All Railway Gazette International articles in June 2015
All articles published this month.
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NewsDanish local train operator orders Alstom DMUs
DENMARK: North Jylland local train operator Nordjyske Jernbane has awarded Alstom a €45m contract to supply 13 Coradia Lint regional diesel multiple-units to support an expansion of services from autumn 2017. The 140 km/h two-car DMUs will have 125 seats and space for up to 135 standing passengers. ‘With this ...
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NewsTransport projects selected for €13·1bn of European co-funding
EUROPE: ‘Flagship initiatives’ including the Rail Baltica standard gauge line, the Brenner base tunnel and the Fehmarn Belt fixed link are amongst the 276 transport projects which the European Commission has selected to receive €13·1bn of Connecting Europe Facility funding under the September 2014 call for proposals. Other projects selected ...
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NewsVictoria begins High Capacity Metro Train procurement
AUSTRALIA: The government of Victoria has invited expressions of interested by August 14 in the High Capacity Metro Train PPP contract to finance, design, supply and maintain a fleet of 37 suburban electric multiple-units for Melbourne’s Cranbourne and Pakenham lines. At 160 m, HCMT would be longer than existing trainsets, ...
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NewsPoland’s longest tram delivered to Kraków
POLAND: Pesa delivered the first of 36 Krakowiak trams to Podgórze depot in Kraków on June 28. The tram is to undergo testing on the city’s network before entering service on routes 4 and 50, the busiest in the city. ‘The Krakowiak is a completely new vehicle, designed with ...
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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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NewsFour bidders shortlisted for London Overground operating concession
UK: Four bidders have been shortlisted for the next contract to operate London Overground services, Transport for London announced on June 29. The shortlisted bidders are: Arriva Rail London Ltd (Deutsche Bahn);LoKeGo Ltd (51:49 joint venture of Keolis (UK) Ltd and Go-Ahead Holding Ltd);Metroline Rail Ltd (owned by Singapore-based transport ...
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NewsChennai metro opens
INDIA: The Chennai metro opened for passenger services on June 29, with the first train being flagged off by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The first 10 km section of Line 2 runs north on an elevated alignment from Alandur to Koyambedu with five intermediate stations. ...
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NewsKnorr-Bremse to transfer production from München
GERMANY: On June 29 Knorr-Bremse announced plans to move 184 permanent and 118 fixed-term production and assembly jobs at its Rail Vehicle Systems division from München to sites in Berlin, Budapest, Suzhou and Nankou by mid-2017. The München site will in future focus on development, project management and sales, ...
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NewsPorterbrook unveils Pacer DMU life-extension demonstrator
UK: Porterbrook Leasing has unveiled a Class 144 diesel multiple-unit which has been refurbished to demonstrate how the interior of ex-British Rail Pacer vehicles could be upgraded to comply with modern accessibly standards and provide a more welcoming passenger environment. The 144e Evolution would offer a transformed passenger experience ‘at ...
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NewsLTE metro trial completed
FRANCE: Huawei and Alstom announced on June 29 that they had completed a live pilot test of 4G LTE multi-service broadband radio networking technology for metros. Huawei describes this as the first of its kind and says that it ‘marks a major step forward in the LTE commercialisation of communication-based ...
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NewsDelhi metro orders more cars
INDIA: Delhi Metro Rail Corp has awarded a Rs15bn contract for Bombardier Transportation to supply 162 metro cars. The contract award was announced on June 29. The cars are to be manufactured at Bombardier’s Savli and Vadodara plants, as part of the government’s ‘Make in India’ programme to promote ...
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NewsFlexible mobile phone tickets on test
UK: Mobile phone tickets valid on services operated by multiple train operators are being piloted in two separate areas covering 86 stations in northern England. Previous m-Ticket products were limited to specific services, but those on trial are available for travel on any CrossCountry, First TransPennine Express, Northern, Virgin ...
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NewsRoad-rail crane trucks simplify maintenance planning
UK: Network Rail has commissioned a fleet of 20 all-wheel drive FUSO Canter trucks adapted for road road-rail use with the addition of hydraulically lowered and raised rail wheels. The infrastructure manager previously relied on a combination of standard road vehicles and hired-in rail vehicles. The Canters can perform both ...
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NewsSENSR acquired by Georgetown Rail Equipment Co
USA: Georgetown Rail Equipment Company has acquired structural monitoring equipment manufacturer SENSR from Reference LLC. ‘We are very excited to be able to expand our product offerings to the rail industry and beyond by acquiring a very key product that is showing itself to be important and valuable to 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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NewsČD and Škoda unveil InterPanter EMU
CZECH REPUBLIC: Rolling stock manufacturer Škoda Transportation and national operator ČD unveiled the first of 14 long-distance EMUs at the Velim test circuit on June 25. ČD had ordered the fleet in August 2014 at a cost of KC2·6bn. Branded ‘InterPanter’ following a public competition organised by ČD and Škoda ...
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NewsPakistan Railways ‘out of intensive care’
PAKISTAN: Minister of Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has said Pakistan Railways is now ‘out of intensive care’. The federal budget for 2015-16 has allocated Rs41bn for PR’s non-staff costs, a business class Karachi – Islamabad passenger service has been launched and freight services to Iran restarted. The 2015-16 budget ...
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NewsElectrification on hold as Network Rail spending is ‘reset’
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail’s agreed works programme for Control Period 5 from 2014 to 2019 is to be reviewed and ‘reset’, Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin told the House of Commons on June 25, with the planned electrification of the Midland Main Line and trans-Pennine routes to ...
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NewsMÁV-Start orders more Flirts
HUNGARY: National passenger operator MÁV-Start has selected Stadler Bussnang as preferred bidder to supply 21 electric multiple-units for use on Budapest suburban services. The contract is expected to be signed in July, with funding from EU sources. Tenders were called in March, and MÁV-Start said Stadler had submitted the most ...
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NewsSNCF announces eight-year transformation of Paris-Nord
FRANCE: Gares et Connexions, the station management subsidiary of national railway holding group SNCF, is to refurbish and expand Paris-Nord station in a phased programme lasting until 2023. The plans were announced by SNCF President Guillaume Pepy and Anne Hildago, Mayor of Paris, on June 24. At the heart of ...