News – Page 7
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Rail Business UKRail and tram-train in Manchester’s Bee Network expansion plans
UK: Local rail services around Manchester are to be brought into the region’s expanding Bee Network by 2028 as part of a public transport development strategy unveiled by Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham on July 10.
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NewsJoint 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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NewsWagon 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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NewsLiège – 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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Rail Business UKRoyal Mail to switch postal traffic from electric trains to road
UK: Royal Mail has decided to stop using rail to move letters and parcels, replacing its electric train services with road haulage from October 10.
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In depthRomania: New rolling stock to support rail market reforms
Romania’s Railway Reform Authority is procuring new multiple-units to operate regional and inter-regional services under competitively tendered PSO contracts, but this is only part of a wider market opening strategy, ARF President Ștefan Roșeanu explains to Benjámin Zelki.
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NewsAll 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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NewsGo-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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News‘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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In depthInterview: Arenaways rides again
More than a decade after an abortive attempt to enter the Italian inter-city passenger market, private operator Arenaways is back, with approval to launch seven open access services and PSO contracts to revive operations on two local railways in Piemonte. Chief Executive Matteo Arena explains the company’s renaissance to Benjámin Zelki.
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NewsStadler 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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NewsSchleswig-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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NewsConstruction 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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NewsRail 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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NewsHumanoid 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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In depthInterview: Full service and multi-system in demand
Polish leasing company Cargounit is seeing growing demand for multi-system electric locomotives and bi-modes with a last mile capability, and CEO Łukasz Boroń tells Benjámin Zelki that customers are increasingly looking for full-service packages.
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NewsMetro 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 ...
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Rail Business UKScottish transport ticketing goes digital
UK: Unicard has migrated paper-based ZoneCard tickets valid on ScotRail, Glasgow Subway and bus services in the west of Scotland to its ITSO-compliant smart ticketing platform. Strathclyde Partnership for Transport awarded the contract with the aim of improving the passenger experience and reducing the complexity of ...
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NewsVR beats Vy to win next Norrtåg operating contract
SWEDEN: The Norrtåg transport authority owned by four regions in the north of Sweden has selected VR Sverige as preferred bidder for the next contract to operate local passenger train services.