All Railway Gazette International articles in November 2018 – Page 7
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News
London Underground train contract to be signed shortly
UK: A contract for Siemens to supply a new fleet of trains for London Underground’s Piccadilly Line is expected to be formally signed shortly, Transport for London has confirmed. Metro Report International understands that the formal signing will not be for at least two weeks. Siemens was name preferred bidder ...
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News
Leo Express to restart Praha – Kraków service
EUROPE: Czech open access passenger operator Leo Express is to restart its Praha – Kraków service on November 30. The service had been launched in July 20 but was suspended and replaced by coach services from October 9 because engineering works on the Polish section of the route were causing ...
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News
Akiem orders 33 locomotives
EUROPE: Leasing company Akiem has placed two firm orders for Bombardier Transportation to supply a total of 33 Traxx electric locomotives. The orders include more MS2 multi-system and AC3 locomotives, as well as Akiem’s first DC3 locomotives. The orders have been placed within an existing framework contract, and at list ...
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News
Brescia tram funding proposal presented
ITALY: Transport authority Brescia Mobilità and state railway FS Group submitted a PPP project finance proposal to Brescia municipality for a two-line tram network on October 31. The total cost is estimated to be €400m, most of it from private sources. Brescia Municipality is expected to evaluate the proposal ...
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News
Railway supply industry news round-up
PCM Rail.One has begun construction of a concrete turnout bearer plant on a DB Netz site at Schwandorf in Bayern. Production is scheduled to begin in autumn of 2019, with annual capacity of 180 000 linear metres of end-anchored prestressed concrete bearers. ‘We will deliver concrete sleepers to construction sites ...
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Rail Business UK
Passenger flow modelling ideas sought
UK: Network Rail and the Transport Systems Catapult have invited proposals for live demonstrators of technologies which could improve understanding of passenger flow. The areas of focus are system-wide modelling to understand flows at stations and on trains as one complete system, and using new and existing data sources ...
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News
Bulgaria referred to court over safety directive compliance
BULGARIA: The European Commission announced on November 8 that it had decided to refer Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the EU for failure to fully transpose and implement Directive 2004/49/EC on railway safety. The directive requires member states to establish an accident investigation body which is independent in ...
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News
Investors back short line company
USA: Sam Zell’s Equity Group Investments has led a group of co-investors including International Rail Partners in a commitment of more than $200m to short line investor RailUSA. Terms have not been disclosed. IRP is led by Gary Marino, who was formerly the founder, President & CEO of short line ...
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Metro Report International
Manila metro Line 3 upgrade financing agreed
PHILIPPINES: The government signed a loan agreement with Japan International Cooperation Agency on November 8 for the metro Line 3 rehabilitation project. The 40-year, ¥38·1bn loan will fund the overhaul of infrastructure and rolling stock on Line 3 with the aim of returning it to its design capacity, as ...
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Rail Business UK
UK railway news round-up
Air Marshal Sir Richard Frank Garwood has been appointed as the first non-executive Chairman of the Tri-Branch Management Board, formed to optimise coordination between the Department for Transport‘s air, marine and rail accident investigation branches. He was Director General of the Military Aviation Authority in 2013-15 and Director General of ...
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News
Končar selected for Liepaja tram contract
LATVIA: Liepaja tram operator Liepājas Tramvajs has selected Končar to supply six meter-gauge trams. Končar’s €8·8m bid was lower than that of Modertrans. Railvec UAB had also bid with an offer of trams made by Belkommunmash, but was disqualified. The contract is expected to be signed after a ...
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News
Transdev announces EMU order as Hannover S-Bahn operating contract confirmed
GERMANY: Transdev announced an order for 64 Stadler Flirt electric multiple-units on November 7, after its NordWestBahn subsidiary was confirmed as the winner of the contract to operate Hannover S-Bahn services from December 2021 until June 2034. There had been four bids for the operating contract tendered by the Hannover ...
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News
Calais – Torino rail motorway service launched
EUROPE: A 'rail motorway' service carrying unaccompanied lorry trailers between Calais and Torino was inaugurated with a ceremony at the Channel port on November 6. This is the fourth route to be launched by SNCF’s rail motorway subsidiary VIIA. There are initially three round trips per week on the new ...
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News
Associations welcome Green Deal declaration
EUROPE: Rail sector associations CER, EIM, ERFA, UIP, UIRR and UNIFE have welcomed a political initiative to encourage the evolution of environmentally-friendly transport, following an informal meeting of Transport and Environment ministers in Graz, organised by the current Austrian Presidency of the EU Council. During the meeting on October 29-30, ...
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News
Mercitalia launches high speed freight service
ITALY: FS Group freight subsidiary Mercitalia is to launch its first high speed freight service on November 7. FS says the Mercitalia Fast service is designed to meet the needs of express courier companies, logistics operators, producers and distributors. Operated by a converted ETR500 trainset, the Mercitalia Fast overnight service ...
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News
Battery trolleybuses ordered for Russian cities
RUSSIA: Three cities have recently ordered battery trolleybuses. Vostokavtotrans beat Trolza Market Trading House to win a 111·9m rouble contract to supply 10 vehicles to Almetyevsk transport operator Almetyevskoe Transportnoe Upravlenie. The model to be supplied is the Gorozhanin, based on a bodyshell from KamAZ Group subsidiary NefAZ ...
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News
German rail projects added to implementation list
GERMANY: Following detailed studies, 29 rail projects included in the 2030 federal transport infrastructure plan have been added to the priority list for implementation, Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer announced on November 6. The decision follows examination of the cost-effectiveness of 44 potential projects, some of which could be added ...
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News
GE Transportation wins Moldovan locomotive contract
MOLDOVA: National railway CFM has named GE Transportation as the winner of a contract to supply 12 locomotives for use on passenger and freight services. The 2 982 kW diesel locomotives are scheduled to be delivered from early 2020. The order announced November 6 is worth €45m, including modernisation ...
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News
Heavy lifting for Buenos Aires viaduct project
ARGENTINA: Specialist heavy lifting contractor ALE has used its TLG1000 telescopic hydraulic gantry for the first time to position concrete girders for the construction of a 5 km railway viaduct in Buenos Aires. The viaduct is being built to elevate the San Martín commuter line above street level between Palermo ...
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News
NS to test faster train to the north
NETHERLANDS: National passenger operator NS plans to run a one-off test train to assess what infrastructure and operational changes would be needed to provide a 15 min reduction in journey times between Groningen, Zwolle and the Randstad region. The trial planned for next year would use a Bombardier Transportation Traxx ...