High speed rail industry news – Page 29
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NewsKuala Lumpur – Singapore high speed rail civils partners selected
MALAYSIA: Promoter MyHSR Corp announced on April 5 that it had selected the project delivery partners which will design and build the civil works for the Malaysian section of the Kuala Lumpur – Singapore High Speed Rail project. A consortium of Malaysian Resources Corp and Gamuda has been selected for ...
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NewsSpanish rail spend up 25%
SPAIN: On April 3 Development Minister Íñigo de la Serna presented his department’s budget for 2018, including rail spending of €4∙3bn which represents 48∙3% of total investment. According to ministry, the rail total is up 25∙6% on the year before. During 2018, the Ministry of Development is planning to spend ...
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NewsEurostar selects Sqills distribution and reservation software
EUROPE: Dutch ticketing software company Sqills is providing its S3 Passenger sales, distribution and reservation suite for international high speed train operator Eurostar. ‘As Eurostar grows beyond 10 million passengers per year and we expand our reach further into Europe, having a flexible reservation system is critical’, said the operator’s ...
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NewsWest Coast Partnership invitations to tender issued
UK: The Department for Transport issued invitations to tender for the West Coast Partnership franchise on March 27. The contract will cover the operation of InterCity West Coast services from September 15 2019 until 2031, and the planning of the initial service on High Speed 2 in partnership with project ...
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NewsAtocha Phase 2 unveiled
SPAIN: Development Minister Íñigo de la Serna has unveiled plans for the second phase of a capacity expansion programme at Madrid Atocha station, designed by architect Rafael Moneo. In preparation for the opening of the 1 435 mm gauge tunnel under Madrid to Chamartín, built at a cost of €322m ...
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NewsCeremony marks completion of XRL main works
CHINA: The substantial completion of main construction works for the 26 km Hong Kong section of the 142 km Guangzhou – Shenzhen – Hong Kong Express Rail Link was marked with a ceremony at Hong Kong West Kowloon Station on March 23. MTR Corp Chairman Professor Frederick Ma said construction ...
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NewsFrench government to order 100 ‘TGVs of the future’
FRANCE: Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that the government is to place a firm order with Alstom ‘by the end of June’ for 100 TGV trainsets. He was addressing a press conference on March 22 to update progress on the merger of Siemens Mobility and Alstom. These would ...
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NewsDon’t believe the hype about Hyperloop
Policymakers around the world have been beguiled by the prospects of Hyperloop technology providing a paradigm shift in inter-city transport, potentially at the expense of rail investment. However, Gareth Dennis sounds a note of caution about the technical and commercial hurdles facing this ‘fifth mode of transport’.
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NewsCalifornia high speed rail plan revised
USA: California High-Speed Rail Authority has published for public consultation a draft 2018 business plan which ‘acknowledges and responds to changed circumstances and emphasises a new way of doing business moving forward’. CHSRA said the draft plan ‘transparently identifies the project’s challenges’, which include putting back the completion date and ...
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NewsJR Central unveils ‘Supreme’ N700S
JAPAN: Central Japan Railway unveiled its completed N700S prototype Shinkansen trainset at Hamamatsu depot on March 10. Emblazoned with a huge gold S for Supreme, the latest derivative of the Series 700 family will begin an extensive programme of test running on March 20. The first commercial sets are expected ...
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NewsDebt burden tempers SNCF growth in 2017
FRANCE: Announcing its results for 2017 on February 27, SNCF Group reported revenue of €33∙5bn, up 4∙2% on the year before ‘thanks to commercial momentum’ driving strong growth in passenger and freight traffic. Combined with ‘strict financial discipline’ and a cost-cutting programme that generated €830m of savings in 2017, this ...
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NewsEurostar reports a £58m profit
EUROPE: Eurostar International Ltd has reported a preliminary unaudited operating profit of £57∙6m for 2017, with sales revenue up 11% at £880m from £794m the year before. Passenger-journeys were up 3% at 10∙3 million from 10 million in 2016. 'Last year we saw a real revival in the US market ...
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NewsDB opens carbon-neutral ICE depot
GERMANY: DB inaugurated a carbon-neutral ICE depot in the Nippes area of Köln on February 23. The 23 ha site is expected to reduce energy equivalent to 1 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year through various features, including geothermal heating and cooling. A 180 m2 solar heating ...
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NewsEuston Master Development Partner selected
UK: High speed line project promoter HS2 Ltd announced on February 22 that Network Rail and the Secretary of State for Transport had selected Lendlease as the Master Development Partner for London Euston station. The MDP is to work with the Greater London Authority and London Borough of Camden to ...
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NewsEurostar runs Amsterdam preview service to mark start of ticket sales
EUROPE: Cross-Channel high speed train operator Eurostar ran a preview service between London St Pancras and Amsterdam Centraal on February 20, to mark the opening of ticket sales for the regular twice-daily service which is scheduled to begin on April 4. Conveying invited guests and travel industry representatives, the 08.31 ...
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NewsSpinetta report urges SNCF to prepare for competition
FRANCE: The national railway must refocus on ‘the areas where it has greatest relevance’: transporting large numbers of passengers within urban areas, and providing high speed connectivity between France’s principal cities. This mission statement is at the heart of a landmark report handed to Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on February ...
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NewsInternational consortium formed to bid for Kuala Lumpur – Singapore High Speed Rail project
ASIA: The formation of a consortium to bid for work on the Kuala Lumpur – Singapore high speed rail project was announced by Malaysian construction company George Kent, Alstom, Siemens, Italian state railway FS Group and track contractor Porr on February 12. The companies said the consortium was ‘a powerful ...
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NewsFlytoget’s first CAF Oaris trainset nears completion
NORWAY: Dynamic testing with the first of eight four-car Oaris trainsets that CAF is building for Norwegian operator Flytoget is due to begin in April. One set will travel to Velim in the Czech Republic for trials before the trains enter service on Flytoget’s Airport Express service between Gardermoen Airport ...
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NewsEurostar to launch London – Amsterdam service in April
EUROPE: Direct London – Amsterdam high speed services will begin on April 4, cross-channel high speed operator Eurostar announced on February 9. Offering a journey time of 3 h 41 min between London St Pancras and Amsterdam Centraal, Eurostar will run an initial two trains per day. However, there will ...
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NewsHigh speed operator accepts takeover bid
ITALY: Open access high speed train operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori SpA announced on February 7 that its shareholders had decided to accept a €1·98bn takeover bid from international fund manager Global Infrastructure Partners III. The deal was ratified by a board meeting the following day, which also confirmed that NTV ...