Passenger rail news – Page 275
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NewsFirst Gautrain EMU unveiled
SOUTH AFRICA: Premier of Gauteng province Mbhazima Shilowa visited Bombardier's Derby factory in the UK on July 8 to witness the unveiling of the first electric multiple-unit for the Gautrain commuter line. Dramatic sounds, lighting effects and dancing heralded the roll-out of the completed trainset. Jerome Govender, Chief Executive of ...
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NewsNorthern Ireland upgrade
UK: An £86m upgrade of the Belfast - Londonderry line was announced last month by Translink, the holding company which runs Northern Ireland Railways. Tenders will be called in early 2011 and the work is to be completed in 2013, cutting 30 min off the 2 h 15 min journey ...
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NewsGautrain from dream to reality
SOUTH AFRICA: The Gautrain rapid rail link between Johannesburg and Tshwane is taking shape, with the first section on course to enter revenue service before the two cities host the 2010 football World Cup.
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NewsCarrying commuters in comfort
SOUTH AFRICA: Bombardier's proven Electrostar EMU family is being customised for South Africa, giving a powerful demonstration of modern high-quality rail services.
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London - Cornwall Night Riviera revamped
UK: First Great Western relaunched its London - Penzance Night Riviera service with modernised rolling stock on June 23. The 18 Mk III sleeper and seating cars have been refurbished by Wolverton-based Railcare at a cost of £2m, with Michael Rodber acting as design consultant. FirstGroup said it had worked ...
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NewsOver the top
SWITZERLAND: The first of 13 four-car EMUs being built jointly by Alstom and Bombardier for BLS local services on the original Lötschberg route was rolled out in May. The silver and grey livery is enhanced with images of the Bern - Brig line to highlight the appeal to tourists of ...
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NewsCAF wins Saudi passenger train order
SAUDI ARABIA: On July 4 Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF announced it had signed a €104·9m contract to supply Saudi Railways Organisation with eight 200 km/h passenger trainsets. Each set will be formed of a diesel-electric locomotive and five steel-bodied coaches, designed to operate in desert conditions and ...
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DB sacked over S-Bahn quality failings
GERMANY: A dispute erupted in the Ruhr area on June 12 when local transport agency Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr announced that it had decided to cancel its S-Bahn operating contract with DB Regio Nordrhein-Westfalen with immediate effect. An extraordinary resolution to do so had been approved during a meeting of VRR's contracting ...
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NewsDSB issues IC4 ultimatum
DENMARK: Another chapter in the painful saga of DSB's 200 km/h IC4 inter-city DMUs opened in June, when the state-owned operator issued an ultimatum to AnsaldoBreda. With delivery now more than five years behind schedule, DSB has told its Italian supplier that if 14 functional trains have not been delivered ...
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NewsPreferred bidder selected for CDG Express concession
FRANCE: Minister of State for Environment, Energy & Sustainable Development Jean-Louis Borloo and Transport Secretary Dominique Bussereau announced on July 1 that they had selected a preferred bidder to finance, build and manage the Charles de Gaulle Express airport rail link. Five consortia had been prequalified in January 2007 to ...
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News
Brilliant orange
SWITZERLAND: The unprecedented invasion of Swiss cities by football fans attending the UEFA European Championship forced SBB into an unusual strategic re-think. The effervescent performances of the Netherlands team in the group stage of the tournament offered an additional incentive for thousands of Dutch supporters to travel with their team. ...
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NewsSiemens to supply PKP Intercity locos
POLAND: Siemens is to supply PKP Intercity with 10 Eurosprinter ES64U4 multi-system electric locomotives for 200 km/h passenger services, the Polish national operator announced on June 27. Siemens submitted the only bid in response to the call for tenders, pricing the locomotives at €44·5m. The purchase will be financed ...
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NewsKei Rail revival will support regional development
SOUTH AFRICA The return of passenger and freight services on a 282 km branch line in Eastern Cape province is part of a balanced strategy; the railway is driving local economic development, which in turn generates enough traffic to keep the railway sustainable. Rollo Dickson reports
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NewsSBB announces Zürich double deck orders
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways announced major rolling stock contracts worth a total of SFr1·5bn on June 30. The competition to supply Zürich's third generation of double-deck coaches has been won by Stadler, which will supply 50 six-car EMUs worth SFr1·02bn. They will be the first double-deck trains to be ...
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NewsVelaro sets Chinese speed record
CHINA: On June 24 a CRH3 trainset from the Siemens Velaro family of high speed trains set a Chinese steel-wheel rail speed record of 394·3 km/h.
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NewsSiemens coaches arrive at Ashdod
ISRAEL: The first six of 87 coaches ordered from Siemens for inter-city and regional services was unloaded at the Port of Ashdod on June 18. ISR expects to have two complete 10-car trains ready for trials by the end of August, and plans to put the first into passenger service ...
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NewsAGV begins dynamic testing
CZECH REPUBLIC: Alstom’s seven-car AGV demonstrator Pégase has begun a four-month programme of dynamic trials at the Velim test track, where the traction package, wheel-rail and pantograph-catenary interfaces will be tested at up to 210 km/h. The trainset was delivered from La Rochelle on May 14, and began test running ...
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NewsSTAR is born
SWITZERLAND: Stadler has handed over to Aare Seeland Mobil the first Schmalspur Triebzug für Attraktiven Regionalverkehr, or 'narrow gauge railcar for attractive regional transport'. ASM placed a SFr18·5m order for three low-floor three-car EMUs in 2005. They will be used on its 1·2 kV DC metre-gauge line from Solothurn to ...
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NewsPESA delivers DMUs
EUROPE: This month Polish rolling stock manufacturer PESA will deliver the first of 23 three-car DMUs ordered by southern Italian regional railway Ferrovie del Sud Est for use on services from Bari. An initial order for 13 units signed in June 2006 was followed by an option for a further ...
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NewsNetwork Rail team to study high speed corridors
UK: Citing increasing capacity constraints and projections of strong growth in passenger and freight demand over the next 25 years, Network Rail announced on June 23 that it was launching a 'strategic review into the case for building new rail lines across the network of Great Britain'. A team ...