Africa – Page 24
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News
First Coradia trainset in Africa enters service
ALGERIA: Minister of Public Works & Transport Abdelghani Zalene attended a ceremony on March 2 to open buildings at Alger’s Agha station and mark the entry into service of national railway SNTF’s first Alstom Coradia Polyvalent electro-diesel multiple-unit. Public services between Alger and Oran were scheduled to start the following ...
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NewsUnited Wagon delivers wagons to Guinea
GUINEA: United Wagon Co’s TikhvinSpetsMash plant has shipped the first of 114 hopper wagons ordered by aluminium producer Rusal following an international tender. The wagons will be used to transport bauxite from the Dian-Dian deposit in the Boké region. The 1 435 mm gauge hopper wagon designed by UWC’s All-Union ...
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NewsONCF orders 30 Alstom electric locomotives
MOROCCO: Alstom is to supply 30 electric locomotives to ONCF for €130m. Announcing the contract on February 8, the national railway said this was the first order to be placed under a planned wider rolling stock acquisition programme which would include locomotives, multiple-units and wagons. The 3 kV DC Prima ...
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NewsAlexandria electric bus contract signed
EGYPT: Alexandria Passenger Transportation Authority signed a contract with BYD on January 24 for the supply of 15 electric buses. Deliveries of the 12 m long K9 buses are due to begin in the first half of this year. BYD will also supply 18 charging masts.
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NewsSitarail modernisation underway
AFRICA: Ceremonies were held in December to mark the formal start of work on a long-awaited project to rehabilitate the 1 260 km metre-gauge railway linking Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire with Ouagadougou in neighbouring Burkina Faso. Announced in mid-2015, the project was dependent upon renegotiation of the concession under which ...
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NewsAfDB backs Namibian rail upgrade
NAMIBIA: The African Development Bank has approved a US$153m loan to the government of Namibia to co-finance the upgrading of the 210 km railway running inland from Walvis Bay to Arandis and Kranzberg, as well as the road from Windhoek to the international airport. The three-year rail rehabilitation project will ...
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NewsAcademy to support Ethiopian railway operations
ETHIOPIA: Work is to start later this year on the construction of a railway training academy, Ethiopian Railways Corp announced on January 13. When fully operational, the academy is expected to employ around 250 teachers and administrative staff, training up to 1 00 students at a time in seven different ...
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NewsGibela moves into South African EMU factory
SOUTH AFRICA: In the first week of January the Gibela joint venture of Alstom and local partners Ubumbano Rail and New Africa Rail moved into its new factory and training centre in Dunnottar, 50 km east of Johannesburg. This is being built as part of a €4bn contract to supply ...
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NewsMombasa – Nairobi standard gauge freight service launched
KENYA: The first commercial freight train on the Standard Gauge Railway ran from Mombasa to the Embakasi Inland Container Depot in Nairobi on January 1. The 52-wagon train carried 104 TEU, which the operator pointed out was ‘almost equivalent to the trucks operating daily on the Mombasa – Nairobi highway.’ ...
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NewsMauritius orders Urbos LRVs
MAURITIUS: CAF is to supply a fleet of 18 Urbos light rail vehicles to operate the Metro Express light rail line, following the signing of a €100m contract with Larsen & Toubro Ltd on December 26. The Indian firm is responsible for procuring the rolling stock as part of its ...
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NewsAlgerian Coradia multiple-unit on test
ALGERIA: The first of 17 six-car Coradia Polyvalent electro-diesel multiple-units which national railway SNTF ordered from Alstom in July 2015 is now undergoing dynamic trials at the Velim test centre in the Czech Republic. Once the trials at Velim are complete, the 160 km/h trainset will go to the French ...
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NewsMore Tunis RER funding
TUNISIA: The European Investment Bank has agreed a funding package worth €83m to support the acquisition of rolling stock and development of infrastructure for the Tunis RER programme. The funding has been agreed between EIB, the Tunisian government and state railway SNCFT, and covers lines D and E of the ...
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NewsMacron joins Abidjan metro groundbreaking
CÔTE D’IVOIRE: Construction work on the Abidjan metro project was formally inaugurated on November 30 by President Alassane Ouattara and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron with a ceremony at the site of the future Treichville station. Visiting the region for an Africa-Europe summit, Macron said the urban rail service ...
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NewsTraxx Africa handed over in Durban
SOUTH AFRICA: Bombardier Transportation and Transnet Freight Rail celebrated the handover of the first of 240 Traxx Africa electric locomotives with a ceremony at Transnet Engineering’s assembly plant in Durban on December 7. Ordered by Transnet Freight Rail in March 2014 at a cost of R15bn, the 240 multi-system locomotives ...
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NewsNacala investment package complete
MOZAMBIQUE: Brazilian mining and steel group Vale has signed binding financial contracts which complete the investment structure for the Nacala Logistics Corridor. Announced on November 27, the deal covers US$1·03bn from Japan Bank for International Co-operation, a US$1bn loan insured by Nippon Export & Investment Insurance and a US$400m loan ...
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NewsSNCF to assist PRASA with renewal programme
SOUTH AFRICA: Under a tripartite agreement signed on November 27, SNCF and French government development agency AFD have agreed to provide technical and financial assistance worth R6·2m to suburban passenger operator Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa. Commencing from the start of December, the 12-month partnership will provide technical expertise, ...
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NewsThales awarded Egyptian signalling contract
EGYPT: Egyptian National Railways has awarded Thales a three-year contract to modernise signalling and telecoms on the 180 km Asyut – Nagaa Hammadi section of the Cairo – Aswan corridor. Announcing the contract on November 16, Thales said its integrated signalling and communications technology would be designed to work with ...
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NewsAlstom to supply more trams to Rabat
MOROCCO: Société des Transports de Rabat-Salé has signed a €45m contract with Alstom for the supply of 22 Citadis trams, the manufacturer announced on October 26. The 32 m long low-floor vehicles will run in coupled pairs and will augment the fleet of 44 Citadis trams that Alstom supplied ...
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NewsTraxtion Group targets African rail market
AFRICA: The Sheltam group has been rebranded as Traxtion Group, following a 30% investment from Harith General Partners’ Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund 2. Traxtion Group aims to partner with locomotive and wagon manufacturers, track construction companies, consulting engineers and project developers in the African rail market. Chairman Brian ...
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Metro Report InternationalCities pledge to buy zero-emission buses
INTERNATIONAL: The mayors of 12 cities pledged to procure only zero-emission buses from 2025 when they signed the C40 Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets Declaration on October 23. The leaders of London, Paris, København, Barcelona, Milano, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Mexico City, Quito, Auckland and Cape Town ‘envision a future where walking, ...