RUSSIA: The first train has travelled the full 531 km length of the recently completed Pacific Railway from the Elga coking coal deposit to a port which is under construction at Cape Manorsky on the Sea of Okhotsk.

News from the world rail freight market.

UK: Leasing company Porterbrook has closed a £250m private placement which includes existing and new investors, extending its debt maturity profile at ‘attractive’ pricing and further diversifying its investor base of US, UK and Swiss institutions.

INDONESIA: Test running of a domestically developed, battery-powered, autonomous light rail vehicle began in Solo on November 6.

INTERNATIONAL: Air Canada is to offer people purchasing flights to Italy, Spain, the UK and South Korea the option to book onward rail and road coach connections.

USA: The Association of American Railroads has published Rail Jobs Report: The Value and Opportunities in Railroading to highlight career opportunities in rail freight.

UK: The rail regulator has approved co-operatively owned start-up Go-op’s plans to launch open access passenger train services between Swindon, Taunton and Weston-super-Mare.

AUSTRALIA: Establishing consistent national standards for the rail industry could save billions of dollars by supporting a more efficient, safer and productive industry, according to a new report.

IRELAND: Outgoing Transport Minister Eamon Ryan wished the team launching the Irish branch of Young Rail Professionals Ireland well via video link at a celebration in Dublin on November 7.

FINLAND: VR has agreed to sell its road logistics business to München-based private equity company Mutares as part of the national train operator’s strategy to focus on its core business of passenger and freight transport by rail.

ANGOLA: Lobito Atlantic Railway has taken delivery of the first of 275 container wagons ordered from Galison Manufacturing in South Africa.

This week’s news from the global railway supply chain.

EUROPE: Stadler says three ‘severe weather disasters’ in the last five months have had a ‘massive impact’ on its supply chain and forced the company to adjust its financial guidance. A new double-deck trainset was also lost to flooding.

To be served by high speed, regional, suburban and metro trains, La Sagrera station taking shape to the northeast of Barcelona is set to become the city’s largest multimodal interchange, handling upwards of 100 million passengers/year. Mike Bent explains.

NETHERLANDS: Tata Steel’s Velsen-Noord plant has put into service the first of 10 General Electric 90 tonne Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives dating from 1963-71 which are being rebuilt into diesel-battery hybrids.

EUROPE: Wabtec has acquired Fanox, a Spanish producer of medium-voltage relays which will expand its range for onboard and industrial applications, and Kompozitum, a Slovakian manufacturer of machined carbon and graphite components with metal or resin impregnation which Wabtec said would improve its pantograph portfolio.

TURKEY: Republic Day on October 29 was marked by launch of Adaray suburban services between the city of Adapazarı and Arifiye, over an 8·5 km branch from the Istanbul – Ankara main line.

TURKEY: The Adaray suburban rail service has been launched between the city of Adapazarı and nearby Arifiye using a 8·5 km section of the former Istanbul – Ankara main line.

FRANCE: The government has unveiled its plans for rolling out the European Rail Traffic Management System over the next two decades, as four-day blockade was undertaken to complete a key stage in the resignalling of LGV Sud Est between Paris and Lyon.

UK: Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh has asked the Office of Rail & Road to undertake an independent review of the way train operators tackle suspected fare evasion.