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Keith Fender

September 27, 2016 | Main line

DB Regio wins Breisgau East - West contract

THE German state of Baden-Württemberg and Freiburg Regional Transport (ZRF) have awarded DB Regio a 12.5 year contract to operate the Breisgau East - West regional network from December 2019.

September 26, 2016 | Track

Linsinger shows prototype metro rail grinder

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Linsinger, Austria, showed a prototype self-propelled grinding machine suitable for use in metros, and trials are planned later this year on the Berlin U-Bahn.

September 23, 2016 | Locomotives

Stadler presents class 88 locomotive for DRS

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Stadler formally launched the new EuroDual bi-mode locomotive for British operator Direct Rail Services (DRS) at InnoTrans on September 20.

September 21, 2016 | Track

Hungarian track inspection train revealed

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: HUNGARIAN State Railways (MÁV) presented its new FMK-008 track condition measurement train at InnoTrans, the first time it has been publicly displayed outside Hungary.

September 21, 2016 | Locomotives

DB and Toshiba to develop hybrid locomotives

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: GERMAN Rail (DB), Toshiba and Henschel have annouced details of a project to covert older diesel locomotives to hybrid power.

September 20, 2016 | Locomotives

Schalke presents custom locomotives

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: GERMAN specialist locomotive builder Schalke is displaying two custom-design electric locos at Innotrans.

September 20, 2016 | Rolling stock

DB equips ICE fleet with WLAN

DB Long Distance has begun the €100m investment it announced in 2015 as part of plans to enhance its long distance services by installing high-performance Wide Local Area Networks (WLAN) on its existing fleet of 260 ICE trains.

September 8, 2016 | Main line

Siemens launches new regional train at InnoTrans

Siemens will present at InnoTrans a 3D virtual mock-up of its new Mireo articulated lightweight EMU for commuter and regional services. As Keith Fender explains, Mireo will replace Desiro ML as Siemens’ EMU platform for the European market.

September 6, 2016 | Financial

DB plans to attract 50 million more passengers by 2030

GermanRail’s (DB) long distance passenger division has drawn up a strategy to attract 50 million more passengers annually by 2030 in the face of rapidly growing competition from long distance buses and carpooling. Keith Fender reports on how DB is going about achieving this ambitious target.

September 1, 2016 | Rolling stock

DB to convert DMUs to bi-mode hybrid trains

GERMAN Rail (DB) has announced it is working with technical universities in Chemnitz and Dresden to develop bi-mode (diesel and electric) trains with lithium-ion battery storage. Between 2017 and 2021 DB intends to convert 13 existing Siemens class 642 Desiro Classic DMUs to hybrid bi-mode configuration.