All News articles – Page 60
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NewsProducts & Technology in Brief
Hoeft & Wessel’s Almex business unit is to supply 720 stationary ticket vending machines to Genève transport operator TPG. The TVMs will be powered by solar cells and operate independently of the power grid. Structural Composites of Indiana has been trialling a fibreglass cover for mineral hopper wagons with ...
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NewsHamburg-Köln Express to launch
GERMANY: A joint venture of US-based Railroad Development Corp, Locomore Rail GmbH and London-based investor Michael Schabas has announced that they have established an open-access inter-city passenger operation in Germany. Branded Hamburg-Köln Express, the venture will launch three train pairs between the two cities on August 15 2010. The trains ...
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NewsTrain lessor looking east
EUROPE: The Railpool leasing joint venture of HSH Nordbank and KfW IPEX-Bank is aiming to expand its presence in eastern Europe, according to Account Director Torsten Lehnert, who was speaking during the Nordic Rail 2009 event. ‘Our focus is to go east, perhaps into Hungary or Romania’, said Lehnert. ...
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NewsBerkshire Hathaway to buy BNSF
USA: An agreement for Berkshire Hathaway to acquire the 77·4% of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp it does not currently own was announced on November 3. BNSF Corp is the holding company which owns and manages one of the largest Class I railroads in North America through principal operating ...
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NewsRefurbishment to take Canadian cars upmarket
CANADA: National passenger operator VIA Rail has awarded US firm Avalon Rail a C$19·5m contract to provide higher-grade accommodation on 12 coaches used on the Toronto - Vancouver Canadian service. The refurbishment is being funded from C$407m allocated to passenger rail under the government's Economic Action Plan. ...
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NewsEurostar prepares for competition
EUROPE: 'Hopefully very soon, we will be a single Eurostar train operating company' in the UK, France and Belgium', Eurostar Chief Executive Richard Brown told the UK's Railway Study Association on October 14. 'At the moment, actually, in France I have no authority, I have no accountability. I ...
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NewsPortland buys more RDCs
USA: Portland operator TriMet has purchased two additional DMU cars to provide backup for its existing four cars, whose reliability has been unpredictable on the 23·7 km Wilsonville-Beaverton Westside Express Service. Instead of new vehicles to match those manufactured by now-defunct Colorado Railcar, the transit agency has acquired a ...
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NewsThrough services vital for high-speed success
EUROPE: Eurostar's share of the rail+air market from London to Paris, Brussels and Lille is now nearly 85%, Commercial Director Nick Mercer told a Railway Forum seminar in London on October 15, and even on routes with 4 h journey times other Railteam members 'take more than 50% market share'. ...
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NewsLithuanian Railways hosts fire rescue exercise
LITHUANIA: Following the signing of a co-operation agreement earlier this year, Lithuanian Railways and the Vilnius Fire & Rescue Service hosted their first emergency training exercise on October 22. Guests included representatives of the Transport & Communications Ministry and the State Railway Inspectorate. The objective was to improve the ...
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NewsAlstom out of Thameslink bidding
UK: Alstom Transport was informed late on October 22 that its bid to supply the new Thameslink EMU fleet had been eliminated from the final stage of the contest. This leaves Bombardier Transportation and Siemens Mobility in the running for the major order to be placed by the Department for ...
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NewsEU allocates TEN-T infrastructure funds
EUROPE: The European Commission announced the first projects which are to receive a total of €500m of infrastructure grants under the Trans-European Transport Network programme on October 21. The TEN-T programme aims to build missing transport links in Europe and remove bottlenecks. The funding was originally to be spread ...
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NewsFinal section of Kashmir Valley railway inaugurated
INDIA: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh flagged off a train from Anantnag to Quazigund to inaugurate the final 18 km of the railway through the Kashmir Valley on October 28. The currently isolated line will eventually be joined to the Indian rail network at Udhampur, providing an all -weather ...
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NewsUIC endorses Open Telematics standards
EUROPE: The IT Study Group at the International Union of Railways' Freight Forum has decided to adopt the standards being developed for rail freight applications by the Open Telematics Alliance, which will form the basis of a new UIC leaflet on recommended practice. Meeting in Paris on October 13, ...
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NewsRegions confirm €7bn framework TER contract
FRANCE: A framework contract for the supply of up to 1 000 low-floor trainsets to operate regional services was signed in Paris on October 27 by SNCF President Guillaume Pepy and the President of Alstom Transport Philippe Mellier. Within the overall package, orders were confirmed for an initial build of ...
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NewsBangkok Airport Rail Link handover imminent
With trials of Bangkok's Airport Rail Link continuing on a daily basis, Railway Gazette International's Urban Editor Jane Pearce took a ride on an Airport Express train to Suvarnabhumi Airport on October 22.
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NewsKatowice airport link design underway
POLAND: A consortium of Pöyry and DB International has begun detailed design for a rail link between central Katowice and the city's international airport at Pyrzowice. The design phase runs to May 2011, with Pöyry's share of the contract awarded by rail infrastructure manager PKP PLK at the end ...
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NewsLow prices force change at Strukton Rail
NETHERLANDS: 'Prices in the market for renewals are under great pressure', said Strukton Rail on October 19, announcing a reorganisation under which the company's four regions will be reduced to two. Around 350 jobs are to go across the country, and Strukton has started negotiations with its staff and ...
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NewsVossloh buys Global Rail Systems
USA: Vossloh acquired a majority stake in Texas-based Global Rail Systems with effect from October 16. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the existing management will remain in place. The automation, level crossing and control equipment company is intended to complement Vossloh's other US businesses, Vossloh Track Material, Cleveland ...
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NewsMantena awarded Coradia Nordic maintenance
SWEDEN: Alstom Transport has awarded Norwegian train maintenance company Mantena a seven-year contract worth €22m to maintain the 49 Coradia Nordic electric multiple-units which will be delivered to Skånetrafiken from next month. Under the contract announced on October 22 Alstom will supply Mantena with spare parts for the units, ...
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NewsPrivate coal line gets go-ahead
INDONESIA: On October 21 state-owned coal miner PTBA announced it had received government approval for a 307 km railway which will link its Banko Tengah mine in South Sumatra with a port at Srengsem in Lampung province. To be used solely by PTBA, the railway will have a capacity of ...