Infrastructure news – Page 255
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NewsRFF control centre open
FRANCE: Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau opened RFF’s Integrated Control Centre for the Rhône-Alpes region in Lyon on June 14. The control centre is one of 15 that RFF is planning to build under a €500m programme of signalling upgrades that is expected to involve replacement of up to 1500 signalboxes ...
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NewsSupervising Swiss tracks
SWITZERLAND: The first integrated control centre on the Swiss Federal Railways network was formally opened in Lausanne on May 21. It will assume supervision of the whole SBB network in the French-speaking part of the country by 2015, with the exception of the immediate area around Lausanne, which will not ...
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NewsPilbara iron ore line approved
AUSTRALIA: Plans to build another 300 km rail link to serve the Pilbara iron ore mining region in Western Australia were approved by the state government on June 24. Premier Colin Barnett said the signing of an agreement with Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd was ‘a major step forward for ...
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NewsHigh Speed 1 goes on sale
UK: Transport Secretary Philip Hammond invited bids to buy HS1 Ltd on June 21. Currently a wholly -owned subsidiary of the state-owned London & Continental Railways Ltd, HS1 Ltd has a 30 year concession to manage the 109 km high speed line between London and the Channel Tunnel. The ...
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NewsKiel - Lübeck upgrade
GERMANY: DB Regio launched an enhanced service between Kiel and Lübeck on June 13, following a €32m programme of investment in the 81 km route which included infrastructure modernisation, more accessible platforms and a new station at Kiel-Elmschenhagen. The federal government provided two-thirds of the cost with the rest coming ...
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NewsWorld infrastructure market June 2010
Australia: John Holland and Aecom are to undertake the A$650m extension of Melbourne’s Epping commuter line by 3·5 km to South Morang. Austria: ÖBB Infrastruktur has appointed Frequentis to undertake outsourced systems integration for its ETCS Level 2 programme, with roll-out on several major routes scheduled for December ...
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NewsRail welding plant opened in Libya
LIBYA: Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin took part in the ceremonial opening of a rail welding plant in Ras Lanuf on June 11. It was built on a turnkey basis by welding equipment specialist Pskovelectrosvar, and will support RZD's €2·2bn four-year contract signed in April 2008 for construction ...
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NewsFrance to Portugal high speed co-operation agreement
EUROPE: During a two-day conference of ministers and stakeholders held in the Spanish city of Zaragoza to discuss the Trans-European Transport Network programme, on June 8 French Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau, Spanish Development Minister José Blanco and Portuguese Minister of Public Works, Transport & Communications António Mendonça ...
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NewsCutting track life-cycle costs
EUROPE: With the four-year Innotrack research project now approaching completion, the project partners now estimate that the life-cycle cost of track could be cut by 25% in the coming years. ‘That’s a lot of savings when you consider the extent of the rail network’, said UIC Director General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, ...
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NewsGenesee & Wyoming buys Alice Springs - Darwin operator
AUSTRALIA: US-based short line operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc is to acquire FreightLink, the concessionaire for the 2 240 km Tarcoola - Darwin railway which went into receivership in November 2008. GWI has managed FreightLink's rail services since they began in 2004, and expects to make significant savings by ...
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NewsGautrain's World Cup kick-off
SOUTH AFRICA: The first phase of the Gautrain passenger railway opened between Sandton, Marlboro, Rhodesfield and OR Tambo International Airport on June 8, completion having been accelerated so it would be ready for the start of the FIFA World Cup on June 11. Inauguration and ribbon-cutting ceremonies for invited ...
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NewsRail modernisation plans signed at Kazakh investment summit
KAZAKHSTAN: Major supply contracts and rail-sector co-operation memoranda were among the agreements signed at a national investment summit held in Almaty on June 3-4. A €70m contract to design and supply signalling and telecoms for the 293 km Zhetigen - Korgas 'China Gateway' railway was signed by state railway KTZ ...
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NewsDrone tampers set to work
USA: Harsco Rail has received orders totalling US$6m for its Drone Tamper, which uses two-way wireless ethernet technology to follow a conventional lead tamper as an unmanned, fully-automated chase vehicle that can tamp track roadbed without an operator onboard. A radar-controlled warning system mounted on the Drone alerts trackworkers when ...
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NewsGreater certainty in rail welds
WELDING: Corus Rail has develped a novel technique for repairing discrete defects on the rail surface. The semi-automated open arc welding method offers considerable benefits over conventional Manual Metal Arc repairs, the company says. Open arc welding uses flux-cored arc wire with a lower preheat temperature to manage the metallurgical ...
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NewsSigns of fatigue
NETHERLANDS: Infrastructure manager ProRail is trialling sensors using third-generation Gotcha technology to monitor freight train wheelsets. The QuoVadisII project measures wheel profiles and axle-loads as trains pass over the sensors. An abnormal weight distribution over the wheelset could indicate a defect in the wheel, axle or bearings. The operator of ...
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NewsLiberian ore line to spur Guinea revival
AFRICA: A revival of passenger and general freight services on the 662 km Chemins de fer de Guinée line is among commitments the BSG Resources (Guinea) Ltd mining joint venture has made in return for permission from the governments of Guinea and Liberia to build a new iron ore export ...
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NewsBoring begins beneath Madrid
SPAIN: Development Minister José Blanco joined ADIF President Antonio González on April 24 to mark the start of tunnelling on the 7·3 km route for high speed services between Atocha and Chamartín stations in Madrid. The €206m link will comprise 6835 m of 10·4 m diameter tunnel, being excavated ...
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NewsRail attracts investors
CHINA: Investors including Bank of China signed an agreement on May 6 to establish Jinyulu Railway Channel Co, which will develop a 99·8bn yuan freight line running 1260 km from coal mines at Xingxian in Shanxi province, through Henan to the Yellow Sea port of Rizhao. Bank of China ...
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NewsDen Haag Centraal station rebuild gets underway
NETHERLANDS: Work has begun to rebuild the 1970s Den Haag Centraal station as 'a spacious, bright and comfortable' multi -modal public transport interchange. Construction was formally launched on May 25 when Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings, ProRail Projects Director Patrick Buck, city councillor Marnix Norder and Gert Jan Vos of contractor ...
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NewsKTMB to leave central Singapore
SINGAPORE: The Prime Ministers of Singapore and Malaysia announced an agreement on May 24 for Malaysian national railway KTMB to vacate its Tanjong Pagar terminus in Singapore by July 1 2011. Trains from Malaysia will instead terminate at Woodlands, the Singapore end of the cross-border causeway, with a bus ...