Main line rail industry news – Page 356
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NewsGraz-Köflacher Bahn announces electrification plan
AUSTRIA: A plan for the electrification of the 91 km Graz-Köflacher Bahn network at 15 kV 16·7 Hz by December 2025 was announced by Director-General Franz Weintögl on May 6. GKB operates routes from Graz to Köflach and Wies-Eibiswald, diverging at Lieboch. It currently carries around 6 million passengers a ...
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NewsAŽD Praha awarded turnout monitoring contract
ISRAEL: Czech company AŽD Praha has signed a framework contract covering the supply of turnout monitoring and diagnostic equipment to Israel Railways. The agreement runs for three years with the possibility of a three-year extension, with ISL able to order equipment as required. The diagnostic system is ...
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NewsFaster track stripping
AUSTRALIA: John Holland has developed a rail springer excavator attachment which, it says, makes the traditionally labour-intensive and high-risk process of track stripping both safer and up to five times faster. ‘The springer is designed to attach to an excavator via a quick hitch, the road-rail excavator then moves along ...
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NewsBizon locomotive delivered
CZECH REPUBLIC: CZ Loko’s Česká Třebová factory has supplied Rail Cargo Carrier with the first of two EffiLiner 1600 Bizon locomotives produced by extensively rebuilding ČKD Class 753 locomotives. RCC-CZ intends to use the first of the locomotives to haul freight trains on the Polanka nad Odrou – Bohumín-Vrbice ...
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NewsNürnberg S6 contract awarded
GERMANY: Bayern transport authority BEG has awarded DB Regio a contract to operate the future route S6 of the Nürnberg S-Bahn network. The contract runs from the December 2021 timetable change to December 2030. It covers the operation of around 600 000 train-km/year on the Nürnberg Hbf – Neustadt (Aisch) ...
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NewsPandrol launches app to improve rail weld tracability
WELDING: Pandrol has released the Pandrol Connect app for Android devices which enables live data capture during the aluminothermic welding of rails, saving time on data entry and improving traceability. This is intended to help infrastructure manager identify defects and assist with cost optimisation by identifying anomalies in weld performance. ...
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NewsKansas City Southern revises performance metrics
USA: Kansas City Southern has revised the definitions of two metrics that it uses to measure operating performance. Operational Cars Online (formerly Cars Online) represents the number of wagons on the KCS network that are not at a customer’s location. Gross Velocity (formerly Train Speed) measures the average velocity ...
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NewsLiberian railway could carry iron ore from Guinea
LIBERIA: A memorandum of understanding which could see iron ore from a proposed mine at Zogota in Guinea exported by rail through Liberia has been signed by mining project developer Niron Metals plc and the Liberian government. Various proposals have been put forward over the years for the exploitation of ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Ermewa has announced the acquisition of 154 Sggrss 80ft wagons from CzechoSlovakGroup company Rosco Bohemia, saying this will reinforce its presence in the intermodal business in Germany, the Czech Republic and Romania. Norddeutsche Eisenbahngesellschaft Niebüll and Intermodal.sh held a groundbreaking ceremony on May 2 for a €10m expansion of the ...
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NewsUber adds public transport ticketing option
USA: Rail and bus tickets for travel in Denver can now been bought using the Uber taxi app. The staggered roll-out of the ticketing option which began on May 2 follows the launch in January of Uber Transit journey planning, which provides Uber users with real-time public transport information ...
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NewsMongolia’s Northern Railways signs EPC agreement
MONGOLIA: The Northern Railways subsidiary of coking coal mine project developer Aspire Mining Ltd has signed an engineering, procurement and construction agreement for the proposed 547 km Erdenet – Ovoot railway with a joint venture of China Gezhouba International Engineering Co and China Railway 20 Group Corp. The agreement was ...
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NewsBombardier Transportation synchronises production to customer requirements
BOMBARDIER: Announcing its first quarter results on May 2, Bombardier said revenues at the Transportation business totalled US$2·1bn, 5% down year-on-year excluding currency impacts. It said this reflected a slower production ramp-up on certain large projects as it ‘better synchronises its production output to customer requirements and delivery schedules‘. ...
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Rail agreements reached at the Belt & Road Forum
INTERNATIONAL: Railway projects were included in the ‘283 concrete results’ announced by the hosts following the Second Belt & Road Forum for International Co-operation, which was held in Beijing on April 25-27. The forum was organised by the Chinese government to bring together heads of government and other senior figures ...
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NewsOperail switches workshop focus from wagon repairs to locomotives
ESTONIA: Freight group Operail’s supervisory board has approved the management’s proposal for changes at the Tapa depot which will direct resources towards locomotive rebuilding activities rather than wagon repairs. Repair activities at the site have not been profitable in recent years because of the extent to which work depends ...
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NewsKeio Railway special marks start of Reiwa Era
JAPAN: Among the special events to mark the abdication of Emperor Akihito and the accession of Emperor Naruhito, the Keio Electric Railway running west from the capital operated a commemorative limited express service over the transition from April 30 to May 1. Departing from Tokyo’s Shinjuku station at 23.45, in ...
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NewsRostock – Hamburg direct award
GERMANY: The Land of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has decided to directly award incumbent DB Regio Nordost a contract to continue to operate Ostseeküste-West regional passenger services for a further two years from the end of its current contract in December 2019. Announcing the decision on April 30, the Land’s Ministry of Energy, ...
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NewsBeijing suburban route S5 extended
CHINA: Beijing suburban railway service S5 was extended northeast from Huairou Bei to Gubeikou adding three stations on April 30. The maximum operating speed of trains on the commuter route was increased from 70 to 100 km/h at the same time. Route S5 is now 135 km long with stations ...
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NewsBaden-Württemberg shortlists lines for reopening
GERMANY: The Land of Baden-Württemberg has commissioned a detailed comparative study of the cost and feasibility of reintroducing passenger services on 41 routes, following an initial investigation which looked at 75 closed or freight-only lines. The study is to be completed by the end of 2020, and aims to produce ...
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NewsKapsch CarrierCom to upgrade Infrabel communications network
BELGIUM: Infrastructure manager Infrabel has awarded Kapsch CarrierCom a 15-year framework agreement covering the migration of its GSM-R communications network from R99/TDM to R4/VoIP and the provision of 12 years of maintenance. This is intended to provide the functionality and resilience needed for the use of ETCS Level 2 over ...
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NewsAlger Houari Boumediene Airport rail link opened
ALGERIA: A rail link to Alger Houari Boumediene Airport opened along with a new terminal on April 29. National railway SNTF operates an hourly service from Alger’s Agha station to Bab Ezzouar and the airport between 05.00 and 21.00, with a price of 80 dinar per adult and 40 ...