Main line rail industry news – Page 517
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NewsFirst refurbished Budapest Line M3 trainset enters passenger service
HUNGARY: The first modernised metro train entered service on Budapest metro Line M3 on March 20. The six-car set was modernised by Transmashholding subsidiary Metrowagonmash, the original supplier. Two more are due to enter service in the next two weeks. Metrowagonmash beat six other bidders to be selected in ...
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NewsStadler awards Merseyrail depot construction contract
UK: Stadler Rail Services UK has awarded BAM Nuttall a contract worth around £20m to build the depot in Kirkdale where it will maintain the fleet of 52 electric multiple-units which Stadler Bussnang is to supply for Merseyrail services, and also to refurbish the existing Birkenhead North depot. ‘We have ...
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NewsDolnośląskie awards four-year operating contract
POLAND: Dolnośląskie voivodship has awarded national local passenger train operator PolRegio (formerly known as Przewozy Regionalne) a contract to operate local passenger services in 2017-20. The deal is worth a total of 153·6m złoty over four years. The voivodship is to pay PolRegio 50m złoty/year in 2017, with its payments ...
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NewsGySEV orders Vectron locomotives
EUROPE: Hungary to Austria cross-border operator GySEV has signed a contract for Siemens to supply five Vectron locomotives, with an option for a further four. The firm order announced on March 17 covers three triple-system electric locomotives, and two dual-system locomotives with last-mile engines. The locomotives will be equipped with ...
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NewsIntereuropa-FLG becomes Rail Cargo Logistics
SLOVENIA: Intereuropa-FLG has been renamed Rail Cargo Logistics, after Austrian Federal Railways’ subsidiary Rail Cargo Group increased its stake in the business from 50% to 74% to become the majority shareholder. Ljubljana-based Intereuropa-FLG has been part of the Rail Cargo Group since 2005. It offers a range of freight services ...
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NewsIstanbul – Dhaka – Yangon corridor plan to improve South Asia rail connectivity
ASIA: Officials and policy makers from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey attended a conference on March 15-16 to discuss proposals to improve international rail connectivity in South & Southwest Asia. The event in Delhi was organised by United Nations Economic & Social Commission ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Russia's government has launched a programme offering financial support for the replacement of life-expired shunting and other locomotives used on industrial railways which do not form part of the national network. On March 15 Mexico’s Economic Competition Commission published an abstract of a preliminary report which has concluded that there ...
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NewsLow emissions locos delivered to Texas
USA: Knoxville Locomotive Works has begun delivering its largest order for low-emissions diesel locomotives. The Type SE10B and SE15B locos were ordered by Locomotive Solutions for use at chemical plants in Texas, with partial funding from the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. ...
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NewsRFI approves WEGH under-sleeper pads
ITALY: Infrastructure manager RFI has approved the use of WEGH Group’s concrete sleepers with under-sleeper pads on the national network. The USP has two surfaces, one attached to the underside of the sleeper using a machine built by WEGH’s Olmi division to ensure consistency, and a resilient portion which is ...
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NewsTrump proposes dramatic cuts to Amtrak operations and capital project grants
USA: In a blueprint for its proposed Financial Year 2018 budget, the Trump administration is planning to cut funding for the Department of Transportation to $16bn, a 13% reduction on that available for FY2017. Under the proposals, swinging cuts would be made both to passenger train and municipal transport operations ...
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NewsVityaz-M trams enter service in Moscow
RUSSIA: Two prototype Vityaz-M trams entered revenue service in Moscow on March 17. They had arrived at arrived at the Bauman depot on January 27. Moscow tram operator Mosgortrans ordered 300 three-section trams from a consortium of Transmashholding subsidiary Metrowagonmash and PK Transportnye Systemy last year. Deliveries from TMH’s ...
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NewsFleet monitoring by app
SPAIN: Maintenance systems specialist NEM Solutions has developed an app-based fleet management system which enables rail operators to check the condition of rolling stock from a smart phone or hand-held device. This allows users to monitor their vehicles from any location. The AURA Rail App works with trains that are ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Trimble and video system suppler Railhead Corp have announced a partnership to integrate real-time remote monitoring, diagnostics and on-board video to maximise locomotive asset utilisation. Railhead will also offer Trimble’s R2M remote diagnostic system in the US market. Currently in widespread use in Europe, R2M processes multiple data feeds from ...
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NewsCustom wagons delivered and new CP tracks completed
CANADA: The first 177 of 531 wagons being custom-built by National Steel Car for K+S Potash Canada have been delivered to the Legacy Project mine site in Saskatchewan. The first batch of wagons will form one of three 3 km long trains to transport potash 1 800 km from the ...
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NewsMoscow metro Line 8 extension opens
RUSSIA: Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin opened an extension of the western section of metro Line 8 on March 16. The 7·3 km southwestern extension from Park Pobedy to Ramenki adds three stations. Construction of the extension started in April 2013, and test runs commenced on December 30 2016. Already ...
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NewsChina - Europe rail freight poses a growing threat to air cargo
INTERNATIONAL: China to Europe rail freight services are ‘no longer carrying volumes that can be ignored’, and the air cargo sector must start taking the threat to its traffic seriously, Marco Bloemen, Senior Vice-President at air freight consultancy Seabury, told the International Air Transport Association World Cargo Symposium in Abu ...
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NewsMIT and SNCF collaborate to improve stations
FRANCE: SNCF’s stations subsidiary Gares & Connexions and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Senseable City Lab multi-disciplinary urban environment research group have signed an agreement to work together to improve waiting conditions at stations. The aim is to ‘improve the thermal comfort, acoustic, visual and other characteristics of stations in France’, ...
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NewsUK railway news round-up
The Department for Transport has begun a 10-week consultation on plans for the next South Eastern passenger franchise, which is expected to run from December 2018 until 2025. DfT's ambitions include longer trains, modernising or replacing older rolling stock and introducing smarter payment systems and automated delay refunds. It is ...
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NewsHelsinki tests mock-up longer tram
FINLAND: Helsinki transport operator HKL is using a full-scale tram mock-up to identify what infrastructure changes would have to be made to enable longer trams to run on its network. Night testing started on March 14 using a steel frame covered with a tarpaulin, towed by a tram. The ...
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NewsHector Rail orders 15 locomotives for timber traffic
SWEDEN: Siemens announced on March 15 that Hector Rail had placed a firm order for a further 15 Vectron AC electric locomotives, as an option on a July 2016 order for an initial five. The 200 km/h locomotives are scheduled to be delivered from early 2018 for use on heavy ...