High speed rail industry news – Page 35
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NewsCompleted ALFA-X test train unveiled
JAPAN: East Japan Railway has formally unveiled its Series 956 ALFA-X high speed test train, which is due to start trial running at up to 400 km/h later this month. The completed 10-car trainset was displayed at its Sendai Shinkansen rolling stock workshops on May 9. Launched in July 2017, ...
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NewsEurostar provides guide for travellers with autism
EUROPE: Eurostar has launched a virtual guide designed to help passengers with autism have a stress-free journey. The cross-Channel high speed train operator reviewed its travel experience with the Ambitious About Autism charity, which advised that travellers with autism are more comfortable if they have seen information about sights and ...
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NewsMore Frecciarossa trains to come as FS unveils €58bn investment plan
ITALY: State railway holding FS Group’s 2019-23 business plan envisages total investment worth €58bn across various modes, with a core focus on enhancing the conventional rail network and improving suburban passenger services. According to FS, the ‘unprecedented’ spending programme, unveiled in Roma on May 10 by Chief Executive Gianfranco Battisti, ...
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NewsConsultants to optimise KL – Singapore high speed rail project
MALAYSIA: The project promoter for the Malaysian section of the planned Kuala Lumpur – Singapore high speed line has called tenders for the appointment of commercial and technical advisory consultants. On September 5 2018 the governments of Malaysia and Singapore agreed to put construction of the line on hold until ...
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NewsFinancing agreed for high speed line PPP
CHINA: A consortium led by the Fosun conglomerate has agreed a 28·1bn yuan loan package with a group of banks to finance the construction of the first high speed line in China to be built and operated under a PPP concession. The 269 km Hangzhou – Shaoxing – Taizhou line ...
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Rail Business UKEurostar and DB seek to solve through ticketing issue
EUROPE: Eurostar is working with Deutsche Bahn to resolve a ticketing system compatibility issue which will prevent the German national operator from selling through tickets between Germany and the UK. Last year Eurostar awarded Dutch software company Sqills a contract to provide its S3 Passenger sales, distribution and reservation suite ...
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Rail Business UKLondon – Bordeaux high speed rail service ‘blueprint’
EUROPE: A ‘blueprint’ for the operation of direct high speed services to and from London was presented to the Mayor of Bordeaux and the President of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on April 29. The proposals are being developed jointly by HS1 Ltd, which manages the high speed line between London and ...
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NewsEurostar aims to reduce paper ticket use with Google Pay
EUROPE: Eurostar passengers can now save paperless tickets on Google Pay, in what the cross-Channel high speed train operator says is a ‘first for any international rail company’. Travellers using Google Pay on mobile devices with Android L or higher can save their mobile tickets to Google Pay from the ...
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NewsLinköping high speed line planning contract awarded
SWEDEN: National transport agency Trafikverket has awarded Atkins and Ramboll a five-year contract to plan the Linköping city section of the proposed Ostlänken high speed line between Stockholm and the city. This is the first of three proposed high speed routes, which would form a 440 km Y-shaped network linking ...
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Rail Business UKTalgo committed to UK expansion strategy
UK: Planning for the development of a rolling stock manufacturing plant in Scotland and a research facility in northern England is continuing ‘at full pace’, Talgo Group President Carlos de Palacio Oriol told Railway Gazette in Madrid on April 1. Pointing out that Talgo’s two Spanish plants at Las Matas ...
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News€600m contracts awarded as Napoli – Bari rebuilding progresses
ITALY: Infrastructure manager RFI awarded design and construction contracts worth €608m on March 29 for rebuilding of the Apice – Hirpinia section of the Napoli – Bari line. A consortium of Salini Impregilo, Astaldi, Rocksoil, Net Engineering and Alpina will undertake civil works and install railway equipment, including new electrical ...
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NewsCAF awarded Trenitalia high speed train maintenance contract
ITALY: National operator Trenitalia has awarded CAF Italia a €120m six-year contract for the preventative and corrective maintenance of 59 ETR500 Frecciarossa high speed trainsets. There is an option to extend the contract for a further six years. The maintenance activities will mainly be carried out at Trenitalia’s workshops in ...
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NewsMedvedev backs Russian high speed line
RUSSIA: Plans for the construction of a high speed line from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod were approved by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on March 13, having already been backed by Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov who oversees transport. The project is estimated to cost 622bn roubles, of which 200bn roubles ...
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NewsBielefeld – Hannover high speed line proposed
GERMANY: Commissioner for Rail and Parliamentary Secretary of State for Transport & Digital Infrastructure Enak Ferlemann has said that a new 300 km/h line needs to be built between Bielefeld and Hannover. Speaking to Deutsche Presse Agentur on March 18, Ferlemann said that the new line was required to ...
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NewsMumbai – Ahmedabad high speed tenders called
INDIA: Tenders for design, construction and commissioning of civil engineering works on around half of the planned Mumbai – Ahmedabad high speed line were invited by the National High Speed Rail Corp Ltd on March 15. Covering a 237 km section in the state of Gujurat, running south from Vadodara ...
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NewsAlgorithm could cut high speed rail energy use
CHINA: Researchers at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University’s Suzhou campus have developed an algorithm intended to optimise the storage and reuse of braking energy. Currently, regenerative braking is used extensively across China’s 29 000 km high speed network. Typically, the energy is returned to the grid by trains under braking, and reused ...
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NewsFlytoget Oaris lands in Oslo
NORWAY: The first of eight Oaris EMUs being built by CAF for Oslo airport express operator Flytoget was officially unveiled on March 5. Ordered in April 2015, the four-car Class 78 units will join Flytoget’s existing fleet of 16 Adtranz-built Class 71 trainsets, providing a 50% increase in capacity to ...
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NewsRENFE seeks ‘pro-active’ international expansion
SPAIN: RENFE will be adopting an ‘unprecedented and pro-active’ approach to international expansion as its domestic market faces more liberalisation under the EU’s Fourth Railway Package, the Spanish incumbent’s President Isaías Táboas Suárez told the Rail Live trade show in Bilbao on March 6. Suárez highlighted RENFE’s participation in ...
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NewsProtectionism dilutes the competitive dynamic
COMMENT: Are incumbent state operators expanding their low-cost high speed offer to try and keep new entrants out of a liberalised inter-city market, and how might this fit with European competition policy, asks Railway Gazette Managing Editor Nick Kingsley.
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NewsSNCF brings forward Ouigo expansion to Toulouse
FRANCE: Originally envisaged for 2020, Ouigo low-cost high speed services between Paris and Toulouse are now to begin running on July 6. The SNCF subsidiary has announced that ticket sales for its first trains will open on March 26. Ouigo will initially operate one train each way per day, calling ...