Main line rail industry news – Page 920
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News
Price to join ORR
Former UK Home Office Chief Economist Richard Price, currently Chief Economist & Director of Performance at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, is to join the Office of Rail Regulation as Chief Executive. He will succeed Bill Emery, who steps down in June.The ORR has also announced the ...
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NewsExtremadura high speed PPP tendering launched
SPAIN: The Ministry of Development announced on April 26 the start of tendering for two PPP contracts to complete the 450 km high speed line between Madrid and Badajoz in Extremadura. The winning bidders would part-finance work with a combined estimated cost of €3·83bn, including maintenance over a period ...
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NewsGWI launches Antwerpen port shunting service
BELGIUM: Rotterdam Rail Feeding has launched Antwerp Rail Feeding to provide shunting and short-haul services at the Port of Antwerpen, its US-based parent company Genesee & Wyoming Inc announced on April 27. ARF has taken delivery of a Belgian-certified Vossloh G2000 DBNL, and plans to acquire further locomotives. RRF provides ...
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NewsLoco order takes Trenitalia E464 fleet to 688
ITALY: Trenitalia has placed a €128m firm order for a further 50 Class E464 electric locomotives, Bombardier Transportation announced on April 27. To be delivered in 2012-13 as an option on a 2009 contract for 100 locomotives, they take Trenitalia's total E464 order to 688 locomotives, of which 570 are ...
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NewsAngel Trains completes debt refinancing
UK: Rolling stock leasing company Angel Trains Group announced the completion of a long-term debt refinancing programme through its subsidiary The Great Rolling Stock Company Ltd on April 26, saying this will 'de-risk' the business and provide 'a stable financial platform for the company to develop further'. The £450m five-year ...
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NewsMétéor to serve Saint-Ouen from 2017
FRANCE: Speaking at a round-table forum with local authority and transport representatives from Paris and Ile-de-France on April 26, RATP President Pierre Mongin confirmed that the capital’s fully-automated metro Line 14 would be extended from Saint-Lazare to the northwestern suburb of Saint-Ouen by 2017. Mongin said a new transport master ...
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NewsKnorr-Bremse opens HVAC facility
UK: Knorr-Bremse has renamed Sigma Coachair's UK business as Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems (Burton) Ltd and moved its UK rail heating, ventilation and air-conditioning activities to new premises in Burton upon Trent during April. The changes follow the acquisition of Australian HVAC supplier Sigma Coachair Group by Knorr-Bremse Asia Pacific (Holding) ...
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NewsFirstGroup to pull out of troubled DSBFirst joint venture
DENMARK: FirstGroup has confirmed that it is to sell its 30% stake in the DSBFirst joint venture which has contracts to operate passenger trains in Denmark and southern Sweden. State-owned passenger operator DSB announced the resignation of the FirstGroup members on the boards of DSBFirst Danmark A/S and DSBFirst Aps ...
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NewsZaragoza tram Line 1 enters service
SPAIN: The first phase of Zaragoza tram Line 1 entered service at 04.52 on April 19, following successful completion of trials which started in November last year.The initial 6·4 km section of the north-south route links Plaza Paraíso on Gran Vía with Valdespartera and has 13 stops. Work on ...
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NewsRecord order backlog at Bombardier
BOMBARDIER: Revenues of US$17·7bn for the year to January 31 were announced by Bombardier Inc on March 31, down from US$19·4bn the previous year. EBIT was static at US$1·1bn, but margin grew from 5·7% to 5·9% of revenue. The Transportation business 'delivered a strong performance', said Bombardier Inc President & ...
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NewsConnecting China and Europe
CENTRAL ASIA: The Economic Co-operation Organisation is keen to develop east-west links with central Asia, Director of Transport & Communications Dr Esamil Tekyehsadat has told Railway Gazette International, with a particular focus on providing a standard gauge route from China to the Gulf ports and to Turkey, and thus Europe. ...
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NewsMashhad metro starts running
IRAN: More than a decade after work began on the first light metro line in Mashhad, the country’s second city finally began running revenue services with the start of a limited pre-opening trial on March 12. A formal opening by President Ahmedinajad is expected to take place later this year, ...
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NewsRemote blocking
POSSESSION MARKER: The FIXED 3000 RC sleeper developed by Dual Inventive for infrastructure maintenance contractor Strukton Rail incorporates a remote-controlled ZKL 3000 Track Circuit Actuator, which can be used to block a section of track during possessions. With the hollow sleepers installed at regular intervals along the route to delineate ...
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NewsAuto measuring vehicle
GEOMETRY: Eurailscout's latest Switch Inspection & Measurement Vehicle combines video inspection of turnouts with automated measurement of their geometry. Based in Amersfoort, the company has been undertaking video inspection of track and turnouts for ProRail for several years, and the SIMV reflects current trends in combining video and geometry recordings. ...
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NewsCox's Bazar to join network in 2013
BANGLADESH: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina officially launched construction of a rail link to the southern coastal town of Cox's Bazar on April 3. First planned in 1890, the 100 km metre gauge line will start from the current railhead at Dohazari, southeast of Chittagong, and run to Satkania, Dulahazra, Chakarin, ...
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NewsDeutsche Bahn agrees ICx train order with Siemens
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has reached agreement with Siemens to order up to 300 ICx trainsets. Approved at an extraordinary meeting of the DB board in Frankfurt on April 21, the deal is due to be signed after a 14-day 'waiting and information period', at which point DB plans to place ...
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NewsBielefeld Vamos light rail vehicle unveiled
GERMANY: The first of 16 high-floor light rail vehicles for Bielefeld city transport operator MoBiel was presented to a select audience at HeiterBlick’s Leipzig plant on April 14. MoBiel placed a €47m order for the cars with a consortium of Vossloh Kiepe and HeiterBlick on January 26 2009. Vossloh Kiepe ...
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NewsPraha metro car modernisation complete
CZECH REPUBLIC: Skoda Transportation completed a long-term programme to modernise Praha metro’s original Soviet-built Type 81-71 rolling stock when the last of 93 five-car trainsets was handed over on February 12. The KC10bn programme was launched with a prototype in 1996. It encompassed overhaul of traction motors, underframes and gearboxes, ...
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NewsNational plan to put cities 90 min apart
SOUTH KOREA: The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs has published plans for national network of high speed and upgraded lines which would put the most of the major cities within 90 min travel time of each other by 2020. The second national railway plan published on April 3 ...
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News£200m package to ease Cardiff bottleneck
UK: Network Rail unveiled a £200m three-year plan to alleviate the congested double-track bottleneck through Cardiff on April 12. Local passenger traffic is growing at 8% a year, and the opportunity to increase capacity arises because the area is being resignalled and electrification of local commuter lines is planned. The ...