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NewsBusiness leaders push for faster liberalisation
FRANCE: Business leaders in Nord-Pas de Calais have expressed frustration at the slow rate of progress in expanding the European high speed rail network. Speaking to Railway Gazette International on May 3, Thierry Mabille de Poncheville, Managing Director of the Lille business promotion agency APIM, said that he was ‘very ...
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NewsNTV in alliance to take on Ferrovie dello Stato
ITALY: Budding high speed operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori has set up an alliance with other private sector and open access companies in a bid to increase their influence in the face of what they see as intransigence by state-owned Ferrovie dello Stato. Called the Forum del Trasporto Ferroviario, the alliance ...
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NewsCalifornia applies for federal high speed funding
USA: At a board meeting on March 30, California High-Speed Rail Authority voted unanimously to apply for federal high speed rail funding previously allocated to Florida. The $2·43bn grant was rejected by Florida Governor Rick Scott on February 16, effectively cancelling that state’s plan to build a 135 km line ...
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NewsVossloh reports record sales
EUROPE: Vossloh Group has reported full-year pre-tax profits of €152·1m in 2010, a 10·3% increase on the previous year. The company also recorded its highest-ever sales of €1·35bn, up by 15·1% on 2009. Vossloh attributed almost half of its revenue growth to its Rail Services business unit, formed following the ...
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NewsDB calls temporary halt to Stuttgart 21
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn announced on March 29 its intention to cease work temporarily on the Stuttgart 21 project to rebuild the city’s main station. DB Board Member, Technical, Dr Volker Kefer confirmed that no further contracts would be let and no more construction work undertaken until a new government has ...
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NewsEuropean Commission outlines 2050 transport vision
EUROPE: ‘Curbing mobility is not an option’. That is the one of the central tenets of the European Commission’s latest transport White Paper published on March 28. Building on the previous document issued in 2001, the Commission has entitled its White Paper a ‘Road Map to a Single European Transport ...
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NewsNorthern resignalling underway
VIETNAM: A ceremony at Hanoi’s Yen Vien station on March 24 marked the start of a Chinese-backed resignalling programme covering Vietnam Railways’ routes to the border crossings at Lao Cai and Dong Dang. Deputy Minister for Transport & Communications Le Manh Hung told assembled guests that the resignalling work would ...
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NewsNTV brands RFI access changes 'illegal'
ITALY: In an exceptionally strongly-worded statement, private high speed operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori has urged the Italian government to intervene to resolve an increasingly bitter dispute with infrastructure manager RFI over paths. NTV convened an emergency board meeting on March 25 after receiving notification that RFI’s Network Statement had been ...
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NewsSino-Thai construction agreement edges closer
THAILAND: A framework agreement for a Memorandum of Understanding covering the construction of two standard-gauge inter-city corridors was approved by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on March 21. This marks the latest milestone in the Thai government’s efforts to agree its position ahead of ministerial negotiations with China to reach ...
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NewsHS2 consultation launched
UK: The government launched a public consultation process for construction of the proposed London – West Midlands high speed line on February 28. The consultation, which runs until July 29, will take the form of a series of public meetings and events along the planned 190 km route that is ...
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NewsTwo standard gauge main lines recommended
THAILAND: Government officials in Bangkok are expected to recommend that the Chinese-backed programme to build a network of standard gauge main lines across the country be initially restricted to two routes. The two lines promoted by the Working Committee preparing the Memorandum of Understanding would link the ...
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NewsRZD’s first 2ES10 locomotive unveiled
RUSSIA: The Ural Locomotives joint venture of Sinara Transport Machines and Siemens Mobility has completed production of the first of two prototype 2ES10 electric locomotives at the Verkhnyaya Pyshma plant near Yekaterinburg.While Sinara has been using Siemens components and design input to produce 83 2ES6 DC locomotives for RZD’s Sverdlovsk ...
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NewsFirst ETCS Level 2 contract awarded in Turkey
TURKEY: Lead contractor Yapı Merkezi has contracted Invensys Rail Dimetronic to install ERTMS Level 2 equipment on the 212 route-km Ankara – Konya high speed line.Invensys Rail will be responsible for the design, manufacture, installation and commissioning of the ETCS Level 2 wayside and onboard equipment, plus the interface with ...
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NewsTGV tickets to Figueres on sale
EUROPE: SNCF and RENFE began selling tickets for Paris – Figueres TGV services on November 23, ahead of the launch of through trains on December 19. Two return trips from Paris-Lyon will operate daily over the new Perpignan – Figueres high speed line, with a journey time of 5 h ...
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NewsBalfour Beatty acquires power supply business
USA: Balfour Beatty’s US rail division has completed the purchase of Reuel Inc’s Traction Power division for an undisclosed sum, Balfour Beatty Rail Inc announced on August 30. Based in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Reuel is a specialist manufacturer of electrical components and power supply equipment. The Traction Power business unit ...
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NewsMarmaray upgrading contract retendered
TURKEY: Suppliers have until January 7 2011 to submit bids for a contract to modernise existing commuter routes as part of the 77 km Marmaray Project in Istanbul, which includes a rail tunnel beneath the Bosporus connecting Europe with Asia. The retendering follows termination earlier this year of the previous ...
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NewsDoT sets common standards for passenger coach design
USA: US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on August 31 that ‘uniform technical standards’ were to be introduced for the design of inter-city passenger coaches to ‘enhance the ability of US manufacturers to compete’ in the market. The Department of Transportation believes that adoption of a common design with fixed ...
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NewsFrance and Germany seek co-operation
EUROPE: Meeting in Berlin on August 31, Germany’s Federal Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer and his French counterpart Dominique Bussereau agreed to establish a high-level railway group bringing together representatives from both countries. Building on existing agreements, the new group will aim to foster co-operation in order to remove bureaucratic obstacles, ...
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NewsRoyal ceremony marks Botniabanan opening
SWEDEN: A ceremony in Kramfors on August 28 attended by King Carl XVI Gustaf marked the start of a rolling inauguration of the Botniabanan in northeast Sweden. A royal train then left for Örnsköldsvik and Nordmaling, where further celebrations were held, before it reached Umeå in the evening. Revenue passenger ...
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NewsPilbara iron ore line approved
AUSTRALIA: Plans to build another 300 km rail link to serve the Pilbara iron ore mining region in Western Australia were approved by the state government on June 24. Premier Colin Barnett said the signing of an agreement with Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd was ‘a major step forward for ...