Infrastructure news – Page 195
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NewsCustom-built crane wagon for Africa
WAGON: A wagon for carrying a heavy road crane to the sites of infrastructure works or derailments on a line in Africa has been designed by Belgian company DAXI and built by Electroputere VFU Pașcani of Romania. The 1 435 mm gauge wagon is 23·58 m long over the buffers, ...
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NewsHonam high speed railway inaugurated
SOUTH KOREA: The 182·3 km Honam High Speed Railway serving the southwest of the country was formally opened by President Park Geun-hye in a ceremony at Gwangju Songjeong station on April 1, attended by many VIPs and invited guests, including the heads of Korea Rail Network Authority and national operator ...
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NewsLGV Est Phase 2 completed
FRANCE: On March 31 SNCF President Guillaume Pepy joined SNCF Réseau President Jacques Rapoport and other dignitaries as the last rail was welded to mark the completion of construction work on Phase 2 of LGV Est, the high speed line between Paris and Strasbourg. Work on Phase 2, covering the ...
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NewsLevel crossings to go as Harderwijk rebuilding approved
NETHERLANDS: Infrastructure manager ProRail has confirmed that the station at Harderwijk is to be rebuilt by the end of 2016, under an accord signed with national passenger operator NS, the town council and Gelderland province on March 26. As well as improving passenger facilities, the reconstruction will eliminate two level ...
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NewsFatigue testing with heavy loads
FRANCE: An agreement signed this month paves the way for tests to begin later this year in the Channel Tunnel on the durability of various track designs under heavy loads. The tests will be undertaken by Railenium, the railway research institute based in northern France, of which Eurotunnel is a ...
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NewsMetrolinx awards depot PPP contract
CANADA: Provincial investment agency Infrastructure Ontario and Toronto transport authority Metrolinx announced on March 27 that they had awarded a C$860m contract to the Plenary Infrastructure ERMF consortium to design, build, finance and maintain the GO Transit East Rail Maintenance Facility in Whitby under a 30-year concession. According to Metrolinx, ...
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NewsSRO signs freight line upgrade contract
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Railways Organization has awarded China Railway Construction Corp a 160m riyal contract to undertake the 91 km second phase of upgrading the Dammam – Riyadh freight line. The specifications for the 23 month project to increase capacity includes raising the maximum axleload to 32·5 tonnes. Last year ...
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NewsMeinerzhagen - Brügge reopening agreed
GERMANY: The WestfalenLippe transport authority has signed an agreement for DB Regio NRW to reinstate passenger services on the 15 km Meinerzhagen – Brügge line from the December 2017 timetable change. The agreement runs until 2033 and covers the operation of an additional 250 000 train-km/year. DB Regio plans ...
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NewsEuropean Commission launches investigation into proposed 520 km/h test track
SPAIN: The European Commission is to undertake an in-depth investigation into whether proposals for public funding of a planned high speed rail test centre near Málaga would be compatible with state aid rules. The Spanish government has proposed that the planned Centro de Ensayos de Alta Tecnología Ferroviaria would ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market March 2015
Argentina: The government has awarded Supercemento SAIC two further contracts worth 196m and 262m pesos for electrification of the 26·8 km Berazategui – La Plata section of the Buenos Aires – La Plata route. Brazil: Kapsch CarrierCom is to implement a Tetra digital radio network for Rio de Janeiro ...
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NewsSBB awards on-track plant contracts
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has awarded contracts totalling SFr136m a year for the lease of 65 tampers, cranes and other track maintenance plant over periods of five to 10 years. The contracts are due to come into effect at the end of 2015, when the current agreements signed in 2006 ...
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NewsInfrastructure renationalisation begins
ARGENTINA: On March 18 Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo announced that the bill to return the national rail network to state control had begun its progress through the legislature. A new ‘mother’ company, Ferrocarriles Argentinos, would be created to manage access to the network, absorbing federal operating ...
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NewsConsortium to plan 30% capacity increase at London Waterloo
UK: The South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance of train operator SWT and infrastructure manager NR announced on March 18 that it had appointed a consortium of Skanska, Colas Rail, Aecom and Mott MacDonald to plan and undertake a four-year multi-million pound programme to provide a ‘step change’ in capacity at ...
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NewsFirst Ceneri base tunnel breakthrough
SWITZERLAND: A final blast at noon on March 17 broke through the southern end of the western bore of the Ceneri base tunnel on the Gotthard corridor, 13 months ahead of schedule. The base tunnel’s twin 15·4 km bores are being excavated south from the Vigana portal, north from ...
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NewsAlpiq acquires Balfour Beatty Rail SpA
EUROPE: Swiss energy technology company Alpiq has acquired Balfour Beatty’s Italian rail electrification business Balfour Beatty Rail SpA with effect from March 11. The price was not disclosed. Specialising in the design, procurement, installation and commissioning of main line and urban rail electrification, Balfour Beatty Rail SpA has 120 employees. ...
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NewsZEB funds ease Bern traffic flows
SWITZERLAND: The release of a fifth tranche of funding under the ZEB railway infrastructure development programme paves the way for Swiss Federal Railways to start work on six enhancement projects worth a total of SFr170m. The biggest of these is the long-standing scheme to separate traffic flows at Wylerfeld east ...
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NewsMoscow - Kazan high speed line tenders called
RUSSIA: On March 16 Russian Railways called tenders for a contract to undertake surveys, project development and route planning for the proposed 770 km Moscow – Kazan dedicated high speed line. The deadline for submissions is April 16, and the maximum price is set at 20·79bn roubles plus VAT. The ...
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NewsGoldschmidt Thermit plans acquisitions
GERMANY: Welding and rail maintenance and repair company Goldschmidt Thermit Group has said it ‘expects further significant growth’ this year, following a 12% increase in turnover to €127m in 2014. ‘The global market for rail infrastructure is booming’, according to CEO Dr Hans-Jürgen Mundinger. ‘There is considerable potential for ...
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NewsHokuriku Shinkansen opens between Nagano and Kanazawa
JAPAN: The 228 km Hokuriku Shinkansen high speed line between Nagano, Toyama and Kanazawa opened on March 14. The opening has reduced the fastest journey between Tokyo and Kanazawa to 2 h 28 min, compared to the previous time of 4 h 20 min via the 1 067 mm gauge ...
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NewsSino-Thai railway operating agreement
THAILAND: An operating model for the planned 872 route-km standard gauge north-south corridor was agreed at a meeting of Chinese and Thai officials in Bangkok on March 12. The first of four civil works packages worth a total of 328bn baht (US$10bn) would be implemented from September with a view ...