Passenger rail news – Page 163
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NewsStadler awarded Syntus EMU maintenance contract
NETHERLANDS: On July 18 Syntus formally awarded Stadler Service Nederland a 15-year contract to undertake all aspects of maintenance for 16 Flirt electric multiple-units which are currently being tested ahead of entry into service between Zwolle, Kampen and Enschede from December 2017. The nine three-car and seven four-car 1·5 kV ...
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NewsBEG to award transitional Augsburg contract
GERMANY: Bayern railway authority BEG has announced its intention to award incumbent Transdev subsidiary Bayerische Regiobahn a contract to continue operating Dieselnetz Augsburg II passenger services from the end of the current contract in December 2019 until December 2021. The contract covers the operation of 3 million train-km/year using Alstom ...
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NewsBi-mode trains in prospect as HS2 northern routes confirmed
UK: Transport Secretary Chris Grayling issued a Command Paper on July 17 confirming the planned routes for the northern sections of High Speed 2, which would link London and Birmingham with Leeds and Manchester, including connections to the existing East Coast and West Coast main lines.The ‘majority’ of the route ...
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NewsAbellio takes full ownership of WestfalenBahn as market gets more competitive
GERMANY: The Abellio GmbH German subsidiary of Dutch state passenger train operator NS has reached an agreement to acquire the stakes in Westfalenbahn which are currently held by municipal partners moBiel, Mindener Kreisbahnen and Verkehrsbetriebe Extertal. The transaction announced on July 18 is subject to regulatory approval, and terms were ...
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NewsClass 319 Flex electro-diesel multiple-units for Wales
UK: The Welsh Government is to provide £1·9m and operator Arriva Trains Wales £1m to lease five Class 319 Flex electro-diesel multiple-units for use on the Wales & Borders franchise from 2018 until at least 2021. First announced by Porterbrook Leasing and Northern franchise operator Arriva in December 2016, the ...
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NewsGovia Thameslink Railway renews ticket sales system
UK: Govia Thameslink Railway is to replace its current desktop ticketing issuing system with Worldline’s @Station mobile point-of-sale technology. Announcing the contract on July 6, Worldline said @Station would provide the operator with ability to 'queue bust' and to cross-sell and upsell both Rail Settlement Plan and non-RSP products. Roll-out ...
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NewsEnvironmental survey marks Northeast Corridor progress
USA: The Federal Railroad Administration on July 12 released a Record of Decision marking completion of a Tier 1 environmental review of the Northeast Corridor under the National Environmental Policy Act.This establishes a long-term planning framework for the 735 km corridor linking Boston with Washington DC, along which a series ...
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NewsBattery energy recovery and biodiesel in Arriva operating contract
NETHERLANDS: The provinces of Groningen and Friesland named incumbent Arriva as the winner of the next contract to operate their regional passenger rail services on July 11. The contract will run for 15 years from December 13 2020 and is worth €1·6bn. The contract covers fast and stopping services ...
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NewsEurostar passengers to be able to watch virtual fish under the Channel
EUROPE: Cross-Channel high speed train operator Eurostar is to offer passengers an ‘immersive and unprecedented’ on-board virtual reality experience this summer. Primarily aimed at children and accessed through the on-train entertainment system using a smart device or via headsets which will be available onboard, Eurostar Odyssey will create a virtual ...
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NewsFinal Brazilian-built EMU for PRASA completed
SOUTH AFRICA: Alstom Brazil’s Lapa factory has completed the last of 20 X'Ttrapolis Mega electric multiple-units for Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa. PRASA placed a R51bn order for 600 of the six-car 1 067 mm gauge EMUs in 2013, with 20 to be supplied from Brazil and the remaining ...
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NewsBaoji – Lanzhou opening completes high speed corridor to western China
CHINA: The 401 km high speed line between Baoji in Shaanxi province and Lanzhou in Gansu province opened on July 9, following a period of test running which had begun in May. The latest section of the national high speed network links the existing high speed line from eastern China ...
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NewsPrime Minister inaugurates Stockholm Citybanan
SWEDEN: Revenue services began operating through the new Stockholm Citybanan tunnels at 05.00 on July 10, following formal inauguration by Prime Minister Stefan Löfven the previous day. He was joined for the ceremonies at Odenplan by Minister of Infrastructure Anna Johansson, Trafikverket Director General Lena Erixon and the head of ...
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NewsBelgrano Sur heads for Constitución
ARGENTINA: On July 6 the Ministry of Transport announced the start of work on a new elevated alignment for the 1 000 mm gauge Belgrano Sur commuter route in Buenos Aires. Running for 5∙6 km, it will enable Belgrano services to run into the Plaza Constitución terminus of the 1 ...
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NewsNorthern’s Pacer replacement multiple-units under construction
UK: The first of the Civity UK multiple-units ordered for Arriva’s Northern franchise in northern England are now under construction at CAF’s factories at Irun and Zaragoza in Spain. The 25 two-car and 30 three-car Class 195 diesel multiple-units and 31 three-car and 12 four-car 25 kV 50 Hz Class ...
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NewsDB Regio retains re-routed RB27 contract
GERMANY: Following a European tender, the Rheinland, Rhein-Ruhr and Rheinland-Pfalz Nord transport authorities announced on June 30 that they had selected incumbent DB Regio NRW for the next contract to operate passenger service RB27 from Mönchengladbach to Köln and Koblenz. The contract runs for seven years from December 2019 and ...
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NewsSaudi Arabia invites interest in operating its rail network
SAUDI ARABIA: The national Public Transport Authority has invited international railway operators and investors to express interest in forming a long-term partnership to operate the country’s rail network. The process forms part of the Saudi Vision 2030 programme, which aims to increase the role of the private sector in the ...
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NewsBern station expansion gets underway
SWITZERLAND: A long-discussed project to expand the main station in Bern was officially launched on July 3, following completion of the planning approval process on June 26. The Zukunft Bahnhof Bern project is intended to provide much-needed capacity increases in several areas, as both the SBB through station and the ...
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NewsFirst Giruno runs through the Gotthard Base Tunnel
SWITZERLAND: A Stadler EC250 Giruno trainset ran through the Gotthard Base Tunnel for the first time during testing on July 2. The manufacturer said that the test run at a maximum speed of 100 km/h had been a 'complete success', demonstrating that the design meets the standards required to operate ...
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NewsSNCF opens two high speed lines in one day
FRANCE: More than 500 km of new high speed line were officially opened on July 1, when SNCF operated special trains on LGV Sud Europe Atlantique and LGV Bretagne – Pays de la Loire, ahead of the start of commercial services the following day. Taking part in the events were ...
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NewsA ticket to ride
‘The complex reality of managing the back office processes of the modern passenger railway can sometimes be overlooked’, suggests Nick Kingsley.