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1 December
Hitachi Ltd., announced rolling stock maintenance contract agreement with Trenitalia operator to service and provide spares for 400 Hitachi-built high-speed carriages for 9 years along with further 2-year maintenance contract for 80 dual-level commuter cars |
7 December
Domestic flight (ATR42 turboprop) of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) crashed in northwest Pakistan, killing all 48 people onboard |
9 December
Hitachi Ltd., announced completion of first carriage built domestically at Hitachi Rail Europe’s UK rolling stock works and due to enter service as one of 866 cars in 122 Class 800 trainsets as part of high-speed Intercity Express Programme (IEP) |
9 December
Myanmar Railways (MR) opened bids to build 24 railway carriages for diesel-electric services on tracks between Yangon and Mandalay currently being built with financing by Japanese government ODA assistance and including part-financing of rolling stock |
10 December
JR East re-opened 23.2-km section of Joban Line between Soma and Hamayoshida following restoration of tracks (moved 14.6 km further inland) damaged by Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami |
10 December
Last two gas tanker wagons of 24-wagon trainset touched electric power lines after train derailed in northeast Bulgaria before exploding, killing 7 people, injuring 53 others, destroying 20 nearby houses and forcing residents to evacuate |
10 December
Truck carrying flammable materials collided with vehicle convoy near Nairobi, Kenya, before exploding, killing at least 39 people |
11 December
World’s longest St Gotthard Base Tunnel (57 km) under Swiss Alps opened to trains piggy-backing passenger vehicles, pushing previous Seikan Tunnel (53.9 km) into second place longest tunnel |
11 December
Iran Air concluded procurement contract with Boeing for 80 passenger planes split into 50 units of B737 and 30 units of B777 worth US$16.6 billion. Agreement of procurement was reached in June 2016 following lifting of US economic sanctions |
13 December
Malaysia and Singapore signed joint agreement to build high-speed 350-km railway line linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in 90 minutes; international bidding for rail systems expected in Q4 2017 |
16 December
JR Central announced 4 March 2017 timetable revisions with unification of Tokaido Shinkansen regular Nozomi and Hikari services into high-speed N700A services |
20 December
Japan’s LDP and Komeito political parties’ shinkansen construction promotion project team formally approved Obama to Kyoto route of Hokuriku Shinkansen westward beyond Tsuruga; decision on section between Kyoto and Shin-Osaka expected to be made before end of FY2016 |
20 December
JTB announced target inbound visitor numbers for 2017 of 27 million (+12% over 2016) with 315 million Japanese passenger side trips (+0.4%) |
20 December
Local B727 cargo plane crashed immediately after takeoff in eastern Colombia, killing 5 of 6 people onboard |
21 December
Due to estimated recovery costs of ¥8.6 billion and subsequent annual maintenance costs of ¥1.64 billion, JR Hokkaido proposed plan to close 116.0-km section of Hidaka Line (Tomakomai-Samani 146.5 km) between Mukawa and Samani following 2-year service suspension after tsunami damage; closed services to be replaced by local government operated bus services |
21 December
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Indian Railways, and Japanese joint venture group (JV) concluded memorandum of understanding related to detailed railway design planning; JV composed of Japan Consultants, Nippon Koei Co. Ltd., and Oriental Consultants Global |
22 December
Ministry of Infrastructure, Land, Transport and Tourism (MILT) announced 28% year-on-year increase in FY2017 shinkansen development expenses to ¥263 billion, broken down into ¥36 billion for Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to Sapporo section of JR Hokkaido Shinkansen, ¥134 billion for Kanazawa to Tsuruga section of Tohoku Shinkansen and ¥80 billion for Takeo Onsen to Nagasaki section of JR Kyushu Shinkansen. |
22 December
Iran Air confirmed purchase agreement with Airbus for 100 passenger planes worth $18 billion (book value), broken down into 46 units of smaller A320, 38 units of medium-range A330, and 16 units of new medium range A350 |
22 December
Second tunnel opened to general passenger vehicle traffic under Bosporus between European and Asian sides of Istanbul, Turkey, following 2013 opening of parallel rail tunnel |
25 December
Russian military Tu154 plane bound for Syria crashed into Black Sea soon after takeoff from Sochi in southern Russia, killing all 92 people onboard including members of Alexandrov Ensemble military choir |
28 December
10-car express train derailed and overturned in Uttar Pradesh, India, killing at least 2 people and injuring 28 others; previous derailment nearby in November 2016 killed 146 people |
29 December
Indonesian Ministry of Transport announced cooperative agreement with Japanese government in future track upgrades, electrification, etc., of 750-km line across Java between Jakarta and Surabaya |
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