ELECTRO-MOTIVE Diesel (EMD) has secured orders to supply a total of 34 SD70ACe locomotives to Mexico's Ferromex and Ferrosur.

 

Ferromex's purchase of 19 units will bring its total fleet of SD70ACes to 116, while the acquisition of 15 units by Ferrosur represents the company's first order for EMD locomotives.

 

The locomotives will be delivered by June 2015 and will be maintained by the supplier for 11 years.

 

Both Ferromex and Ferrosur are part of Grupo México, which is part-owned by Union Pacific.

 

  

 

On September 25 Mitsubishi Electric Corp of Japan announced its first order from DB, covering the supply of IGBT power modules to replace GTO modules in the drives of 46 ICE2 high speed trainsets. Deliveries will follow the approval of the first two upgraded trainsets, with sales of €22m expected by 2019.

 

Mitsubishi says that the smaller and lighter IGBT modules will reduce power consumption and should extend the working life of the ICE2 fleet. As well as supplying and installing the new traction equipment, the company will test the trains and assist in obtaining approval.

 

  

 

CSR Zhuzhou, China, announced on September 10 that it has signed a $US 49m contract with Navi Mumbai City and Industrial Development Corporation to supply a fleet of three-car trains for the initial phase of the Indian city's first metro line.

 

The 25kV 50Hz sets will accommodate up to 1128 passengers, 150 of them seated, and will have a maximum speed of 80km/h.

 

The 23.4km 20-station Line 1 will link Belapur to Khandeshwar and is due to be completed in 2016. Additional vehicles will be ordered to lengthen the trains as subsequent phases of the line are commissioned.

 

 

  

THE Philippine Department of Transport and Communications (DOTC) has awarded a PPP contract for the 11.7km southern extension of the city's LRT1 light metro line from its existing southern terminus at Baclaran to Cavite.

 

Light Rail Manila, a joint venture of Ayala and Metro Pacific Investments, offered a premium of Pesos 9.35bn ($US 214m) on top of the project cost of Pesos 64.9bn.

 

As part of the deal the consortium will operate the entire line, including the existing 20.7km section from Roosevelt to Baclaran for 32 years.

 

The extension will largely run on viaducts with a 10.5km elevated section and the remaining 1.2km at grade.

 

DOTC is due to sign a concession agreement with Light Rail Manila by the start of next month.

 

The government has also approved funding worth Pesos 2.5bn to upgrade infrastructure and rolling stock on the existing network, including Pesos 1.2bn for the modernisation of 28 trains, Pesos 870m for power supplies, Pesos 185m for signalling work, and Pesos 119m for track renewals. Most of this work is due to be carried out next year.

 

 

 

A consortium of Alstom, Russian Railways subsidiary RZD International, and the Belgrade-based Mikhaljo Pupin has been awarded a contract to supply signalling systems for the upgrading of a section of the Serbian Railways (ZS) line between Belgrade Vrsac and the Romanian border near Pančevo.

 

The resignalling work is part of a $US 65m track-doubling project on a 16km stretch of the line in the Pančevo area, which includes construction of a second electrified track, upgrading of the existing track and stations, and a new bridge over the Tamiš river.

 

The line currently carries around 60 trains per day, although traffic is expected to increase to around 136 trains per day by 2020.

 

Alstom will supply its Smartlock 400 computer-based interlocking for the project, which is due to be completed in 2016. Alstom's share of the deal is worth around $US 13m.

 

The project is part of a broader programme of investment in the Serbian rail network, which is being financed with the aid of a loan from Russia.

 

 

 

THAILAND's Office of Transport and Transport Policy and Planning (OTP) says that the construction plan for the 34.5km Pink Line monorail in Bangkok is currently awaiting approval from the government ahead of a bidding process which it hopes will commence by the end of the year.

 

OTP director general Mr Peraphon Thawornsupacharoen says that if the government gives the Baht 58.3bn ($US ) project the green light and private firms bid as expected, construction, which will be managed by Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), will take three years and the line could open in early 2019.

 

The Pink Line is described as a "feeder line" by MRTA, one of four for Bangkok, and the OTP says the monorail will be capable of transporting 80,000-200,000 passengers per day. It is expected to be implemented as a PPP operating concession.

 

 

 

CHINA opened another high-speed line on September 16 with the launch of commercial services on the 342km line from Nanchang to Changsha.

 

The line is designed for operation at up to 350km/h and reduces the journey time between the two cities from three-and-a-half to one-and-a-half hours.

 

Construction began on the project in 2010 and trial operation commenced in July.

 

HONG KONG's Transport and Housing Bureau has unveiled a blueprint for the development of the region's rail network, which proposes the construction of seven new lines or extensions at an estimated cost of around $HK 110bn ($US 14.2bn).

 

Hong Kong's 218km rail network currently carries around 4.5 million passengers per day, accounting for around 40% of all public transport trips, and the bureau's Railway Development Strategy 2014 suggests developing the network could help to reduce reliance on road transport while significantly improving passenger flow on existing lines.

 

At present five new lines or extensions are under construction which will bring 70% of the population within reach of a railway station by 2021.

 

Proposals outlined in the strategy include the development of a new regional line, the Northern Link, which will involve constructing a 10.7km connection between Kam Sheung Road on the West Rail Line with a new station at Kwu Tung on the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line.

