German railway news – Page 56
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NewsLocomore plans crowd-funded open access service
GERMANY: Plans to use crowd funding to launch a Berlin – Stuttgart open access passenger service in September 2016 have been announced by Locomore. The company says it needs a minimum of €450 000 to cover start-up costs including leasing locomotives and coaches and recruiting staff, and it has ...
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NewsGoogle backs Indian station wi-fi roll-out
INDIA: As part of a strategy to widen access to the internet, Google has announced a project to provide high speed public wi-fi at 400 Indian Railways stations. Google is to work with telecoms company RailTel, which provides internet services via its lineside fibre network. Google aims to provide ...
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NewsDieselnetz Südthüringen winner announced
GERMANY: Following a competitive tender, on October 28 the Land of Thüringen named Süd-Thüringen-Bahn as the winner of the next two contacts to operate Dieselnetz Südthüringen local passenger services. Incumbent operator Süd-Thüringen-Bahn is owned by Erfurter Bahn and Hessische Landesbahn. The new contracts will run for 11 years from ...
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NewsWestfalenBahn Kiss depot opens
GERMANY: Mindener Kreisbahnen officially opened its €10m Minden II depot on October 23. The depot will be used to maintain 13 six-car Stadler Kiss double-deck electric multiple-units which WestfalenBahn is to lease from Alpha Trains. Facilities include Windhoff lifting equipment. The EMUs are to be deployed on Emsland ...
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NewsRhein-Ruhr-Express operating contracts signed
GERMANY: Contracts for the operation of Rhein-Ruhr-Express passenger services from December 2018 to December 2033 were signed by National Express, Abellio and a group of five transport authorities at a ceremony in Hamm on October 19. The five RRX routes totalling around 14·6 million train-km per year were tendered as ...
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NewsHessische Landesbahn wins operating contract
GERMANY: Following a European tender, on October 12 the Rhein-Main, Rheinland-Pfalz Süd and Bayern transport authorities jointly announced that Hessische Landesbahn had been selected to operate Netz Südhessen-Untermain passenger services from December 2018. The contract covers two routes: RB75: Wiesbaden – Mainz – Darmstadt – Aschaffenburg;RB55: Frankfurt – Maintal – ...
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NewsEurobahn retains Hellweg-Netz contract
GERMANY: Following an international tender, the Westfalen-Lippe and Rhein-Ruhr transport authorities announced on October 5 that they had selected incumbent Keolis subsidiary Eurobahn for the next contract to operate Hellweg-Netz passenger services. The final award of the contract is subject to the 10-day regulatory standstill period. The ...
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NewsAlstom multiple-unit maintenance site goes electric
GERMANY: Alstom Transport has opened an electric multiple-unit servicing, repair and refurbishment facility at the Braunschweig site where it undertakes similar work on diesel multiple-units under contract to various train operators. The €15m expansion of the site’s facilities includes two additional workshops, 1·5 km of 15 kV 16·7 Hz ...
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NewsSiemens opens locomotive servicing and data analysis centres
GERMANY: Bayern Transport Minister Joachim Herrmann and Siemens Mobility CEO Jochen Eickholt officially opened a locomotive service centre at the manufacturer’s München-Allach plant on October 1. Siemens says the new 2000 m2 covered hall will enable it to undertake locomotive manufacturing and maintenance at a single location for the first ...
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NewsSBB Cargo and DB Schenker extend trans-Alpine contract
SWITZERLAND: An extension of SBB Cargo’s contract to haul Germany – Italy trans-Alpine transit freight trains on behalf of DB Schenker was signed by representatives of the two companies inside the Gotthard base tunnel on September 25. DB switched its Gotthard transit contract from BLS to SBB in December 2013. ...
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NewsICx test running begins
GERMANY: Test running of an ICx trainset on the public rail network began on September 25, Siemens has announced. In May 2011 Deutsche Bahn signed a framework agreement for up to 300 ICx trainsets, with an initial order for 130 to replace its locomotive-hauled inter-city fleet. Entry into service ...
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NewsRail Cargo Group buys German operator
EUROPE: Austrian Federal Railways’ Rail Cargo Group announced its acquisition of German freight haulage, shunting and locomotive hire services business EBM Cargo GmbH on September 23. Founded in February 2010 and based in Gummersbach east of Köln, privately-owned EBM Cargo has an annual turnover of €5m and ‘extensive knowledge ...
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NewsCourt orders review of Nürnberg S-Bahn contract award
GERMANY: On September 17 the Higher Regional Court in München instructed Bayern railway authority BEG to undertake a review of the planned award of two Nürnberg S-Bahn operating contracts to National Express Rail. On February 2 BEG had named the German subsidiary of UK-based National Express Group as its preferred ...
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NewsQuality improvements in new Rurtalbahn contract
GERMANY: Following the first competitive tender for the route, on September 9 transport authority Nahverkehr Rheinland selected incumbent Rurtalbahn GmbH for a contract to operate hourly local passenger service RB21 on the 26 km Düren – Linnich northern branch of the Rurtalbahn network for four years from 2016. The ...
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NewsDIANA to monitor DB Netz turnouts
GERMANY: Strukton Systems has won a contract to supply more than 90 data loggers for the DIANA remote monitoring and analysis platform which has been developed by infrastructure manager DB Netz to provide supplier-independent asset condition data. Strukton will supply a customised version of its microPOSS data loggers, with ...
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NewsDB Regio retains Euregiobahn contract
GERMANY: Transport authority Nahverkehr Rheinland announced on August 27 that incumbent DB Regio had submitted the most economically advantageous bid for the next contract to operate RB20 Euregiobahn services. Radiating out from Aachen to Stolberg, Düren, Herzogenrath and Alsdorf in Germany and Heerlen in the Netherlands, the service carries around ...
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NewsGermany studies feasibility of a national clockface timetable
GERMANY: A detailed study of the feasibility of introducing of a national clock-face timetable based a 30 min and 60 min cycle of long distance trains with optimised connections has been published. The study was commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Transport from the IGES Institut and TU Braunschweig, with ...
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NewsFreight line passenger revival
GERMANY: Local freight railway Bentheimer Eisenbahn has called tenders for a contract to provide planning and engineering services for the reintroduction of passenger services on the 30 km Bad Bentheim – Neuenhaus line in Niedersachsen. Passenger trains on the route were replaced by railway-operated bus services in 1974. The ...
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NewsDB Netz buys SBB’s Rail Control System
GERMANY: Infrastructure manager DB Netz has licensed the Rail Control System train control and dispatching package developed by Swiss Federal Railways, and plans to deploy it across the German network from 2019. Introduced by SBB in 2009, RCS is also used by BLS and SOB. Belgium’s Infrabel was the first ...
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NewsAppeals block award of Hamburg – Sylt contract
GERMANY: Losing bidders Abellio and incumbent Transdev subsidiary Nord-Ostsee-Bahn have formally objected to the Land of Schleswig-Holstein’s selection of DB Regio for the contract to operate Bahnnetz-West passenger services from December 2016. Their appeal is expected to be heard in September. The contract covers the 238 km service RE6 from ...