Main line rail industry news – Page 338
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NewsAustralian investment group FSI to buy Patriot Rail
USA: Australian investment group First State Investments announced an agreement to acquire 100% of the equity of short line group Patriot Rail & Ports from SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners on August 26. Terms were not disclosed. Formed in 2006 and acquired by SteelRiver in 2012, Florida-based Patriot now has ...
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NewsDB Cargo wagons are getting smarter
GERMANY: A total of 34 000 wagons, or half of DB Cargo’s fleet, have now been equipped with telematics and smart sensors, the operator announced on August 27. All 68 000 wagons are scheduled to be equipped by 2020. The retrofitting programme is being carried out at Seelze near ...
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NewsOmniTRAX acquires Cleveland Commercial Railroad
USA: OmniTRAX has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Cleveland Commercial Railroad and its wholly owned subsidiary Cleveland Harbor Belt Railroad for an undisclosed price. The transaction is expected to close by the end of August, with the CCRL to be renamed as the Cleveland ...
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NewsDMU operating contract awarded pending battery train deployment
GERMANY: The Rhein-Ruhr and Westfalen-Lippe transport authorities have awarded incumbent NordWestBahn the Emscher-Münsterland-Netz 2021 contract, which covers the operation of service RE14 Essen-Steele – Dorsten – Borken/Coesfeld for seven years from the December 2021 timetable change. The Transdev subsidiary is to lease Bombardier Transportation Talent diesel multiple-units from Alpha ...
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NewsTurkish operator orders Stadler electro-diesel locos
TURKEY: The Körfez Ulaştırma rail transport subsidiary of oil refiner Tüpraş has awarded Stadler a contract to supply seven Eurodual electro-diesel locomotives from 2021, along with an eight-year full service maintenance agreement. Stadler said the order announced on August 27 was its first contract in Turkey, and they would ...
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NewsVossloh to sell Locomotives business to CRRC
GERMANY: On August 26 Vossloh AG announced its intention to sell its Locomotives business unit to Chinese state-owned rolling stock group CRRC. Vossloh Locomotives is based in Kiel, where a new production facility was completed in March 2018. The business specialises in producing small and medium sized diesel and ...
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NewsFlirt fleet refurbished
GERMANY: Leasing company Alpha Trains has completed one of its largest refurbishment projects, handing over to operator Keolis the last of 44 Stadler Flirt electric multiple-units which have been modernised for use on Teutoburger Wald-Netz and Hellweg-Netz services. The comprehensive modernisation programme was undertaken by Stadler in Berlin, ...
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NewsZambian regulation switches freight from road to rail
AFRICA: Following the implementation of a Zambian regulation requiring 30% of selected bulk commodities to be transported by rail rather than by road, Delta Energy Zambia has awarded Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority and Zambia Railways Ltd a contract to transport petroleum from the Port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Siemens has trained staff at the Schienenfahrzeugbau Wittenberge workshop to undertaken maintenance and 30 000 km and 150 000 km inspections of Vectron AC and Smartron locomotives. SFW’s parent company Eisenbahngesellschaft Potsdam took delivery of four Smartron locos in June. ‘With this step, we are prepared for the new technologies ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market - August 2019
Australia: ARTC has appointed Turner & Townsend and SNC-Lavalin to provide programme management office services for the Inland Rail project. Canada: Thales is to supply SelTrac CBTC signalling for Toronto’s Finch West light rail line and Stage 2 of the O-Train Confederation Line in Ottawa. ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market - August 2019
Australia: The UGL Unipart 70:30 JV has been awarded a five-year extension to its contract to maintain Sydney Trains’ fleet of more than 1 050 vehicles. The contract runs for five years from July 1, replacing a two-year extension announced in January. South Australia has awarded Bombardier a ...
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NewsEU to fund Maribor rail enhancements
SLOVENIA: The EU has allocated €101m from the Cohesion Fund for work to modernise the line between Maribor and Šentilj near the border with Austria on the route to Graz. The project aims to improve safety, increase freight capacity and reduce journey times. Maribor Tezno, Maribor, Pesnica and Šentilj ...
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NewsRed Férrea de Atlántico operational support contract awarded
COLOMBIA: National infrastructure authority ANI has awarded Spanish engineering and technology consultancy Airtificial a €1·5m contract to optimise operations on the Red Férrea de Atlántico. The contract covers operations on the 876 route-km linking Bogota, Belencito, La Dorada and Chiriguná. These 914 mm gauge lines had been out of ...
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NewsEstonia plans rail electrification to meet 2030 climate goals
ESTONIA: The Ministry of Economic Affairs & Communications and the Ministry of the Environment are preparing a railway electrification strategy after receiving cabinet backing for the development of proposals. The government envisages that electrification works could be undertaken in 2022-28, supporting the aim of reducing greenhouse gas ...
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News
Railway supply industry news round-up
SNCF Réseau has raised €100m issuing a 100-year green bond. The French infrastructure manager said this was the longest-ever green bond, overtaking 60-year bonds issued by Energias de Portugal and Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg. Projects eligible for financing will include maintenance and work to optimise energy use and expand the network. HSBC ...
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NewsFRA announces state of good repair grants
USA: The federal government has approved more than $272m of funding for 10 ‘state of good repair’ projects, the Federal Railroad Administration announced on August 21. The money is intended to co-fund works to improve publicly-owned railway infrastructure and the performance of inter-city passenger services. FRA said ...
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NewsBLS and SBB agree to share long-distance concession
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways and BLS AG have reached ‘an amicable solution’ to share the operation of long-distance services, the Federal Ministry of Environment, Transport, Energy & Communication announced on August 22. This will enable BLS to re-enter the long-distance passenger market with effect from the December 2019 timetable change. ...
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NewsDB to refurbish SBB coaches
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has awarded Deutsche Bahn a contract to refurbish 93 Einheitswagen IV coaches at its Wittenberge and Neumünster workshops from 2020. The first of the EW IV coaches were delivered to SBB in 1981, and they are expected to remain in service until the 2030s. The ...
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NewsRussian wagons for DB on test
GERMANY: The first of 160 articulated flat wagons which Deutsche Bahn has ordered from United Wagon Co’s Tikhvin factory in Russia have been sent for testing, with TSI certification expected by the end of the year Static testing and trial running is to be undertaken over several months, with ...