Main line rail industry news – Page 835
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NewsEKZ inaugurates Astana locomotive plant
KAZAKHSTAN: The EKZ joint venture of national railway KTZ, Alstom Transport and Transmashholding held an inauguration ceremony for its locomotive production plant in Astana attended by the country’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev on December 4. As part of a technology transfer agreement with the French supplier, EKZ will ...
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News
Carlos Alberto Gómez
Carlos Alberto Gómez has been appointed President of Tren Patagónico SA, the passenger operator owned by the province of Río Negro in Argentina. He succeeds Fernando Vaca Narvaja, now Minister of Works & Public Services in the provincial government.
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NewsEurostar to trial London – Aix-en-Provence service
EUROPE: International high speed operator Eurostar is to operate a new service between London and the south of France on a trial basis in May and June 2013. Building on its long-standing seasonal service between London St Pancras International and Avignon-Centre which has operated on Saturdays in ...
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NewsPresident backs passenger projects
MEXICO: A package of urban and inter-city rail projects formed one of the 13 policy initiatives announced by President Enrique Peña Nieto immediately after being sworn in on December 1. Projects to be taken forward by the federal Secretariat of Transport & Communications include Line 3 of the Monterrey metro, ...
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NewsPirna depot topped out
GERMANY: Captrain Deutschland subsidiary ITL Eisenbahngesellschaft held a topping-out ceremony for a new depot at Pirna near Dresden on November 23. The 38 000 m2 facility will have a four-track workshop, spare parts stores, offices, 3 000 m of sidings and facilities for testing locomotives under different electrification systems. ...
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NewsDART extends two light rail lines
USA: Dallas Area Rapid Transit began revenue service on two more sections of its expanding light rail network on December 3. The opening of extensions to the Blue and Orange lines brings the total length of the network to more than 135 route-km. A ribbon-cutting ceremony had been held in ...
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NewsInter-regional coach approved
RUSSIA: Transmashholding's Tver Carriage Works has received federal vehicle approval for an improved version of its Type 61-4458 passenger coaches. Designed for inter-regional daytime services running at up to 160 km/h, Type 61-4458 cars have stainless steel bodyshells and two interior layout options. First class cars have 40 passenger seats ...
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NewsEuropean Commission backs regenerative braking R&D
ITALY: The European Commission's LIFE+ programme is to meet 50% of the cost of pilot installation of Alstom's HESOP regenerative energy recovery system on Milano metro Line 3. HESOP is expected to recover almost all of the braking energy, equivalent to about 15% of total traction energy usage, enabling it ...
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NewsAlstom to build new Rio de Janeiro fleet
BRAZIL: On December 3 Alstom signed a contract with Rio de Janeiro commuter concessionaire SuperVia covering the supply of 20 four-car Metropolis EMUs. Representing a total investment of R$300m, the contract will see Alstom undertake final assembly and testing at new plant to be built on a 32 000 m2 ...
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NewsHarbin – Dalian PDL opens
CHINA: The 921 km Passenger-Dedicated Line between Harbin and Dalian opened to traffic on December 1, connecting the capital of Heilongjiang province with Changchun, Shenyang and Dalian, the largest port in northeast China. Designed for a maximum speed of 350 km/h, the route serves a total of 22 stations, including ...
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NewsX-Train to revive Los Angeles – Las Vegas service
USA: Inter-city passenger trains between Southern California and Las Vegas are set to resume in January 2014, following an inaugural run planned for December 31 2013. Trial running is expected to begin in October, 16 years after Amtrak’s Los Angeles – Salt Lake City – Chicago Desert Wind was withdrawn ...
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NewsDual-voltage loco to serve the Seikan Tunnel
JAPAN: The first of 20 dual-system electric locomotives being built by Toshiba for national rail freight operator JR Freight was unveiled at the manufacturer’s Fuchu factory in Tokyo on November 27. The Series EH800 Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo locomotives are intended to haul 1 067 mm gauge freight services between Honshu and Hokkaido ...
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NewsCommuter co-operation in Costa Rica
COSTA RICA: President Laura Chinchilla ratified an agreement with Spanish Development Minister Ana Pastor in Madrid on November 15, which will see the two countries working together to develop the rail network serving the Costa Rican capital San José. Under the terms of the three-year agreement, Spanish companies would be ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - December 2012
Mid-America Regional Council has approved the allocation of $17·7m of US federal funding to the planned $100m Downtown Streetcar starter line in Kansas City, Missouri. Lyon tram route T5 was inaugurated on November 17. It uses an existing section of Line T2, plus a new 3·8 km extension from ...
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NewsNews in Brief - December 2012
The French region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais is funding accessibility improvements to 124 SNCF TER trainsets, including the installation of retractable wheelchair ramps and tactile surfaces to assist visually-impaired passengers. The €6m programme is due for completion by 2014. Russian Railways subsidiary Second Freight Company has been renamed Federal Freight Company with ...
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NewsHamburg U4 opens to HafenCity
GERMANY: Mayor Olaf Scholz inaugurated Hamburg Hochbahn Line U4 linking the city centre with the HafenCity redevelopment area on November 28. Travel is free from November 29 until December 9, when revenue services will begin. Construction of the 4 km underground U4 has taken five years at a cost of ...
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NewsSJ expands indirect sales network
SWEDEN: National passenger operator SJ has extended its distribution agreement with transaction processing specialist Amadeus to provide travel agencies and corporate travel management companies worldwide with access to its fares inventory. Under the agreement, SJ becomes the latest operator to sign up to the Amadeus Global Rail ...
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NewsHandover marks start of EP20 series production
RUSSIA: The first series-produced EP20 passenger locomotive was handed over to Russian Railways by manufacturer Transmashholding at a ceremony near Rostov on November 30. The first Russian electric locomotive design capable of hauling inter-city trains at up to 200 km/h, the EP20 is a single-section Bo-Bo-Bo passenger ...
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NewsMayor of Moscow commits to tram investment
RUSSIA: Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed his commitment to the future of Moscow's 416 km tram network during a visit to a section of modernised track on Krasnoprudnaya Ulitsa on November 26. 'We are not going to stop the tram traffic in the city', the Mayor said. 'On the contrary, we ...
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NewsTrenord to buy 23 multiple-units
ITALY: The board of Lombardia regional train operator Trenord announced plans to exercise options for the purchase of 23 additional multiple-units on November 30. A firm order worth €130m is to be placed for nine three-car and four five-car AnsaldoBreda TSR double-deck electric multiple-units. A further 10 four-car Stadler ...