Main line rail industry news – Page 328
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NewsGeopier launches subgrade strengthening GeoSpike
TRACK: Geopier Foundation Co has introduced its GeoSpike, which is designed to provide a low‐cost way to strengthen the subgrade without needing to remove the rails, sleepers or ballast. Pairs of polymer shells are installed between the sleepers, and filled with aggregate which is then compacted. The ...
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NewsWeChat booking for Swiss railways
SWITZERLAND: Scheidt & Bachmann has developed a Swiss Tourism & Attractions in-app ‘Mini Program’ for public transport operators who are targeting tourists from Asia where the WeChat platform is widely used. Traveller can use their mobile devices to purchase and receive tickets for services including the Glacier ...
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NewsComment: Safety first
The LRSSB will build on work undertaken by the safety steering group following a derailment at Sandilands in Croydon which killed seven passengers. Will technology make travel safer? It certainly has the potential to do so, as recent developments in the tram sector have shown. Several manufacturers, ...
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NewsCourt annuls directly awarded ÖBB operating contract
AUSTRIA: The Federal Administrative Court in Wien on October 3 annulled the direct award to ÖBB of a 15-year contract to operate passenger services in eastern Austria from December 2019. The court’s decision was welcomed in a statement issued by open access operator Westbahn, which had lodged ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
On October 1 Plasser & Theurer established Track Machines Connected GmbH. This business unit supersedes P&T Connected, which was set up in 2017 to launch Plasser’s ‘big data’ activity. TMC will offer services for collection and processing of rail infrastructure data. Czech construction group IDS has acquired ...
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NewsSwiss-German border railway modernisation agreed
EUROPE: Officials from the Land of Baden-Württemberg, the canton of Basel and DB Netz gathered in Laufenburg on September 30 to agree a package of enhancements for the Hochrheinbahn route which links Basel with Singen via Schaffhausen. The railway straddles the border between Germany and Switzerland, ...
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NewsNagoya Railway updates EMU fleet
JAPAN: Nagoya Railway Co has updated its regional rolling stock fleet by introducing four Series 9500 EMUs on the 444 route-km, 1 067 mm gauge Meitetsu network radiating from the city. The Series 9500 sets have been supplied by Nippon Sharyo and the first was placed into traffic on October ...
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NewsFerrmed launches modal shift optimisation study
EUROPE: Rail freight association Ferrmed has begun work on a study of modal shift optimisation on the European Union’s TEN-T corridors. Scheduled for completion by the end of next year, the study is intended to help EU member states prioritise actions to support modal shift, and to ...
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NewsBombardier and Leclanché sign battery traction MoU
A prototype Talent 3 EMU equipped for battery operation was unveiled at Bombardier’s Hennigsdorf plant in September 2018. INTERNATIONAL: Bombardier Transportation announced on October 2 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Leclanché SA which would see the Swiss company become its preferred global provider ...
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News1 800 km Menghua coal railway opens
Photo: Xinhua/DW News The north-south Menghua coal corridor opened on September 28. CHINA: The 1 813 km Menghua heavy haul coal railway opened to traffic on September 28 when an inaugural train left Haolebaoji at the northern end of the line. Now renamed in Chinese as the ...
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NewsLombardia trains on show at Expo Ferroviaria
ITALY: Two mock-ups of the next generation of suburban and regional trainsets for Lombardia were formally presented at the Expo Ferroviaria trade fair in Milano on October 1. Speaking at the event’s opening forum, Lombardia’s councillor for Infrastructure, Transport & Sustainable Mobility Claudia Maria Terzi ...
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NewsCat litter by rail
USA: Cat litter producer Intersand has begun construction of a rail-served production, packaging and distribution facility at the Great Western Industrial Park in Windsor, Colorado. GWIP is owned by short line group OmniTRAX, whose Great Western Railway of Colorado will provide direct rail services to the new ...
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NewsNewag launches bi-mode multiple-unit
POLAND: Newag launched a bi-mode variant of its Impuls multiple-unit at the Trako fair, which took place in Gdańsk on September 24-27. The 36WEh has a maximum speed of 160 km/h when powered by 3 kV DC electrification and 120 km/h when using diesel power. The three-car ...
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NewsChile calls tenders for broad-gauge bi-mode trainsets
CHILE: Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado has called tenders for a fleet of passenger trains to replace the rolling stock currently used on its long-distance Santiago – Chillán service. The requirement is for six bi-mode trainsets of four or five cars with capacity for at least ...
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NewsSwiss narrow gauge railway updates fleet
SWITZERLAND: Jungfraubahn Holding has awarded sole bidder Stadler Bussnang a SFr17·3m+VAT contract to supply three trainsets for the 4·3 km Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Mürren line. Services on what the operator describes as ‘one of the most beautiful panoramic tracks in the Alps’ are currently provided using four 560 V ...
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NewsRail projects revived in southern Brazil
A large programme of railway construction is underway in Brazil. BRAZIL: International bids have been called for feasibility studies covering the construction of long-planned new lines in the states of Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul. Bids are due to be submitted by October 14. Consultants would ...
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NewsGoldenPass Express stock takes shape
SWITZERLAND: Construction of the first bodyshell for the dual-gauge rolling stock ordered for through services between Montreux and Interlaken Ost has been completed, and the vehicle is now being fitted out at Stadler’s Bussnang factory. The trains will operate on the metre-gauge tracks of the Montreux-Oberland Bahn ...
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NewsDB Netz reshapes management board
DB CEO Richard Lutz launched the ‘Strong Rail’ strategy in June. GERMANY: Currently Chief Operating Officer at Deutsche Bahn AG, Christian Gruß is to become Managing Director for Sales & Timetabling at DB Netz with effect from October 1. The appointment forms part of a series of ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Polish broad gauge line operator PKP LHS has awarded Zakład Automatyki Kombud a contract to upgrade 13 level crossings on its 1 520 mm gauge route. PKP LHS modernised 22 of its crossings in 2017-19, with 30 more planned by 2022. On September 27 Russia’s State Transport ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market - September 2019
Australia: UGL announced on August 8 that it had won a contract to build four diesel locomotives for Pacific National.On August 19 Alstom Transport Australia was named preferred bidder to supply 41 six-car C-series EMUs for the Transperth network, as well as six DMU cars to replace ...