Main line rail industry news – Page 327
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NewsDigital campus supports Norway’s ERTMS roll-out
NORWAY: ‘The railway is moving into the digital era’, announced Digitisation Minister Nikolai Astrup, on October 31, when he inaugurated Bane NOR’s ERTMS test and training centre at Campus Nyland on October 31.
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
DB Cargo Czechia has completed the delivery of five EffiShunter 600 locomotives from CZ Loko’s factory in the Czech Republic to İskenderun Demir ve Çelik’s steelworks at İsdemir in Turkey. The first two were transported by road for more than half of the 3 000 km ...
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NewsAntioquia Railway reinstatement proposal submitted
COLOMBIA: A draft plan for rebuilding the 63 km section of the closed Antioquia Railway between Barbosa, Medellín and Caldas has been submitted to the government by regional Governor Luis Pérez Gutiérrez, who said it could help relieve traffic around Medellín. The project is estimated to cost ...
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NewsTransContainer orders flat wagons
RUSSIA: Intermodal operator TransContainer has awarded United Wagon Co a contract to supply 100 Type 13-6851-05 flat wagons for the transport of heavy containers and tank containers. The contract announced on October 29 is TransContainer’s second for the type, following on from an order for 30 Type ...
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NewsDigital signalling test centre to be built in Sydney
AUSTRALIA: Transport for New South Wales has invited expressions of interest in a contract to build a testing facility for digital signalling technology. To be built at the Rail Technology Campus at Chullora in western Sydney, the Digital Systems Facility would enable technologies to be tested in ...
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NewsRussian Railways approves digital transformation strategy
RUSSIA: A digital transformation strategy running to 2025 has been approved by the Russian Railways board. The document defines the conceptual foundations and principles for the national railway’s digitalisation, setting priorities including the substitution of foreign IT with domestic technology. One of the main features of the ...
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NewsFuel cell train to be tested in the Netherlands
NETHERLANDS: A Coradia iLint hydrogen fuel-cell multiple-unit is to be tested on the Groningen – Leeuwarden line after an agreement was signed at the Klimaattop Noord NL climate summit by manufacturer Alstom, the province of Groningen, local operator Arriva, infrastructure manager ProRail and energy company Engie. ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Rail.One has open a plant at Schwandorf in Germany for the production of up to 180 000 m of prestressed concrete turnout bearers per year under a 15-year contract awarded by DB Netz in October 2017. The site is close to DB’s turnout plant to simplify ...
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NewsIarnród Éireann orders DMU cars to increase commuter capacity
IRELAND: Government approval for the €150m purchase of 41 intermediate coaches to lengthen Iarnród Éireann’s InterCity Railcar diesel multiple-units was announced by Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Shane Ross on October 30. This will provide a 34% increase in peak capacity across the Kildare Line, Maynooth ...
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NewsProgress Rail to buy Cleveland Track Material
USA: Progress Rail has signed an agreement to buy specialist trackwork supplier Cleveland Track Material Inc, the largest US company in Vossloh’s Customised Modules division. The €35m sale does not require regulatory approval, and is expected to close in early November. ‘This acquisition allows Progress Rail to ...
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NewsFreight to be focus of Shift2Rail successor
EUROPE: Freight is likely to be a core focus of the successor to the Shift2Rail joint technology initiative, S2R Executive Director Carlo Borghini told Railway Gazette on October 30 on the sidelines of the World Congress on Railway Research in Tokyo. While the so-called Shift2Rail II programme ...
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NewsStella Artois train launched
BELGIUM: A rail freight service carrying beer for brewing company AB InBev was inaugurated by Minister-President of Flanders Jan Jambon on October 28. The trains operated by Lineas each carry 47 containers directly from a warehouse owned by Katoen Natie to DP World’s Quay 1700 within the ...
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NewsNigerian railway construction agreement signed
NIGERIA: The government and China Railway Construction Corp International have signed a US$3·9bn contract for completion of the railway corridor linking Abuja with the port of Warri. The 327 km Itakpe – Ajaokuta – Warri section of the route was completed earlier this year after being developed ...
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NewsStadler beats CRRC to win Westbahn fleet replacement
AUSTRIA: A contract for the supply and maintenance of a fleet of 15 six-car Kiss double-deck electric multiple-units was signed on October 29 by Stadler, Wien – Salzburg open access operator Westbahn and leasing company Austrian Train Finance. The order is worth just under €300m, with delivery ...
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News‘Earthquake mode’ battery packs to be fitted to N700S Shinkansen fleet
Nick Kingsley reports from WCRR 2019
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NewsChina accelerates construction of freight links
CHINA: The National Development & Reform Commission has issued instructions to accelerate the construction of freight lines to improve the last-mile connectivity of ports, industrial plants, mining sites and logistics parks. The programme covers 127 rail links totalling 1 586 km in 24 provinces and municipalities. These ...
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NewsLiefkenshoek rail tunnel PPP refinanced
BELGIUM: The BAM PPP-PGGM joint venture of Royal BAM Group’s public-private partnership arm BAM PPP and Dutch institutional pension fund investor PGGM has refinanced €580m of debt and associated interest swaps relating to the Liefkenshoek rail link in Antwerpen. The 16 km link including a 6·5 km ...
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NewsUkrainian Railways considers fleet modernisation options
UKRAINE: National railway UZ is negotiating with manufacturers for the purchase of main line electric locomotives to replace its ageing Soviet-era fleet, including VL8 locomotives first produced in 1955. On October 17 Chairman Yevgen Kravtsov met a French delegation led by Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari to discuss ...
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NewsThree airports rail link PPP signed
THAILAND: The public-private partnership agreement for the construction of a 220 km/h fast rail link between three airports around Bangkok was signed by State Railway of Thailand and the Eastern High-Speed Rail Link Three Airports Co Ltd consortium on October 24. The consortium is led by Charoen ...
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NewsEffiShunter 1000 handed over to ČD Cargo
CZECH REPUBLIC: The first of five CZ Loko EffiShunter 1000 Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives ordered by national freight operator ČD Cargo under the fleet renewal programme launched in January 2018 was officially handed over on September 30. The loco is to be used ...