French railway news – Page 37
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NewsEuropean Commission approves SNCF control of Eurostar
EUROPE: The European Commission announced on May 13 that it had approved a shareholders’ agreement which will see French national railway SNCF acquire sole management control of cross-Channel high speed train operator Eurostar International Ltd. This approval is subject to commitments which are designed to facilitate the entry of new ...
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NewsSNCF orders 19 more Francilien EMUs
FRANCE: SNCF has exercised a €127m option for a further 19 Francilien electric multiple-units, Bombardier announced on May 6. The order is to be financed Ile-de-France transport authority STIF. The Francilien single-deck eight-car commuter EMUs have a capacity of 1 000 passengers, with wide gangways and doors to facilitate ...
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NewsHigh speed line maintenance software
FRANCE: CARL Software has won a contract to supply its CARL Source asset management software to the Mesea joint venture which will maintain the track, signalling and electrification on the 300 km Tours – Bordeaux LGV Sud Europe Atlantique high speed line which is under construction for opening in 2017. ...
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NewsLGV Est Phase 2 completed
FRANCE: On March 31 SNCF President Guillaume Pepy joined SNCF Réseau President Jacques Rapoport and other dignitaries as the last rail was welded to mark the completion of construction work on Phase 2 of LGV Est, the high speed line between Paris and Strasbourg. Work on Phase 2, covering the ...
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NewsFatigue testing with heavy loads
FRANCE: An agreement signed this month paves the way for tests to begin later this year in the Channel Tunnel on the durability of various track designs under heavy loads. The tests will be undertaken by Railenium, the railway research institute based in northern France, of which Eurotunnel is a ...
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NewsSifer 2015 draws infrastructure firms
FRANCE: No less than 22% of the exhibitors participating in the ninth Sifer trade fair taking place in Lille on March 24-26 will be first-time entrants, according to organisers Mack Brooks Exhibitions. Around 400 companies are participating in the event, which is expected to attract up to 5000 visitors. This ...
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NewsLyon – Torino railway project now ‘irreversible’
EUROPE: The governments of France and Italy have formally agreed to go ahead with the Lyon – Torino railway project, including the 57 km Mont Cenis base tunnel. France’s President Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Renzi signed the agreement at a Franco-Italian summit on February 24. This enabled the ...
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News‘Connectivity and vision’ key to future of high speed
RAILWAY GAZETTE TV: More than 370 viewers in 20 countries registered to watch Railway Gazette’s interactive live debate on high speed rail on February 25. Sponsored by Bombardier Transportation, the latest in RG TV’s debate series assessed the future of high speed rail over the next five decades saw Chris ...
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NewsSNCF posts stable results as competitive threats mount
FRANCE: National operator SNCF issued its 2014 financial results on February 12, which highlighted the scale of the competitive threats that the business is facing in its home market. In what the company termed ‘the difficult environment in France’, SNCF reported year-on-year growth in revenue of 1·5% against 0·5% for ...
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NewsSTIF orders more double-deck EMUs
FRANCE: Paris regional transport authority STIF has ordered a further 10 MI09 double-deck electric multiple-units from a consortium of Alstom and Bombardier. The total value of the contract announced on February 12 is €150m, with Alstom having a €95m share. The new EMUs are to be delivered in 2017 to ...
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NewsVossloh España announces French locomotive orders
FRANCE: Contracts to supply a total of 12 Euro 4000 freight locomotives worth more than €40m were announced by Vossloh España on January 29. SNCF subsidiary VFLI has ordered two locomotives directly, and six through Beacon Rail Leasing. Eurotunnel’s Europorte business has ordered four locomotives. The six-axle diesel-electric locomotives ...
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NewsTGVs to be fitted with Energymiser driver advisory system
FRANCE: Following the completion of a seven-month proof-of-concept assessment on the Marne-la-Vallée – Marseille/Montpellier routes, SNCF is to go ahead with the roll-out of TTG Transportation Technology’s Energymiser driver advisory system across its TGV fleet. Energymiser provides drivers with real-time advice on when to apply power and when to coast, ...
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NewsGB Railfreight operates first Channel Tunnel train
EUROPE: UK freight operator GB Railfreight ran its first service through the Channel Tunnel on the night of November 3, hauling a Dourges – London intermodal service between Calais-Fréthun and Barking International Rail Freight Terminal. The train was operated under a ‘hook-and-haul’ agreement with sister Groupe Eurotunnel company Europorte ...
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NewsAlstom acquires Areva transport business
FRANCE: Nuclear energy company Areva transferred its Command & Control for Transportation activities and staff to Alstom with effect from October 31. The CCT business designs and produces signalling equipment for trams and metros, as well as radio communications and the Train Control Management System as used on the ...
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NewsReal-time train positions from multiple data sources
FRANCE: HaCon has implemented a version of its HAFAS Live Maps real-time train location mapping software for French national passenger operator SNCF which for the first time integrates positioning information from both trackside equipment and GPS. ‘The combination of the two data sources results in the highest possible precision that ...
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NewsFunding agreed for Lyon - Torino test bore
FRANCE: Construction of a 9 km trial bore for the Alpine base tunnel that will eventually form part of the new line between Lyon and Torino in Italy is expected to start in January 2015, following the signature of a funding agreement worth €105∙78m. The agreement was signed in Paris ...
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NewsRail businesses included in planned Tata Steel sale
EUROPE: Tata Steel announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the potential sale of its Long Products Europe business to chemicals, metals and oil commodities business Klesch Group on October 14. Both parties have now entered a period of exclusive detailed due diligence with the objective of ...
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NewsUK invites interest in buying 40% stake in Eurostar
EUROPE: The British government formally invited expressions of interest in buying its 40% stake in cross-Channel high speed train operator Eurostar International Ltd on October 13. Potential bidders have until October 31 to respond, with the government saying its key objective is to ‘maximise value for money for the ...
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NewsThello to launch Marseille – Milano service
EUROPE: Open access passenger operator Thello is to launch a daily service between Marseille in France and Milano in Italy with the timetable change on December 14. Announcing the new route on September 23, Thello said that intermediate stops would include Cannes, Nice, Savona and Genoa, and that it would ...
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NewsLasers produce 3D map of French railways
FRANCE: A StreetMapper mobile laser scanning system has been used to produce detailed three-dimensional maps of several hundred kilometres of the French rail network to support studies for modernisation and electrification works. The StreetMapper was developed by 3D Laser Mapping and IGI, and is operated by FIT ESIC. The companies ...