Latest news – Page 1236
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NewsFirstGroup declines Greater Western franchise extension
UK: The Greater Western franchise to operate inter-city passenger trains between London, Bristol, South Wales and the West of England, plus suburban and regional services, is likely to be put out to tender next year, following confirmation that incumbent operator FirstGroup has decided not to take up its option for ...
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NewsPöyry buys Swiss engineering consultancy
SWITZERLAND: Pöyry has paid an undisclosed price to acquire pkag Paul Keller Ingenieure AG, a Swiss firm providing electrical, telecoms and other specialist engineering consultancy services for railways, metros, tunnels and complex transport systems. Founded in 1973, pkag is based at Dübendorf near Zürich. It has 42 specialist staff, and ...
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NewsWagons-Lits under the hammer
FRANCE: Having disposed of its remaining train catering interests to Newrest last year, the French Accor hotels group has now announced plans to dispose of the historic assets that it acquired with the takeover of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. The company has called in Christies to auction ...
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NewsBombardier launches Traxx electro-diesel
GERMANY: Bombardier Transportation unveiled the latest addition to its Traxx modular locomotive family at the Transport Logistic trade fair in München on May 10. Known as the 'Last Mile Diesel', it is a Traxx AC electric locomotive with a supplementary diesel engine. The design is intended to avoid the need ...
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NewsSBB takes up Flirt option
SWITZERLAND: SBB has exercised an option with Stadler Bussnang for a further 13 Flirt electric multiple-units to be delivered in 2012-13. The SFr128m order announced on May 9 is being partly funded by the cantons of Bern, Luzern and Solothurn. Seven of the 15 kV AC units will be used ...
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NewsLaHood confirms recipients for Florida’s rejected high speed grants
USA: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced further high-speed rail grants totalling US$2bn on May 9, reallocating the funding previously allocated for the Orlando – Tampa project in Florida which was rejected by the state’s governor. According to DoT, 24 states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak submitted nearly 100 applications ...
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NewsDB and Siemens sign ICx contract
GERMANY: A multi-billion euro contract for the supply of up to 300 high-speed trains was signed by DB Chief Executive Dr Rüdiger Grübe and Siemens AG CEO Peter Löscher in a ceremony on May 9. The event took place at DB’s Potsdam training centre – the former Kaiserbahnhof – and ...
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NewsAlger’s first tram line enters service
ALGERIA: Transport Minister Amar Tou and the President of Entreprise du Métro d’Alger, Aomar Hadbi, launched revenue services on a 7·2 km section of the city’s first tram route between Bab Ezzouar and Bordj El Kiffan on May 8. The tram line is being built as a turnkey project ...
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NewsRio Tinto places ECP braking order
AUSTRALIA: Wabtec is to supply Rio Tinto with electronically controlled pneumatic braking equipment for an initial six heavy haul locomotives and 3 600 iron ore wagons under a US$21m contract announced on May 9. The equipment is to be delivered in 2011-12 for retrofitting to wagons which currently have Wabtec's ...
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NewsUS firm to develop high axleload wagons for Indian Railways
INDIA: Indian Railways' Research Designs & Standards Organisation has awarded American Railcar Industries Inc a US$9·6m contract to design four types of wagon offering higher axleloads than existing IR designs, and produce six prototype vehicles in the USA. The resulting designs may be used by the Amtek Railcar Industries 50:50 ...
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NewsRail Industry Training & Recruitment in Brief
The Deputy Governor of Jilin province Yang Junliang told visitors to the Sifer trade show in Lille on April 5 that 110000 engineers would graduate from 130 specialist schools, colleges and higher education institutions this year to support development of the Rail Transit Development Zone in ...
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NewsVariety and mentoring
GERMANY: Software and control equipment specialist Berner & Mattner has launched an extended trainee programme for recent graduates in an engineering field. The traineeship is intended to help younger workers gain experience in a wide variety of engineering and project management skills in a short space of time. The two-year ...
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News
Pompa Babbar
Pompa Babbar has been named Financial Commissioner of Indian Railways, following the retirement of Samat Jha. Babbar was previously General Manager of Integral Coach Factory in Chennai and has also held several senior positions at the Western, Central and Northern railways.
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NewsGoldlinQ selected to build Gold Coast light rail
AUSTRALIA: Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Transport Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on May 6 that the GoldlinQ consortium had been selected to build and operate the A$1bn Gold Coast rapid transit light rail line linking University Hospital to Broadbeach. The GoldlinQ consortium includes KDR Gold Coast Pty Ltd, a joint ...
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NewsEuropean Commission adopts TAP TSI timetable and fare standards
EUROPE: On May 5 the European Commission formally adopted the Telematics Applications for Passenger Services Technical Specifications for Interoperability, designed to ensure key timetable and ticketing information can be exchanged between EU rail companies and ticket vendors (RG 1.11 p61). TAP TSI requires the provision of computerised fare and timetable ...
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NewsEDI Rail-Bombardier selected for train maintenance contract
AUSTRALIA: The government of Western Australia has named EDI Rail-Bombardier Transportation (Maintenance) Pty Ltd as preferred bidder for a contract to maintain and clean Public Transport Authority's entire fleet of 1 067 mm gauge diesel and electric multiple-units. The contract covers 239 units and will replace the current arrangement whereby ...
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NewsCommission sets driver licensing deadline
EUROPE: Eight EU member states face a deadline of May 14 to transpose fully the directive on driver certification into national law. The eight states that have either failed to implement or have only partially implemented Directive 2007/59 are Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and ...
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News1 200 tonne bridge launched at 7 mm a second
UK: A steel bridge 71 m long and weighing 1 200 tonnes was positioned across Borough High Street in central London on April 29-May 1. It forms part of a 507 m viaduct being built to remove a major rail bottleneck at the west end of London Bridge station. Network ...
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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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NewsKøbenhavn metro to be upgraded
DENMARK: København metro authority Metroselskabet has signed a framework agreement with Ansaldo STS to upgrade equipment supplied when the city’s metro network was built.The €33m upgrade forms part of Metroselskabet’s Capital Asset Replacement Programme to ensure that levels of service availability are maintained. The work involves replacement of ageing and ...