All Railway Gazette International articles in August 2015
All articles published this month.
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NewsSaft supplies Haramain back-up batteries
SAUDI ARABIA: Back-up power for the 125 V DC signalling, security and telecom systems on the Haramain high speed line is to be provided by specialist batteries developed by Saft and electrical equipment supplier Tecnibat. The customised 510 Ah capacity nickel-based backup power systems are required to withstand the desert ...
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NewsHigh speed train toilet emptying system delivered
CHINA: The first of Smith Brothers & Webb’s ‘airline-style’ Controlled Effluent Transfer System toilet tank emptying units has been installed at Hong Kong’s Shek Kong depot, which will maintain trainsets used on the future Express Rail Link. The manufacturer says the automated CETS can empty tanks three times faster ...
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NewsThales awarded London Underground Sub-Surface Lines resignalling contract
UK: Transport for London announced on August 3 that it had awarded sole bidder Thales a £760m contract to renew the signalling and train control systems on London Underground's Circle, District, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines. Collectively known as the Sub-Surface Lines, the four large-profile lines form a ...
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NewsVashishta Johri
Vashishta Johri has taken charge as General Manager of India’s Southern Railway.
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NewsKuala Lumpur multi-modal ticketing contract awarded
MALAYSIA: Land transport authority SPAD has awarded Australian company Vix Technology a A$27m contract to design, supply and operate a unified multi-modal ticketing system covering Kuala Lumpur and the wider Klang Valley. The cashless payment system is to be rolled out from early 2017, and will enable passengers to pay ...
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NewsTyne & Wear Metro fleet refurbishment complete
UK: The three-quarter life refurbishment of the Tyne & Wear Metro fleet has been completed five months ahead of schedule. A total of 86 cars have been modernised over five years at a cost of £30m. The work forms part of the broader £389m ‘Metro all change modernisation’ programme. ...
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NewsHoosier State train operating contracts in place
USA: On August 2 the Chicago – Indianapolis Hoosier State passenger service began running under new operating contracts which have been awarded to Amtrak and Iowa Pacific Holdings by the Indiana Department of Transportation and local authorities on the route. Federal funding for Amtrak services of less than 1 ...
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NewsGovernment funds Phnom Penh – Sisophon rehabilitation
CAMBODIA: Work is expected to begin in September on initial repairs to the Northern line which links the capital Phnom Penh with Sisophon, 40 km from the border with Thailand. The government has agreed to provide US$33m to support what it terms ‘emergency repairs’ on the 386 km metre gauge ...
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NewsHaCon and Bytemark announce partnership
USA: New York-based Bytemark and Germany’s HaCon have announced a strategic partnership to offer real-time journey planning and mobile ticketing systems in the North American market. HaCon brings ‘decades of experience in real-time travel planning and logistics data management to the mass transit agencies here in North America’, said Bytemark ...
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NewsFirst TE33A locomotive for Azerbaijan handed over
AZERBAIJAN: The first of 10 Type TE33A Evolution diesel locomotives ordered by national railway ADY was officially handed over on August 3, at a ceremony in Baku which also marked the arrival of the first Nomad Express container service from China via Dostyk and the Caspian Sea ports of Aktau ...
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NewsETCS Level 2 contract signed
BELGIUM: Infrastructure manager Infrabel has officially signed the €510m contract with Siemens Mobility and Cofely-Fabricom for installation of ETCS Level 2 on more than 2 200 track-km, together with the introduction of electronic interlockings across the network. According to Siemens, the work is due to be completed by the end ...
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NewsPort of Antwerpen seeks last mile operator
BELGIUM: A neutral operator to provide wagonload freight services within the Port of Antwerpen is being sought by Railport Antwerpen NV, a company established by the port authority, the Essenscia federation of chemical and life sciences companies and industry association Alfaport. The aim is to increase the flexibility of ‘last ...
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NewsŠkoda Transportation buys majority stake in Transtech
FINLAND: On August 4 Škoda Transportation Group of the Czech Republic announced that it had completed the acquisition of a controlling stake in Finnish rolling stock manufacturer Transtech from investment company Pritech Oy. Ilka Brotherus will remain as a minority shareholder through family company Sinituote Oy, and the Transtech ...
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NewsIrish public transport budget increased
IRELAND: National railway Iarnród Éireann is set to be benefit from an additional €60m which the government has allocated to the Ministry of Transport, Tourism & Sport’s public transport budget for 2015. The aim is to catch up with the backlog of work which resulted from country’s recession. Rolling stock ...
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NewsPR to withdraw all unsubsidised services
POLAND: National regional train operator Przewozy Regionalne has announced its intention to withdraw all its commercially-operated train and bus services with effect from September 1, and instead provide only those services which are subsidised by local authorities. PR introduced its interREGIO and REGIOexpress services in 2009 in an effort to ...
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NewsFinnish open access locomotive on test
FINLAND: The first of three locomotives which privately-owned Fennia Rail ordered from CZ Loko in November 2014 is undergoing trials at the Velim test circuit in the Czech Republic ahead of delivery later this month. The 1 524 mm gauge locomotive has been fitted with 1 435 mm gauge bogies ...
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NewsNeil Robertson
Neil Robertson has been appointed Chief Executive of the UK’s National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering, succeeding Gil Howarth who is re-establishing his former Howarth & Co Consultancy.
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NewsPraha plans driverless metro line
CZECH REPUBLIC: Praha city council has announced plans to build the future metro Line D for operation with three-car driverless trainsets. The 10·6 km line with 10 stations would run south from Náměstí Míruto, splitting into to two branches terminating at Modřany and Depo Písnice. It is intended to ...
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NewsKiwiRail seeks interest in Napier – Gisborne line
NEW ZEALAND: KiwiRail has invited proposals from freight or tourist train operators interested in a non-exclusive licence to run services on the 210 km Napier – Gisborne line on North Island. Tenders are due by September 10, with the final decision scheduled to be announced by mid-October. ‘A number ...
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NewsMidi-Pyrénées orders more multiple-units
FRANCE: Alstom Transport announced a €46m order to supply a further five electric and three electro-diesel Régiolis multiple-units to the Midi-Pyrénées region on August 5. This follows from an initial 25 units ordered in 2009 which began entering service on the routes from Toulouse to Latour-de-Carol and Mazamet from ...