Infrastructure news – Page 211
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NewsHeathrow Airport western rail link could be completed by 2021
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail announced on February 5 that it had developed proposals for a rail link from Reading and Slough on the Great Western Main Line to London Heathrow airport. This will enable public consultation to begin. The Western Rail Access to Heathrow study was undertaken in response ...
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NewsBNSF announces record capital investment plan
USA: BNSF Railway announced a 'single-year record capital commitment plan' on February 4. The total value is $5bn, up almost $1bn on its 2013 capital spend. The 2014 plan includes: $2·3bn for infrastructure works on the 52 000 route-km network in 28 US states and two Canadian provinces; $1·6bn ...
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NewsHigher axleloads planned to boost iron ore capacity
NORWAY: Infrastructure manager Jernbaneverket is studying a proposal to upgrade the 35 km Dunderlandsbane section of the Trondheim - Bodø route to increase the maximum axleload from 24 to 30 tonnes. The plan has been put forward by mining company Rana Gruber, which contracts Cargolink to haul iron ore on ...
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NewsNetwork Rail announces electrification framework agreements
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail has awarded Balfour Beatty, AmeyInabensa, CarillionPowerlines and ABC Electrification a total of six geographical framework contracts for its £2bn electrification programme. The agreements announced on February 4 run for seven years, with the potential for three one-year extensions. Network Rail electrification framework agreements ...
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NewsZambian Copperbelt railway agreement
ZAMBIA: An agreement to complete a bankable feasibility study for the construction of a 590 km railway to serve the Copperbelt area of northern Zambia and the Angolan border was signed by project promoter Northwest Rail Co and South African logistics company Grindrod on February 3. Road infrastructure in the ...
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NewsExtra platform opened at Gatwick Airport station
UK: The seventh platform at Gatwick Airport station was officially opened by Transport Minister Baroness Kramer on February 3. The platform forms part of a £53m project designed to improve capacity and flexibility on the Brighton Main Line, supported by £7·5m from Gatwick Airport Ltd. The work was undertaken ...
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NewsSwitzerland to fund Italian gauge enhancement
EUROPE: An agreement for Switzerland to fund gauge enhancement works to provide clearance for 4 m high semitrailer traffic from freight terminals in northern Italy to the Swiss border was signed by the two countries' transport ministers on January 28. Switzerland is aiming to encourage road freight to switch to ...
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NewsAZD Praha and CAF become full members of UNISIG
EUROPE: AZD Praha and CAF have become the first associate members of UNISIG to upgrade to full membership of the organisation founded in 1999 to draft the technical specifications for ETCS. Czech signalling supplier AZD Praha had become the first associate member of UNISIG in 2009, and was joined by ...
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NewsStudy sets out ways to cut Denmark - Hamburg journey times
EUROPE: Passenger journey times on the 337 km route between Aarhus in Denmark and Hamburg in Germany could be reduced by 97 min to 2 h 53 min without requiring major infrastructure works, according to a study undertaken by Atkins on behalf of 17 local authorities. Atkins has produced a ...
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NewsFaster track maintenance at RVR
AFRICA: Kenya - Uganda railway concessionaire Rift Valley Railways has taken delivery of a ballast tamper and ballast profiler ordered from Plasser & Theurer at a cost of USh3bn to significantly reduce the time taken to undertake track maintenance. The two machines will work in tandem to correctly align track ...
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NewsEdinburgh - Glasgow electrification design contract awarded
UK: The public version of the final business case for the Edinburgh - Glasgow Improvement Programme was published by Transport Scotland on January 27, when infrastructure manager Network Rail announced that Costain and Morgan Sindall had been awarded five-month alliancing contracts worth £5m to define the detailed scope, programme and ...
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NewsGreat prospects in sight at Tazara
AFRICA: Private finance from customers and stakeholders is to be sought to meet at least 15% of the cost of a five-year strategic investment plan which was approved by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority board in December. Spending of US$211m is proposed in 2013-18, including US$177m targeted at increasing capacity. ...
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NewsDeal to continue freight operations in New Brunswick
CANADA: The Province of New Brunswick and CN announced an agreement to ensure the future of freight services on two sections of the former New Brunswick East Coast Railway on January 24. The province is to provide up to C$25m for works to bring the infrastructure to the required operating ...
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NewsCharles-de-Gaulle Airport rail link project relaunched
FRANCE: A dedicated airport rail link between Paris Est and Charles-de-Gaulle Airport could begin operating in 2023 under a €1·7bn-€1·9bn project announced by Transport Minister Frédéric Cuvillier on January 23. Speaking at an event in the airport's Terminal 3 organised by Aéroports de Paris, the minister said the project would ...
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NewsPassenger trains to return to Chartres - Voves route
FRANCE: RFF President Jacques Rapoport joined François Bonneau, President of the Centre region, on January 21 to lay the first stone for a new control centre at Voves station, marking the start of work on a €71·7m project to reopen the 25 km Chartres - Voves route to passenger traffic. ...
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NewsNetwork Rail orders eight Robel Mobile Maintenance Systems
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail has confirmed an order worth around €50m for eight Robel self-propelled Mobile Maintenance System 69.70/4 trainsets. Developed from a concept devised by Austrian Federal Railways and also supplied to Norway, Germany and the Netherlands, the MMS is designed to provide a safe and well-lit environment ...
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NewsETCS goes live to Haparanda
SWEDEN: The ETCS Level 2 installation on Trafikverket's Haparandabanan leading to the Finnish border at Tornio was put into revenue service on December 16. The first Green Cargo freight train to run under ETCS departed from Boden at 04.10 that morning and arrived in Haparanda just over 2 h later. ...
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NewsTracklaying completed on trans-Kazakhstan rail link
KAZAKHSTAN: Two new lines are on course to open later this year, after ceremonies in December marked the joining of the tracks being laid from each end of the routes. According to national railway KTZ the lines are of an economic and social importance with it would be 'difficult ...
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NewsChinese firm to modernise Chemin de Fer Congo-Océan
CONGO: Minister of Transport & Civil Aviation Rodolphe Adada and China Railway Construction Corp signed an agreement to study rehabilitation of the 1 067 mm gauge Chemin de Fer Congo-Océan network on December 21. Both the Pointe Noire - Brazzaville main line and the Mont Bélo - ...
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NewsCambridge Science Park station to incorporate Game of Life
UK: Construction of a new station to serve the Cambridge Science Park in the Chesterton area of north Cambridge is due to get underway shortly, following the granting of planning approval last month. Opening is planned for December 2015. Around 3 000 passengers/day are predicted to the use the station, ...