Traction & rolling stock news – Page 207
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NewsVossloh España announces French locomotive orders
FRANCE: Contracts to supply a total of 12 Euro 4000 freight locomotives worth more than €40m were announced by Vossloh España on January 29. SNCF subsidiary VFLI has ordered two locomotives directly, and six through Beacon Rail Leasing. Eurotunnel’s Europorte business has ordered four locomotives. The six-axle diesel-electric locomotives ...
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NewsRites signs Bangladesh coach contract
BANGLADESH: India’s Rites has signed what it says is its first contract to export broad gauge passenger coaches to Bangladesh Railway. The order finalised in Dhaka covers 120 vehicles to be manufactured by RCF Kapurthala. These will be a mix of 160 km/h stainless steel sleeper and seating cars, some ...
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NewsBombardier and Alstom selected for SNCB double-deck order
BELGIUM: A consortium of Bombardier and Alstom has been selected as the sole shortlisted bidder for a framework contract to supply up to 1 000 double-deck coaches at an estimated cost of €1bn, federal Minister of Mobility & Transport Jacqueline Galant told parliament on January 23. Scheduled for delivery between ...
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NewsCNR Dalian orders MTU engines for Transnet fleet
SOUTH AFRICA: Rolls-Royce has announced a major order valued ‘in the range of €100m’ for its MTU business to supply CNR Dalian and its South African business CNRRSSA with 232 engines for use on locomotives ordered by Transnet Freight Rail. The Type 20V 4000 R63L engine is a variant ...
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NewsAqaba Railway awards wagon repair contract
JORDAN: Aqaba Railway Corp has signed a 10-month contract for King Abdullah II Design & Development Bureau and Jordan Advanced Machining Co to rebuild 35 accident-damaged wagons at a cost of 665 000 dinars. An initial wagon was rebuilt free of charge by JordanAMCO, and underwent three months of trial ...
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NewsCK Investments to buy Eversholt Rail leasing company
UK: An agreement for CK Investments to buy 100% of rolling stock leasing company Eversholt Rail Group was announced on January 20. The transaction with an equity value of £1·1bn and enterprise value of £2·5bn is expected to close in March, subject to regulatory approval from the European Commission. ...
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NewsOnboard adhesion monitoring
UK: TRL and Balfour Beatty are co-operating on a trial to use instrumented wheelsets to monitor acceleration data from a Class 159 diesel multiple-unit used by South West Trains. The project partners are assessing how best to interpret the acceleration data to assess any correlation with poor railhead adhesion. TRL ...
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NewsBattery train enters passenger service
UK: The prototype Independently Powered Electric Multiple-Unit has entered trial passenger service on the Manningtree –Harwich branch, where it is scheduled to operate on weekdays between January 12 and February 13. The IPEMU comprises a Bombardier Electrostar Class 379 four-car 25 kV 50 Hz EMU which has been retrofitted with ...
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NewsEurotunnel orders extra Freight Shuttles
EUROPE: Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel has awarded WBN Waggonbau Niesky a €40m contract to supply three more Freight Shuttle trainsets to support its target of carrying 2 million lorries/year in 2020. The 800 m long rakes will comprise 32 lorry-carrying wagons, three loading wagons and a coach for the lorry ...
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NewsJoint venture to maintain Moroccan TGV fleet
MOROCCO: A joint venture is to be established during the first half of the year for the maintenance of high speed trainsets in Morocco as part of preparations to introduce Africa’s first high speed passenger service over the 320 km corridor between Tanger and Casablanca. Outlined at a ceremony in ...
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NewsCSR Qishuyan locomotives delivered to Thailand
THAILAND: State Railway of Thailand has taken delivery of the first two of 20 SDA3 locomotives being supplied by CSR Qishuyan The six-axle metre-gauge diesel locomotives were ordered in June 2013 as part of a strategy to develop a 'hub and spoke' intermodal freight network. Each locomotive has a ...
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NewsNorfolk Southern unveils publicly-funded GP33ECO locomotive
USA: A GP33ECO shunting locomotive remanufactured from an EMD GP50 at Norfolk Southern’s Juniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona, Pennsylvania, using funding from the Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Improvement Program was unveiled on January 6. A total of 25 locomotives are being repowered with Tier 3 compliant EMD 12-710 ...
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NewsSwedish EMU maintenance contracts awarded
SWEDEN: Alstom has been awarded two contracts to maintain commuter and regional electric multiple-unit fleets, which will take the total number of trainsets it maintains in Sweden to 219. One contract covers the maintenance of 63 EMUs, including 22 from Alstom’s Coradia Nordic family, on behalf of SJ which was ...
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NewsGreenbrier announces ‘strategic investment’ in Brazil
BRAZIL: The Greenbrier Companies announced an agreement to acquire a 19·5% stake in wagon manufacturer Amsted-Maxion Hortolândia for US$15m on January 7. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015, and the US company also has an option to acquire an additional 40·5% stake by September ...
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NewsFirst Hitachi IEP trainset sets off for the UK
UK: The first pre-series Class 800 trainset ordered under the Intercity Express Programme left Hitachi’s Kasado plant in Japan on January 7 for delivery to the UK. It is scheduled to be shipped from the port of Kobe on January 22 and arrive in the UK in March. The five-car ...
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NewsWagon leasing company acquisition completed
EUROPE: Wagon leasing and logistics group VTG AG completed the acquisition of Swiss leasing company Ahaus Alstätter Eisenbahn Holding AG on January 6, following approval from the competition authorities in Germany, Austria, Poland and Russia. ‘I am delighted that we have been able to take this step just three months ...
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NewsRedesigning wagons
SWEDEN: A year-long research project to enhance the design of a Kiruna Wagon mineral hopper concluded at the end of 2014. The project saw the wagon manufacturer collaborate with students from Luleå University of Technology as part of an effort to reduce the tare weight of the side-dumping wagons used ...
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NewsWorld rolling stock market December 2014
Canada: The province is providing C$17m for Ontario Northland to refurbish 16 cars used on Polar Bear Express services, fitting leather seats, accessible toilets, modern flooring and power sockets. China: Jilin Midas Aluminium Industries has won a 152m yuan contract to supply CNR Changchun with high speed train body ...
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NewsOsaka Loop trains
JAPAN: JR West announced on December 8 that it is to procure 21 eight-car electric multiple-units for the Osaka Loop Line. The Class 323 trains are to replace the older Class 103 and Class 201 EMUs. The Class 103 EMUs, delivered in 1964-84, are to be withdrawn completely from the ...
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NewsInternational Alliance of Rail Vehicle Industrial Design established
CHINA: An International Alliance of Rail Vehicle Industrial Design has been established by CSR Sifang, China Industrial Design Association, European Design Alliance, Tsinghua University and other ‘design agencies, universities and enterprises’ from more than 40 countries including Switzerland, the USA, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Spain. CSR Corp said the ...