Traction & rolling stock news – Page 179
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NewsWeedfree orders weed killing train
EUROPE: Weedfree On Track is investing £2m in a second weed killing train, backed by a £300 000 debt funding package from Enterprise Ventures SME Loans and £200 000 from Finance Yorkshire's Business Loans fund. The vehicles are to be supplied by Hungarian company Gaal-Gaal, which supplied Weedfree's existing ...
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NewsJP Morgan buys Beacon Rail
BEACON RAIL: An agreement has been signed for JP Morgan Asset Management to acquire the Beacon Rail rolling stock leasing business from Pamplona Capital Management for around €1bn. Completion of the deal is expected shortly. Beacon Rail Leasing is based in Luxembourg, with offices in Boston and London. Pamplona had ...
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NewsResearch project aims to automate train driver functions
FRANCE: The Safe Autonomous Land Transport project to test the use of technology to automate train drivers’ observation functions has been launched by the SystemX digital engineering research institute in partnership with SNCF and Alstom. Drawing on the scientific expertise of the Université de Technologie de Compiègne, the project aims ...
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NewsFirst locomotive modernisation completed
USA: Motive Power Resources has rolled out the first locomotive to be modernised at its recently-completed heavy overhaul and repair facility in Minooka, Illinois. The EMD SD38 locomotive for Ardent Mills in Easton, Pennsylvania, has been refurbished with new mechanical components and a ZTR Nexus control system. The ...
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NewsČD announces Pendolino rejuvenation
CZECH REPUBLIC: National passenger operator České Dráhy has awarded its DPOV subsidiary a contract to refurbish the seven seven-car Class 680 Pendolino trainsets used on its flagship inter-city routes from Praha to Ostrava, Cheb, Františkovy Lázně and Košice. The work is scheduled to start this summer and take around a ...
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News$1bn wagon agreement signed
USA: A multi-year wagon supply and management agreement worth more than $1bn was announced by The Greenbrier Companies and Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Co on April 5 MUL President & CEO Tadashi Shiraishi said the leasing company had set an ‘ambitious’ target to grow its market share to become ...
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NewsCRRC rolls out Wenzhou commuter EMU
CHINA: CRRC Qingdao Sifang rolled out its first electric multiple-unit for Wenzhou Line S1 on March 31. The four-car EMU is the first of 32 being built under a contract awarded in 2014. Based on a Type A metro train design, the EMU features a level of comfort more ...
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NewsPrima H3 shunting loco approved for 100 km/h
GERMANY: Federal railway office EBA has certified Alstom’s Prima H3 battery-diesel shunting locomotive for operation at up to 100 km/h, paving the way for main line operation. Announcing the certification on April 5, Alstom said the Prima H3 was the only three-axle shunting locomotive certified to operate at this speed ...
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NewsZSSK orders DMUs and coaches
SLOVAKIA: National passenger operator ZSSK has awarded its traditional supplier ŽOS Vrútky two contracts to supply locomotive-hauled coaches and diesel multiple-units. The 21 Class 861 DMUs are to be delivered from 2018 for use on the Zvolen – Vrútky and Zvolen – Fiľakovo lines. They will have air-conditioning, wi-fi and ...
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NewsRhein-Ruhr-Express EMU car rolled out
GERMANY: Siemens unveiled the first Desiro HC car for the future Rhein-Ruhr-Express network at its Krefeld factory on March 31. ‘The RRX will lift regional transport in NRW to a higher level’, said NRW Transport Minister Michael Groschek on his visit to Krefeld, adding that ‘the new trains combine ...
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NewsLoco ‘designed, engineered and manufactured in Africa’ unveiled
SOUTH AFRICA: What national freight group Transnet says is the ‘first locomotive to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Africa’ was unveiled by South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria on April 4. The Trans-Africa Locomotive was developed by Transnet’s manufacturing division Transnet Engineering and assembled at its plant in ...
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NewsLNG locomotive agreement
LITHUANIA: An agreement to co-operate to develop a liquefied natural gas-fuelled shunting locomotive was signed on March 30 by Lithuania Railways, stevedoring company Bega, oil and gas terminal operator Klaipėdos Nafta, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and Klaipeda University. The partner aim to produce a prototype shunting locomotive for use at ...
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NewsQuiet wagons mandatory by 2020
GERMANY: Noisy freight wagons will effectively be banned from the national rail network from the December 13 2020 timetable change, after Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced on March 30 that the Bundestag had passed legislation requiring the use of low-noise freight wagons as part of his ‘Quiet Rail Strategy’. ...
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NewsSNCF orders 30 Coradias for TET services
FRANCE: SNCF Mobilités has awarded Alstom a €250m contract to supply a further 30 Alstom Coradia multiple-units. These are scheduled to be delivered from September 2018 for use on Trains d'Equilibre du Territoire long-distance services on the Paris – Amiens – Boulogne, Paris – Bourges – Montluçon, Clermont-Ferrand – Nîmes, ...
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NewsVlexx signs Saarland Talent 3 EMU order
GERMANY: Vlexx has awarded Bombardier Transportation a contract to supply 21 three-car Talent 3 electric multiple-units. These will be used from December 2019 on regional services which it is to operate under the SaarRB Lot 2 contract awarded by local transport authorities in Saarland and Rheinland-Pfalz during January. The EMUs ...
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NewsDB Regio orders more Coradia Continental units
GERMANY: DB Regio has awarded Alstom a contract to supply 26 Coradia Continental electric multiple-units for use in Nordrhein-Westfalen and Rheinland-Pfalz. The firm order announced on March 31 has been placed within a 2012 framework agreement for the supply of up to 400 units, the first 28 of which entered ...
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NewsDB orders 25 inter-city trainsets
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has placed a firm order for a further 25 push-pull double-deck inter-city trainsets, Bombardier Transportation announced on March 30. The contract covers 25 Traxx AC3 electric locomotives and 124 Twindexx Vario double-deck coaches to be delivered from 2019. They will be equipped with ETCS Level 2 Baseline ...
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NewsNürnberg S-Bahn EMU contract signed
GERMANY: A contract for Alstom to supply 27 four-car Class 1440 Coradia Continental electric multiple-units for use on Nürnberg S-Bahn services was signed by DB Regio Bayern Chairman Hansrüdiger Fritz on March 29. The units are to be supplied from Alstom’s Salzgitter plant for use from 2020 on Nürnberg S-Bahn ...
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NewsFerrovie Appulo Lucane expands fleet
ITALY: Ferrovie Appulo Lucane has awarded Stadler an €8·5m contract to supply an additional three-car diesel multiple-unit for its 950 mm gauge network, along with two intermediate cars to lengthen two existing units from two to three cars. An order for a third intermediate car is expected to follow within ...
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NewsFrance and Spain seek rail motorway proposals
EUROPE: Rolling stock manufacturers are to be invited to submit expressions of interest in supplying wagons capable of carrying lorries on ‘rail motorway’ services between France and Spain, it was agreed at a meeting of a working group on March 27 bringing together the transport ministries of both countries as ...