Main line rail industry news – Page 303
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NewsTOAZ orders high-capacity fertiliser wagons
RUSSIA: Chemical producer Togliattiazot has ordered 200 mineral fertiliser hopper wagons from United Wagon Co, with deliveries from the Tikhvin plant anticipated by the end of May. UWC said this was the customer’s first order for wagons built to the latest generation of designs. The Type 19-9549-03 ...
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NewsHakone Tozan replaces funicular trainsets
JAPAN: Hakone Tozan Railway launched its fifth generation of rolling stock for its 1·2 km funicular line into revenue service on March 20, having unveiled the two new trains on March 18.
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NewsUK train operators offered management contracts or nationalisation
UK: The Department for Transport has given the franchised passenger train operators it is responsible for the opportunity to move to temporary management contracts. On March 23 DfT said it would temporarily suspend existing franchise agreements and transfer all revenue and cost risk to the government for ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
CFL Cargo Deutschland has begun purchasing certified green electricity supplied by Stadtwerke Tübingen GmbH from wind and hydro sources for the 3 250 block trains it operates in Germany each year. To minimise health risks associated with the coronavirus, Canadian Pacific Railway’s annual ...
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NewsMBTA to roll out Violet Edge across commuter rail fleet
tn_us-MBTA_commuter_train.jpg USA: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is to deploy Wi-Tronix’s Violet Edge technology across the fleet of diesel locomotives used on Boston commuter rail services. The agreement builds on projects undertaken with the supplier on some of the fleet since 2015. The internet of things platform will ...
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NewsDr Josef Theurer
AUSTRIA: Dr Josef Theurer, founder and long-standing CEO of track maintenance machine manufacturer Plasser & Theurer, died on March 19 at the age of 91. Dr Theurer established Plasser & Theurer with Franz Plasser in 1953 and built up the business over the following six decades, to ...
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NewsBLS orders EMUs
SWITZERLAND: BLS has placed a firm order for a further six Stadler Flirt electric multiple-units. The order has been placed using an option on a contract for an initial 52 six-car Flirt EMUs which was signed by BLS and Stadler in January 2018. Stadler had been named ...
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NewsWuhan rail service launched to meet demand as road transport disrupted
CHINA: In response to customer requests arising from the difficulties of using road transport during the coronavirus crisis, Nippon Express Co has launched a rail-based freight service from Shanghai to Wuhan in collaboration with Sinotrans. Nippon Express said the coronavirus outbreak had led to numerous restrictions being ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
India’s Chittaranjan Locomotive Works has announced the roll out of the 2 500th three-phase passenger locomotive since production began in 1997. Formerly First Deputy Director-General of Russian Railways responsible for international affairs, Alexander Misharin became Chairman of the board of Sinara Transport Machines ...
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NewsRENFE seeks metre-gauge DMUs to cover rolling stock shortage
SPAIN: Following a spate of air-conditioning failures which left it without any serviceable DMUs for a period during summer 2019, national narrow gauge operator RENFE Ancho Metrico — formerly FEVE — is seeking second-hand vehicles ahead of the busy summer period. Photo: Mike Bent One of RENFE’s existing ...
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NewsMetro-North implements PTC on Harlem and Hudson lines
USA: Positive Train Control is now operational on the whole of MTA Metro-North Railroad’s Harlem and Hudson commuter rail lines. With effect from March 14, PTC has been operational on all trains along the 120 km Hudson Line from New York’s Grand Central Terminal to Poughkeepsie and ...
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NewsCoronavirus pushes switch from cash to card payment
NEW ZEALAND: Cash sales of tickets on the Metlink transport network in Greater Wellington will end on March 23, in a move which Metlink said was designed ‘to stay one step ahead of Covid-19 and give our passengers and staff more peace of mind’. On the rail ...
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NewsBaku circular railway completed
AZERBAIJAN: The Abşeron Peninsula circular railway has been completed, with President Ilham Aliyev inaugurating the reopened Pirşağı – Görədil – Novxanı – Sumqayıt section on March 18 to complete a 91 route-km electrified railway ring serving Baku and its suburbs. The circular railway ...
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NewsFederal funding underpins Californian capacity enhancements
USA: Los Angeles commuter operator Metrolink has been awarded $10·7m from the federal Department of Transportation’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure & Safety Improvements grant programme to support safety and speed improvement projects in the busy Burbank – Anaheim rail corridor.
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NewsUniversities collaborate to support Colombian railway revitalisation
COLOMBIA: Academics from Javeriana University in Bogotá and Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK have worked together to provide government officials with training in railway development. This is intended to support the government’s strategy to rehabilitate the 914 mm gauge rail network with the aim of transferring ...
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NewsKnorr-Bremse awarded Desiro brake upgrading framework contract
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn and Knorr-Bremse have finalised a framework agreement for the modernisation of braking systems on Class 642 Siemens Desiro regional diesel multiple-units. By the end of 2024, Knorr-Bremse is to supply at least 155 ESRA Evolution brake control conversion kits which will be fitted to ...
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NewsFirst order for Mireo Plus B battery EMUs
GERMANY: The Land of Baden-Württemberg’s rolling stock body SFBW has ordered 20 battery-equipped Mireo Plus B electric multiple-units from Siemens Mobility, which will then be responsible for their availability over a 29½-year operating life. The two-car EMUs with 120 seats are to be deployed on Netz 8 ...
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NewsTakanawa Gateway opens
JAPAN: East Japan Railway opened its Takanawa Gateway suburban station in Tokyo for revenue service on March 14.
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NewsZSSK Cargo restarts freight services through Dobrá gateway
SLOVAKIA: National freight operator ZSSK Cargo and its subsidiary Bulk Transshipment Slovakia operated their first intermodal block train through the Dobrá transhipment terminal on the Ukrainian border last month, having taken back management, marketing and operation of the facility at the beginning of the year. Russian ...
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NewsUIC publishes Covid-19 management guidance for railway stakeholders
INTERNATIONAL: Following the first meeting of its coronvirus task force, the International Union of Railways has published Management of Covid-19: Guidance for Railway Stakeholders. UIC has published Management of Covid-19: Guidance for Railway Stakeholders. The document which is freely available online is designed ...