Main line rail industry news – Page 502
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NewsContract awards mark Corridor IV upgrading progress
ROMANIA: Infrastructure manager CFR SA signed contracts for a 78 km route modernisation project with a consortium of Astaldi, FCC, SALCEF and Thales on May 23.The work covers a section of the Arad – Deva main line between Km614 (near Cicir), Bârzava and Ilteu, which is part of pan-European Corridor ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Leipzig-based welding specialist Goldschmidt Thermit has agreed to acquire PUT Graw, a Polish track measurement and condition monitoring technology provider, as part of its plans for expansion in eastern Europe. Financial terms were not disclosed.Electrical connector specialist Harting has begun work to construct a European Distribution Centre at Espelkamp in ...
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NewsDigital route learning at DB Cargo UK
UK: Freight operator DB Cargo UK has introduced an internet-based route learning programme developed with Track Access Services Ltd to familiarise drivers with the physical characteristics of the routes over which they operate. Accessed via tablet or computer, it combines high-quality footage of routes filmed by DB Cargo UK with ...
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NewsKiwiRail and CRL funded in NZ$1bn budget allocation
NEW ZEALAND: The government has allocated almost NZ$1bn for rail investment as part of its annual budget unveiled by Finance Minister Steven Joyce on May 25, including support for national operator KiwiRail and a first tranche of capital investment for construction of Auckland's City Rail Link. The government has agreed ...
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NewsUK railway news round-up
Great Western Railway announced on May 22 that Class 387 EMUs had begun operating suburban services between London Paddington and Maidenhead as the partial electrification of the Great Western Main Line progresses. Electrification should be extended as far west as Didcot Parkway from ‘early 2018’, GWR says.Cambridge North station opened ...
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NewsWagon deliveries from China near 3 000
ARGENTINA: On May 24 Transport Minister Guillermo Dietrich joined Ezequiel Lemos, President of state-owned freight operator Trenes Argentinos Cargas, to welcome the latest shipment of 156 wagons to arrive in the Port of Buenos Aires from China. Comprising 122 vehicles for the 1 000 mm gauge Belgrano network and 34 ...
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NewsGreat Western Class 802s take shape
UK: Series production of the Class 802 electro-diesel trainsets for Great Western Railway’s West of England inter-city services between London, Devon and Cornwall is now getting underway at the Hitachi Rail Italy plant at Pistoia. Hitachi is supplying 22 five-car and 14 nine-car AT300 units to the FirstGroup franchise under ...
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NewsSeeking future rail megatrends
EUROPE: Late May saw the launch of an interactive forum on the Near 2050 project website aimed at enabling rail users, operators and specifying organisations to comment on their experience of the sector and predict how the rail mode might evolve over the next 35 years.Near2050 is being co-ordinated under ...
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NewsHohenzollerische Landesbahn orders Coradia DMUs
GERMANY: Alstom announced on May 24 that it had received an order worth €50m from Hohenzollerische Landesbahn for the supply of 10 Coradia Lint 54 diesel multiple-units. Scheduled for delivery by May 2019, they will operate on the routes from Ulm to Aalen, Langnau and Munderkingen. To be manufactured at ...
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NewsSTIF to fund €1∙1bn Paris suburban fleet
FRANCE: Ile-de-France transport authority STIF announced on May 23 that it will be providing 100% of the funding for an order for 83 Bombardier Régio2N double-deck EMUs, worth €1∙1bn. Of the new fleet, 69 trainsets will be deployed between the end of 2019 and 2021 to replace locomotive-hauled VB2N coaches ...
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NewsBridge works reflect progress on RFI’s Adriatic Corridor upgrading
ITALY: The weekend of May 20-21 saw two bridges replaced on the Bologna – Rimini line at Prati and Sabbioso as part of infrastructure manager RFI’s ongoing route modernisation programme on the Adriatic Corridor.Running for three years from 2015, the upgrading works cover the north-south line between Bologna and Lecce ...
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NewsDavid Tonkin
Former Atkins CEO David Tonkin has succeeded Siemens Mobility UK Managing Director Gordon Wakeford as Chairman of the UK’s Railway Industry Association.
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NewsONCF hosts African safety summit
AFRICA: Senior industry leaders from railways in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia gathered in Rabat on May 15 for an 11-day training summit hosted by Moroccan national railway ONCF.The safety training summit is the fifth such event to be held in Rabat ...
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NewsCaltrain electrification funding confirmed
USA: The Federal Transit Administration confirmed on May 22 that it would execute a Full Funding Grant Agreement worth $647m for electrification of the Caltrain commuter rail corridor between San Francisco and San Jose.Caltrain had agreed contracts in July last year with Balfour Beatty and Stadler for electrification work and ...
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NewsIarnród Éireann deploys ticket sales software
IRELAND: Iarnród Éireann has deployed a Sqills S3 Passenger sales, distribution and revenue management software platform to replace legacy systems and introduce dynamic pricing capabilities.S3 Passenger enables fares to be set from a single source and updated in real-time across all sales channels, helping operators to optimise train occupancy ...
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NewsMÁV begins manufacturing coaches for international services
HUNGARY: National railway holding group MÁV has started series production of locally designed inter-city coaches for international services. The Hungarian government decided in April 2016 that it would provide financial assistance for MÁV to manufacture 20 hauled passenger coaches for international traffic plus a further 100 for domestic use. The ...
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NewsMetro extension inaugurated in Nürnberg
GERMANY: Lord Mayor of Nürnberg Ulrich Maly inaugurated an extension of Nürnberg metro Line U3 at 12.00 on May 22, with a day of free travel offered on the entire line to mark the occasion. The northwest extension from Friedrich-Ebert-Platz to Nordwestring via Klinikum Nord is 1·1 km long. ...
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NewsTrump urged to intervene in ‘emergency’ at New York Penn Station
USA: Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State, wrote to President Donald Trump on May 21 requesting that the federal government treat the ongoing infrastructure and operational difficulties at New York Penn Station ‘as an emergency situation’ and provide funding for short- and long-term enhancements of the station.Two derailments within ...
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NewsKyiv signs agreement for fourth metro line
UKRAINE: Deputy Mayor of Kyiv Mykola Povoroznyk has signed a memorandum of co-operation for studies into the construction of a fourth metro line, the city council announced on May 19. A consortium of China Railway International Group and China Pacific Construction Group will carry out feasibility studies and cost ...
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NewsWork starts on ‘metropolitan’ high speed link in Beijing
CHINA: Construction work started on May 21 on a Passenger-Dedicated Line linking Beijing with Bazhou, 80 km to the south. The route is one of several ‘metropolitan’ high speed railways planned around the conurbations of Beijing and Tianjin. With a view to future extensions to the south which would relieve ...