Infrastructure news – Page 199
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NewsWork starts on Chuo maglev
JAPAN: Central Japan Railway officially marked the start of work on the first phase of its Chuo Shinkansen superconducting maglev line between Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka with ceremonies at the Shinagawa and Nagoya station sites on December 17. According to JR Central, construction work on the 286 km between Tokyo ...
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NewsS-Bahn expansion schemes launched
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has started work on a major capacity improvement programme between Genève and Lausanne. Announcing the launch of the SFr3bn ‘Léman 2030’ project at a ceremony in Renens station on November 22, SBB said that traffic on the route along the shore of Lac Léman is expected ...
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NewsWisconsin buys Union Pacific line
USA: The state of Wisconsin has completed the purchase of 110 km of Union Pacific route linking Madison with Reedsburg and Cottage Grove, Governor Scott Walker announced on December 11. The $30m purchase was made jointly by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission. The ...
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NewsCalifornia selects preferred bidder to build second high speed line section
USA: The California High Speed Rail Authority announced on December 12 that it had selected a consortium of Dragados, Flatiron and Shimmick as preferred bidder for a design-build contract covering construction of a further 96 route-km of high speed line in the Central Valley. In selecting the ‘apparent best value ...
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NewsWorld Bank signs US$1·1bn Dedicated Freight Corridor loan
INDIA: The government, World Bank and project promoter Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India Ltd signed a US$1·1bn loan agreement to fund the second phase of the Eastern DFC on December 11. The 22-year International Bank for Reconstruction & Development loan has a seven-year grace period. The 1 839 ...
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NewsAntwerpen’s Liefkenshoek tunnel opens
BELGIUM: The 16·2 km Liefkenshoek rail link between the left and right banks of the River Schelde in the north of Antwerpen was officially opened on December 9, ahead of the start of commercial freight services on December 14. The electrified rail link including a 6 km twin-bore tunnel under ...
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NewsDB announces €28bn five-year infrastructure spending plan
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn announced a €28bn five-year spending plan for 2015-19 on December 8. Dr Volker Kefer, Managing Director responsible for the Infrastructure & Services division, said it formed the biggest modernisation programme in the history of the network. The announcement follows federal government approval of the LuFV II agreement, ...
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NewsStandard gauge line reaches Hekou
CHINA: Test running on the 142 km standard gauge line between Mengzi and Hekou in southern Yunnan province began at the start of December. When commercial passenger services start in early 2015, a journey between the provincial capital Kunming and the Vietnamese border should take around 6 h 30 min. ...
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NewsSwiss border link inaugurated
SWITZERLAND: The first section of the FMV cross-border rail link will open for revenue service on December 15, following a formal dedication on November 27 attended by representatives from canton Ticino, the federal government, SBB and TILO, the cross-border transport operator for Ticino and Lombardia. Partially funded by the federal ...
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NewsChinese-backed standard gauge project edges forward
THAILAND: The National Legislative Assembly voted on December 4 by a majority of 187 in favour of approving a memorandum of understanding between the Thai and Chinese governments over the construction of a north-south standard gauge main line corridor. According to the 2015-22 Thai infrastructure development plan, the corridor would ...
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NewsIran – Turkmenistan – Kazakhstan rail link inaugurated
ASIA: The final link in the north-south railway corridor connecting Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan was officially inaugurated on December 3, in a ceremony attended by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and his counterparts Hassan Rohani of Iran and Nursultan Nazarbaev of Kazakhstan. The celebrations at Incheh Borun on the border between ...
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NewsSiemens signalling for Beni Mansour – Bejaia upgrade
ALGERIA: Siemens announced on December 2 that its ESTEL joint venture with national railway SNTF had been awarded a contract to supply signalling equipment for the double-tracking of the 90 km Beni Mansour – Bejaia route. Awarded by railway development agency ANESRIF, the contract is worth €95m to Siemens. To ...
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NewsGovernment seeks to accelerate Trans-Sumatra railway project
INDONESIA: President Joko Widodo has reconfirmed the government’s commitment to construction of a 2 168 route-km railway across the island of Sumatra, linking three disparate 1 067 mm gauge networks. Outlining the government’s infrastructure priorities for the 2015-19 period, Widodo said on November 27 that a feasibility study for the ...
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NewsModi opens railway to Mendipathar
INDIA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was joined by Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu and other dignitaries at a ceremony in the northeastern city of Guwahati on November 29, marking the opening of the railway to Mendipathar. Dispatching the inaugural train remotely from Railway Stadium in Guwahati, Modi outlined the ...
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NewsWindermere branch electrification funding confirmed
UK: Transport Minister Baroness Kramer confirmed £16m of government funding to electrify the 16 km single-track Oxenholme – Windermere branch on November 28. The minister said ‘electrifying this key rail link will support the vital tourism industry in the area, and help us build a stronger economy in the Lake ...
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NewsTransylvanian ETCS Level 2 contract awarded
ROMANIA: Infrastructure manager CFR-SA has awarded a consortium of Alstom, Alcatel Lucent Romania and Pas 97 Impex a 498m leu contract to equip the 170 km Simeria – Coşlariu – Sighișoara line with ETCS Level 2 and GSM-R. This forms part of a 40-month modernisation project which is intended to ...
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NewsWestern Dedicated Freight Corridor electrification contract awarded
INDIA: Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India has awarded a consortium of Japanese firm Sojitz Corp and local partner Larsen & Toubro a ¥50bn contract to supply and install 2 x 25 kV 50 Hz electrification equipment on the 915 km Rewari – Vadodara section of the Western Dedicated Freight ...
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NewsKéRail iron ore line opens
CANADA: The inaugural train on a 21 km rail spur serving Tata Steel Minerals Canada’s Direct Shipping Ore Project in the Labrador Trough near Schefferville was operated by Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary KéRail on November 2. From Schefferville-Knob Lake Junction the iron ore is transported over the Tshiuetin Rail Transportation ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market November 2014
Argentina: Sbase has awarded Siemens a €30m contract to upgrade the 5 km Buenos Aires metro Line C with Trainguard MT train control and Controlguide Vicos operations control systems, Airlink radios, Sicas interlockings, and passenger information systems. Azerbaijan: Bouygues Travaux Publics is to build a tunnel at the ...
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NewsGovernment mulls more airport rail links
THAILAND: Two more airport rail links are being evaluated by the government, Transport Minister Prajin Juntong announced on November 20. The two proposed lines would complement the 1 435 mm gauge line which has linked Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport with a city centre terminus at Makkasan since 2010. One would ...