All Railway Gazette International articles in January 2014 – Page 2
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NewsDfT agrees Rail North devolution partnership
UK: The Department for Transport has agreed a partnership to begin the process of devolving more responsibility for specifying and managing passenger services to local authorities in the north of England. The agreement, announced by the Rail North group of 33 local authorities following a meeting with Transport Secretary Patrick ...
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NewsEdinburgh - Glasgow electrification design contract awarded
UK: The public version of the final business case for the Edinburgh - Glasgow Improvement Programme was published by Transport Scotland on January 27, when infrastructure manager Network Rail announced that Costain and Morgan Sindall had been awarded five-month alliancing contracts worth £5m to define the detailed scope, programme and ...
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NewsTrams come to Oldham town centre
UK: Manchester Metrolink services started running to Oldham town centre on January 27 with the opening of a loop on the Manchester – Rochdale line. The on-street loop leaves the former Manchester – Oldham railway alignment near the Westwood business park, before running north along Featherstall Road and Middleton ...
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NewsAmtrak and California begin joint high speed train procurement
USA: Amtrak and the California High Speed Rail Authority issued a request for proposals on January 24 covering the supply of up to 43 trainsets for use on the Initial Operating Section of California’s planned high speed network and the existing Northeast Corridor route between Washington DC and Boston. According ...
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NewsStern & Hafferl orders Tramlink light rail vehicles
AUSTRIA: Local transport operator Stern & Hafferl signed a €30m order for 11 Vossloh Tramlink V3 light rail vehicles on January 27. The metre-gauge LRVs will enter service in 2016 on the steep-graded Gmunden tramway, the Traunseebahn local railway between Gmunden and Vorchdorf and the Attergaubahn from Vöcklamarkt to Attersee. ...
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NewsMining companies could share Liberian railway
LIBERIA: The government of Liberia is to convene discussions this year which could lead to Sable Mining exporting iron ore from neighbouring Guinea using the 273 km Yekepa - Buchanan line. The former Lamco railway was rehabilitated by ArcelorMittal and operations restarted in 2011 under a 2006 mineral development agreement ...
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NewsProducts & Technology in Brief
ÖBB-Infrastruktur is to undertake a three-month trial of OptaSense’s Distributed Acoustic Sensing, which enables existing trackside optic fibre cables to act as ‘virtual microphones’ able to detect the activities of cable thieves. ABB has begun using BASF’s polybutylene terephthalate Ultradur B4450 G5 glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic for DC contactors ...
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NewsGreat prospects in sight at Tazara
AFRICA: Private finance from customers and stakeholders is to be sought to meet at least 15% of the cost of a five-year strategic investment plan which was approved by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority board in December. Spending of US$211m is proposed in 2013-18, including US$177m targeted at increasing capacity. ...
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NewsMontreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway sale approved
NORTH AMERICA: The sale of the assets of the insolvent Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway to the Railroad Acquisition Holdings subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group for US$14·25m was approved by courts in Québec and Maine on January 23, following an auction on January 21. Subject to regulatory approval in ...
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NewsDeal to continue freight operations in New Brunswick
CANADA: The Province of New Brunswick and CN announced an agreement to ensure the future of freight services on two sections of the former New Brunswick East Coast Railway on January 24. The province is to provide up to C$25m for works to bring the infrastructure to the required operating ...
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NewsTango light rail vehicles ordered for St Gallen
SWITZERLAND: Appenzeller Bahnen has awarded Stadler Rail a SFr60m contract to supply seven Tango light rail vehicles as part of the St Gallen Durchmesserlinie project. Announcing the order on January 23, Stadler said the six-section 50 m long and 2 400 mm wide metre-gauge LRVs would be similar to Tango ...
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NewsCharles-de-Gaulle Airport rail link project relaunched
FRANCE: A dedicated airport rail link between Paris Est and Charles-de-Gaulle Airport could begin operating in 2023 under a €1·7bn-€1·9bn project announced by Transport Minister Frédéric Cuvillier on January 23. Speaking at an event in the airport's Terminal 3 organised by Aéroports de Paris, the minister said the project would ...
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NewsHong Kong rolling stock contracts awarded
CHINA: Hong Kong’s MTR Corp has awarded two contracts for 148 new metro cars and the modification of 348 existing cars for the East West Corridor section of the Shatin – Central Link. The contracts, announced on January 24, are the final two orders for rolling stock for the East ...
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NewsClaude Solard
Claude Solard has been appointed Deputy Director General, Equipment, at SNCF and has also joined the Executive Committee.
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NewsNeil Walker
Neil Walker has joined MTR Corp from Bombardier Transportation as European Business Development Executive; he reports to CEO, European Business, Jeremy Long.
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NewsPassenger trains to return to Chartres - Voves route
FRANCE: RFF President Jacques Rapoport joined François Bonneau, President of the Centre region, on January 21 to lay the first stone for a new control centre at Voves station, marking the start of work on a €71·7m project to reopen the 25 km Chartres - Voves route to passenger traffic. ...
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NewsFirst Korean PowerHaul locomotive on test
SOUTH KOREA: National operator Korail has begun testing the first of 25 GE Transportation PowerHaul locomotives which are being built in South Korea. Designated Class 7600, Korail ordered the locomotives in 2011 from a partnership of Hyundai Rotem and GE Transportation. They are intended for use on passenger and freight ...
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NewsBattery EMU ready to start testing
JAPAN: East Japan Railway's Series EV-E301 prototype 1·5 kV DC/battery electric multiple-unit was delivered to the Karasuyama Line on January 22, ready for the start of test running. Branded 'Accum', the two-car unit is derived from the experimental 'Smart Denchi-kun' battery railcar which was tested on the same line in ...
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NewsNetwork Rail orders eight Robel Mobile Maintenance Systems
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail has confirmed an order worth around €50m for eight Robel self-propelled Mobile Maintenance System 69.70/4 trainsets. Developed from a concept devised by Austrian Federal Railways and also supplied to Norway, Germany and the Netherlands, the MMS is designed to provide a safe and well-lit environment ...
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NewsCrenshaw/LAX line breaks ground
USA: A groundbreaking ceremony for the Crenshaw/LAX light rail line was held in Los Angeles on January 21 at Crenshaw station on the Expo Line. The 13·7 km north–south line will link the existing Expo and Green lines, serving the Crenshaw Corridor, Inglewood, Westchester and the area around Los ...