Main line rail industry news – Page 293
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NewsAI tools help Infrabel to maintain social distancing
BELGIUM: Infrastructure manager Infrabel is to deploy a raft of artificial intelligence tools to support its efforts in maintaining social distancing across its business as the country’s coronavirus lockdown is gradually eased. The company says that its ongoing research into the use of AI means it ...
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NewsSmartron locomotives ordered for passenger services
BULGARIA: National operator BDZ has signed a contract for Siemens Mobility to supply 10 Smartron electric locomotives between February and May 2021 for use on passenger services. Siemens’ local subsidiary Siemens Tron was sole bidder for the contract, although Bombardier Transportation, Stadler Rail and the Excelor-EL consortium ...
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NewsUzbekistan Railways orders electric locomotives
UZBEKISTAN: National railway UTY has awarded Transmashholding’s Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant a contract to supply five of the latest version of its 3ES5K Yermak 25 kV 50 Hz electric freight locomotives. Deliveries are scheduled to be completed this year. The NEVZ factory has produced more than 1 ...
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NewsRobel establishes subsidiary to serve the Chinese rail maintenance market
CHINA: Robel Group has established Robel Railway Engineering Technology (Shanghai) Co Ltd to serve the Chinese market. ‘For many years, China has seen a huge expansion of its railway infrastructure’, said Robel Managing Director Wolfgang R Fally. ‘This infrastructure will have to be maintained. We regard it ...
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NewsSouth Coast Rail commuter project infrastructure contract awarded
USA: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Fiscal & Management Control Board has approved the first major construction contract for Phase 1 of the South Coast Rail project to provide commuter services into Boston from the southeast. The long-planned $1·047bn project would extend Boston’s Middleborough ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Estonia’s Operail has taken delivery of 75 open-topped bulk containers as part of a plan to double multimodal freight volumes to more than 200 000 tonnes this year. ‘Multimodal transport increased from 20 000 tonnes to 32 000 tonnes in the first four months’, said Urmas Peterson, ...
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NewsRZD Logistics tests northern route for transit of sanctioned goods
INTERNATIONAL: RZD Logistics has operated a trial service carrying EU goods subject to Russian sanctions in transit from Germany and Estonia to China via the northern route through the Zabaikalsk border crossing. This follows a trial during March on the southern route via Kazakhstan, which carried frozen ...
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NewsTeleste to equip Luxembourg Coradias with passenger information systems
LUXEMBOURG: Teleste is to supply onboard public address, passenger information and CCTV equipment for 34 high-capacity double-deck electric multiple-units which national railway CFL has ordered from Alstom. Teleste said its technology would support the easy delivery and management of real-time travel data on moving trains, with ‘seamlessly ...
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NewsMedical PPE supplies from China to Italy by train
INTERNATIONAL: DB Schenker is organising the delivery of a total of 186 containers with more than 1 300 tonnes of medical protective equipment from China to hospitals in the Lombardia region of Italy. The products are collected from the factories and taken by road to the container ...
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NewsWellington regional train study funded
NEW ZEALAND: Greater Wellington and Horizons regional councils have been awarded funding from the NZ Transport Agency to develop the final business case for a fleet of hybrid multiple-units to replace ageing loco-hauled stock used on two regional commuter routes. Citing the regions’ growing population, the councils ...
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NewsStadler CEO steps down over strategic differences
STADLER: Stadler Group CEO Dr Thomas Ahlburg has left by mutual agreement with the board, owing to ‘different views’ regarding strategic and organisational development, the company announced on May 21. Executive Chairman Peter Spuhler has returned to his previous role of Group CEO on an interim basis ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
VTG AG has completed a €2·9bn refinancing of VTG Group’s capital structure, including committed credit lines to fund the continuing investment plans. ‘The BBB issuer credit rating from S&P, the extension of funding tenor and the reduction of funding costs in the depths of the Covid-19 crisis ...
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NewsTracklaying starts on southern Xinjiang rail link
CHINA: Tracklaying has started on the Ruoqiang – Hotan railway across the southern part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. This will complete a planned railway loop circling the Takliman Desert.
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NewsKiwiRail orders lifting jacks
NEW ZEALAND: KiwiRail has ordered eight 30-tonne lifting jacks from Mechan for installation at its Wellington and Dunedin depots. Mechan worked with KiwiRail to customise one of its standard designs. The companies have a longstanding relationship, Mechan having supplied an initial set of jacks to Wellington in ...
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NewsLaunch customer for Zagro’s powerful E-MAXI XXL battery shunting vehicle
SHUNTER: Zagro has extended its range of battery-powered road-rail shunting vehicles with the E-MAXI XXL, the largest in the series. The launch follows the unveiling of a prototype at InnoTrans 2018, and subsequent development to meet specific customer requirements. The first three are being supplied to India. ...
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NewsBaden-Württemberg seeks ‘interim arrangement’ with Go-Ahead
GERMANY: The Transport Ministry in the Land of Baden-Württemberg has agreed with UK-based private operator Go-Ahead that assistance with running services on the 180 km Frankenbahn linking Stuttgart with Würzburg via Heilbronn should be sought temporarily from another company. Two diagrams on this route were allocated to ...
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NewsIndian Railways’ freight ‘revolution’ as first Alstom electric locomotive enters service
INDIA: The first of 800 Alstom Prima T8 electric locomotives ordered by Indian Railways has entered commercial service following certification. ‘Powerful and capable of high speed, the locomotive is a significant addition to the Indian Railways’, said Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal when WAG12 loco 60027 hauled ...
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NewsRoad trailers carried from Germany to Lithuania by rail
EUROPE: What the partners say was the first train to carry semi-trailers by rail in the Baltic States has been operated, transporting 22 from the Kaldenkirchen Intermodal Terminal near Germany’s border with the Netherlands to Sestokai on the 1 435 mm gauge line in southwest Lithuania ...
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NewsMore Tren Maya construction contracts awarded
MEXICO: On May 15, the national tourism fund Fonatur awarded a consortium of Construcciones Urales, GAMI Ingeniería e Instalaciones and AZVI the third construction contract for the planned Tren Maya network, covering the 172 km from Calkiní to Izamal in Tabasco, with a bid of 10·2bn pesos. Work is expected ...
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NewsJoint call to facilitate cross-border rail freight
INTERNATIONAL: The World Customs Organization, the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail and the Organisation for Co-operation Between Railways have jointly called for better co-ordination between customs administrations, transport authorities and the rail sector to facilitate the operation of cross-border supply chains and help mitigate ...