Infrastructure news – Page 11
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In depthFreight: Alpine corridors reflect rail’s struggle for modal share
Anchored in Italy, three north-south Rail Freight Corridors provide significant opportunities for modal shift in line with the European Commission’s Green deal objectives. However, the transalpine routes still face many challenges that need to be addressed, suggests Reinhard Christeller.
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NewsWork starts on Iran – Iraq rail link
INTERNATIONAL: Construction of a cross-border rail link between Iraq and Iran was formally inaugurated on September 2 with a foundation stone laying ceremony at the Shalamcheh border crossing point near Basra.
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NewsContract let to bore Italian section of Mont Cenis base tunnel
ITALY: Project promoter Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Torino has awarded a €1bn contract to the consortium of Itinera, Ghella and Spie Batignolles to bore the 10 km section from Susa in Italy to the French border, TELT announced on August 31. The resulting bore will form part ...
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NewsComposite sleepers installed in damp Dutch tunnel
NETHERLANDS: Lankhorst Rail has supplied 6 000 KLP Hybrid Polymer Sleepers for use in a tunnel where wooden sleepers have been affected by damp and concrete sleepers are too heavy. Lankhorst believes the renewal work in the Willemsspoor tunnel under the Nieuwe Maas in Rotterdam to ...
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NewsEgyptian track renewal and resignalling contract signed
EGYPT: A consortium of Thales and Orascom Construction has signed a €300m contract with Egyptian National Railways to renew tracks and resignal the Cairo – Giza – Beni Suef railway line. The 125 km long double-track main line runs along the east bank of the river ...
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NewsFinal Mumbai – Ahmedabad high speed line civil works contract awarded
INDIA: National High-Speed Rail Corp has awarded the final civil works contract for the Mumbai – Ahmedabad high speed line to Larsen & Toubro. The contract signed on August 10 is the last of the 11 civil works packages for the 508 km corridor. The 135 ...
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In depthChina: High speed fleet production peaks
In an analysis of the world market for high speed rail, SCI Verkehr finds that construction of high speed trains for China’s huge network has now peaked but after-sales activity is growing in importance as the fleet starts to age.
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NewsETCS Level 1 deployed around Bangkok
THAILAND: A consortium of Thales and River Engineering has completed a project to deploy ETCS Level 1 across 321 route-km and 48 stations on State Railway of Thailand’s Northern, Northeastern, Eastern and Southern lines radiating from Bangkok. The programme began in 2019 and covered routes from ...
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News170bn złoty Polish infrastructure enhancement programme approved
POLAND: The Council of Ministers approved the 2023 to 2030 National Railway Programme at a meeting on August 16. The package covers the financing of several ongoing and planned major projects, enhancements to various strategic main lines and the construction of greenfield regional railways. ...
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NewsPresident presents Serbian railway plan
SERBIA: President Aleksandar Vučić has announced plans for development of the rail network by 2027, including proposals to begin construction of a rail link to Beograd airport. The 18 km double-track electrified line designed for 120 km/h operation would run from Zemun Polje to Beograd Nikola ...
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Rail Business UKNetwork Rail orders trial batch of ‘green’ steel rails
UK: To help assess whether ‘green’ track renewals could be a viable option, Network Rail has ordered a trial batch of rails manufactured by Saarstahl using an electric arc furnace. Network Rail is seeking to understand the technical differences between EAF and non-EAF steel, particularly from ...
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NewsModi launches Indian Railways station redevelopment programme
INDIA: As part of its national focus on infrastructure investment, the government has launched a programme to redevelop 508 stations across the country, at an estimated cost of Rs244·7bn.
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NewsAustrian ETCS roll-out advances
AUSTRIA: ÖBB-Infrastruktur and Siemens Mobility have commissioned ETCS Level 2 on the Linz – Wels – Vöcklabruck and Wels – Haiding routes as the first project under a 2021 framework agreement for a roll-out on main routes across the country. This will involve installing a total ...
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NewsInfrastructure managers continue technology co-operation
EUROPE: British and Dutch railway infrastructure managers Network Rail and ProRail have signed a memorandum of understanding for continued co-operation in areas including automated inspection, acoustic monitoring using fibre optic cables, digitisation, asset management, measurement trains and embankment stability. The MoU signed in Den Haag on ...
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NewsSlovenian railway realignment commissioned
SLOVENIA: A 3·7 km section of new alignment for the Počehova – Pesnica section of the historic Sudbahn main line between Ljubljana and Wien was opened for traffic on August 14, with the first train departing from Maribor at 18.21. Under construction since September 2020, the ...
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NewsCork Area Commuter Rail programme makes progress
IRELAND: The Cork Area Commuter Rail programme is progressing ‘swiftly’, according to Iarnród Éireann CEO Jim Meade, with the award of the signalling works contract for the project. The programme to upgrade the lines radiating from Cork to Mallow, Cobh and Midleton is intended to improve ...
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NewsSwiss Federal Council approves revised 2050 expansion programme
SWITZERLAND: The Federal Council has approved the Perspektive Bahn 2050 long-term railway strategy, which involves changes to and expansion of projects which have previously been approved.
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NewsGotthard Base Tunnel repairs could last until next year
SWITZERLAND: The infrastructure damage caused by a freight train derailment in the western bore of the Gotthard Base Tunnel on August 10 is significantly greater than expected and repairs could take until early 2024, Swiss Federal Railways has reported.
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NewsMajor rail schemes in Brazil’s Growth Acceleration Programme
BRAZIL: Rail projects are to receive funds worth a total of R$94∙2bn in the country’s latest Growth Acceleration Programme unveiled by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on August 11. The Programme allocates R$55∙1bn for the period from 2023 to 2026, with the remaining R$39∙1bn due ...
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NewsBattery train to take Caltrain electric operation beyond the wires
USA: The California Transportation Commission has approved funding for Stadler to supply a battery-electric multiple-unit which will enable Caltrain to extend its future San Francisco – San Jose electric train service to Gilroy over track which is not currently scheduled for electrification. The funding allocated on ...