3/2015

The Instytut Kolejnictwa’s test circuit near Źmigród has received an exceptional number of visitors in recent months. Various types of EMU, DMU, carriages and wagons have been subjected to testing.

Over the past four years, as part of a policy pursued by Niederösterreich the 84 km 760 mm gauge Mariazellerbahn has been subjected to a major upgrade, and the train fleet used on regular services has also been rejuvenated.

Starting on 17 November 2014 Slovakia introduced a very generous concessionary fares system, resulting in some 40 % of the country’s population, together with EU visitors from abroad who fulfil the requirements, being entitled to free rail travel. Then on 1 February 2015 further fare discounts of between 35 and 50 % were introduced on multiple-journey tickets used by passengers who commute regularly to work. How is this policy affecting patronage on open access services?

Between 27 and 28 April 2015 an inter-departmental take-over committee met at the TVZ works, to evaluate the new Model 61-4492 double deck day carriages being built for RZD’s long distance passenger service operating subsidiary FPK.

On 18 June 2011 RZD placed an order with Patentes Talgo for seven 20-car rakes of carriages, four originally envisaged for Kyiv to Moskva and three for Berlin to Moskva services. Since then, Nizhny Novgorod has replaced Kyiv as the destination for the fixed-gauge stock, and on 1 June 2015 services, usually three train pairs daily, started on this route.

Negotiations between Stadler and state operator Azərbaycan Dəmir Yolları had been in progress for some time when, on 13 May, at the TransCaspian 2015 transport and logistics trade fair in Baku, it was formally announced that the Swiss manufacturer was to provide five four-car KISS double deck EMUs for suburban services.