Main line rail industry news – Page 411
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NewsAmsterdam’s north–south metro line opens
NETHERLANDS: The long-awaited north–south metro Line 52 in Amsterdam was officially opened by Mayor Femke Halsema, Alderwoman of Traffic & Transport Sharon Dijksma and eight selected local residents on July 21. The line was then opened to pre-registered users. Regular revenue services began the following day, when there was am ...
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NewsHydrogen engine research grant
CANADA: The federal government’s Clean Rail Academic Grant Programme is providing C$25 000 for the University of Windsor’s Hydrogen Enabled Low-Emissions & Fuel Efficient Diesel Engine Combustion Technology for Clean Locomotives project, which aims to develop an experimental diesel engine capable of running on blends of hydrogen and diesel. The ...
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NewsLake Balaton line upgrading funding
HUNGARY: The EU has provided €193m from the Cohesion Fund to cover 85% of the cost of the recently-completed modernisation of the 123 km line around the south side of Lake Balaton between Székesfehérvár and Keszthely (RG 7.17 p40). Modernisation of the entire route from Budapest to Keszthely was undertaken ...
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NewsAlstom to supply 31 driverless trains to Mumbai
INDIA: Project promoter Mumbai Metro Rail Corp awarded the rolling stock contract for Line 3 to a consortium of Alstom Transport India and Alstom Transport on July 19. Alstom is to supply 31 eight-car driverless trainsets, all of which are to be assembled in India. The stainless steel-bodied trains ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
The European Commission has found that a loan of €166m granted by Slovakia to ZSSK Cargo does not involve state aid within the meaning of EU rules. The Commission concluded that the state had behaved as a market investor would have in similar circumstances, and thus provided no selective economic ...
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NewsSwing bridge to replace damaged Friesen Bridge
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn and the local authorities have published proposals for a long swing bridge to replace the Friesen Bridge across the River Ems, which was irreparably damaged when it was hit by a ship on December 3 2015. Trains have been unable to use the bascule bridge near the ...
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NewsVancouver rail upgrade funding
CANADA: The Government of Canada is to provide C$167m to support three projects to improve the capacity of railways serving the Port of Vancouver. Two projects are led by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority with investment from CN and CP. They include improving the ventilation of the Thornton Tunnel to ...
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NewsLEO Express launches Praha – Kraków service
EUROPE: Czech open access operator LEO Express ran its inaugural service from Praha to Kraków on July 20, saying it had become the first private operator to be certified to operate long-distance passenger services on the Polish network. ‘We are looking forward to our new customers from Poland and hope ...
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NewsCo-ordinated roll-out of ERTMS between London, Paris and Brussels agreed
EUROPE: The co-ordinated deployment of ERTMS on the high speed rail routes linking London, Paris and Brussels was agreed by the four infrastructure managers at a meeting in Paris on July 19. Channel Tunnel operator Getlink, the UK’s High Speed 1, France’s SNCF Réseau and Belgium’s Infrabel have committed to ...
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NewsCAF selected to develop Spanish test track
SPAIN: The ADIF Board of Directors has approved the award of a concession for CAF to develop and operate a railway test centre at Corella, 92 km from Pamplona in the Navarra region. The site is around 100 km from CAF’s existing research and testing facilities at its Zaragoza plant. ...
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NewsFerrocarril de Antofagasta renews locomotive fleet
CHILE: Ferrocarril de Antofagasta has taken delivery of seven Progress Rail GT42 locomotives and awarded GE Transportation a contract to supply five C23EMP locos, as part of a fleet renewal programme which will see a total of 14 new locos delivered by the end of 2019. FCAB ordered the GT42 ...
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NewsThree 'key challenges' to ensure UK railways remain safe
UK: The Office of Rail & Road published its annual health & safety performance report on July 17. No passengers died as a result of using trains in the past year, however one child died following an accident in a freight depot, and there were two worker fatalities, one through ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Alstom booked €2·6bn of orders in Q1 2018-19 between April 1 and June 30, compared to €1·9bn over the same period last year. Group sales were up 14% to €2·0bn, and the backlog on June 30 was €35·5bn, with around 30% being services. Steer Davies Gleave has shortened its name ...
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NewsDigital transport and the challenges of urbanisation
Digitalisation was the key topic of the SITCE conference in Singapore, held for the first time as part of the World Cities Summit.
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NewsFirst Line 3 metro train arrives in Sofia
BULGARIA: Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova and Sofia Metropoliten CEO Stoyan Bratoev have visited the first train for metro Line 3 following its delivery to Sofia. The train was transported by road from Newag’s Nowy Sącz factory in Poland. Each of the three cars was carried on a separate vehicle. ...
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NewsUkrainian Railways locomotives under construction in the USA
UKRAINE: GE Transportation has rolled out the first of 30 TE33A Evolution Series locomotives which it is building for Ukrainian Railways at its plant at Erie in the USA. The final 10% of assembly work as well as painting of the locomotives is to be undertaken in Ukraine under a ...
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NewsLondon Walking Action Plan published
UK: London Walking & Cycling Commissioner Will Norman published the city’s first Walking Action Plan on July 19. The plan is part of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s aim to increase the combined modal share of walking, cycling and public transport to 80% by 2041, from 63% now. The ...
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NewsRotterdam orders 55 electric buses
NETHERLANDS: Rotterdam public transport operator RET has awarded VDL Bus & Coach an contract to supply 55 Citea SLF-120 Electric buses. The 12 m long low-floor buses are due to enter service in Rotterdam, Schiedam and Vlaardingen in late 2019. The batteries will be charged through a roof-mounted pantograph. ...
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NewsIsrael Railways to build cybersecurity centre
ISRAEL: National operator Israel Railways has awarded government-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems a US$8·2m contract for the development of a Cyber Security Operation Centre. This is intended to provide ISR with improved monitoring and control capabilities, and better protection against attempts to penetrate and attack its electronic systems. ...
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NewsAbuja metro starts operation with diesel-hauled trains
NIGERIA: President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the initial section of the Abuja metro on July 12. China Civil Engineering & Construction Corp acted as main contractor, and construction started in 2007. The 27·3 km Yellow Line runs from Abuja station to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and the 18 km ...