Infrastructure news – Page 178
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Metro Report InternationalSiemens to electrify high-altitude metro
ECUADOR: The consortium of Acciona and Odebrecht which is building Quito Metro Line 1 has awarded Siemens a contract to supply electrification systems for the 22 km line. The scope of the contract announced on October 21 includes the supply of 46 km of rigid catenary, 6 ...
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Metro Report InternationalLiège tram prequalification restarts
BELGIUM: Three consortia have submitted bids to prequalify for a revised design-build-finance-maintain concession to build the planned 12·5 km tram route in Liège. The three proposals opened on October 12 were submitted by: Alstom with BAM PPP PGGM;CAF, Colas and DIF; Škoda Transportation with Vinci, CFE and Meridam. Société Régionale ...
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NewsKenyan President launches SGR Phase 2A construction
KENYA: Construction works for the second phase of the Standard Gauge Railway project were officially launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta with a ceremony at the Embulbul work site in Ngong Town on October 19. Phase 2A covers the 120 km Nairobi – Naivasha section of the 2 937 km MoKaKi ...
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NewsMinho line electrification contract signed
PORTUGAL: Infraestruturas de Portugal announced on October 19 that it had signed a contract worth €16m with Mota-Engil, covering electrification of the 44 km Nine – Viana do Castelo section of the route between Porto and Valença on the Spanish border. The contract also covers the construction of 750 m ...
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Metro Report InternationalT4 extension gets underway in Paris
FRANCE: Ceremonies were held to the east of Paris on October 18 to mark the start of work on the 6·5 km tram-train route T4 extension to Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil. Participating in the event were Valérie Pécresse, President of the Ile-de-France region, and Minister of Cities, Youth & Sport Patrick ...
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Metro Report InternationalValley Metro extension groundbreaking
USA: A balloon release marked the official start of construction on the Gilbert Road Extension of the Valley Metro network in the city of Mesa, Arizona on October 15. A 5 km extension from Phoenix to central Mesa opened in August 2015. The latest project will extend this route 3 ...
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NewsMipro to provide signalling spares software
FINLAND: Transport agency Liikennevirasto has appointed Mipro Oy to provide inventory management software to control the supply of spare parts for signalling equipment across the national rail network. Mipro’s cloud-based software will support all maintenance organisations and equipment providers under the contract, which runs for six years with an ...
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NewsBogie test facility opens in Huddersfield
UK: The University of Huddersfield has completed the installation of a full-scale bogie test rig, claimed to be the only one of its type in Europe, after securing a £4·5m grant from the UK government’s Regional Growth Fund.The 150 tonne test rig, which was officially opened on October 12 by ...
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NewsTesmec preferred bidder to supply maintenance vehicles to RFI
ITALY: Bergamo-based Tesmec expects the formal award before the end of the year of a contract to supply up to 88 multi-functional maintenance vehicles to infrastructure manager RFI.With a nominal value of €92m, the contract for which Tesmec has been named preferred bidder is divided into three lots; two cover ...
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NewsRail Baltica procurement agreement signed
EUROPE: Nine government and railway organisations from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have signed an agreement setting out the procurement model for Rail Baltica II, the planned 1 435 mm gauge line which would run 728 km to Riga and Tallinn from the current standard gauge railhead at Kaunas. Baiba Rubesa, ...
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NewsThree countries agree 1 500 km corridor plan
AFRICA: The governments of Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe have agreed to develop a 1 500 km mixed-traffic rail corridor to serve an expanded port at Techobanine, 70 km south of Maputo.Starting at Francistown in northern Botswana, the route would cross northwards into Zimbabwe, serving Bulawayo, before running ...
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Metro Report InternationalStockholm Citybanan tracklaying completed
SWEDEN: National infrastructure authority Trafikverket has completed the final tracklaying for the Stockholm Citybanan project. Tracks had already been laid through the 6 km cross-city tunnel, where test running is already underway. The final phase of the work began on August 30, when InfraNord’s SWM 1000 tracklaying train was used ...
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NewsGabon rail upgrade funding agreed
GABON: The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp has agreed to provide railway concessionaire Société d’Exploitation du Transgabonais with €52·5m of debt financing to boost the capacity, efficiency and reliability of the rail network, while the Proparco private sector financing arm of the French Development Agency is ...
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NewsSerbian link modernised
SERBIA: The Mala Krsna – Velika Plana section of Pan-European Corridor X reopened to freight traffic on April 1, following a modernisation project which Russian Railways subsidiary RZD International began in October. The 29 km link between lines running east and southeast of Beograd provides an alternative to the Velika ...
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NewsMixed gauge to Hendaye
SPAIN: Infrastructure Manager ADIF has awarded a €20·4m contract to install mixed-gauge track between Astigarraga and Irún, the Ministry of Development announced on April 1. Together with earlier contracts for upgrading the signalling and overhead line, this will complete a 1 435 mm gauge corridor between the French border and ...
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NewsSchuman – Josaphat tunnel enters service
BELGIUM: Local passenger trains began using the 1 250 m Schuman – Josaphat tunnel at 05.50 on April 4, marking the next step in the development of the Brussels Regional Express network. The link had been expected to open with the December 2015 timetable change, but this was postponed pending ...
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NewsSiemens to modernise Egyptian signalling
EGYPT: Siemens has finalised a contract to supply Egyptian National Railways with signalling equipment for the Zagazig - Abu Kebir and Benha - Port Said routes, a total of 260 km with 21 stations. Commissioning is scheduled for 2020. The existing mechanical interlockings are to be replaced with centrally-controlled electronic ...
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NewsEltel buys Finnish signalling business Celer
FINLAND: Swedish company Eltel has expanded its railway business with the acquisition of Finnish signalling services company Celer Oy with effect from April 1. Celer has 29 employees offering specialised signalling and safety services, with an annual turnover of €6m. Its activities include installation, corrective and preventive maintenance, project ...
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NewsKapsch CarrierCom wins Luxembourg GSM-R contract
LUXEMBOURG: National railway CFL has awarded Kapsch CarrierCom a contract to implement GSM-R across the 271 route-km network by early 2017, and provide service support for three years. Kapsch CarrierCom is to install an IP-based Release 4 core network and a future-proof access network with the latest RDN.base station. ...
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NewsEast West Rail preferred corridor selected
UK: Network Rail announced on March 29 that it had selected a Bedford – Sandy – Cambridge corridor as its preferred option for the Central Section of the East West Rail project to reinstate a rail link between Oxford, Cambridge and East Anglia. NR had studied 20 possible corridors before ...