Passenger rail news – Page 270
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NewsAirport peoplemover extension contract
MALAYSIA: A €45m contract to extend the automated peoplemover at Kuala Lumpur International Airport has been awarded to a consortium of Bombardier and local partner Hartasuma. Bombardier's share of the contract is worth €27m, and includes automatic train control, power and communications systems, a control centre in a new ...
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NewsShinkansen prototype launched
JAPAN: West Japan Railway and JR Kyushu have unveiled the first of 29 eight-car Shinkansen trainsets which will operate through services between Shin-Osaka and Kagoshima-Chuo when the second phase of the Kyushu Shinkansen has been completed. Unit S1 is expected to undergo extensive testing before the remainder of the fleet ...
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NewsLondon agrees new Oyster smart card contract
UK: Transport for London announced on November 14 that it had agreed a new contract for the management of the Oyster smart card ticketing system. In August TfL gave the required two years' notice that it was exercising a break option in the 17-year Prestige Private Finance Initiative contract ...
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NewsEuro 2012 deadline catalyses network upgrade
POLAND: The unexpected decision to name Poland as co- host of the UEFA European football championship in 2012 has focused attention on ensuring passenger services are able to meet the anticipated demand. A raft of improvements to inter-regional lines and major stations is now underway, as Ryszard Piech explains.
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NewsRussian high speed train sets sail
EUROPE: The first of eight Sapsan high speed trains being built for Russian Railways left the German Baltic port of Sassnitz-Mukran on November 13. Siemens is assembling the 10-car Velaro RUS trains at its Krefeld plant, and awarded DB's logistics company DB Schenker the contract to deliver them to ...
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NewsLightweight Turbostars to get MTU drives
UK: Three batches of Class 172 Turbostar diesel multiple-units being built at Bombardier’s Derby plant for train operators London Midland, Chiltern and London Overground are to be equipped with MTU underfloor engines. MTU’s parent group, Togum, announced on November 5 that the Friedrichshafen-based company had won a contract from Bombardier ...
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NewsITSO to phase out vulnerable smart card
UK: Smart card specification body ITSO announced on November 4 that it is to 'phase out Mifare Classic 1k and 4k customer media from the ITSO environment' as a precautionary measure in response to the 'theoretical risk posed by Mifare Classic security issues'. Last month Radboud University Nijmegen published ...
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NewsEurostar settles into its green depot
UK: Having successfully moved its maintenance facility across London ahead of the start of services on High Speed 1 last year, Eurostar is now working to ensure its Engineering Centre Temple Mills is an environmentally-responsible member of the local community. Nick Kingsley reports.
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NewsPoland prepares to take the high speed plunge
POLAND: An invitation to bid for a high speed line feasibility study is due to be issued by the end of the year, kicking off a process that could see a Y–shaped route enter service in 2019.
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NewsHigh speed race is on
UK: Prospects for construction of a domestic high speed line inched closer last month, when newly-appointed Secretary of State for Transport Geoff Hoon revealed that he had asked his Minister of Transport with responsibility for networks (including rail) to take a closer look at the potential. Also newly in post, ...
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Končar’s low-floor EMU plans
CROATIA: Rolling stock manufacturer Končar intends to complete the construction of a regional EMU prototype by the middle of next year. Following initial tests, the three-car unit will be delivered to Bosnian Railways with a view to series production of the design. Končar hopes to target the former Yugoslavia and ...
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NewsIarnród Éireann to order 432 DART cars
IRELAND: Despite the economic downturn and drastic cutbacks in public finances, Iarnród Éireann is going ahead with a plan to order 432 EMU cars for Dublin's DART suburban services at a cost of nearly €900m. This will be the largest order for coaches placed by the national railway, which has ...
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NewsWires down, complaints up
FRANCE: Leaving passengers stranded for hours on trains going nowhere is guaranteed to generate plenty of negative publicity, and a series of unfortunate catenary-related incidents last month in France was no exception. Trouble started during a peak holiday weekend when 400 m of overhead wires were ripped down at Aubagne ...
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Roller-coaster commute
JAPAN: An experimental light metro using roller coaster-style technology is to be built at the Chiba test site of Tokyo University’s Institute of Industrial Science. The Eco Ride metro will use equipment supplied by theme park ride manufacturers Senyo Kogyo and Senyo Kiko. Track-mounted drive units will ...
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NewsStudy to look at Berlin - Moscow Talgo service
RUSSIA: RZD and Patentes Talgo have signed a memorandum of intent to study the feasibility of using Talgo VII gauge-changing rolling stock on hotel train services between Moscow and Berlin. RZD will provide forecasts of future passenger volumes and the economic benefits of improved services between Moscow, Minsk and ...
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NewsBeNEX wins second Bayern contract
GERMANY: BeNEX has announced the award of its second passenger operating contract in Bayern this year, with the section of the partnership of Hamburger Hochbahn and Babcock & Brown to opertate Dieselnetz Oberfranken services from mid-2011 to 2023. The contract covers 4·5 million train-km a year. 'This success is ...
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NewsOpen access operator to take on ÖBB
AUSTRIA: Plans to run passenger services in competition with Austrian Federal Railways were unveiled in Wien on October 16. Starting in 2011, trains would run hourly between Wien and Salzburg, with Bratislava and München to follow if they are successful. The project is the brainchild of industrialist Hans-Peter Haselsteiner ...
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NewsCross-city high speed contract
SPAIN: Infrastructure authority ADIF has awarded a joint venture of Dragados, FCC, Copisa and Tecsa a €206m contract to build the third underground route connecting Atocha and Chamartín stations in Madrid, comprising two 1 435 mm gauge tracks for use by high speed services. The 7·3 km route will run ...
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NewsWinterised wider Flirt
FINLAND: The first 1 524 mm gauge EMU to be built by Stadler was rolled out at the Bussnang plant in Switzerland on October 7. The four-car Flirt is part of a €190m order for 32 units placed in August 2006 by Pääkaupunkiseudun Junakalusto, a body formed by state railway ...
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NewsDesiro design is evolving
UK: Siemens rolled out the first of 37 Class 350/2 Desiro EMUs for train operator London Midland in a ceremony at the Wildenrath test centre in Germany on October 8. The use of an existing design has allowed first unit to be completed within 15 months of the contract ...