Infrastructure news – Page 249
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NewsEiffage wins LGV Bretagne PPP
FRANCE: Following an extraordinary board meeting on January 18, infrastructure manager RFF announced that it had selected Eiffage as preferred bidder to build LGV Bretagne – Pays de la Loire under a PPP deal valued at €3·4bn. The project covers construction of 214 km of new line, of which 182 ...
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NewsBreak of gauge no more
EUROPE: Opening of the new line between Perpignan and Figueres and completion of a €337m programme to provide a 1 435 mm gauge route for freight trains between Figueres and Barcelona Morrot has enabled 6 h to be cut from the transit time for intermodal services. Since December 21 ...
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NewsExpress Rail Link infrastructure contract awarded
CHINA: Hong Kong's MTR Corp has awarded a joint venture of UK engineering group Laing O'Rourke and Chinese contractors Hsin Chong and Paul Y a £260m contract for infrastructure work on the Express Rail Link. Contract 810B covers construction of the southern portion of the West Kowloon Terminus, adjacent to ...
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NewsReturn to Malanje marks Angolan railway revival
ANGOLA: Caminhos de Ferro de Luanda passenger and freight services returned to the city of Malanje after 18 years on January 13, following rehabilitation of the 424 km line from Luanda. Passenger trains are scheduled to take 9 to 10 h with one stop at Ndalatando, and around 300 ...
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NewsFirst phase of Hainan Island high speed ring opens
CHINA: The high speed line down the east coast of the island province of Hainan was officially opened on December 30, with a ceremony which also launched construction of a second phase along the west coast which will form a high speed rail ring around the island. The initial line ...
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NewsWorld rail infrastructure market January 2011
Argentina: NCA has completed work to reopen the 138 km Río Primero – Sebastián Elcano route for grain traffic, closed since 1978. The 180m pesos project has been funded by the federal government. Australia: Ansaldo STS has signed a five-year framework agreement worth up to A$467m to provide Rio ...
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NewsLatvian east-west signalling contract awarded
LATVIA: Bombardier Transportation has won its third major signalling contract in Latvia, a €9·25m deal announced on January 5 covering the supply of EBI Lock 950 computer-based interlockings, EBI Screen 2000 control room and EBI Gate 2000 level crossing equipment for the Skriveri - Krustpils double-tracking project. A consortium of ...
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NewsChina's horizons extend southwards
ASIA: China's influence is starting to make itself felt in the quickening pace of railway planning across southeast Asia, although precise route alignments and costs remain unclear. Rail links to both Laos and Myanmar are now being firmly backed by Beijing. New lines into both countries would be built from ...
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NewsFehmarn Belt tunnel preferred
EUROPE: Femern A/S is recommending an immersed tunnel rather than a cable-stayed bridge as its preferred option for the Fehmarn Belt fixed link to replace the train ferry between Germany and Denmark, the Danish project promoter announced on November 30. A 17·6 km tunnel up to 40 m deep would ...
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NewsCompletion of Ankara - Konya high speed line is significant step
TURKEY: The first passenger train on TCDD's new Ankara - Konya high speed line ran on December 17, marking another significant step in the country's rail development. International Affairs Director Ibrahim Ceslik says revenue services are expected to begin in early 2011, following the formal completion of the line at ...
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NewsPassenger trains to return to Norfolk
USA: Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell announced on December 20 that daily inter-city passenger trains will return to Norfolk within three years, restoring regular services to the Hampton Roads region for the first time since 1977. The announcement followed the signing of an agreement between the Commonwealth of Virginia and ...
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NewsGrant reallocations double California’s high speed pilot section
USA: The planned initial segment of California’s proposed high-speed rail network was almost doubled in length on December 20, thanks to the reallocation of federal funding promised for right-of-way upgrading schemes in Wisconsin and Ohio. Following the rejection of those projects by the two states’ newly-elected governors, the Department of ...
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NewsA sporting chance for rail
INTERNATIONAL: Amid a flurry of flashbulbs and a deluge of controversy, the governing body of world football FIFA announced on December 2 that Russia and Qatar would host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments respectively. Within days of the announcement in Zürich, the first details of planned transport investment ...
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NewsSpain to build 450 km/h railway test circuit
SPAIN: The government has approved a project to build what it describes as the largest railway test circuit in the world, a 55 km loop designed for trials of 1 435 mm gauge rolling stock at speeds up to 450 km/h. Work on the facility at Bobadilla, between Córdoba and ...
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NewsBroad gauge to Wien is feasible, says study
EUROPE: The proposed 450 km broad-gauge railway from Košice in eastern Slovakia to the Wien-Bratislava region offers the potential to create jobs and provide economic benefits to four countries, according to a pre-feasibility study undertaken by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. The study was commissioned in April by project promoter Breitspur ...
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NewsScottish cities reconnected
UK: A fourth direct route between Edinburgh and Glasgow came into operation on December 12, following the completion of a £300m project to reconnect the Glasgow – Airdrie and Edinburgh – Bathgate branch lines. The work re-establishes a through route which had been truncated for passengers in 1956 and closed ...
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NewsRoyal opening for Madrid – Valencia
SPAIN: The Madrid to Cuenca and Albacete section of the high speed line to Valencia was formally inaugurated by the Prince of Asturias and his consort on December 15. The section from Cuenca to Valencia will follow on December 18. The completion of a further 438 km of high speed ...
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NewsAllegro launch cuts Helsinki - St Petersburg journey times
EUROPE: Helsinki - St Petersburg passenger services were relaunched with the December 12 timetable change, with journey times cut by 2 h to 3½ h following the introduction of Alstom dual-voltage New Pendolino tilting trainsets, infrastructure upgrades to permit running at 220 km/h in Finland and 200 km/h in Russia, ...
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NewsONCF orders 14 Duplex high speed trains
MOROCCO: Alstom Transport is to supply national railway ONCF with 14 Duplex high speed trainsets for Tanger – Casablanca services under a contract worth ‘nearly €400m’.The contract, signed in Tanger on December 10, foreshadows the opening of Morocco’s first high speed line between Tanger and Kénitra in December 2015. ...
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NewsRailway construction launched with a bang
IRAN: President Ahmadinejad attended a ceremony at Konarak in the southeastern province of Sistan va Baluchestan on December 6 where a groundbreaking blast in the colours of the national flag officially launched construction of the Chabahar - Zahedan railway. Work on the 600 km line linking the Gulf of Oman ...