Main line rail industry news – Page 451
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NewsElectric bus prototype on test in Poprad
SLOVAKIA: A prototype electric bus made by Troliga Bus started six to 12 months of trial operations in Poprad on January 23. The 12 m long low-floor Leonis EV is powered by synchronous permanent magnet motors mounted on the rear axle. The roof-mounted batteries take 4 h to recharge ...
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NewsUK railway news round-up
Hochtief has been appointed to build Great Western Railway's £40m Exeter Olds View Depot rolling stock maintenance depot. Construction is scheduled to start this spring for completion by early summer 2019. HS2 Ltd has published an outline concept for how the Colne Valley viaduct can be 'sensitively and aesthetically' ...
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NewsRENFE launches high speed to Castelló
SPAIN: National operator RENFE began operating high speed services between Madrid and Castelló de la Plana on January 23. Running over the high speed line from Madrid Atocha to Valencia and then on the 1 668 mm gauge Mediterranean Corridor to Castelló where a third rail has been laid on ...
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NewsMolten sulphur tank wagons ordered
RUSSIA: United Wagon Co’s TikhvinChemMash subsidiary is to supply 112 Type 15-6913 molten sulphur tank wagons to Gazprom’s transport business GazpromTrans under a 952m rouble contract. The design takes into account lessons learned from the operation of older vehicles and feedback from testing undertaken at Gazprom sites in Orenburg and ...
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NewsFlexity Wien starts test running
AUSTRIA: Transport Leader for Wien city council Ulli Sima joined officials from Wiener Linien and Bombardier Transportation to present the first Flexity Wien tram to the public on January 18, as testing of the vehicle started. Bombardier handed over the tram from its Wien factory at the end of ...
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NewsVibration analysis aims to reduce train door failures
EUROPE: A Vibration Analysis for Remote Condition Monitoring project funded from the EU’s H2020 Fast Track to Innovation programme aims to use remote monitoring to detect potential failures of train doors and predict their remaining lifetime. The vibration analysis algorithms will be combined with image recognition to distinguish between doors ...
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NewsGreen Cargo moves the same volume with fewer trains
SWEDEN: Green Cargo has begun using Innofreight's larger XXXL containers to deliver wood-based and refuse-derived fuel to Söderenergi’s fuel terminal in Nykvarn, enabling a reduction in the number of trains operated without reducing volumes. Green Cargo moves the fuel from Töva, Östavall, Ånge, Bastuträsk and Örnsköldsvik to Nykvarn, using double-headed ...
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NewsSitarail modernisation underway
AFRICA: Ceremonies were held in December to mark the formal start of work on a long-awaited project to rehabilitate the 1 260 km metre-gauge railway linking Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire with Ouagadougou in neighbouring Burkina Faso. Announced in mid-2015, the project was dependent upon renegotiation of the concession under which ...
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NewsPortugal plans €626m South International Corridor upgrading
PORTUGAL: Having called tenders in March last year for an €18·5m upgrading of the 11 km between Elvas and the Spanish border as part of the first phase of the proposed South International Corridor, infrastructure manager Infraestruturas de Portugal provided further details of the work programme in early January at ...
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NewsAdelaide electrification contract awarded
AUSTRALIA: Electrification of the 40 km Adelaide – Gawler suburban route is set to resume in the coming weeks, following the award of a contract for the first phase of the A$615m project. The South Australia state government announced on January 18 that it had selected Lendlease to complete 25 ...
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NewsTravel Support Cards to assist passengers with hidden disabilities
UK: Govia Thameslink Railway is introducing sets of Travel Support Cards to support passengers with hidden disabilities who need help with communication, such as those who are hard of hearing or have language or learning difficulties. The card has a ‘how you can help me’ space which is filled in ...
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NewsAutomatic train operation to be tested on Dutch freight corridor
NETHERLANDS: Automatic Train Operation is to be tested on the Betuwe Route dedicated freight line this year, following the signing of an agreement between infrastructure manager ProRail, freight operator Rotterdam Rail Feeding and technology supplier Alstom. It is planned that an RRF locomotive will run approximately 100 km from the ...
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NewsDMUs ordered for California’s Arrow commuter service
USA: California’s San Bernardino County Transportation Authority has issued Stadler with a notice to proceed with the design and supply of three Flirt diesel multiple-units for the Arrow commuter service which is to be launched in 2021 under the Redlands Passenger Rail Project. The services will use ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
India’s Ministry of Railways has launched a Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real Time Information application, which Indian Railways freight managers can use to track the movement of freight trains and monitor business performance. The UK’s Rail Freight Group has announced its sponsor partners for 2018: VTG Rail; Direct Rail ...
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NewsAfDB backs Namibian rail upgrade
NAMIBIA: The African Development Bank has approved a US$153m loan to the government of Namibia to co-finance the upgrading of the 210 km railway running inland from Walvis Bay to Arandis and Kranzberg, as well as the road from Windhoek to the international airport. The three-year rail rehabilitation project will ...
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NewsLocomotive control system certified
RUSSIA: Diesel locomotives produced by Bryansk Engineering Plant are now being fitted with an electronic control system which the Transmashholding subsidiary has developed in-house. This follows certification for use of the technology across the Eurasian Economic Union countries. A central computer monitors the state of the onboard systems and manages ...
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NewsAshford International modified for use by Eurostar e320 trainsets
UK: Network Rail is undertaking work to equip the international platform tracks at Ashford International station with the KVB warning system used on High Speed 1, and is also altering the platform edges to the UIC-B loading gauge. This will enable the station to be served by Eurostar’s Siemens Velaro ...
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NewsOptimising sensor data to support predictive maintenance
BELGIUM: An imec.icon research project has been launched to investigate ways of collecting and presenting the increasing amount of data which is being produced by on-train sensors, with the aim of helping operators undertake predictive maintenance of rolling stock. Televic Rail is leading the project, focusing on designing novel techniques ...
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NewsKayseri suburban service announced
TURKEY: Minister of Environment & Urban Planning Mehmet Özhaseki announced on January 10 that a dedicated suburban service would launch in Kayseri this year. Services on the 156 km route would use existing TCDD tracks between Yeşilhisar in the southwest and Sarıoğlan in the northeast, running through Kayseri’s main ...
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NewsGrand Paris costs and timescale adrift
FRANCE: The Cour des Comptes, the independent body responsible for auditing the use of public funds, has called for the scope and timescale of the Grand Paris Express project to be revised. In a hard-hitting report published on January 17, the Cour des Comptes highlights a succession of increases ...