Asia – Page 84
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NewsSecond airport rail link opens in Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA: A rail link to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Kuala Lumpur was inaugurated on May 1. The Ministry of Transport funded the 521m ringgit project. The route branches off from the metre-gauge line that links Kuala Lumpur with Port Klang at Subang Jaya. It runs north along ...
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Metro Report InternationalSuzhou tram line extended
CHINA: The Suzhou tram line was extended by 7·6 km on April 28. The western extension from Longkanglu to Xiyang Mountain adds four stops on a mostly at-grade alignment, with two underground sections. The first section of the tram line serving the Gaoxin district opened in 2014, and the ...
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NewsCambodia reinstates Sisophon – Battambang railway
CAMBODIA: The reopening of a further 69 km of main line railway was celebrated on April 29 when an inaugural train ran from Sisophon to Battambang carrying Transport Minister Sun Chanthol. The reopening of this section of the country’s northern main line between Phnom Penh and the Thai border marks ...
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NewsAlstom to supply more metro trains to Singapore
SINGAPORE: Land Transport Authority has signed a contract with Alstom for the supply of additional metro rolling stock, the manufacturer announced on April 30. Alstom is to supply six six-car Metropolis trainsets for the North-East Line and 11 three-car trainsets for the Circle Line under the €150m contract. The ...
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Metro Report InternationalTianjin and Guangzhou metro extensions inaugurated
CHINA: Metro extensions opened in Tianjin and Guangzhou on April 26. Tianjin metro Line 6 was extended southeast from Nancuiping to Meilinlu, adding 19 km and 14 stations. The north-south line is now 45 km long. It is operated with six-car Type B trainsets, but all station platforms are ...
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NewsChina and Gulf states discuss OTIF accession to support international freight
INTERNATIONAL: China and the Gulf Co-Operation Council member states are discussing accession to the COTIF convention, which provides a legal framework for the operation of international rail traffic. China’s interest is related to the growth of east-west freight traffic to and from Europe. Its accession would be politically significant ...
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Metro Report InternationalQingdao opens Line 11
CHINA: A 57·8 km suburban metro line in the coastal city of Qingdao was inaugurated on April 23, augmenting the existing two-line metro network. Starting from an interchange with Line 2 at Miaolinglu, close to Laoshan Bay, the new Line 11 runs northeast from the city through the Laoshan district ...
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NewsMasabi and Chalo target Indian transport ticketing market
INDIA: A partnership to offer mobile fare collection and journey planning technology in the Indian market was announced by Masabi and Chalo on April 18. Indian journey planning and ticketing company Chalo (previously called Zophop) is to integrate UK-based mobile ticketing and software-as-a-service supplier Masabi’s Justride Mobile Ticketing SDK into ...
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NewsUzbekistan backs Afghan rail proposal
AFGHANISTAN: Uzbekistan has pledged to provide US$500m to part-fund the construction of a 657 km railway from Mazar-i-Sharif to Herat, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance said following an international conference on Afghanistan held in Toshkent on March 26-27. The proposed line would be an extension of the existing 75 km route ...
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Metro Report InternationalNTU Singapore to test GRT autonomous vehicles
SINGAPORE: Dutch autonomous vehicle technology company 2getthere has signed a memorandum of understanding to deploy its Group Rapid Transit autonomous vehicles at the Nanyang Technological University campus in partnership with SMRT Services. The bidirectional GRT vehicles use ‘magnetic pellets’ on the road for navigation and have a maximum speed of ...
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Metro Report InternationalMacau Taipa Line operating contract awarded
CHINA: The Macau Special Administrative Region government has appointed Hong Kong’s MTR Corp to operate and maintain the Macau Light Rapid Transit Taipa Line. The 9·3 km first phase of the driverless rubber-tyred metro line with 11 stations is under construction for opening in 2019. A 5·88bn ...
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NewsAnkara suburban line reopens following upgrade
TURKEY: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım attended a ceremony on April 12 to mark the reopening of the Başkentray suburban line in Ankara following its upgrade. The 37 km route between Kayaş in the east and Sincan in the west, operated with a fleet of ...
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NewsTCDD signs high speed train contract
TURKEY: National operator TCDD Taşımacılık has formally signed a contract for preferred bidder Siemens to supply a further 10 Velaro high-speed trainsets. The contract announced on April 13 is worth around €340m, including three years of maintenance, repair and cleaning. The latest order will take TCDD’s Velaro fleet to 17 ...
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NewsLondon to Duisburg and China freight service launched
UK: The inaugural scheduled freight service from DP World’s London Gateway terminal east of London to the Duisburg freight hub in Germany set off on April 10, with the load including containers bound for China. This follows demonstration China to London and London to China services which ran last year. ...
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NewsMercitalia and UTLC sign China – Europe rail freight MoU
INTERNATIONAL: Italian national freight operator Mercitalia Rail and the United Transport & Logistics joint venture of the national railways of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop integrated container services between China and Europe. UTLC would provide logistics services between China and Europe on the ...
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NewsPhnom Penh airport shuttle train launched
CAMBODIA: A shuttle service from Phnom Penh’s main station to the international airport was inaugurated by Minister of Public Works & Transportation Sun Chanthol on April 10. Travel is free until the end of July. Services run every 30 min and take around 25 min to cover the 9·6 km ...
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NewsAll aspects of Japanese rail technology in one place
JORSA: The Japan Overseas Railway System Association’s Japan Hall is now a regular feature of the InnoTrans trade fair, and this year it will bring together 13 member firms to occupy the whole of Hall 7.2a. ‘Our members include suppliers, operators and institutes, enabling us to present all aspects of ...
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NewsMongolian railway draft feasibility study completed
MONGOLIA: A draft feasibility study for the 549 km Erdenet to Ovoot Railway Project has been delivered to mine development company Aspire Mining Ltd by China Gezhouba Group International Ltd. Apire said its Northern Railways subsidiary which is promoting the multi-user railway project would now review, assess and provide feedback ...
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Metro Report InternationalShenyang metro Line 2 extended north
CHINA: A northern extension of Shenyang metro Line 2 opened on April 8, taking the north-south route to 31·9 km. The 4·9 km extension with four stations connects Hangkong Hangtian Daxue with Putianlu on an underground alignment. The initial section of Line 2 opened in January 2012, and ...
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NewsEurasian transit freight joint venture restructured
INTERNATIONAL: The United Transport & Logistics Co intermodal transit freight joint venture of the national rail operators of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia was reorganised with effect from April 2. UTLC said the changes which had been approved by the partners at the end of last year were intended to increase ...