul will receive 31 of the 70% low -floor cars, while ...
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NewsDeutsche Bahn completes Arriva takeover
EUROPE: Deutsche Bahn announced the completion of its acquisition of Arriva on August 27, following the registration of necessary court orders. DB UK Holding Ltd has acquired all the shares of Arriva plc, which is now its wholly-owned subsidiary. The German national railway company said it will conduct its ...
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NewsBenex arranges funding for train purchase
GERMANY: A consortium of Hamburger Sparkasse and KfW IPEX-Bank signed an agreement worth more than €74m to fund the acquisition of 12 Stadler trains for BeNEX on August 24. The rolling stock is needed for the Netz Stadtbahn regional operating contracts in Berlin-Brandenburg which were awarded in 2009 to Ostdeutsche ...
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NewsRepublika Srpska rail investment plan
BOSNIA: Republika Srpska’s Minister of Transport Nedeljko Cubrilovi outlined plans to spend €500m over three years modernising the entity’s rail network when he signed orders for Polish wagons and workshop equipment on August 13. The contracts were placed using a €20m credit from the Polish government. EKK Wagon will supply ...
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NewsKarara ore railway construction contract
AUSTRALIA: Macmahon has been awarded a A$86m contract for civil works and tracklaying on an 85 km railway forming part of the Karara Iron Ore Project in Western Australia. Starting from Karara, 500 km northeast of Perth, the new line will run to Tilley Siding near Morawa where it will ...
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NewsHupac takes Crossrail stake
SWITZERLAND: Intermodal specialist Hupac has acquired a 25% stake in Crossrail, the Swiss -based rail freight operator which is active in Switzerland Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. As part of the deal, Hupac CEO Bernhard Kunz has joined the Crossrail board. Announcing the acquisition on August 24, Crossrail ...
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NewsKeen interest in High Speed 1 concession
UK: August 17 was the deadline for the submission of indicative bids for a 30 -year concession to operate High Speed 1, the rail link between London and the Channel Tunnel. Railway Gazette International's sister publication Rail Business Intelligence understands that government-owned London & Continental Railways has secured keen ...
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NewsDesert locomotives delivered to Saudi Arabia
SAUDI ARABIA: The first six of 25 Electro-Motive Diesel SD70ACS freight locomotives ordered in April 2009 were handed over to Saudi Railway Co in Dammam on August 22. Deliveries are scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, bringing the number of EMD locomotives in the country to ...
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NewsCeremony launches work on Ho Chin Minh City metro Line 2
VIETNAM: Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai attended a ceremony on August 24 at which the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee formally marked the start of work on metro Line 2. Opening is scheduled for 2016. The first phase of Line 2 will be 11·2 km long, linking Tham ...
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NewsSakura stars at depot launch
JAPAN: The first of 10 Series N700-8000 Shinkansen trainsets being supplied to JR Kyushu was put on display when the operator unveiled its new rolling stock maintenance depot at Kumamoto on Sunday August 22. Being built as part of the second phase of the Kyushu Shinkansen, the new depot ...
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NewsHigh speed concession plan
SPAIN: Development Minister José Blanco visited Santander on August 11 where he signed an agreement with Miguel Ángel Revilla, President of the Cantabria region, committing the government to completing a high speed line between Madrid and Santander by the end of 2015. The third signatory, Cantabria’s Vice-President Dolores Gorostiaga, pointed ...