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TOP NEWS FROM THE SCI RAILDATA
Leasing and railway logistics company VTG has reached a significant milestone in its takeover of Nacco. With the signing of the purchase agreements on 13th August 2018 by a consortium of bidders consisting of the Swiss leasing company Wascosa, which will be taking over the operational activities, including the workforce and the freight wagon leasing agreements, and Aves One, based in Hamburg, which as an investor is purchasing the freight wagons, a major step to comply with the competition authorities' conditions has been made. The competition authorities have confirmed the consortium's eligibility as a purchaser for antitrust purposes. Initially, the German federal cartel office and the Austrian antitrust court had approved the purchase of Nacco in spring 2018 on the condition that around 30% of Nacco's activities were first to be sold to a third party which is eligible from an antitrust perspective. In the past few months, this part of Nacco's activities, comprising the German and Luxembourg Nacco subsidiaries, as well as the related leases and the ownership of about 4,400 freight wagons, was offered to a large number of prospective purchasers. On 1st July 2017, VTG had announced it will be taking over CIT Rail Holdings SAS and with it the associated Nacco Group, a medium-sized private rental company for freight wagons in Europe (see SCI RAILDATA Issue 27/2017).
Source: VTG press release 13.08.2018
Austrian state railway ÖBB and Siemens Mobility have signed a framework agreement for the delivery of day and night trains with a total of up to 700 passenger coaches over the next five years. The agreement has a total volume of more than EUR 1.5 billion if all of the options will be exercised. At the signing of the agreement, ÖBB placed its first order for eight nine-car trains for day services and 13 seven-car trains for night services. The Viaggio coaches will be operated with ÖBB's current fleet of Siemens Taurus locomotives. The first trains are planned to start operations in 2022. The passenger coaches will be manufactured at the Siemens factory in Vienna, Austria. The framework agreement can also be extended beyond 2023 by ÖBB. The contract covers the delivery of all types of passenger coaches, including cab coaches, multi-purpose coaches, first-class and second-class coaches as well as sleeping and couchette coaches. The trains will be operated in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. If needed, there is an option to equip the coaches for use in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Source: Siemens press release 17.08.2018
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), is tendering the purchase of 18 new light rail vehicles (LRV), with the option to purchase a further 32 in the future, all of which are to be powered by batteries. The new LRVs will provide services on a number of forthcoming extensions to the existing network which runs between Wolverhampton St George's and Birmingham Grand Central. Currently, there are 21 Urbos 3 model LRVs operating on the regional network. The other 20 existing LRVs are being retrofitted with batteries in an ongoing programme (see SCI RAILDATA Issue 07/2016) designed to ensure passenger services remain unaffected. TfWM is looking to select suppliers with tried and tested LRV fleets in operations elsewhere in the world. Once a supplier is awarded the contract, which is expected to happen around May 2019, there will be a two-year design and development process. The first of the new LRVs are expected to be operating by summer 2021. Extensions to the light rail transit (LRT) network are at the heart of a EUR 3.8 billion (GBP 3.4 billion) investment in West Midlands transport over the next decade.
Source: TfWM press release 09.08.2018
Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM) has signed a framework contract with Hitachi Rail Italy (HRI) for the delivery of up to 120 electric multiple units (EMU) for regional rail passenger transport services. The total value is over EUR 1 billion, including spare parts and light maintenance services. The Europe-wide tender was published in April 2017. The vehicle will resemble Hitachi's double-deck Rock EMU for Trenitalia (see SCI RAILDATA Issue 16/2018).
Source: FNM press release 14.08.2018