All Railway Gazette International articles in May 2018 – Page 4
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Metro Report International
London tram enhancements included in Growth Fund
UK: Transport for London is to finance around one-third of the cost of double-tracking the Elmers End branch of the tram network, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced on May 21. TfL is to provide £3·3m from its Growth Fund towards the estimated £9m estimated project cost. In addition ...
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News
High speed line tunnel breakthrough in China
CHINA: Boring on the Qifengshan tunnel was completed on May 16. China Railway No 5 Engineering Group was responsible for boring the 5·2 km tunnel in Fangcheng county in Henan province, which forms part of the 818 km Zhengzhou – Wanzhou high speed line. The 118bn yuan project to ...
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Rail Business UK
Greater Anglia electro-diesels under construction
UK: Swiss manufacturer Stadler is producing a total of 58 Flirt UK electric and electro-diesel multiple-units for use by Greater Anglia. The order placed in August 2016 as part of a programme to completely renew the Greater Anglia fleet includes 24 four-car and 14 three-car electro-diesel units which will ...
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News
Celebrations as Brightline trains reach Miami
USA: A weekend of celebrations entitled ‘Welcome to the 305!’, referencing the city’s historic telephone code, marked the launch of Brightline inter-city services to Miami on May 19. Brightline’s first public trains ran in January over the 74 km between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The extension to Miami ...
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News
Wabtec to merge with GE Transportation
INDUSTRY: Wabtec Corp has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with GE Transportation, the companies announced on May 21. The transaction is expected to close in early 2019, subject to approval by Wabtec shareholders, and regulatory authorities, making Wabtec ‘a global leader in the rail equipment, software and services ...
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News
Škoda becomes sole owner of Transtech
FINLAND: Škoda Transportation Group signed an agreement to purchase the remaining shares in Transtech on May 21. With the purchase of the 25% stake from Sinituote Oy, Škoda becomes the 100% owner of the Finnish rolling stock manufacturer. In 2015 Škoda Transportation Group acquired 75% of Transtech from investment ...
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Metro Report International
Teleste to equip Merseyrail EMUs with data transmission platform
UK: Stadler has selected Teleste to supply a data transmission platform for the electric multiple-units that it is building for the Merseyrail network around Liverpool. Teleste will supply an Ethernet network that will support remote content management and distribution for the passenger infotainment system, in addition to passenger counting ...
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News
Kazan orders more Uraltransmash trams
RUSSIA: Kazan transport agency Metroelectrotrans has signed contract with trading company Fobos-TS for the supply of 20 Uraltransmash 71-407 trams. Deliveries are due to be completed by the end of August. The 340m rouble order includes a 160m rouble contribution from the government’s programme of federal funding to stimulate ...
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News
Lagos – Kano standard gauge contract signed
NIGERIA: China Civil Engineering Construction Corp is to complete the long-planned 1 435 mm gauge railway linking Lagos and Kano, under a U$6·68bn contract signed in Abuja on May 15. During the signing ceremony Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi said the line should be completed in two to three years, ‘depending ...
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News
Heathrow Connect out as TfL Rail comes in
UK: MTR Crossrail started operating stopping services between Paddington and Heathrow Airport under the TfL Rail brand on May 20. These are due to become part of the Elizabeth Line in December. TfL has taken over services to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 and Terminal 4 from Great Western ...
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Rail Business UK
Providing ‘pertinent, targeted and predictive’ information to operating staff
UK: ‘If it works for CrossCountry it will work for any operator’, the inter-city operator’s Duty Control Manager Matthew Reeves told Railway Gazette International at the unveiling of Arrakis, a software suite which technology company Nexus Alpha has developed with the aim of transforming the quality of communications between train ...
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News
World rail freight news round-up
Jan Kilström announced on May 15 that he would be stepping down as CEO of Green Cargo in the autumn, having ‘received an exciting offer that I could not refuse, the details of which I am unable to disclose at present’. Recruitment of a new CEO has started. ‘After so ...
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News
Record number of exhibitors from Berlin-Brandenburg at InnoTrans 2018
INNOTRANS: Almost 70 companies from Berlin and Brandenburg will be joining forces to exhibit at InnoTrans 2018 with their dedicated regional area of the City Cube hall covering more than 1 000 m2. The exhibitors will include 17 companies who will be joining the Berlin-Brandenburg regional display for the first ...
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News
World rail infrastructure market - May 2018
Argentina: Under an order worth a total of 650m pesos, Trenes Argentinos Infraestructura has taken delivery of an initial batch of track maintenance machines from China, including one tamper, a dynamic track stabiliser and a ballast profiler. Subsequent shipments are expected to include a track recording vehicle and a ...
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News
By Coradia to Batna
ALGERIA: National operator SNTF has introduced a direct passenger service between Alger and the eastern part of the High Plateau line, with the launch of a daily Alger – M’Sila – Batna round trip. Introduced on May 3, the service is operated by one of SNTF’s new Alstom Coradia El ...
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News
Rio Tinto’s automated trains approved
AUSTRALIA: Rio Tinto has been granted accreditation by Australia’s Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator, approving the autonomous operation of iron ore trains in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, the group announced on May 18. Confirming that the AutoHaul project is ‘on schedule to be completed by the ...
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News
Volgograd airport rail link opens
RUSSIA: Passenger services on the Volgograd airport rail link began on May 18, following an inauguration ceremony the previous day Services use a 1·2 km branch which Russian Railways has built to connect Gumrak station with the airport passenger terminal, which has been rebuilt ready for when the city hosts ...
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News
Bangladesh Railway orders 10 locomotives
BANGLADESH: Hyundai Rotem is to supply 10 mixed-traffic diesel-electric locomotives to Bangladesh Railway under a 41bn won contract announced on May 18. Intended for mixed traffic use on the metre gauge Dhaka – Chittagong route, the locomotives will be delivered from Hyundai Rotem’s Changwon plant in South Korea starting ...
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News
Germany told to fully transpose EU safety legislation
GERMANY: On May 17 the European Commission sent a reasoned opinion requesting that Germany fully comply with Directive 2004/49/EC. This requires EU member states to establish an independent safety authority, an independent accident investigation body and coherently allocate safety responsibilities. The Commission said Germany had failed to ensure that its ...
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News
Identifying ‘navigational hazards’ on metro maps
MAPS: It might be possible to use software to automatically detect features of metro maps which cause passengers to make mistakes in journey planning, researchers believe. PhD student Peter Lloyd and Dr Peter Rodgers of the University of Kent’s School of Computing and cognitive psychologist Dr Maxwell Roberts of ...