Passenger rail news – Page 119
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NewsPerth’s final B-Series EMU delivered as C-Series procurement underway
AUSTRALIA: The EDI Rail Bombardier Transportation joint venture has delivered the last of 78 B-Series electric multiple-units ordered by Western Australia’s Public Transport Authority, 15 years after the first was unveiled. The final unit is expected to enter service on the Joondalup and Mandurah lines in early July. An initial ...
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Rail Business UKAssisted travel lounge opened at Birmingham New Street
UK: Network Rail has opened a £175 000 assisted travel lounge at Birmingham New Street station for use by passengers who need help getting between trains and the station concourse. Designed with the guidance of Birmingham New Street’s accessibility forum, the lounge has bright multicoloured signs to aid the ...
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NewsTrenitalia prepares for Paris – Milano launch
EUROPE: The first of five ETR1000 high speed trainsets being modified to operate Trenitalia’s planned open access service between Milano and Paris is expected to begin test running in France next month, following the completion of retrofitting work. The trainsets are being fitted with TVM cab signalling and KVB automatic ...
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NewsODEG orders Stage V compliant DMUs
GERMANY: Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn has awarded Alstom a €45m contract to supply eight Coradia Lint diesel multiple-units for use on Netzes Elbe-Spree regional passenger services from December 2022. Announcing the order on June 20, Alstom said the 140 km/h DMUs would be its first with a powerpack complying with EU ...
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NewsElectro-diesel train financing approved
SPAIN: The European Investment Bank approved a €100m loan on June 13 to part-finance the planned €201m procurement of 26 electric and five electro-diesel trainsets for use by RENFE on suburban and rural services on the former FEVE metre-gauge network in northern Spain. EIB said the replacement of life-expired rolling ...
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NewsStadler receives first Flirt Akku battery train order
GERMANY: Schleswig-Holstein transport authority NAH.SH has selected Stadler to supply 55 Flirt Akku battery multiple-units to operate regional services and provide 30 years of maintenance. Announcing its selection as preferred bidder on June 19, Stadler said that it will reveal more details when the contract is signed, which is ...
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NewsRail, metro and tram spending in New South Wales budget
AUSTRALIA: Several rail projects have been allocated funding in the 2019-20 New South Wales budget, which was presented on June 18. The state government is providing A$812m as part of a A$1·8bn package over four years towards the New Intercity Fleet. The RailConnect consortium of Hyundai Rotem, Mitsubishi Electric ...
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Rail Business UKCardiff – London open access plan
UK: Grand Union Trains has applied to the Office of Rail & Road for a track access agreement which would enable it to launch a Cardiff Central – London Paddington open access passenger service from late 2020. The proposed hourly service would call at Newport, Severn Tunnel Junction and Bristol ...
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NewsFlixTrain seeks to enter French passenger market
FRANCE: FlixMobility GmbH has lodged an application with rail regulator Arafer to launch five inter-city routes from January 1 2021. The FlixTrain-branded services would cover four domestic routes as well as one international route. The proposed services are seven return trains per day between Paris Nord and Brussels Nord ...
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NewsSJ wins north Norway operating contract
NORWAY: The SJ Norge subsidiary of Sweden’s national passenger operator has been selected for the Lot 2 Nord operating contract, national railway agency Jernbanedirektoratet announced on June 17. The contract covers long-distance passenger services on the Dovrebanen and Nordlandsbanen routes from Oslo to Trondheim and Bodø, as well as the ...
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NewsSão Paulo airport EMU unveiled
BRAZIL: CRRC Qingdao Sifang has unveiled the first of eight eight-car Class 2500 electric multiple-units that it is supplying for São Paulo suburban operator CPTM’s Line 13 to Guarulhos Airport under a contract awarded in September 2017. The 12·2 km Line 13 was inaugurated in June 2018, and is currently ...
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NewsNext-generation Acela trainsets take shape
USA: Alstom invited guests to its Hornell factory in New York state on June 12 to showcase the progress it is making in producing the next generation of Acela high speed trainsets for Amtrak. Amtrak says that ‘significant progress’ is being made in production of the fleet, which is expected ...
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Rail Business UKSoutheastern franchise extension confirmed
UK: The Department for Transport and the Govia joint venture of Go-Ahead (65%) and Keolis (35%) have agreed a short-term extension to the current South Eastern passenger franchise until November 10, the operator confirmed on June 13, with an option for a further extension to April 1 2020. The franchise ...
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NewsTransdev orders Regio-S-Bahn Bremen Flirts
GERMANY: Transdev subsidiary NordWestBahn has awarded Stadler a €100m contact to supply 16 Flirt electric multiple-units for use on Regio-S-Bahn Bremen/Niedersachsen services from December 2022. The order announced on June 13 follows the award in April of a competitively-tendered contract for incumbent NordWestBahn to continue to operate the services from ...
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NewsLausanne station to be rebuilt
SWITZERLAND: The Federal Office for Transport has approved plans for Swiss Federal Railways to proceed with the reconstruction of Lausanne station. Announcing the decision on June 3, BAV said that the government would contribute SFr900m towards the SFr1∙3bn cost. The main objective is to extend the platforms to a length ...
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NewsTAZARA seeks opportunities with the private sector
AFRICA: The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority board is seeking to develop open access operations to increase traffic on its network, ‘in view of the good performance by the private operator so far’. Following its meeting in Dar es Salaam on June 1, the board directed the railway’s management to appoint a ...
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Rail Business UKSign language app for deaf passengers
UK: ScotRail and InterpreterNow have introduced an app designed to make it easier for railway staff to communicate with deaf people using British Sign Language. The app can be installed on staff or customer smartphones, and provides immediate access to online British Sign Language interpreting via a video call. Customers ...
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NewsDodoma commuter rail study commissioned
TANZANIA: Tanzania Railways Corp has awarded an international consortium a €2·5m nine-month contract to undertake feasibility and preliminary design studies for a commuter rail network in the capital Dodoma. The consortium is led by Spanish consultancy Ardanuy Ingenieria and includes Intercontinental Consultants & Technocrats from India and ...
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NewsGo-Ahead, Abellio and National Express take over German operating contracts
GERMANY: A number of passenger services transferred to new operators on June 9, including routes in Baden-Württemberg which are the first in Germany to be managed by UK-based rail and bus group Go-Ahead. Go-Ahead In 2015 the Land of Baden-Württemberg selected Go-Ahead for the Stuttgart Netz 1 Lot 2 (also ...
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Rail Business UKVirgin Trains open access service to ‘show the rest of the industry how it can be done’
UK: A partnership of Virgin Group, Stagecoach, SNCF and Alstom has applied to the Office of Rail & Road for permission to operate open access trains between London and Liverpool from May 2021, which it says would be ‘the UK’s most advanced and customer-focused’ rail service. The announcement on June ...