Main line rail industry news – Page 325
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Rail Cargo Group has launched a thrice-weekly Wels – Wien – Budapest service under its TransFER brand in co-operation with Kombiverkehr. The Finnish subsidiary of Estonia’s Operail has signed long-term agreements to lease 195 wood chip wagons to forest product customers including Metsä Group. ...
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NewsGazpromtrans orders molten sulphur wagons
RUSSIA: Gazprom subsidiary Gazpromtrans has awarded United Wagon a contract to supply a further 120 tank wagons for the transport of molten sulphur. The latest firm order announced on October 29 follows from a contract for 60 which was agreed in August, taking the total value to ...
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NewsRail and sea from China to Germany with a single waybill
INTERNATIONAL: Containers of consumer and industrial goods which had left Xi’an on November 1 bound for Hamburg arrived at the Mukran ferry terminal on Germany’s Baltic Sea island of Rügen on November 12, having travelled by rail to Baltysk in Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave and then by sea. ...
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NewsChina poised to open 350 km/h automated railway
Source: Wikimedia Commons/N509FZ A fleet of CR400BF high speed trains from the Fuxing family will be used in automated opeartion on the Beijing - Zhangjiakou line. CHINA: Automated operations are due to start before the end of this year on the 174 km high speed line linking ...
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NewsDB Regio orders EMUs for Karlsruhe services
GERMANY: DB Regio has awarded Alstom a €120m contract to supply 19 Coradia Continental regional electric multiple-units. They are to be used on services from Karlsruhe to Heilbronn, Achern, Freudenstadt and Herrenberg which DB Regio is to operate from December 2022 under the 13-year Netz 7b contract ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
The management and supervisory boards of VolkerWessels have unanimously recommended that shareholders accept Reggeborgh Holding’s offer of €22·20 per share in cash for all shares. Closing of the transaction is expected in Q1 2020. Reggeborgh CEO Henry Holterman said it had intended to be a long-term minority ...
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NewsStadler opens depot for Rhein-Ruhr fleet
GERMANY: Rhein-Ruhr transport authority VRR and Stadler have officially opened a €35m depot on a former colliery site in Herne where the manufacturer will maintain 41 Flirt 3XL EMUs which Abellio Rail NRW will operate on S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr services from December 15. The 100 000 m² site ...
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NewsUS hydrogen train contract awarded
USA: Southern California’s San Bernardino County Transportation Authority has awarded Stadler a contract to supply a Flirt H2 hydrogen fuel cell powered multiple-unit to enter passenger service in 2024, with an option for a further four units. Stadler said the contract announced on November 14 was ‘a ...
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NewsFinnish open access operator expands fleet
FINLAND: Open access freight operator Fenniarail has placed a firm order for CZ Loko to supply an EffiShunter 1600 Co-Co diesel-electric loco in 2020, with an option for six more. The Czech manufacturer supplied five similar machines to Fenniarail in 2015 and 2017. The 1 524 mm ...
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NewsFaster China to Europe freight service launched
INTERNATIONAL: In response to growing demand for rail freight services between Europe and Asia, DHL Global Forwarding has launched what it says is be the fastest rail connection between China and Germany. It has also opened three additional Rail Competence Centres at Le Havre, Felixstowe and Genova ...
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NewsRail’s priorities for a European Green Deal
EUROPE: Measures to achieve full transport decarbonisation by 2050, encourage modal shift and implement ‘polluter pays’ principles are amongst the measures which the Community of European Railway & Infrastructure Companies believes should be included in the European Green Deal that incoming European Commission President Ursula von der ...
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NewsPolish branch line to be reopened
POLAND: Infrastructure manager PKP PLK has called tenders for the works required to reopen the 3·5 km out-of-use route between Wieliszew and Zegrze, north of Warszawa. The design and build contract would include track replacement and the installation of electrification and signalling to permit passenger services to ...
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NewsBrussels Midi blockade completed
BELGIUM: Infrastructure manager Infrabel has successfully completed a major upgrade to the signalling at Brussels Midi station, as part of a €24m project to prepare for the introduction of ETCS on the cross-city Brussels Junction line. In two blockades over the long weekends of November 1-3 and ...
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NewsMillet AFR resumes wagon manufacturing
FRANCE: Manufacturing of new wagons has resumed at the former Arbel-Fauvet-Rail plant in Douai, following the acquisition of the business by wagon leasing group Millet SA, the company confirmed on November 12. Assembly of grain wagons began in October, and the construction of tank wagons is expected to restart in ...
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NewsMetrans receives first of 10 Vectron locomotives
EUROPE: The first of 10 Siemens Mobility Vectron MS locomotives which Hamburger Hafen & Logistik subsidiary Metrans ordered in April was handed over at the operator’s Praha container terminal on November 11. It entered service the following day, hauling a container train from Česká Třebová to Krems ...
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NewsTurkey publishes 2020 rail plan
TURKEY: Tenders for the design of new lines as well as the rehabilitation, electrification and resignalling of existing routes, proposals for rail-served logistics centres and the further development of the domestic supply chain are included in a 2020 strategic programme published by the president’s office on November ...
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NewsJingye agrees to buy British Steel business
UK: China’s Jingye Group has entered into contracts to acquire the business and assets of British Steel Ltd (in liquidation), the Official Receiver and special managers from EY announced on November 11. British Steel supplies 95% of the rails used by Network Rail. ...
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NewsNational Railways of Zimbabwe orders Russian wagons
ZIMBABWE: National Railways of Zimbabwe has signed an agreement for United Wagon Co to supply 100 open wagons. They are scheduled to be delivered within 12 months of NRZ finalising an export loan with the assistance of the Russian supplier. The 1 067 mm gauge wagons are ...
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NewsConstruction of Nigerian rolling stock factory begins
NIGERIA: The construction of a rolling stock assembly plant at Kajola in Ogun state was launched when Vice-President Yemi Osinbanjo attended a groundbreaking ceremony on November 9. Minister of Transportation Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi said the plant on the Lagos – Ibadan railway would ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Estonia’s Operail has begun operating some freight services without an assistant accompanying the driver. This follows modifications to an initial loco, with four more to follow this year. ‘This is a very big step towards making rail freight more efficient’, said Chairman Raul Toomsalu. ‘During the project ...