Nov 15 (Reuters) – Canadian National Railway said on Friday it would cut management and union jobs, as the largest Canadian railroad operator grapples with an economic slowdown.
The announcement comes amid declining freight volumes as trade tensions have weighed on the North American economy.
The number of people to be laid off could rise if demand from rail customers continues to decline, the Canadian newspaper said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Canadian National Railway spokesman said the action, which includes sending some of its employees on temporary leave, has already begun across its network.
(Reporting by Dominic Roshan K.L. in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
Alstom will deliver 19 Coradia Continental electric regional trains to the state of Baden-Württemberg. The contract, signed with DB Regio, is worth approximately €120 million. The trains will be built at Alstom’s site in Salzgitter.
Beginning in December 2022, the new trains will be gradually deployed on the routes from Karlsruhe to Heilbronn, Achern, as well as via Freudenstadt to Herrenberg.
The new trains have been designed to optimise passenger experience while meeting the region’s operational requirements. In addition to high-performance WiFi, they will include spacious multi-purpose areas in each car and a large capacity for bicycles. The trains are specifically designed to cope with the steep gradients that punctuate the tracks running through the Black Forest.
“Passengers in the Karlsruhe region can look forward to modern, proven and reliable trains. Our trains not only satisfy passengers, but are also known for outstanding reliability and availability, thus offering absolute planning security for operators,”says Jörg Nikutta, Managing Director of Alstom in Germany and Austria.
The Coradia Continental is part of Alstom’s Coradia range of modular trains that benefits from more than 30 years of know-how. To date, over 2,800 Coradia trains have been sold and 2,400 are currently in service in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and Canada.
The new vehicles will be procured by DB Regio AG on behalf of the Ministry of Transport of the state of Baden-Württemberg as the responsible public transport authority for this network. After delivery of the vehicles, they become the property of the Landesanstalt Schienenfahrzeuge Baden-Württemberg (SFBW) and are leased by DB Regio for the term of the 13-year transport contract.
Union Pacific 4014 “Big Boy” steam locomotive visits Tucson, Arizona on October 18,2019
Union Pacific implemented Positive Train Control (PTC) on 1,113 route miles in the third quarter of 2019, bringing required PTC-operated route miles to 15,791 or 93 percent, including all required passenger train routes. Nearly all Union Pacific trains operating on PTC-mandated rail lines are operating with PTC locomotives. The company expects to have implemented PTC on all required lines by end of 2019, a year before the Congressional deadline. Its interoperability efforts with other railroads will continue through 2020.
Union Pacific currently hosts 31 freight and passenger railroads, which must achieve PTC interoperability by December 2020. Eleven of these railroads are already compliant, encompassing 85% of Union Pacific’s interoperable PTC train miles. While Union Pacific’s infrastructure is PTC-ready, it is working to be PTC-interoperable with the remaining partner railroads. The company’s expectation is that they will take necessary steps to reach interoperability on our network by mid-2020.
One of the most challenging parts of PTC implementation is ensuring system interoperability among all U.S. rail lines and locomotives. Given the various readiness levels of North American freight and passenger railroads, including publicly funded commuter lines and short lines, it is important that all railroads continue working together to maintain the health, safety, resiliency, and fluidity of the rail network during PTC implementation.
Union Pacific completed PTC installation on required route miles and employee training. PTC education is ongoing as Union Pacific retrains employees and introduces the system to new employees. Training materials are tailored to a variety of employee roles, including engineer, conductor, dispatcher, maintenance of way/engineering, mechanical, signal, telecom and information technologies.
With the FRA’s conditional approval of Union Pacific’s PTC safety plan on April 26, 2017, Union Pacific is running PTC operations on more than 15,000 miles in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Union Pacific and freight and passenger railroads continue working together to safely implement PTC on the remaining 1,271 required route miles.
Alstom on track to complete first train for Hanoi Metro Line 3
26 October 2019 – Alstom, which is manufacturing 10 trains for Hanoi Metro Line 3, today hosted Deputy General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Tran Quoc Vuong, and his delegation to a visit of its train assembly plant in Valenciennes (France). The plant is working to complete the first trainset by the end of October, marking an important milestone in Alstom’s first integrated metro system contract in Vietnam, signed with MRB (Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board) in 2017.
