Infrastructure news – Page 226
-
NewsSiemens and Invensys win Crossrail signalling contract
UK: A consortium of Siemens and Invensys Rail has won contract C620 covering the design, supply and commissioning of communications-based train control for the Crossrail project, promoter Crossrail Ltd announced on November 12. Bombardier Transportation, Invensys Rail, Siemens, Signalling Solutions and Thales were invited to tender for the contract. Bombardier ...
-
NewsMalaysian firm to build east-west corridor in Laos
LAOS: Watched by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Laotian Deputy Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong, a contract was signed in Vientiane on November 5 for construction of a 220 km railway running east-west across Laos from the Thai to Vietnamese borders. Under an agreement with the ...
-
NewsInteroperability call on Brazil's new freight corridors
BRAZIL: Common standards should be adopted to ensure interoperability across the 10 000 km of new freight railway corridors to be developed by the federal government over the next 15 years, according to national railway industry association Abifer. Speaking on November 6 at the first Metroferroviário conference, being held alongside ...
-
NewsCentral Asian strategic transport plan agreed
ASIA: Meeting at Wuhan in China at the end of October, ministers from the 10 Central Asia Regional Economic Co-operation Program countries agreed an action plan to implement transport infrastructure projects costing more than US$23bn, together with energy and trade initiatives aimed at improving connectivity. The majority of the medium-term ...
-
NewsMorgan Sindall to build North West operating centre
UK: Construction company Morgan Sindall has been awarded a £15·9m contract to build Network Rail's North West regional operating centre. Scheduled for completion by December 2013, the facility at Gorton in Greater Manchester will be one of 14 controlling operations on the national network. The three-storey steel-framed building is to ...
-
NewsRedesigned signalling power supply cuts copper costs
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail says it has reduced the amount of copper needed for signalling power supply projects by a third through a three-year project to enable two-core unarmoured class 2 cables to be used in place of armoured class 1 cables containing two live wires and an earth ...
-
NewsChinese loan agreements revive trans-Laos project
LAOS: Vientiane has agreed to accept US$7bn of loans from China to restart construction of the stalled 420 km north-south railway linking the capital to China’s Yunnan province via Phônhông, Vangvieng, Luang Phabang, Oudomxay and Louang Namtha. The cross-border project dates back to 2009, when an agreement ...
-
News550 tonne tunnel boring machine lowered into Crossrail shaft
UK: A 550 tonne tunnel boring machine was lowered into a 40 m deep shaft in east London on October 25, ahead of the start of tunnelling for the 8·3 km Limmo Peninsula - Farringdon section of the Crossrail project. Weldex International supplied one of the largest cranes in Europe ...
-
NewsPrivate passenger operators in six years
UKRAINE: Private companies could be involved in the Ukrainian passenger rail market within six years, according to Minister of Infrastructure Borys Kolesnikov. Speaking at the inauguration of the renovated Slavyansk station on the Donetsk Railway on October 22, Kolesnikov said current passenger operations are not profitable, and it would not ...
-
NewsEIB supports increase in Polish train speeds
POLAND: The European Investment Bank has announced two loans totalling €165m to finance infrastructure works which will enable trains to run at higher speeds on the national network. A €100m loan will fund modernisation of the 58 km Warszawa Zachodnia - Miedniewice line to raise the maximum speed to 160 ...
-
NewsComplex Tokyo grade-separation project completed
JAPAN: A complex project to grade-separate an important road crossing at Kamata in the southern suburbs of Tokyo was completed in the early hours of October 22. The crossing carried the Haneda Airport branch of the 1 435 mm gauge Keihin Kyuko Railway across the busy main road between Tokyo ...
-
NewsGoliath crane on Oxford Street
UK: Industrial crane manufacturer Street Crane has supplied the BFK joint venture of BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman and Kier Construction with 10 cranes for use during the construction of the Royal Oak - Farringdon section of the Crossrail tunnel under central London. The latest is a Goliath crane with a ...
-
NewsChiltern Railways gets powers for Oxford to London project
UK: The Secretary of State for Transport has granted legal powers under the Transport & Works Act for the £130m Evergreen 3 project to provide a new route between London and Oxford, Chiltern Railways announced on October 18. A short chord linking the London - Bicester North - Banbury and ...
-
NewsElectrification agreement reached
ISRAEL: Israel Railways and government agency National Roads Company signed an agreement on October 14 setting out their respective responsibilities for proposed 25 kV 50 Hz rail electrification projects. As the agency responsible for national infrastructure projects, NRC will electrify new lines including the 23 km 'Akko - Karmi'el line ...
-
NewsWorld rail infrastructure market October 2012
Australia: Within a 2010 framework, Ansaldo STS has been awarded an A$80·2m contract to supply signalling, communications and train control equipment for the doubling of Rio Tinto’s 70 km single-track line from Emu Siding to Cape Lambert. Algeria: Anesrif has awarded the Estel joint venture of SNTF and Siemens ...
-
NewsSpain announces €4·7bn rail spend
SPAIN: With total planned spending of €4·7bn, rail forms 47% of the Ministry of Development's proposed investment budget for 2013, unveiled by Development Minister Ana Pastor on October 1. Of this total, €3·3bn or 71% is to be spent on high speed projects, with €332m allocated to the conventional ...
-
NewsBengbu - Hefei high speed line opens
CHINA: The 132 km Bengbu - Hefei high speed line entered service on October 16, with the departure at 08.10 of trains G263 from Beijing South and G262 from Hefei. The north-south line links Bengbu on the Beijing - Shanghai Passenger-Dedicated Line with Hefei and the east-west high speed line ...
-
NewsAzarshahr electrification inaugurated
IRAN: Electrification equipment on the 46 km route between Tabriz and Azarshahr was formally inaugurated with a ceremony on October 13. Guests included Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways which undertook the €8·85m project in partnership with local subcontractor Sazeh Novin Tabriz. The primary aim of electrifying the five-station single-track ...
-
NewsJapan to fund four-tracking in West Java
INDONESIA: Work is expected to begin by the end of the month to increase capacity on a congested mixed-traffic corridor in the suburbs of Jakarta. Central to the project is the four tracking and resignalling of the current 32 route-km double-track alignment between Manggarai and Cikarang. State ...
-
NewsAusAID pledges funding as Cambodian rehabilitation resumes
CAMBODIA: Australian overseas development agency AusAID has pledged further financial assistance to support the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s partly-modernised metre-gauge network. AusAID’s contribution of at least A$1m will support the relocation and compensation of families affected by the US$141m railway modernisation. The upgrading work is being co-ordinated by ...