All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 955
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NewsLoan for Serbian Railways train order
SERBIA: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development signed a €100m loan agreement with state railway Zeleznice Srbije on May 8. The money will part-fund the purchase of a fleet of around 30 two or three-car electric multiple-units for regional and inter-city services. Tendering is expected to begin in the ...
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NewsCommissioning of Egyptian JT42CWRM begins
EGYPT: Commissioning has begun in Cairo of the first 15 of 40 Electro-Motive Diesel JT42CWRM locomotives being supplied to Egyptian National Railways. They are the first locomotives from the Class 66 family to be delivered to a customer outside Europe. The JT42CWRM locomotives will be deployed on passenger routes, ...
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NewsSiemens to install static frequency converters
SWEDEN: Infrastructure manager Banverket has awarded Siemens Mobility a €33m contract to install six Sitras SFC Plus compact and low-noise modular static frequency converters. The 17 MW converters change the three-phase 50 Hz supply into single-phase 16·7 Hz for traction power. One will be installed in Eskilstuna and five ...
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NewsZSSK orders 12 DMUs
SLOVAKIA: ZOS Vrútky has won a €53m contract to supply 12 Class 860 three-car inter-regional DMUs to national passenger operator ZSSK. The first tender, announced in September 2008, was withdrawn after a lack of interest from suppliers. The Class 860 will be partly based on six Class 840 two-car ...
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NewsParis Saint Lazare station works launched
FRANCE: On May 13 Sophie Boissard, head of SNCF's stations department, launched the third and most substantial phases of the Cœur Saint Lazare project to refurbish the Paris terminus. The main concourse floor will be opened up in a number of places, with 20 escalators installed to improve the ...
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NewsStrong commercial activity at Alstom
ALSTOM: 'A solid performance in both Power and Transport' saw overall orders up 5% to €24·6bn and sales up 11% to €18·7bn for the year to March 31 2009, according to Alstom Chairman & CEO Patrick Kron. Power orders were up 3%, but Transport grew 9% with a record ...
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NewsGE to supply locomotives to Nigeria
NIGERIA: GE Transportation and the Federal Ministry of Transportation announced the signing of a letter of intent covering the supply of 25 diesel locomotives on May 12. The C25 EMPD six-axle locomotives will be built by GE Transportation South America at Contagem in Brazil, with 12-cylinder 7FDL 2 500 ...
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NewsHigh speed trains with a local flavour
SOUTH KOREA: The first of 19 KTX-II high speed trainsets built for national operator Korail by Hyundai Rotem is currently undergoing a six-month testing programme before entering service on the Seoul – Daegu line.
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NewsLyon TGV depot inaugurated
FRANCE: Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau and SNCF President Guillaume Pépy attended the opening of the Gerland TGV depot in Lyon on March 31. Built at a total cost of €247m of which SNCF contributed €145m, it is the first TGV maintenance facilit y outside the Ile-de-France region. Its ...
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NewsRegional lifeline gets refurbished coaches
SOUTH AFRICA: Two refurbished eleven-car trainsets have been introduced on Kei Rail services between Ambele and Mthatha. The two sets are intended to act as prototypes to gauge customer reaction - a total of five refurbished sets would be introduced if the vehicles prove successful. Each air-conditioned set is formed ...
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NewsBART plans replacement of entire fleet
USA: On May 6 Bay Area Rapid Transit District announced an ambitious $3·4bn plan to purchase 700 metro cars to replace its entire 669-car fleet, some of which is now nearly 40 years old, and increase capacity to handle 500 000 weekday passengers in the San Francisco area. There ...
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NewsCrossrail construction launched
UK: After years of planning and uncertainty, construction of Crossrail became a reality on May 15 when the first of nearly 400 steel piles, each 18.5 m high, was launched by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mayor of London Boris Johnson. The piles will form the basis of the new ...
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NewsElectric services launched in Alger
ALGERIA: President Abdelaziz Bouteflika inaugurated electric outer-suburban passenger services from Alger on May 2, following a month of testing. Regular operations began the next day. From Alger the 25 kV 50 Hz wiring runs 54 km east to Thénia and 68 km west to El Affroun. Electrification of the ...
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NewsCoal project gets the go-ahead
INDONESIA: The Regency of East Kutai granted approval in late March for a 150 km railway linking coal mines at Muara Wahau in East Kalimantan to the coast. It is promoted by Trans Kutai Kencana, a special purpose vehicle formed by the regional authority’s investment body and companies owned by ...
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NewsShenyang metro concession signed
CHINA: MTR Corp, Shenyang Metro Group and the Shenyang municipal government signed a 30-year operations and maintenance concession for the future metro lines 1 and 2 on May 7. The contract signing follows from an agreement in principle which was signed last November. The metro will be operated by ...
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NewsMontpellier selects Citadis for Line 3
FRANCE: The greater Montpellier authority announced its selection of Alstom Citadis trams for the future Line 3 on May 12. A €65m contract for 23 trams plus a full-size mock-up will be signed in the next few weeks. Options covering maintenance for 10 years and a further 12 trams ...
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NewsEuropean Commission allows aid for London & Continental reform
UK: On May 13 the European Commission approved £5·169bn of 'one time last time' state aid for London & Continental Railways, which will result in the unbundling of High Speed 1 infrastructure and Eurostar's transport operations. Debt cancellation and a sustainable financial structure will lead to a significant reduction ...
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NewsGE plant to commercialise hybrid loco batteries
USA: GE Transportation has announced plans for a $100m plant to produce batteries for hybrid locomotives and heavy-load applications in the marine, mining, telecoms and utilities sectors. Production is planned to start by mid-2011, with the capacity to produce 10 million cells a year, equivalent to 900 MWh, or 1 ...
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NewsGrube announces new start at DB
GERMANY: In a bid to draw a line under the data abuse saga at Deutsche Bahn, the railway has decided to implement sweeping changes to the organisational structure. Four members of the Executive Board will be leaving with effect from May 31. Following an extraordinary meeting of the Supervisory ...
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NewsManchester’s ‘big bang’ back on
UK: Plans to complete the expansion of Manchester’s Metrolink light rail network are set to be submitted to government after an alternative funding package worth £1·4bn was agreed by the 10 boroughs in Greater Manchester. A referendum was held in December 2008 to decide whether a £3bn package of ...