Passenger rail news – Page 209
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NewsAmadeus targets a wider rail market
TICKETING: A hands-off ticket machine, expansion into Asia, Russia and the Middle East and plans to enter the commuter ticketing market were highlighted by transaction processing specialist Amadeus at its Rail Forum held in Wien this month. While Amadeus’ rail business has so far focused on long-distance and high ...
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NewsPresident Aquino renews PNR charter
PHILIPPINES: The corporate charter of national operator Philippine National Railways was extended by a further 50 years on June 18, when President Benigno Aquino signed into law Republic Act 10638. PNR was established as the state railway in 1964, tasked with managing the 1 067 mm gauge main line network ...
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NewsTacna – Arica reopening studies
PERU: Government investment agency ProInversión has invited bids for a contract to undertake studies for reopening the 60 km railway that connects the city of Tacna with the port of Arica in Chile. Out of service since May 2012 due to poor track condition, the 1 435 mm gauge Tacna ...
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NewsVirgin signs West Coast direct award contract
UK: The Department for Transport announced on June 19 that it had agreed terms with Virgin Rail Group for a direct award contract to operate InterCity West Coast services for a further 2 years and 9 months. Virgin is currently running the business under a stopgap agreement signed in December ...
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News‘Cap-and-trade’ revenues to support Californian high speed programme
USA: The California state budget for 2014-15 includes a commitment to provide a further $250m for the planned San Francisco – Los Angeles high speed rail project.The contribution would be provided using revenues accrued by the state’s emissions trading scheme. More significantly, the budget, backed by Governor Jerry Brown and ...
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NewsÖBB to switch long-distance trains to Wien Hauptbahnhof
AUSTRIA: From December 14 Austrian Federal Railways will route many of its long-distance passenger services through Wien Hauptbahnhof, which currently nearing completion. The station is already served by local and regional express trains, including those to and from Bratislava. ÖBB confirmed on June 10 that inter-city trains from Graz, Villach, ...
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NewsCross-city tunnel opening increases capacity in Zürich
SWITZERLAND: Passenger services on the Durchmesserlinie cross-city line though Zürich began on June 15. Around 200 000 people attended celebratory events the previous day, and 10 000 travelled on free preview services. Described by Swiss Federal Railways as biggest development in the history of the Zürich S-Bahn, the 9·6 ...
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NewsCompetition in the Spanish passenger market approved
SPAIN: Development Minister Ana Pastor announced on June 13 that the cabinet had given its approval for bids to be invited to operate commercial long-distance passenger services in competition with state operator RENFE. The winning bidder would be able to operate services for a period of seven years on ...
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NewsStadler signs Baku – Tbilisi – Kars sleeping car contract
AZERBAIJAN: Stadler Rail has signed a contract to supply Azerbaijan Railways with 30 gauge-changing sleeping and dining cars for use on future Baku – Tbilisi – Kars – Istanbul services. The SFr120m contract announced on June 12 is Stadler’s first in Azerbaijan. It covers the supply of five types of ...
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NewsTalgo trains to replace Sapsan on Nizhny Novgorod route
RUSSIA: The Talgo rolling stock which is currently under construction for Federal Passenger Co will replace Siemens Sapsan trainsets on the Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod route, Russian Railways announced on June 11. The Sapsan trainsets, designated Velaro RUS by the manufacturer, are to be concentrated on the Moscow – ...
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NewsExtra station to serve Shinagawa redevelopment
JAPAN: East Japan Railway has announced plans to build a 50th station on its busy Yamonote Line circular suburban railway in southern Tokyo. As yet un-named, the station is intended to spur urban development on a 13 ha site currently occupied by stabling sidings for the 1 067 mm gauge ...
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NewsNot so fast
CZECH REPUBLIC: Plans to raise the maximum speed on principal lines from 160 km/h to 200 km/h have been put on hold by infrastructure manager SŽDC, which now believes the benefits would not justify the cost of eliminating all level crossings and upgrading signalling systems. The plan was first put ...
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NewsRelieving bottlenecks around Marseille and Nice
FRANCE: Transport Minister Frédéric Cuvillier announced last month that studies are to be taken forward for projects to increase capacity around Marseille and Nice. The government hopes that the projects will be approved as being of public utility in 2017. With the emphasis now on upgrading the existing network ...
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NewsMTR Express to use Hagalund depot
SWEDEN: National station and railway property company Jernhusen announced on June 2 that it had signed a 10-year agreement to provide new open access inter-city operator MTR Express with stabling and maintenance facilities for six Stadler Flirt EMUs which will operate Stockholm – Gøteborg inter-city services from March 2015. The ...
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NewsDB orders multi-engine locos for Sylt Shuttle service
GERMANY: Deustche Bahn has awarded Bombardier Transportation a contract to supply seven Traxx Multi-Engine diesel-electric locomotives for use on the Sylt Shuttle car-carrying service across the 11 km Hindenburgdamm causeway which connects the North Sea island of Sylt with mainland Schleswig-Holstein. The contract announced on June 6 has been placed ...
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NewsVR calls tenders for double-deck inter-city fleet
FINLAND: National operator VR Group has begun procurement of 46 double-deck coaches for 200 km/h inter-city services, with options for a further 185. These would replace the current Express coaches dating from the 1970s and 1980s which are nearing the end of their life. Announcing the European tender on June ...
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NewsPhiladelphia station redevelopment plan launched
USA: A consortium led by architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrell has been selected to work up development proposals for Amtrak’s 30th Street station in Philadelphia. To be completed within two years, the joint master plan has been commissioned by Amtrak, for whom the station is a significant driver of Northeast ...
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NewsGovernor launches Indiana Gateway project
USA: Indiana governor Mike Pence joined FRA Deputy Administrator Karen Hedlund, Amtrak's Chief of State Contracts Michael Franke and Norfolk Southern Assistant Vice-President Jeff Harris at Hammond on May 29 to mark the start of work on the US$71·4m Indiana Gateway project. This is intended to relieve congestion and accelerate ...
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NewsUpgraded stock to work ČD’s Praha – Hamburg services
CZECH REPUBLIC: State-owned passenger operator ČD has called bids for the refurbishment of EuroCity and InterCity coaches to be used on Praha – Berlin – Hamburg services from the December 2015 timetable change. The move follows the signing of a collaboration agreement between ČD and DB on May 22 for ...
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NewsSerco wins 15-year Caledonian Sleeper franchise
UK: Serco has won a 15-year franchise to operate the Caledonian Sleeper service between London and various Scottish destinations from April 2015, replacing incumbent FirstGroup.At present, two trains operate in each directions on six nights per week; a ‘lowland’ service connecting London Euston with Edinburgh and Glasgow Central, and a ...