Main line rail industry news – Page 990
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NewsHamburg-Köln Express to launch
GERMANY: A joint venture of US-based Railroad Development Corp, Locomore Rail GmbH and London-based investor Michael Schabas has announced that they have established an open-access inter-city passenger operation in Germany. Branded Hamburg-Köln Express, the venture will launch three train pairs between the two cities on August 15 2010. The trains ...
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NewsTrain lessor looking east
EUROPE: The Railpool leasing joint venture of HSH Nordbank and KfW IPEX-Bank is aiming to expand its presence in eastern Europe, according to Account Director Torsten Lehnert, who was speaking during the Nordic Rail 2009 event. ‘Our focus is to go east, perhaps into Hungary or Romania’, said Lehnert. ...
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NewsBerkshire Hathaway to buy BNSF
USA: An agreement for Berkshire Hathaway to acquire the 77·4% of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp it does not currently own was announced on November 3. BNSF Corp is the holding company which owns and manages one of the largest Class I railroads in North America through principal operating ...
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NewsLine 4 metro cars heading to São Paulo
BRAZIL: Hyundai Rotem has begun shipping 14 six-car driverless metro trains ordered in 2007 for use on São Paulo's Line 4, which is expected to open next year. Since entering the Brazilian rail market in 2003, the South Korean firm has also won orders to supply 24 metro cars ...
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NewsKuala Lumpur extension plans unveiled
MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur transport operator Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd has revealed details of its proposed 7bn ringgit light rail extension programme. Finance will be provided through internally-generated funds and Islamic bonds. The Kelana Jaya automated light metro extension will be 17 km long with 13 stations and run from ...
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NewsIzmir Metro buys Chinese trains
TURKEY: Mayor of Izmir Aziz Kocaoğlu and CSR Zhuzhou Vice-President Fu Jianguo signed a 350m yuan contract on October 28 covering the supply of eight four-car trainsets for the Izmir metro.The vehicles will be used on the city’s expanding metro network. Line 1 is 11·6 km long with 10 stations ...
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NewsRefurbishment to take Canadian cars upmarket
CANADA: National passenger operator VIA Rail has awarded US firm Avalon Rail a C$19·5m contract to provide higher-grade accommodation on 12 coaches used on the Toronto - Vancouver Canadian service. The refurbishment is being funded from C$407m allocated to passenger rail under the government's Economic Action Plan. ...
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NewsEurostar prepares for competition
EUROPE: 'Hopefully very soon, we will be a single Eurostar train operating company' in the UK, France and Belgium', Eurostar Chief Executive Richard Brown told the UK's Railway Study Association on October 14. 'At the moment, actually, in France I have no authority, I have no accountability. I ...
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NewsLinz tram maintenance deal
AUSTRIA: Bombardier Transportation has been awarded a €29m contract to maintain the 23 Flexity Outlook trams which it will supply to Linz from early 2011 under a €69m contract signed in July. The maintenance contract runs for 16 years. Bombardier will provide tech nical know-how, while the work will ...
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NewsCalgary LRT extension contract awarded
CANADA: The city of Calgary has awarded the joint venture of SNC Lavalin Graham Infrastructure the C$700m design-build contract for the 8·2 km West LRT project. The six-station extension of Calgary’s 202 light rail line, which currently runs across the city between 10 St SW and McKnight-Westwinds, will begin at ...
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NewsCommuter rail vehicles shipped to the USA
USA: The first three Silverliner V electric multiple-unit car bodyshells for Philadelphia's SEPTA arrived from South Korea on October 21. They were taken by road to an assembly plant leased by Hyundai Rotem USA, which has a US$274·1m contract to supply 120 vehicles. Delivery of three prototypes had originally ...
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NewsSt Albans Abbey tram-train announced
UK: Consultation on the introduction of tram-style vehicles to replace heavy rail services on the Watford Junction - St Albans Abbey line was announced by Secretary of State for Transport Lord Andrew Adonis on October 30. The 10 km branch operated by the London Midland franchise currently carries 450 ...
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NewsPortland buys more RDCs
USA: Portland operator TriMet has purchased two additional DMU cars to provide backup for its existing four cars, whose reliability has been unpredictable on the 23·7 km Wilsonville-Beaverton Westside Express Service. Instead of new vehicles to match those manufactured by now-defunct Colorado Railcar, the transit agency has acquired a ...
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NewsToronto capital projects deferred
CANADA: A series of Toronto Transit Commission capital investment projects valued at C$548m and scheduled to start in 2012 or later are to be deferred to protect the city’s credit. The Commission agreed to the action at its October 29 meeting, although Chairman Adam Giambrone, who is also a city ...
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NewsThrough services vital for high-speed success
EUROPE: Eurostar's share of the rail+air market from London to Paris, Brussels and Lille is now nearly 85%, Commercial Director Nick Mercer told a Railway Forum seminar in London on October 15, and even on routes with 4 h journey times other Railteam members 'take more than 50% market share'. ...
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NewsLithuanian Railways hosts fire rescue exercise
LITHUANIA: Following the signing of a co-operation agreement earlier this year, Lithuanian Railways and the Vilnius Fire & Rescue Service hosted their first emergency training exercise on October 22. Guests included representatives of the Transport & Communications Ministry and the State Railway Inspectorate. The objective was to improve the ...
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NewsAlstom out of Thameslink bidding
UK: Alstom Transport was informed late on October 22 that its bid to supply the new Thameslink EMU fleet had been eliminated from the final stage of the contest. This leaves Bombardier Transportation and Siemens Mobility in the running for the major order to be placed by the Department for ...
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NewsEU allocates TEN-T infrastructure funds
EUROPE: The European Commission announced the first projects which are to receive a total of €500m of infrastructure grants under the Trans-European Transport Network programme on October 21. The TEN-T programme aims to build missing transport links in Europe and remove bottlenecks. The funding was originally to be spread ...
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NewsFinal section of Kashmir Valley railway inaugurated
INDIA: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh flagged off a train from Anantnag to Quazigund to inaugurate the final 18 km of the railway through the Kashmir Valley on October 28. The currently isolated line will eventually be joined to the Indian rail network at Udhampur, providing an all -weather ...
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NewsUIC endorses Open Telematics standards
EUROPE: The IT Study Group at the International Union of Railways' Freight Forum has decided to adopt the standards being developed for rail freight applications by the Open Telematics Alliance, which will form the basis of a new UIC leaflet on recommended practice. Meeting in Paris on October 13, ...