Main line rail industry news – Page 459
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NewsHyundai Rotem wins train orders for two Istanbul metro projects
TURKEY: Hyundai Rotem announced on December 5 that it had signed a 156·5bn won contract to supply rolling stock for two Istanbul metro lines. Hyundai Rotem is to supply 10 four-car driverless trainsets for Line M8, which is being built between Bostancı and Dudullu on the Asian side of ...
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NewsRussia adopts piggyback wagon standards
RUSSIA: The Ministry of Transport has approved technical standards for the piggyback transport of lorries, trailers and cars by rail, including the adoption of a standard floor height of 1 100 mm above the rail head. The regulations follow trials which Federal Freight Co undertook on the Moscow – Novosibirsk ...
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NewsKraków cut-off line opens
POLAND: Passenger services began using a recently-completed elevated chord linking Kraków’s Zabłocie and Krzemionki stations with the December 10 timetable change. The chord removes the need for trains from Kraków Główny to Zakopane, Skawina and Oświęcim to reverse at Płaszów station, reducing journey times by up to 20 min while ...
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NewsNorfolk Southern opens replacement Portageville Bridge
USA: Norfolk Southern has opened the new Portageville Bridge, a 294 m long steel arch span across the 72 m deep Genesee River gorge in Letchworth State Park on its Southern Tier Line in New York state. The structure replaces an iron truss bridge built by the Erie Railroad in ...
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NewsGE to install Trip Optimizer on KTZ Evolution locomotive fleet
KAZAKHSTAN: National railway KTZ’s freight business has signed an agreement to deploy GE’s Trip Optimizer efficiency system on its fleet of TE33A Evolution Series diesel locomotives. The agreement announced on December 11 builds on a memorandum of understanding signed in June under which KTZ and GE Transportation agreed to explore ...
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NewsInnsbruck tramway extended
AUSTRIA: Passenger services on a 3 km Y-shaped western extension of Innsbruck’s metre-gauge tram network were launched on December 10, following inauguration celebrations five days earlier. The extension runs from the former terminus at Höttinger Au to Peerhofsiedlung, with a branch to Technik West which has been built as the ...
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NewsVivarail to open production facility in County Durham
UK: Next month Vivarail is to open a plant on the Spectrum Business Park at Seaham in County Durham where it will assemble powerpacks and wiring looms for the D Train multiple-units which it plans to produce using bodyshells and bogies from withdrawn London Underground D78 trainsets. Vivarail is investing ...
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NewsICE4 enters regular service
GERMANY: After nearly 12 months of trials in commercial service on the Hamburg – München route, Deutsche Bahn has put the first of its fleet of ICE4 trainsets into regular operation. From the timetable change on December 10 five Class 412 trainsets were introduced on services from Hamburg to München ...
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NewsDublin’s Cross City tram extension opens
IRELAND: Guests including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar attended celebrations on December 9 marking the opening of the Luas Cross City extension of Dublin’s light rail Green Line. The €368m project to build the 5·9 km extension north from St Stephen’s Green to Broombridge with 13 stops was given the go-ahead in ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
China Railway Express Co has launched a parcels delivery service using space on Fuxing high speed trainsets operating on the Beijing – Shanghai Passenger-Dedicated Line. Alstom's Belfort site has completed work on the first of 30 Akiem BB36000 locomotives which are to receive mid-life overhauls under two contracts. 'This first ...
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NewsHupac orders Chinese wagons
SWITZERLAND: Hupac and CRRC International have signed a two-year contract for CRRC Shandong to manufacture flat wagons for the intermodal freight operator and obtain Swiss wagon registration and EU certification for the designs. After the signing ceremony last month, the companies held talks on co-operation in the intermodal sector as ...
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NewsBeograd depot upgrade loan signed
SERBIA: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is providing national passenger operator JSC Srbija Voz with loans totalling €47m to finance the upgrading and expansion of Zemun depot on the outskirts of Beograd. The site is to become the operator’s main maintenance facility, and the only one equipped to ...
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NewsMerkel inaugurates München - Berlin Unity Project 8
GERMANY: Special trains from München and Nürnberg, celebrations in multiple cities and a spectacular arrival in Berlin Hauptbahnhof marked the inauguration on December 8 of the railway known as German Unity Project VDE8. Commemorative events had been staged in Nürnberg, Erfurt, Leipzig and Wittenberg to mark the formal opening of ...
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NewsUS-built Estonian GE locomotive rebuilt
ESTONIA: Freight operator EVR Cargo has begun testing the first of its GE-built C30-7Ai Co-Co diesel-electric locomotives to be extensively rebuilt at its Tapa workshops. The modernisation of the 19 locomotives is being undertaken in collaboration with Czech supplier CZ Loko. Designated as Type C30-M, the modernised locomotive is ...
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NewsTraxx Africa handed over in Durban
SOUTH AFRICA: Bombardier Transportation and Transnet Freight Rail celebrated the handover of the first of 240 Traxx Africa electric locomotives with a ceremony at Transnet Engineering’s assembly plant in Durban on December 7. Ordered by Transnet Freight Rail in March 2014 at a cost of R15bn, the 240 multi-system locomotives ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
The Ukrainian government announced on December 4 that it expects to formalise by the end of the year a strategic partnership with GE Transportation for the implementation of a US$1bn seven-year Ukrainian Railways rolling stock renewal programme. The first stage would include the supply of 30 locomotives with domestically-produced components ...
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News15 recommendations in Croydon Tramlink derailment report
UK: The Rail Accident Investigation Branch made 15 recommendations to improve safety on December 7 when it published its report into the overturning of a tram at Sandilands in Croydon, south London on November 9 2016. RAIB found that the Bombardier CR4000 tram had been travelling at 73 km/h ...
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NewsQatar metro and light rail operating contract awarded
QATAR: Public transport authority Qatar Rail has awarded the RKH Qitarat joint venture between a consortium of RATP Dev and Keolis (49%) and local construction, property and trading business Hamad Group (51%) a contract to operate and maintain the Doha metro and Lusail light rail networks. The contract awarded on ...
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NewsXi’an – Chengdu high speed railway opened throughout
CHINA: Revenue services on the 511 km Xi’an – Jiangyou section of the 663 km Xi’an – Chengdu Passenger-Dedicated Line began on December 6, with the first train leaving Xi’an at 08:22. The maximum operating speed on the line is 250 km/h. The 153 km first phase between Chengdu and ...
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NewsUK railway news round-up
A regulated fares increase of 3·6% based on July RPI will take effect on January 2. In Scotland, selected regulated peak fares including Anytime and season tickets are set to RPI, and 1% below RPI for regulated Off-Peak fares. In Wales, regulated fares are capped at RPI until at least ...