French railway news – Page 38
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NewsMontpellier Sud de France station bidder selected
FRANCE: Infrastructure manager RFF has selected a consortium led by Icade as preferred bidder for the public-private partnership contract to design and build Montpellier Sud de France station. The station on the new line between Nîmes and Montpellier is due to open in the fourth quarter of 2017. It ...
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NewsUIC launches global railway MBA
INTERNATIONAL: Under the umbrella of its Railway Academy programme, UIC has announced the launch of a Railway Global Executive MBA course, to be hosted by the EM Lyon Business School in France. Subject to sufficient applications through member railways, UIC hopes that the first intake could start the Master’s course ...
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NewsSNCF orders more Francilien EMUs
FRANCE: SNCF has exercised an option for 22 additional eight-car Francilien electric multiple-units for use on Transilien suburban routes H and K around Paris, Bombardier Transportation announced on July 29. The firm order has been placed under a 2006 agreement for up to 372 units, and takes the total ...
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NewsSénat approves French railway reforms
FRANCE: The government’s draft legislation to restructure the rail sector passed its reading in the Sénat by 188 votes to 150 on July 10. The revised text had been adopted by 355 votes to 168 during a reading in the Assemblée Nationale on June 24. Under an accelerated process, the ...
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NewsSwap bodies to carry mail by rail
FRANCE: The post office announced on June 19 a three-year €100m investment programme that will see mail moving by rail in swap bodies from a new terminal to be built at Bonneuil-sur-Marne in the southeastern suburbs of Paris. Due to open towards the end of 2015 at a cost of ...
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NewsAlstom to focus on transport after GE deal
ALSTOM: The board of Alstom has unanimously recommended that shareholders accept a deal with GE which would see the French company sell its energy activities and focus on transport, with the acquisition of GE’s signalling business and international collaboration with GE in the rail sector. The deal is subject to ...
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NewsRelieving bottlenecks around Marseille and Nice
FRANCE: Transport Minister Frédéric Cuvillier announced last month that studies are to be taken forward for projects to increase capacity around Marseille and Nice. The government hopes that the projects will be approved as being of public utility in 2017. With the emphasis now on upgrading the existing network ...
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NewsChinese firm MA Steel acquires Valdunes
FRANCE: The Commercial Court in Valenciennes has approved a bid by Chinese steel and railway wheel supplier MA Steel to take over the activities of wheelset manufacturer Valdunes, which had entered receivership in April. The deal includes the Valdunes plant in Dunkerque, which has the only dedicated wheel forge ...
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NewsKapsch CarrierCom to supply RFF with all-IP GSM-R core network
FRANCE: Infrastructure manager RFF and its GSM-R installation and maintenance PPP concessionaire Synerail have awarded Kapsch CarrierCom a contract to modernise the GSM-R network with an all-IP core based on Kapsch’s R4 architecture. Kaspch says this will improve reliability and form the basis for new applications such as Railway ...
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NewsAlstom says sale of Energy business would strengthen Transport
ALSTOM: The proposed sale of its Energy business to GE ‘would allow Alstom to develop its Transport business as a standalone company, with a strong balance sheet to capitalise on opportunities in the dynamic rail transport market’, Alstom Chairman & CEO Patrick Kron said on April 30. Alstom explained that ...
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NewsEurotunnel cuts freight charges
EUROPE: Channel Tunnel concessionaire Eurotunnel announced a reduction in track access charges of up to 50% on April 28, saying it hopes this will lead to a doubling of the number of freight trains through the tunnel to 5 000 per year in 2018. The announcement follows the European Commission ...
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NewsDistributed diesel traction tested on Europe’s longest freight train
EUROPE: On April 12 Fret SNCF operated a 1 524 m long freight train between Sibelin yard near Lyon and Nîmes, hauled at up to 100 km/h by two Euro 4000 diesel locomotives built by Vossloh España. Weighing 4 020 tonnes, ‘the longest freight train ever run in Europe’ comprised ...
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NewsValdunes enters receivership ahead of sale
VALDUNES: French rolling stock wheel manufacturer Valdunes announced on April 3 that its management had obtained approval for the company to move from the current safeguarding procedure into receivership, 'in order to facilitate the continuity of its activities'. The company said the change in status was 'not a result of ...
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NewsRégiolis approved for passenger service
FRANCE: Alstom reports that its Régiolis multiple-unit is now expected to enter passenger service with SNCF on April 22. What the manufacturer describes as ‘an important milestone' in the Régiolis commissioning programme was reached on March 21 when safety regulator EPSF issued its approval for the new train type to ...
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NewsPoints inspection enhanced
FRANCE: SNCF and RFF have launched Vigirail, a three-year programme to improve the inspection and maintenance of switches and crossings. Vigirail has a budget of €410m, of which €300m is earmarked to increase the rate of pointwork renewals from 300 to 500 per year. According to the two parties, the ...
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NewsDB’s London – Frankfurt plan in doubt again
EUROPE: Deutsche Bahn has cast further doubt on the introduction of direct high speed services between Germany and London, citing authorisation delays to its fleet of Class 407 Velaro D high speed trainsets now being delivered by Siemens. At a press launch on February 18 marking the introduction of the ...
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NewsCIT expands into Europe with acquisition of Nacco
EUROPE: US asset financing company CIT Group Inc announced its acquisition of European wagon leasing business Nacco SAS for undisclosed terms on February 3. Nacco has its headquarters in Paris and subsidiaries in Hamburg and Crewe. It owns more than 9 500 wagons, which are leased to more than 150 ...
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NewsCharles-de-Gaulle Airport rail link project relaunched
FRANCE: A dedicated airport rail link between Paris Est and Charles-de-Gaulle Airport could begin operating in 2023 under a €1·7bn-€1·9bn project announced by Transport Minister Frédéric Cuvillier on January 23. Speaking at an event in the airport's Terminal 3 organised by Aéroports de Paris, the minister said the project would ...
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NewsPassenger trains to return to Chartres - Voves route
FRANCE: RFF President Jacques Rapoport joined François Bonneau, President of the Centre region, on January 21 to lay the first stone for a new control centre at Voves station, marking the start of work on a €71·7m project to reopen the 25 km Chartres - Voves route to passenger traffic. ...
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NewsProject Marathon tests long freight trains
EUROPE: Fret SNCF, Kombiverkehr and RFF ran their first 1·5 km long freight train between Sibelin yard near Lyon and Nîmes on January 18, marking the start of the demonstration phase of the Project Marathon research programme. Three of Kombiverkehr’s regular intermodal trains between Germany and Spain were reformed as ...