Passenger rail news – Page 116
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NewsRidership surge prompts SNCF to order more TGVs
FRANCE: SNCF Mobilités announced an order for 12 double-deck TGVs on July 31 as part of its fleet renewal strategy. Branded TGV Océane by the operator, the Avelia Euroduplex trainsets are to be supplied by Alstom for use on routes between Paris and Metz and Nancy in eastern ...
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NewsMonopolies Commission urges more competition on German network
GERMANY: Further separation of infrastructure provider DB Netz from the Deutsche Bahn group is amongst a raft of measures recommended by the Monopolies Commission to enhance quality and competition on the rail network. In its seventh report, published on July 25, the Commission highlights the need for better service ...
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NewsSakhalin diesel railcars outshopped
RUSSIA: Three Class RA3 diesel multiple-units to operate regauged regional railway routes on Sakhalin were formally unveiled by Transmashholding on July 26, at a ceremony attended by the Deputy Chairman of the Sakhalin oblast government Vitaly Gudin, RZD’s Deputy General Director, Passenger, Dmitry Pegov, and the First Deputy General Director ...
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Rail Business UKNine recommendations for rail in northern England
Nine recommendations are set out in a review of the Rail North Partnership between the Department for Transport and Transport for the North which manages the Northern and TransPennine Express passenger franchises. UK: Nine recommendations are set out in a review of the Rail North Partnership between ...
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Rail Business UKAbellio orders East Midlands inter-city fleet
UK: Hitachi Rail has been selected to supply a fleet of 200 km/h inter-city trains to operate on the Midland Main Line, as part of the new East Midlands Railway franchise, where Abellio is due to take over from incumbent operator Stagecoach on August 18. The NS subsidiary announced ...
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NewsŠkoda signs Latvian EMU contract
LATVIA: National passenger operator Pasažieru Vilciens has signed the €240m contract for Škoda Vagonka to supply a fleet of 32 dual-system EMUs for the Riga suburban network, the manufacturer announced on July 30. Škoda Vagonka was named as preferred bidder in February, after procurement monitoring agency IUB blocked an ...
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NewsMetre-gauge coaches delivered
BANGLADESH: A batch of 26 new inter-city coaches for Bangladesh Railways’ metre-gauge main lines was expected to arrive at Chittagong Port by the end of July, having been shipped from the Indonesian port of Tanjung Perak, in Surabaya, on July 19. Being supplied by PT Inka under a US$101m ...
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Rail Business UKStadler bimodes enter service at Greater Anglia
UK: The first of 38 three- and four-car electro-diesel multiple-units being supplied by Stadler to operate regional services in East Anglia began revenue operation on Abellio's Greater Anglia routes from Norwich to Lowestoft and Yarmouth on July 29. The first Stadler multiple-units to operate in the UK, the Class ...
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NewsWork begins on Ankara suburban rail extension
TURKEY: Construction has started on an extension of Ankara’s Başkentray suburban railway from the current western terminus of Sincan to Yenikent. The 8 km northwestern extension is being funded from public sources. Completion of the TL353m project is due by the end of June 2022. From ...
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NewsHauts-de-France keen to reopen Abbeville – Le Tréport
FRANCE: Plans are in hand to run competitively tendered passenger services over the Abbeville – Le Tréport line in northern France that was closed in May 2018. In a corrigendum published on July 19 to an April notice in the Official Journal of the European Union the region specified ...
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Rail Business UKAccessible travel policy guidance updated
UK: The Office of Rail & Road has published updated guidance designed to enable train and station operators to provide older and disabled people with greater confidence when travelling by rail. The Accessible Travel Policy replaces ORR’s Disabled Persons’ Protection Policy and broadens its scope. Updated requirements ...
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NewsRegioJet buys double-deck coaches to cope with ridership growth
SLOVAKIA: RegioJet has acquired 10 second-hand double-deck coaches from DB Regio, which it plans to use to provide a rapid increase in capacity on Bratislava – Dunajská Streda – Komárno services operated under contract to the Ministry of Transport. The Dbz750 coaches were built at the Bautzen plant in ...
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NewsMinimum access rights include station platforms, court rules
AUSTRIA: The use of station platforms is included within the ‘minimum access package’ which EU Directive 2012/34 requires infrastructure managers to make available to all train operators, the European Court of Justice has ruled. This means that charges for the use of platforms must not exceed the cost that ...
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NewsDSB starts driverless S-bane train procurement
DENMARK: State operator DSB has launched a market sounding exercise in preparation for the procurement of a fleet of driverless trains to operate the København S-bane. Building on work now underway to equip the S-bane with CBTC, the government decided in December 2017 to convert the stand-alone 1·5 kV ...
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Rail Business UKSheffield City Region rail vision launched
UK: An ‘ambitious’ Integrated Rail Plan for the Sheffield City Region was launched by Mayor Dan Jarvis on July 18. The plan was produced by the region’s local authorities supported by organisations including Transport for the North. The proposals include a Barnsley Dearne Valley station in Goldthorpe on the ...
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NewsFlixTrain raises funding for expansion
INTERNATIONAL: FlixMobility has completed a Series F funding round co-led by growth equity firms TCV and Permira, with long-time investor HV Holtzbrinck Ventures also participating through a joint investment with the European Investment Bank. In the rail sector, the company plans to use the equity raised to support the growth ...
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Rail Business UK
Alstom completes first Class 175 DMU refurbishment
UK: Alstom's Technology Centre at Widnes has rolled out the first of 27 Class 175 long-distance 160 km/h regional diesel multiple-units to be refurbished in a £6·7m programme which is being undertaken for Transport for Wales. The Alstom-built Class 175 has received TfW’s exterior branding, with interior changes including ...
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NewsElectrification, batteries and hydrogen trains should replace DMUs, says study
GERMANY: Electrification, battery power and fuel cells are the most sensible options for replacing diesel multiple-units, according to an environmental and value-for-money study undertaken by the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies. The Alternatives to DMUs in Rail Passenger Transport study was undertaken by VDE with ...
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NewsGautrain success foreshadows expansion
SOUTH AFRICA: Outline plans to extend Gautrain to serve more of the Gauteng region have been drawn up as part of an assessment of the project’s economic and social impact. About R110bn could be allocated for construction of extensions and 19 new stations, plus R24∙4bn on improvements to the existing ...
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News
DB buys Westbahn’s Kiss EMUs
EUROPE: Deutsche Bahn has signed an agreement to acquire Austrian open access operator Westbahn’s fleet of 17 Stadler Kiss double-deck electric multiple-units. Announcing the deal on July 22, the German national railway said Westbahn’s four-car and six-car units had ‘achieved the highest levels of customer satisfaction’; some of the ...