German railway news – Page 62
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NewsSiemens acquires planning and retarder businesses
SIEMENS: Two acquisitions in Germany were announced by Siemens on June 25. The company has bought Sky Eye Transportation Systems, which has 20 staff in Braunschweig specialising in planning, dispatch, crew and fleet management technology. The business is to be integrated into the Rail IT Segment of the Rail ...
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NewsDB Regio orders Škoda trainsets for fast regional services
GERMANY: Incumbent operator DB Regio has been selected by the Land of Bayern to run regional services between München, Ingolstadt, Augsburg, Treuchtlingen and Nürnberg for 12 years from December 2016. Included in the operating contract are 200 km/h fast regional services which use the Neubaustrecke between Nürnberg and Ingolstadt. The ...
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NewsIGC grants Deutsche Bahn access to Channel Tunnel
EUROPE: The Intergovernmental Commission which oversees access to the Channel Tunnel has granted a ‘Certificate B’ operating licence to Deutsche Bahn, the tunnel’s owner Groupe Eurotunnel announced on June 14. The announcement paves the way for more work to be undertaken to enable the introduction of DB’s long-planned high speed ...
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NewsHannover light rail vehicle assembly underway
GERMANY: Assembly of the first TW3000 high-floor light rail vehicles ordered by Hannover transport operator Üstra has begun at the HeiterBlick factory in Leipzig. The first vehicles will be delivered to Hannover later this year for testing, with revenue services likely to commence in early 2014. In ...
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NewsMTU builds engine R&D facility
GERMANY: Tognum's MTU Friedrichshafen subsidiary held a groundbreaking ceremony for a €60m engine research and development facility on May 6. The facility will have seven test stands for the study of combustion processes, control systems, exhaust after-treatment and gas engines for rail and maritime applications. 'These test stands ...
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NewsPrivate funding planned for Bayern passenger project
GERMANY: Bayern railway authority BEG is negotiating a private funding model that could facilitate the reintroduction of passenger services on the 24 km Dombühl – Feuchtwangen – Dinkelsbühl line. The route is leased from DB by BayernBahn and has only carried freight and heritage trains since regular passenger services ceased ...
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NewsDeutsche Bahn presses on with Stuttgart 21
GERMANY: The controversial Stuttgart 21 project will be carried through to completion and not abandoned because of rising costs, Deutsche Bahn announced on March 5. ‘The time of uncertainty is over — the project will continue’, asserted DB Chairman Dr Rüdiger Grube at a hastily called press conference following ...
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NewsDB approves longer ICx trainsets
GERMANY: On March 5 Deutsche Bahn's supervisory board approved plans for its future ICx inter-city trainsets to be up to 12 rather than up to 10 cars long, increasing the number of seats from 724 to 830. DB said this reflects an 'encouraging increase' in the number of long-distance passengers, ...
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NewsEuropean Court of Justice rules on vertical separation
EUROPE: On February 28 the European Court of Justice ruled on four infringement cases brought by the European Commission regarding the extent to which Directive 91/440 and the First Railway Package require infrastructure managers to be independent of train operators. The court found that Hungary (case C 473/10) and Spain ...
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NewsUntere Edertalbahn reopening works begin
GERMANY: Work to reopen the out-of-use 30 km Untere Edertalbahn between Korbach and Frankenberg was launched when Hesse Transport Minister Florian Rentsch attended the start of vegetation clearance at Korbach on February 15. The project aims to improve access to tourist destinations around the Edersee, providing a direct route between ...
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NewsStuttgart 21 called into question again
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn’s controversial Stuttgart 21 project to replace its present terminus with a through underground station is under threat once more, because of a steep rise in costs. In a report handed to DB’s Supervisory Board on December 12, the official cost of the scheme is shown as increasing ...
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NewsKatzenberg cut-off inaugurated
GERMANY: Federal Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer joined the celebrations at Efringen-Kirchen on December 4 to mark the formal opening of a 17·6 km cut-off at the southern end of Deutsche Bahn’s Rhein Valley line in Baden-Württemberg. He was accompanied by DB Chairman Rüdiger Grube, Baden-Württemberg’s Transport Minister Winfried Hermann and ...
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NewsSiemens agrees to buy Invensys Rail
INTERNATIONAL: Siemens AG confirmed on November 28 that it had agreed to purchase Invensys Rail, the signalling arm of the UK-based industrial automation group Invensys. Valued at €2·2bn, the deal is expected to be completed by mid-2013, subject to regulatory approval and endorsement by the Invensys shareholders at a General ...
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NewsHKX prepares to take on DB
GERMANY: Open access operator Hamburg-Köln Express expects to launch revenue services between the two cities on July 23, having opened its ticket sales channels on July 4. HKX will initially operate one train per day from Monday to Wednesday in competition with Deutsche Bahn, serving six intermediate ...
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NewsDB ready to link London with Amsterdam and Frankfurt
EUROPE: Deutsche Bahn expects to launch regular services from London to Frankfurt and Amsterdam in 2013, DB Chairman Rüdiger Grube confirmed on October 19, presenting an ICE3 trainset at St Pancras station for the first time. Grube was joined for the announcement by UK Minister of State ...
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NewsDB confirms Arriva takeover bid
EUROPE: Deutsche Bahn continues its rapid expansion across the European rail and bus sectors, with the announcement on April 22 that it had agreed terms to acquire Arriva plc. The cash bid had been for the UK-based rail and bus operator was discussed by the DB AG ...
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Metro Report InternationalBombardier signs Berlin tram order
GERMANY: On September 1 Bombardier Transportation announced it had signed the contract to supply Berlin transport operator BVG with 99 Flexity Berlin trams. The order was placed within a framework agreement for up to 210 trams which was reached by Bombardier and BVG in 2006. Testing of ...
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NewsDB announces €250m Voith loco order
INNOTRANS: Deutsche Bahn has placed a contract with Voith Turbo Lokomotivtechnik for 130 Gravita 10 BB diesel-hydraulic shunting locomotives worth around €250m. To be designated Class 260, the locomotives will replace Class 291 and 295 locos when they enter service with DB Schenker Rail in 2010-12. The ...
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NewsVertical integration on the German branches
GERMANY: DB AG’s Regio Netze are joint businesses run by DB Regio and DB Netz. The model for this concept was the Kurhessenbahn in Kassel, followed by the SüdostBayernBahn based in Mühldorf, which is the largest operation to date. Then came the Schwarzatalbahn with the Oberweissbacher ...
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News
Funding cutbacks threaten German regional revival
The 1994 reform of German Railway transferred responsibility for local and regional rail services from the federal government to the Länder. Traffic blossomed as investment flowed into new trains and better services, but Ralf Roman Rossberg reports that a financial axe threatens to undermine the success of the last 10 ...