High speed rail industry news – Page 39
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NewsHigh speed links to the northeast completed
CHINA: A 210 km rail link to the North Korean border town of Dandong was opened for revenue service on September 1. This is the first of two high speed lines serving the border region that are scheduled to open this year. Under construction since 2010, the 207 km Shenyang ...
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NewsHigh speed rail priority in 2016 budget
SPAIN: Appearing before a parliamentary committee on August 19, Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport & Housing Julio Gómez-Pomar provided details of the rail spending budgeted by the Ministry of Development for 2016. Next year, the ministry is planning to spend a total of €5∙46bn on rail, a 5% ...
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NewsNorthernmost PDL opens in Heilongjiang
CHINA: The country’s most northerly passenger-dedicated line opened for revenue service on August 17, connecting the two principal cities in Heilongjiang province, Harbin and Qiqihar. Operating at up to 250 km/h, the high speed trains have cut the fastest journey time between the cities from 3 h to 85 ...
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NewsOHL wins Follo Line contract
NORWAY: Obrascón Huarte Lain of Spain has signed a contract worth NKr2·3bn with infrastructure manager Jernbaneverket, under which OHL is to build the Langhus – Ski section of the Follo Line as well as a major public transport interchange at Ski. OHL is due to begin work immediately. According to ...
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NewsHigh speed train toilet emptying system delivered
CHINA: The first of Smith Brothers & Webb’s ‘airline-style’ Controlled Effluent Transfer System toilet tank emptying units has been installed at Hong Kong’s Shek Kong depot, which will maintain trainsets used on the future Express Rail Link. The manufacturer says the automated CETS can empty tanks three times faster ...
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NewsHaramain High Speed Rail station track contract awarded
SAUDI ARABIA: Pandrol CDM Track has won a contract to supply its CDM-QTrack embedded track system for installation at the stations on the Haramain High Speed Rail line. Adopting this track form where the rail is continuously supported without fastenings will avoid the need for difficult tamping operations within ...
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NewsGovernment becomes majority shareholder in Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp
TAIWAN: The build-operate-transfer concession for the Taipei – Kaohsiung high speed line and an agreement for developments at stations were terminated with the signing of two agreements by the Ministry of Transportation & Communications and concessionaire Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp on July 27. The agreements are designed to mitigate ...
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NewsDB and SNCF extend Alleo cross-border co-operation
EUROPE: The ceremonial launch of Deutsche Bahn Class 407 trainsets on the Frankfurt to Paris Est route on July 23 was followed by the signing of an agreement to extend DB and SNCF’s Alleo cross-border operating partnership for a further five years to 2020. Around 12 million passengers have travelled ...
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NewsHigh speed line concessionaire TP Ferro in administration
EUROPE: TP Ferro, the company which holds the concession to build, operate and finance the high speed line between Perpignan in France and Figueres in Spain, announced on July 17 that it was applying to be placed into administration on a voluntary basis. The application was made to the commercial ...
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NewsEurostar e300 trainset refurbishment completed
EUROPE: The first of Eurostar’s ‘remodelled and redesigned’ trainsets is expected to return passenger service ‘in the coming weeks’, the cross-Channel high speed train operator announced on July 21. The refurbishment of the Class 373 trains dating from the launch of Eurostar services in 1994 is being undertaken at ...
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NewsHigh speed train tenders called as domestic prototype starts testing
CHINA: Tenders for the supply of 351 high speed trainsets were issued by China Railway Corp on July 17, in what the railway says is the largest train procurement in its history. Covering 228 trainsets for 350 km/h operation and 123 for 250 km/h, at an estimated total value of ...
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NewsCalifornia high speed rail delivery partner appointed
USA: California High Speed Rail Authority has appointed a consortium led by Parsons Brinckerhoff, and including Network Rail Consulting and management consultancy LeighFisher, as its rail delivery partner. The contract for project management and integration services runs to 2022 and has an estimated total value of up to $700m. Network ...
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News‘Beauty contest’ to assess high speed line offers
INDONESIA: The government is to hold a ‘beauty contest’ to evaluate rival bids for construction of a 150 km Jakarta – Bandung high speed line, Co-ordinating Economic Minister Sofyan Djalil said on July 13. Rival offers backed by their respective governments have been put forward by consortia from China and ...
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NewsChoose your destination with #TGVpop
FRANCE: On July 5 SNCF operated the first five trains under its ‘100% digital’ #TGVpop concept, where the destination is determined by online voting. The first services ran from Paris to Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille and Lyon, as well as from Lyon to Paris. Under a campaign running until August 30, ...
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NewsRambøll to study Vejle Fjord cut-off
DENMARK: The national roads directorate has appointed engineering consultancy Rambøll to explore four possible alignments for a high speed rail link across the Vejle Fjord, which would shorten Banedanmark’s main line between Fredericia and Aarhus. The project is a key element in the government’s Togfonden DK railway investment programme, which ...
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NewsWorld Speed Survey 2015: China remains the pacesetter
INTERNATIONAL: China remains the pacesetter in the world rail speed race, according to the latest World Speed Survey published in Railway Gazette International on July 1. Authored by Jeremy Hartill of the UK’s Railway Performance Society, the biennial survey compiles in tabular form the fastest timetabled start-to-stop journeys between different ...
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NewsAfrica’s first high speed train delivered
MOROCCO: The first of 12 Alstom Duplex high speed trainsets for national railway ONCF was unloaded at the Port of Tanger on June 29. It had been shipped from the Port of La Pallice near La Rochelle in France onboard Ville de Bordeaux, a roll-on roll-off vessel custom-built to carry ...
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NewsHefei – Fuzhou high speed line opens
CHINA: The 813 km Hefei – Fuzhou Passenger-Dedicated Line opened on June 28, with journey times between the capitals of Anhui and Fujian provinces cut from 8 h to under 4 h. The new line also serves popular tourist destinations. Construction of the line began in 2010, with the ...
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NewsEIB signs €180m loan for ADIF
SPAIN: An agreement that will see the European Investment Bank lend a total of €180m to ADIF Alta Velocidad was signed in Madrid on June 26, in the presence of Development Minister Ana Pastor, EIB Vice-President Román Escolano and ADIF Alta Velocidad President Gonzalo Ferre. An initial tranche of €100m ...
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NewsOstlänken consultants appointed
SWEDEN: A consortium of Cowi and Systra has been selected to undertake technical planning work on the third section of the 150 km Ostlänken line linking Stockholm and Linköping. Diverging from the current Stockholm – Göteborg trunk line at Järna, west of Södertälje, the ‘East Link’ would run southwest through ...