Passenger rail news – Page 128
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NewsInterCity New Generation EMU prepared for testing
NETHERLANDS: The first of the Coradia Stream electric multiple-units which national passenger operator NS has ordered from Alstom under the Intercity New Generation programme has been moved from the manufacturer’s factory at Katowice in Poland to its Salzgitter plant in Germany for static testing. This will be followed by dynamic ...
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Rail Business UKUK rail ticketing reform proposals published
UK: Outline proposals for a ‘radical’ reform of the rail ticketing system in Great Britain were published by the Rail Delivery Group on February 18. Branded ‘Easier Fares for All’, the proposals are designed to bring about major changes to the existing national ticketing rules, sweeping away accumulated layers of ...
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NewsŠkoda replaces Talgo after Latvian EMU appeal
LATVIA: Škoda Vagonka has replaced Talgo as the preferred bidder for a contract to supply 32 electric multiple-units, Rodžers Jānis Grigulis, CEO of national passenger operator Pasažieru Vilciens, announced on February 15. The procurement process was launched in September 2015, and in 2017 CAF, Škoda Vagonka, Stadler and Talgo were ...
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NewsRussian Railways awards long-term coach contract
RUSSIA: An agreement for the supply of up to 3 730 coaches worth 237bn roubles by 2025 was signed by Russian Railways’ long-distance subsidiary Federal Passenger Co and Transmashholding on February 14. This includes a firm order for 2 644 coaches, with the rest as options. The order covers ...
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NewsMore trains ordered for Poznań regional network
POLAND: Wielkopolskie voivodship signed a contract with Pesa for the supply of five five-car Elf2 electric multiple-units on February 14. Pesa beat bids from Newag and Stadler, and will work with its subsidiary ZNTK Mińsk Mazowiecki to supply the EMUs between June and December 2020. The EU is providing ...
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NewsIrish implementation plan focuses six-year rail spend
Substantial investment in heavy and light rail is envisaged under the National Transport Authority’s Draft Integrated Implementation Plan for 2019-24. Tony Miles investigates
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NewsModi launches Vande Bharat Express and orders 130 more
INDIA: IR’s prototype Train 18 semi-high speed EMU was formally launched into revenue service by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a ceremony at New Delhi station on February 15. Now branded as Vande Bharat Express, the 16-car EMU was developed by the Integral Coach Factory to operate medium-distance inter-city routes ...
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NewsLaview EMUs are ready to roll
JAPAN: The first of seven Laview luxury EMUs which will operate Seibu Railway’s premier Limited Express services between Tokyo’s Ikebukuro station and Seibu-Chichibu from March 16 was formally presented at the operator’s Kotesashi depot on February 14. Intended as the railway’s flagship, the 1 067 mm gauge Series 001 trainsets ...
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NewsSNCF to reshape TER operations
FRANCE: Radical changes to the operations management and customer relations activities for SNCF’s regional passenger services were announced by General Manager, TER, Frank Lacroix on February 14. Providing an update on the CAP TER 2020 transformation strategy launched at the end of 2016, Lacroix said the first two years had ...
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NewsCAF to replace New South Wales regional train fleet
AUSTRALIA: The New South Wales government signed a contract for 117 multiple-unit cars to replace its entire regional train fleet on February 14. The Momentum Trains consortium of CAF, Pacific Partnership and DIF Infrastructure V has been awarded an availability-based PPP contract to design, build, finance and maintain the ...
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News‘Battle plan’ to save France’s rural railways
FRANCE: A report into the condition, usage and prospects of almost 9 000 route-km of secondary railway is to be handed to government before the end of March. According to Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne, the report will form part of a ‘battle plan’ to save a broad swathe of the ...
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NewsSantiago – Valparaíso proposal submitted
CHILE: Proposals to build a high-performance railway between the capital Santiago and the port of Valparaíso have been formally submitted to the Ministry of Public Works by the Tren Valparaíso Santiago consortium of local firm of Sigdo Koppers and China Railway Engineering Corp. According to the promoters, the US$2·5bn project ...
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Rail Business UKInterim East Midlands franchise awarded
UK: The Department for Transport has directly awarded incumbent Stagecoach Group subsidiary East Midlands Trains an interim contract to continue to operate the East Midlands passenger franchise. The new short-term contract announced on February 12 will start when the most recent extension of the current franchise expires on March 3 ...
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NewsDB and ODEG awarded operating contracts
GERMANY: On behalf of the Länder of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg–Vorpommern and Sachsen-Anhalt, Berlin-Brandenburg transport authority VBB has awarded the four Netzes Elbe-Spree regional passenger train operating contracts to DB Regio Nordost and ODEG. The contracts covering 17 routes will run for 12 years from December 2022. The international tender specified ...
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Rail Business UKScotRail gets second performance warning
UK: Citing poor customer satisfaction figures, Transport Scotland issued a Remedial Plan notice to ScotRail on February 8. This is the operator’s second warning in quick succession, following a Remedial Notice issued on December 24 because of poor operational performance, during November and December. According to Transport Scotland, ScotRail had ...
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Rail Business UKConsultation on expanding pay-as-you-go ticketing in southeast England
UK: The Department for Transport has begun public consultation on the possible roll out of ‘pay-as-you-go’ smart ticketing in the region surrounding Greater London. It is envisaged that this would be more convenient for passengers, and reduce differences in fares paid by people by people with different working and travel ...
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NewsDigital payment launched on Guangzhou – Shenzhen line
CHINA: Guangshen Railway Co says it is the first inter-city operator in China to introduce digital payment for travel on its services, which link Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The system uses Alipay’s e-wallet payment technology. Users register on the Alipay app, and generate a QR code which is scanned on ...
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NewsAmtrak plans to serve Long Island as Metro-North seeks Penn access
USA: Amtrak announced on February 5 that it had reached agreement with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority covering two enhancements to passenger services. The first is a long-standing proposal to allow MTA Metro-North to use Amtrak infrastructure to reach Penn Station in Manhattan, while the second envisages investment to ...
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NewsSydney Trains fleet to grow
AUSTRALIA: The New South Wales Government is to ‘fast-track’ the delivery of a further 17 Waratah Series 2 double-deck electric multiple-units to accommodate growing demand across the Sydney Trains network, Minister for Transport & Infrastructure Andrew Constance announced on February 6. The additional EMUs are scheduled to be delivered ...
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NewsHS2 announces London station construction partners
UK: The preferred bidders for the Construction Partner contracts to build High Speed 2’s two London stations were announced by project promoter HS2 Ltd on February 6. A joint venture of Mace and Dragados has been selected to undertake the rebuilding of the London Euston terminus, while the Old ...