Passenger rail news – Page 217
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NewsSBB launches Starbucks coffee coach
SWITZERLAND: A Swiss Federal Railways IC2000 double-deck buffet car has been refurbished and branded as a Starbucks Coffee House. From November 21 it will be used for a nine-month trial period on two daily services from Genève and Fribourg to St Gallen, and the success of the venture will be ...
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NewsFyra brand extinguished
NETHERLANDS: The Fyra brand name for services on HSL-Zuid is to disappear from the December 15 timetable change, and will be replaced by 'Intercity Direct'. Supplements for travel on the half-hourly domestic Rotterdam - Breda services are to be scrapped, but will remain for Schiphol - Rotterdam journeys. Passengers will ...
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NewsMTR Express orders Flirts for Stockholm - Göteborg open access service
SWEDEN: The MTR Nordic subsidiary of Hong Kong's MTR Corp has ordered six Stadler Flirt electric multiple-units for use on open access inter-city services which will compete with national operator SJ between Stockholm and Göteborg. Delivery is scheduled for autumn 2014, with MTR Express services to begin once commissioning is ...
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NewsFerrovial wins RENFE on-train catering contract
SPAIN: National operator RENFE has awarded Ferrovial Servicios a four-year contract worth €252·8m to provide catering on board its high speed and long-distance services. Due to start on December 1, the contract includes a two-year extension option worth a further €126·4m. RENFE says that the new contract will reduce its ...
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NewsJapanese EMUs arrive in Jakarta
INDONESIA: KAI Commuter Jabodetabek, the subsidiary of national railway PT KAI which operates services over the electrified suburban network around Jakarta, has taken delivery of a fleet of 30 second-hand EMUs acquired from East Japan Railway as part of a fleet renewal programme. Dating from the mid-1980s, the high-density Series ...
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NewsRZD's double-deck sleeping cars enter service
RUSSIA: The first of 50 double-deck coaches which Transmashholding's Tver Carriage Works is delivering to Federal Passenger Co entered service on the Moscow - Adler route on November 1. In December 2010 RZD's passenger business ordered 38 Type 61-4465 sleeping cars with eight four-berth compartments on each deck, four cars ...
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NewsCross-border RER Franco-Valdo-Genevois to serve Genève from 2017
EUROPE: SBB CEO Andreas Meyer and SNCF President Guillaume Pepy signed a letter of intent on October 30 setting out the next steps for the creation of a cross-border RER network centred on Genève. From December 2017 the 230 route-km RER Franco-Valdo-Genevois would serve a total of 45 stations, connecting ...
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NewsHitachi starts work on UK plant
UK: Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills Vince Cable visited Newton Aycliffe in County Durham on November 1 to mark the start of construction on the new rolling stock manufacturing plant being built for Hitachi Rail Europe. Lead contractor Shepherd ...
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NewsInterCity East Coast tendering launched
UK: The Department for Transport formally launched the competition for the next InterCity East Coast franchise on October 25, publishing documents setting out what potential bidders will need to consider when developing proposals for the operation of passenger services from London King's Cross to Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh. 'We want ...
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NewsPrivate operation ends on Sarmiento route
ARGENTINA: The Sarmiento commuter route in Buenos Aires was due to return to full state control on October 24, transferring to federal railway operating company SOFSE and infrastructure company ADIF SE. Since the government revoked the concession held by Trenes de Buenos Aires in 2012, the Sarmiento network had been ...
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NewsSouth West Trains prepares to introduce longer trains
UK: South West Trains has taken delivery of the first two five-car Class 458/5 electric multiple-units rebuilt from former Gatwick Express Class 460 vehicles. The first 10-car formation is expected to enter service by early December, increasing peak capacity on commuter routes from Reading and Hounslow to London Waterloo station. ...
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NewsMatterhorn Gotthard Bahn provides easier access to the Alps
SWITZERLAND: The first of 11 low-floor coaches ordered to increase train capacity and improve facilities for passengers with reduced mobility entered traffic on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn on October 11, after a formal unveiling two days earlier. The air-conditioned coach built by Stadler Rail's Bussnang plant has wide doors, folding ...
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NewsCzech passenger market opening in sight
CZECH REPUBLIC The government has backed the Ministry of Transport's plans to call tenders by the end of the year for the operation of subsidised long-distance passenger services on five routes from December 2016: Praha - Ústí nad Labem - Cheb Praha - Ústí nad Labem - D??ín ...
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NewsKampala passenger service planned
UGANDA: The government has awarded Rift Valley Railways a contract to operate a pilot commuter service between central Kampala and Namanve, parallel to a busy road corridor. A service to Nalukolongo is planned if this proves successful. RVR's 2005 concession to operate the Kenya - Uganda railway did ...
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NewsJR East to install ATACS on Tokyo suburban line
JAPAN: East Japan Railway has confirmed its intention to introduce its Advanced Train Administration & Communications System on the Tokyo suburban network in the autumn of 2017. The company announced on October 8 that the moving-block train control system will be deployed on the 37 km Saikyo Line between Ikebukuro ...
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NewsICF rolls out Mumbai suburban EMU
INDIA: The first of 72 new 12-car electric multiple-units being procured by Mumbai Railway Vikas Corp for Central and Western Railway suburban services has been officially unveiled at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. Following the launch on October 1, the prototype unit is expected to undergo test running in ...
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NewsPRASA and Alstom sign R51bn EMU contract
SOUTH AFRICA: Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and the Alstom-led Gibela joint venture signed a R51bn contract for the supply of 3 600 electric multiple-unit cars on October 14. These will form 600 trainsets to be delivered in 2015-25. In addition, Gibela will provide technical support and spare ...
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NewsInput needed to secure stations
EUROPE: Funded under the European Union’s FP7 research programme, the Secure Station project is seeking input via an online survey from transport users as part of its study to develop improved guidelines for the design of major transport hubs. Secure Station is seeking to reduce the risk of all types ...
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NewsDB wins contract as Abellio pulls out
GERMANY: Preferred bidder Abellio has withdrawn its bid for the Mitteldeutsche S-Bahn II contract, which will now be awarded to DB Regio instead. The Länder of Sachsen-Anhalt and Brandenburg had selected Abellio for the €1·1bn contract in March, but DB appealed and bids were re-evaluated. When the contract had not ...
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NewsMetrolinx orders Tier 4 MotivePower locomotives
CANADA: Greater Toronto transport authority Metrolinx has signed a US$63m contract for MotivePower to supply 10 diesel-electric locomotives for use on commuter services from 2016. Each locomotive is to be fitted with two engines meeting Tier 4 emissions standards, providing redundancy of major systems and the option to save fuel ...