High speed rail industry news – Page 3
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NewsEvolyn trains not ordered yet, Alstom confirms
EUROPE: Alstom has confirmed that no contract is currently in place for the supply of high speed trainsets to Evolyn, which has announced plans to launch a Paris – London service completing against Eurostar.
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NewsFactory opens to produce Japanese-designed slab track in India
INDIA: A highly automated facility for the local production of Japanese J-slab ballastless track components has opened in Anand, southeast of Ahmedabad. Opened on September 30, the factory will produce the ballastless reinforced concrete trackbed for a 116 km section of double-track on the 508 km ...
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NewsEvolyn to launch Paris – London trains in competition with Eurostar
EUROPE: High speed rail start-up Evolyn has announced plans to launch passenger services to compete with Eurostar on the ‘strategic and high demand’ route between Paris and London. On October 11 the company said it had reached an agreement to acquire 12 Avelia high speed trains ...
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NewsCEO sets out how the merged Eurostar business aims to go further
EUROPE: ‘We are opening a new chapter of the Eurostar story’ with ‘our most loyal customers as the main characters’, Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave said at an event on October 9 marking the launch of an international marketing campaign following the completion of the merger with Thalys.
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NewsRENFE reiterates Paris plans after successful open access launch
FRANCE: Spanish incumbent RENFE Viajeros reported on October 3 that its entry into the French market under open access rules has been a success. The company has been running Barcelona – Lyon and Madrid – Marseille services under its own safety case since July; these routes ...
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Rail Business UKHS1 Ltd issues manifesto for rail growth
UK: Channel Tunnel to London high speed line concessionaire HS1 Ltd has published a nine-point manifesto setting out policy interventions that it says the next government needs to make ‘to ensure the UK’s rail system is fit for the future’. These are to: capitalise on the ...
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NewsGuangzhou – Shanwei high speed line opens
CHINA: A 240 km east-west high speed line connecting Guangzhou Dong station with Shanwei opened on September 26. Extra tracks have been laid alongside the existing four-track alignment over the 53 km from Guangzhou Dong to a junction east of Xintang, where the new line diverges. ...
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Rail Business UKRemaining phases of High Speed 2 cancelled
UK: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced the cancellation of the parts of the High Speed 2 rail programme not already under construction.
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Rail Business UKResponses to High Speed 2 cancellation
UK: Rail Business UK rounds up the key points from responses to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of the cancellation of the next stages of the High Speed 2 project
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News‘Botox’ programme to extend the life of SNCF’s TGV fleet
FRANCE: National operator SNCF has launched what it calls ‘Project Botox’ to extend the life of its oldest TGV trainsets by up to 10 years. This aims to help the operator meet passenger demand; its fleet of 363 high speed trainsets carried 24 million passengers this ...
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NewsMSC takes 50% stake in open access high speed train operator Italo-NTV
ITALY: Global Infrastructure Partners has entered into a binding agreement to sell an approximately 50% stake in open access high speed train operator Italo-Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori to Mediterranean Shipping Co. The other approximately 50% stake will continue to be owned by New York based investor GIP, ...
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NewsWhoosh opens as the fastest railway in southeast Asia
INDONESIA: The 142·3 km Jakarta – Bandung high speed line, now branded as Whoosh, was officially inaugurated by President Joko Widodo on October 2. This follows the launch of a limited free trial service during September, which the President said would continue until the start of revenue ...
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In depthCanada: PPP model underpins High Frequency Rail aspirations
Canada’s High Frequency Rail programme is now at the procurement stage as the government seeks a PPP partner to deliver mostly dedicated tracks for inter-city passenger trains in the 1 000 km corridor between Toronto and Québec City by the mid-2030s. Nick Kingsley reports.
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NewsIndonesian high speed line to be branded Whoosh
INDONESIA: The Jakarta - Bandung high speed railway is to be branded as ‘Whoosh’. Announcing the brand on September 21, the Ministry of Transportation explained that Whoosh comes from the sound of fast trains, and means Waktu Hemat, Operasi Optimal, Sistem Handal (‘Time saving, optimal operation, ...
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NewsInstallation of Japanese slab track on Indian high speed line begins
INDIA: Construction of ballastless reinforced concrete trackbed is underway at Surat on the Mumbai – Ahmedabad high speed line, in what National High Speed Rail Corp Ltd says is the first time the Japanese J-slab system is being used in India. The ballastless trackform is installed ...
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NewsOpen access start-up Le Train raises funding
FRANCE: Aspiring open access operator Le Train has raised a further €8m to support its plans to launch passenger services from Bordeaux to Angoulême, Poitiers, Tours, Nantes and Rennes. The funding was raised from Aquiti Gestion, Charente Périgord Expansion, Naco and Tudigo, joining existing investors Crédit ...
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In depthSouth Korea: Next-generation high speed trains on test
Korail is now testing the first two of 19 eight-car EMU-320 trainsets that will presage an expansion of services on South Korea’s main north-south main line. Benjámin Zelki reports.
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Rail Business UKCarbon reduction standard helps make HS2 trains ‘leaner and greener’
UK: Hitachi Rail says it is the first train manufacturer to attain BSI’s PAS 2080 standard for carbon management in infrastructure. This follows an assessment of the full life-cycle of the 54 trainsets it is to supply for High Speed 2 through a joint venture of ...
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NewsFinal Mumbai – Ahmedabad high speed line civil works contract awarded
INDIA: National High-Speed Rail Corp has awarded the final civil works contract for the Mumbai – Ahmedabad high speed line to Larsen & Toubro. The contract signed on August 10 is the last of the 11 civil works packages for the 508 km corridor. The 135 ...
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In depthChina: High speed fleet production peaks
In an analysis of the world market for high speed rail, SCI Verkehr finds that construction of high speed trains for China’s huge network has now peaked but after-sales activity is growing in importance as the fleet starts to age.