INDIA: A major increase in Indian Railways’ capital expenditure to Rs1 485bn in the 2018-19 financial year was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as part of the national budget unveiled on February 1. This is almost three times the Rs540m allocated for capital works in 2013-14. Jaitley said improvements in safety would be a top
USA: Union Pacific is ‘optimistic that the economy will favour a number of our market segments, leading to another year of positive volume growth’, said Lance Fritz, Chairman, President & CEO, announcing the company’s 2017 results on January 25. UP reported net income of $10·7bn for the year, an increase of 10% on 2016 after
Stagecoach has announced that Alstom is to become part of its bid for the new Southeastern franchise. The move, which is subject to approval by the Department for Transport (DfT), will make Alstom a 20 per cent shareholder in the new train operating company. The announcement was made on the same day that Transport Secretary Chris
NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) says it is in talks with Eurostar regarding the introduction of a third London – Amsterdam service in 2019, potentially offering a significant improvement in journey times for London-bound passengers. The third Amsterdam – London service will not set down passengers at Brussels South and boarding will only be permitted at this
BRAZIL’s Ministry of Cities has authorised the Federal District government to proceed with a Reais 333.4m ($US 103m) project to upgrade and extend Brasilia’s metro network. The deal was signed at a ceremony held at the Planalto Palace attended by Brazil’s president, Mr Michel Temer, the minister of cities, Mr Alexandre Baldy, the governor of
SPAIN’s minister of public works Mr Iñigo de la Serna announced in Barcelona on February 6 that Renfe is planning to launch a new low-fares high-speed service between Barcelona and Madrid next year. The new service will be branded Eva and aims to broaden the appeal of rail travel to groups more likely to travel
LORAM Maintenance of Way and Georgetown Rail Equipment Company (Grex) have completed a definitive merger agreement whereby Loram will acquire all outstanding shares of Grex. Loram offers equipment and services for rail grinding, ballast maintenance and friction management. In recent years the company has made several strategic acquisitions to strengthen its product line, including Tangent
Australia: 4Tel is to supply signalling and communications for the Newcastle light rail project. Brazil: Rumo has awarded Wabtec a US$5m contract to supply a train management and dispatching system to improve safety and efficiency at its yard serving the port of Santos. Canada: Parsons is providing design, procurement and engineering advisory services for Ontario
Russian company Repetek has become the full owner of ZMK-Trans with the purchase of the 50% stake held by an outside shareholder. ZMK-Trans has around 300 flat wagons used for timber and general purpose transport, which will now supplement GK Maximum‘s fleet of more than 10 000 wagons. Malcolm Logistics has awarded DB Cargo UK a £21m three-year extension until August
BELGIUM: Infrastructure manager Infrabel announced on January 25 that it had started work on a new national training centre, due for completion by the end of 2020 at a cost of €20m. Located next to Brussels Ouest station, the centre will bring together activities currently undertaken across Belgium, including initial training for the 500 new
