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update 2012|05|16
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 Yesterday, Vectron AC 193 921 arrived in Aachen, taken their by 482 041 in service of the Rurtalbahn. The locomotive is parked near the main station for instructional purposes. Update: nice image of 921 added. - PF
BTW: Note that the 921 now has the new front now.
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update 2012|05|15
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Unit 146 519-4, mercenary from the metronom fleet, promotes the metronom Tagesticket / Herrenhäuser Gärten since 07.05.2012. - CK
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When the time is there, for sure Siemens will make an official announcement, but this item in RPonline already mentions it: on the 1st of July there will be an open door day at the Siemens' test and validation center in Wegberg-Wildenrath (DE).
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A portrait of SBB Cargo 923 001-2, just because it is nice and it is the first image of such a locomotive in revenue servie on our site. Together with the SBB 922 series, these machines are now the real benjamins of our project. - AH
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update 2012|05|14
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 The project has started. Locomotive ES 64 U2-067 is seen in Linz with special Trainguard vinyls (see drawing).
Before the end of 2012, Siemens will equips thirty ES64U2 locomotives of the leasing company Mitsui Rail Capital Europe B.V. (MRCE) with the ATP/ATC system Trainguard 200 (ETCS level 2). The vehicles are to be operated on the Brenner line between Innsbruck and Bozen. - MRCE
Railcolor: ETCS will be obligatory for this section. MRCE needs its 'Bosporus' Sprinters therefore equipped with ETCS, so they will stay fully homologated for Austria.
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Three images of MRCE 484 901 in service of Trasporto Passeggeri Emlia Romagna . Since 01.02.2012, TPER is the new name for the transport company formed after the merger of the transport activities of ACT and FER.
The 484 901 is subhired from ISC (Interporto Servizi Cargo) and used for an intermodal train for marble powder transport from Minicciano, Tuscany, to Reggio Emilia. The transport then continues to Dinazzano using the diesel locomotive. - LF / MS / FF
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update 2012|05|13
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MRCE's ES 64 F4-087 is the first black electric in service for Interporto Servizi Cargo that now actually wears the logos of its operator.
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update 2012|05|12
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 Since yesterday, freight operator Peterson Rail from Sweden is out of business. The company has ran out of money. They can not pay their debts anymore. In the past months it lost some important customers. The search for new investors was unsuccessful.
It is unknown if the company can make a new start at this moment. All services have been stopped. Peterson Rail has 55 employees, their faith is unknown at this moment. - Peterson Rail / gp.se
Railcolor: Peterson Rail Ltd was founded in 2007 by the Norwegian paper and packaging group Peterson AS. The company has Traxx AC2 locomotives on hire from Railpool. Recently, 185 675-6 and 185 687-1 returned from Sweden, now both being operated by the Rurtalbahn.
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A single locomotive runs into a freight train and falls over. Train driver mildly injured. First report.
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EC Engineering from Krakow is developing the new, multi-duty 4-axle locomotive for ZNLE Gliwice; the Griffin platform. EC has published background information on this topic:
The project started in January 2011. The first goal is to built 140 kph fast prototype locomotive for 3kV DC / 15kV AC and 25 kV AC voltage systems. The engine should be ready for initial trials in the third quarter of 2012. (Let's hope this means it will be on time for the Innotrans fair).
For the Griffin platform, four theoretical base configurations have been formulated:
E4DCU - multi-purpose / 3 kV DC / 140 kph
E4DCP - passenger locomotive / 3 kV DC / 200 kph
E4MSU - multi-purpose / 3 kV DC - 15kV AC - 25 kV AC / 140 kph
E4MSP - passenger locomotive / 3 kV DC - 15kV AC - 25 kV AC / 200 kph
No real surprises here. Only the 200 kph DC version is remarkable, as Siemens and Bombardier do not have such configuration in their base package. It tells us that for the Griffin, the domestic Polish market will be very important.
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update 2012|05|11
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Austrian locomotives ÖBB 1116 026 and ÖBB 1116 027 got the EVM120 signalling system last month. On 18.04.2012 they completed a test run. With EVM120 they can be used in Hungary, as proven by the images of 1116 027 in Budapest. - MM/TH
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The ETCS dispute between Germany and the Netherlands, from which several freight operators suffered, is solved. Per 08.05.2012, ETCS version 7 is officially approved by the German rail authority EBA. Traxx locomotives with v7 software can now be used for border crossing services from the Netherlands to Germany vv again. - KAR
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railway-technology.com informs us on the bidding process for 95 new electrics for the South African government-owned rail operator Transnet. Nine bidders are still in the race. Delivery fo the new machines should start at the end of March 2014.
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update 2012|05|10
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Up till now it was still a guess, but we just got it confirmed by Bombardier: RushRail will get seven TRAXX F140 AC2 locomotives with S/N package. Bure will help financing the whole plan for the operator, in return Bure gets a 30% stake in the RushRail activities.
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 DB Schenker 145 series is a freight locomotive, but it is a freight locomotive because the operator wants it to be. It is a result of splitting up the former German railways in different divisions. And it would be best as one serie is property of one division. So the 145 series ended up at DB Cargo.
However, the original demands were different. When the development of this concept started, it had to become a platform for light and medium-heavy mixed services. Hence the 14x-service number. Until this day, the freight-145 is still used for passenger services on a regular basis. At this moment they help out in Nordrhein-Westfalen.
The history of 145 series locomotives in passenger services started on 19.06.1999. That day, 145 018-8 and 145 019-6 were officially presented at the work shops in Ludwigshafen. They both got a provisorial 'Nahverkerhs-Package' so they could be used with double deck rakes. On both sides they carried the 'Umweltfeundlich - Energiesparend - Leistungsstark' markings. The 018 and 019 were then used to gather expertise with this type of machines in everyday practice. At the day they were presented, DB Regio also signed a letter of intent for the delivery of two prototypes of the final regio-version of the 145 with a top speed of 160 kph, now better known as the 146 series.
145 018 and 019 were used for regional services between Koblenz and Mannheim. This ended in 2000, when they both were re-allocated from Rheinland-Pfalz to Hannover, where they were needed for the EXPO2000-services. Because of this, also the special inscriptions were removed. - Baur, Die Baureihen 145/146 und 185, EK-verlag / MF / MW / EL
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