Main line rail industry news – Page 828
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NewsSecond China - Kazakhstan rail link inaugurated
ASIA: A second international rail connection between China and Kazakhstan was officially inaugurated on December 22, when two special trains were operated to the border crossing at Korgas in Xinjiang province. The break-of-gauge transfer facility forms part of a free trade zone at Korgas, known as the International Centre for ...
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NewsSTB approves RailAmerica acquisition
USA: Genesee & Wyoming Inc announced on December 20 that the Surface Transportation Board had approved its application to take control of the RailAmerica short line group. The change of control was expected to take effect on December 28, provided that no objections had been received by STB before December ...
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NewsEIB loan supports Talgo high speed train development
SPAIN: The European Investment Bank is providing Talgo with a €50m loan to support its high speed train research and development. The loan agreement was signed in Madrid on December 19. Talgo intends to use the money to support the development of its Avril high speed train platform, strengthen its ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market December 2012
Bangladesh: Using Indian credit, Rites is to supply 10 broad and 16 metre gauge locomotives to BR in 2013. Belarus: BC has awarded CZ Loko a €20m contract to supply 20 two-axle shunting locomotives. The TME3 will be a 1 520 mm gauge version of CZ Loko’s Effishunter, ...
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NewsLEAFs on the line
USA: Railserve has recently completed production of its first three Dual LEAF locomotives. Based on the company’s ‘Lower Emissions And Fuel’ shunting design, the Dual LEAF has two genset power modules with Cummins QSX-15 engines of 600 hp, larger frames and increased capacity sand reservoirs. ‘The 32 Railserve single genset ...
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NewsIraqi Republic Railways orders Chinese DMUs
IRAQ: A US$115m contract for Chinese firm Dongfang Electric Corp to supply Iraqi Republic Railways with 10 diesel multiple-units was signed in Baghdad on December 15. The first two units are scheduled to be delivered within a year. IRR said the 160 km/h trainsets would be modern, sophisticated and built ...
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NewsOttawa selects Confederation Line light rail consortium
CANADA: The Rideau Transit Group consortium has been selected as preferred bidder to design, build, finance and maintain the Confederation Line, a 12·5 km light rail route with 13 stations in Ottawa. The consortium comprises SNC-Lavalin, ACS Infrastructure, EllisDon, Dragados Canada and Veolia Transportation Services. Alstom would supply Citadis ...
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NewsNew and refurbished trains for Hessische Landesbahn
GERMANY: Hessische Landesbahn has awarded Alstom contracts totalling €40m for the supply of seven new Coradia Lint diesel multiple-units and the modernisation of 25 existing trainsets. The DMUs are to be deployed on Eifel-Westerwald-Sieg regional services which HLB is to operate under a 15-year contract starting in August 2015. ...
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NewsMoscow orders 120 low-floor trams
RUSSIA: Moscow City Government's transport department has selected a consortium of Uralvagonzavod and Bombardier Transportation for a contract to supply 120 low-floor trams to modernise the capital's extensive tram network. After an earlier bidding process was cancelled in mid-2012, a second call for tenders was announced in October, with bids ...
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NewsDesign work starts on east-west Laos rail corridor
LAOS: Preparatory works are underway to construct a 220 km double-track electrified railway between Savannakhet on the Mekong river and the Vietnamese frontier at Lao Bao. The project is being undertaken under a PPP concession worth up to US$5bn, which the Laotian government awarded to Malaysian contractor ...
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NewsMTR awards East Rail upgrading contracts
CHINA: Hong Kong’s MRT Corp has placed two major contracts for new trains and signalling to modernise the former Kowloon – Canton Railway main line between Kowloon and the border station at Lo Wu, as part of the regional government’s US$2·9bn ‘Hong Kong 2020’ railway investment programme. The 41 km ...
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NewsRZD unveils wagon for piggyback or container traffic
RUSSIA: An experimental 'universal' flat wagon designed by JSC Ruzkhimmash to carry either articulated lorries or containers was unveiled in Moscow on December 14. The wagon was commissioned by RZD, which expects to obtain certification for operation by the third quarter of 2013 and envisages that any wagon manufacturer would ...
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NewsZaragoza extends tram network
SPAIN: Line 1 of the Zaragoza tram network grew by a further 844 m on December 20, with the opening of the section from Plaza de España to César Augusto and Plaza del Pilar. Extension of the network into the heart of the old city has also seen a further ...
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NewsMariazellerbahn commissions a stairway to heaven
AUSTRIA: More than 2500 people attended celebrations at the Mariazellerbahn's Laubenbachmühle depot on December 16 to mark the unveiling of the first of nine low-floor electric multiple-units which Stadler Rail is supplying for Austria's longest narrow gauge railway. Bishop of St Pölten Klaus Küng and Superintendent of the Evangelical Church ...
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NewsHitachi buys The Railway Engineering Company
UK: Hitachi Europe Ltd announced the acquisition of The Railway Engineering Company from James Fisher & Sons plc on December 20. The £25·5m deal is expected to be completed by the end of December. TRE was founded in 2000, and supplies signalling training and assessment simulators as well as automatic ...
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NewsSignalling Solutions wins Network Rail contracts
UK: Alstom Transport announced on December 19 that its Signalling Solutions Ltd joint venture with Balfour Beatty Rail had been awarded contracts worth a total of €43m by Network Rail. Under a package worth €27m, SSL is to design, supply, install, test and commission new signalling and associated power works ...
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NewsEBRD funds Ukrainian wagon renewal
UKRAINE: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is providing national railway UZ with a loan of up to US$62·5m to finance the purchase of general-purpose wagons under its rolling stock renewal programme. A similar loan was provided by EBRD in 2009. The bank says it has now committed more ...
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News
Michael Odenwald
Michael Odenwald has been appointed Secretary of State in Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport, succeeding Prof Klaus-Dieter Scheurle.
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NewsAlstom wins Coradia Continental train order
GERMANY: On December 18 Alstom announced contracts worth more than €100m to supply and maintain 20 Coradia Continental electric multiple-units, which from December 2015 are to be deployed on Elektronetz Niedersachsen Ost regional services from Hannover to Wolfsburg and Wolfsburg to Hildesheim via Braunschweig. There is an option for a ...
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NewsLublin airport rail link opens
POLAND: Rail services from Lublin to Lublin (Swidnik) Airport station began on December 17. This follows completion of a 2·2 km branch from Swidnik station, which was built by PRK Expol with KZA Lublin responsible for signalling and PKP Energetyka for electrification. The new airport has been developed from ...