4/2010

Southeastern's 29 Class 395 EMUs have now been in service between London St. Pancras International and towns and cities in East Kent for over a year, and these Hitachi-built 225 km/h trains have acquitted themselves well, offering substantial reductions in journey times and opening up some useful new travel possibilities for rail passengers living south of the Thames estuary.

On 29 June 2010 the first two prototype Vectron electric locomotives built by Siemens made their public debut at the manufacturer's Wegberg-Wildenrath test circuit. That day the media were invited to inspect them, and on the 30th the machines were viewed by guests from the railway industry and by potential future clients.

The eleventh edition of the Czech Raildays international trade fair was held in Ostrava between 15 and 17 June 2010. As in previous years, there was a huge range of modern products - components and vehicles - on display. The scope of Czech Raildays embraces not only rail vehicles, but also trolleybuses and urban bus types. In 2010, as the event entered its second decade, there were 156 exhibitors, and over 6,300 trade visitors, succinctly demonstrating the great interest shown in it by transport operators and manufacturers.

Vossloh Locomotives will be phasing out its present product range in 2011, to be replaced by a newly engineered family of locomotives. The first member, the three-axle G 6 shunter (see R 2/09, pp. 48 - 50), was presented in 2008. Four four-axle models will join and complete the line-up by 2012. The five family members will comply with all existing and pending international codes and standards regarding exhaust emission control, safety, noise abatement, fire prevention, and soft-ware. The traction equipment is engineered to allow a maximum operating speed of 120 km/h.

SKF inaugurated its new factory in Tver, about 150 km north-east of Moskva, on 8 July 2010 - 94 years after the company first started manufacturing bearings in Russia.

This event took place in St. Petersburg on 6 and 7 July 2010, organisation being handled jointly by the UIC and RZD under the patronage of the United Nations Economic Commis-sion for Europe and the Russian Ministry for Transport. Many international organisations - OTIF, OSJD, AAR, BIC, CER, CIT, EIM, FIATA, UIRR, UNIFE and EIA - were involved.

A version of the variable-gauge T250 capable of operating on electrified and non-electrified lines, the Class 112 evolution of the T350, the 380 km/h AVRIL, and a variable gauge train capable of 300 km/h operation. Four of the latest projects initiated by this well-known Spanish manufacturer...