Infrastructure news – Page 135
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NewsWellington infrastructure spending funded
NEW ZEALAND: A NZ$196m package of improvements to the Wellington regional rail network was announced by Transport Minister Phil Twyford on October 9. NZ Transport Agency funding of NZ$193m is being provided through the National Land Transport Fund to support infrastructure renewals and capacity enhancement under two business cases put ...
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NewsTunnel opens on Novokuznetsk avoiding line
RUSSIA: Completed by Russian Railways at a cost of 7bn roubles, a second bore of the 1 158 m long Tomusinksy tunnel north of Novokuznetsk opened for revenue service on October 3. The second bore alleviates a significant bottleneck formed by the original single-track tunnel, opened in 1967. This ...
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Metro Report InternationalWork starts on Wien metro reconfiguration
AUSTRIA: A groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the future Matzleinsdorfer Platz station on October 8 marked the start of work on the reconfiguration of Wien metro Line U2 and new driverless Line U5. The event was attended by Transport Minister Norbert Hofer, Deputy Mayor Maria Vassilakou, city transport senator ...
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Rail Business UKHS2 unveils Birmingham station concepts
UK: Proposals for two new high speed stations in the West Midlands were unveiled by HS2 Ltd on October 9 as part of a public engagement programme. HS2 is seeking feedback on the designs before formal submissions for planning approval are lodged with Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan ...
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NewsSNCB updates Hasselt workshops
BELGIUM: An extension to the SNCB rolling stock workshops at Hasselt was formally opened on October 8, with a ceremony attended by CEO Sophie Dutordoir, the new Managing Director of SNCB Technics Gerd de Vos, Governor of Limburg Herman Reynders and the Mayor of Hasselt Nadja Vananroye. Under development since ...
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NewsNorthern Latitudinal Railway concession signed
RUSSIA: Having been approved by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in mid-August, a formal concession agreement covering construction of the Northern Latitudinal Railway was signed at the ProMotion 1520 forum in Sochi on October 3. The SShKh consortium will be responsible for financing, building and operating the 113bn rouble line, which ...
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Metro Report InternationalWork begins on T13 Express tram-train route in Paris
FRANCE: Work on the T13 Express tram-train project in the western suburbs of Paris was officially launched on October 5, with the start of construction of a new depot at Versailles. The first 18·8 km phase would introduce tram-train services from the existing RER station at Saint-Cyr to Noisy-le-Roi ...
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NewsPolymer sleeper research partnership
AUSTRALIA: The University of Southern Queensland has formed a partnership with Austrak and Laing O’Rourke to develop and deploy fibre-reinforced polymer composite materials as an alternative to timber in sleepers and bridge transoms. The A$10m project has been backed by an A$3m grant from the government’s Co-operative Research Centre – ...
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NewsBreakthrough for new Albula tunnel
SWITZERLAND: Rhätische Bahn’s 5 860 m long new Albula tunnel was holed through on October 2. Train services are expected to start in late 2021 or early 2022, with more than 15 000 trains carrying 1·2 million passengers/year. The existing 5 864 m long tunnel on the Chur – St ...
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NewsTexas Central names contractor and starts engineering design
USA: High speed rail promoter Texas Central announced on October 4 that it had appointed Italian civil engineering group Salini Impregilo to lead the civil construction consortium that would build its proposed Houston – Dallas route using Japanese Shinkansen technology. It has also issued a Limited Notice to Proceed, allowing ...
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NewsInland Rail PPP concession launched
AUSTRALIA: The public-private partnership to build and maintain a key section of the Inland Rail corridor through southern Queensland was launched on October 4, at an event in Toowoomba attended by federal Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Australian Rail Track Corp has invited registrations ...
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NewsInterim CEO sets out Rail Baltica priorities
EUROPE: Ignas Degutis has set out his priorities for the Rail Baltica project, having been appointed Interim CEO of tri-national project promoter RB Rail following the resignation of Baiba Rubesa. Rubesa held a personal press conference immediately after resigning on September 27, during which she strongly criticised the way the ...
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NewsFirst section of Moscow – Kazan high speed line to open in 2024
RUSSIA: A construction agreement covering the first section of the Moscow – Kazan high speed line was announced by RZD First Deputy Director Alexander Misharin at the ProMotion 1520 conference in Sochi on October 2. The agreement calls for work to start next year on a 301 km alignment between ...
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Metro Report InternationalGrand Paris signalling contract awarded
FRANCE: Société du Grand Paris has awarded a consortium of Siemens Mobility and Thales a contract to supply signalling for the driverless lines 15, 16 and 17 of the Grand Paris Express metro project. Siemens Mobility will supply CBTC signalling and act as systems integrator. Thales will be responsible ...
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Rail Business UKEU funding secured for South Wales Metro project
UK: The Welsh government has secured £119m of EU funding for South Wales Metro infrastructure works, First Minister Carwyn Jones confirmed on October 4. This will finance infrastructure enhancement to enable services on lines around Cardiff to be doubled from two to four per hour. ‘The South Wales Metro ...
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NewsFour-storey Bangkok Bang Sue station takes shape
THAILAND: Construction of a new passenger hub for Bangkok is around 70% complete and on course for opening towards the end of 2020, according to municipal officials. Bang Sue Grand Station will be a four-storey structure covering 300 000 m2 and would replace Hua Lamphong as the city’s principal main ...
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NewsFilzenexpress electrification agreement
GERMANY: An agreement to finance electrification of the 19 km route between Ebersberg and Wasserburg am Inn was signed on September 28 by Bayern Transport Minister Ilse Aigner and Südostbayernbahn’s infrastructure director Christian Kubasch. A feasibility study in 2016 put the cost of electrification at around €22m, including associated station ...
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NewsDB plans high speed line renewals programme
GERMANY: Infrastructure manager DB Netz has announced plans for a major refurbishment of its two oldest high speed lines in a five-year programme costed at €825m. Work on the 327 km Hannover – Würzburg Neubaustrecke is to start in 2019, with the 99 km Mannheim – Stuttgart route following in ...
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Metro Report InternationalGrand Paris Line 15 South unlikely to meet Olympics deadline
FRANCE: Line 15 South of the Grand Paris Express automated metro project around Ile-de-France is unlikely to be open in time for the French capital to host the Olympic Games in 2024, the project promoter has said. Speaking to the Le Parisien newspaper on September 25, Thierry Dallard, President of ...
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NewsVestfoldbanen double-tracking inaugurated
NORWAY: Bane NOR’s ongoing reconstruction of the Oslo – Drammen – Skien Vestfoldbanen inter-city route reached another milestone on September 28, when the 22·5 km Larvik – Porsgrunn cut-off was formally opened by new Transport Minister Jon Georg Dale with a ceremony at Larvik. In use for revenue services since ...