As part of the visit, Alstom’s Managing Director for China and East Asia, Olivier Loison, and Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee and Mayor of Hanoi, Nguyen Duc Chung, signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the existing contract of Alstom in Hanoi. The agreement aims to foster further collaborative opportunities between both parties for new systems within the Vietnamese capital.
“We are honoured to have Deputy General Secretary Vuong and his team witness the final assembly of our first train for Hanoi Metro Line 3 here in Valenciennes. This will be an important milestone for the bilateral project as we bring this train to fruition. We look forward to remaining a close and long-term partner of Vietnam, addressing its mobility needs and supporting it in its upcoming transport projects,” said Olivier Loison.
In 2017, Alstom, as leader of a consortium including Colas Rail and Thales, was awarded a contract to supply an integrated metro system for Hanoi Metro Line 3. Alstom’s share covered the supply and integration of the metro system, including the 10 trains and the Urbalis 400 signalling system[1], as well as the delivery of power supply and depot equipment together with a partner. The new line is 12.5 kilometres long with 12 stations. It is expected to carry over 23,900 passengers per hour and per direction at peak capacity.
Alstom puts the passenger at the heart of its train design process. The four-car Metropolis trains for Hanoi Metro Line 3 will feature wide doors to facilitate passenger flow, dedicated space for passengers with reduced mobility, as well as ergonomic and easy-to-grab bars. The trains will be fully electric, with lightweight aluminium car bodies. The train’s exterior and interior colour scheme takes local Vietnamese inspiration and includes motifs such as dragon fruit and the rice paddy field – a design that was well-received by the people at a public consultation held in September 2018.
When completed, the first train will undergo a series of static and dynamic tests at the Valenciennes Railway Testing Centre during the month of November. Tests will be carried out on the trains’ automatic control system and on-board audio-visual equipment, this time on Hanoi Metro Line 3 in the second half of 2020. Entry into service is expected in the first half of 2021.
Alstom has built up close to 30 years of presence in Vietnam. It has provided signalling and telecommunication system modernisation services for the Hanoi-Vinh regional line phase one and phase two and has offered signalling and telecommunication systems for Ninh Binh station.
[1] Alstom’s Communication Based Train Control (CBTC)-solution, which controls the movement of the trains and enables trains to run at higher frequencies and speeds in total safety
22 October 2019 – Alstom will supply 39 additional Coradia Polyvalent trains to the Grand Est region for the sum of approximately 360 million euros[1]. The region had already ordered 40 Coradia Polyvalent trains, of which 36 have already been delivered. Deliveries of these new trains will be staggered between 2022 and 2024.
Firstly, this new order covers 30 trains intended for cross-border circulation in Germany. These 4-car trains, which are dual mode – dual voltage 25 kV / 15 kV and comply with German safety requirements, will run at 160 km/h, serving the German states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. The 30 Coradia Polyvalent cross-border trains will offer a first-class zone and an area for bicycles, and will incorporate the new TSI PRM[2] 2014 standard, notably offering more spacious toilets to facilitate movement for passengers with reduced mobility. The first cross-border trains will be delivered at the end of 2023.
Secondly, nine additional Coradia Polyvalent trains, consisting of five 4-car and four 6-car trains, have been added to the existing fleet for domestic connections. These new trains will benefit from the same special features as those already in operation in the Grand Est region.
“Alstom is proud of this new sign of trust from the Grand Est region. The expertise and innovation capacities of our French teams are mobilised to support the region in developing cross-border mobility. This order also contributes to the activity of Alstom’s Reichshoffen site,” says Jean-Baptiste Eyméoud, President of Alstom in France.
Coradia Polyvalent belongs to Alstom’s Coradia range of trains. With its modular architecture, it can be adapted to the requirements of each public transport authority as well as to different types of use: suburban, regional and intercity. It comes in three lengths (56, 72 or 110 metres) and offers optimal comfort to passengers, whatever the length of the journey. The train is both ecological and economical due to its low energy consumption, its compliance with the latest emissions standards in thermal mode and its reduced maintenance costs. Coradia Polyvalent is the first French regional train to comply with all European standards, in particular with regard to access for people with reduced mobility.
