Passenger rail news – Page 193
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NewsRZD's double-deck seating cars to enter service this month
RUSSIA: Federal Passenger Co’s first double-deck seating cars are scheduled to enter service on July 31, on the Moscow – Voronezh route which has a journey time of 6 h 35 min. The double-deck cars were ordered from Transmashholding’s Tver Carriage Works in August 2013 and delivered in June. ...
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NewsFirst Belgrano Sur DMUs arrive
ARGENTINA: On July 7 Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo visited the Port of Buenos Aires to inspect the first of 27 three-car DMUs ordered from CNR of China for the Belgrano Sur commuter network. According to Randazzo, the new vehicles would be operating ‘in 45 days’. Alongside ...
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NewsTET revival plan presented
FRANCE: On July 7 Secretary of State for Transport Alain Vidalies presented the government’s proposals for reviving the Trains d’Equilibre du Territoire, SNCF’s network of conventional long-distance passenger services which have seen traffic fall by 20% since 2011. From €330m in 2014, operating losses are expected to rise to an ...
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NewsMock-up verifies Stadler’s Gotthard train design
SWITZERLAND: Stadler Rail and Swiss Federal Railways are using a full-size wooden mock-up to verify the planned interior design of the 29 Giruno trainsets ordered in May 2014 for use on services from Basel and Zürich to Milano via the Gotthard base tunnel. The mock-up at Stadler’s Bussnang factory ...
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NewsSouth West Trains to be refranchised
UK: Stagecoach Group confirmed on July 7 that the Department for Transport had ended discussions for a new direct award franchise at South West Trains which would have covered the period from February 2017 to at least April 2019. DfT had informed Stagecoach as far back as March 2013 ...
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NewsTallinn to Russia passenger services to be revived
EUROPE: Russian Railways’ Federal Passenger Co announced on July 3 that it is to launch a daily Moscow – St Petersburg – Tallinn service on July 10. RZD said it was ‘interested in organising stable international passenger traffic between Russia and Estonia’. The service will replace the separate trains from ...
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NewsWorld Speed Survey 2015: China remains the pacesetter
INTERNATIONAL: China remains the pacesetter in the world rail speed race, according to the latest World Speed Survey published in Railway Gazette International on July 1. Authored by Jeremy Hartill of the UK’s Railway Performance Society, the biennial survey compiles in tabular form the fastest timetabled start-to-stop journeys between different ...
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NewsAfrica’s first high speed train delivered
MOROCCO: The first of 12 Alstom Duplex high speed trainsets for national railway ONCF was unloaded at the Port of Tanger on June 29. It had been shipped from the Port of La Pallice near La Rochelle in France onboard Ville de Bordeaux, a roll-on roll-off vessel custom-built to carry ...
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NewsIssuing tickets from Samsung smartphones
UK: Arriva has awarded Fujitsu a seven-year contract to supply staff at its subsidiaries with what it says will be the UK rail industry’s ‘first smartphone-based ticket-issuing system’. Deployment is planned by March 2016. Fujitsu’s STARmobile will run on Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphones issued to staff at Arriva Trains Wales, ...
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NewsDanish local train operator orders Alstom DMUs
DENMARK: North Jylland local train operator Nordjyske Jernbane has awarded Alstom a €45m contract to supply 13 Coradia Lint regional diesel multiple-units to support an expansion of services from autumn 2017. The 140 km/h two-car DMUs will have 125 seats and space for up to 135 standing passengers. ‘With this ...
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NewsVictoria begins High Capacity Metro Train procurement
AUSTRALIA: The government of Victoria has invited expressions of interested by August 14 in the High Capacity Metro Train PPP contract to finance, design, supply and maintain a fleet of 37 suburban electric multiple-units for Melbourne’s Cranbourne and Pakenham lines. At 160 m, HCMT would be longer than existing trainsets, ...
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NewsFour bidders shortlisted for London Overground operating concession
UK: Four bidders have been shortlisted for the next contract to operate London Overground services, Transport for London announced on June 29. The shortlisted bidders are: Arriva Rail London Ltd (Deutsche Bahn);LoKeGo Ltd (51:49 joint venture of Keolis (UK) Ltd and Go-Ahead Holding Ltd);Metroline Rail Ltd (owned by Singapore-based transport ...
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NewsPorterbrook unveils Pacer DMU life-extension demonstrator
UK: Porterbrook Leasing has unveiled a Class 144 diesel multiple-unit which has been refurbished to demonstrate how the interior of ex-British Rail Pacer vehicles could be upgraded to comply with modern accessibly standards and provide a more welcoming passenger environment. The 144e Evolution would offer a transformed passenger experience ‘at ...
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NewsFlexible mobile phone tickets on test
UK: Mobile phone tickets valid on services operated by multiple train operators are being piloted in two separate areas covering 86 stations in northern England. Previous m-Ticket products were limited to specific services, but those on trial are available for travel on any CrossCountry, First TransPennine Express, Northern, Virgin ...
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NewsČD and Škoda unveil InterPanter EMU
CZECH REPUBLIC: Rolling stock manufacturer Škoda Transportation and national operator ČD unveiled the first of 14 long-distance EMUs at the Velim test circuit on June 25. ČD had ordered the fleet in August 2014 at a cost of KC2·6bn. Branded ‘InterPanter’ following a public competition organised by ČD and Škoda ...
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NewsPakistan Railways ‘out of intensive care’
PAKISTAN: Minister of Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has said Pakistan Railways is now ‘out of intensive care’. The federal budget for 2015-16 has allocated Rs41bn for PR’s non-staff costs, a business class Karachi – Islamabad passenger service has been launched and freight services to Iran restarted. The 2015-16 budget ...
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NewsMÁV-Start orders more Flirts
HUNGARY: National passenger operator MÁV-Start has selected Stadler Bussnang as preferred bidder to supply 21 electric multiple-units for use on Budapest suburban services. The contract is expected to be signed in July, with funding from EU sources. Tenders were called in March, and MÁV-Start said Stadler had submitted the most ...
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NewsSNCF announces eight-year transformation of Paris-Nord
FRANCE: Gares et Connexions, the station management subsidiary of national railway holding group SNCF, is to refurbish and expand Paris-Nord station in a phased programme lasting until 2023. The plans were announced by SNCF President Guillaume Pepy and Anne Hildago, Mayor of Paris, on June 24. At the heart of ...
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NewsTågkompaniet wins Norrtåg operating contract
SWEDEN: The Norrtåg group of local transport authorities has selected Tågkompaniet for a contract to operate regional passenger services in northern Sweden from August 20 2016 until the December 2025 timetable change. The contract covers six routes: Umeå – Sundsvall;Storlien – Sundsvall;Vännäs – Umeå;Lycksele – Umeå;Luleå – Umeå;Kiruna - ...
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NewsMassachusetts buys CSX line
USA: Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced on June 17 that it had completed the acquisition of the 34 km Framingham Secondary Rail Line from CSX Corp for $23m. This is intended to support current freight services and protect the corridor for potential passenger use. The line carries a limited passenger ...