Passenger rail news – Page 120
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Rail Business UKGWR prepares for December timetable recast
UK: More than three-quarters of all services operated by Great Western Railway are set to change with the introduction of a completely recast timetable on December 15, as the FirstGroup franchise operator moves to capitalise on the fruits of the Great Western Route Modernisation programme and increase capacity on some ...
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NewsPassengers prevail over freight in capacity allocation dispute
SWITZERLAND: The need to provide a minimum level of network capacity for freight operators should not be understood in absolute terms, but instead all relevant interests need to be weighed up, the Federal Administrative Court has ruled in a dispute about train paths. As a result, its says the needs ...
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NewsZSSK RegioPanter EMU rolled out
SLOVAKIA: Škoda Transportation has rolled out the first of the Class 660 electric multiple-units ordered by national passenger operator ZSSK for use on regional services around Žilina. The €160m contract for 25 dual-voltage 3 kV DC/25 kV AC EMUs with a maximum speed of 160 km/h was signed in March ...
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NewsRussian Railways orders high speed trains
RUSSIA: Russian Railways has signed a €1·1bn order for a further 13 Velaro RUS high speed trains for use on the 650 km Moscow – St Petersburg route, Siemens Mobility announced on June 7. The 10-car 3 kV DC trainsets will be supplied by Siemens Mobility and the Ural Locomotives ...
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NewsIllinois votes to fund rail expansion
USA: Dedicated funding for two new inter-city rail services and urban rail expansion is included in a $45bn package of infrastructure investment approved by the Illinois state legislature on May 31. The six-year programme put together by Governor J B Pritzker allocates $33·2bn for transport projects. The majority of this ...
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NewsTrenitalia's ETR700 ex-Fyra trains to enter service on Adriatic Corridor
ITALY: The first four of 17 ETR700 trainsets originally built for Fyra services in the Netherlands and Belgium are to enter commercial service with Trenitalia on June 9, FS Group announced on June 3. The trains are branded Frecciargento and will initially operate between Milano and Ancona, with two return ...
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NewsJR East to trial fuel cell multiple-unit
JAPAN: East Japan Railway has started work on a new generation of hydrogen fuel cell trainsets, a decade after early experiments with its prototype New Energy Train. The railway set an objective to ‘diversify energy’ as part of its ‘Move Up 2027’ 10-year vision adopted last year, and it hopes ...
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NewsBombardier to supply 74 more double-deck coaches to Israel
ISRAEL: Bombardier Transportation has signed a contract to supply 74 Twindexx Vario double-deck coaches to Israel Railways. The €147m order announced on June 6 is an option on a framework agreement signed in October 2010 and will take ISR’s total fleet of Bombardier double-deck coaches to 586. ...
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NewsFirst Kiss for DB Regio
GERMANY: DB Regio has placed its first order for Stadler Kiss double-deck electric multiple-units, signing a €220m contract on June 5 for 18 four-car units for use in Schleswig-Holstein. This follows the award in April of a contract for incumbent and sole bidder DB Regio to continue to operate Elektronetz ...
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NewsCompetition authority opposes online ticket monopoly
SWEDEN: Competition authority Konkurrensverket has called on the government to review the regulations governing the online sale of rail tickets, in order to address the dominant position of the sj.se website run by state-owned incumbent operator SJ AB. Two new entrants – MTR Express and Saga Rail – filed complaints ...
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NewsThello bids to run Milano – Paris high speed service
FRANCE: Trenitalia subsidiary Thello has notified rail regulator ARAFER of its intention to launch the first open access passenger services on the French high speed network. The regulator announced on June 4 that Thello had requested paths from SNCF Réseau for a twice-daily service between Milano and Paris to start ...
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NewsTrenitalia orders 14 high speed trainsets
ITALY: Trenitalia has confirmed an order for a partnership of Hitachi Rail (60%) and Bombardier Transportation (40%) to supply 14 more Frecciarossa 1000 high speed trainsets and maintain them for 10 years. The €575m deal announced on June 4 follows the publication in May of FS Group’s business plan for ...
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NewsCampania DMUs ordered using Lombardia contract
ITALY: Campania regional train operator Ente Autonomo Volturno has ordered five Stadler diesel-battery multiple-units by using an option within a framework contract for up to 50 units which Lombardia regional railway FNM signed with the Swiss manufacturer in November. The two operators said this arrangement would enable them both to ...
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Rail Business UKVirgin Trains announces plans for cheapest fare app
UK: Virgin Trains is developing a booking app which it says will guarantee that passengers obtain the cheapest walk-up fares by retrospectively looking at the trains used and recalculating the fare if a different ticket would have been cheaper than the one purchased. The system would automatically ...
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NewsUzbekistan orders more Talgo 250 trainsets
UZBEKISTAN: National railway UTY has finalised an order for a further two Talgo 250 trainsets for use from 2021 on Afrosiyob services between Toshkent, Samarkand, Qarshi, Bukhara and Khiva, along with four coaches to lengthen its original pair of Talgo 250 trainsets. The €57m order announced by Talgo on May ...
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NewsCotton Belt railway DMU order placed
USA: Dallas Area Rapid Transit has awarded Stadler a $199m contract to supply eight Flirt diesel multiple-units for the $1·1bn Cotton Belt Regional Rail Project in the northern suburbs of Dallas. The 42 km line between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Shiloh Road in Plano is under ...
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NewsAlstom awarded Zollernalbbahn DMU contract
GERMANY: Following a European tender, Baden-Württemberg’s rolling stock procurement body SFBW has awarded Alstom a contract to supply 18 two-car Lint 54 diesel multiple-units for use on Zollernalbbahn services between Tübingen and Aulendorf from December 2020. The 140 km/h units will have 150 seats, air-conditioning, wi-fi, power sockets, passenger ...
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NewsSBB looks at options to reintroduce night trains
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways is examining options for reintroducing overnight services to a range of European destinations. Armin Weber, Head of International Passenger Services, told Schweizer Radio & Fernsehen on May 30 that SBB had identified a market need and was looking at potential routes. If SBB decided to re-enter ...
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NewsLeo Express unveils its Chinese EMUs
CZECH REPUBLIC: The three multi-system electric multiple-units being built for open access operator Leo Express by Chinese manufacturer CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive are nearing completion and on course for delivery in the second half of the year, the operator confirmed on June 3. The inter-city EMUs are due to undergo ...
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NewsBorne backs early extension of Rhin-Rhône high speed line
FRANCE: Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne has agreed to ‘look again’ at the timescale for completing the second phase of the LGV Rhin-Rhône high speed line, serving Dijon and Mulhouse. LGV Rhin-Rhône opened with the December 2011 timetable change, covering an initial 140 route-km between Auxonne, east of Dijon, and Petit-Croix, ...