To date, 387 Coradia Polyvalent trains have been ordered as part of the contract awarded to Alstom by SNCF in October 2009, including 320 Coradia Polyvalent for Régiolis by 9 French regions and 67 Coradia Liner by the French state, the authority responsible for the country’s TET (intercity) trains. Régiolis has already covered nearly 85 million kilometres in commercial service.
The Coradia Polyvalent train also meets the needs of the export market: 17 trains have been ordered by SNTF (Algeria) and 15 trains by APIX (Senegal).
This is Coradia Polyvalent’s second cross-border application as the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes has ordered 17 Léman Express Coradia Polyvalent trains, to be commissioned on the CEVA cross-border line between France and Switzerland in mid-December 2019.
The manufacturing of Coradia Polyvalent secures more than 4,000 jobs in France for Alstom and its suppliers. Six of Alstom’s 12 sites in France are involved in the project: Reichshoffen for the design and assembly, Ornans for the engines, Le Creusot for the bogies, Tarbes for the traction chains, Villeurbanne for the on-board electronics and signalling products, and Saint-Ouen for the design.
[1] Booked in the second quarter of the current fiscal year
[2] Technical Specifications for Interoperability relating to Persons with Reduced Mobility
Alstom has commissioned its first new-generation Citadis X05 tram in its short version, on the first tramway line of Grand Avignon. The inauguration took place in the presence of Elisabeth Borne, Minister of the Ecological and Solidarity Transition, Renaud Muselier, President of Région Sud, Maurice Chabert, President of the Vaucluse Department, Patrick Vacaris, President of Grand Avignon, Cécile Helle, Mayor of Avignon, Jean-Marc Roubaud, President of Técélys and Jean-Baptiste Eyméoud, President of Alstom France.
“Alstom and its teams are proud to be present at the commissioning of this first tramway line in Avignon. Thanks to their reliability, availability and easier maintenance, we are fully confident in the ability of the 14 Citadis trams to address the major travel challenges of the Agglomeration Community of Grand Avignon. I would also like to thank the members of Grand Avignon for having entrusted us with part of the infrastructural work. This new line will become a showcase for the expertise of the French rail sector,” said Jean-Baptiste Eyméoud, President of Alstom in France.
24 metres long, equipped with 4 double doors on each side, the Citadis X05 tram for Grand Avignon will be able to carry more than 140 passengers. The full low floor and double doors facilitate accessibility and passenger exchange in stations. Everything has been designed for a pleasant travel experience: large bay windows covering 40% of the tram, LEDs with diffusers for soft, homogenous lighting, a state-of-the-art information system, large seats, air conditioning, and a video protection system.
Citadis X05 has standardised, proven, more accessible components, providing residents of the Avignon area with reliable, readily available material. Citadis X05 is particularly energy efficient and up to 99% recyclable.
Alstom offers a wide range of products and services and has also provided the tracks (studies, supply and assembly), the 750 V electrical substation and 6 km of overhead contact lines (studies, supply, installation and testing) in partnership with TSO.
Seven of Alstom’s thirteen sites in France are involved in the design and manufacture of the tram for Grand Avignon: La Rochelle (for the design and assembly of the trams), Ornans (for the engines), Le Creusot (for the bogies), Tarbes (for the traction drive equipment), Valenciennes (for the control system and interior layout), Saint-Ouen (for the design and infrastructure activities) and Villeurbanne (for the on-board electronic systems).
New Passenger Information Management System will create a single technology information delivery platform for Link light rail vehicles, Sounder Commuter Rail trains and Tacoma Link light rail vehicles
Secure, scalable and flexible to meet future agency expansion needs for all transit modes
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Oct. 11, 2019) – The Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority – known as Sound Transit – will be streamlining its operations and improving the passenger experience via a new Passenger Information Management System (PIMS) being implemented by the ARINC rail solutions team at Collins Aerospace Systems, a business unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).
