Infrastructure news – Page 262
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NewsStrategic review to analyse rail reform
DENMARK: Increasing rail's market share is at the heart of a strategic review of the national rail network outlined by Transport Minister Lars Barfoed on September 23. The discussion paper A Railway In Growth sets out the remit for the review, which is to be completed by autumn 2010 and ...
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News200 km/h on Czech tracks
CZECH REPUBLIC: Infrastructure manager SZDC has launched a programme to raise speed limits on its main lines from 160 km/h to 200 km/h. The main limitation is the presence of level crossings and need for upgraded signalling. A pilot project will take place on the 77 km Brno - ...
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NewsThe hare and the tortoise
VIETNAM: We reported last month on the plethora of nascent inter-city rail projects emerging in the USA on the back of President Obama’s decision to dedicate US$13bn in funding, thus raising the prospect of the country being catapulted up the rankings in the ‘hare and tortoise’ race to develop high ...
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NewsERTMS programe consultants chosen
DENMARK: Infrastructure manager Banedanmark has awarded a 12 -year contract for consultancy services throughout its national resignalling programme to a joint venture of Rambøll, Atkins, Emch+Berger and Parsons. The contract is worth DKr1bn, and includes advice on tendering, supplier oversight, implementation of early deployment schemes by 2015 and final ...
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NewsGreengauge 21 proposes UK high speed network
UK: High speed rail lobby group Greengauge 21 published a report on September 16 calling for a 1 550 km network of high speed lines. GG 21 Director Jim Steer said that the message was simple: 'what Britain needs today is a high speed network, not a single line'. ...
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NewsSNCFT orders LockTrac interlockings
TUNISIA: SNCFT has awarded a consortium of Vossloh Cogifer and Thales a €20m contract to supply electronic interlockings for a total of 14 stations on the Borj Cédria - Kalaâ Seghira section of the Tunis - Gabès line and the Manoube - Ghardimaou section of the Tunis - Alger route. ...
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NewsWorld infrastructure market September 2009
Australia: ARTC signed an agreement with Leighton Contractors on July 29 creating the Upper Hunter Valley Alliance to deliver A$152m of works to increase rail capacity on the Hunter Valley coal corridor. Sub-alliance partners include Parsons Brinckerhoff, Coffey Geotechnics and KMH Environmental. Last month Siemens completed electrification of QR’s Jilalan ...
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NewsRail industry has cause for optimism, survey suggests
GLOBAL: A survey of 961 respondents across the rail, aviation and shipping industries by law firm Norton Rose has indicated that the rail industry is best placed to withstand the impact of the recession. Norton Rose launched its report detailing the results, entitled The Way Ahead for Transport, at ...
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NewsGrand designs from Ethiopian Railway Corp
ETHIOPIA: Dr Getachew Betru is a man with a vision. As Director of the Ethiopian Railway Corp, he has been charged by the country’s government with planning and developing a 5 000 km standard-gauge rail network over the next seven years. Through his business at GBA Consultancy, Dr Betru ...
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NewsAdonis builds momentum at UK’s High Speed Rail Summit
UK: Fresh from visits to China and South Korea where he had been looking at high speed rail developments, Secretary of State for Transport Lord Andrew Adonis told an audience of around 250 delegates at the HSR Summit in London on September 9 that the issue of high speed rail ...
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NewsCab signalling to bring 200 km/h to Poland
POLAND: The CMK fast line linking Warszawa with Silesia is to be equipped with ETCS Level 1 under a 50·1m zloty contract signed by infrastructure manager PKP PLK and Thales Rail Signalling Solutions on August 29. The work is being funded by PKP PLK and the state, but as ...
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NewsAssociation of American Railroads voices PTC concerns
USA: The Association of American Railroads has registered objections to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Positive Train Control, issued by the Federal Railroad Administration on July 16. According to AAR, the proposal goes beyond what was mandated by Congress, and would therefore impose unnecessary burdens on the Class I ...
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NewsNS Hispeed launches HSL-Zuid services
NETHERLANDS: NS Hispeed launched Amsterdam - Rotterdam passenger services over HSL-Zuid on September 7, following a formal inauguration by the Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings and the mayors of Amsterdam, Haarlemmermeer and Rotterdam the previous day. The interim service comprises 17 weekday return trips, with Bombardier Traxx electric locomotives ...
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NewsTyva railway PPP signed
RUSSIA: Eniseiskaya Industrial Corp and the government of the Tyva republic signed a public-private partnership agreement for the construction of the Kyzyl - Kuragino railway during a visit by Federal Minister for Regional Development Viktor Basargin on August 28. Under terms agreed in February, the 98·6 rouble cost of ...
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NewsLGV Est Phase 2 tendering gets underway
FRANCE: Infrastructure manager RFF invited tenders on September 2 for work on the second phase of Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est Européenne, with a view to starting construction in the spring of 2010. This follows the signing of the formal financing agreement for the project on September 1. Participating ...
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NewsChicago corridor cut
USA: Plans to re-configure five key rail corridors to improve the flow of traffic through the Chicago area are being scaled back owing to a lack of funding. The Chicago Region Environmental & Transportation Efficiency programme was launched in 2003 as a $1·5bn public-private partnership between the Department of ...
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NewsNetwork Rail recommends high speed line to northwest and Scotland
UK: A vision of journey times from London of just 2 h 16 min to Glasgow, 1 h 06 min to Manchester and 46 min to Birmingham was painted by Network Rail Chief Executive Iain Coucher on August 26, when he unveiled the findings of a study by the infrastructure ...
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NewsRZD takes stake in Ulaanbaatar Railway
MONGOLIA: Russian Railways took control of 50% of the shares of Ulaanbaatar Railway (UBTZ) on August 25, when President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree transferring the Russian government's stake in UBTZ for five years. This follows a May 13 agreement that the Mongolian rail network will be managed by ...
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NewsFaster to Extremadura
SPAIN: Tenders are to be called in the last quarter of this year for the construction of a gauge-changing facility at Brazatortas-Veredas, enabling trains from Mérida and Badajoz to use the high speed line from Córdoba to reach Madrid. The work is expected to take 10 months ...
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NewsLa Réunion picks tram-train concessionaire
FRANCE: The regional council in La Réunion selected the Tram'Tiss consortium as preferred bidder for the PPP concession to develop the Indian Ocean island's ambitious interurban tram-train route on August 13. Led by Bouygues, Bombardier and Veolia, the consortium also includes Colas, local architects and financial partners such as ...