4/2014

On 27 June 2013 the Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed that Siemens, working in partnership with Cross London Trains (XLT) had been awarded a contract worth some 1.8 billion EUR to build 115 Desiro City EMUs (60 eight-car and 55 12-car trains, in all 1,140 cars), a key step in the development of the Thameslink Programme.

As we reported in R 2/14, p. 9, starting in early 2014 the new FLIRT3 EMUs for Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna (ŁKA) were subjected to authorisation testing, in readiness for the start of commercial services on 15 June 2014.

In March 2011, as part of its policy for replacing ageing trains used on local services, ČD placed an order with PESA for a batch of 31 new DMUs, to be used on lines in five provinces. These trains were significant in two respects: they were the first LINK DMUs to be built by PESA, and moreover they were a substantial export order.

In March 2010 the Swedish Government-owned mining company LKAB placed an order with Schalker Eisenhütte Maschinenfabrik for three Class KR250LA mining locomotives. An option clause for two more was taken up in April 2012, followed by a second option clause for four on 25 January 2013.

As we reported in R 1/14, pp. 32 - 33, two of Japan’s Shinkansen operators, JR West and JR East have ordered 27 12-car Class E7 and W7 Shinkansen high speed EMUs destined for the new Hokuriku Shinkansen line, whose first section is nearing completion.

In December 2010 TCDD placed an order with Hyundai-Rotem for 80 mixed-traffic 140 km/h Bo’Bo’ 25 kV 50 Hz electric locomotives. The first eight machines were built in South Korea over an eight-month period, between the fourth quarter of 2012 and May 2013, and began type testing in mid-2013. At around the same time construction of the remaining 72 of the batch started at the Tülomsas factory in Eskişehir, Turkey.

At the Innoprom 2014 trade fair in Yekaterinburg, held between 9 and 12 July 2014, Uralvagonzavod subsidiary Uraltransmash (UTM) presented its futuristic prototype Russia One (R1) tram.