All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 658
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NewsKeolis wins battle of Teutoburger Wald
GERMANY: Keolis Deutschland announced on July 9 that it had finally been awarded the Teutoburger Wald passenger operating contract, which was tendered by Westfalen-Lippe transport authority NWL in co-operation with Niedersachsen's LNVG and the Netherlands' Regio Twente and Overijssel province. Keolis was named preferred on November 6 2014, but incumbent ...
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NewsBudapest metro car modernisation contract
HUNGARY: Metrowagonash has been selected to modernise 222 metro cars operating in Budapest. The Russian company beat six other bidders. The scope covers 185 Type 81-717/714 cars, 10 Type 81-717/714-2M cars and 27 Type Ev3 cars. Interior and exterior refurbishment will include the installation of CCTV, driver’s cab air-conditioning and ...
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NewsSerbian railway restructuring approved
SERBIA: State railway company Železnice Srbije is scheduled to be restructured with effect from July 15, after government approval was granted on July 2 for the implementation of plans which were finalised in May. The restructuring will create four businesses: ŽS Holding, ŽS Infrastructure which will be responsible for managing ...
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NewsEmilia Romagna operating contract awarded
ITALY: The Emilia Romagna region has awarded a contract for the operation of regional passenger rail services to a joint venture of its locally-owned transport operator Trasporto Passeggeri Emilia Romagna and national passenger train operator Trenitalia. The 1 400 km network includes lines owned by national infrastructure manager RFI and ...
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NewsChoose your destination with #TGVpop
FRANCE: On July 5 SNCF operated the first five trains under its ‘100% digital’ #TGVpop concept, where the destination is determined by online voting. The first services ran from Paris to Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille and Lyon, as well as from Lyon to Paris. Under a campaign running until August 30, ...
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NewsAnne Berner
Anne Berner of Finland’s Centre Party has been named Minister of Transport & Communications, replacing Paula Risikko.
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NewsCRRC rolls out its first passenger train for Europe
MACEDONIA: Minister of Transport & Communications Minister Vlado Misajlovski visited Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive’s plant on July 7 to see the roll out of the first passenger trainsets to be produced by China’s CRRC for a European customer. Misajlovski said two 25 kV 50 Hz electric multiple-units are expected to arrive ...
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NewsCatenary-free tram arrives in Rio de Janeiro
BRAZIL: The first Citadis tram for Rio de Janeiro has arrived in the city after a 20 day journey from Alstom’s La Rochelle factory in France. In 2013 the VLT Carioca consortium of Companhia de Concessoes Rodoviarias, Odebrecht Transport, Invepar, Riopar, BRT and RATP Dev awarded Alstom a €230m ...
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NewsRZD's double-deck seating cars to enter service this month
RUSSIA: Federal Passenger Co’s first double-deck seating cars are scheduled to enter service on July 31, on the Moscow – Voronezh route which has a journey time of 6 h 35 min. The double-deck cars were ordered from Transmashholding’s Tver Carriage Works in August 2013 and delivered in June. ...
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NewsTransdev to operate Cincinnati Streetcar
USA: Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority has selected Transdev Services Inc to operate and maintain the Cincinnati Streetcar. Announcing the decision on July 6, SORTA Chair Jason Dunn said: ‘The contract is within the budget established by the City and meets the service levels in the Federal grant applications.’ Transdev ...
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NewsRambøll to study Vejle Fjord cut-off
DENMARK: The national roads directorate has appointed engineering consultancy Rambøll to explore four possible alignments for a high speed rail link across the Vejle Fjord, which would shorten Banedanmark’s main line between Fredericia and Aarhus. The project is a key element in the government’s Togfonden DK railway investment programme, which ...
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NewsAbidjan metro concession signed
CÔTE D’IVOIRE: A French-Korean consortium signed a build-operate-transfer concession agreement for Abidjan metro Line 1 on July 6. The consortium comprises Hyundai Rotem (33%), Bouygues subsidiaries DTP Terrassement and Bouygues Travaux Publics (33%), Keolis (25%) and Dongsan Engineering (9%). Hyundai Rotem is to supply rolling stock and signalling, Dongsan ...
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NewsFirst Belgrano Sur DMUs arrive
ARGENTINA: On July 7 Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo visited the Port of Buenos Aires to inspect the first of 27 three-car DMUs ordered from CNR of China for the Belgrano Sur commuter network. According to Randazzo, the new vehicles would be operating ‘in 45 days’. Alongside ...
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NewsAŽD Praha wins Belarus resignalling contract
BELARUS: Belarus Railways has awarded AŽD Praha a KC350m contract to supply signalling equipment for the 86 km Zlobin – Gomel line which being modernised and electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz. The work is being financed using a US$80·7m loan from EximBank of China agreed in 2014, ...
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NewsTET revival plan presented
FRANCE: On July 7 Secretary of State for Transport Alain Vidalies presented the government’s proposals for reviving the Trains d’Equilibre du Territoire, SNCF’s network of conventional long-distance passenger services which have seen traffic fall by 20% since 2011. From €330m in 2014, operating losses are expected to rise to an ...
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NewsMock-up verifies Stadler’s Gotthard train design
SWITZERLAND: Stadler Rail and Swiss Federal Railways are using a full-size wooden mock-up to verify the planned interior design of the 29 Giruno trainsets ordered in May 2014 for use on services from Basel and Zürich to Milano via the Gotthard base tunnel. The mock-up at Stadler’s Bussnang factory ...
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NewsCaspian Sea port link opened
KAZAKHSTAN: President Nursultan Nazarbayev used teleconferencing facilities to formally open the Borzhakty – Ersai railway on July 2. The 13·9 km branch from the Aktau – Uzen line will serve a port which is being developed on the Caspian Sea near Kuryk. Construction of the line including the ...
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NewsMakkah metro civils contractor selected
SAUDI ARABIA: A consortium of Isolux Corsan, Kolin İnşaat Turizm Sanayi ve Ticaret and Haif Company has been selected as preferred bidder for civil works for Makkah metro lines B and C. The €2·3bn contract is expected to be signed in the next few months. The scope covers an ...
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NewsSouth West Trains to be refranchised
UK: Stagecoach Group confirmed on July 7 that the Department for Transport had ended discussions for a new direct award franchise at South West Trains which would have covered the period from February 2017 to at least April 2019. DfT had informed Stagecoach as far back as March 2013 ...
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NewsWiener Lokalbahn to modernise depot
AUSTRIA: This month inter-urban light rail operator Wiener Lokalbahn is to launch a 26-month project to rebuild its Wien-Inzersdorf depot. The project will bring more than 200 operations and maintenance staff together at a 6 500 m² facility meeting modern standards. The site will have 1 720 m of ...