Traction & rolling stock news – Page 163
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NewsWorld rolling stock market - February 2018
Argentina: Transport Minister Guillermo Dietrich has approved a directly awarded order for CRRC Qingdao Sifang to supply 200 EMU cars for the Roca commuter network in Buenos Aires, with an estimated cost of US$316∙5m. These will replace life-expired Toshiba EMUs dating from 1983. Australia: TasRail has taken delivery of ...
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NewsAlstom Prima locomotive for Indian Railways on test
INDIA: The first of 800 WAG12 twin-section electric locomotives which Alstom is supplying to Indian Railways is now on test at a purpose-built factory in Madhepura. First 12000 HP freight locomotive (WAG 12) under test in Ministry of Railway-Alstom Joint Venture factory 'Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd.' at Madhepura ...
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NewsMyanma Railways orders Japanese DMUs
MYANMAR: A consortium of Japanese companies Marubeni and IHI Corp’s Niigata Transys has signed a ¥7bn agreement to supply 24 diesel-electric multiple-unit cars to Myanma Railways. Consortium leader Marubeni will be in charge of the commercial side of the contract signed on February 9, while Niigata Transys will be responsible ...
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NewsZillertalbahn plans switch to hydrogen power
AUSTRIA: Plans to convert the 760 mm gauge Zillertalbahn which links Jenbach with Mayrhofen from diesel to hydrogen fuel were announced by operator ZVB in February. The cost is estimated at €80m, with revenue hydrogen operations envisaged for 2022. Around 30% of the hydroelectric power generated in Tirol comes from ...
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NewsGE and Ukrainian Railways sign US$1bn locomotive agreement
UKRAINE: A US$1bn framework agreement to support the modernisation of the rail network in 2018-34 was signed by Ukrainian Railways and GE Transportation on February 23. The largest agreement which GE has signed in Ukraine includes the supply of 30 TE33A Evolution Series diesel freight locomotives from Erie in the ...
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NewsHydrogen is a technically feasible alternative to electrification, Toronto study finds
CANADA: It be would technically and economically feasible to operate the Toronto area’s future Regional Express Rail passenger services using hydrogen fuel cells instead of conventional overhead electrification, a study has concluded. The lifetime costs would be similar, but the use of hydrogen would be a ‘world first’ on such ...
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NewsModified Yermak locomotive on test
RUSSIA: Trials are underway with a three-section 3ES5K Yermak 25 kV 50 Hz locomotive rated at 9·2 MW which has been modified by TMH’s Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Works. The locomotive has been fitted with VIP4000D traction converters developed by Elektrovypryamitel and Irkutsk State University of Communications, controlled by software ...
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NewsAlstom ships first Lusail tram
QATAR: Alstom has shipped the first tram for Lusail from its La Rochelle factory in France. It will travel by ship from the port of Barcelona in Spain to Doha, and is expected to arrive next month. In 2014 Qatar Rail awarded a contract to a consortium ...
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NewsSagami Railway Series 20000 enters service
JAPAN: Sagami Railway put into service on February 11 the first of its Series 20000 EMUs, which have been designed for future through running to Tokyo. Sotetsu Corp has ordered a fleet of six 10-car and nine eight-car Series 20000 EMUs to replace its older Series 7000 units. Built at ...
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NewsGreater Anglia Aventra EMUs under construction in Derby
UK: Bombardier Transportation’s Derby plant has begun production of the first of 111 Class 720 Aventra electric multiple-units for Greater Anglia, the operator announced on February 20. The £900m order financed by Angel Trains and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which was finalised in September 2016, covers 89 five-car and 22 ...
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NewsFerroviaria Andina orders Stadler SALi locomotives
BOLIVIA: Ferroviaria Andina has placed the first order for three locomotives to Stadler’s South American Light Loco design, which has been developed specifically for the Latin American market. The SALi locomotives to be manufactured at Stadler’s Valencia plant in Spain are derived from the Eurodual family. Stadler said the ‘ultra-lightweight’ ...
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NewsTransilien double-deck EMUs ordered
FRANCE: SNCF has placed a firm order for a further nine Bombardier Transportation Regio 2N double-deck electric multiple-units, acting on behalf of greater Paris public transport authority Ile-de-France Mobilités. The order announced on February 19 is worth €96m, including ‘price escalations based on best faith assessment of assumptions’. The ...
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NewsSoftware aims to improve KCS fleet utilisation
USA: Kansas City Southern has awarded planning and scheduling tool specialist Biarri Rail a contract to supply its Boss MP Loco cloud-based software to improve locomotive utilisation. ‘We engaged Biarri Rail to perform a proof-of-concept using Boss MP Loco and this clearly demonstrated that we could use the software package ...
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NewsUnited Wagon delivers wagons to Guinea
GUINEA: United Wagon Co’s TikhvinSpetsMash plant has shipped the first of 114 hopper wagons ordered by aluminium producer Rusal following an international tender. The wagons will be used to transport bauxite from the Dian-Dian deposit in the Boké region. The 1 435 mm gauge hopper wagon designed by UWC’s All-Union ...
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NewsEP Cargo orders Traxx locos
GERMANY: Czech open access freight operator EP Cargo has ordered two Bombardier Transportation Traxx AC3 15 kV 16·7 Hz electric locomotives, with the first scheduled to be delivered in late March. The locomotives are to be used by EP Cargo Deutschland to haul fly ash and gypsum to Stralsund from ...
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NewsTransitio orders double-deck EMUs
SWEDEN: Local authority owned rolling stock procurement body AB Transitio has signed a firm order for eight Stadler double-deck electric multiple-units for use on Upptåget services from the end of 2019. The firm order announced by Stadler on February 14 has been placed as an option on a 2016 contract ...
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NewsLocomotives bought back amid ETCS dispute
POLAND: Orlen KolTrans has leased three of five Griffin locomotives which Newag had originally built for Lotos Kolej under a deal which has been terminated following a dispute about the lack of onboard ETCS equipment. The locomotives were ordered in December 2015, when open access freight operator Lotos Kolej and ...
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NewsHydrogen train to be tested in the UK by 2020
UK: The Rail Safety & Standards Board is working with Alstom with the aim of piloting a hydrogen powered train in late 2019 or early 2020, RSSB Chief Executive Mark Phillips said on February 12. Philips was responding to a speech by Transport Minister Jo Johnson, who said he ‘would ...
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News'Tomorrow’s Trains Today' funding announced
UK: The winners of £3·5m of government funding under the ‘First of a Kind: Demonstrating Tomorrow’s Trains Today’ innovation programme were announced by Transport Minister Jo Johnson on February 12. T The FOAK competition is part of the Department for Transport’s wider Accelerating Innovation in Rail scheme. The first ‘challenge’ ...
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NewsFlytoget’s first CAF Oaris trainset nears completion
NORWAY: Dynamic testing with the first of eight four-car Oaris trainsets that CAF is building for Norwegian operator Flytoget is due to begin in April. One set will travel to Velim in the Czech Republic for trials before the trains enter service on Flytoget’s Airport Express service between Gardermoen Airport ...