PIMS will transform operations for Sound Transit’s Link light rail vehicles, Sounder Commuter Rail trains, and Tacoma Link light rail vehicles by integrating information services for all three transit modes into a single enterprise solution. Doing so will enable real-time data acquisition and processing to predict train arrival, which can provide passengers with reliable and accurate audio and visual message delivery on all rail cars and transit platforms. In addition, the solution will offer a Google Transit Feed to be used by Sound Transit to transmit messaging to the general public via the Internet. This open architecture-based solution provides the scalability and flexibility required for any future agency expansion needs across all transit modes.
Along with the strict and rigorous requirements for sustained operations, open integration and prediction/arrival train calculations, cybersecurity for the PIMS project and other critical digital systems is at the forefront for Sound Transit. The ARINC cybersecurity team will be performing security hardening and implementation services aligned with American Public Transportation Authority guidelines and best practices throughout every stage of the project from the design phase to system commissioning and throughout revenue service. Applying these tools and techniques will reduce vulnerabilities within the PIMS systems and applications on a continuous basis.
“As the current provider of Sound Transit’s train control system, we will leverage technology and provide new applications that build upon our current passenger information product suite to quickly design, integrate, secure and install the next generation PIMS solution,” said Frank Koren, director of Business Development within the Information Management Services division at Collins Aerospace. “Sound Transit has committed to significantly expand its transit services, which comes with the need to provide ongoing high-quality customer experiences. Our proven track record of developing cutting-edge customer information systems will help them ensure they do so for years to come.”
Collins Aerospace is providing Sound Transit with a Passenger Information Management System to help streamline its operations and improve the passenger experience.
(from left to right): Sergio Boya, Alstom Spain, Miguel Angel Martin, Director, BCN trains Manufacturing Site, Maria Rosa Alarcón Montañés, Chair TMB, Gerardo Lertxundi Albéniz, Chief Executive Officer TMB
A contract worth over €260 million in Spain
7 October 2019 – Alstom has signed a contract with Barcelona Metro operator TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona) to supply 42 Metropolis trains to replace those currently running on lines 1 and 3 of the network. The contract[1], valued at over €260 million, includes the design, manufacturing and commissioning of the trains. The five-car trains will be manufactured in Alstom’s Barcelona site and delivered to TMB within two and a half years.
“Alstom is honoured by this sign of confidence from TMB. The expertise and innovation capabilities of our teams are fully mobilised to support the plan to modernise Barcelona Metro for the benefit of passengers. Carrying over 400 million passengers per year, the Barcelona network is one of the most efficient and modern in Europe. With our trains, we aim to help TMB in the development of efficient and sustainable mobility that responds to the current and future needs of all passengers,” said Gian Luca Erbacci, Senior Vice President of Alstom in Europe.
“With the withdrawal of the oldest fleet, we accelerate a process of renovation that will increase service reliability, sustainability and passenger comfort in two of our most frequented Metro lines, in a context of maximum demand for the collective transport of Barcelona, upon the entry into force of the low-emission zone. This is the most important rolling stock acquisition in the history of TMB,” said Rosa Alarcón, President of TMB, during the signature of the contract.
According to the specifications, the new Metropolis trains will meet strict sustainability criteria; light structure, low energy consumption, high levels of recoverability and recyclability, technical reliability and ease of maintenance. The trains will also be equipped with remote sensors for optimal maintenance.
Alstom also puts the passenger at the heart of its design process. The trains for Barcelona will be built with the comfort of passengers in mind, offering accessibility, wide doors and spaces to facilitate passenger flow, acoustic comfort, vibration mitigation and passenger information in real time. Both external an internal design features will remain faithful to the TMB brand but will also add new visual elements that reflect the identity of Barcelona, such as graphics on the doors that represent Barcelona’s urban landscape.
The new trains for Barcelona will benefit from the experience and reliability of Alstom’s Metropolis range, currently in circulation on lines 9 and 10 of the Barcelona Metro, incorporating innovative technological solutions and meeting TMB’s requirements in terms of reliability, availability, safety and comfort. Alstom has more than 65 years’ experience in the production of metros, having sold over 17,000 metro cars operating in 55 cities worldwide and carrying 30 million passengers every day.
