Main line rail industry news – Page 1291
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Rennes opens VAL mini-metro
FREE rides were offered on the 8·5 km VAL mini-metro in Rennes from March 8 to 17, although access was restricted on March 15 for the formal opening by Minister of Justice Marylise Lebranchu and Mayor Edmond Hervé.Services using a fleet of 16 rubber-tyred driverless VAL 208 cars are operated ...
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Toledo branch
SPANISH high speed construction authority GIF has called tenders for the design of civil works for a 25·7 km branch off the Madrid - Sevilla route to Toledo. Two contracts totalling €4m will be let, the first comprising the 10·5 km from a flying junction with the existing line at ...
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Spoornet wins ZR concession
SOUTH AFRICAN rail operator Spoornet has been awarded the 25-year concession to manage and operate Zambia Railways. Spoornet International was one of four prequalified bidders shortlisted for the concession, in a consortium with Canarail and New Limpopo Bridge Investments (RG 2.02 p62). The official date for the handover has been ...
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DM&E buys I&M Rail Link
A MONTH after receiving federal approval to expand its operations into the lucrative coal fields of Wyoming (RG 3.02 p113), the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad announced on February 21 that it had agreed to purchase I&M Rail Link, more than doubling the size of its network.I&MRL was spun off ...
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Class 377 order
GOVIA announced on March 11 that it had ordered 460 more Electrostar EMU cars from Bombardier Transportation for its South Central franchise. The deal follows a renegotiated contract for 240 similar vehicles transferred from Connex with the South Central franchise last August (RG 10.01 p654), lifting the total investment to ...
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GTW orders keep flowing
THE FIRST of 17 articulated GTW2/8 electric railcars being built for Swiss Federal Railways was rolled out at the Bussnang works of Stadler AG on March 1 (below). An initial batch of 11 is due to enter service this summer on SBB’s Seetal line between Luzern and Lenzburg, and the ...
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Border accord
CEREMONIES were held at the Dresden Friedrichstadt yard on February 14 to mark the start of cross-border freight working between Germany and the Czech Republic. Czech Deputy Transport Minister Pavel Stoulil and Sachsen Land President Stanislaw Tillich greeted the first rolling motorway service which arrived from Lovosice behind a CD ...
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Korea launches domestically-built high speed train
THIS MONTH is due to see the start of test running with a domestically-built high speed train in South Korea. The Ministry of Construction & Transport announced on March 13 that South Korea had become the fourth nation in the world to build a trainset capable of running at over ...
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ZS to order tilting trains
Slovak rail operator Zeleznica Spolocnost has decided to order a fleet of tilting trains for the Bratislava - Púchov - Kosice corridor. Director-General Andrej Egyed confirmed at the end of February that ZS had reached agreement with Czech Railways and Alstom Ferroviaria to piggyback onto CD’s order for seven Class ...
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Madrid plans MetroNorte
WITH ELECTIONS DUE next year, the Madrid regional government has begun studies that could determine the next phase of the city’s metro expansion programme. The administration led by Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón is planning to replicate the MetroSur ring line to the north of the capital, using private finance to build a ...
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Saudi BOT bid launched
JEDDAH-based construction company LAM has lodged the first expression of interest for BOT concessions to build three new railways in Saudi Arabia, which are costed at around 10bn riyals in total. In February LAM signed a memorandum of understanding with China Civil Engineering Construction Corp to provide technical assistance. According ...
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Report backs Sydney metro
THREE heavy metro routes, two suburban lines and up to 80 new stations are recommended in a plan for the Sydney area unveiled on February 25. Compiled last year for Transport Minister Carl Scully by former SRA administrator Ron Christie, the Long Term Strategic Plan for Rail says investment of ...
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Zug LRV order
WITH Swiss Federal Railways taking delivery of its first light rail car for the Seetalbahn (p165), similar vehicles may be in prospect for the light rail network planned for the town of Zug. SBB was designated as the operator last year, and it plans to call tenders shortly for 12 ...
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CPTM keeps growing
S??O PAULO state governor Geraldo Alckmin and Transport Secretary Jurandir Fernandes (below) joined CPTM President Oliver Salles de Lima and other officials on March 8 for a test run on metro Line 5 from Capão Redondo to Vila das Belezas. The 9·6 km route from Capão Redondo to Largo Treze ...
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Tehran Line 4
DURING a visit by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to Austria last month, Siemens secured a letter of intent worth around €1bn for work on Line 4 of the Tehran metro.Line 4 will run on an east-west alignment, providing interchange with both the north-south Line 1 and with Line 2, which ...
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Supertram shortlist
WEST YORKSHIRE Passenger Transport Executive Metro announced on March 14 that it had shortlisted four consortia to build the 28 km Leeds Supertram network (RG 5.01 p285). Over 100 firms expressed interest in the £500m project last year, leading to an initial prequalification round. Metro hopes to select two groups ...
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Chapter of accidents
FEBRUARY saw four serious accidents that killed a total of 405 people in Africa and Europe, with Egypt’s worst rail disaster capturing the headlines. Transport Minister Ibrahim al-Demeri and ENR Chairman Ahmed el-Sherif both resigned after fire gutted seven out of 16 coaches of a stopping train that left Cairo ...
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Regionalisation gathers pace
On March 13 SNCF President Louis Gallois initialled an agreement with the Rh
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Brazil’s big three
A NEW HOLDING company controlling the Ferroban, Ferronorte and Novoeste railways in Brazil was unveiled on March 4, after the owners of the former Fepasa São Paulo state network reached agreement on dividing Ferroban following two years of negotiations. Headed by Nelson Bastos, Brasil Ferrovias is controlled by the Ferronorte ...
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No tools left in Amtrak’s box
TESTIFYING to the Congress House Appropriations Committee in a hearing about the future of Amtrak, President & Chief Executive Officer George Warrington said ’we’ve run out of tools in the toolbox to keep the service together’. Shortly afterwards, on March 7, he resigned (p176).Warrington joined Amtrak in the mid-1990s to ...