Passenger rail news – Page 114
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Rail Business UKHS2 benefits ‘substantially undervalued’ amid rising costs
UK: The Chairman of High Speed 2 Ltd Allan Cook believes that ‘the benefits of the current scheme are substantially undervalued’, according to a ‘stocktake report’ presented to the House of Commons by Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps on September 3. Updating Parliament on progress ...
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NewsRegioJet to standardise on Traxx locomotives
CZECH REPUBLIC: Expanding independent operator RegioJet has ordered 15 Bombardier Transportation Traxx MS3 multi-system electric locomotives, with an option for more. The contract announced on September 3 follows RegioJet’s 2017 order for eight Traxx MS2e locomotives, which entered service last year. The additional locos are intended to ...
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NewsČD fined for anti-competitive bidding
CZECH REPUBLIC: National operator ČD has been fined KC274·8m after anti-monopoly office ÚOHS ruled that it had abused its dominant position in an effort to prevent competitors entering the passenger market. ÚOHS found that ČD had violated Czech and EU competition laws by submitting artificially low bids ...
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NewsHamilton – Auckland commuter service funded
NEW ZEALAND: Daily commuter services are to be introduced on the northern section of KiwiRail’s North Island Main Trunk line between Hamilton and Auckland from mid-2020, following the approval of an NZ$92·4m funding package by the NZ Transport Agency. Combining NZ$79·8m from the national government with NZ$12·6m ...
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Rail Business UKWest Coast Partnership contract signed
UK: The West Coast Partnership contract was formally signed by the Department for Transport and First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Ltd on August 28. The 70:30 joint venture of transport group FirstGroup plc and the Trenitalia UK Ltd subsidiary of Italy’s national railway holding group FS had ...
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NewsDMU operating contract awarded pending battery train deployment
GERMANY: The Rhein-Ruhr and Westfalen-Lippe transport authorities have awarded incumbent NordWestBahn the Emscher-Münsterland-Netz 2021 contract, which covers the operation of service RE14 Essen-Steele – Dorsten – Borken/Coesfeld for seven years from the December 2021 timetable change. The Transdev subsidiary is to lease Bombardier Transportation Talent diesel multiple-units from Alpha ...
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Rail Business UKRail projects funded to support housing plans
UK: The government has announced the allocation of grants from its Housing Infrastructure Fund to transport projects which are intended to facilitate the development of new homes. This includes £80·8m for the Greater London Authority’s East London Line – Growth Capacity programme to support the development of 14 000 ...
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NewsFlirt fleet refurbished
GERMANY: Leasing company Alpha Trains has completed one of its largest refurbishment projects, handing over to operator Keolis the last of 44 Stadler Flirt electric multiple-units which have been modernised for use on Teutoburger Wald-Netz and Hellweg-Netz services. The comprehensive modernisation programme was undertaken by Stadler in Berlin, ...
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NewsEstonia plans rail electrification to meet 2030 climate goals
ESTONIA: The Ministry of Economic Affairs & Communications and the Ministry of the Environment are preparing a railway electrification strategy after receiving cabinet backing for the development of proposals. The government envisages that electrification works could be undertaken in 2022-28, supporting the aim of reducing greenhouse gas ...
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NewsBLS and SBB agree to share long-distance concession
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways and BLS AG have reached ‘an amicable solution’ to share the operation of long-distance services, the Federal Ministry of Environment, Transport, Energy & Communication announced on August 22. This will enable BLS to re-enter the long-distance passenger market with effect from the December 2019 timetable change. ...
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NewsDB to refurbish SBB coaches
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has awarded Deutsche Bahn a contract to refurbish 93 Einheitswagen IV coaches at its Wittenberge and Neumünster workshops from 2020. The first of the EW IV coaches were delivered to SBB in 1981, and they are expected to remain in service until the 2030s. The ...
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PKP Intercity orders Flirts as ridership grows
POLAND: National long-distance train operator PKP Intercity has signed a contract for Stadler to supply a 12 eight-car Flirt electric multiple-units and maintain them for 15 years. Stadler and a consortium of Pesa Bydgoszcz with its subsidiary ZNTK Mińsk Mazowiecki submitted bids in response to the operator’s December 2017 ...
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Rail Business UKEast Midlands Railway announces three brands
UK: Abellio officially launched East Midlands Railway as the new operator of the East Midlands franchise on August 19, the day after it formally took over from Stagecoach which had operated the services for 11 years under the East Midlands Trains brand. More than £600m is to be spent ...
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NewsProduction of paired coaches approved
RUSSIA: Transmashholding’s Tver plant is to produce a pilot batch of 61-4517 and 61-4516 passenger coaches which will operate in coupled pairs, a concept which the manufacturer said was being implemented in Russia for the first time. Shipments are planned to start in September. One coach from each pair ...
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NewsTehran – Ankara passenger service relaunched
ASIA: The Transasia Express passenger service between Tehran and Ankara has been relaunched after a four-year suspension. The first departure left the Iranian capital on August 7, watched by Managing Director of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways Saeed Rasouli and the Turkish ambassador. The train is scheduled ...
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Rail Business UKConsultation on trans-Pennine route modernisation
UK: Network Rail is to begin public consultation this summer on plans to rebuild and electrify a 13 km section of the trans-Pennine corridor between Manchester and York via Leeds. The plans form part of the infrastructure manager’s £2·9bn Transpennine Upgrade programme, which is intended to modernise the route ...
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NewsTender favours state incumbent, new entrants’ group claims
SLOVAKIA: The ALLRAIL group of new entrants to the rail market has expressed concerned about tender for the operation of passenger services on the Žilina – Rajec line, saying it believes that the process favours state incumbent ZSSK and ‘it seems that real competition is not wanted’. The tender ...
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NewsSBB and ÖBB to strengthen overnight services
EUROPE: Citing a significant increase in demand for international passenger services during the first half of 2019, Swiss Federal Railways announced on August 19 that it intended to strengthen its long-term co-operation with Austria’s ÖBB and expand the provision of both daytime and overnight trains. Suggesting that increased awareness ...
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NewsAlstom to supply 252 multiple-unit cars to Western Australia
AUSTRALIA: Public Transport Authority of Western Australia announced on August 19 that it had selected Alstom Transport Australia as preferred bidder to supply the next generation of electric multiple-units to operate on the Transperth network serving the state capital. Details of the A$1·6bn contract are expected to be ...
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NewsJapanese take over Rio suburban network
BRAZIL: A consortium of Mitsui and West Japan Railway has purchased a majority stake in Rio de Janeiro suburban operator SuperVia, at a reported cost of around ¥20bn. The Japanese trading group had previously held a 24% stake in the concessionaire, through its stake in SuperVia parent Odebrecht Mobilidad. ...