All News articles – Page 5
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News
VIA Rail fleet renewal funding confirmed
CANADA: National passenger operator VIA Rail is to begin the competitive procurement of ‘new, comfortable and accessible trains’ for use across the country following the confirmation of government funding. The latest funding under the 2024 budget follows from that announced in 2018 which enabled the procurement ...
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US federal funding available for inter-city rail services
USA: The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a notice of funding opportunity, making $153m available from the Restoration & Enhancement grant programme. The grants are intended to assist with covering operating costs for projects to establish new inter-city passenger services, restore withdrawn routes and enhance existing ...
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SJ to replace Vy Tåg as night train operator
SWEDEN: National transport agency Trafikverket has directly awarded state operator SJ a contract to operate Stockholm – Narvik overnight trains for one year from December 15 2024, with an option for a further year. SJ operated the services until December 2020, when the Vy Tåg subsidiary ...
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Investors take stake in Flix
INTERNATIONAL: Investors EQT Future and Kühne Holding have agreed to acquire a 35% minority stake in Flix, which manages the commercial side of open access train and coach services that are operated by partner companies. In addition to a primary investment, the investors will acquire shares ...
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Finnish EMUs to have propane-based HVAC units
HVAC: Liebherr-Transportation Systems has developed its first series-produced heating, ventilation and air-conditioning units to use propane as an alternative to more environmentally harmful refrigerants. The concept was developed in co-operation with TÜV Süd. Stadler Polska has ordered 80 of the saloon HVAC units, 80 heat recovery ...
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East Coast four-tracking contract awarded
SWEDEN: National infrastructure manager Trafikverket has appointed Sweco to assist with capacity expansion on the busy East Coast trunk line between Stockholm and Uppsala. The region to the north of the capital has been growing rapidly, and in 2017 the government commissioned Trafikverket to undertake a ...
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Joint border crossing to accelerate Serbia – Montenegro train services
EUROPE: Montenegro and Serbia opened a joint rail border crossing at Bijelo Polje on the Beograd – Bar line on July 8. All border checks will be undertaken at the Montenegrin station where locomotives are changed, eliminating the separate checks at Vrbnica station on the Serbian ...
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Wagon manufacturing plant opens
KAZAKHSTAN: Industrial and logistics group Texol has opened a wagon manufacturing plant in Atyrau. It is initially producing open and flat wagons with 23·5 tonne axleloads. Further wagon types are to follow, including tank and articulated well designs with 25 tonne axleloads. The site currently has ...
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Liège – Maastricht – Aachen regional services finally launched
EUROPE: A through regional passenger train service linking Liège in Belgium with Aachen in Germany via Maastricht in the Netherlands was finally launched on June 30. Branded as LIMAX for the cities served, the so-called Three Countries Service was originally expected to start running in 2018. ...
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All contracts awarded for Victoria section of Inland Rail project
AUSTRALIA: John Holland has been awarded a A$470m contract for works on the Beveridge to Albury Tranche 2 section of the Inland Rail project to develop a 1 700 km freight corridor linking Melbourne and Brisbane. The contract includes construction works at Benalla, Euroa, Wandong, Hume ...
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Go-Ahead Deutschland renamed Arverio as ÖBB targets growth in southern Germany
GERMANY: The Go-Ahead Deutschland business which Austrian Federal Railways acquired from The Go-Ahead Group in February has been rebranded as Arverio Deutschland, a name derived from the Gallo-Roman ‘god of the roads’ Arvernus. Announcing the new name on July 10, Arverio said ...
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‘All systems go’ for Hudson Tunnel Project as funding finalised
USA: Project promoter the Gateway Development Commission has secured all of the $16bn of financing needed for the Hudson Tunnel Project to build a second pair of railway tunnels under the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey. The construction of 4 km of ...
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Stadler selected for Bulgarian EMU order
BULGARIA: Stadler Polska has been selected for a contract to supply 35 electric multiple-units, Transport minister Georgi Gvozdeykov said at the Green Transition Forum 4.0 in Sofia on June 26. The contract will be worth 642·5m leva, including 15 years of maintenance. The EMUs would be ...
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Schleswig-Holstein establishes train leasing company
GERMANY: The Land of Schleswig-Holstein has established its own train leasing company ZUG.SH, saying this will lower financing costs and widen the pool of potential bidders for train operating contracts. ZUG.SH will finance the €500m purchase of 42 Coradia Max partly double-deck electric multiple-units already on ...
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Construction of Niš railway bypass launched
SERBIA: President Aleksandar Vučić officially launched construction of the 22·5 km Niš bypass railway with a ceremony on July 6. The single-track electrified line designed for 120 km/h running will link Niš Ranžirna yard with Sićevo station on the line to Dimitrovgrad, bypassing the city centre. ...
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Rail freight associations raise ‘serious concerns’ about digital automatic couplers
EUROPE: ‘Serious concerns’ about the competitive, economic, technical and operational impact of deploying digital automatic couplers have been set out by associations representing private freight operators in central and eastern Europe. They say DAC offers numerous benefits, but ‘hasty and arbitrary solutions could further hamper the ...
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Humanoid robot to maintain Japanese railway infrastructure
JAPAN: A giant humanoid robot capable of undertaking tasks such as painting lineside structures, cutting back vegetation, lifting heavy objects and performing simple maintenance of overhead electrification equipment has been unveiled by developer Jinki Ittai Corp and West Japan Railway. The robot has two 12·2 m ...
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Metro Academy enables rail recruits to hit the ground running
AUSTRALIA: A ‘state-of-the-art’ Metro Academy has been opened in Melbourne to train rail staff ready for the opening of the cross-city suburban rail Metro Tunnel at the end of 2025. The academy has classrooms, tracks and platform replicas, including station equipment, and will support the existing ...