News

SPAIN’s national train operator Renfe has turned a loss of €18.8m during the first five months of 2016 into a profit of €14.9m for the same period this year according to a report presented to the Renfe board by its president Mr Juan Alfaro on June 27.

FRANKFURT Transport (VGF) has issued a call for tender by July 20 for the first round of a two-stage tender for a fleet of 38 LRVs with an option for an additional 15 vehicles.

BRITAIN’s National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has identified its “top 12 major infrastructure priorities which require urgent action,” which includes three rail projects, all of which are in the top four after a third runway at London Heathrow airport.

VTG Rail, the US leasing subsidiary of VTG, Germany, has acquired the rolling stock assets of Redwood Rail, adding 1135 wagons to its fleet, and bringing VTG Rail’s total number of units in use in North America to 5200.

AMTRAK has appointed long-time aviation executive Mr Richard Anderson as its president and chief executive officer, effective July 12.

AUSTRALIAN prime minister Mr Malcolm Turnbull announced a $A 1.42bn ($US 1.08bn) federal cash injection to fund upgrades to regional rail lines in Victoria on June 27.

THE Australian federal and Victorian state governments have awarded the McConnell Dowell and Martinus Rail joint venture a contract for stages two, three and four of the Murray Basin rail freight network revitalisation project.

FREIGHT logistics company Ceva has launched a new rail freight service linking Shilong, in southern China’s Guangdon province, to Hamburg, Germany.

ITALIAN Rail Network (RFI) has awarded Ansaldo STS a two-year €100m technical assistance and maintenance contract for its train control solutions installed across the Italian main line and high-speed network.

EUROPEAN Locomotive Leasing (ELL) has ordered an additional eight Vectron locomotives from Siemens, taking Siemens’ total order of Vectron locomotives to 507.

PLANS for a £200m extension to the Midland Metro light rail system from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill have been handed to Britain's secretary of state for transport, Mr Chris Grayling.

A new draft ERTMS Deployment Action Plan was presented at the EU Agency for Railways’ Single European Railway Area (Sera) conference in Brussels on June 20, and will now go out to consultation.

GERMAN Rail (DB) is offering its fleet of class 120.1 and 120.2 electric locomotive fleet for sale to new owners.

KAZAKHSTAN Railways (KTZ) has signed a memorandum of understanding with GE Transportation to use digital technologies, with the aim of reducing fuel consumption, optimise power distribution, enhancing operational safety, and improving utilisation.

BOMBARDIER confirmed on June 23 that it has finalised a €867m order with French National Railways (SNCF) on behalf of Ile-de-France transport authority Stif for 83 Regio 2N double-deck EMUs for suburban services in the Paris area.

DANISH State Railways (DSB) announced on June 23 that it has reached an agreement with an unnamed foreign buyer for the sale of 15 of its 23 AnsaldoBreda IC2 DMUs.

BRAUNSCHWEIG Transport (BSVAG) has awarded a joint venture of Stadler and Solaris a €18.9m contract to supply 17 Tramino low-floor LRVs.

THE New South Wales (NSW) government has announced the awarding of a contract to build tunnels beneath Sydney Harbour, as part of the wider Sydney Metro project, to a joint venture of John Holland, CPB Contractors, and Ghella.

PLANS for a second light rail line in the Norwegian city of Bergen were approved by the city council on June 21.

SIEMENS has acquired the MRX Technologies Group, Australia, in an effort to expand its predictive maintenance offering.