Three roundtrips now every weekend from January 10 through March 29, with the popular $29 starting fares again this season
WINTER PARK, Colo. – Every weekend this ski season can last for three days instead of two, with Amtrak “ski train” roundtrips between Denver and Winter Park Resort on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, starting Jan. 10. Adult fares start at $29 each way and tickets are on sale now at Amtrak.com/WinterParkExpress. Each ticketed adult can bring a child age 2-12 for half the adult fare.
This will also be the second season of snack and beverage service using a Superliner® Sightseer Lounge Car, with windows from floor level and into the top of the railcar. Since 2017, more than 52,000 customers have avoided frustrating stop-and-go ski traffic on the roads to enjoy the service partnership on the rails by Amtrak and the resort named last year as the “Best in North America”. The 2019 season set a ridership record on a transportation mode that is reliable, sustainable and friendly.
The 2020 Amtrak Winter Park Express will run each Friday, Saturday and Sunday through March 29. The Amtrak trains depart Denver Union Station at 7 a.m. and arrive at the resort at approximately 9 a.m., leaving Winter Park at 4:30 p.m.to return to Denver at 6:40 p.m. All times Mountain. The station is served by the Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) commuter trains to Denver International Airport, light rail, local or intercity buses, ride-sharing services and taxis.
The public can choose from 36 roundtrips for the comfortable and scenic ride using RTD, BNSF Railway and Union Pacific tracks to pass through the historic Moffat Tunnel.
Investments at the resort for this season include the new six-person Sunnyside lift, a $6 million upgrade to reduce the ride time from 8 minutes to under 4 minutes and give improved access to some of the most beloved intermediate terrain in the Mary Jane territory. This season will also see the first “Winter Park Fireworks & Family Fests” on Saturday nights Dec. 14, Jan. 18, Feb. 15 and Mar. 14 for fireworks, slope-side bonfires and more. Questions about the resort and its many features can be answered by calling the resort directly: 888-923-7275.
Amtrak and Winter Park Resort have also made it easy to book group travel by calling 800-USA-1GRP for a train/ski package – including lodging – crafted by representatives of the resort and Amtrak.
A new version of Alstom’s Atlas ETCS train control system has entered service on the Wuppertal Suspension Railway (Wuppertaler Schwebebahn), located in western Germany. Following a contract signed with WSW mobil GmbH, Alstom equipped the entire suspended route, including 31 new vehicles and the century-old imperial wagon (Kaiserwagen), with ETCS, the European standard for train control systems.
The entry into service marks the completion of Alstom’s first full train control and signalling contract in Germany. It comprises line-side equipment, such as interlocking, radio block centre (RBC) and necessary line elements via train control systems, as well as an interface to the computer-aided operation control system.
The Wuppertal project represents the very first application of ERTMS Level 3 in which track occupancy is solely realised using train localisation performed by the ETCS equipment onboard the train. Alstom replaced the traditional trackside train detection systems such as axle counters with a digital signalling system whereby the ETCS-equipped vehicles communicate their positions directly to the central computer (or RBC) via radio.
“With the successful implementation of this project, Wuppertal is the first city in Germany to use the European train control system in urban transport. ETCS does not only provide for safer and more efficient train operation, but also serves as a basis for many future technologies,” says Jörg Nikutta, Managing Director of Alstom in Germany and Austria.
Alstom’s ETCS system Atlas was developed in Charleroi (Belgium), while the system components were produced at Alstom’s sites in Villeurbanne (France) and Bologna (Italy). The systems are installed and commissioned in Wuppertal by Alstom staff from Charleroi, Salzgitter and Berlin.
Alstom is market leader for ETCS on-board equipment. Since 2006, Alstom has equipped 8,200 vehicles (3,200 of which are already in operation) and for 18,000 kilometres of line (7,000 in operation) with ETCS equipment. A large part of DB’s ICE fleet has also been running with Alstom’s ETCS technologies on the high-speed line between Berlin and Munich since 2017.
Check out the video about the Wuppertaler Schwebebahn
