Asia – Page 111
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NewsGoogle backs Indian station wi-fi roll-out
INDIA: As part of a strategy to widen access to the internet, Google has announced a project to provide high speed public wi-fi at 400 Indian Railways stations. Google is to work with telecoms company RailTel, which provides internet services via its lineside fibre network. Google aims to provide ...
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NewsKim Jong Un inspects North Korean metro trainset
NORTH KOREA: Kim Jong Un, First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, visited the Kim Jong Thae Electric Locomotive Complex on October 23 to inspect what the official news agency described as a locally-made metro trainset. Pyongyang has two metro lines totalling 22 km, operated using rolling stock acquired ...
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NewsTrans-Laos railway construction could begin in November
LAOS: Construction of the planned standard gauge corridor running north-south through Laos could begin next month, according to officials in Vientiane. The railway would be an extension of China Railways’ existing line running south from Kunming in Yunnan province towards Vietnam. The Chinese and Lao governments agreed to develop ...
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NewsChinese-funded consortium to build Jakarta – Bandung fast line
INDONESIA: Construction could start next year on a passenger-dedicated line linking Jakarta with Bandung over a 140 km alignment that would make use of vacant land next to a toll motorway. The approval of the project is the latest twist in a long-running series of negotiations between the authorities in ...
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NewsEIB lends €135m for Bangladesh Railways
BANGLADESH: The European Investment Bank is providing the government with a €135m loan to finance upgrading, double-tracking and signalling renewals on the 72 km Laksam – Akhaura route. The project forms part of a broader programme to upgrade the 321 km Dhaka – Chittagong corridor by 2022. The total project ...
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NewsKanchrapara EMU factory prequalification begins
INDIA: The Ministry of Railways has issued a request for qualifications for a contract to set to establish on a joint venture basis an electric multiple-unit and metro car factory at Kanchrapara, north of Kolkata in West Bengal. Around 150 acres of railway land has been allocated for the project. ...
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NewsYerevan metro to receive upgrade loans
ARMENIA: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development and the European Investment Bank are to provide loans of €7m each for the third metro rehabilitation project in Yerevan. A further €7m is to be sought from another international donor. The project would involve refurbishment of the depot, substations, power ...
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NewsTilting E353 to serve Chuo Main Line
JAPAN: A pre-series Series E353 tilting EMU to operate Azusa limited express services on the eastern portion of the 1 067 mm gauge Chuo Main Line between Tokyo and Nagano has been unveiled by East Japan Railway. The Series E353 sets are being built by the railway’s rolling stock subsidiary ...
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NewsTurkish GSM-R interoperability testing completed
TURKEY: Italian certification group RINA has successfully completed interoperability testing of the GSM-R base station sub-system access network supplied to national railway TCDD by Huawei, and the GSM-R network switching sub-system core network supplied by Nokia. Huawei said TCDD has typical multi-vendor GSM-R infrastructure, with Nokia, Kapsch and Huawei elements. ...
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NewsUzbek railway approved
UZBEKISTAN: The government has given the go-ahead for national railway UTY to build a 396·9 km line in 2016-17 to provide a more direct link between Navoi, Kanimekh and Miskin. This would serve the Bukhara and Khorezm regions, and provide additional capacity for north–south freight. The cost is put at ...
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NewsHigh speed beauty contest terminated
INDONESIA: Proposals to develop a 150 km high speed line between Jakarta and Bandung have been dropped, the government announced on September 3. A statement issued by the office of President Joko Widodo confirmed that the government’s priorities were the upgrading of the existing Trans-Java main lines, the Jakarta suburban ...
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NewsSapphire Corp to acquire Ranken Infrastructure Ltd
ASIA: The shareholders of Singapore-listed Sapphire Corp approved the 360m yuan acquisition of Chinese rail engineering specialist Ranken Infrastructure Ltd at an extraordinary general meeting on September 2. The deal is expected to be completed by October. Established in 1998, Chengdu-based Rankin undertakes projects in China, India, Bangladesh and Saudi ...
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NewsChina Railway Corp orders Zefiro380 high speed trains
CHINA: China Railway Corp has ordered a further 15 eight-car CRH380D high speed trainsets from Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation for 2·4bn yuan. Announcing the order on September 2, the BST joint venture of Bombardier and CSR Sifang Rolling Stock Co said it had begun delivering an initial batch of 70 ...
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NewsHigh speed links to the northeast completed
CHINA: A 210 km rail link to the North Korean border town of Dandong was opened for revenue service on September 1. This is the first of two high speed lines serving the border region that are scheduled to open this year. Under construction since 2010, the 207 km Shenyang ...
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NewsPassenger security app launched
INDIA: An app designed to improve the security of passengers on Eastern Railway's suburban services has been launched by Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu during a visit to the railway’s headquarters The Railway Mobile Instant Tracking Response & Assistance app can be used to alert the nearest Railway Protection ...
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NewsElectrification to Qarshi completed
UZBEKISTAN: A Talgo 250 Afrosiyob trainset ran from Toshkent to Qarshi on August 22 as part of celebrations marking the completion of work to electrify and upgrade the 140·8 km Marakand – Qarshi section of the 511 km Toshkent – Samarkand – Qarshi route. The project has raised the maximum ...
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NewsBangladesh line rehabilitation consultancy contract signed
BANGLADESH: Bangladesh Railway has awarded Indian company Balaji Railroad Systems Ltd a Rs200m contract to provide detailed design and construction supervision services for the rehabilitation of the out-of-use line from Kulaura to Shahbazpur, close to the Indian border. The 51·3 km metre-gauge route is expected to reopen for passenger and ...
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NewsWestern DFC contracts awarded
INDIA: Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India has awarded two civil works and track contracts for the Western DFC to a consortium of Mitsui & Co, Ircon International and Tata Projects. The contracts announced on August 19 have a total value of ¥76bn, and cover the 186 km Vaitarana – ...
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NewsNorthernmost PDL opens in Heilongjiang
CHINA: The country’s most northerly passenger-dedicated line opened for revenue service on August 17, connecting the two principal cities in Heilongjiang province, Harbin and Qiqihar. Operating at up to 250 km/h, the high speed trains have cut the fastest journey time between the cities from 3 h to 85 ...
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NewsCameras to detect drunken behaviour
JAPAN: West Japan Railway has installed cameras that can automatically identify drunken behaviour and alert platform staff, in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents at stations. So far 46 cameras have been implemented on the Osaka Loop Line platforms of Koybashi station in Osaka. JR West is ...