Main line rail industry news – Page 701
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - December 2014
Keolis has renewed its contract to operate trams and buses in Bordeaux for a further eight years from January 1 2015. Odebrecht TransPort is to form a 60:40 joint venture with Mitsui to compete for urban rail concessions in Brazil. If approved by the Brazilian competition authority, Mitsui ...
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NewsMitsubishi Electric to build Bangalore factory
INDIA: As part of Mitsubishi Electric Corp’s strategy to achieve annual transport sector revenue of US$2·7bn by 2020, its Mitsubishi Electric India subsidiary is to build a US$8m factory in Bangalore to produce traction inverters, motors and other electrical equipment for rolling stock. Completion is planned by September 2015, ...
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NewsJoseph Szabo
Joseph Szabo is to step down as Federal Railroad Administrator at the end of the year to become a senior policy adviser at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.
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NewsSuresh Prabhu
Suresh Prabhu was appointed India’s Minister of Railways on November 10, succeeding D V Sadananda Gowda who has become Minister for Law & Justice.
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NewsCalifornia selects preferred bidder to build second high speed line section
USA: The California High Speed Rail Authority announced on December 12 that it had selected a consortium of Dragados, Flatiron and Shimmick as preferred bidder for a design-build contract covering construction of a further 96 route-km of high speed line in the Central Valley. In selecting the ‘apparent best value ...
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NewsFlywheel delivered for DMU energy storage tests
UK: Ricardo has delivered an evaluation prototype of its latest generation of TorqStor carbon fibre flywheel to Artemis Intelligent Power, which is leading a project to develop energy recovery technology which could enable diesel-hydraulic multiple-units to reduce their energy consumption in a way analogous to the use of regenerative braking ...
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NewsTractive Power Corp sells first locomotive
CANADA: North Vancouver-based Tractive Power Corp has sold its initial TP56 three-axle industrial shunting locomotive to Parish & Heimbecker Ltd. The locomotive is to be used at P&H’s site in Cloverdale, British Columbia, where it has been in demonstration service since May. The TP56 is intended as a 'railcar ...
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NewsWorld Bank signs US$1·1bn Dedicated Freight Corridor loan
INDIA: The government, World Bank and project promoter Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India Ltd signed a US$1·1bn loan agreement to fund the second phase of the Eastern DFC on December 11. The 22-year International Bank for Reconstruction & Development loan has a seven-year grace period. The 1 839 ...
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NewsLiège selects tram contractor
BELGIUM: Société Régionale Wallonne du Transport has selected the MobiLiège consortium of Alstom Transport, BAM PPP PGGM Infrastructure Co-operative, DG Ingra and SRIW Environment to build the planned tram line in Liège. MobiLiège had been shortlisted in April along with the Legiaexpress consortium of Vinci Concessions, CFE, Bombardier Transportation ...
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NewsBorcad supplying Genio seats
CZECH REPUBLIC: Unveiled earlier this year, Borcad’s Genio seat is intended for both regional and inter-city applications. Derived from the manufacturer’s previous Regio+ model, Genio is being fitted to the Siemens Desiro Cityjet EMUs for ÖBB and the Škoda-built NIM Express trainsets for DB Regio, which use both the first ...
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NewsSaint-Etienne selects CAF trams
FRANCE: Saint-Etienne has selected CAF to supply 16 Urbos trams for its metre gauge network. The contract, announced on December 10, is worth €42m, with the first vehicles scheduled to be delivered in early 2016. In contrast to the current fleet, the 100% low-floor five-section trams would be bidirectional. ...
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NewsAntwerpen’s Liefkenshoek tunnel opens
BELGIUM: The 16·2 km Liefkenshoek rail link between the left and right banks of the River Schelde in the north of Antwerpen was officially opened on December 9, ahead of the start of commercial freight services on December 14. The electrified rail link including a 6 km twin-bore tunnel under ...
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NewsŚląskie voivodship announces second direct award
POLAND: Śląskie voivodship has announced that it intends to directly award national regional passenger train operator Przewozy Regionalne a contract to continue to operate local services which connect with other regions. The contract is to run for three years from the December 2016 timetable change, and cover the following routes: ...
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NewsFrom China to Spain by rail
INTERNATIONAL: The first direct rail freight service to operate between China and Spain arrived at ADIF’s Madrid Abroñigal intermodal terminal on December 9, welcomed by Spanish Development Minister Ana Pastor. Carrying a total of 30 containers, the train had left Yiwu in China on November 18, covering 13 000 km ...
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NewsDB announces €28bn five-year infrastructure spending plan
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn announced a €28bn five-year spending plan for 2015-19 on December 8. Dr Volker Kefer, Managing Director responsible for the Infrastructure & Services division, said it formed the biggest modernisation programme in the history of the network. The announcement follows federal government approval of the LuFV II agreement, ...
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NewsVilnius - Minsk electric train order
LITHUANIA: Czech rolling stock manufacturer Škoda Vagonka has won a KC750m contract to supply three three-car Class 575 double-deck electric multiple-units to Lithuanian national operator LG for use on cross-border services between Vilnius and Minsk in Belarus. LG and its Belarus counterpart BC plan to reduce the journey time ...
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NewsStandard gauge line reaches Hekou
CHINA: Test running on the 142 km standard gauge line between Mengzi and Hekou in southern Yunnan province began at the start of December. When commercial passenger services start in early 2015, a journey between the provincial capital Kunming and the Vietnamese border should take around 6 h 30 min. ...
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NewsNS plans Stadler Flirt order
NETHERLANDS: National passenger operator NS has revealed plans to order ‘around 60’ Stadler Flirt electric multiple-units to meet its short term capacity requirements. NS announced the planned order on December 5, when it confirmed that following the regulatory standstill period it had signed a firm contract worth more than €500m ...
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NewsMoscow Metro extends Line 1
RUSSIA: A 1·4 km southern extension of Moscow metro’s Line 1 opened on December 8, taking the line from Yugo-Zapadnaya to Troparyevo. Troparyevo is the network’s 196th station. It lies at a depth of 12 m and has an island platform. The station was designed by Inzhproekt. The main ...
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NewsBucureşti metro train order delayed
ROMANIA: Bucureşti metro operator Metrorex announced on December 3 that it has postponed selecting a bidder to supply 51 metro trainsets, owing to the ‘complexity of the offers’. The winner was due to be announced on December 1, but will now be announced by March 10. On September 22, ...