All Asia articles – Page 9
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News‘Engineering masterpiece’ Bogibeel Bridge opens
INDIA: The country’s longest combined rail and road bridge was officially opened when Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off a Northeast Frontier Railway inter-city train from Tinsukia to Naharlagun on December 25. The 4·94 km Bogibeel Bridge crosses the River Brahmaputra between the Dibrugarh and Dhemaji districts of the northeastern ...
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JR Central to test N700S at 360 km/h
JAPAN: President of Central Japan Railway Shin Kaneko announced on January 6 that the N700S prototype trainset will be tested at up to 360 km/h later this year. Running trials with the 16-car N700S prototype began in March last year, and the train has since achieved a maximum speed of ...
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News
Xinjiang coal railway inaugurated
CHINA: The 435 km Hongnao Railway in the Xinjiang region was formally opened to traffic on January 1. Approved by the National Development & Reform Commission in 2014, the line is one of the longest in China to be developed using private investment. Running from Naomaohu in the Hami ...
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East Japan Railway tests driverless operation
JAPAN: East Japan Railway is testing automatic train operation on the Yamanote Line in Tokyo, with a view to assessing the feasibility of converting routes to driverless operation. The 34·5 km circular route was selected for testing because it does not share tracks with other lines. JR East envisages that ...
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News
Chengde – Shenyang heads next tranche of PDL openings
CHINA: National operator China Railway Corp has launched passenger services on four more new lines, following on from the five routes that opened on December 25-26 and taking the total length of new line inaugurated this month to more than 2 500 route-km. December 29 saw the start of operation ...
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News
Seoul starts work on regional express network
SOUTH KOREA: Groundbreaking ceremonies for the northwestern arm of Seoul’s planned three-line Great Train Express network were held at the Kintex exhibition centre in Goyang on December 27. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure & Transport, the GTX network is intended to link outlying suburbs in the north and ...
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News
Five new lines open in two days
CHINA: Revenue services began on two more high speed lines on December 25, with another inaugurated the following day, along with two new mixed-traffic railways. First to open on December 25 was the 293 km Harbin – Mudanjiang Intercity Railway, running southeast from the capital of Heilongjiang province to a ...
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Chinese coaches to re-equip Yangon – Mandalay expresses
MYANMAR: The national parliament in Naypyitaw has approved government plans to purchase new rolling stock for Myanma Railways’ principal Yangon – Mandalay services using funding from China. The Ministry of Transport & Communications intends to procure 14 standard and 14 first class vehicles for the route, which carries more than ...
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Heavy freight locomotive delivered
AZERBAIJAN: National railway ADY has taken delivery of the first of 40 Prima T8 AZ8A twin-section 25 kV AC heavy freight locomotives ordered for use on the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars corridor. The EKZ joint venture of Alstom (75%) and Transmashholding (25%), which is based at Astana in Kazakhstan, ...
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Rail Business UK
Rail section of China to UK service extended
INTERNATIONAL: Freight forwarding company Davies Turner has extended the rail element of its Express China Rail less-than-container-load service linking Wuhan in China with the UK. Containers were previously transferred from rail to road in Warszawa, but now continue to Duisburg, from where they are sent by road under bond to ...
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LVMH buys luxury train operator
INTERNATIONAL: High-end wine, fashion, cosmetics, hotel and retail group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Belmond, which owns or manages 46 hotel, restaurant, train and cruise brands including the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, British Pullman, Royal Scotsman, Grand Hibernian, Andean Explorer, Hiram Bingham and ...
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Russian Railways presents platskartny modernisation concept
RUSSIA: The future look of Russian Railways’ platskartny coaches which offer the cheapest and most basic accommodation on very long-distance services was unveiled at the Transport Week exhibition and conference in Moscow last month. On show was two-window mock-up of part of a coach for visitors to inspect and comment ...
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BST awarded second CR400AF high speed train order
CHINA: China Railway Corp has awarded the Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation joint venture a 3·1bn yuan contract to supply a further 15 eight-car and three 16-car CR400AF high speed trainsets designed for operation at up to 350 km/h. The contract announced by the 50:50 joint venture of Bombardier Transportation and ...
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JR East unveils first ALFA-X driving car
JAPAN: The first driving car bodyshell for East Japan Railway’s Series 956 high speed test train was unveiled in Kobe on December 12. Being manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the 10-car trainset is expected to begin test running in May. Designated ALFA-X for Advanced Labs for Frontline Activity in rail ...
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ICF prepares to launch next-generation MEMU
INDIA: A prototype for the next generation of Mainline Electric Multiple-Unit for Indian Railways is expected to be rolled out for test running on December 15, according to Integral Coach Factory General Manager Sudhanshu Mani. Developed at the ICF plant in Chennai, the MEMU family is designed to cater for ...
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Railway supply industry news round-up
Vossloh AG announced on November 30 that it had successfully completed the acquisition of Australian concrete sleeper manufacturer Austrak Pty Ltd from Laing O'Rourke through its Vossloh Australia subsidiary. In future, Austrak will form part of Vossloh’s Tie Technologies business unit, within the Core Components division. Releasing its annual results ...
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Korail-Supreme Railways merger plan back on
SOUTH KOREA: The government has revived plans to combine national passenger operator Korail with new entrant Supreme Railways, Korail’s Vice-President for Passenger Transport Hyungik Cho has told Railway Gazette. The Ministry of Land & Infrastructure has commissioned a feasibility study into the effects of the possible merger, and its conclusions ...
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Hopes rise for trans-Korean rail traffic
ASIA: The first train in a decade to cross the border between the two Koreas passed through the Demilitarised Zone on November 30 as negotiations begin to restore international rail traffic between the two countries. Staffed by 28 South Korean specialists, the test train is due to spend 18 days ...
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News
Electric locomotives handed over to Uzbekistan Railways
UZBEKISTAN: Two 3ES5K Yermak three-section 25 kV 50 Hz electric locomotives built at Transmashholding’s Novocherkassk plant in Russia were handed over to Uzbek national railway UTY on November 22. The 9·2 MW locomotives ordered in mid-2018 are intended to enable UTY to operate heavier trains in mountainous areas. The NEVZ ...
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China to Pakistan by rail and road
ASIA: Kerry Logistics Network has launched a rail and road multimodal freight service between Lanzhou in China and Islamabad in Pakistan, operated by its member company Lanzhou Pacific Logistics Corp. A block train carrying mechanical equipment, car parts, commodities and snow melting agent left Lanzhou on October 23 and ...
