CANADA: A detailed memorandum of understanding to accelerate the development of a proposed 150 km passenger line linking Calgary Airport with Banff National Park has been signed by Alberta’s Ministry of Transportation, Invest Alberta and Canada Infrastructure Bank.

UK: An agreement has been signed for UK investment fund Dalmore Capital and Israeli energy and infrastructure fund Generation Capital to acquire the 30% shareholding in rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook that is currently held by The Infrastructure Fund, Utilities Trust of Australia and the NatWest pension fund.

RUSSIA: The first 3TE25K2M three-section main line freight diesel locomotives to be ordered by a private operator rather than by Russian Railways have been delivered from Transmashholding’s Bryansk plant.

UK: Network Rail has appointed Thales to develop and implement an Online Key Management System to secure the exchange of critical data between trackside and in-cab ETCS equipment.

CHINA: The first complete five-car maglev trainset designed for 600 km/h operation was formally rolled out by CRRC Qingdao Sifang on July 20.

UK: Chiltern Railways has unveiled its prototype HybridFLEX multiple-unit fitted with a hybrid traction system which can offer zero emissions and near silent operation at stations and in other sensitive locations.

A three month trial of a Wabtec battery-electric loco hauling freight trains over a 585 km route in California has highlighted the potential for battery traction to reduce emissions from US rail freight, as project leader Alan Hamilton explains to Dave Lustig.

BRAZIL: The ViaMobilidade joint venture of CCR and RuasInvest has selected Alstom to supply 36 eight-car Metropolis trainsets for São Paulo suburban lines 8 and 9, which it is to take over from CPTM in January 2022 under a 30-year operating and maintenance concession.

GHANA: Loans totalling €600m have been signed to finance construction of a 100 km section of 1 435 mm gauge line on the Western Railway corridor running inland from Takoradi Harbour to Huni Valley.

UK: DB Cargo UK is converting surplus BYA bogie covered steel wagons into open hot coil wagons, with the design nicknamed ‘stegosaurus’ because of the profile.

LITHUANIA: The Kaunas Intermodal Terminal opened to commercial freight traffic on July 19, with Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė amongst the guests at a ceremony welcoming the arrival of a 1 435 mm gauge train loaded with containers and semi-trailers from the Netherlands.

THAILAND: The National Scientific & Technology Development Agency has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s Railway Technical Research Institute covering co-operation on technical matters, human development and joint research to help improve the Thai railway network.

SPAIN: Rolling stock builder Talgo and petrochemical group Repsol signed an accord on July 19 to develop fuel cell trainsets powered by hydrogen generated from renewable sources.

EUROPE: Rail infrastructure managers are assessing the extent of impact of catastrophic flooding which has destroyed tracks, bridges, earthworks and stations in Germany, Belgium and elsewhere.

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INDIA: Alstom has begun production of the electric multiple-units ordered for the 82 km Delhi – Ghaziabad – Meerut Regional Rapid Transport System commuter line.

UK: Oxford to Cambridge railway project promoter East West Railway Co has awarded Jacobs the Programme Partner contract, worth an estimated £35m overs three years. The contract covers the provision of engineering, operations and IT support services, with Jacobs to work collaboratively with EWR Co’s existing team to provide additional ...

JAPAN: Red snow crabs and turban shells harvested along the coasts of Akita, Aomori and Iwate Prefectures have been transported to Tokyo by high speed train as part of a campaign to promote domestic tourism in northern Tohoku.

News from the world rail freight market

NORTH AMERICA: Supply chain data analytics company Nexxiot and cargo monitoring technology specialist TransRail Innovation Group have announced a partnership to integrate TRIG’s sensors into Nexxiot’s modular hardware and cloud data network.