Latest news – Page 1389
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NewsCullen reveals buy-back bid
NEW ZEALAND: It looks as if private ownership of the country's railways may be drawing to a close, 15 years after Tranz Rail was sold outright to an international consortium led by Wisconsin Central, Fay Richwhite and Berkshire Partners. The railway has had a rocky ride. WC's charismatic and expansionist ...
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InterCity fleet renewal poised to start
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn will call tenders later this year for 100 to 130 trainsets to replace its fleet of loco-hauled EuroCity and InterCity trains. Likely to be fixed-formation eight-car sets, they will be built to match the standards of DB's ICE fleet. In the meantime DB is evaluating offers for ...
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San Diego Sprinter opens at last
USA: Packed trains marked the first day of revenue service on the $486m 35 km Sprinter line which connects Oceanside with Escondido in California's San Diego County. Two earlier start dates had been missed because of problems with signals and level crossings. The California Public Utilities Commission issued a letter ...
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Leasing firm enters wagon market
ANGEL TRAINS: Loco and passenger rolling stock leasing company Angel Trains has established a wagon leasing business offering a number of specific vehicle types to European operators. Its first wagon lease was signed with German freight forwarder TX Logistik, which leases seven Class 185 locos from Angel Trains. Slovakian rolling ...
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First Great Western admits franchise breach
UK: Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly announced on February 26 that the government was taking action to deal with 'unacceptably high' levels of train cancellations at First Great Western, issuing the operator with a Remedial Plan Notice. Cancellations during the second half of 2007 exceeded the threshhold marking a breach of ...
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Freight ring to relieve metro
RUSSIA: Meeting on March 14, the board of Russian Railways formally adopted a master plan for converting the circular freight railway that runs round the city for use by local passenger trains. The 54 km line is to be electrified throughout, and 30 new stations built by 2011. Under an ...
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Genève to get S-Bahn
SWITZERLAND: Transferis has been established as a joint venture of SBB and SNCF to manage the launch of intensive cross-border suburban services for the Genève region from 2013. SNCF CEO Guillaume Pepy joined Paul Blumenthal, Head of Passenger Traffic at Swiss Federal Railways, at a ceremony to mark the inauguration ...
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'Reduce the flexibility of ERTMS'
Speaking at Terrapinn's EuroRail 2008 event in Milano on February 27, Swiss Federal Railways' Head of Train Protection Dr Thomas Staffelbach called for Europe's railways to recognise that less flexibility in the design of ERTMS would be for their own benefit
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NewsLänsimetro contribution
FINLAND: The cabinet voted on March 11 to provide €200m towards the total €713m cost of extending the metro westwards into the neighbouring city of Espoo. In the wake of the decision, planning tenders are expected to be received this month, with construction likely to start in 2009 and the ...
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Freight support boost
AUSTRALIA: Following the announcement that Pacific National was looking to discontinue many rural freight services (RG 2.08 p76), the state of Victoria has taken steps to safeguard rail freight for the next two years. On February 26 Premier John Brumby announced an A$20m Rail Freight Support Package, designed to ensure ...
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Logistics venture formed
RUSSIA: Regular intermodal services are to be introduced to link Moscow with various German cities, following the formal launch of the Trans-Eurasia Logistics joint venture on March 6. A memorandum of understanding had been signed in July 2007, and the project has now been approved by the competition authorities. To ...
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Tram-train trials
UK: Five tram-trains are to be procured for trials in northern England, the Department for Transport confirmed on March 18. The two-year test starting in 2010 will 'establish whether tram-trains similar to those operating successfully in Europe are suitable for Britain's railway network.' Tram-trains will replace DMUs on the 60 ...
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High speed co-operation
EUROPE: Bombardier Transportation and Finmeccanica's rail subsidiary AnsaldoBreda announced on April 1 that they had signed an agreement to jointly develop, bid and manufacture a high speed train capable of travelling at more than 300 km/h which will eliminate 'shortcomings of existing concepts.' Bombardier said the train would offer 'improved ...
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Mitsui restructures Dispolok
MITSUI: The locomotive leasing activities of Mitsui Rail Capital Europe and the Displok business which the Japanese group acquired from Siemens in 2006 will be integrated with effect from April 1. Mitsui's shares in Dispolok will be transferred to MRCE, which was established as a European loco leasing subsidiary in ...
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NewsPointers April 2008
This month is expected to see the start of operations across the Friendship Bridge linking Thailand and Laos. A ceremony was held on February 20 to mark completion of the 3·5 km link between the SRT railhead at Nong Khai and a Laotian terminal near Vientiane. Faced with losses of ...
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Kaohsiung Red Line launched
TAIWAN: Public services began running on the island's second metro network on March 9, following the formal opening of Kaohsiung's 28 km Red Line the preceding day. Heading the list of VIPs riding the inaugural train were Premier Chang Chen-Hsiung and Mayor Chen Chu. Outgoing President Chen Shui-Bien had visited ...
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Software aids timetable architects
CAPACITY: While planning software and simulation tools continue to facilitate the train pathing and dispatching process, delegates at the IT08.rail conference were told that integration and preparation are essential for a successful timetable. Nick Kingsley reports from Zürich.
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NewsBorder bridges rebuilt
EUROPE: Polish Transport Minister Czezary Grabarczyk and his German counterpart Wolfgang Tiefensee signed a treaty on February 26 that provides for repair or replacement of 13 bridges over the Oder and Neisse rivers forming the border between the two countries. The replacement bridge over the ...