Main line rail industry news – Page 503
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NewsStadler locomotives to support Medway’s expansion
PORTUGAL: Leasing company Alpha Trains has taken delivery of six Euro 4000 diesel locomotives from Stadler’s Valencia plant. Two of the locos are for Iberocargo, while four are to be used by Medway on cross-border freight services between Spain and Portugal under the Portuguese operator’s first leasing agreement with Alpha ...
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NewsSMBC Rail acquires American Railcar Leasing
USA: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp’s wagon leasing and fleet management business SMBC Rail Services completed the $2·78bn acquisition of American Railcar Leasing from investment group Icahn Enterprises on June 1. Chicago-based SMBC Rail said the transaction would produce a ‘premier’ full service lessor of ‘long-lived’ rolling stock for the North ...
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NewsUK railway news round-up
A mock-up of the Stadler Flirt multiple-units which are to enter service with Greater Anglia from 2019 has been set up at the operator’s Norwich Crown Point depot to enable staff, customers and stakeholders to provide feedback on the design. It includes first and standard class seating, the café bar, ...
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NewsPakistan Railways orders GE locomotives for the north
PAKISTAN: GE Transportation announced an agreement to supply 20 FDL C20EMP diesel locomotives to Pakistan Railways on June 7. The 1 676 mm gauge C20EMP locomotives are to be supplied from Erie in the USA by the end of 2018. They will be a lightweight 2 000 hp mixed ...
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NewsChizhik tram for St Petersburg nears completion
RUSSIA: The first trams for the privately operated fast tram route being developed in St Petersburg are nearing completion at Stadler’s factory in Minsk. The first tram is due to begin dynamic testing on the Minsk network shortly. Future operator Transportnaya Koncessionnaya Kompanya has branded the tram Chizhik, the ...
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NewsStadler receives ‘record-breaking’ orders in a successful year
SWITZERLAND: Stadler says its expansion into new geographical markets and industry sectors paid off in 2016, when it received a ‘record-breaking’ number of orders with a total value of SFr4·9bn, more than double the 2015 figure. Turnover and profit were ‘in line with the long-term average’, the company said on ...
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NewsMongolian coal railway co-operation agreement
MONGOLIA: China Gezhouba Group Co Ltd has entered into a non-binding agreement to co-operate with Aspire Mining subsidiary Northern Railways to plan and source financing for the proposed 549 km Erdenet – Ovoot line. The proposed multi-user railway would enable Aspire to exploit the second largest coking coal reserves in ...
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NewsBrunswick Rail replaces leaseback facility
RUSSIA: Wagon leasing company Brunswick Rail has agreed a rouble sale and leaseback arrangement with SpetsTransServis to replace a previous leaseback facility with Alfa-Leasing. Announcing the change on June 2, Brunswick Rail said the arrangement offered more attractive terms which would reduce its interest payments and increase its unencumbered fleet. ...
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NewsPrime Minister inaugurates Napoli Afragola station
ITALY: The landmark high speed station at Napoli Afragola, designed by the late Zaha Hadid, was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on June 6, ahead of the start of regular services on June 11. Arriving on a Freccciarossa 1000 high speed train, Gentiloni was accompanied by Minister of ...
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NewsDB Regio selected for Rhein-Neckar operating contract
GERMANY: Baden-Württemberg's Ministry of Transport and the Rhein-Neckar and Rheinland-Pfalz Süd transport authorities have jointly selected DB Regio as preferred bidder for the S-Bahn Rhein-Neckar (Netz 6b) operating contract. The contract covers the operation of passenger services on lines in Baden-Württemberg and southern Hessen from December 13 2020. The ...
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NewsUlrich Bouly
International high speed operator Thalys has appointed former Captrain Belgium Managing Director Ulrich Bouly as Chief Operations Officer, while Bruno Dierickx becomes Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer.
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NewsVale anticipates fuel saving from Trip Optimizer
BRAZIL: Vale expects to make significant fuel savings by deploying GE Transportation’s Trip Optimizer automated cruise control system across 114 locomotives used on the Estrada de Ferro Carajás heavy haul network. Pilot tests are also expected to start shortly on the Vitória a Minas network, and on the Nacala Corridor ...
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NewsCaltrain board approves operating and capital budgets
USA: Caltrain’s board approved the operating and capital budgets for the financial year starting on July 1 at its monthly meeting on June 1. The $148·2m operating budget includes $20·5m in funding contributions from San Mateo County Transit District, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and the City & County ...
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NewsTyva coal railway co-operation agreement
RUSSIA: A agreement to co-operate build the proposed 410 km Elegest – Kyzyl – Kuragino Railway in the Republic of Tyva was signed by Russian Railways President Oleg Belozerov and Ruslan Baisarov, Managing Director of coal mining concession holder Tuva Energy Industrial Corp, at the St Petersburg International Economic ...
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NewsPresident opens Astana Nurly Zhol station
KAZAKHSTAN: ‘Nurly Zhol station is unique, there is no such station in the entire post-Soviet area’, said President Nursultan Nazarbayev when he officially opened the new passenger hub in Astana on May 31. The first passenger services began using the station on June 1, and the first international service arrived ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Regular China – Kazakhstan – Turkmenistan – Iran container services are scheduled to be launched this month, after the railway authorities reached an agreement at the end of May. Trains are expected to cover the 10 300 km route in less than 14 days, compared to 40 days by sea. ...
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NewsFeature articles in the June 2017 issue of Railway Gazette International
Feature articles in the latest issue of Railway Gazette International, the leading business journal for railway operators and suppliers, read in 140 countries. Subscribe to Railway Gazette International today. Comment The changing face of freight News Main Line Urban Rail Market Industry Innovations Pointers ...
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NewsHigh-value chemicals travel from China to Europe by rail
INTERNATIONAL: A train organised by Swiss intermodal operator Hupac and Chinese chemical producer Markor left Korla in northwest China on May 26, carrying 82 ISO tank containers loaded with high-value chemical products for customers in Germany and France. ‘We plan to cover the distance of 8 000 km in 18 ...
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NewsElectrification to turn Taiwan into a ‘one day trip zone’
TAIWAN: The Ministry of Transportation & Communications’ Railway Reconstruction Bureau has awarded Nippon Signal and Shihlin Electric & Engineering Corp a contract to electrify the final non-electrified section of the route circling the island. Electrification of the 123·4 km South-Link Line between Taitung and Chaozhou is expected to lead to ...
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News‘Transformational’ deal creates Europe’s largest wagon manufacturer
EUROPE: The 'transformational' deal to combine the European activities of The Greenbrier Companies and Astra Holding to create what the firms describe as Europe's largest wagon manufacturing and repair business was completed on June 1. According to Greenbrier-Astra Rail supervisory board Chairman and head of commercial operations Thomas Manns, the ...