Infrastructure news – Page 174
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NewsRevised ERTMS Deployment Plan adopted
EUROPE: A new timetable for the roll-out of the European Rail Traffic Management System has been put in place by the European Commission, with the adoption on January 5 of an implementing regulation. The revised ERTMS European Deployment Plan has been drawn up over the past two years by ERTMS ...
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Metro Report InternationalSiemens wins Lima metro electrification upgrade contract
PERU: Siemens announced on January 4 that it is to provide a power supply upgrade to the first section of Lima metro Line 1. The work will be carried out without interruption to services. Electrification equipment on the 9 km between Villa El Salvador and Atocongo dates from 1995. ...
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NewsWork starts to reopen Guarda – Covilhã link
PORTUGAL: Minister of Planning & Infrastructure Pedro Marques has announced the start of work to rehabilitate the Guarda – Covilhã section of the Beira Baixa route by mid-2019. To be completed within a budget of €88m, rehabilitation of the railway, which has been out of use since 2009, would provide ...
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Metro Report InternationalCasablanca tramway extension contracts awarded
MOROCCO: Casablanca tram operator Casa Transport has selected Engie Group subsidiaries Engie Ineo and Engie Cofely Morocco to supply signalling and other systems for Line 2 and an extension of the existing Line 1. In addition to supplying signalling, communications, CCTV and fire detection equipment, Engie will install its ...
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Metro Report InternationalNew York MTA opens first section of Second Avenue Subway
USA: The first passengers travelled along New York’s long-planned Second Avenue Subway on January 1. First proposed early in the 20th Century, the Second Avenue line is intended to be developed in three phases which would link areas of eastern Manhattan and Harlem that are currently poorly served by the ...
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NewsConstruction starts on China – Laos railway
LAOS: Ceremonies were held in the northern city of Luang Prabang on December 25 to mark the launch of construction of the 414·3 km rail link from the Chinese border to Vientiane. Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith formally turned the first sod and struck a gong to mark the start ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market December 2016
Belarus: Tines and Unibep have signed an MoU with the city of Vitebsk for the modernisation of 20 km of tram tracks in 2017-20. Belgium: Infrabel has completed a €21m project to deploy a Traffic Management System supplied by CSC, brought into use overnight on November 11. Identical to ...
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Metro Report InternationalNice tram Line 2 power supply contract awarded
FRANCE: A consortium of Alstom and Colas Rail has been awarded an €11m contract to supply power supply equipment for Line 2 of the Nice tramway, which will use Alstom’s SRS ground-based static charging technology. The firm order includes seven electrical substations, 10 lighting power stations and two intake ...
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NewsAlstom slab track approved for testing
GERMANY: Federal railway authority EBA has approved Alstom’s NBT concrete slab track for operational testing. To obtain the German approval, Alstom worked with notified body TÜV Rheinland InterTraffic and Technische Universität München’s Department of Civil, Geo & Environmental Engineering. Alstom co-developed NBT for use on mixed-traffic main line railways with ...
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NewsNetwork Rail plans Bolton station expansion
UK: As part of the electrification and modernisation of the Manchester – Preston corridor, a fifth platform is to be opened at Bolton next year, Network Rail has announced.A series of enhancements to Bolton station are being taken forward by NR and the local council, which is co-ordinating construction of ...
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NewsHokuriku extension route agreed
JAPAN: Plans to extend the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka via Obama and Kyoto were agreed by the coalition government on December 20. A 125 km section extending the line from its present terminus at Kanazawa to Tsuruga is currently under construction, with completion expected in 2022-23. The government’s decision will ...
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NewsPKP PLK signs €175m Rail Baltica upgrading loan
POLAND: The European Investment Bank has agreed a €175m loan to infrastructure manager PKP PLK to fund modernisation of the 106 km Sadowne – Czyżew – Bialystok route, which will connect to the standard gauge line through the Baltic States which is being developed under the Rail Baltica project. ‘This ...
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NewsSNCF Réseau approves €46bn spending plan
FRANCE: Meeting on December 20, the board of infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau formally approved the first multi-year performance contract with the national government, as required under railway reform legislation enacted in 2014. Welcoming the government’s long-term commitment to the rail network as a ‘very important step’, SNCF Réseau said the ...
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NewsFirst international ETCS Level 1 in service
EUROPE: ETCS Level 1 signalling was commissioned over the 5 km between Aubange in Belgium and Rodange in Luxembourg on December 11. According to Belgian infrastructure manager Infrabel, this is the first conventional cross-border route in Europe to be equipped with ETCS. With physical work on the Belgian side requiring ...
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NewsKiwiRail to end electric freight haulage
NEW ZEALAND: Following two years of studies, national railway KiwiRail announced on December 21 that it had decided to cease electric haulage of freight trains on the North Island Main Trunk line in favour of using diesel locomotives. Electric traction will be phased out over the next two years, but ...
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NewsDhaka – Payra railway to be developed by UK company
BANGLADESH: A memorandum of understanding for the development of a 240 km railway to link Dhaka with a planned deep water port at Payra on the Bay of Bengal was signed on December 20 by the government, Bangladesh Railway and London-based company DP Rail. The memorandum gives DP Rail the ...
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NewsFRA recommends $120bn investment in Northeast Corridor
USA: A 30-year programme of route modernisation, including four-tracking and some new alignment, has been recommended by the Federal Railroad Administration under its proposal to develop the Northeast Corridor linking Boston, New York and Washington DC. A four-year consultation and market testing exercise known as NEC Future was launched ...
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NewsChina Railway Corp and MTR co-operate to go global
CHINA: State railway group China Railway Corp and Hong Kong-based international transport operator MTR Corp signed a letter of intent to explore strategic co-operation ‘within and outside of’ China on December 16, aiming to support the Chinese rail industry’s ‘Go-Global’ strategy. CRC and MTR are to form a strategic partnership ...
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NewsWork starts on Dakar airport rail link
SENEGAL: A ceremony was held in Dakar on December 14 to mark the launch of preparatory works for construction of a 55 km regional express railway, which is intended to link the city centre with a new airport.Among the guests at the ceremony were Senegalese President Macky Sall and representatives ...
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Metro Report InternationalThree shortlisted to build London Overground extension
UK: Transport for London announced on December 14 that Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Volker Fitzpatrick had been shortlisted for the contract to build the proposed 4·5 km Barking to Barking Riverside extension of the Gospel Oak – Barking line in east London. The electrified extension would run alongside the existing ...