Main line rail industry news – Page 541
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NewsGhana railway project gets Indian loan
GHANA: Construction of an 84·8 km mixed traffic railway between Tema in the Greater Accra region and the Lake Volta port of Akosombo could begin by the end of the year, after Export-Import Bank of India signed an agreement to provide the government with a US$398·3m national export insurance account ...
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NewsEU funding for Lithuanian section of Rail Baltica
LITHUANIA: An agreement to provide €180m of European Union funding to cover 85% of the costs of the Lithuanian section of the 728 km Rail Baltica II project was signed on November 18 by the European Commission’s Innovation & Networks Executive Agency, the relevant government ministries from Lithuania, Latvia and ...
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NewsSeoul metro operator merger approved
SOUTH KOREA: The Seoul metropolitan government announced on November 23 that it plans to merge the two city-owned metro operators next year. This follows the approval of both operators’ unions, with almost three-quarters of members voting in favour of the merger. Seoul Metropolitan Subway Corp operates lines 1, 2, ...
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NewsLoko Trans to develop Skopje rail hub
MACEDONIA: Czech freight operator and rolling stock maintenance company Loko Trans is to invest €20m to establish a logistics centre in Skopje to serve the Balkan region. This will include facilities for rolling stock maintenance and repair, as well as freight transhipment, warehousing and a customs office. Construction is expected ...
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NewsRailways in the UK Autumn Statement
UK: Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announced ‘significant additional funding’ for transport in his Autumn Statement to Parliament on November 23. Saying he had ‘deliberately avoided making this statement into a long list of individual projects being supported’, Hammond announced that a new National Productivity Investment Fund would spend ...
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NewsHaramain High Speed Rail deal reached
SAUDI ARABIA: The Haramain High Speed Rail Line between Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah will open in March 2018, the Spanish-led Al Shoula consortium announced on November 18. A spokesman said that ‘partial operations’ on the 444 km route would begin in December 2017. The line had originally been expected to ...
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NewsRENFE to test LNG traction
SPAIN: National operator RENFE is to conduct a trial of liquefied natural gas as a fuel for rail traction, in conjunction with suppliers Gas Natural Fenosa and Enagás, the Institut Cerdà research organisation, specialist rolling stock workshop ARMF and Bureau Veritas. One of the two diesel engines in a 1 ...
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NewsPesa sole bidder in Bydgoszcz tram tender
POLAND: Pesa is the sole bidder in a tender to supply 18 trams to Bydgoszcz, the city in which the manufacturer has its headquarters. The 141·1m złoty order would include 15 five-section trams specified as being at least 30 m long, and three three-section trams. Three of the vehicles ...
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NewsTallinn tram modernisation contract
ESTONIA: Ekova Electric has won a €12m contract to modernise 14 trams for city transport operator TLT Tallinn. Deliveries of the modernised trams are due to take place in 2017-18. The scope covers two Tatra KT4 trams and 12 Tatra KT6T trams which had been formed in 2001-07 by ...
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NewsIstanbul receives first driverless metro train
TURKEY: The first driverless metro trainset for Istanbul metro Line M5 was delivered to Çakmak station on November 21. CAF is supplying 21 six-car trainsets with Mitsubishi electrical and automation equipment under a €119m order placed in June 2014. The 132 m long sets consist of four motor and ...
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NewsInfrabel installs Train Management System
BELGIUM: Infrastructure manager Infrabel announced on November 17 that it had successfully commissioned a Traffic Management System supplied by CSC. According to Infrabel, the new system was brought into use at signalboxes and control centres across the national network ‘in record time’ overnight from November 11 to 12. Identical to ...
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NewsDarren Caplan
The UK’s Railway Industry Association has appointed Darren Caplan as Chief Executive. He succeeds interim CEO David Tonkin, who took over from Jeremy Candfield in the summer.
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NewsBombardier takes over Montréal commuter services
CANADA: Bombardier Transportation took over the operation of commuter rail services on six routes in Montréal on November 18, under a C$331m operations and maintenance contract awarded by transport authority Agence Métropolitaine de Transport which runs for eight years with an option for a two-year extension. AMT ...
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NewsStadler Metelica trams selected for Ostrava
CZECH REPUBLIC: Ostrava Mayor Tomáš Macura announced on November 22 that Stadler had been selected to supply 40 trams to operator DP Ostrava. This would mark the first tram order from a foreign supplier in modern Czech history. Tenders were called on July 25, and Stadler reportedly beat one ...
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NewsDublin commuter link inaugurated
IRELAND: Direct rail services between the southwest suburbs of Dublin and the capital’s central business district began running on November 21, following the completion of a €13·7m project to adapt the orbital link through the 690 m Phoenix Park tunnel for regular passenger services. Dating from 1877, the 4·4 km ...
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NewsBombardier takes over Montréal commuter services
CANADA: Bombardier Transportation took over the operation of commuter rail services on six routes in Montréal on November 18, under a C$331m operations and maintenance contract awarded by transport authority Agence Métropolitaine de Transport which runs for eight years with an option for a two-year extension. AMT manages the second-largest ...
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NewsMelbourne High Capacity Metro Trains contract close
AUSTRALIA: Infrastructure investor Plenary Group announced on November 22 that it had reached contractual close on the Victorian government’s A$2bn High Capacity Metro Trains project. The PPP contract will see the Evolution Rail consortium of investor Plenary, design and technology lead CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles and delivery and maintenance lead ...
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NewsMelbourne High Capacity Metro Trains contract close
AUSTRALIA: Infrastructure investor Plenary Group announced on November 22 that it had reached contractual close on the Victorian government’s A$2bn High Capacity Metro Trains project. The PPP contract will see the Evolution Rail consortium of investor Plenary, design and technology lead CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles and delivery ...
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NewsTwo-line metro in Beograd master plan
SERBIA: The city of Beograd published a transport master plan on November 17, which includes proposals for a two-line metro network. The presentation was attended by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, Mayor Siniša Mali and French Ambassador Christine Moro, as well as representatives from Alstom and Egis. One line would ...
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NewsQingdao – Rongcheng PDL opened
CHINA: The final 32 km section of the Qingdao – Rongcheng Intercity Railway opened on November 16. The Passenger-Dedicated Line starts from the Qingdao Bei station in the north of the city and runs to Yantai, Weihai and Rongcheng. Construction of the line on the Shandong peninsula was approved in ...