Traction & rolling stock news – Page 143
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NewsMore trains ordered for Poznań regional network
POLAND: Wielkopolskie voivodship signed a contract with Pesa for the supply of five five-car Elf2 electric multiple-units on February 14. Pesa beat bids from Newag and Stadler, and will work with its subsidiary ZNTK Mińsk Mazowiecki to supply the EMUs between June and December 2020. The EU is providing ...
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NewsIrish implementation plan focuses six-year rail spend
Substantial investment in heavy and light rail is envisaged under the National Transport Authority’s Draft Integrated Implementation Plan for 2019-24. Tony Miles investigates
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NewsModi launches Vande Bharat Express and orders 130 more
INDIA: IR’s prototype Train 18 semi-high speed EMU was formally launched into revenue service by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a ceremony at New Delhi station on February 15. Now branded as Vande Bharat Express, the 16-car EMU was developed by the Integral Coach Factory to operate medium-distance inter-city routes ...
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Rail Business UKThameslink fleet stake to be sold
UK: A consortium of Dalmore Capital and Equitix Investment Management has signed agreements to acquire 3i Infrastructure’s one-third stake in Cross London Trains Holdco 2 Ltd. This was established by 3i, Innisfree and Siemens in 2011 to finance, own and maintain the fleet of 115 Desiro City Class 700 EMUs ...
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NewsLaview EMUs are ready to roll
JAPAN: The first of seven Laview luxury EMUs which will operate Seibu Railway’s premier Limited Express services between Tokyo’s Ikebukuro station and Seibu-Chichibu from March 16 was formally presented at the operator’s Kotesashi depot on February 14. Intended as the railway’s flagship, the 1 067 mm gauge Series 001 trainsets ...
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NewsALFA-X nose is 22 m long
JAPAN: East Japan Railway has unveiled the second driving car for its experimental ALFA-X Shinkansen trainset, which features a 22 m long aerodynamic nose designed to mitigate the sonic boom effect of entering and passing through tunnels at very high speed. Built at Hitachi's Kasado plant, Car 10 has a ...
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NewsCAF to replace New South Wales regional train fleet
AUSTRALIA: The New South Wales government signed a contract for 117 multiple-unit cars to replace its entire regional train fleet on February 14. The Momentum Trains consortium of CAF, Pacific Partnership and DIF Infrastructure V has been awarded an availability-based PPP contract to design, build, finance and maintain the ...
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Rail Business UKScotRail gets second performance warning
UK: Citing poor customer satisfaction figures, Transport Scotland issued a Remedial Plan notice to ScotRail on February 8. This is the operator’s second warning in quick succession, following a Remedial Notice issued on December 24 because of poor operational performance, during November and December. According to Transport Scotland, ScotRail had ...
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NewsTrimble technology to support Norwegian fleet management
NORWAY: State-owned rolling stock leasing organisation Norske Tog is to deploy Trimble’s E2M engineering asset and maintenance management system on the fleet of vehicles it is to lease to operating contractors. This is intended to provide the vehicle owner and the operators with an overview of the key data needed ...
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NewsDB launches digital research train
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has unveiled a four-car laboratory train which will be available to the rail sector across Germany for testing digital technologies. Branded the Advanced TrainLab, the train is a former ICE-TD diesel-electric set able to run at 200 km/h. One of the train’s first duties ...
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Rail Business UKIMechE recommends electrification instead of hydrogen trains
HYDROGEN: Although investment in hydrogen-fuelled trains is a ‘vital’ part of the process to improve air quality, it must not be seen as an easy replacement for electrification, according to The Future for Hydrogen Trains in the UK published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on February 7. The report ...
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Metro Report InternationalStadler lowest bidder for Milano tram renewal
ITALY: Stadler Rail Valencia has been announced as low bidder for a contract to supply a new generation of 1 445 mm gauge trams to Milano public transport operator ATM. Formal contract award is expected to follow legal scrutiny of the tenders. Bids were opened on February ...
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NewsSydney Trains fleet to grow
AUSTRALIA: The New South Wales Government is to ‘fast-track’ the delivery of a further 17 Waratah Series 2 double-deck electric multiple-units to accommodate growing demand across the Sydney Trains network, Minister for Transport & Infrastructure Andrew Constance announced on February 6. The additional EMUs are scheduled to be delivered ...
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NewsČD to test battery-equipped EMUs
CZECH REPUBLIC: National passenger operator ČD and Škoda Transportation are to retrofit two Class 650 RegioPanter electric multiple-units with battery packs to enable operation on non-electrified tracks. The two units will be tested on regional services around Brno from late 2019. The lithium-titanate batteries and a BMS control unit ...
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NewsDB orders Talgo 230 inter-city trainsets
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has selected Talgo to supply a new generation of push-pull trainsets to operate long-distance inter-city and international services, the national operator announced on February 5. Following an international tender, DB Fernverkehr has awarded Talgo a framework contract for up to 100 trainsets, placing a firm order for ...
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NewsFyra V250 trainset on test in Italy
ITALY: Trenitalia has begun test running with one of the 17 AnsaldoBreda V250 trainsets which it acquired cheaply following their short and troubled life on Fyra services in the Netherlands and Belgium. The first test run left Milano Centrale for Bologna Centrale at 20:30 on February 4. The trainsets are ...
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NewsSpecialisation drives growth at United Wagon Co
RUSSIA: United Wagon Co produced a total of 19 700 wagons in 2018, a 3% increase on the previous year. A similar volume is expected in 2019, with growth continuing to be driven by an increase in the production of specialised vehicles. Hopper wagon production was up 108% year-on-year to ...
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Rail Business UKGrants to support low-carbon technology demonstrators
UK: The Department for Transport has awarded grants of around £350 000 to each of five projects which aim to develop technology to reduce the rail network’s carbon footprint. The projects were selected under the second round of the DfT’s First of a Kind competition, run by Innovate UK as ...
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NewsProject company to support Finnish rail reforms
FINLAND: New line development, transparent access to infrastructure services and the provision of rolling stock for on-rail competition are to be facilitated by a state-owned special purpose company to be formed under plans unveiled by Minister of Transport & Communications Anne Berner on February 1. The Cabinet Committee on Economic ...
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NewsPT Inka exports coaches to Bangladesh
BANGLADESH:· The first 15 of 250 coaches which Bangladesh Railway has ordered from Indonesian rolling stock manufacturer PT Inka were shipped from the Port of Tanjung Perak in Surabaya on January 20. The US$101m order placed in 2017 with financing from Indonesia Eximbank includes 50 coaches for BR’s 1 676 ...