Infrastructure news – Page 260
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NewsPortuguese high speed contract awarded
PORTUGAL: On December 12 the Ministry of Public Works, Transport & Communications announced that the Elos consortium had been awarded a 40-year concession to build, finance and maintain the first section of the high speed line between Lisboa and the Spanish frontier, the 165 km between Poceirão and the border ...
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NewsGovernment go ahead for more electrification
UK: Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis announced plans to electrify a further three routes in northwest England on December 14. The £200m programme builds on plans to electrify a Liverpool - Manchester route which were announced in July. These additional routes are Huyton - Wigan (24 km), allowing electric trains to ...
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NewsCambodian railway to be revived by 2013
CAMBODIA: Asian Development Bank announced a second US$42m loan towards rehabilitation of the dilapidated rail network on December 16, doubling the funding it is providing for the US$141m project. ADB said freight trains will begin running on the southern line between Phnom Penh and Kampot near the Vietnamese border in ...
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NewsCEVA link approved
SWITZERLAND: Voters in the Swiss canton of Genève have backed the provision of an extra SFr113m required to go ahead with the CEVA project to link the city's main Cornavin station with Eaux Vives station, terminus of a 6 km line from Annemasse in France which will be modernised and ...
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NewsA star is born
BELGIUM: Ceremonies on December 8 at the Dutch-Belgian border near Noorderkempen and outside Brussels Midi station marked the completion of the Belgian high speed network, which forms a star of four lines. Planning for the first line from the French border to Brussels began back in 1988. From December 13, ...
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NewsYakunin views Libyan rail progress
LIBYA: A year after the April 2008 construction contract came into force in December 2008, Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin visited Libyan Railways Chairman Said Mohammed Rashid on December 5 to discuss progress with the 554 km Surt - Banghazi railway, being built by RZD under a €2·2bn contract. ...
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NewsItalian north-south high speed line completed
ITALY: Celebrations were held in Milano on December 5 to mark the completion of the final sections of the north-south high speed rail corridor, which opens for revenue service with the timetable change on December 13. Completion of the Novara – Milano, Bologna – Firenze and Napoli – Salerno links ...
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NewsNîmes - Montpellier funding accord
FRANCE: The national and regional governments signed an agreement on December 2 setting out funding arrangements for construction of the Nîmes - Montpellier bypass and paving the way for the start of construction. The 80 km mixed-traffic route will form an extension of the south-western branch of LGV Méditerranée ...
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NewsNext-generation Thales interlocking commissioned
FRANCE: Infrastructure manager RFF brought the first Thales PIPC G2 computer-based interlocking into service on December 1. Installed at Longueau on the outskirts of Amiens, it sets 178 routes, controlling 65 sets of points and 75 signals. LockTrac 6171 PIPC G2 is an upgrade of PIPC V1 which is ...
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NewsInfrastructure managers to merge
EUROPE: Two of the Nordic region’s railway infrastructure authorities are to disappear in 2010, as their respective governments move to consolidate their transport administrations. First to disappear will be Finnish rail infrastructure manager RHK, which is to become part of a new Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency from January 1. Liikennevirasto ...
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NewsRFF to launch Perpignan – Montpellier study
FRANCE: Following a public consultation between March and July 2009, infrastructure manager RFF announced on November 26 that it is to launch formal design studies for the high speed line between Montpellier and Perpignan. According to RFF, the public consultation led to the emergence of a ‘preferred corridor’ in terms ...
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NewsNew line option selected to boost capacity
DENMARK: 'This is a milestone in Danish railway history, said Transport Minister Lars Barfoed after the main political parties approved the 'Modern Railway settlement on October 22, giving the go-ahead for a series of capacity enhancement projects including the construction of a new line from Ny Ellebjerg to Ringsted ...
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NewsConstruction back on track
NIGERIA: The federal government and China Civil Engineering Construction Corp signed a US$876m deal on October 26 for construction of the planned 200 km Abuja – Kaduna railway within three years. The Chinese government has granted a loan of US$500m for the project, the first phase of a national railway ...
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NewsHong Kong high speed approved
CHINA: Construction of the Hong Kong section of the planned 142 km Express Rail Link from West Kowloon to the Shibi railway hub in New Guangzhou is set to get underway by the end of this year, after the Special Administrative Region’s Executive Council approved the XRL project on October ...
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NewsPerpignan - Figueres concession extended
SPAIN: On November 6 the Ministry of Development announced a package of measures to compensate TP Ferro, the company building the new Perpignan – Figueres cross-border route, for delays in completing the connecting high speed line between Barcelona and Figueres. TP Ferro’s concession agreement is to be extended from ...
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NewsQatar Railways Development Co founded
QATAR: A company to develop €17bn of railway and metro networks in the emirate was established with the signing of an agreement in Doha on November 22. Qatar Railways Development Company is a joint venture between the Qatari Diar real estate arm of state-owned Qatar Investment Authority (51%), and ...
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NewsNetwork Rail makes the case for wires
UK: 'The case for the Midland Main Line is extremely strong said Network Rail Chief Executive Iain Coucher as the infrastructure manager published the final version of its electrification strategy on October 28. 'Subject to affordability, the core strategy covers 25 kV 50 Hz electrification of the Midland Main ...
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NewsGulf Railway could start next year
MIDDLE EAST: The Gulf Co-operation Council remains optimistic that a 1940 route-km regional network could be operational by 2017. Despite concerns that the ambitious railway network linking the six states in the Gulf Co-operation Council could be delayed by the global economic downturn, officials are insistent that ...
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NewsSouth Gobi coal line construction contract
MONGOLIA: Energy Resources LLC has awarded Leighton Asia a US$338m contract to design, build and maintain for four years a 225 km coal railway in the South Gobi region. The line will carry coking coal from Ukhaa Khudag, where Leighton Asia has a six -year mining contract, to the ...
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NewsWorld infrastructure market November 2009
Czech Republic: Viamont DSP and Subterra have completed a KC533m modernisation of the junction at Sokolov, now controlled by ESA 11 interlocking equipment supplied by AZD Praha. The final section of the Karlovy Vary – Cheb route will now be converted from left to SZDC’s standard right-hand running. ...