BRAZIL: CRRC Qingdao Sifang has unveiled the first of eight eight-car Class 2500 electric multiple-units that it is supplying for São Paulo suburban operator CPTM’s Line 13 to Guarulhos Airport under a contract awarded in September 2017. The 12·2 km Line 13 was inaugurated in June 2018, and is currently operated using

SEVEN BR-liveried locomotives, from the humble ‘Jinty’ to the mighty ‘9F’, provided an impressive grand finale for the Great Central Railway’s Goods Galore gala on May 11-12. The event marked the return to GCR service of Stanier ‘8F’ 2-8-0 No. 48305 after eight years out of traffic, and provided a rare

UK: GB Railfreight has secured a lease for the disused March Up Yard rail sidings in Cambridgeshire in eastern England. The operator plans to use the site for the stabling and maintenance of rolling stock which is used on freight trains between Middleton Towers and Yorkshire, to carry aggregates between the

RUSSIA: United Wagon Co’s TikhvinChemMash is to supply 100 Type 15-6880 methanol tank wagons to chemical company Shchekinoazot by the end of July. The wagons will have a capacity of 88 m3  or 73 tonnes, up to 2 tonnes more than older designs, with 25 tonne axleload bogies. Features for handling

USA: Alstom invited guests to its Hornell factory in New York state on June 12 to showcase the progress it is making in producing the next generation of Acela high speed trainsets for Amtrak.Amtrak says that ‘significant progress’ is being made in production of the fleet, which is expected to

FLIRT acceptedNEW trains being built for Greater Anglia by Stadler have received their first approval from the Office of Rail and Road. The ORR has authorised the use of four-car bi-mode FLIRT units, although they can only start to carry passengers after a testing and commissioning programme has been completed.

UK: The Department for Transport and the Govia joint venture of Go-Ahead (65%) and Keolis (35%) have agreed a short-term extension to the current South Eastern passenger franchise until November 10, the operator confirmed on June 13, with an option for a further extension to April 1 2020. The franchise extension

GERMANY: Transdev subsidiary NordWestBahn has awarded Stadler a €100m contact to supply 16 Flirt electric multiple-units for use on Regio-S-Bahn Bremen/Niedersachsen services from December 2022. The order announced on June 13 follows the award in April of a competitively-tendered contract for incumbent NordWestBahn to continue to operate the services from December 2021

THE number of railway journeys made between April 2018 and March this year set a new record, according to the Office of Rail and Road.The ORR says the total for 2018-19 was 1.759 billion journeys. The figure was driven by a 3 per cent increase nationally, amounting to about 50

USA: Proposals for the construction of a 160 km freight railway to serve the Uinta Basin region of Utah state are to be taken forward under a public-private partnership, with the aim of starting construction in 2022. The Uinta Basin Railway is being promoted by the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, which was