High speed rail industry news – Page 52
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NewsUrumqi – Lanzhou PDL completed as five lines open
CHINA: The 1 223 km eastern section of the Urumqi – Lanzhou Passenger-Dedicated Line between Hami and Lanzhou was opened for passenger service on December 26, little more than a month after the 553 km western section between Urumqi and Hami was opened on November 17. Designed for 250 km/h ...
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NewsHigh speed studies funded
RUSSIA: The government has allocated 6bn roubles in the federal budget for 2015 to finance further development of the proposed Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod – Kazan high speed line, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced on December 23. Noting that ‘foreign investors have shown great interest in the project, including our ...
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NewsPolish borders high speed rail study
POLAND: Infrastructure manager PKP PLK has awarded Idom a 2·3m złoty contract to undertake feasibility studies for possible extensions of the proposed Warszawa – Poznań/Wrocław Y-shaped high speed rail network. The study will investigate continuing the branches of the future high speed line to the German and Czech borders, ...
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NewsChangsha – Huaihua high speed line opens
CHINA: The Changsha – Huaihua Passenger-Dedicated Line in Hunan province opened on December 16. Construction of the 416 km route with nine stations began in 2010. The alignment is designed for 350 km/h operation, but trains are currently limited to 300 km/h giving an end-to-end journey time of 1 h ...
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NewsWork starts on Chuo maglev
JAPAN: Central Japan Railway officially marked the start of work on the first phase of its Chuo Shinkansen superconducting maglev line between Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka with ceremonies at the Shinagawa and Nagoya station sites on December 17. According to JR Central, construction work on the 286 km between Tokyo ...
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NewsPolish Pendolino launches 200 km/h operation
POLAND: PKP Intercity launched its Express Intercity Premium services on four routes radiating from Warszawa with the timetable change on December 14. The trains are operated with a fleet of 20 non-tilting Pendolino trainsets certified to operate at up to 250 km/h. The seven-car Class ED250 trainsets have been supplied ...
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NewsCalifornia selects preferred bidder to build second high speed line section
USA: The California High Speed Rail Authority announced on December 12 that it had selected a consortium of Dragados, Flatiron and Shimmick as preferred bidder for a design-build contract covering construction of a further 96 route-km of high speed line in the Central Valley. In selecting the ‘apparent best value ...
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NewsFRA waives Buy America rules on high speed train prototypes
USA: The Federal Railroad Administration has approved a waiver on Buy America procurement rules covering the supply of up to four high speed trainsets for the US market. The letter dated November 24 is a response to requests from both Amtrak and the California High Speed Rail Authority, who are ...
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NewsXinjiang high speed line opens
CHINA: The Passenger-Dedicated Line between Urumqi and Hami in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region of western China opened on November 16. The 530 km route serves stations at Urumqi South, Turpan North, Shanshan North, Tuha and Hami. Construction of the line began in January 2010. The alignment through the Gobi ...
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NewsEurostar orders seven more e320s
EUROPE: Marking the 20th anniversary of the launch of passenger services through the Channel Tunnel with a celebration at London St Pancras on November 13, Eurostar announced that it had signed Heads of Agreement with Siemens for seven more e320 trainsets. On display in Platform 5 was one of ...
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NewsHokkaido Shinkansen tracklaying completed
JAPAN: JR Hokkaido held a ceremony at Kikonai station on November 1 to mark the completion of tracklaying for the Hokkaido Shinkansen, which will bring high speed train services onto the country’s northern island in 2016. JR Hokkaido President Osamu Shimada was joined by Hokkaido Governor Harumi Takahash to ...
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NewsHigh speed contract award cancelled
MEXICO: President Enrique Peña Nieto has instructed the Secretariat of Communications & Transport to run a new competition for the contract to build a 210 km high speed line between Mexico City and Querétaro, citing the ‘doubt and disquiet’ that had arisen from the decision to award a 50∙8bn pesos ...
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NewsContract awarded for Mexico City – Querétaro high speed line
MEXICO: On November 3 the federal Secretariat of Communications & Transport announced that a consortium including China Railway Construction Corp and CSR had been selected for the turnkey contract to build, operate and maintain a high speed line between Mexico City and Querétaro. Including rolling stock and other railway equipment, ...
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News10 expressions of interest in California high speed fleet
USA: By the ‘soft deadline’ of October 22, California High Speed Rail Authority had received 10 responses to its request for expressions of interest in a contract to supply trainsets and a maintenance facility. Responses were submitted by: Alstom Transportation;AnsaldoBreda;Bombardier Transit Corp;CSR Corp;Hyundai Rotem;Marnell Transportation;Kawasaki Rail Car;Siemens Industry;SunGroup USA & ...
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NewsGauge-changing Free Gauge Train on test in Kyushu
JAPAN: JR Kyushu and the Japan Railway Construction Transport & Technology Agency officially launched test running with the gauge-changing Free Gauge Train prototype in a ceremony at Yatsushiro on October 19. Designated Series 9000 by JR Kyushu, the four-car trainset is being tested between Kagoshima-Chuo and Shin-Yatsushiro on the 1 ...
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NewsFirst Series H5 Shinkansen trainset arrives in Hokkaido
JAPAN: The first Series H5 trainset for the Hokkaido Shinkansen was delivered to the island on October 13. A welcoming ceremony was held at Haldane Harbour before the vehicles were transferred by road to JR Hokkaido’s Nanae depot. Built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Kobe, the trainset had been ...
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NewsUK invites interest in buying 40% stake in Eurostar
EUROPE: The British government formally invited expressions of interest in buying its 40% stake in cross-Channel high speed train operator Eurostar International Ltd on October 13. Potential bidders have until October 31 to respond, with the government saying its key objective is to ‘maximise value for money for the ...
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NewsCalifornia begins high speed rolling stock procurement
USA: Expressions of interest are to be submitted to the California High Speed Rail Authority by October 22 from potential suppliers of high speed trainsets for the planned 836 km network that would link the San Francisco Bay Area with the Los Angeles basin by 2028. Issuing its call for ...
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NewsTokaido Shinkansen turns 50
JAPAN: Celebrations were held in Tokyo on October 1 to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the world’s first high speed line, between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. The current operator of the Tokaido Shinkansen, JR Central, re-enacted the launch with a ribbon-cutting at 06.00 before dispatching the first ...
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NewsRENFE to order 30 high speed trainsets
SPAIN: Development Minister Ana Pastor announced at the opening of InnoTrans on September 23 that national operator RENFE would order 30 more high speed trains over the next four years. Orders for a further 10 gauge-convertible trainsets would also be placed, she said. Pastor assured the Spanish railway supply industry ...