AUSTRALIA: Victoria’s Department of Transport has formally awarded Alstom a €300m contract to supply 25 six-car X’trapolis 2·0 electric multiple-units to increase capacity on the Melbourne suburban network.
NORWAY: National fright operator CargoNet has signed a long-term full-service lease agreement for European Loc Pool to supply it with two Stadler EuroDual six-axle electro-diesel locomotives at the end of October 2022.
UK: Atkins is developing a National ETCS Test Verification Validation & Integration Laboratory under a 10-year contract awarded by Network Rail as part of plans for the deployment of ERTMS across the network.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Infrastructure manager SŽ has launched a long-planned modernisation of a section of Corridor 1 from Brno northwards along the River Svitava to Blansko.
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has begun work to install 15 kV 16·7 Hz electrification on a 1·5 km section of line between Pfronten-Steinach and the Austrian border at Schönbichl.
MONGOLIA: National operator Ulaanbaatar Railway has begun developing its first children’s railway, where school pupils will be able to gain experience of railway operations.
UK: Not-for-profit networking body Young Rail Professionals and Network Rail have joined forces to launch what is intended to become an annual induction programme for people new to working in the rail industry.
BRAZIL: Belgian locomotive manufacturer John Cockerill is to set up an assembly plant in the Novo Cavaleiros district in the city of Macaé in Rio de Janeiro state.
UK: The Department for Transport has ordered a review of regulations governing exposure to air pollution on trains and at stations, after research commissioned from the Rail Safety & Standards Board found that air quality was ‘poorer than desired’ on some trains using diesel power.
NORTH AMERICA: Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern confirmed on September 15 that they had entered into a definitive merger agreement, valuing the smaller railroad at approximately US$31bn.
EUROPE: Private equity infrastructure investor InfraVia Capital Partners has formed Nexrail Lease to supply low-emission locomotives for unelectrified routes. The new leasing company has placed a framework order for up to 50 Vossloh Locomotives DE18 Stage V SmartHybrid locos, and taken over 53 existing locos.
AUSTRALIA: Transport for New South Wales and Sydney Trains have awarded Alstom two contracts to design, supply and support ETCS Level 2 trackside equipment.
RUSSIA: Ural Locomotives has obtained Customs Union approval for its 3 kV DC 3ES6 and 4ES6 locomotives, which are based on the 2ES6 twin-section design with one or two intermediate sections added to provide additional power.
FRANCE: Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari has affirmed that the government will provide €170m a year to support the rail freight sector until 2024 as part of a National Rail Freight Development Strategy.
Connected since July to the Polish border by a standard gauge link, the Kaunas Intermodal Terminal in Lithuania is set to become a strategic hub for the Baltic States as part of the wider Rail Baltica programme.
GABON: Sociéte d’Exploitation du Transgabonais’ concession to operate the 650 km railway linking Franceville with the capital Libreville and the port of Owendo has been extended, and a new investor has committed to providing finance and expertise to support a modernisation to increase capacity on the line
AUSTRALIA: Mining company Roy Hill has ordered a Wabtec FLXdrive battery-electric heavy-haul freight locomotive. This will replace one the four ES44ACi diesel-electric locos used to haul its 2 700 m long iron ore trains, and is expected to reduce fuel costs and emissions by ‘double digit’ percentages while also cutting ...
