High speed rail industry news – Page 53
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NewsEuropean Commission approves Thalys restructuring
EUROPE: The European Commission announced on September 22 that it had approved the restructuring of Thalys as a 60:40 joint venture between SNCF of France and SNCB of Belgium. Operating high speed services from Paris to Brussels, Amsterdam and Köln, Thalys had originally been established in partnership with DB of ...
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NewsHigh speed line included in India-China railway action plan
INDIA: The Railway Board and China’s National Railway Administration signed a three-year memorandum of understanding and action plan for technical co-operation on September 18, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. Potential areas of co-operation include training 100 Indian Railways staff in heavy ...
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NewsNanchang - Changsha high speed line opens
CHINA: The 342 km Passenger-Dedicated Line running east–west between Nanchang in Jiangxi province and Changsha in Hunan opened on September 16. The line serves Nanchang South, Gao’an, Xinyu North, Yichun, Pingxiang North, Liling East and Changsha South stations. The opening cuts travel times from 3½ h to 1½ h, with ...
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NewsTEN-T funding bids invited
EUROPE: The European Commission’s Innovation & Networks Executive Agency announced on September 11 that it had opened the bidding for €11·9bn of funding to improve European transport links under the revised TEN-T programme. Member state governments have until February 26 to submit proposals, with the selected projects to be announced ...
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NewsTCDD awards national control centre contract
TURKEY: National railway TCDD has awarded Indra a €43m contract to build a control centre in Ankara which will manage traffic and equipment on the high speed lines as well as support the planning of operations and infrastructure upgrading across the entire network. Indra is to supply the DaVinci traffic ...
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NewsEast Japan Railway targets Californian high speed contracts
USA: JR East is to lead a Japanese consortium in bidding for railway systems contracts for the Los Angeles – San Francisco high speed line now being developed by the California High Speed Rail Authority. JR East announced in Tokyo that it expects to work in partnership with six other ...
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NewsRiyadh - Dammam high speed line study contract awarded
SAUDI ARABIA: A consortium led by Spanish firm Consultrans signed a 6·6m riyal contract to study options for the construction of a Riyadh – Dammam high speed line on September 2. The 10-month study commissioned by Saudi Railways Organisation will consider routes, technical requirements, costs, demand forecasts and potential revenue ...
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NewsFirst Haramain high speed trainset revealed
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Railways Organization President Mohamed Khaled al Suwaiket visited the first trainset for the Haramain High Speed Rail project at the Talgo’s factory at Rivabellosa in Spain on August 11. The 450 km high speed line will link Makkah with Madinah, via Jeddah and King Abdul Aziz International ...
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NewsTendering starts for high speed line to Querétaro
MEXICO: During a ceremony held in the city of Querétaro on August 15, federal Secretary of Communications & Transport Gerardo Ruiz and Querétaro state governor José Calzada formally signed off tendering documentation for the project to build a high speed line between Mexico City and Querétaro. Representing an investment in ...
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NewsAppeal court ruling provides high speed funding fillip
USA: Three judges of the State Appellate Court in Sacramento ruled on July 31 to support an appeal by California High Speed Rail Authority against a prior judgment blocking the sale of $9·95bn in so-called ‘Proposition 1A’ bonds. Judge Michael Kenny had ruled on November 25 that when Californian voters ...
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NewsONCF awards GSM-R contract
MOROCCO: A consortium of Thales, Huawei and Imet has been awarded the first GSM-R deployment contract under national railway ONCF’s nine-year roll-out programme. The €30m contract announced on July 25 covers 712 km of the network, comprising four conventional routes where existing radio systems will be replaced with GSM-R as ...
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NewsEskişehir - Istanbul high speed line opened
TURKEY: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan officially inaugurated the fast line between Eskişehir and Istanbul on July 25, completing the 570 km Ankara – Istanbul high speed corridor. The latest section to open comprises 188 km of new alignment between Eskişehir and Köseköy plus a further 56 km of upgraded ...
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NewsHigh speed line electrification maintenance vehicle on test
CHINA: Trials are underway with an overhead electrification inspection, maintenance and repair vehicle capable of running at up to 160 km/h when travelling to worksites on high speed lines. The multi-functional vehicle has been developed by CNR Beijing February 7 Railway Transportation Equipment Co, based on the Class 711 ...
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NewsChinese high speed line construction one-third cheaper, study suggests
CHINA: Economies of scale accrued through standardisation of construction processes are among the key factors in China’s ability to build high speed railways more cheaply than other countries, a World Bank study has suggested. The World Bank’s paper, entitled High Speed Railways in China: A Look at Construction Costs, suggests ...
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NewsFootbath luxury in Yamagata Shinkansen trainset
JAPAN: East Japan Railway will put into service a luxury trainset on its Yamagata Shinkansen with effect from July 19, as part of an ongoing programme to refresh the line’s fleet of mini-shinkansen trainsets. Known as Toreiyu from a combination of Train + Soleil, the six-car trainset has been rebuilt ...
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NewsTaiyuan – Xi'an high speed line opens
CHINA: The 570 km Taiyuan – Xi'an high speed line opened with a national timetable change on July 1. The Passenger-Dedicated Line cuts journey times between the cities from 10 h to 3 h, and will eventually form part of a 900 km route from Datong to Xi'an designed for ...
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NewsSeries W7 Shinkansen ready to start testing
JAPAN: JR West is preparing to start testing the Series W7 trainsets it is acquiring for use on the Hokuriku Shinkansen which opens for revenue service in March 2015. Two trainsets are being commissioned at Hakusan depot, around 10 km west of Kanazawa, ready for the start of test running ...
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NewsAmtrak and California abandon joint rolling stock procurement
USA: Plans to undertake a joint procurement of high speed trainsets have been shelved by Amtrak and the Californian High Speed Rail Authority. Amtrak said on June 23 that meetings with representatives of the rolling stock supply industry had indicated that the requirements were too diverse to be met by ...
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News‘Cap-and-trade’ revenues to support Californian high speed programme
USA: The California state budget for 2014-15 includes a commitment to provide a further $250m for the planned San Francisco – Los Angeles high speed rail project.The contribution would be provided using revenues accrued by the state’s emissions trading scheme. More significantly, the budget, backed by Governor Jerry Brown and ...
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NewsUK and China sign railway co-operation memorandum of understanding
UK: The UK and Chinese governments signed a bilateral agreement for their rail industries to work together 'to boost economic growth, jobs and skills' during an official visit to Britain by China's Premier Li Keqiang on June 17. The Department for Transport said the agreement would pave the way for ...