Infrastructure news – Page 191
-
NewsHuawei awarded Turkmenistan GSM-R contract
TURKMENISTAN: The Ministry of Railway Transport has awarded Huawei a contract to supply GSM-R for the 265 km line from Bereket to Ak Yayla on the Iranian border. The line was officially inaugurated by the presidents of Turkmenistan, Iran and Kazakhstan on December 3 last year. The scope of ...
-
NewsStrukton Rail takes over Dutch industrial sidings
NETHERLANDS: With effect from July 1 Strukton Rail has acquired Netherlands Railways’ NS Spooraansluitingen business, which manages and maintains 130 km of track and 391 turnouts at industrial sites belonging to around 100 companies. As part of the takeover NSS has been rebranded as Strukton Rail Short Line. NS had ...
-
NewsWorld Bank agrees third Eastern DFC loan
INDIA: The World Bank board approved a US$650m loan to support the construction of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor on June 30. The loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction & Development has a seven-year grace period and a maturity of 22 years. The Eastern DFC will run for 1 ...
-
NewsTransport projects selected for €13·1bn of European co-funding
EUROPE: ‘Flagship initiatives’ including the Rail Baltica standard gauge line, the Brenner base tunnel and the Fehmarn Belt fixed link are amongst the 276 transport projects which the European Commission has selected to receive €13·1bn of Connecting Europe Facility funding under the September 2014 call for proposals. Other projects selected ...
-
NewsRoad-rail crane trucks simplify maintenance planning
UK: Network Rail has commissioned a fleet of 20 all-wheel drive FUSO Canter trucks adapted for road road-rail use with the addition of hydraulically lowered and raised rail wheels. The infrastructure manager previously relied on a combination of standard road vehicles and hired-in rail vehicles. The Canters can perform both ...
-
NewsEIB signs €180m loan for ADIF
SPAIN: An agreement that will see the European Investment Bank lend a total of €180m to ADIF Alta Velocidad was signed in Madrid on June 26, in the presence of Development Minister Ana Pastor, EIB Vice-President Román Escolano and ADIF Alta Velocidad President Gonzalo Ferre. An initial tranche of €100m ...
-
NewsPakistan Railways ‘out of intensive care’
PAKISTAN: Minister of Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has said Pakistan Railways is now ‘out of intensive care’. The federal budget for 2015-16 has allocated Rs41bn for PR’s non-staff costs, a business class Karachi – Islamabad passenger service has been launched and freight services to Iran restarted. The 2015-16 budget ...
-
NewsElectrification on hold as Network Rail spending is ‘reset’
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail’s agreed works programme for Control Period 5 from 2014 to 2019 is to be reviewed and ‘reset’, Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin told the House of Commons on June 25, with the planned electrification of the Midland Main Line and trans-Pennine routes to ...
-
NewsSNCF announces eight-year transformation of Paris-Nord
FRANCE: Gares et Connexions, the station management subsidiary of national railway holding group SNCF, is to refurbish and expand Paris-Nord station in a phased programme lasting until 2023. The plans were announced by SNCF President Guillaume Pepy and Anne Hildago, Mayor of Paris, on June 24. At the heart of ...
-
NewsCSX agrees Louisville & Indiana enhancement
USA: A $100m agreement for CSX to upgrade and operate over the Louisville & Indiana Railroad’s 170 km corridor between Indianapolis, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky, was finalised on June 19. CSX will purchase the easement for $10m, and the operating agreement provides for $90m in infrastructure improvements on the former ...
-
NewsRigid overhead installed in UK tunnel
UK: Furrer+Frey’s Rigid Overhead Conductor Rail System has been installed in UK for the first time, to support the testing of Hitachi IEP trainsets through the 1·2 km Stanton tunnel which forms part of the Old Dalby test track. ROCS uses a rigid bar rather than tensioned overhead line, which ...
-
NewsEU to revise ERTMS deployment plan
EUROPE: Speaking at Unife's 2015 General Assembly in Bucuresti on June 18, European Co-ordinator Karel Vinck announced an update of the ERTMS deployment plan. Conceding that insufficient information had been available when the plan was adopted on July 22 2009, he reported that the European Commission had now agreed to ...
-
NewsMore concessions to boost Brazilian investment
BRAZIL: President Dilma Rousseff announced on June 9 that R$198∙4bn is to be invested in transport infrastructure under a new concessions programme, with the aim of stimulating the economy and boosting the export sector. Total investment is expected to reach R$69∙2bn between 2015 and 2018. This would be followed by ...
-
NewsEastern Dedicated Freight Corridor civils contract signed
INDIA: Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India Ltd has awarded a design and build contract covering the civil works for the 402 km New Bhaupur (Kanpur) – Mughalsarai section of the Eastern DFC, which will eventually run for 1 839 km from Ludhiana to Dankuni near Kolkata. The Rs50·8bn contract ...
-
NewsRegional Rail Link inaugurated
AUSTRALIA: The A$3·65bn Regional Rail Link project in Melbourne was formally inaugurated on June 14, when Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure & Regional Development Warren Truss joined the Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews and the state’s Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan on a special train to mark ...
-
NewsProRail opens ‘ultra-modern’ Utrecht control centre
NETHERLANDS: Infrastructure manager ProRail officially opened a ‘robust, ultra-modern and striking’ control centre in Utrecht on June 4. The 4 500 m2 structure was designed by de Jong Gortemaker Algra architects and built by Visser & Smit Bouw, with Arcadis as project manager and HOMIJ responsible for mechanical and electrical ...
-
NewsSouth West Trains–Network Rail 'deep alliance' to end
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail and passenger operator South West Trains announced on June 12 that their ‘deep alliance’ is to end in August. The SWT-NR deep alliance was formed in April 2012, putting in place a single joint management team responsible for infrastructure and train operations on NR's 1 ...
-
NewsWorld rail infrastructure market June 2015
Argentina: Belgrano Cargas y Logística has awarded Construcciones Ivica y Antonio Dumandzic an 81·5m pesos contract for track renewals on 53 km of the Urquiza network between Basavilbaso and Faustino M Parera. Australia: A joint venture of Aurecon, Jacobs and Mott MacDonald has been appointed as technical, planning and ...
-
NewsBenin passenger service to launch this year
BENIN: President Thomas Bony Yayi joined Vincent Bolloré, CEO of railway concessionaire Bolloré Group, to officially launch the rehabilitation of the 25 km metre gauge Cotonou – Pahou line on June 2. The project includes complete replacement of the track and the rehabilitation of the stations at Cadjèhoun Saint-Jean, Godomey, ...
-
Metro Report InternationalATO to boost capacity on Paris RER Line A
FRANCE: Alstom Transport has been selected to develop and install automatic train operation on Paris RER Line A under a €20m contract awarded by city transport operator RATP, the Ile-de-France region and transport authority STIF. The introduction of attended ATO that meets Grade of Automation 2 is expected to improve ...