Passenger rail news – Page 276
-
News
Amman - Zarqa light rail back on
JORDAN: A new contract has been awarded for the construction and operation of the long-planned inter-urban light rail line between Amman and Zarqa. The US$332m 30-year build-operate-transfer concession with Spain's Ineco-Tifsa and a Kuwaiti partner replaces a US$240m contract with a consortium of Jordanian, Pakistani and Chinese firms which was ...
-
News
UK high speed rail development fund announced
UK: High speed rail pressure group Greengauge 21 announced a £750 000 strategy development programme at a Rail Forum event in Birmingham on June 13. The work programme will examine five broad corridors linking Britain's major urban areas: London - Birmingham - ManchesterLondon - ...
-
NewsMoscow Sheremetyevo airport rail link opens
RUSSIA: First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov attended the formal launch of rail services between Sheremetyevo international airport and Moscow's Savylovaky station on June 10. The 29 km journey from the airport to the city centre takes around 35 min by rail, compared to around 50 min by bus on ...
-
NewsArriva passengers go online
DENMARK: Passengers travelling on Arriva services in western Denmark gained free onboard wi-fi access on May 26. Danish firm Network Zone Relations has equipped 29 Alstom Lint DMUs used in Jylland with Moovbox wi-fi access points and routers supplied by UK company Moovera Networks. The Moovbox links the train ...
-
NewsThalys adds wi-fi and smart tickets
EUROPE: Passengers travelling on 300 km/h Thalys services between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Köln have been able to use on-board wi-fi since May 14. A quarter of the Thalys fleet had been fitted by that date, and all sets will be equipped by the autumn. Access to the ThalysNet portal ...
-
News
Armenian concession starts
ARMENIA: South Caucasus Railways officially took over the management of Armenian Railways on June 1 under a concession agreement signed on January 16.
-
News
Local routes go private
GERMANY: Veolia Verkehr has won a contract to provide about 40% of local rail services in the Leipzig region for two years from December 2009. The private company will take over 12 routes totalling 219 km from DB Regio and operate around 3 million train-km a year. The Leipzig transport ...
-
News
CAF Class 121 on test
SPAIN: With the aim of placing the first four sets into service this October, RENFE has begun dynamic trials of the Class 121 EMU on the Mirando de Ebro - Irún route. The national operator is taking delivery of 29 Class 121s, similar to the Class 120 supplied by CAF ...
-
NewsLong-term TGV plans
FRANCE: Legislation being drawn up following the national environmental summit at the end of 2007 (RG 12.07 p743) confirms that another 2 000 km of high speed lines will be launched by 2020. New lines listed in the first of three draft laws unveiled on April 30 by Jean-Louis Borloo, ...
-
News
Woolly policy
GERMANY: Our editorial office recently received an e-mail highlighting a special menu available in Deutsche Bahn dining cars. All dishes featured fresh mutton, and at the bottom of the page customers were invited to take advantage of a special offer for a limited number of woolly jumpers. For those ...
-
NewsPolish regions to own local services
POLAND: Ownership of the state railway's regional passenger business PKP PR is to be transferred from the national to provincial governments under a restructuring programme which was approved by parliament on May 15. Railway holding company PKP SA is to be paid 2·16bn zloty from the state budget to ...
-
News
Hyundai Rotem hands over Turkish DMU
TURKEY: The first of 12 diesel multiple-units ordered from South Korean rolling stock manufacturer Hyundai Rotem was formally handed to Turkish state railway Director General Süleyman Karaman at a ceremony in Seoul on May 22. The €42m order for the 140 km/h two-car air-conditioned DMUs for inter-regional services was ...
-
News
Modular EMUs extend an adaptable family
GERMANY: Developed from a design for Sweden, the Coradia Lirex Continental EMU is designed for adaptability in terms of floor height, extra doors and energy absorption. Harry Hondius rides the first four-car set.
-
NewsNSB signs with Nomad
NORWAY: Nomad Digital has been selected to provide broadband internet and entertainment services on passenger trains operated by state railway NSB. The pilot phase announced on May 21 will cover Oslo commuter routes and inter-city trains from the capital to Bergen and Trondheim. According to Nomad the first wi-fi ...
-
NewsSJ orders 20 Regina trainsets
SWEDEN: Passenger operator SJ has placed a €221m order with Bombardier for an additional 20 Regina EMUs, the manufacturer announced on May 22. Deliveries will run from April to August 2010, with the four-car trains to be deployed on services from Stockholm to Värmland and Dalarna. The contract includes an ...
-
News
RAVE readies to launch PPP concession
PORTUGAL: Tenders will be called in June for a 40-year PPP concession to build the Poceirão - Caia section of the Lisboa - Madrid high speed line. Expected value of this contract is €1·7bn. This will be followed later in the year by the start of bidding for a concession ...
-
News
Velaros ready to run Olympic shuttles
CHINA: With 6 227 km of route already completed for operation at speeds of 200 km/h and a further 6 100 km of high speed line under construction during 2007, China's Vice-Minister of Railways Lu Chunfang told delegates at UIC Highspeed in Amsterdam that work was about to start on ...
-
News
Global debate as projects forge ahead
More than 1 300 people from 44 countries participated in the UIC Highspeed 2008 congress in Amsterdam on March 16-19, debating the technical, social and political issues surrounding the global development of high speed rail
-
News
Dhaka revival
BANGLADESH: International passenger services between Kolkata and Dhaka resumed with the launch of the Maitreyi Express on April 14 after a break of 43 years. Cross-border operations were suspended in 1965 as a result of the Indo-Pakistan war, although an agreement to restore freight services was signed in 2001. IR ...
-
News
First Albatros trainset on test at Velim
NETHERLANDS: The first of 19 V250 trainsets being built by AnsaldoBreda for NS Hispeed and SNCB is undergoing pre-delivery trials at the Velim test track in the Czech Republic. Dispatched from Pistoia on March 26, the Pininfarina-designed 250 km/h trainset is now expected to be delivered to the Netherlands ...