Passenger rail news – Page 185
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NewsTrenord boosts fleet spend
ITALY: Regional passenger operator Trenord has announced that it is to invest an additional €170m on new rolling stock to enter service in 2017. Funding is being provided by the Lombardia region and FNM, which owns 50% of the Trenord joint venture with Trenitalia. Trenord is to acquire 18 trainsets, ...
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NewsWellington chooses suburban rail operator
NEW ZEALAND: Greater Wellington Regional Council announced the selection of a joint venture between Transdev and Hyundai Rotem as preferred bidder for a contract to operate the capital’s suburban rail services on December 17. Formal award is planned for March. A Keolis Downer-KiwiRail joint venture and Serco had also ...
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NewsNASA selects Abellio to operate services
GERMANY: Sachsen-Anhalt transport authority NASA has selected Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland to operate Dieselnetz Sachsen-Anhalt passenger services for 14 years from December 2018. NASA is procuring the services on behalf of the Länder of Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen and the greater Braunschweig region. The preferred bidder was named on December 14, with ...
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NewsBEG confirms National Express as Nürnberg S-Bahn operator
GERMANY: Bayern railway authority BEG confirmed the National Express Rail GmbH subsidiary of UK-based National Express Group as the winner of the two Nürnberg S-Bahn operating contracts on December 15, after reviewing bids following an appeal by incumbent DB Regio which had blocked the award of the contracts. Subject ...
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NewsHessische Landesbahn orders 30 EMUs
GERMANY: Alstom announced on December 15 that it had been awarded a €160m contract to supply 30 Coradia Continental electric multiple-units to Hessische Landesbahn. Alstom said these would be the first Coradia Continental units to meet the Locomotives & Passenger Rolling Stock Technical Specification for Interoperability. The order covers ...
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NewsTrenitalia among 11 recipients of UK ‘franchising passports’
UK: The Department for Transport announced on December 15 that 11 transport companies had been awarded Pre-Qualification Questionnaire Passports, which have been designed to make it easier and quicker to bid for passenger franchises by removing the need to for potential bidders to complete 'resource-intensive' sections of the pre-qualification questionnaire ...
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NewsGreater Anglia EMUs refurbished
UK: Abellio Greater Anglia has completed an upgrade of 24 four-car Class 317/6 electric multiple-units that operate between London and Cambridge, Cheshunt and Hertford East. The £1·3m project was carried out by the operator’s own fleet maintenance team at Clacton-on-Sea. The interior refresh includes new seat covers, vinyl flooring, ...
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NewsNewag wins its first Italian EMU order
ITALY: Newag announced on December 10 that it had signed a framework contract with regional operator Ferrovie del Sud-Est for the supply of five electric-multiple units with options for up to 10 more. The base order is worth €20·2m, with the total value rising to €60·5m if all options ...
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NewsTrenitalia exercises further Vivalto option
ITALY: Trenitalia has exercised an option to buy 136 Vivalto second-class push-pull coaches from Hitachi Rail Italy, the supplier announced on December 9. The contract is worth €190m and covers the supply of 112 intermediate double-deck coaches and 24 driving cars to be used on regional and commuter services. ...
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NewsContractors shortlisted for HS2 enabling works
UK: On December 10 project delivery company HS2 Ltd announced the contractors shortlisted to carry out enabling works on the London – Birmingham Phase 1 of High Speed 2. An invitation to tender is expected early next year, with contracts worth £900m to be awarded later in 2016. ‘Today’s ...
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NewsErfurt – Leipzig opening will cut journey times
GERMANY: With the parallel operation of two special trains, Deutsche Bahn officially inaugurated 123 km of new high speed line between Erfurt, Halle and Leipzig on December 9. DB expects to launch commercial services over the route with the timetable change on December 13. DB Chairman Rüdiger Grube and other ...
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NewsHallandsås Tunnel inaugurated at last
SWEDEN: The country’s longest railway tunnel was officially inaugurated on December 8, when Minister of Enterprise Mikael Damberg drove a special train carrying VIPs through the 8·7 km Hallandsås Tunnel, before participating in an opening ceremony at the northern portal. He was joined for the inauguration by the mayor of ...
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NewsRoca electrification reaches Quilmes
ARGENTINA: President Cristina Fernández joined Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo on December 5 to mark the start of electric operations between Buenos Aires and Quilmes, the latest phase to be completed under the programme to electrify the Roca commuter route to La Plata at 25 kV AC. ...
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NewsSiemens wins more Algerian signalling work
ALGERIA: The Estel joint venture of national railway SNTF and Siemens is to supply signalling, safety and train control for 140 km of lines around Alger, serving 18 stations. Worth €340m to Siemens, the package covers the installation of ETCS Level 1 to shorten headways and permit operation of ...
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NewsNorthern and TransPennine Express franchises awarded
UK: The Department for Transport announced on December 9 that it had selected Arriva Rail North Ltd to operate the next Northern Rail franchise from April 1 2016, and First Trans Pennine Express Ltd to run the TransPennine Express franchise from the same date. Both contracts were to be signed ...
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NewsArad station refurbishment complete
ROMANIA: The modernised Arad station opened to the public on December 1 after more than three and a half years of work. A 334m lei project started in April 2012 saw the installation of a new footbridge, lifts and escalators, while maintaining the station’s original architectural features, which date from ...
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NewsCross-border link revived
EUROPE: A fourth cross-border rail link between Germany and the Czech Republic was formally reopened on December 7, with a ceremony attended by Czech transport minister Dan Tok, Bayern interior minister Joachim Herrmann and German State Secretary Dorothee Bär. Closed to passenger traffic in 1945, the 7 km link between ...
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NewsKampala trials commuter trains
UGANDA: An experimental commuter rail service was launched in Kampala on December 7, as a joint venture between the Kampala Capital City Authority, Uganda Railways Corp and operating concessionaire Rift Valley Railways. The three partners have agreed run the pilot service for 12 months, following the signing of an initial ...
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NewsSRO launches push-pull trains at 180 km/h
SAUDI ARABIA: President of Saudi Railways Organization Mohammed bin Khalid Al-Suwaiket attended a ceremony in Dammam on December 7 to mark the start of faster passenger services to Riyadh using four push-pull trainsets supplied by CAF of Spain. Designed for a maximum speed of 200 km/h, the trains will operate ...
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NewsICx becomes ICE 4
GERMANY: ‘The ICE 4 will launch a new era for inter-city travel’, said Deutsche Bahn CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube on December 4, at a ceremony at Berlin Südkreuz to unveil the first pre-series ICx trainset. He was joined by federal transport minister Alexander Dobrindt and Siemens Mobility CEO Dr Jochen ...