MADRID — Spain’s transportation secretary and the head of national rail operator RENFE have resigned following an order for new regional trains that has become a national scandal. Transportation Secretary Isabel Pardo de Vera and RENFE President Isaías Táboas quit their jobs Feb. 20 in the wake of public and political criticism of a delayed […]
The insolvency administrators trying to sell Vivarail, the British passenger train re-manufacturing company previously backed by Pittsburgh-based Railroad Development Corp., have succeeded in selling the company’s innovative fast battery-charging system. That system, called FastCharge, which will be tested in passenger service in London later this year. Vivarail was founded in 2013 by British rail industry […]
BUSSNANG, Switzerland — Rail equipment manufacturer Stadler, Utah State University, and the ASPIRE Engineering Center have signed a contract to develop and test a battery-powered passenger train, the first such multiple-unit train in North America. The project will develop a two-car train based on Stadler’s FLIRT Akku train tailored for the American market. Stadler has […]
The first winter intended to see regular use of hydrogen-powered passenger trains in Germany has not gone smoothly, with service disrupted by both equipment delivery and operational issues. The trains entered regular service in mid-2022 [see “World’s first hydrogen trains enter regular passenger service,” Trains News Wire, July 26, 2022]. Prototype trains had been running […]
GENOA, Italy — RINA, a multinational inspection, certification, and engineering consulting organization, will enter the North American infrastructure market following its acquisition of Patrick Engineering Ltd., a Chicago-based engineering consulting company specializing in infrastructure, transport, and renewable energy. The acquisition announced Monday brings RINA an organization with 19 offices and 340 employees, mostly in the […]
Railroad Development Corp., the Pittsburgh-based company with rail operations on four continents, has added electric locomotives to its operations in both France and Germany. In Germany, subsidiary RDC Deutschland has bought two Class 101 electric locos from German national operator Deutsch Bahn and agreed to options to buy three more. The DB Class 101 is […]
MEXICO CITY — Two subway trains collided between two stations Jan. 7 in Mexico City, killing at least one person and injuring 41, the Associated Press reported. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said the accident happened on Line 3 of the capital’s Metro system, without specifying the cause of the crash between the Potrero and […]
BEIJING – China is planning to build more that 1,800 miles of new railway lines this year, including 1,500 miles of high-speed railroad, Chinese media reports.Construction includes a total of 102 railway projects planned in the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for National Economic and Social Development and Vision 2035 of China. China […]
Trains News Wire’s review of the top stories of 2022 continues. We’ll count down the Top 10 stories of the year, as voted on by Trains editors, columnists, and correspondents, beginning Monday, Dec. 26. Today, we asked our European correspondent, Keith Fender, to look at what he considers the year’s top international rail stories. At […]
Today, Trains News Wire begins our review of the top stories of 2022. We’ll count down the Top 10 stories of the year, as voted on by Trains editors, columnists, and correspondents, beginning Dec. 26. As a prelude, we’ll be looking at major stories that didn’t quite make that list. Today: Notable transit stories. Several […]
INTERLAKEN, Switzerland — A concept the Swiss rail industry (and its passengers) has dreamed of for years became reality in mid-December with the debut of through trains from Montreux on Lake Geneva to Interlaken in the heart of the Alps. No new rail lines were needed but some modern railway technology was. The route includes […]
PITTSBURGH — A Wabtec brake technology for transit systems, designed to address wheel slide in low-adhesion situations such as can occur on wet or leaf-covered rails, has received European certification, allowing its use on new equipment as well as retrofitting onto existing mainline trains. The DistanceMaster Adaptive Wheel Slide Protection technology received certification from international […]
