Asia – Page 71
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NewsAfghanistan approves fourth section of Khaf – Herat railway
AFGHANISTAN: Design and construction of the 43 km first phase of the fourth section of the railway being built from Iran to Herat was approved by the National Procurement Commission at its meeting on February 18. The 1 435 mm gauge line is being built in four sections. Work has ...
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Metro Report InternationalAlstom wins Bangalore metro electrification contract
INDIA: Bangalore Metro Rail Corp has awarded Alstom a €71m contract to provide power supplies and electrification for the extension to the city’s two metro lines being built as part of Phase 2 of BMRC’s network development plan. Alstom is to install 750 V DC third-rail electrification, along with ...
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Metro Report InternationalWuhan metro Line 2 extended
CHINA: A southern extension of Wuhan metro Line 2 opened for revenue service on February 19 following three months of test running. The 13·2 km underground extension runs from Optics Valley Square to Fozuling, adding 10 stations. These are all designed for eight-car trains, although Line 2 currently uses ...
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NewsAzerbaijan announces north–south route modernisation
AZERBAIJAN: National railway ADY has announced a plan to modernise the 167 km route between Sumqayit, 30 km north of Baku, and Yalama on the Russian border. Work is to get underway this year. The enhancement project would support the wider scheme to develop a north–south freight corridor linking Russia ...
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NewsBusan to gain tram line
SOUTH KOREA: A street-running catenary-free light rail line is to be built in Busan, which the government has selected ahead of four other cities for the demonstration project. The Oryukdo Line would run on a north-south route in the city’s southeastern Yongho-dong district. The first section would cover 1·9 ...
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NewsManila cross-city rail link gets underway
PHILIPPINES: Ceremonies were held in Manila on February 15 to mark the start of work on the first phase of the North South Commuter Railway serving the capital’s northern suburbs. Broadly following the alignment of PNR’s moribund Main Line North, the 37·6 km line will run north from the ...
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NewsModi launches Vande Bharat Express and orders 130 more
INDIA: IR’s prototype Train 18 semi-high speed EMU was formally launched into revenue service by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a ceremony at New Delhi station on February 15. Now branded as Vande Bharat Express, the 16-car EMU was developed by the Integral Coach Factory to operate medium-distance inter-city routes ...
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NewsLaview EMUs are ready to roll
JAPAN: The first of seven Laview luxury EMUs which will operate Seibu Railway’s premier Limited Express services between Tokyo’s Ikebukuro station and Seibu-Chichibu from March 16 was formally presented at the operator’s Kotesashi depot on February 14. Intended as the railway’s flagship, the 1 067 mm gauge Series 001 trainsets ...
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NewsALFA-X nose is 22 m long
JAPAN: East Japan Railway has unveiled the second driving car for its experimental ALFA-X Shinkansen trainset, which features a 22 m long aerodynamic nose designed to mitigate the sonic boom effect of entering and passing through tunnels at very high speed. Built at Hitachi's Kasado plant, Car 10 has a ...
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Metro Report InternationalTokyo metro’s Shibuya roof in place
JAPAN: The final section of the overall roof for Tokyo Metro’s new Ginza Line station at Shibuya was winched into place on the night of February 6-7, marking a major milestone in the ¥29bn station reconstruction project to improve interchange with JR East’s Yamanote Loop suburban services. Designed by ...
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NewsMitsubishi to adds to the Ina Line’s ‘rainbow’ of trains
JAPAN: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering is to supply one more six-car Model 2020 Automated Guideway Transit rubber-tyred light metro trainset for use on Saitama New Urban Transit Co’s Ina Line in Greater Tokyo. MHI delivered three Model 2020 sets in 2015, with the first entering service in November that ...
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NewsHigh speed line approved
CHINA: Construction of the 176 km Chengdu – Zigong Yulin Passenger-Dedicated Line has been approved, with a budget of 35·9bn yuan and opening planned for 2023. The Chengdu – Tianfu section will be built for 250 km/h operation, and the Tianfu – Zigong section for 350 km/h. There will be ...
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NewsChaoma inter-city railway agreed
CHINA: An agreement for the construction of the Chaoma inter-city railway was signed by municipal authorities in Hefei and Ma'anshan and the Anhui Province Investment Group on January 27. The 76 km line will start at Chaohu Dong station in Hefei city, pass though Hanshan county and Zhengpugang Xinqu in ...
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Metro Report InternationalPay tax at metro ticket machines
INDIA: Lucknow residents can now use their GoSmart Card tickets to pay house and property taxes at the metro‘s ticket machines, and the system is to be extended to cover other bills. Receipts are issued providing details of the tax payments made, and payments appear in the user’s account ...
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NewsADB grant to help CAREC countries move from landlocked to land-linked
ASIA: The Asian Development Bank has awarded a US$2m regional technical assistance grant to support the development of railway strategies and institutional capabilities in the Central Asia Regional Economic Co-operation countries. CAREC comprises Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and six multilateral institutions. ...
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NewsZiyun freight railway opens
CHINA: The Ziyun local freight railway at Zhijiang in Hubei's Yichang region opened on January 18. The 36·7 km line runs from Zhijiang station on the Jiaozuo – Liuzhou line to serve four River Yangtze ports at Yunchi, Baiyang, Tianjiahe and Yaojiagang, and adjacent industrial parks. The line will also ...
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NewsDigital payment launched on Guangzhou – Shenzhen line
CHINA: Guangshen Railway Co says it is the first inter-city operator in China to introduce digital payment for travel on its services, which link Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The system uses Alipay’s e-wallet payment technology. Users register on the Alipay app, and generate a QR code which is scanned on ...
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NewsFour shortlisted for Almaty light rail PPP
KAZAKHSTAN: Almaty municipality has shortlisted four bidders for the 26-year PPP contract to design, build and operate a light rail line in the city. The shortlisted bidders are: Itochu, Makyol and CAF;China Machinery Engineering Corp, China High Speed Railway Technology Co and China Railway 22th Bureau Group Co;Alstom, Marubeni, ...
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NewsTurkmenistan combines transport ministries
TURKMENISTAN: President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has signed an order establishing a Ministry of Industry & Communication. This brings together the formerly separate ministries of industry, railways, motor transport and communications, as well as the state’s maritime, river and air transport services. The former ministries are now sector agencies within the ...
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Metro Report InternationalElectric double-decker buses enter service in Xi’an
CHINA: Xi’an put into service 100 electric double-decker buses supplied by BYD on January 30, ahead of the Chinese New Year festival. The K8S vehicles have entered service on routes 284, 608 and 609. A further 100 are due to enter service on routes 19, 25 and 603 at ...