Argentina: Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo unveiled the first 17 of 220 coaches being supplied by CNR Changchun (RG 5.13 p11) on May 17. They are to be deployed on services from Buenos Aires to Rosario, where track renewals are out to tender, and to Mar del Plata where work is underway.
Australia: On April 30 Wabtec announced an US$15m order to provide ECP braking equipment including software for Rio Tinto’s Pilbara heavy haul trains.
Bangladesh: India’s Kapurthala Rail Coach Factory is to deliver 50 stainless steel coaches to BR this year.
Bulgaria: BDZ began putting 30 sleeping cars supplied by Tüvasas into service on April 30.
China: Alstom and local joint venture Shanghai Alstom Transport Electrical Equipment Co have won a €28m contract to supply Optonix traction equipment for 174 cars ordered for Nanjing metro Line 4.
Czech Republic: CD announced a KC943m firm order for five three-car Class 640 and two two-car Class 650 Škoda Vagónka RegioPanter Type 7Ev EMUs on May 15. They are to be delivered by mid-2015 for use on Brno – Blansko – Letovice route S2.
Estonia: The Vopak EOS parent company of freight operator Estonian Railways Services signed an order for 15 TE33A diesel locos on May 22. They are to be assembled by JSC Lokomotiv under licence from GE Transportation.
Europe: Atir Rail has awarded Ðuro Ðakovi a €6m contract to supply Falns wagons.
Germany: Siemens’ Wien factory rolled out the first of 21 Type C2 metro trainsets for München on April 26.
KfW IPEX-Bank announced its second train funding deal with Netinera on April 25, financing a December 2011 order for 12 Pesa Link 2 DMUs for operation on Regentalbahn’s Oberpfalzbahn services from December 2014. KfW Ipex-Bank has previously funded eight Stadler RegioShuttle railcars.
Schleswig-Holstein regional operator AKN Eisenbahn announced a €60m order for 14 Alstom Coradia Lint 54 two-car 120 km/h DMUs on May 6. They are replace LHB VTE units dating from 1976-77 on Neumünster – Eidelstedt service A1 from 2015.
India: ICF has announced its highest-ever production figures for the year to March 31, supplying 1620 coaches of 53 types, including 491 multiple-unit cars for India and 30 DEMU cars for export. A 1600 hp 10-car DEMU with AC transmission was unveiled in April.
Poland: Freight operator STK is to buy 34 Class 181 electric locomotives it leases from D.
Newag has won a 12·9m złoty contract to supply Warmisko-Mazurskie voivodship with a two-car 37WE Impuls EMU by January 2015.
Podkarpackie voiviodship has placed a 16·2m złoty order for a three-car Newag Impuls EMU to be delivered to PR in November 2013.
Newag is to rebuild 30 PKP Cargo SM48 (TEM2) locos as Type 15D, fitting Caterpillar engines.
Spain: Alstom has delivered the first of 24 four-car X’Trapolis EMUs which FGC ordered from Alstom and CAF in November 2009.
Sweden: Sweden is the fifth country where Siemens has obtained type approval for its Vectron locos. Norway is expected to follow, with Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland planned.
Ukraine: UZ and Luhanskteplovoz signed a memorandum of understanding on May 16 for the supply of 300 electric locos worth 12bn hryvnia by the end of 2016. The twin-section 2EL5 locomotives for 25 kV AC routes are expected to reduce energy consumption by up to 13% compared with the VL80 locos they will replace. The twin-section 2EL4 will replace VL8, VL10 and VL11 locos on 3 kV DC routes.
UK: Hitachi Rail Europe has appointed Interfleet Technology as Notified Body and Designated Body for the IEP Super Express project, and selected Nomad Digital to supply servers for train-to-shore communications.
Porterbrook Leasing has awarded Railcare a £5m contract to overhaul 111 MkIII coaches operated by Abellio Greater Anglia, and is investigating whether to include the modifications which would be needed to make the vehicles compliant with the Persons of Reduced Mobility TSI for use beyond January 1 2020.
USA: Trinity Industries’ Rail Group reported revenues of $625·5m and operating profit of $102·9m in Q1, up 34% and 157% respectively on Q1 2012. It delivered 5230 wagons, and received orders for 14505.
On May 16 Washington metro operator WMATA awarded Kawasaki Heavy Industries a $184m firm order to supply a further 100 Series 7000 metro cars by 2018.
Ensco is to provide Bombardier with instrumented wheelsets and associated testing services to support the production of metro cars for San Francisco’s BART.
BBM Railway Equipment is to supply a double-cylinder wheel press with automated laser measuring to Wmata.
