Main line rail industry news – Page 832
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NewsCommuter co-operation in Costa Rica
COSTA RICA: President Laura Chinchilla ratified an agreement with Spanish Development Minister Ana Pastor in Madrid on November 15, which will see the two countries working together to develop the rail network serving the Costa Rican capital San José. Under the terms of the three-year agreement, Spanish companies would be ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - December 2012
Mid-America Regional Council has approved the allocation of $17·7m of US federal funding to the planned $100m Downtown Streetcar starter line in Kansas City, Missouri. Lyon tram route T5 was inaugurated on November 17. It uses an existing section of Line T2, plus a new 3·8 km extension from ...
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NewsNews in Brief - December 2012
The French region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais is funding accessibility improvements to 124 SNCF TER trainsets, including the installation of retractable wheelchair ramps and tactile surfaces to assist visually-impaired passengers. The €6m programme is due for completion by 2014. Russian Railways subsidiary Second Freight Company has been renamed Federal Freight Company with ...
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NewsHamburg U4 opens to HafenCity
GERMANY: Mayor Olaf Scholz inaugurated Hamburg Hochbahn Line U4 linking the city centre with the HafenCity redevelopment area on November 28. Travel is free from November 29 until December 9, when revenue services will begin. Construction of the 4 km underground U4 has taken five years at a cost of ...
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NewsSJ expands indirect sales network
SWEDEN: National passenger operator SJ has extended its distribution agreement with transaction processing specialist Amadeus to provide travel agencies and corporate travel management companies worldwide with access to its fares inventory. Under the agreement, SJ becomes the latest operator to sign up to the Amadeus Global Rail ...
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NewsHandover marks start of EP20 series production
RUSSIA: The first series-produced EP20 passenger locomotive was handed over to Russian Railways by manufacturer Transmashholding at a ceremony near Rostov on November 30. The first Russian electric locomotive design capable of hauling inter-city trains at up to 200 km/h, the EP20 is a single-section Bo-Bo-Bo passenger ...
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NewsMayor of Moscow commits to tram investment
RUSSIA: Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed his commitment to the future of Moscow's 416 km tram network during a visit to a section of modernised track on Krasnoprudnaya Ulitsa on November 26. 'We are not going to stop the tram traffic in the city', the Mayor said. 'On the contrary, we ...
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NewsTrenord to buy 23 multiple-units
ITALY: The board of Lombardia regional train operator Trenord announced plans to exercise options for the purchase of 23 additional multiple-units on November 30. A firm order worth €130m is to be placed for nine three-car and four five-car AnsaldoBreda TSR double-deck electric multiple-units. A further 10 four-car Stadler ...
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NewsColton Flyover going up
USA: The Colton Flyover is under construction at the city of Colton in California to eliminate a flat crossing between Union Pacific and BNSF tracks. The crossing has been an operational problem since it opened in 1882. Around 2·4 km of Union Pacific’s El Paso to Los Angeles route is ...
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NewsT'Trans and Vossloh selected for Santos light rail contract
BRAZIL: Public transport operator EMTU has selected the Tremvia Santos consortium of Trans Sistemas de Transportes (T'Trans) and Vossloh España to supply 22 light rail vehicles for the future SIM network in Santos. Under a contract expected to be worth up to R$284·3m, deliveries would take place between May 2014 ...
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NewsMoreton Bay branch gets underway
AUSTRALIA: Four consortia have been shortlisted to develop 'innovative' proposals for the long-planned Moreton Bay Rail Link in Queensland, serving the coastal region northeast of Brisbane. Under discussion for many years, the A$1·15bn project was accelerated by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2010, leading to a signing of an agreement ...
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NewsSiemens agrees to buy Invensys Rail
INTERNATIONAL: Siemens AG confirmed on November 28 that it had agreed to purchase Invensys Rail, the signalling arm of the UK-based industrial automation group Invensys. Valued at €2·2bn, the deal is expected to be completed by mid-2013, subject to regulatory approval and endorsement by the Invensys shareholders at a General ...
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NewsNorway to adopt ERTMS
NORWAY: ERTMS is to be adopted across the Norwegian rail network, the government announced in a letter to train operators and infrastructure manager Jernbaneverket on November 26. Much of the country's existing signalling equipment is in need of replacement, and the government believes there are no viable long-term alternatives ...
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NewsBombardier to supply Dubai airport peoplemover
UAE: Bombardier Transportation has been awarded a 392m dirham contract to design and build an 1·5 km elevated automated peoplemover to link Terminal 1 with the future Concourse 4 at Dubai International Airport. The peoplemover will have a capacity of more than 200 000 passengers/day. Dubai International Airport is being ...
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NewsUK rail ticketing to go in the cloud
UK: IT consultancy Smart421 has been awarded a contract to develop a Live Sales Management system to handle Ticket on Departure services for Rail Settlement Plan Ltd, the organisation which manages ticketing on behalf of the train operating companies. TOD allows tickets booked online to be collected from self-service ...
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NewsMediterranean Corridor enhancement programme
SPAIN: Under the Mediterranean Corridor project to create a 1435 mm gauge freight route over the 1300 km between Figueres and Algeciras (RG 5.12 p30), engineering consultancy Ineco is currently undertaking design studies for dual-gauging the existing route between Castellbisbal on the outskirts of Barcelona and Tarragona. The studies ...
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NewsJR East unveils Super Komachi high speed train
JAPAN: The first of 23 production Series E6 trainsets being supplied to East Japan Railway for Akita mini-Shinkansen services was officially unveiled at the railway's Sendai rolling stock maintenance depot on November 22, where the trains were officially designated Super Komachi. Due for delivery between November 2012 and the spring ...
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NewsModular metro traction equipment with emergency rescue capability
CHINA: Alstom Transport and its local partner Shanghai Alstom Transport Electrical Equipment have been awarded a €37m contract to supply traction equipment for 35 six-car trainsets being built for Shanghai Shentong Metro Group by CNR Changchun. Due for delivery in 2014, the 140 motor and 70 trailer cars are needed ...
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News
Hélio Mauro França
Hélio Mauro França has been appointed Director of Brazil’s Empresa de Planejamento e Logística, a company established by the government in August to oversee the construction of 12 railways.
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NewsWestern China link under construction
CHINA: A ceremony at Golmud in Qinghai province during October officially launched construction of a 506 km railway to Dunhuang in Gansu province. Work is expected to take five years and cost 12·9bn yuan. The single-track electrified line with provision for future doubling will provide a connection between the existing ...