Passenger rail news – Page 195
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NewsArriva’s Jylland operating contract extended
DENMARK: The Ministry of Transport has exercised an option for DB subsidiary Arriva Danmark to continue to operate local passenger services in central and western Jylland for a further two years. ‘We are obviously very pleased,’ said Arriva Danmark director Ivan Skødt Andersen on May 20. ‘We see it as ...
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NewsTransport MEPs call for cross-border intermodal ticketing
EUROPE: Member states in the European Union should co-operate to share timetable and fare information in order to boost the development of intermodal ticketing, according to a report adopted by the European Parliament’s Transport & Tourism Committee on May 28. Due to be presented to the full Parliament in July, ...
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NewsUrgent action needed to reverse TET decline
FRANCE: Urgent action is needed to save SNCF’s network of conventional long-distance passenger services, says Philippe Duron in his foreword to a report on the future of these Trains d’Equilibre du Territoire, submitted to the government on May 26. Socialist MP for Calvados, Duron has presided over a committee of ...
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NewsSwitzerland unveils biggest timetable shake-up since Bahn 2000
SWITZERLAND: This year’s timetable change on December 13 will be ‘the most ambitious since the introduction of Bahn 2000 in 2004’, Swiss Federal Railways announced on May 26. Long-distance services are set to expand by 660 000 train-km, or about 1%, while regional services will increase by 2·3 million train-km, ...
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NewsIneco studies Cairo - Luxor high speed line
EGYPT: Spanish state-owned engineering consultancy Ineco announced on May 27 that it is to carry out a feasibility study for building a high speed line between Cairo and Luxor. According to Ineco, this 600 km route between the country’s two principal cities would be major addition to Egypt’s tourist infrastructure. ...
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NewsŠkoda 109E approved for use in Germany
GERMANY: Škoda Transportation announced on May 22 that regulator EBA had granted its Type 109E multi-voltage electric locomotives unlimited approval for operation in Germany at up to 200 km/h. Czech national operator ČD is hoping to use its Type 109E locos (designated Class 380) to haul the Praha – Berlin ...
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NewsDSB seeks locomotive procurement consultant
DENMARK: National passenger operator DSB has set out details of its plans to acquire 10 to 20 new locomotives, and has invited expressions of interest in a framework contract worth up to DKr60m to provide multi-disciplinary consultancy services to support the procurement project from October 2015. The locomotive order would ...
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NewsPesa Dart on test
POLAND: Pesa’s first Dart electric multiple-unit has started dynamic testing on the line between Bydgoszcz and Warlubie to the northeast. The EMU achieved its maximum speed of 160 km/h on May 21 and the following day was transported to Żmigród for further testing at the Railway Institute. Pesa ...
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NewsFirst X’Trapolis Mega cars completed at Lapa
SOUTH AFRICA: The first two completed cars for the 600 X’Trapolis Mega commuter electric multiple-units ordered by Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa have been rolled out at Alstom’s Lapa factory in Brazil. Planned to be a mix of six-car and four-car formations totalling 3 600 vehicles, the trainsets are ...
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NewsFirst Shinkansen train through the Seikan Tunnel
JAPAN: The mayor of Aomori and other city officials participated in a ceremony at Shin-Aomori in the early hours of May 24 to mark the arrival of the first Series H5 trainset from Hokkaido through the Seikan Tunnel. Following the delivery of the first unit to JR Hokkaido in October ...
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NewsAvoid blockages
TOILET: TBM Rail has developed a gravity-fed toilet designed to minimise blockages. Managing Director Andrew Hawker says that while gravity-fed designs are ‘often the simplest and smallest-footprint option’, they ‘have become infamous for blockages and resulting servicing problems’. ‘A number of companies shared with us data on service levels, ...
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NewsJR East calls international tenders for DEMU fleet
JAPAN: East Japan Railway announced on May 19 that it is calling international tenders for a fleet of diesel-electric multiple-units to operate services on non-electrified lines, with between 150 and 200 trainsets to be ordered in the coming years. Bids are due by July 24 for an initial build of ...
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NewsElectrification contracts
PORTUGAL: Refer announced on May 18 that it had awarded Isolux Corsán a €6·17m contract to electrify the 14∙4 km Caíde – Marco de Canaveses section of the Porto – Régua route. This will enable suburban services to be extended to Marco de Canaveses. Due for completion within 450 days, ...
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NewsCompetition on the Bratislava – Košice corridor
SLOVAKIA: National passenger operator ZSSK reduced the number of premium IC trains on the Bratislava – Košice main line from three to two daily train pairs from April 15. ZSSK hopes this will reduce losses on the 445 km route between the two largest cities to €1·2m this year, compared ...
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NewsSpain announces €1∙26bn suburban rail spend
SPAIN: Development Minister Ana Pastor has announced what she described as the largest investment in suburban services on the national network for over 20 years, with a total of €1∙26bn to be spent in 2015-18. Of this, ADIF is to provide €1bn and Renfe the remainder. Pastor said that the ...
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NewsMore Melbourne crossings to go
AUSTRALIA: The Victoria state government announced on May 19 that it had awarded a A$524m contract for the elimination of four level crossings in southeast Melbourne, as part of a commitment to remove 50 of the city’s busiest and most dangerous level crossings over eight years. A consortium of John ...
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NewsFirst long-distance services to be tendered
SLOVAKIA: As part of long-term plans to liberalise the long-distance passenger market, the Ministry of Transport has announced that it is to call tenders this year for the operation of subsidised passenger services on the 230 km Bratislava – Banská Bystrica route via Šaľa, Levice and Zvolen. The government ...
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NewsArriva plans Czech - Slovak service
EUROPE: DB’s Arriva Vlaky subsidiary has announced plans and requested train paths for the launch of a long-distance cross-border service between the Czech capital Praha and Trenčín in Slovakia from the December 2015 timetable change. The weekly service aimed at students would leave Praha on Fridays and return ...
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NewsStadler to supply double-deck EMUs to Azerbaijan
AZERBAIJAN: An agreement for the supply of five Kiss double-deck electric multiple-units was signed by Stadler Rail CEO Peter Spuhler and Javid Gurbanov, Chairman of national railway ADY, at the TransCaspian 2015 trade fair in Baku on May 13. The 1 520 mm gauge 3·3 kV DC EMUs are to ...
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NewsNorway sets out plans for railway reform
NORWAY: Proposals for reform of the railway sector have been announced by Minister of Transport & Communications Ketil Solvik-Olsen and representatives from the government parties Høyre and Fremskrittspartiet and their parliamentary support parties Venstre and Kristelig Folkeparti. A white paper was published on May 12 and is to be presented ...