All Australasia articles
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NewsUIC shares ways to restore confidence in rail travel
COVID-19: The International Union of Railways has published a summary of potential steps that could be adopted to increase customer confidence in rail transport following the coronavirus pandemic.
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News
Local content emphasised as Alstom awarded Perth train contract
AUSTRALIA: Public Transport Authority of Western Australia has formally signed the A$1·3bn contract for Alstom to supply and maintain diesel and electric multiple-units for use around Perth. Announcing completion of the deal on December 10, PTA said the biggest rolling stock contract that it had placed ...
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News
‘Romance’ of rail can mitigate skills crisis
AUSTRALIA: The rail sector needs to embrace rapid changes in workplace expectations in order to overcome a looming demographic crisis, delegates at the AusRail conference in Sydney heard on December 4.
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News
Hyundai Rotem ships its first inter-city trains to New South Wales
AUSTRALIA: Hyundai Rotem has shipped the first 20 of 554 double-deck electric multiple-unit cars that it is supplying to New South Wales for use on NSW TrainLink inter-city services. Rotem is supplying the 160 km/h rolling stock from its Changwon plant in South Korea as part ...
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News
‘Golden age’ in New South Wales, Collins tells AusRail
AUSTRALIA: New South Wales is experiencing ‘a golden age’ of rail investment, Sydney Trains CEO Howard Collins told delegates at the AusRail 2019 conference in Sydney on December 3.
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Urban news
Work starts on Perth suburban rail extension
AUSTRALIA: The NEWest Alliance of CPB Contractors and Downer has been named preferred bidder to undertake the Yanchep Rail Extension and the Thornlie–Cockburn Link projects in Perth. The announcement was made on November 25, when a sod-turning ceremony marked the start ...
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News
Freight hub master plan unveiled
NEW ZEALAND: A master plan for a rail and road freight hub near Palmerston North was unveiled by Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones on November 26. Video: Palmerston North intermodal freight hub master plan The proposed facility would replace ...
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News
Federal funds to boost Queensland projects
AUSTRALIA: The federal government has committed to increase funding for several railway projects in Queensland, as part of an A$3·8bn package of infrastructure spending announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on November 21. Described by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk as a ‘huge win’, the announcement followed ...
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News
Digital signalling test centre to be built in Sydney
AUSTRALIA: Transport for New South Wales has invited expressions of interest in a contract to build a testing facility for digital signalling technology. To be built at the Rail Technology Campus at Chullora in western Sydney, the Digital Systems Facility would enable technologies to be tested ...
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News
Carmichael rail link contract awarded
AUSTRALIA: Indian mining group Adani has awarded an A$100m contract to Martinus Rail for tracklaying on the 200 km rail link to its future Carmichael mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin. The 1 067 mm gauge single-track line will connect the A$2bn mine to Aurizon’s existing Central ...
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News
Gamuda buys into Australian rail market
AUSTRALIA: Malaysian civil engineering group Gamuda Bhd has agreed to purchase a 50% stake in Australian contractor Martinus Rail Pty Ltd, citing potential opportunities in the country’s pipeline of current and future railway projects. Under the partnership agreement announced on October 2, Gamuda Engineering Australia and ...
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News
KiwiRail selects polymer sleeper supplier
NEW ZEALAND: KiwiRail has selected Lankhorst Engineered Products as the winner of a contract to supply polymer sleepers over at least three years. The Dutch company said this was a significant breakthrough for its KLP hybrid polymer sleeper design, which it launched internationally in 2014 after ...
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News
Northland line renovation funded
NEW ZEALAND: The government has approved the first NZ$94·8m tranche of an expected NZ$300m from the Provincial Growth Fund to fund renovation and upgrading works on KiwiRail’s 181 km North Auckland Line between Swanson and Whangarei. Speaking in Helensville on September 5, Regional Economic Development Minister ...
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News
Victoria expands VLocity fleet
AUSTRALIA: The Victoria state government has ordered a further batch of VLocity diesel multiple-units from Bombardier Transportation, in order to meet growing demand on regional routes radiating from Melbourne. Due to enter service in 2021, the six three-car units will follow on from the nine sets ...
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News
Hamilton – Auckland commuter service funded
NEW ZEALAND: Daily commuter services are to be introduced on the northern section of KiwiRail’s North Island Main Trunk line between Hamilton and Auckland from mid-2020, following the approval of an NZ$92·4m funding package by the NZ Transport Agency. Combining NZ$79·8m from the national government with ...
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News
Alstom to supply 252 multiple-unit cars to Western Australia
AUSTRALIA: Public Transport Authority of Western Australia announced on August 19 that it had selected Alstom Transport Australia as preferred bidder to supply the next generation of electric multiple-units to operate on the Transperth network serving the state capital. Details of the A$1·6bn contract are expected to be ...
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News
MIRA and PGGM to acquire all of Genesee & Wyoming Australia
AUSTRALIA: Existing shareholders Macquarie Infrastructure & Real Assets and PGGM have agreed to assume full ownership of the Genesee & Wyoming Australia business. This announcement on August 6 follows an agreement for GWA’s parent company Genesee & Wyoming Inc to be acquired by Brookfield Infrastructure and GIC in a ...
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News
Loram to acquire Aurizon’s rail grinding business
AUSTRALIA: Loram Maintenance of Way has agreed to purchase Aurizon’s rail grinding business, along with its contracts to serve four customers. ‘Loram recognises substantial opportunities in the Australian rail market’, explained Stephen Mannix, Managing Director of local subsidiary Loram Pty Ltd, when the agreement was announced on August 12. ...
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News
Sunbury line upgrade package
AUSTRALIA: The Victoria state government has approved the first package of civil works to upgrade the 39·5 km Sunbury suburban line, which forms the electrified suburban section of the Melbourne – Bendigo main line. The upgrading will pave the way for enhanced services following completion of the Metro Tunnel ...
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News
World rail freight news round-up
Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Freightliner has successfully operated a 4 624 tonne ‘jumbo train’ of aggregates from Merehead in Somerset to Acton in London, which it described as ‘the heaviest freight train currently running in the UK’. This was a trial run ahead of Freightliner taking over the haulage ...
