Main line rail industry news – Page 351
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NewsBombardier to supply 74 more double-deck coaches to Israel
ISRAEL: Bombardier Transportation has signed a contract to supply 74 Twindexx Vario double-deck coaches to Israel Railways. The €147m order announced on June 6 is an option on a framework agreement signed in October 2010 and will take ISR’s total fleet of Bombardier double-deck coaches to 586. ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
The EKZ joint venture of Alstom (75%) and Transmashholding (25%) has begun production of Prima M4 KZ4AT electric passenger locomotives at its plant in Nur-Sultan. ‘We are proud to widen our activities by launching the new production line for passenger locomotives in Kazakhstan, which diversifies the country’s industrialisation programme’. said ...
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NewsInfrastructure managers must do more to help freight, warns Mercitalia
EUROPE: Mercitalia Logistics Chief Executive Marco Gosso strongly criticised the performance of European infrastructure managers at the Transport Logistic trade show in München on June 6. Insisting that the FS subsidiary would ‘increase the pressure on infrastructure managers’, Gosso said that freight operators were still not being adequately compensated for ...
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NewsFirst Kiss for DB Regio
GERMANY: DB Regio has placed its first order for Stadler Kiss double-deck electric multiple-units, signing a €220m contract on June 5 for 18 four-car units for use in Schleswig-Holstein. This follows the award in April of a contract for incumbent and sole bidder DB Regio to continue to operate Elektronetz ...
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NewsLevel crossing safety ‘the most important stop of the day’
INTERNATIONAL: ‘The most important stop of the day!’ is the slogan for this year’s International Level Crossing Awareness Day on June 6, which is targeting professional drivers of lorries, buses, coaches, farm, industry and emergency vehicles with the message that a brief stop is always preferable to a serious accident ...
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NewsKaramay – Tacheng railway opens
CHINA: The 272 km Karamay – Tacheng railway in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of northwest China opened on May 30. Tacheng had been the only prefectural capital in the region without a rail link. The new line diverges from the Kuitun – Beitun – Altai line at Karamay and ...
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NewsCompetition authority opposes online ticket monopoly
SWEDEN: Competition authority Konkurrensverket has called on the government to review the regulations governing the online sale of rail tickets, in order to address the dominant position of the sj.se website run by state-owned incumbent operator SJ AB. Two new entrants – MTR Express and Saga Rail – filed complaints ...
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NewsSBB Cargo makes progress in wagonload automation
SWITZERLAND: SBB Cargo plans to trial automated brake tests for freight trains by the end of the year as it makes headway in its efforts to digitalise its wagonload business. The operator has been trialling autocouplers on 130 wagons used on dedicated intermodal shuttles for more than a year, Project ...
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NewsThello bids to run Milano – Paris high speed service
FRANCE: Trenitalia subsidiary Thello has notified rail regulator ARAFER of its intention to launch the first open access passenger services on the French high speed network. The regulator announced on June 4 that Thello had requested paths from SNCF Réseau for a twice-daily service between Milano and Paris to start ...
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NewsEIB loan for Poznań – Szczecin upgrade
POLAND: Infrastructure manager PKP PLK has signed two loan agreements with the European Investment Bank providing a total of €400m to finance modernisation of 195 km of the Poznań – Szczecin route, which is part of the TEN-T Baltic-Adriatic corridor. ‘EIB and PLK have been co-operating on dozens of projects ...
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NewsTrenitalia orders 14 high speed trainsets
ITALY: Trenitalia has confirmed an order for a partnership of Hitachi Rail (60%) and Bombardier Transportation (40%) to supply 14 more Frecciarossa 1000 high speed trainsets and maintain them for 10 years. The €575m deal announced on June 4 follows the publication in May of FS Group’s business plan for ...
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NewsRailUSA acquires Florida line from CSX
USA: Freight railway group RailUSA has announced its second acquisition, forming the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad with the purchase of a 690 km line from CSX Corp. Terms were not disclosed. The FGA runs east–west across northern Florida from Baldwin near Jacksonville to Tallahassee and Pensacola, ...
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NewsCampania DMUs ordered using Lombardia contract
ITALY: Campania regional train operator Ente Autonomo Volturno has ordered five Stadler diesel-battery multiple-units by using an option within a framework contract for up to 50 units which Lombardia regional railway FNM signed with the Swiss manufacturer in November. The two operators said this arrangement would enable them both to ...
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NewsToshiba unveils tri-mode locomotive demonstrator
GERMANY: Toshiba Railway Europe unveiled a electric-diesel-battery hybrid traction technology demonstrator locomotive at the Transport Logistic trade show in München on June 4. The company has a contract to supply 50 diesel-battery centre cab locomotives to DB Cargo from 2021, TRE Managing Director Hinrich Krey told Railway Gazette. The demonstrator ...
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NewsUzbekistan orders more Talgo 250 trainsets
UZBEKISTAN: National railway UTY has finalised an order for a further two Talgo 250 trainsets for use from 2021 on Afrosiyob services between Toshkent, Samarkand, Qarshi, Bukhara and Khiva, along with four coaches to lengthen its original pair of Talgo 250 trainsets. The €57m order announced by Talgo on May ...
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NewsCotton Belt railway DMU order placed
USA: Dallas Area Rapid Transit has awarded Stadler a $199m contract to supply eight Flirt diesel multiple-units for the $1·1bn Cotton Belt Regional Rail Project in the northern suburbs of Dallas. The 42 km line between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Shiloh Road in Plano is under ...
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NewsAlstom awarded Zollernalbbahn DMU contract
GERMANY: Following a European tender, Baden-Württemberg’s rolling stock procurement body SFBW has awarded Alstom a contract to supply 18 two-car Lint 54 diesel multiple-units for use on Zollernalbbahn services between Tübingen and Aulendorf from December 2020. The 140 km/h units will have 150 seats, air-conditioning, wi-fi, power sockets, passenger ...
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NewsSBB looks at options to reintroduce night trains
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways is examining options for reintroducing overnight services to a range of European destinations. Armin Weber, Head of International Passenger Services, told Schweizer Radio & Fernsehen on May 30 that SBB had identified a market need and was looking at potential routes. If SBB decided to re-enter ...
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NewsLeo Express unveils its Chinese EMUs
CZECH REPUBLIC: The three multi-system electric multiple-units being built for open access operator Leo Express by Chinese manufacturer CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive are nearing completion and on course for delivery in the second half of the year, the operator confirmed on June 3. The inter-city EMUs are due to undergo ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Canadian Pacific has signed an agreement to handle all of Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp’s traffic from the Port of Vancouver for three years from January 1 2020. Following a successful trial in Europe, CFL Multimodal is to use Traxens cargo tracking equipment on Europe to China routes. ‘The technology ...