Main line rail industry news – Page 435
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NewsBudapest – Esztergom electric services begin
HUNGARY: Regular electric services on the Budapest – Esztergom route began on April 9, building on a single daily electric train between Piliscsaba and Budapest Nyugati which had been operating on a trial basis since the December 2017 timetable change. Some services are still operated using diesel multiple-units, with ...
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NewsVIA Rail begins procurement of new Québec – Windsor fleet
CANADA: National passenger operator VIA Rail formally launched the process to procure a new fleet of trainsets for the Québec City – Windsor corridor when it issued a request for qualifications on April 16. Following the government’s allocation of funding in the 2018 federal budget announced in March, VIA Rail ...
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NewsAlger metro extensions open
ALGERIA: The single metro line in Alger has been extended at each end, with the official opening by President Abdelaziz Boutefli on April 9 of a 1·7 km extension from Tafourah-Grande Poste to Place des Martyrs and a 3·7 km branch from Haï El Badr to Ain Naadja. Revenue services ...
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NewsVirtual reality rail safety videos
UK: EON Reality has developed a set of 360 VR safety films for infrastructure manager Network Rail. These deliver information through a combination of story-driven scenes based on real scenarios and interviews with family members and experts. The videos are designed to be much more immersive than a PowerPoint presentation ...
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NewsFirst Greater Anglia Aventra EMU nears completion
UK: The first of 111 Class 720 Aventra electric multiple-units ordered by leasing company Angel Trains for use by Abellio’s Greater Anglia franchise is now nearing completion at Bombardier Transportation’s factory in Derby. Two production lines have been set up at the plant, where the pre-glazed aluminium bodysides, roofs, floor ...
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NewsRegioJet Traxx locomotives on test
CZECH REPUBLIC: Trials of the first two of eight Bombardier Transportation Traxx MS electric locomotives ordered by open access operator RegioJet in April 2017 got underway at the Velim test circuit on April 16. Approval has now been obtained for operation at up to 160 km/h on the Czech, Slovak ...
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NewsGatwick Airport station upgrade planned
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail has submitted a planning application for the modernisation of Gatwick Airport station, which is to be undertaken in partnership with airport operator Gatwick Airport Ltd, the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership and the Department for Transport. The aim is to reduce congestion and ...
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NewsFirst Newag Impuls II EMU nears completion
POLAND: The first next-generation Impuls electric multiple-unit is nearing completion at Newag’s factory in Nowy Sącz. It is expected to be completed next month and begin tests at the Żmigród test circuit in June. Newag is supplying 14 Impuls II EMUs to Łódź suburban operator Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna under ...
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NewsFirst Newag Impuls II EMU nears completion
POLAND: The first next-generation Impuls electric multiple-unit is nearing completion at Newag’s factory in Nowy Sącz. It is expected to be completed next month and begin tests at the Żmigród test circuit in June. Newag is supplying 14 Impuls II EMUs to Łódź suburban operator Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna under ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
The first direct freight service between China and Wien left the Chengdu Qingbaijiang freight terminal on April 12, carrying 44 containers of electronic components, lighting equipment and homewares on a 9 800 km route via Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia. It was organised by Chengdu International Rail Port Group and ...
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NewsInnoTrans 2018 welcomes 23 trade associations
INNOTRANS: A total of 23 national and international trade associations from countries including Australia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Japan, Romania, Sweden, the UK and USA will be presenting their members’ capabilities at InnoTrans 2018. Many of these bodies are currently handling the organisational arrangements for stands and travel to the ...
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NewsDonchak electric locomotives delivered to Transoil
RUSSIA: Transmashholding’s Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant has supplied petrochemical transport company Transoil Transport & Logistics with a further eight 2ES4K Donchak 3 kV DC twin-section 6·4 MW electric locomotives. Russian Railways is the major operator of the 2ES4K and the related three-section variant of the design, with more than 550 ...
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NewsMEN Mikro Elektronik and Duagon to merge
GERMANY: HQ Equita is to sell its stake in safety critical computing technology supplier MEN Mikro Elektronik to Deutsche Beteiligungs, whch will merge the business with Duagon Holding AG. MEN founder Manfred Schmitz will retain his shares and be a member of the board of the new group. ‘We are ...
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NewsAnkara suburban line reopens following upgrade
TURKEY: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım attended a ceremony on April 12 to mark the reopening of the Başkentray suburban line in Ankara following its upgrade. The 37 km route between Kayaş in the east and Sincan in the west, operated with a fleet of ...
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NewsTCDD signs high speed train contract
TURKEY: National operator TCDD Taşımacılık has formally signed a contract for preferred bidder Siemens to supply a further 10 Velaro high-speed trainsets. The contract announced on April 13 is worth around €340m, including three years of maintenance, repair and cleaning. The latest order will take TCDD’s Velaro fleet to 17 ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
The Indian cabinet has approved the closure of the Ministry of Railways’ Burn Standard Company Ltd wagon manufacturing and repair business. It said the decision had been taken ‘in view of the continuous poor physical and financial performance of the company for more than 10 years despite financial assistance ...
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NewsLocomotive maintenance business sold
GERMANY: Paribus Group has sold its Northrail Technical Service locomotive maintenance and repair business to Railpool Group, which is to operate it under the Railpool Lok-Service brand. Paribus Group partner Dr Volker Simmering said NTS had made a valuable contribution to maintaining locomotives owned by its Northrail leasing business, but ...
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NewsLondon to Duisburg and China freight service launched
UK: The inaugural scheduled freight service from DP World’s London Gateway terminal east of London to the Duisburg freight hub in Germany set off on April 10, with the load including containers bound for China. This follows demonstration China to London and London to China services which ran last year. ...
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NewsDB Regio to operate Trier service RB83
EUROPE: Following a European tender, Rheinland Pfalz transport authority SPNV-Nord has selected DB Regio to operate the German section of a new hourly Wittlich – Trier – Luxembourg service RB83 which is scheduled to be launched in December 2019. The contract covers the operation of 470 000 train-km/year within Germany. ...
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NewsFirstGroup rejects Apollo takeover proposal
FIRSTGROUP: The board of UK-based rail and bus operator FirstGroup plc confirmed on April 11 that it had received a ‘preliminary and highly conditional’ indicative cash takeover proposal from US private equity firm Apollo Management IX LP. In a statement, the FirstGroup board said it had ‘considered the proposal in ...