All Railway Gazette International articles in December 2013 – Page 2
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NewsChME3 locomotive rebuilt
UKRAINE: Slovakian firm ZOS Zvolen has completed the first of six ChME3 heavy shunting locomotives which are to be rebuilt under a contract awarded by Ukrainian Railways in March. If the rebuild proves successful, up to 100 more could follow at a cost of up to €200m. ZOS Zvolen’s first ...
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NewsAesthetically pleasing electrification competition
UK: 'New, aesthetically pleasing designs' for overhead electrification masts are being sought in an international competition managed by the Royal Institute of British Architects. The rail industry Enabling Innovation Team is promoting the competition in conjunction with high speed line project promoter HS2 using funding from the Department for ...
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NewsSiemens selected for 200 km/h US passenger locomotive order
USA: Illinois Department of Transportation announced on December 19 that it had selected Siemens for a contract to supply approximately 35 diesel locomotives with maximum speed of 200 km/h. The deal has still to be finalised, but a notice of intent has been issued by IDOT, which is leading a ...
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NewsVR orders Siemens Vectron locomotives
FINLAND: National operator VR Group named Siemens as the winner of an order to supply 80 electric locomotives on December 20. The contract to be signed in early 2014 is worth more than €300m, making it the largest rolling stock investment by VR Group and according to Siemens the ...
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NewsPerth light rail project put back three years
AUSTRALIA: The proposed A$1·9bn Metro Area Express Light Rail project in Perth is to be deferred by three years under a package of measures designed to reduce Western Australia's debt which was announced by state Treasurer Troy Buswell on December 18. The state's 2013-14 budget had previously allocated A$432m over ...
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NewsBienkowska heads ministry
Poland's Minister for Regional Development Elzbieta Bienkowska has been appointed to head up the Transport and Regional Development ministries, which have been combined following the resignation of former Transport Minister Slawomir Nowak in November.Zbigniew Rynasiewicz and Adam Zdzieblo have been appointed Secretaries of State for road and rail respectively.
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market December 2013
Algeria: Enterprise du Metro d’Alger has awarded a consortium of Alstom and Yapi Merkezi a €380m contract to build the 15·5 km eastern and 7·2 km southern lines of the planned tram network in Sétif. Argentina: ADIF has awarded Comsa EMTE an €11m contract to build a new 20 ...
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NewsInnoTrans bookings hit an all-time high
INNOTRANS: Organiser Messe Berlin reports that bookings for the InnoTrans rail industry trade fair have reached an 'all time high' for the 2014 event. More than half of the 200 first-time exhibitors will be from outside Germany. The previous InnoTrans held in September 2012 featured 2 515 exhibitors from 49 ...
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NewsMakhalino - Hunchun cross-border railway upgraded
ASIA: The first revenue train carried coal over the reopened cross-border line between Makhalino in Russia and Hunchun in China on December 17. The line opened in 1999 but services were suspended in 2004. The infrastructure has now been upgraded by Russian Railways' Far Eastern Railway for use by transit ...
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NewsSiemens outsources signalling project design
UK: Siemens has appointed Indian company Infotech to undertake the signalling design work for a project to increase capacity at Whitby station, which is served by franchised operator Northern Rail as well as the heritage North Yorkshire Moors Railway. The signalling contract awarded to Siemens in October covers design, supply, ...
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NewsConcession signed for construction of 525 km coal railway
MOZAMBIQUE: Two concession agreements for the construction of a coal export port at Macuse in Zambezia province and a 525 km railway to the Moatize coalfields in Tete province were signed on December 13. The agreements were signed by Minister of Transport & Communications Gabriel Muthisse and Premchai Karnasuta, President ...
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NewsVeolia to replace DSB at Krösatågen
SWEDEN: The Krösatågstrafiken group of four local authorities signed an agreement on December 19 which will see Veolia replace DSB Småland as the operator of Krösatågen passenger services on a 600 km network around Nässjö with effect from March 1 2014. The subsidiary of the Danish national operator has operated ...
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NewsNorwegian ERTMS pilot line goes live
NORWAY: Infrastructure manager Jernbaneverket has inaugurated its pilot project for the European Rail Traffic Management System on the Rakkestad - Sarpsborg branch of the Østfoldbanen southeast of Oslo. The line, which last saw regular passenger services a decade ago, has been fitted with ETCS Level 2 in order to test ...
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NewsLocomotive completes reformed vehicle approval process in just 11 weeks
GERMANY: Bombardier Transportation announced on December 14 that its Traxx P160 multi-engine diesel locomotive had become the first vehicle type to be approved under national railway authority EBA's reformed authorisation programme. A memorandum of understanding to reform the approvals process was signed in June by the Ministry of Transport, EBA ...
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NewsRENFE agrees public service contract
SPAIN: The government has approved a contract with state operator RENFE covering the provision in 2013-15 of services that are deemed to meet a public service obligation. The contract covers suburban and medium-distance passenger services (including Avant high speed) on the national network that are funded by central government, as ...
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NewsPassengers asked to compare Class 321 refurbishment options
UK: Passengers on the Greater Anglia franchise are being asked to provide feedback on two new train interiors that have been installed in a four-car Class 321 EMU. Following refurbishment by Wabtec Rail Ltd at Doncaster, the trainset returned to traffic on December 18 and is to be operated ...
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NewsFirst Al Sufouh tram delivered to Dubai
UAE: The first Alstom Citadis 402 tram for the Al Sufouh tramway has arrived in Dubai after leaving France on November 21. The seven-section vehicle is the first of 11 ordered for the project’s initial phase. Alstom had been test running the tram on a 700 m test track ...
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NewsNorth West Rail Link civil works contract awarded
AUSTRALIA: The second of three framework contracts to build the North West Rail Link in the suburbs of Sydney was awarded on December 18. Under a A$340m agreement with the New South Wales government, the Italian consortium of Impreglio and Salini will undertake civil works on a 4 km elevated ...
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NewsSporveien Oslo awards depot signalling contract
NORWAY: Sporveien Oslo has awarded Siemens Rail Automation a contract to supply signalling and train control equipment for the new metro depot at Avløs. Siemens will supply its Trackguard Westrace system and axle counters, controlled from Tøyen using Controlguide Westcad technology. Avløs depot will be used for stabling ...
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NewsTunnelling under the Rhône
FRANCE: Revenue service began on the extension of Lyon metro Line B to Gare d’Oullins on December 11. The 1·8 km extension south from Stade de Gerland runs in a 300 m tunnel under the River Rhône, bored using a single-bore slurry shield TBM supplied by Herreknecht. ...