Railway supply industry news – Page 96
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Ontario Northland has obtained locomotive engine line boring equipment, which it says makes it the only railway in Canada offering in-house line boring capabilities to external customers. ‘Our line boring machine is a portable computerised unit that is capable of driving multiple different cutting heads, we can bore 6 to ...
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NewsHigh speed operator accepts takeover bid
ITALY: Open access high speed train operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori SpA announced on February 7 that its shareholders had decided to accept a €1·98bn takeover bid from international fund manager Global Infrastructure Partners III. The deal was ratified by a board meeting the following day, which also confirmed that NTV ...
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NewsEurostar aims to tread more lightly with new environmental targets
EUROPE: Eurostar marked the 10th anniversary of its Tread Lightly environmental programme with the unveiling on February 6 of an ‘ambitious’ 10 point plan to reduce its environmental impact. CEO Nicolas Petrovic said the high speed train operator had already achieved a 32% reduction in carbon emissions through Tread Lightly, ...
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News'Dynamic and aspirational' year brings record sales at Knorr-Bremse
GERMANY: Knorr-Bremse’s Rail Vehicle Systems and Commercial Vehicle Systems divisions contributed equally to record group sales in 2017, the company announced on February 7. ‘For us, the past financial year was particularly dynamic and aspirational, so we are all the more delighted at our strong growth’, said executive board Chairman ...
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NewsLoram acquires GREX
USA: Loram Maintenance of Way announced on February 6 that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire the outstanding shares in Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. The transaction is expected to close in mid-February. ‘The merger with GREX, a market leader in material handling and track inspection technologies, strengthens our ...
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NewsCSX committed to Harrison’s vision
USA ‘I’m excited about the progress we are making and am confident we have the right team in place to achieve our goal of becoming the best railroad in North America’, said CSX Transportation President & Chief Executive Officer James M Foote, briefing investors on the company’s 2017 results. According ...
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NewsUP optimistic in 2018 forecasts
USA: Union Pacific is ‘optimistic that the economy will favour a number of our market segments, leading to another year of positive volume growth’, said Lance Fritz, Chairman, President & CEO, announcing the company’s 2017 results on January 25. UP reported net income of $10·7bn for the year, an increase ...
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NewsBNSF announces $3·3bn capital plan
USA: BNSF is planning to invest $3·3bn under its 2018 capital plan unveiled on January 31. This the same level of spending as 2017, and brings the total investment to more than $60bn since 2000. Within the total figure, $2·4bn has been allocated for maintenance and renewal of both infrastructure ...
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NewsSiemens to open £8m UK bogie service centre
UK: Siemens is investing £8m to develop a bogie servicing centre at one of its existing sites in Lincoln. The facility is expected to have around 20 staff when it opens in June, increasing to employ around 40 technicians by the end of 2019. The site will initially focus on ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
CZ Loko has completed its acquisition of rolling stock maintenance and repair company Letohradské Strojírny, which has 40 staff and two workshops. CZ Loko had held a 77% stake since 2014. The former LS site at Letohrad will now concentrate on maintenance, while Žamberk will remain as the centre of ...
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NewsGrowing CN plans C$3·2bn capital spend in 2018
CANADA: ‘CN’s growth continues to outpace the economy’, said Canadian National President & Chief Executive Officer Luc Jobin, reporting the company’s 2017 results on January 23. Thanks to a strong fourth quarter, which saw a 156% increase in net income compared to the same quarter in 2016, CN recorded an ...
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NewsMoving assembly line improves locomotive manufacturing efficiency
BRAZIL: This month GE Transportation’s factory at Contagem expects to roll-out the first locomotive to completed using a newly-commissioned mixed-model moving assembly line. This is GE Transportation’s first moving production line, and insiders believe it may be one of the first in the locomotive sector. The plant mainly builds ...
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NewsDB hosts ‘smart scrubber’ robot cleaning competition
GERMANY: In order to demonstrate the potential for the automation of routine station cleaning tasks, DB hosted a ‘smart scrubber’ event at Berlin Hbf on January 30. The Automated Cleaning Challenge organised by DB Services and the DB Mindbox digital innovation lab pitted cleaning machines from four international manufacturers ...
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NewsTransmashholding buys stake in Moscow commuter operator
RUSSIA: Demikhovsky Engineering Plant’s 2·3bn rouble purchase of Moscow oblast’s 25% plus one share stake in Central Suburban Passenger Co has been approved by the federal anti-monopoly service. Founded in January 2006, Central PPK is the largest commuter and regional train operator in Russia. It is also the largest customer ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Israeli cybersecurity start-up company Cylus has raised US$4·7m in seed funding from investors including Zohar Zisapel, a private investor and founder of technology group RAD, as well as Magma Venture Partners, Vertex Ventures and the SBI Group. ‘Current approaches to cybersecurity do not fit the architecture of railway networks today’, ...
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NewsLocomotive control system certified
RUSSIA: Diesel locomotives produced by Bryansk Engineering Plant are now being fitted with an electronic control system which the Transmashholding subsidiary has developed in-house. This follows certification for use of the technology across the Eurasian Economic Union countries. A central computer monitors the state of the onboard systems and manages ...
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NewsOptimising sensor data to support predictive maintenance
BELGIUM: An imec.icon research project has been launched to investigate ways of collecting and presenting the increasing amount of data which is being produced by on-train sensors, with the aim of helping operators undertake predictive maintenance of rolling stock. Televic Rail is leading the project, focusing on designing novel techniques ...
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NewsRailway supply industry news round-up
Knorr-Bremse Nordic Rail Services announced on January 18 that it had agreed to sell its Swedtrac rolling stock modernisation and repair business to Stadler Service Sweden. The transaction is expected to close at the end of Q1 2018. 'We are continuing to focus on our core competencies as a key ...
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NewsGE Transportation signs Kazakh shunting loco contract
KAZAKHSTAN: Contracts for the supply of 300 shunting locomotives and the provision of 18 years of support for 175 TEP33A passenger locomotives were signed by national railway KTZ and GE Transportation during Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s visit to the USA on January 17. The two contracts are worth more than ...
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NewsEastleigh Works sold
UK: The Key Property Investments joint venture of developer St Modwen and Kuwait-based Salhia Real Estate Co has sold the 19 ha Eastleigh Works train maintenance and repair site to corporate pension fund clients of Savills Investment Management for £20·6m, a net initial yield of 8%. The facility is predominantly ...