Infrastructure news – Page 181
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NewsQueensland NGR maintenance depot completed
AUSTRALIA: On February 13 Bombardier and Queensland government ministers will officially open the depot to maintain the electric multiple-units that it is supplying under the Queensland New Generation Rollingstock programme. The facility at Wulkuraka near Ipswich cost A$190m to build. Work was undertaken by Laing O’Rourke between February 2014 ...
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NewsMelbourne’s Cranbourne – Pakenham line to be elevated
AUSTRALIA: A 2·7 km section of the Cranbourne – Pakenham suburban line in southeast Melbourne is to be rebuilt on an elevated alignment under a A$1·6bn contract announced by Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews on February 9. Upgrading of the busy line serving the Dandenong region is part of a ...
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NewsFunding for Devon and Cornwall enhancements study
UK: Funding for a study into the potential for electrification and raising line speeds between London, Devon and Cornwall was announced on February 9. The study is to be funded and commissioned by franchisee Great Western Railway and carried out by Network Rail, and will be used to inform a ...
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NewsPresident launches Tehran - Mashhad electrification project
IRAN: President Hassan Rouhani ceremonially launched work to electrify the 926 km Tehran – Mashhad main line when he visited the northeastern city on February 6. Planning for the 25 kV 50 Hz electrification project has been underway since 2012. In June 2014 a contract to install ...
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NewsCantons back Grimsel Tunnel to link metre gauge networks
SWITZERLAND: The cantons of Bern and Valais and electricity distribution company Swissgrid unveiled a SFr580m plan for the construction of a railway linking the Zentralbahn and Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn metre-gauge networks on February 4. Swissgrid’s high voltage link over the Grimsel Pass is due to be replaced, and the ...
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NewsRecord budget for Israel Railways
ISRAEL: A record budget of 28·3bn shekels for development of the rail network by 2020 was approved by Transport Minister Israel Katz on February 3. Katz said the projects would help to improve links to peripheral areas in particular. Israel Railways said the spending would significantly improve services, with electrification ...
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NewsBeograd Centar station inaugurated
SERBIA: Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić inaugurated the first phase of Beograd’s future main station on January 26. Eight of the 10 tracks and five of the six platforms at Beograd Centar (also known as Prokop) station are now being used by two daily return services to Novi Sad and 105 ...
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NewsOstlänken procurement begins as route confirmed
SWEDEN: Infrastructure manager Trafikverket expects to start procurement this month for the construction of the Ostlänken high speed line. On February 1 national consultation agency Sverigeförhandlingen began the formal consultation process with local authorities over the preferred route and location for the intermediate stations. Outlining the planned procurement strategy on ...
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NewsRebuilt Den Haag Centraal station opened
NETHERLANDS: The rebuilt Den Haag Centraal station was officially inaugurated by Mayor Jozias van Aartsen and State Secretary at the Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment Sharon Dijksma during a day of celebrations on February 1. The redesigned terminus is intended to be brighter, more spacious and less cluttered than ...
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NewsUnieco to sell CLF stake to Strukton Rail
ITALY: Unieco has called on a put option for co-owner Strukton Rail to buy out its 40% stake in railway construction contractor Construzioni Linee Ferroviarie by the end of June 2016. Strukton Rail has been a shareholder of CLF since 1998, and increased its stake from 40% to 60% ...
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NewsAfDB finances Casablanca – Marrakech double-tracking
MOROCCO: The African Development Bank board approved a US$112·3m loan to finance double-tracking of the 142 km Settat – Marrakech section of the Casablanaca – Marrakech route on January 27. National railway ONCF is providing a further US$290m for the project, which is intended to increase capacity and reduce ...
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NewsETCS Level 2 for Italian conventional line
ITALY: Gruppo FS has awarded a €34m contract for upgrading the signalling on the 51 km Milano Centrale – Milano Smistamento – Monza – Chiasso line to a consortium led by Alstom and including M Pavani Segnalamento Ferroviario, Bitfo, Ricci, Elettri-Fer and Politecnica Ingegneria ed Architettura Società Cooperativa. The route ...
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NewsIran and Italy sign railway MOU
IRAN: Italy’s Minister of Infrastructure & Transport Graziano Delrio and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Akhoundi signed a memorandum of understanding for co-operation in the rail sector when Iran’s President Rouhani visited Italy on January 25. Italian national railway group FS said it had been active in the region since 2001, ...
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NewsEtihad Rail suspends Stage 2 tendering
UAE: National rail developer Etihad Rail announced on January 26 that it had suspended the tendering process for Stage Two of the project and informed all the bidders in writing. Etihad Rail recently started commercial operation on the initial phase of the planned network, which links Shah and Habshan to ...
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NewsWestern DFC electrification contract awarded
INDIA: Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India has awarded a consortium of L&T Construction and Japan’s Sojitz Corp a 42-month design and build contract worth Rs12·1bn covering the electrification of the 422 km Vadodara – Jawaharlal Nehru Port section of the 1 490 km Western DFC between Delhi and ...
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NewsBeskyd Tunnel holed through
UKRAINE: A ceremony on January 21 marked the breaking through of the new Beskyd Tunnel, which is being built to eliminate a bottleneck on the otherwise double-track section of Pan-European Corridor V between Lviv and the Hungarian border at Chop. The existing single-track tunnel dates from 1886 and its ...
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NewsSNCF studies options for 'semi high speed' trains in India
INDIA: France’s SNCF has begun working with Indian Railways on a one-year project to study the feasibility of upgrading the 245 km New Delhi – Chandigarh line to permit the operation of ‘semi high speed’ trains at up to 200 km/h, and has agreed to support the pilot projects for ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market January 2016
Argentina: The government has awarded a joint venture of Lemiro Pablo Pietrobini and Savabisa a 2386m pesos contract to restore to operating condition route C15 of the Belgrano network from Perico to Pocitos on the Bolivian border. Belgium: The TramContractors consortium of BAM-PGGM and Cofely Fabricom has signed PPP ...
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NewsDR Congo rail renaissance in 2016
DR CONGO: SNCC Director General Ilunga Ilunkamba looked forward to 2016 as the year that would see the ‘renaissance’ of the state railway, in his message to staff delivered on December 31. Under the Multimodal Transport Project funded by the World Bank, 38 new locomotives were being acquired and track ...
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NewsCeremony launches construction of Jakarta – Bandung fast line
INDONESIA: President Joko Widowo was joined by Jakarta Governor Basuki Purnama on January 21to lay a ceremonial foundation stone in Cikalong Witan to mark the launch of construction of a 142 km high speed line between Jakarta and Bandung.Indonesian officials had agreed last October to proceed with a ‘business to ...