Angola: Johannesburg-based Dominex has refurbished eight sleeping cars, two restaurant cars and a generator van for the Benguela Railway. The ex-South African cars have been fitted with air-conditioning and dual air/vacuum braking.
Bulgaria: Sofia has exercised an option for a further five Pesa Swing trams (RG 5.13 p23).
Canada: Tourist train operator Rocky Mountaineer has appointed Canarail as prime contractor for the refurbishment of its fleet of 16 GoldLeaf luxury double-deck dome cars. Work will be undertaken in the Gaspé region of Québec.
China: CSR Yangtse is to use Parker Hannifin pneumatic door control systems on 240 sulphur wagons it is building.
Czech Republic: CD has bought 41 coaches, four restaurant cars and five car-carrying wagons second-hand from ÖBB for €14·4m. Private operator RegioJet had offered €13m, and claimed the national railway overpaid.
Europe: To support its target of carrying 2 million lorries/year in 2020, on January 13 Eurotunnel announced a €40m order for WBN Waggonbau Niesky to supply three more 800 m Freight Shuttle trainsets each comprising 32 lorry-carrying and three loading wagons plus a coach for lorry drivers. They are due for delivery by early 2017.
HSH Nordbank, KfW IPEX-Bank and Credit Agricole are to provide leasing company Railpool with a €150m financing package for 40 electric locomotives.
Germany: Bombardier has awarded AEG Power Solutions a contract to supply battery chargers, inverters and DC/DC converters for up to 450 Traxx locomotives which it is to supply to DB under a framework agreement.
Hungary: LAC Holding and Romania’s Softronic have signed an MoU to establish a locomotive factory in Hungary which would produce up to 10 locomotives a year from late 2015.
Iraq: Turkish rolling stock manufacturer Tüvasa has completed 14 coaches ordered by Iraqi Republic Railways, including two sleeping, four couchette and two restaurant cars.
Jordan: Aqaba Railway Corp awarded King Abdullah II Design & Development Bureau and Jordan Advanced Machining Co a 10-month to rebuild 35 accident-damaged wagons at a cost of 665 000 dinars. An initial wagon was rebuilt free of charge, and underwent three months of trial operation.
Latvia: RVU Baltija has produced what it says is the first wagon built in Latvia since independence in 1991. The national railway’s rolling stock repair subsidiary LDz Ritoš has a 25% stake in the Riga-based company, which was established in 2011 and plans to produce around 1 000 wagons/year incorporating US and Russian technology for 1520 region customers.
Malaysia: Saft is to supply two 110 Ah MRX battery systems for the 58 Inspiro trainsets which Siemens is building for the Klang Valley MRT project.
Morocco: ONCF and SNCF have agreed to form a 60: 40 joint venture to maintain the 14 Duplex high speed trainsets which Alstom is supplying for the future Tanger – Casablanca route. The maintenance contract will be worth €175m over 15 years, with a €90m package of after-sales support.
Netherlands: On January 20 NS announced it would go ahead with a direct award contract for Stadler to supply around 60 Flirt EMUs, after Alstom and Bombardier dropped legal challenges.
Poland: Laude has selected Tatravagónka to supply 80 intermodal flat wagons by the end of the year.
Koleje Wielkopolskie is to lease four Pesa Link two-car DMUs for 7½ years for use on the Pozna – Wgrowiec line, with an option to buy them afterwards.
PR has signed a 160m złoty contract for a consortium of ZNTK MM and Pesa deal to modernise 21 EN57 EMUs by December 2015, including the installation of AC traction equipment.
MPK Łódź has ordered 22 five-section Pesa Swing unidirectional trams to enter service from late 2015 on its main east-west route. They will be 30·5 m long and 2400 mm wide with capacity for 207 passengers. The 166m złoty contract is 40% financed with EU funds.
Slovakia: Using EU funding, ZSSK has awarded ŽOS Vrútky a €31m contract to deliver 17 regional coaches by the end of the year.
Sweden: Green Cargo has awarded Euromaint Rail a new 10-year contract to maintain its locos and rolling stock totalling 300 vehicles, as well as components such as wheels and motors. Alstom has been awarded a nine-year contract to maintain 63 EMUs, including 22 from its Coradia Nordic family, on behalf of SJ which won the Västtågen operating contract in October. Separately, Arriva has appointed Alstom to maintain the Östgöta Trafiken fleet of 19 EMUs for 10 years from June.
Switzerland: ABB is to supply Stadler with traction transformers and converters for rolling stock ordered by customers including Jungfraubahn, FGC and BART.
Taiwan: Taiwan Railway Administration has ordered an additional four Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo eight-car tilting inter-city trainsets for delivery in 2016, taking advantage of changes in exchange rates since ordering 17 in December 2010. Hitachi is to supply two eight-car TEMU1000 tilting trainsets for entry into service in June 2016.
Turkey: Traktionssysteme Austria is to supply 120 traction motors to Bozankaya for used on trams to be supplied to Kayseri.
Tractor and engine manufacturer Tümosan and Patentes Talgo have signed an MoU for co-operation in the rail sector.
Ukraine UZ, Newag and Zespó Doradców Gospodarczych TOR have signed an MoU for the modernisation of 150 to 200 diesel freight locos.
UK: Petards is to supply saloon and driver-only operation CCTV systems worth £1·5m for Bombardier Class 387/2 Electrostar EMUs ordered for Gatwick Express services.
