Europe – Page 32
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NewsSiemens awarded Spanish signalling and communications enhancement contract
SPAIN: Infrastructure manager ADIF has awarded Siemens Rail Automation a €21·6m contract to renew the safety and communications systems at Grisén station, northwest of Zaragoza on the Madrid to Barcelona conventional line. This is the junction for a short branch serving an Opel car factory. The ...
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NewsZSSK orders more Panter EMUs
SLOVAKIA: State passenger operator ZSSK announced on November 27 that it would place a €58·4m firm order for a consortium of Škoda Group and ŽOS Trnava to supply a further six four-car Class 660 Panter electric multiple-units suitable for operation using 3 kV DC and 25 ...
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In depthComment: A waning appetite for competition
While the EU’s third and fourth railway packages sought to liberalise the passenger rail sector within the bloc and influence it beyond, the establishment of a competitive dynamic within the European market seems less assured than it has for some time, argues Executive Editor Nick Kingsley.
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Rail Business UKStudy finds international passenger capacity at London St Pancras could be doubled
UK: A study has found that international passenger capacity at London St Pancras station could be more than doubled to improve the user experience and potentially facilitate new train services. Station operator HS1 Ltd commissioned the study from customer experience design agency Active Thinking, which has ...
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NewsRefurbished Grand Est double-deck EMU unveiled
FRANCE: National operator SNCF Voyageurs has unveiled the first of the Grand Est région’s TER 2N NG double-deck electric multiple-units to undergo mid-life refurbishment as part of the national OPTER programme. SNCF Voyageurs is to refurbish 125 Bombardier Transportation AGC and 41 Alstom TER 2N NG ...
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NewsProxima high speed train order financing in place
FRANCE: Hamburg Commercial Bank has acted as mandated lead arranger for the financing of 12 Alstom Avelia Horizon high speed trains ordered by new market entrant Proxima. A consortium of banks is providing almost €500m compliant with the Loan Market Association’s Green loan criteria towards the ...
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Metro Report InternationalHitachi Rail completes Roma metro trainset
ITALY: The first of 14 six-car metro trainsets that Hitachi Rail is supplying for Roma’s metro lines A and B has been completed. The trainset was inspected by Eugenio Patanè, Council Member for Transport at Roma municipality, when paid a visit to Hitachi Rail’s Reggio Calabria ...
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NewsNew Schwarzenberský Bridge allows higher speeds and train weights
CZECH REPUBLIC: Infrastructure manager SŽ has opened a 316 m long reinforced concrete bridge over the Orlík reservoir near Červená nad Vltavou on the Tábor – Písek line. The new Schwarzenberský Bridge replaces a steel structure dating from 1889 which had limited the maximum speed and ...
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NewsDanish diesel locos to be used in Hungary
HUNGARY: State railway group MÁV-Volán has signed a long-term agreement to lease a further 13 diesel locomotives formerly owned by Denmark’s DSB from Swedish leasing company Nordic Re-Finance. They will be used by MÁV-Start and MÁV Rail Tours. In 2020-22 Nordic Re-Finance acquired the remaining 32 ...
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NewsMatchmaking platform for locomotives goes live
EUROPE: A digital tool which aims to streamline the freight locomotive leasing business by matching operators’ demand with leasing companies’ availability has gone live. Resource Sharing Broker aims to increase the efficiency of short and medium-term locomotive leasing, which the developers said is often characterised by ...
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Metro Report InternationalTest running foreshadows revival of closed Jaén tramway
SPAIN: The first test runs have been undertaken for the planned reopening of the 4·7 km tramway in Jaén, which closed in 2011 after just 17 days of operation. Andalucía’s public works department began test running at the end of November to verify that the five ...
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Metro Report InternationalHamburg U-Bahn orders engineering wagons
GERMANY: Hamburg U-Bahn operator Hamburger Hochbahn has awarded GBM Gleisbaumechanik Brandenburg a contract to supply up to 15 custom-designed wagons for engineering trains. GBM has previously supplied the operator with nine LB7 wagons from its factory in Brandenburg an der Havel. The LB8 will be a ...
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Metro Report InternationalTallinn’s trams cruise onto second city crossing
ESTONIA: Commercial operation of Tallinn’s 2·5 km Vanasadam tram route began on the morning of December 1.
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NewsDB Cargo state aid approved
GERMANY: The European Commission has concluded that Germany’s provision of €1·9bn to support the national railway’s freight business DB Cargo is in line with EU state aid rules. Following a complaint from a competitor, the Commission opened an in-depth investigation in January 2022 looking at four ...
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NewsMore milestones reached on Austria’s trans-Alpine route modernisation
AUSTRIA: Celebrations have been held to mark key milestones in the Koralmbahn and Semmering Base Tunnel projects.
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Metro Report InternationalLong-awaited Thessaloniki metro opens
GREECE: The Thessaloniki metro opened on November 30, 18 years after construction began. The first phase runs 9·6 km through twin bore tunnels from Thessaloniki New Railway Station to Nea Elvetia with 13 stations and an end-to-end journey time of 18 min. The line has a ...
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NewsDiesel trains to temporarily replace hydrogen on Germany’s Taunus network in 2025
GERMANY: Ongoing technical problems with a fleet of hydrogen-powered iLint Alstom multiple-units on part of the Taunus network has prompted the operator to replace them with Lint41 diesel multiple-units on route RB15 between Bad Homburg and Brandoberndorf. The change in traction will take effect progressively from ...
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NewsRBS orders tailor-made Stadler trains
SWITZERLAND: Bern suburban operator Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn has awarded Stadler a SFr190m contract to supply 20 custom electric multiple-units to replace its oldest vehicles and increase capacity on Solothurn – Bern RegioExpress route RE5. It is the third order RBS has placed with Stadler. The new EMUs ...
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NewsRENFE enters Italian passenger market with Arenaways stake
EUROPE: The Spanish national operator’s international business RENFE Proyectos Internacionales and Spanish private equity firm Serena Industrial Partners have each acquired a 33% stake in Longitude Holdings, which was previously sole owner of Italian private operator Arenaways. The deal was announced on November 27 and enters ...
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NewsSecondhand Dutch DMUs enter service in Poland
POLAND: A diesel multiple-unit formerly used by Dutch national operator NS that PKP Intercity is leasing from SKPL entered revenue service on the Kraków – Jelenia Góra line on November 18. The launch forms part of a wider roll-out of the secondhand trains on routes around ...