 

The 7.8km East Kowloon line would connect the Kwun Tong Line and Shatin – Central Link at Diamond Hill with Po Lam on the Tseung Kwan O Line, while a new North Island Line could be created on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island by extending the Tung Chung line to the east and the Tseung Kwan O Line to the west. This would require around 5km of new line.

 

The report also suggests extending the Tung Chung Line to Tung Chung West and the West Rail Line by 2.4km to Tuen Mun South, while the South Island Line could be extended 7.4km to meet the West Island Line, which would bring southern and western parts of Hong Kong Island onto the rail network.

 

In addition to these new lines, a new station is proposed at Hung Shui Kiu on the West Rail Line between Tin Shui Wai and Siu Hong.

 

The projects listed in the plan are expected to generate cumulative economic benefits of $HK 30-40m per year for Hong Kong at 2014 prices.

 

The report stresses that these proposals are at a very early stage and further studies and public consultation will be required before any firm commitments are made to construction. Nonetheless, the report suggests all of the new lines could be completed by 2031.

 

 

 

INDONESIAN Railways (PT KAI) has placed an order with GE for 50 additional class CC206 diesel locomotives, which will be used on passenger and freight services on the 1067mm-gauge networks in Java and Sumatra.

 

The 1.67MW six-axle locomotives (GE model CM20-EMP) are being ordered at a unit cost of $US 2.5-3m as part of PT KAI's 2014 procurement programme. The first 15 locomotives will be delivered by September 2015 and a second batch of 15 units will arrive in Indonesia the following month. All 30 of these units are destined for Java, where they will be used on passenger and freight trains.

 

The remaining 10 locomotives will be delivered in September 2016 for freight operations in South Sumatra.

 

Since 2012 GE has supplied 100 CC206s to PT KAI. The locomotives were assembled at GE's Erie plant in the United States with the exception of the bogies, which were produced in Indonesia by PT Barata.

 

 

 

MITSUBISHI Electric says its Station Energy Saving Inverter (S-EIV) has saved approximately 600kWh of electricity per day, equivalent to the power consumption of 60 households since it was installed at Tokyo Metro's Myoden station in June.

 

S-EIV delivers surplus regenerative braking energy to the station without the need for a secondary battery and converts it to an alternate current with generated-power quality to prevent vibration or harmonic frequencies.

 

Mitsubishi Electric says the use of silicon carbide power modules and high-frequency link inverter help to minimise the size and weight of the module. In addition a monitoring and operation board installed at the station's electrical room enables remote operation and monitoring.

 

 

 

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on September 18 by the chairman Indian Railways (IR) Mr Arunendra Kumar and the head of China Railway Corporation (CRC) Mr Lu Dongfu for a joint pre-feasibility study into constructing a high-speed line.

 

The Delhi - Varanasi - Patna route is expected to be identified for the high-speed study which will be completed by China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group and IR's Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) within 15 months from the start date.

 

According to the agreement, signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India, China Rail Eryuan Engineering Group, a subsidiary of CRC, will also assist IR with its plans to ramp up passenger train speeds from 130km/h to 160km/h. IR has chosen the Chennai - Bangalore - Mysore line as the first route for this project.

 

The MoU also envisages cooperation in other areas including plans to develop international-class stations and training in heavy-haul operations. Beijing Jiaotong University will begin the training programme next month, which entails training 100 IR personnel in five batches of about three weeks each. Chinese rail experts will also assist India to set up its first railway university.

 

The MoU provides a foothold for China in India's emerging rail market which has so far been dominated by Japanese and European organisations. Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and French National Railways (SNCF) are conducting detailed studies, including a business plan for India's first high-speed corridor linking Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

 

 

 

GERMAN infrastructure manager DB Networks and Kirow are exhibiting the first of five new breakdown cranes built by Leipzig-based Kirow.

 

DB Networks ordered five new breakdown cranes and accompanying wagons in 2013, with Kirow acting as lead contractor, in a deal worth around €35m Three 160 tonne capable cranes plus two 100 tonne cranes were ordered. The cranes will replace older breakdown trains dating from the 1970s which are based at key points on the German rail network. Three of these trains are crewed at all times to enable rapid response to incidents anywhere in the country.

 

Branded the Multitasker 1200 by Kirow, the DB type 732 crane on display is the first of the cranes with a 160 tonne lifting capacity and will be based in Leipzig.

 

The crane weighs 110 tonnes and can be towed at up to 100km/h. It has a working radius of between 7.5 and 24.5 metres which can be varied thanks to a telescopic jib as required.

 

When not in use the crane is 15m long, the eight axles ensuring the axleload is no more than 13.9 tonnes. The remaining cranes on order will be delivered in 2014-15.

 

 

 

Vossloh celebrated the delivery of the 100th G6 diesel shunting locomotive at InnoTrans on September 24, when it handed over one of six units ordered by SNCF Geodis subsidiary Captrain Germany.

 

The 690kW six-axle locomotive was formally presented to Mr Henrik Würdemann, member of the management board of Captrain Germany by Vossloh Locomotives CEO Mr Thomas Schwichtenberg.

 

The remaining locomotives for Captrain will be delivered by next year and the operator has an option for two further locomotives.