In brief
which included track renewal. The line has five intermediate stations and services are operated by a fleet of six dmus acquired from Spain. The Costa Rican government plans to eventually replace the line with a new standard-gauge high-capacity railway from Alajuela to San Jose and Cartago.
Czech Republic
First gensets arrive in Australia: Genset locomotive technology arrived in Australia for the first time last month with the delivery of two standard-gauge 1200 class 3GS-2400C DE AU N-ViroMotive demonstrators built by National Railway Equipment Company (NREC), United States. The Co-Co locomotives are equipped with three Cummins QSK-19 diesel engines, generating a total net output of 1.6MW. They can be configured for left or right-hand drive and can be equipped for narrow, standard or broad-gauge networks, meaning they can operate in all Australian states. The first units were due to begin trials with freight operator Qube as IRJ went to press.
UZ orders 300 electric locomotives
U
KRAINIAN Railways (UZ) signed a letter of intent with Luganskteplovoz, the Ukrainian subsidiary of Transmashholding, Russia, on May 16 for the purchase of 300 twin-unit electric freight locomotives. The order will comprise 230 class 2EL4 3kV dc and 70 class 2EL5 25kV ac units, which will be similar to the class 2ES4 and 2ES5 locomotives currently being built by Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant (NVEZ) for Russian Railways. The total value of the contract, which includes maintenance services, will be around Hryvnia 12bn ($US 1.5bn) and the locomotives are due to be delivered to UZ between the end of this year and 2016. UZ expects that from 2015 Luganskteplovoz will produce 100 twin-unit locomotives per year, with 60% local production for the ac locomotives and 70% for the dc fleet.
Prior to the suspension of electric locomotive production in 2011, Luganskteplovoz produced four pre-series 2EL4s and 18 2EL5s for UZ.
IRJ June 2013
FTER a 23-year hiatus, trains returned to Sri Lanka’s northern railway on May 14, when minister for economic development Mr Basil Rajapaksa and the high commissioner of India in Colombo Mr Ashok Kantha inaugurated the initial 43km Madawachchi - Madhu Road section of the 106km Madawachchi - Talaimannar line.
Trains return to northern Sri Lanka A
Services ceased completely in June 1990 due to the civil war, which resulted in
RAZILIAN mining conglomerate Vale has
extensive damage to the lines from Madawachchi to Talaimannar and Kankesanturai. The reconstruction of both lines is being carried out by Ircon, India, and the project is being financed with the aid of an $US 800m loan from the Indian government, which has also been used to fund the acquisition of a fleet of six 120km/h dmus. Full services are due to
resume on the two lines by next March.
Go-ahead for Brazilian heavy-haul line B
cleared a significant hurdle in its plans to build a railway to serve the new Carajás Serra Sul (S11D) mine in the state of Pará after the project was granted environmental approval by the federal government.
The Brazilian Institute of
Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), which is part of the Ministry of the Environment, has granted an installation licence and vegetation clearance permit for the construction of an 86km branch, which will
run southwest from a junction with Vale’s existing Carajás Railway (EFC) west of Marabá. The line will be largely single-track with loops totalling 16km.
The new railway is due to be completed by the second half of 2016 and is a key part of Vale’s plan to increase Carajás iron-ore output to 230 million tonnes per year. To support the increase in
traffic, Vale plans to upgrade a 504km section of the EFC with additional double-track sections, while the Ponta da Madeira Port terminal will also be expanded.
Czech intermodal and railfreight operator Metrans opened its new container terminal at Ceská Trebova in eastern Bohemia on May 6. Ceská Trebova has capacity to handle around 150 trains per week, and will be served by trains from Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary.
Germany
DB Regio has received a direct award contract from the Saarland state government to operate Trier - Homburg - Saarbrücken and Trier - Türkismühle regional services for a further four years from December 2014.
International
The Board of Eurostar has selected Mrs Clare
Hollingsworth to succeed Mr Richard Brown as chairman when his three-year term comes to an end on June 30. Hollingsworth has been a non- executive director of Eurostar since 2010 and her previous roles include CEO of Spire Healthcare and managing director of Caledonian
Airways. Moldovan Railways (CFM) began using its rebuilt D1M inter-city dmus on services from the capital Chisinau to Odessa, Ukraine, last month. The use of dmus eliminates a locomotive change at the border station of Kuchurgan.
Italy
Italian Railway Network (RFI) has submitted a plan to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport to improve safety at Italy’s 4500 level crossings, which have seen a 25% increase in accidents involving road vehicles over the last three years. The infrastructure manager proposes investing up to ƒ35m in measures to
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