Main line rail industry news – Page 496
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NewsSix bids for Mumbai metro driverless trains
INDIA: Mumbai Metro Rail Corp announced on June 20 that it had received six bids to pre-qualify for a contract to supply driverless trains to operate on Line 3: Hitachi CAF Mitsubishi Corp A consortium of Alstom Transport India and Alstom Transport A consortium of Kawasaki Heavy Industries and ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
RSSB has selected Altius VA to provide IT and management services for the UK’s Railway Industry Supplier Qualification Scheme from May 2018, while Capita has been selected to provide audit services. RISQS is used by Network Rail, London Underground and 116 other buyers with more than 4 300 supplier members. ...
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NewsCatania upgrading progresses
ITALY: The first stage of the Passante Catania project opened on June 18. The project is being undertaken to enable the operation of frequent suburban services across the city from Taormina in the north to Letini in the south via Catania Centrale. The €100m first phase, delivered by infrastructure ...
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NewsFirst Class 345 EMU enters passenger service in London
UK: The first of 66 Class 345 electric multiple-units for London’s future Elizabeth Line entered passenger service on June 22. TfL Rail is initially operating one off-peak return trip per day between Liverpool Street and Shenfield using a Class 345. Transport for London expects a further 10 of the ...
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NewsAlstom to overhaul Akiem electric locomotives
FRANCE: Leasing company Akiem has awarded Alstom a €20m contract to undertake the mid-life overhaul of 23 BB36000 tri-voltage electric locomotives to ensure they can provide another 15 years of service. The project runs to 2024 and will include bogie refurbishment, obsolescence monitoring, component repairs and cab modernisation. The work ...
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NewsThree shortlisted for West Coast Partnership franchise
UK: The shortlisted bidders for the West Coast Partnership franchise were announced by the Department for Transport on June 22. They are: First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Ltd, a joint venture between FirstGroup’s First Rail Holdings Ltd (70%) and Italian state operator Trenitalia SpA (30%); MTR West Coast Partnership Ltd, ...
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NewsSouth Eastern franchise bidders announced
UK: The Department for Transport announced the shortlisted bidders for the next South Eastern passenger franchise on June 22. They are: South Eastern Holdings Ltd (NS’s Abellio Transport Group, East Japan Railway and Mitsui & Co); London & South East Passenger Rail Services Ltd (Govia 65:35 joint venture of Go-Ahead ...
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NewsUK railway news round-up
The first of 22 five-car and 14 nine-car Hitachi AT300 Class 802 electro-diesel trainsets ordered by leasing company Eversholt Rail for Great Western Railway services from London Paddington to Devon and Cornwall arrived at the port of Southampton from Japan on June 17. The Intercity Express Train is designed to ...
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NewsPerpetuum enters Chinese rail market
CHINA: Remote conditioning monitoring specialist Perpetuum has signed a memorandum of understanding for China High Speed Railway Technology Co subsidiary Beijing Sheenline Group Co to support its entry into the Chinese market. The agreement announced on June 21 includes wheelset, bogie and track monitoring, along with design and commissioning advice. ...
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NewsRail sector responds to the Queen's Speech
UK: The rail sector responds to the Queen's Speech given at the state opening of parliament on June 21, which outlined the government's policies and proposed legislative programme for the new parliamentary session. [View the story "Rail sector responds to the Queen's Speech 2017" on Storify]
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NewsEBRD agrees €290m loan for Egyptian locomotive order
EGYPT: A €290m loan agreement to support Egyptian National Railways’ planned acquisition of up to 100 diesel locomotives through a supply and maintenance contract was signed by the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development on June 19. EBRD said the acquisition of new locomotives maintained by a private-sector partner would ...
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NewsElectric buses enter service in Differdange
LUXEMBOURG: The first series-built fully electric buses in Differdange have entered service. Volvo has supplied four of its 7900 Electric buses to operator Sales-Lentz. These will be used on four routes of between 8 km and 9·5 km. Charging takes place every 25 min at the termini, with two ...
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NewsPort rail access funding
SPAIN: A series of agreements that will see state-owned port authorities fund rail infrastructure upgrades were signed by ADIF on June 6. The total cost of the projects is €45∙5m, of which €11∙5m is being provided by the European Regional Development Fund via ADIF. The largest single project is a ...
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NewsCRRC to supply commuter coaches to Montréal
CANADA: CRRC Tangshan has been awarded a contract to supply 24 double-deck hauled coaches to operate on commuter services serving Montréal. The coaches are to be deployed on the Deux-Montagnes line, ahead of the opening of the Réseau Électrique Métropolitain light metro. The coaches are also expected to replace ...
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NewsBombardier to supply 750 EMU cars for South Western franchise
UK: FirstGroup and MTR Corp have awarded Bombardier Transportation a £895m contract supply 90 five-car and 10-car Aventra electric multiple-units for the next South Western franchise. The contract announced on June 20 covers a total of 750 cars which are to be built at Bombardier’s Derby plant. The EMUs are ...
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NewsHigh-capacity grain hoppers delivered
RUSSIA: United Wagon Co is supplying Sberbank Leasing with 100 grain hopper wagons of a new high-capacity design. The high-axleload wagons have a capacity of 76∙5 tonnes and 120 m3, which is 26 m3 more than standard grain wagons. They are designed for 800 000 km or eight years ...
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NewsBangalore metro Phase 1 completed
INDIA: Phase 1 of the Bangalore metro was completed on June 17 with the inauguration of the southern section of the Green Line. Passenger services started the following day. The 12 km extension from Sampige Road to Yelachenahalli takes the north-south Green Line to 24·2 km. Interchange with the ...
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NewsAlliance drops Pendolino plan as Southampton paths identified
UK: Open access passenger service promoter Alliance Rail Holdings has dropped plans to procure Alstom Pendolino trainsets for its proposed London Euston – Blackpool North service. The Arriva subsidiary reports that it is now discussing with leasing company Eversholt the use of Class 91 locomotives and MkIV coaches which are ...
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NewsIzmit tramway opens
TURKEY: Governor of Kocaeli province İbrahim Karaosmanoğlu inaugurated the Akçaray tram line in Izmit on June 17. The 7·4 km route with 11 stops links Sekapark in the west with Otogar in the east via the city’s railway station. The end-to-end journey time is 24 min. Gülermak acted ...
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NewsFuel cells to be studied as alternative to Toronto electrification
CANADA: Ontario is to study the feasibility of using of hydrogen fuel cells ‘as an alternative to conventional overhead wires’ for the planned electrification of GO Rail and UP Express routes in the Toronto region. According to the province’s Ministry of Transportation, recent advances in the use of hydrogen fuel ...