All Railway Gazette International articles in March 2014 – Page 5
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NewsContract awarded for Chiltern to Oxford
UK: Network Rail announced on March 7 that it had awarded a contract worth £87m to a joint venture of Carillion and Buckingham Group Contracting, covering the infrastructure works required to introduce direct Chiltern Railways services between London Marylebone and Oxford. As well as the construction of a 1 km ...
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NewsMelbourne suburban investment
AUSTRALIA: Victoria Premier Denis Napthine announced an investment package of A$2bn to A$2·5bn for the Pakenham and Cranbourne suburban lines in Melbourne on March 6. The package includes 25 new EMUs, resignalling, a new depot at Pakenham East, rebuilding three stations and the removal of four level crossings as ...
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NewsMilano extends driverless Line M5
ITALY: A southern extension of Milano metro Line M5 from Zara to Garibaldi with an intermediate station at Isola opened on March 1. The 1·9 km extension provides an interchange at Garibaldi with metro Line M2 and main line routes. Services now run to midnight, from 22.00 previously. Peak ...
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NewsHigh Speed Rail College site sought
UK: Skills & Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock officially launched the search for a location for a High Speed Rail College on March 7. The proposed college would provide the specialist engineering skills and qualifications needed for the development of High Speed 2 and other future infrastructure projects. It would have ...
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NewsFree wi-fi rolls out across the Moscow Metro
RUSSIA: The line-by-line deployment of free passenger wi-fi across the Moscow Metro network is underway with completion planned for September. Last year Moscow Metro awarded sole bidder Maxima Telecom a contract to provide wi-fi across its network. After evaluating different technologies, Maxima has selected Cisco Systems hardware and FiberinMotionT train-to-track ...
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NewsŠkoda and CSR Sifang unveil ForCity tram
CHINA: A prototype 15T ForCity tram made by CSR Qingdao Sifang for the Chinese market under licence from Škoda Transportation, has started demonstration runs for potential customers in China. The trams are being manufactured under a 10-year technology transfer agreement announced on June 3 2013 that will allow the ...
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NewsFreight spend planned
MEXICO: Speaking at a recent conference in Cancún, federal Under-Secretary of Transport Carlos Almada outlined the 13 railway projects that are being taken forward by the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto, representing total investment of 125bn pesos. As well as the projects for new passenger lines from Mexico City ...
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NewsSantiago metro car refurbishment contract
CHILE: Metro de Santiago has awarded Alstom a €220m contract to refurbish the 35 seven-car NS74 trainsets by mid-2018, fitting AC traction equipment. The Alstom-built trainsets have been in operation for 40 years and will be modernised at the Neptuno depot starting with the trains operating on lines 2 ...
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NewsRefrigerated intermodal freight operator bought
USA: Federated Capital Corp subsidiary Federated Railways has agreed to acquire Rail Logistics LC, including its 'Cold Train' refrigerated express intermodal service. The new subsidiary will be named Federated Cold Train, trading as Cold Train. Rail Logistics launched Cold Train in partnership with BNSF Railway in April 2010. It now ...
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NewsŠkoda develops catenary-free tram
CZECH REPUBLIC: Škoda Transportation has launched a tram capable of catenary-free operation. Following certification in January, the tram has been on test at Škoda’s Plzeň factory since February. The battery technology, branded Catfree, enables the tram to cover up to 3 km at an average speed of 30 km/h ...
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NewsFTA announces urban rail funding recommendations for 2015
USA: A total of 32 new and ongoing rail projects are included in the list of urban transport projects which the Federal Transit Administration has recommended should be allocated a total of $2·5bn under President Obama’s budget for the 2015 financial year which starts on October 1 2015. The ...
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NewsCN announces C$2·1bn capital investment plan for 2014
CANADA: CN has announced a C$2·1bn capital investment plan for 2014, slightly up on the C$2·0bn which it spent last year. The 2014 plan allocates: C$1·2bn for infrastructure on the 32 000 km network in Canada and the USA, including track renewals, bridge improvements and various branch line upgrades; ...
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NewsNews in Brief - March 2014
The project to build a bypass to relocate the railway away from central Tbilisi to free land for property development has been abandoned with grading work reportedly around 35% complete. The UK’s Department for Transport has directly awarded First Capital Connect a new franchise running from March 31 to ...
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Metro Report InternationalBudapest orders CAF trams
HUNGARY: Budapest transport authority BKK signed a €90m contract on March 5 for CAF to supply 37 Urbos low-floor bidirectional trams with an option for 87 more. The order is being funded by the EU. Of the initial order, 25 five-section trams would be 34 m long ...
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NewsMoscow commuter EMU order signed
RUSSIA: Commuter train operator Central Suburban Passenger Co has ordered 26 ED4M electric multiple-units from Transmashholding's Demikhovo plant for use around Moscow. Central PPK has also signed a memorandum of co-operation with Vnesheconombank, which is to explore the possibility of financing future train orders. Central PPK plans to update its ...
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NewsBeijing metro Line 16 prequalification underway
CHINA: Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co has invited three operators to bid for the metro Line 16 PPP concession. Civil works will be funded by the state, with the concessionaire required to invest 15bn yuan in the E&M systems and operate and maintain the line for 30 years. Two of the ...
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NewsKošice orders 23 Pragoimex trams
SLOVAKIA: Košice city transport operator DPMK has awarded Czech company Pragoimex a €33·3m contract to supply 23 trams and provide 15 years of maintenance support. The partly low-floor VarioLF2plus trams will have 44 seats and space for 131 standees at 5 passengers/m2. Deliveries are scheduled to run from August 2014 ...
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NewsDepartment for Transport creates Rail Executive
UK: Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced the formation of a Rail Executive within the Department for Transport on February 26. This implements one of the recommendations of an organisational review of DfT's rail functions which was undertaken by Adam Jackson of the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. According to ...
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NewsKolar coach factory approved
INDIA: Plans to establish a coach factory at Kolar in Karnataka were approved by the cabinet on February 28. The plant would produce 500 LHB type vehicles a year for Indian Railways. The state government is to provide the land for the factory and meet the half of the expected ...
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NewsTransmashholding sales up 18%
RUSSIA: Rolling stock manufacturer Transmashholding has reported sales of 154bn roubles for 2013, up 18% on the 130bn roubles previous year. The highest growth was in the freight sector, with deliveries of diesel shunting locomotives up 90% and mainline freight diesel locomotive sales up 66%. Metrowagonmash's prototype DPM DMU ...