Main line rail industry news – Page 544
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NewsStadler awarded metre-gauge EMU contract
SWITZERLAND: Wynental- und Suhrentalbahn has awarded Stadler a SFr50m contract to supply five three-car electric multiple-units and spare parts. Entry into service is planned for December 2019, and there is an option for 10 more EMUs. The air-conditioned EMUs will have a maximum speed of 80 km/h. They will be ...
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NewsAfghanistan and Turkmenistan open Lapis Lazuli railway
ASIA: A line running 85 km from Atamyrat in Turkmenistan to the Ymamnazar border crossing point and 3 km onwards to Afghanistan’s border facilities at Akina was officially opened by Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani who ceremonially tightened a golden bolt on November 28. The 1 ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
RheinCargo has taken delivery of the first three of 10 Traxx AC3 Class 187 electric locomotives ordered from Bombardier Transportation. The rest are scheduled to arrive from the manufacturer's Kassel plant by the end of the year. It is reported that services on Syria’s 65 km coastal line between the ...
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NewsINEA backs Croatian route upgrade
CROATIA: The European Commission’s Innovation & Networks Executive Agency has signed an agreement to provide 85% co-financing for HŽ Infrastruktura’s €300m modernisation of the 43·2 km route from Križevci to the Hungarian border. The work to permit 160 km/h operation will include the modernisation of 10 stations, elimination of all ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market November 2016
Argentina: Nokia is to supply communications for the extension of Buenos Aires metro Line H. Trenes Argentinos Infraestructura has a awarded a 50: 50 joint venture of Tesur and Panedile a 515m pesos contract to undertake track renewals on 64 km of the metre gauge Belgrano network in the ...
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NewsMÁV gains Budapest suburban lines
HUNGARY: National rail operator MÁV took over operation of the HÉV suburban lines from Budapest transport operator BKV on November 24. This follows an agreement in February between Mayor István Tarlós and Minister of National Development Miklós Seszták. Newly created MÁV subsidiary BHÉV is now responsible operating all HÉV ...
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NewsBKV loses Budapest suburban lines
HUNGARY: National rail operator MÁV took over operation of the HÉV suburban lines from Budapest transport operator BKV on November 24. This follows an agreement in February between Mayor István Tarlós and Minister of National Development Miklós Seszták. Newly created MÁV subsidiary BHÉV is now responsible operating all HÉV ...
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NewsTenders called for Zagreb airport tram line
CROATIA: The city of Zagreb called tenders on November 21 for contracts covering design work for the first phase of a planned tram line to Zagreb Airport. The first phase would link Kvaternik Square with Velika Kosnica to the southeast of Zagreb. Construction would start on a 2·4 km ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
UGL Ltd has signed a 10-year extension to its existing agreement with GE for the sale and distribution, support and maintenance of locomotives, spare parts and associated services in Australia. 'This is an important, long-term alliance for UGL and GE, built on proven experience, combined capabilities and our shared focus ...
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NewsFirst order for Omneo Premium inter-city EMUs
FRANCE: SNCF has placed the first order for the Premium inter-city version of Bombardier Transportation’s Omneo double-deck electric multiple-unit, acting on behalf of the Normandie region. The €585m firm order announced on November 24 covers 40 EMUs scheduled to enter service from the end of 2019. The Omneo Premium design ...
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NewsLondon Underground receives final S Stock train
UK: The last of 192 S Stock trainsets for use on London Underground’s Sub-Surface Lines has been delivered to LU’s Ruislip depot from Bombardier’s factory in Derby. Deliveries of the S Stock began in 2009, with the first unit entering service on the Metropolitan Line the following year. The ...
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NewsHainan gets first CRH1A-A trainsets
CHINA: The first CRH1A-A high speed trains supplied by Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd entered service with China Railway Corp on November 18, operating from the city of Sanya on Hainan Island. Designated Zefiro 250NG by the manufacturer, the 250 km/h eight-car trainsets were ordered in 2012 as part of ...
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NewsGhana railway project gets Indian loan
GHANA: Construction of an 84·8 km mixed traffic railway between Tema in the Greater Accra region and the Lake Volta port of Akosombo could begin by the end of the year, after Export-Import Bank of India signed an agreement to provide the government with a US$398·3m national export insurance account ...
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NewsEU funding for Lithuanian section of Rail Baltica
LITHUANIA: An agreement to provide €180m of European Union funding to cover 85% of the costs of the Lithuanian section of the 728 km Rail Baltica II project was signed on November 18 by the European Commission’s Innovation & Networks Executive Agency, the relevant government ministries from Lithuania, Latvia and ...
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NewsSeoul metro operator merger approved
SOUTH KOREA: The Seoul metropolitan government announced on November 23 that it plans to merge the two city-owned metro operators next year. This follows the approval of both operators’ unions, with almost three-quarters of members voting in favour of the merger. Seoul Metropolitan Subway Corp operates lines 1, 2, ...
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NewsLoko Trans to develop Skopje rail hub
MACEDONIA: Czech freight operator and rolling stock maintenance company Loko Trans is to invest €20m to establish a logistics centre in Skopje to serve the Balkan region. This will include facilities for rolling stock maintenance and repair, as well as freight transhipment, warehousing and a customs office. Construction is expected ...
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NewsRailways in the UK Autumn Statement
UK: Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announced ‘significant additional funding’ for transport in his Autumn Statement to Parliament on November 23. Saying he had ‘deliberately avoided making this statement into a long list of individual projects being supported’, Hammond announced that a new National Productivity Investment Fund would spend ...
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NewsHaramain High Speed Rail deal reached
SAUDI ARABIA: The Haramain High Speed Rail Line between Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah will open in March 2018, the Spanish-led Al Shoula consortium announced on November 18. A spokesman said that ‘partial operations’ on the 444 km route would begin in December 2017. The line had originally been expected to ...
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NewsRENFE to test LNG traction
SPAIN: National operator RENFE is to conduct a trial of liquefied natural gas as a fuel for rail traction, in conjunction with suppliers Gas Natural Fenosa and Enagás, the Institut Cerdà research organisation, specialist rolling stock workshop ARMF and Bureau Veritas. One of the two diesel engines in a 1 ...
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NewsPesa sole bidder in Bydgoszcz tram tender
POLAND: Pesa is the sole bidder in a tender to supply 18 trams to Bydgoszcz, the city in which the manufacturer has its headquarters. The 141·1m złoty order would include 15 five-section trams specified as being at least 30 m long, and three three-section trams. Three of the vehicles ...