Latest news – Page 1383
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First Albatros trainset on test at Velim
NETHERLANDS: The first of 19 V250 trainsets being built by AnsaldoBreda for NS Hispeed and SNCB is undergoing pre-delivery trials at the Velim test track in the Czech Republic. Dispatched from Pistoia on March 26, the Pininfarina-designed 250 km/h trainset is now expected to be delivered to the Netherlands ...
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Praha opens metro extension
CZECH REPUBLIC: Praha transport authority DPHMP was due to inaugurate a 4·6 km underground extension of metro Line C from Ládví eastwards to the northern suburb of Letnany on May 9. The extension serves stations at Strízkov, Prosek and Letnany, where a bus interchange and park and ride facility ...
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Urban rail news in brief - May 2008
FGV has ordered a further 14 bi-directional 100% low-floor Flexity Outlook trams which Bombardier will deliver to Valencia and Alacant in 2009-10. On April 10 preferred bidder Serco announced that it had signed a contract with the Roads & Transport Authority covering the operation and maintenance of the Dubai Metro ...
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RZD invites bids for wagon works
RUSSIA: State railway RZD called for expressions of interest in the privatisation of 22 wagon repair and maintenance depots on May 5. RZD expects to raise at least 2·6bn roubles from the sale, which is intended to introduce competition to the fright rolling stock maintenance sector. Between them the ...
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NewsCheaper trains through supplier-led standardisation
Rolling stock engineers gathered in Paris on April 2 to mark the conclusion of a European Commission-backed project to cut life-cycle costs through the industry-led standardisation of subsystem interfaces
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Inland Railway study
AUSTRALIA: The federal government has commissioned an economic feasibility study to develop an optimum alignment for an inland railway between Melbourne and Brisbane. Transport & Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese announced on March 28 that A$15m has been allocated for the study, which ARTC is to complete by August 2009. At ...
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Tehran places €360m order
IRAN: Tehran Urban & Suburban Railway Co signed a €360m contract with China Northern for 455 metro cars and 160 double-deck coaches on March 26. CNR has delivered 1 408 coaches and 432 metro cars to customers outside China since 2001, and described the latest contract as its largest-ever export ...
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Melbourne transport vision
AUSTRALIA: The Victorian government has released a report by Sir Rod Eddington setting out an A$18bn plan to tackle Melbourne's rapidly increasing transport gridlock. Roads are increasingly congested, while the demand for public transport has caught the government and private operators by surprise, with peak hour trains and trams severely ...
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Sydney extensions edge forward
AUSTRALIA: Metro Transport Sydney has submitted proposals for two extensions at either end of Sydney's sole light rail line for consideration by the New South Wales government. The most ambitious of the two would see a 4·1 km route created to link the present terminus at Central Station with Circular ...
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NewsOntario investment plan
CANADA: The province of Ontario pledged financial support for a number of urban transit and suburban rail projects in the 2008 budget presented on March 25. Of the C$1bn in funding for municipal infrastructure allocated in the budget, C$497m is to be spent on public transport projects in the Greater ...
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Upgrade package approved
AZERBAIJAN: The World Bank has approved a US$450m financing package to support the modernisation of the national rail network, with particular focus on the 550 km east-west corridor linking Baku with the Georgian capital Tbilisi (RG 1.08 p50). The Bank said on March 27 that the Railway Trade & ...
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NewsDriverless operations start in Nürnberg
GERMANY: Nürnberg U-Bahn operator VAG quietly slipped its first driverless trains into passenger service on Line U3 on May 4. Authority to run Germany's first automated U-Bahn services with fare-paying passengers had been granted on April 30, and VAG lost no time in taking advantage of the ruling. Linking Maxfeld ...
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New Zealand confirms rail buy-back
NEW ZEALAND: The government is to buy Toll New Zealand's rail and ferry business, Prime Minister Helen Clark and Finance Minister Michael Cullen confirmed on May 5. The price had been a sticking point in negotiations (RG 4.08 p22), but has been agreed at NZ$665m to be settled by June ...
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NewsMore West Coast Pendolinos
UK: Alstom has been given notice to proceed with the production of 106 Class 390 Pendolino vehicles worth €318m for the West Coast Main Line, the Department for Transport announced on May 6. A firm contract including maintenance and worth a total of €1·8bn will be finalised in August. The ...
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Wi-fi at 320 km/h
FRANCE: SNCF is investing in satellite-based on-train internet access to give its TGVs a competitive edge in the liberalised passenger market after 2010. Jean-Paul Masse reports
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Tackling the barriers to progress
Competitors are making their presence felt in the Italian market as the national railway prepares to step up the range and quality of its freight and passenger services. Chief Executive of FS Holding SpA Mauro Moretti talks to Nick Kingsley and Murray Hughes
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NewsDouble track makes progress
PAKISTAN: This month trains are expected to begin using a second track laid on the Kachakhuh - Chichawatni section of Pakistan Railway's Karachi - Lahore main line. The 1 676 mm gauge route is being doubled throughout and upgraded for 140 km/h operation under a project due to be completed ...
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'Our most critical year'
Francesco Grotti of Rail Traction Company tells Nick Kingsley that Italy's first open access operator is optimistic about the future despite uncertainty over train control technology, crew deployment and locomotive procurement
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Industry News in Brief
The recent establishment of companies in South Africa and Botswana marks a major expansion for the Italian signalling and technology group Ansaldo STS. Ansaldo STS Southern Africa has been created as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ansaldo STS Australia, with its principal office in Gaborone, Botswana. The Ansaldo STS-InfraDEV South Africa ...
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NewsBrake business grows
KNORR-BREMSE: The Rail Vehicle Systems division contributed €1·3bn to Knorr-Bremse's sales in 2007, or approximately 40% of the consolidated total of €3·3bn. Orders across the rail and road divisions were up 6·4%, and net income of €197·8m was 6·6% up from 2006. The European rail market has showed a 'distinct ...