Passenger rail news – Page 244
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NewsNorthern resignalling underway
VIETNAM: A ceremony at Hanoi’s Yen Vien station on March 24 marked the start of a Chinese-backed resignalling programme covering Vietnam Railways’ routes to the border crossings at Lao Cai and Dong Dang. Deputy Minister for Transport & Communications Le Manh Hung told assembled guests that the resignalling work would ...
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NewsMixed height EMU
ARGENTINA: Suburban operator Trenes de Buenos Aires has unveiled the first nine-car EMU to be completed by Emfer for its Once - Moreno route, comprising five rebuilt single-deck Toshiba vehicles and four new double-deck cars to increase train capacity by 40%. TBA is due to take delivery of a first ...
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NewsNTV brands RFI access changes 'illegal'
ITALY: In an exceptionally strongly-worded statement, private high speed operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori has urged the Italian government to intervene to resolve an increasingly bitter dispute with infrastructure manager RFI over paths. NTV convened an emergency board meeting on March 25 after receiving notification that RFI’s Network Statement had been ...
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NewsNS and SNCF shortlisted for West Coast franchise
UK: The Department for Transport announced on March 24 that it had shortlisted four bidders that will be invited to tender in May for the replacement InterCity West Coast franchise, covering the operation of long-distance passenger services from London to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow. As well as incumbent Virgin ...
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NewsIllinois awarded $1·2bn in high speed rail funding
USA: A further grant of $1·2bn in federal funding has been released for high speed rail development on the Chicago – St Louis corridor in Illinois, where work is underway to upgrade the existing Union Pacific line for 177 km/h running. The previously-negotiated award was confirmed in Chicago on March ...
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NewsMixed welcome for ERA ruling on Channel Tunnel safety
EUROPE: Welcoming the Technical Opinion on safety in the Channel Tunnel issued by the European Railway Agency on March 21, Deutsche Bahn’s Board Member, Passenger, Ulrich Homburg said he was ‘optimistic’ that the Intergovernmental Commission would approve the operation of ICE trainsets through the Tunnel in ‘early summer this year ...
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NewsSino-Thai construction agreement edges closer
THAILAND: A framework agreement for a Memorandum of Understanding covering the construction of two standard-gauge inter-city corridors was approved by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on March 21. This marks the latest milestone in the Thai government’s efforts to agree its position ahead of ministerial negotiations with China to reach ...
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NewsWabtec wins Los Angeles PTC contract
USA: Wabtec Corp announced on March 22 that it had signed a $27m contract to provide equipment and services for the implementation of Positive Train Control on the Metrolink commuter rail network radiating from Los Angeles. The contract has been awarded by Parsons, which was selected by the Southern California ...
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NewsERA recommends changes to Channel Tunnel safety regime
EUROPE: There is no intrinsic reason why trainsets with distributed traction should be banned from operating through the Channel Tunnel, according to a Technical Opinion issued by the European Railway Agency on March 21. The Channel Tunnel Intergovernmental Commission had asked ERA to review its findings on proposed changes to ...
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NewsNTV launch delayed until 'late autumn'
ITALY: Open access high speed train operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori has decided to delay its planned launch of commercial services from September 'until late autumn', with November now seen as the earliest likely date. Speaking at the Future of European Rail conference in Brusssels on March 16, Giuseppe Bonollo, NTV’s ...
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NewsSouthend Airport ready for take off
UK: Transport group Stobart has built a station to serve Southend Airport on the line from Southend to London Liverpool Street. Stobart acquired the airport in December 2008 and launched a development programme which should see the start of scheduled passenger flights this month, with the aim of handling a ...
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NewsNortheast Corridor to get high speed funding
USA: Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has officially designated the Northeast Corridor between Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC as the country’s 11th high speed rail corridor, making it eligible for federal funding under the Passenger Rail Improvement & Investment Act 2008. LaHood recently invited applications from states interested ...
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NewsJR East earthquake update
JAPAN: Thanking railwaymen and women from around the world for their messages of condolence and encouragement, on March 14 East Japan Railway Vice-Chairman Yoshio Ishida and President & CEO Satoshi Seino gave an update on the effects of the disastrous March 11 earthquake and tsunami. JR East understands that no ...
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NewsFirst CAF Class 4000 DMU arrives in Belfast
UK: The first of 20 three-car diesel multiple-units for Translink NI Railways was delivered to Belfast docks on March 14, two years after the order was placed with Spanish manufacturer CAF under a £114m project funded by the Department for Regional Development. Testing at up 145 km/h is set to ...
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NewsMetrolinx orders more Bombardier BiLevels
CANADA: Bombardier Transportation announced a C$125m order to supply Greater Toronto transport authority Metrolinx with 50 BiLevel coaches on March 14. They are to be built at Bombardier's Thunder Bay plant for delivery to Metrolinx subsidiary GO Transit from November 2011, bringing the operator's double-deck fleet to 565 vehicles. ...
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NewsCD orders Skoda regional EMUs
CZECH REPUBLIC: Skoda Vagonka has been awarded two contracts to supply Czech Railways with a new generation of single-deck electric multiple-units for regional services around Ústí nad Labem, Pardubice and Hradec Králové. The contracts placed on February 16 cover 15 three-car EMUs costing a total of KC2·1bn and four two-car ...
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NewsLachine maintenance centre to go ahead in Montréal
CANADA: Financing of up to C$119m has been approved for a new commuter rail rolling stock maintenance centre to be built by Agence Métropolitaine de Transport at Lachine, near Lucien-L’Allier station in Montréal (MR 9.10 p22). Calls for proposals will be issued later this year. Construction is due to start ...
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NewsFlirts ordered for E-Netz Rosenheim
GERMANY: Stadler Pankow announced its largest ever rolling stock contract on March 7, a €200m order to supply Veolia Verkehr with 35 Flirt electric multiple-units for the E-Netz Rosenheim network in Bayern. The seven three-car and 28 six-car 160 km/h units will enter service from December 2013, operating on regional ...
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NewsPassenger operating contract winners named
GERMANY: A 10-year contract to operate Weser-/Lammetalbahn passenger services was awarded to NordWestBahn by the Westfalen-Lippe and Niedersachsen transport authorities on February 3. NWB will take over from Keolis with the December timetable change, operating around 1·35 million train-km a year using 11 Lint 41 DMUs owned by Land transport ...
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NewsCommuter spin off
RUSSIA: RZD's ongoing structural reform programme will see its suburban passenger activities spun off into separate businesses this year, along with the end of cross-subsidy from freight. By the end the year RZD will have 27 commuter rail subsidiaries including Moscow airport train operator Aeroexpress, up from 22 ...