Main line rail industry news – Page 385
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NewsAlstom announces 'excellent' first half results
ALSTOM: Chairman & CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge said Alstom ‘achieved excellent results in this first half with breakthrough commercial successes’, when he presented on November 14 the company’s results for the financial period from April 1 to September 30. Alstom had booked orders worth €7·13bn, up from €3·17bn in the same ...
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NewsMultiple-units ordered under Chile’s rail modernisation strategy
CHILE: National operator EFE has awarded Chinese company CRRC Sifang a US$77m contract to supply 13 multiple-units for use on the Biotren, Corto Laja and Victoria – Temuco services operated by its Fesur subsidiary. The order covers a total of 10 three-car EMUs for the 65 km Biotren suburban network ...
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NewsElectric minibus presented in Barcelona
SPAIN: Barcelona transport operator TMB presented a prototype electric minibus at the Smart Mobility Congress on November 13. The vehicle has been developed as part of the RIS3CAT research project managed by Catalan competitiveness agency ACCIÓ, which is part of the region’s Ministry of Business & Knowledge. The EU’s ...
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NewsEBRD backs Ukrainian Railways wagon tender
UKRAINE: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is to provide Ukrainian Railways with a US$150m senior loan to finance the acquisition of up to 6 500 open wagons through an international tender. The provision of financing is to be combined with corporate reforms at UZ and its subsidiaries. This ...
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NewsWegh Group invests in Mozambique sleeper plant
MOZAMBIQUE: Italian company Wegh Group has increased its stake in concrete sleeper manufacturer Travessas Do Norte, which was already 52% owned by Wegh Mocambique. The company’s plant at Namialo on the Nacala – Nampula railway is one of the largest in southern Africa with a capacity of 1 600 sleepers ...
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NewsSNCF to sell Ouibus to BlaBlaCar in multimodal partnership
FRANCE: SNCF is to sell its loss-making Ouibus long-distance coach operations to the digital ride-sharing specialist BlaBlaCar under a multimodal development partnership announced on November 12. After a decade of head-to-head competition, the national railway has entered exclusive negotiations with the ‘leading French start-up in the mobility sector’. While the ...
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NewsBYD to supply electric buses to København
DENMARK: Bus operator Anchersen has ordered 27 electric buses from BYD to operate in København. The 12 m long buses will be charged overnight. They are due to enter passenger service at the end of 2019 on the north-south route between Emdrup Torv and Lergravsparken.
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NewsSHERPA project tackles terrorist threat to railways
EUROPE: The Shared & coHerent European Railway Protection Approach project to address risks associated with terrorist threats to trains and stations was launched in Paris on November 13. The 24-month SHERPA project is being funded by a grant from the European Union’s Internal Security Fund Police and co-ordinated by ...
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Concerns raised over passenger rights changes
EUROPE: The European Passengers’ Federation and the ALLRAIL association of new market entrants have called for mandatory protection for passengers making multi-leg journeys using separate tickets to be included in the recast of EU regulation COM(2017)0548 covering rail passengers’ rights. This would mean that if a connection were missed as ...
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NewsDigital freight train pioneers automated brake tests
FRANCE: In a presentation at the Alpine Rail Optimisation conference in Wien on November 8 Director of Wagon Management at SNCF Fret Nicolas Czernecki confirmed that the operator had become the first railway in Europe to implement automated brake testing on commercial freight trains. Under a pilot programme for ...
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NewsFrequentis to support Polish GSM-R deployment
POLAND: Infrastructure manager PKP PLK has selected Frequentis to provide dispatcher terminals and communication nodes as part of the national roll-out of GSM-R. The prime contractor for the GSM-R project is Nokia, which is providing a common IT platform for all the core software under a five-year turnkey contract awarded ...
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NewsDubai takes delivery of first Route 2020 metro train
UAE: Dubai Roads & Transport Authority has taken delivery of the first of 50 driverless Metropolis trainsets that Alstom is supplying for the Route 2020 extension. The five-car train was shipped from the German port of Bremerhaven after being assembled at Alstom’s Katowice factory in Poland. It ...
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NewsSolaris delivers trolleybus to Vilnius
LITHUANIA: The first of 41 Trollino trolleybuses that Solaris Bus & Coach is supplying to Vilnius arrived in the city on November 8. Last year Solaris Bus & Coach emerged as sole bidder for the contract to supply the 12 m long low-floor trolleybuses. Deliveries are due to be ...
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NewsWien – München through service announced
EUROPE: Plans to launch a through Wien – München passenger service in April 2019 have been announced by Austrian open access operator Westbahn, Transdev’s Bayern regional operator Meridian and Bayern railway authority BEG. The exact start date is still to be confirmed, but Westbahn said there would be three through ...
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NewsICF unveils Sri Lanka Railways diesel-electric multiple units
SRI LANKA: The first of six 13-car diesel-electric multiple-units which Indian Railways’ Integral Coach factory is building for Sri Lanka Railways was unveiled at the manufacturer’s plant in Chennai on November 12 . The order was placed with ICF and RITES under an India-Sri Lanka economic co-operation agreement. It covers ...
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NewsSmartRail 4.0 pilot within three years
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways expects to launch trials of a next-generation signalling system within three years. Reporting details of progress with the ‘ambitious’ SmartRail 4.0 programme at the Alpine Rail Optimisation conference in Wien on November 8, SBB’s head of Co-operation & Research for the project Bernhard Rytz said the ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Rail Cargo Group’s network of rail services is now being marketed under the TransNET brand, with individual services being branded TransFER. Freightliner operated its first train into the Cricklewood South Freight siding in north London on November 5. Built by J Murphy, the connection for bulk spoil trains is part ...
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NewsWoodchip traffic switched from road to rail
SWEDEN: Forest owners association Mellanskog has awarded Green Cargo a contract to transport containerised woodchips which previously moved by road. The trains between Forsbacka and Folkesta are formed of 22 wagons each loaded with three containers holding 45 m3 of woodchips and weighing 14·5 tonnes. ‘It is gratifying to ...
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NewsNigeria plans railway northwards to Niger
NIGERIA: Alongside the many projects to develop new 1 435 mm gauge railways to augment and gradually replace Nigeria’s 1 067 mm gauge network, the government has unveiled plans for a line running north into the neighbouring Niger Republic. The 248 km standard gauge route from Kano to Maradi would ...
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NewsHigh capacity fertiliser wagons ordered
RUSSIA: Fertiliser producer MCC EuroChem has awarded United Wagon Co a contract to supply 700 Type 19-9835-01 hopper cars by mid-2019. The wagons have a 25 tonne axleload and a lightweight design to offer a capacity of 101 m3 and 76·7 tonnes, 6 tonnes more than older designs. The body ...