Hitachi signs contract for British train assembly facility Financial news
Merchant Place Developments for the construction and fitting out of its new £82m rolling stock assembly plant at Newton Aycliffe in northeast England. Construction will begin at the end of this year, and production is due to start in 2016, when the plant will begin assembling the first batch of Super Express Train (SET) vehicles, which were ordered by the British government in July 2012 as part of the Intercity Express Programme (IEP). The facility will have a rail connection to the national network and an electrified test track.
H
Hitachi will deliver a total of 596 SET vehicles (92 trains), which will replace most of the 200km/h High Speed Trains
ITACHI has signed a turnkey contract with
(HSTs) used on the Great Western Main Line (phase 1) and East Coast Main Line (phase 2). The first four five- car trains will be assembled at Hitachi’s Kasado plant in
Japan before final assembly moves to Newton Aycliffe, where the remaining 349 phase 1 vehicles will be built. Hitachi says the site will create 730 long-term jobs,
SNCF acquires 25% stake in Comsa Rail Transport F
RENCH National Railways (SNCF) has
reached an agreement to buy a 25% stake in Spanish open- access freight operator Comsa Rail Transport (CRT) for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition, which still has to be approved by the EC, will be carried out by Fret SNCF through Rail Transport Holding (TFH) and will give
SNCF representation on the board of CRT. A subsidiary of Spanish construction company Comsa Emte, CRT generated revenues of ƒ25m and operated more than 5000 services last year.
The companies have also
agreed to develop international railfreight services, and hope to capitalise on Spain’s plans to extend standard-gauge
including a research and development unit, and it hopes to win further orders from customers in Britain and mainland Europe to sustain the plant in the longer-term.
track from Barcelona along the Mediterranean coast line. SNCF says it wants to extend the Viia rolling road service from Helsingborg, Sweden to Le Boulou near Perpignan south into Spain “whenever the infrastructure is ready.” Viia carried out a test run with an 860m-long piggyback train over the new Perpignan - Figueres line in April.
DB places order for up to 450 electric locomotives G
ERMAN Rail has agreed a framework contract with
Bombardier for up to 450 Traxx electric locomotives over the next 10 years, which could be worth up to ƒ1.5bn if all options are exercised.
The deal includes immediate orders for
110 freight locomotives for DB Schenker and an additional 20 class 146 (P160AC2) units for DB Regio.
The contract can include any variant of Photo: Keith Fender 14
the Traxx family, including AC, multi- system, and last-mile designs, together with an upgraded 189km/h P189AC version of the current P160AC 160km/h Traxx AC passenger version. DB already has more than 700 Traxx locomotives in service or on order, with 27 class 146.5 (P160AC2) locomotives being built for DB Long Distance for delivery from this year, plus another 32 class 146 (P160AC2) units for DB Regio, which will enter service from 2014.
All bids rejected in CFR Marfa sell-off
T HE government
committee overseeing the privatisation of Romania’s national railfreight operator CFR Marfa has rejected three bids for a 51% stake in the company and plans to restart the bidding process. Bids were received by the government on May 8 from US short line operator Omnitrax and Romania’s two largest independent railfreight operators, Grup Feroviar Român and Transferoviar Grup, the latter bidding as part of a consortium with Austrian investment group Donau Finanz. The planned sale has been under discussion for around 10 years but until recently progress had been stymied by a lack of political support. The government had set a minimum reserve price of ƒ180m for the 51% share. CFR Marfa has more than 900 locomotives, most more than 20 years old, and nearly 40,000 wagons, less than half of which are in use. Financial performance is poor with losses of around ƒ47 million in 2012 and a 10% year-on- year decline in freight volumes.
IRJ June 2013
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