High speed rail industry news – Page 48
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NewsHS2 to reach Crewe in 2027
UK: Construction of a further section of the planned High Speed 2 route to Manchester is to be brought forward, with the Crewe – Birmingham link now expected to open in 2027, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced on November 30. This is six years ahead of the original ...
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News2·8tr yuan rail spend in Chinese five-year plan
CHINA: Proposals for a total investment of 2·8tr yuan (US$438bn) in new railway construction have been included in the country’s 13th Five Year Plan covering the 2016-20 period, the Economic Information Daily announced on November 27. More than 23 000 km of new line would be constructed, with priority going ...
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NewsStrong interest in Kuala Lumpur - Singapore high speed line
ASIA: The land transport authorities of Malaysia and Singapore received 98 responses to their request for information for the Kuala Lumpur – Singapore High Speed Rail project, SPAD and LTA jointly announced on November 25. The proposed 330 km line would offer a 90 min journey time. The RFI was ...
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NewsRENFE seeks 30 high speed trains
SPAIN: National operator RENFE has invited expressions of interest in a contract to supply up to 30 high speed trainsets, setting a budget of €2⋅64bn including maintenance over 40 years. It is hoped to award the contract before June 2016, enabling the new fleet to enter service ‘as soon as ...
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NewsEurostar e320 enters service
EUROPE: The first of Eurostar’s 17 Siemens-built Velaro e320 trainsets began operating in limited commercial service on November 20, having been authorised for passenger operation through the Channel Tunnel the previous day. According to Eurostar, ‘we received the final piece of safety authorisation earlier than expected’, allowing the company to ...
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NewsLate braking caused TGV derailment, says SNCF
FRANCE: SNCF President Guillaume Pepy emphasised the ‘over-riding importance of organisational and human factors’ following the publication on November 19 of an initial report into the fatal derailment near Strasbourg on November 14 of a TGV during commissioning trials for Phase 2 of LGV Est-Européenne. The accident claimed the lives ...
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NewsTest train catastrophe on LGV Est
FRANCE: Opening of the 106 km second section of LGV Est-Européenne between Baudrecourt and Vendenheim for commercial services is likely to be delayed, following the high speed derailment of a TGV test train on November 14. SNCF Réseau President Jacques Rapoport told local media that it was ‘reasonable to expect’ ...
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NewsAnime-themed Series 500 launched on Sanyo Shinkansen
JAPAN: West Japan Railway officially launched an anime-themed 500 Type EVA Shinkansen trainset into revenue service on November 7, marking the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Sanyo Shinkansen. One of the railway’s nine Series 500 trainsets has been wrapped in a stylised livery to commemorate the 20th anniversary ...
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NewsEurostar sale ‘represented value for money’ says NAO
UK: On November 6 the National Audit Office published a report into the £757·1m sale of the UK's interest in cross-Channel high speed train operator Eurostar International, concluding that the government achieved its objective of maximising proceeds and that the sale represented value for money for taxpayers. However, Meg Hillier ...
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NewsState Secretary replaced after damning Fyra report
NETHERLANDS: Sharon Dijksma was appointed as State Secretary at the Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment with effect from November 3. Reporting to Infrastructure Minister Melanie Schulz Verhagen-Maas Geesteranus, she replaces Wilma Mansveld, who resigned last week following the publication of a critical report into the Fyra high speed train debacle. ...
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NewsOntario appoints high speed rail advisor
CANADA: On October 30 the government of Ontario announced the appointment of former federal Transport Minister David Collenette as a special advisor tasked with developing high speed rail proposals for the Windsor - London - Kitchener-Waterloo - Toronto corridor. Collenette is to work with public and private-sector stakeholders to assess ...
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NewsTrenitalia planning Paris – Brussels high speed service
EUROPE: Italian national operator Trenitalia has confirmed that it is holding preliminary discussions with its suppliers and relevant regulatory bodies regarding the possible launch of an open access high speed service between Paris and Brussels. Speaking in Milano on October 28, Pietro Diamantini of FS Group's Passenger Division suggested that ...
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NewsChinese-funded consortium to build Jakarta – Bandung fast line
INDONESIA: Construction could start next year on a passenger-dedicated line linking Jakarta with Bandung over a 140 km alignment that would make use of vacant land next to a toll motorway. The approval of the project is the latest twist in a long-running series of negotiations between the authorities in ...
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NewsKuala Lumpur – Singapore high speed rail market sounding begins
ASIA: Malaysian land transport commission SPAD and Singapore’s Land Transport Authority have jointly launched a market-sounding exercise for the Kuala Lumpur – Singapore high speed rail project. The proposed 330 km line would offer a 90 min journey time between the cities. The request for information issued on October ...
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NewsChinese contractors eye Swedish high speed rail programme
SWEDEN: A group of Chinese firms under the brand Scandinavian Bridge & Rail Consortium Company says it is keen to help Sweden accelerate the delivery of its proposed 'inverse Y' high speed network linking Stockholm with Göteborg and Malmö. Speaking at the Nordic Rail trade show in Jönköping on October ...
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NewsOpen access operator NTV to order Pendolinos
ITALY: The board of open access high speed train operator NTV has approved the award of a contract for Alstom Transport to supply and maintain a further eight trainsets. Branded EVO, the new trainsets would be part of Alstom’s Pendolino family which NTV said offers ‘a brilliant mixture of reliability ...
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NewsTwo more LGV branches to go ahead
FRANCE: Transport Minister Alain Vidalies announced on September 26 that the government intends to proceed with plans to extend the high speed network from Bordeaux to Toulouse and Dax. The decision in favour of what is known as the Grand Projet Ferroviaire du Sud-Ouest reverses the negative finding of a ...
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NewsValladolid – León high speed line opens
SPAIN: Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy joined Development Minister Ana Pastor and Juan Vicente Herrera, President of the Castilla y León regional government, to officially open the 162⋅7 km high speed line between Valladolid and León on September 29. Built at a cost of €1⋅62bn for operation at up to 350 ...
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NewsBirmingham and Beijing plan joint high speed rail research
INTERNATIONAL: Plans for a joint international high speed railway research laboratory have been announced by the UK’s University of Birmingham and China’s Beijing Jiaotong University, which signed a research co-operation agreement on September 17. The laboratory would be run jointly by the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research & Education and ...
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NewsTesting starts on LGV Est Phase 2
FRANCE: National operator SNCF has started test running on the second phase of LGV Est Européan. An instrumented EuroDuplex TGV decked out in a commemorative livery began running over the new section of the route on the morning of September 28. Running for 106 km between the end of Phase ...