Rail Freak

SANTIAGO Metro ordered four additional five-car metro trains for deployment on lines 3 and 6 which are currently under construction in the Chilean capital. CAF announced on December 21 that it had won follow-on orders to supply additional metro cars to existing customers in Chile and Colombia. This is an add-on to a €160m order signed in late 2013 which covered the supply of 37 five-car trainsets for lines 3 and 6 along with 20 years of maintenance. So far CAF has delivered 20 of the trainsets. The 15.3km 10-station Line 6 will connect Los Leones station on Line 1 with Cerrilos in the west, and is scheduled to open next year. Line 3 will run for 21.7km from the northern district of Huechuraba to the city centre, where it will follow Avienda Mattam passing beneath Irarrazával, before terminating at Larraín. The 18-station line is due to open in June 2018. Meanwhile, the Medellín metro has ordered two extra trainsets as follow-on to a €89m July 2015 contract for 20 three-...

Representational Pic (Hitachi Rail Europe) Hitachi Rail Europe has ordered 136 power units from MTU for the Class 802 bi-mode intercity trains it is building for Great Western Railway. The Class 802 units will primarily operate services from London to Plymouth and Penzance. The power units will provide power from a 12-cylinder diesel engine on non-electrified sections of line. The Series 1600 MTU PowerPacks, which are designed to meet EU Stage IIIB emission legislation, will be fitted to 36 Class 802 trains. The same MTU power units are being installed on the Class 800 and 801 trains being built for the Intercity Express Programme (IEP). Source:  www.globalrailnews.com

NEW Stadler Flirt 3 EMUs entered service with three operators in the Netherlands with the start of the 2017 timetable on December 11. NS placed an order with Stadler last year for 58 sets comprising 25 four-car and 33 three-car trains, with deliveries due to conclude next year. Despite awarding a contract to CAF for 118 trains based on the Civity platform for Sprinter services, NS needed an urgent solution for more seating capacity as an extra increase of passengers was expected, and awarded Stadler a contract without tendering because the company was able to provide trains within a short timescale. Further Flirt 3 trains will arrive in the Netherlands next year as Syntus (soon to be renamed after parent company Keolis), is due to start operating regional services on the Zwolle - Kampen and Zwolle - Enschede lines next December. Stadler will supply 16 trains for these routes. The NS Flirt 3s are being maintained at the Nedtrain depot in Maastricht and the fleet is initially...

Representational Image The Indian Railways launched European Train Control System (ETCS) level 1 on Wednesday provided by French firm Thales on the 68-km-long Basin Bridge-Arakkonam section in southern India, said a Thales official. It is also known as Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) locally. Thales was awarded the contract for the project by Southern Railway in September 2014 which was responsible for design, supply, and installation of trackside equipment, as well as ensuring compatibility with non-Thales onboard equipment on 82 EMUs. TPWS has been operational on the 48km Chennai Beach - Gummidipoondi line since 2008. Deployments are also planned on the Chennai Beach - Tambaram - Chengalpattu line, where a tender is underway, and on the Arakkonam - Jolarpettai sections. The TPWS-equipped section was inaugurated by Akhil Agrawal, Director General (Signal & Telecommunication), Railway Board, at Ambattur station, Chennai, a press release from the company said....

Representaional image An agreement  have been signed between FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) and Paris Transport Authority (RATP) to support Senegal’s efforts to develop the 57km standard-gauge regional express train service from Dakar to Blaise Diagne International Airport near Ndiass during a state visit to Senegal by the president of France Mr François Hollande this week. An agreement  have been signed between FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) and Paris Transport Authority (RATP) to support Senegal’s efforts to develop the 57km standard-gauge regional express train service from Dakar to Blaise Diagne International Airport near Ndiass during a state visit to Senegal by the president of France Mr François Hollande this week. The terms of the agreement, signed by SNCF president Mr Guillaume Pepy and RATP president and CEO Ms Elisabeth Borne states that the two companies will be involved in the operation and maintenance of the new line which they will ensure meets inter...

Representational image r A tripartite consultancy pact with Railway Ministry and National High Speed Rail Corporation for the high-speed railway project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad has been inked by Japanese funding agency JICA. National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC) of India, Japan International Consultants for Transportation (JIC), Nippon Koei, and the Oriental Consultants Global Company Limited joint venture has been appointed as general consultants to execute India’s first high-speed rail corridor linking Mumbai with Ahmedabad. JICA promotes smooth implementation of the Mumbai- Ahmedabad High Speed Railway Project by signing the Memorandum for General Consultancy, the funding agency said in a statement.  The general consultants (GC) will provide design and bidding assistance for the public works and systems required for the construction of the high-speed corridor. A Rs. 18bn ($US 290.3m) Jica grant will support the cost of setting up and managing th...

The city of Mumbai is struggling with huge infrastructure and population crisis. The current mode of transport comprises of commuter trains aka local trains, Best buses, Taxis, Auto rickshaws, and a functional Monorail and Metro line. Except Monorail all the other facilities are used double its capacity. Over crowded trains and buses and changing trains to reach destinations has become a part of every Mumbaikars life but all these may change if the metro network master plan is implemented properly and in a speedy way. Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) prepared a master plan of 200 KM of metro rail network that will link unconnected and crowded areas of Mumbai and suburban by Metro rail cutting down pressure from current mode of transport by 35%. In an attempt to ease commute of  Mumbai  citizens, Prime Minister  Narendra Modi  on Saturday inaugurated Phase-III of Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). The MUTP P...