DB launches digital research train 07 Feb 2019 GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has unveiled a four-car laboratory train which will be available to the rail sector across Germany for testing digital technologies. Branded the Advanced TrainLab, the train is a former ICE-TD diesel-electric set able to run at 200 km/h.One of the train’s first duties has been…
Posts published in “Current railroad news”
ČD to test battery-equipped EMUs 06 Feb 2019 CZECH REPUBLIC: National passenger operator ČD and Škoda Transportation are to retrofit two Class 650 RegioPanter electric multiple-units with battery packs to enable operation on non-electrified tracks. The two units will be tested on regional services around Brno from late 2019. The lithium-titanate batteries and a BMS…
Saudi Railway Co to deploy track monitoring system 05 Feb 2019 SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Railway Co has awarded Perpetuum a two-year contract to provide its vibration-based track condition monitoring system for use on the 1 242 km north–south route between Al-Qurrayat and Riyadh. Announcing its first contract win in the Middle East on February 5, Perpetuum said…
Grants to support low-carbon technology demonstrators 05 Feb 2019 UK: The Department for Transport has awarded grants of around £350 000 to each of five projects which aim to develop technology to reduce the rail network’s carbon footprint. The projects were selected under the second round of the DfT’s First of a Kind competition, run by…
3D printed components to be tested on passenger trains 03 Feb 2019 3D PRINTING: Rolling stock leasing company Angel Trains, engineering consultancy ESG Rail and 3D printing technology company Stratasys have collaborated to use additive manufacturing to produce four train interior components meeting the standards required for use on UK rolling stock. The components include…
Banedanmark settles with Alstom over ETCS delays 29 Jan 2019 DENMARK: Infrastructure manager Banedanmark has reached a settlement with Alstom over revisions to the 2012 contract to supply and install ETCS onboard equipment for the national Signalling Programme. Under the ambitious timescale approved in 2009, the installation of both lineside and onboard equipment had been…
Distribution deal signed after InnoTrans demonstration 28 Jan 2019 USA: Having seeing the product in action at InnoTrans 2018, PowerRail has negotiated to be the sole US distributor of German company SORB’s PowerSORB, an organic material which can absorb up to four times its own weight of spilled lubricants, oils, paints, dyes, coolants and other…
Technology for clearer station announcements 24 Jan 2019 GERMANY: A public address system which Berlin-based start-up Holoplot has developed with the aim of providing clearer announcements is being trialled on the underground S-Bahn platforms at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, where the high frequency of train services means announcements must be made at very short intervals. Holoplot has…
Hydrogen train goes on tour 24 Jan 2019 GERMANY: Alstom is taking a Coradia iLint hydrogen fuel cell powered multiple-unit on a tour of six Länder between late January and mid-February. ‘This roadshow is a great opportunity for passengers, media and political stakeholders to get to know our Coradia iLint hydrogen train’, said Dr Jörg…