Passenger rail news – Page 118
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NewsCisalpino Pendolinos to work Athens – Thessaloniki line
GREECE: Following its acquisition of national passenger operator Trainose, Italy’s FS Group has decided to deploy its 200 km/h ETR470 tilting trains to accelerate inter-city services on the Athens – Thessaloniki main line. This follows trials with one of Trenitalia’s multi-system ETR485 trainsets last year. The first of five ...
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NewsBranch lines’ future secured as Elster-Geiseltal operating contract signed
GERMANY: A contract for the operation of Elster-Geiseltal local passenger services from December 15 2019 was signed by Sachsen-Anhalt transport authority NASA and DB Regio Südost in the chapter house of Merseburg Cathedral on July 1. The contract covers the operation of service RB78 on the 35 km Geiseltal branch ...
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NewsBattery answer to Schleswig-Holstein’s diesel replacement question
GERMANY: Schleswig-Holstein transport authority NAH.SH has formally awarded preferred bidder Stadler a contract to supply a fleet of battery-powered Flirt Akku multiple-units for use on regional services from 2022. The €600m deal includes a firm order for the supply of 55 trains and the provision of 30 years of maintenance. ...
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NewsAdelaide A-City fleet expansion
AUSTRALIA: The government of South Australia has awarded Bombardier Transportation a contract to supply a further 12 three-car A-City electric multiple-units to increase capacity on the Adelaide suburban network. The order announced on June 28 will take the A-City fleet to 34 units. The 1 600 mm gauge 25 kV ...
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NewsRENFE seeks to take on the TGV
FRANCE: On July 1, RENFE Operadora confirmed its intention to enter the French high speed passenger market, saying it had lodged the relevant applications with regulator Arafer, safety authority EPSF and infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau. The Spanish national operator would compete with incumbent SNCF on high speed routes initially using ...
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NewsChina out in front with the world’s fastest trains
INTERNATIONAL: China now has the fastest regular timetabled trains in the world, significantly faster than any other country, according to Railway Gazette’s biennial World Speed Survey, which appears in the July 2019 issue of Railway Gazette International magazine. Compiled by Jeremy Hartill of the Railway Performance Society, using data for ...
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Rail Business UKNew trains launch ‘genuine transformation’ of Northern services
UK: The first nine of 101 diesel and electric multiple-units being supplied to Northern by CAF entered passenger service on July 1. ‘Over the course of the rest of this year, the new trains will be introduced into towns and cities right across the north, marking a genuine transformation of ...
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NewsSwitzerland: Competitive stress
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways CEO Andreas Meyer believes that SBB could be forced into a position where it became a residual operator if the federal government were to pursue further its policy of on-rail competition. In an interview with Neue Zürcher Zeitung on May 29, Meyer reiterated ...
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NewsBane NOR awards Moss realignment contract
NORWAY: Infrastructure manager Bane NOR has selected a consortium of Implenia Norge and Acciona Construcción to rebuild a key section of the busy Østfold Line through the town of Moss, at a cost of NKr6·3bn. Under a contract signed on June 28, the MossIAANS joint venture will build a 10·3 ...
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NewsSiemensstadt S-Bahn funding agreement
GERMANY: The long-disused S-Bahn branch to the Berlin suburb of Siemensstadt and Gartenfeld is set to be reactivated following the signing of an agreement between Deutsche Bahn's Board Member for Infrastructure Ronald Pofalla and the city's Mayor Michael Müller on July 28 to fund the necessary planning studies at an ...
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NewsPKP Intercity signs EMU modernisation contract
POLAND: PKP Intercity has signed a 274·8m złoty contract with a consortium of Pesa and its subsidiary ZNTK Mińsk Mazowiecki for the modernisation of 14 ED74 electric multiple-units. The modernisation will include the fitting of air-conditioning, wi-fi, mobile phone signal repeaters, a power socket at every seat and two ...
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NewsBayern awards two operating contracts
GERMANY: Bayern railway agency BEG awarded DB Regio two overlapping operating contracts on June 24. The first is an interim contract covering the operation of long-distance regional services on the 220 km route from München to Lindau via Memmingen for one year from December 2020, while the second covers the ...
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NewsEast Norway passenger operating contract plan announced
NORWAY: Railway agency Jernbanedirektoratet has announced its preferred option for tendering the operation of passenger services around Oslo and southeast Norway. This follows a study of eight options for grouping the routes which it undertook on behalf of the Ministry of Transport & Communications. The two operating contracts would be ...
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Rail Business UKMidlands Hub plan to boost east-west connectivity
UK: The Midlands Connect consortium of local authorities and regional transport bodies has unveiled proposals for a £2bn package of targeted improvements to boost rail services in the East and West Midlands. The group is seeking £25m in government funding to develop the business case for its Midlands Rail ...
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NewsSwitzerland approves SFr13bn infrastructure investment package
SWITZERLAND: The upper house of Parliament (Ständerat) voted unanimously on June 21 in favour of a further phase of rail infrastructure expansion to eliminate bottlenecks, allow more frequent services and make stations more accessible. Worth SFr12∙89bn, the investment package known as STEP 2035 (Strategische Entwicklungsprogramm Bahninfrastruktur) covers around 200 large ...
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NewsLeshan – Yibin high speed line opens
CHINA: The 141 km Leshan – Jianwei – Pingshan – Yibin section of the future Chengdu – Guiyang Passenger-Dedicated Line opened on June 15. The alignment is designed for 250 km/h operation, and 79% of the route is on bridges or in tunnel. The fastest services operated using CRH3A trainsets ...
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NewsVirgin Trains breaks ground on Orlando extension
USA: Virgin Trains USA held a ‘Red Spike’ groundbreaking ceremony at Orlando International Airport on June 24 to launch construction work on its 275 km Phase 2 extension from West Palm Beach. Contracts were awarded in May for construction of Phase 2, which represents a private-sector investment of $4bn. The ...
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NewsGranada joins the AVE network
SPAIN: The 122 km high speed line between Antequera and Granada was formally inaugurated on June 25 by acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who unveiled a plaque at Antequera Santa Ana station. He was accompanied by Minister of Development José Luis Ábalos, ADIF President Isabel Pardo de Vera and the ...
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Rail Business UKGrand Central to launch Blackpool service in spring 2020
UK: Plans for a Blackpool – London open access service are ‘firmly on track’, with the launch now expected in spring 2020, Grand Central said on June 24. In June last year the Office of Rail & Road granted Alliance Rail Holdings’ Great North Western Railway rights to operate the ...
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NewsFSE takes delivery of Newag EMUs
ITALY: FS Group-owned Puglia regional railway Ferrovie del Sud-Est has unveiled the first of five three-car Newag Impuls II electric multiple-units ahead of entry into service on the modernised Bari – Casamassima – Putignano line from September. The €20·2m contract for five EMUs was signed in December 2015. It included ...