Infrastructure news – Page 265
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NewsSeeking cost efficiency through benchmarking
USA: In order to learn from international best practice, Amtrak has started to benchmark its infrastructure performance and expenditure against a group of European operators.
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NewsDesertXpress consultation starts
USA: Public consultation hearings are taking place this week in California and Nevada into the Environmental Impact Statement for the privately-promoted DesertXpress high speed line linking the southern California region with Las Vegas. The meetings in Las Vegas, Victorville and Barstow follow approval of the Draft EIS by the Federal ...
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NewsJumbo flyover
INDIA: Level crossing accidents remain one of the biggest external safety risks for the rail sector, and last month saw several of the major international railway associations sign up to a European convention on road safety, as part of an awareness campaign aimed at reducing the number of fatalities and ...
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NewsChavez backs expansion drive
VENEZUELA: President Hugo Chavez has confirmed that more than 13 600 km of railway is to be built by 2030 under the National Railway Development Plan. Proposals for a national network have existed since the 1950s, but state-owned IFE currently operates just two isolated 1 435 mm gauge lines totalling ...
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NewsAuckland to install ETCS Level 1
NEW ZEALAND: National infrastructure manager Ontrack has selected Invensys Rail Group to supply and install ETCS Level 1 train control equipment for its Auckland metropolitan area resignalling, in conjunction with the modernisation and electrification of the suburban network. This is the first application of the European Rail Traffic Management System ...
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NewsParis – Caen in 90 min by 2020
FRANCE: Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau has announced the go-ahead for plans to for improve rail services between Paris and Normandie, with €4bn to be invested in the Paris – Caen – Cherbourg route by 2020. A key element is a cut-off between Mantes and Nanterre in the ...
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NewsWorld infrastructure market April 2009
Angola: Chinese firms reconstructing the 903 km CFN line between Moçâmedes and Menongue as part of the government’s National Reconstruction Programme have handed back the 89 km section between Matala and Dongo. A further 505 km is to be completed by July 2010. Argentina: On March 3 the federal government ...
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NewsLevel 2 rolls out across the Danish network
DENMARK: Politicians approved funding for Banedanmark to resignal the entire national rail network with ETCS and CBTC in January. Tendering is expected to get underway immediately, with the whole project to be completed by 2021.
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NewsHigh speed stations for a high speed railway
SAUDI ARABIA: A joint venture of Foster + Partners and Buro Happold has been appointed to design four stations for the 444 km Haramain High Speed Railway project. The rapid three-year construction timescale has led to a modular approach to the design of the Makkah, Jeddah, King Abdullah Economic ...
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NewsElectrification to cut Zürich – München times
GERMANY: An agreement for electrification and infrastructure upgrades between München and Lindau in Bayern was signed in Memmingen on April 17. Tilting trains will be able to run at 160 km/h, cutting München – Zürich journeys from 4 h 10 min to 3 h 15 m by 2015. Services will ...
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NewsWindhoff multi-purpose vehicle handed over to SBB
SWITZERLAND: The first of five Combi multi-purpose infrastructure maintenance vehicles being supplied to Swiss Federal Railways by Windhoff was officially handed over at the IAF track technology exhibition in Münster on April 22. The 20 m long machine is one of three variants based on a common platform and ...
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NewsConfidence in a buoyant market
MATISA: Swiss track equipment specialist Matisa shows little sign of suffering in the global recession as orders continue to arrive from railways across the world.
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NewsTrack renewals closer
URUGUAY: State railway AFE was due to begin track renewals between Tacuarembó and Rivera last month, having begun to move rail for the project from a site near Peñarol using wagons supplied by Italian State Railways. Manufactured in Russia, the rail had been in storage since 1999. Meanwhile, infrastructure authority ...
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NewsExhibits inside and out
IAF: Swiss group Speno International will have products on display both indoors and outside in Münster.
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NewsPermanent Way industry makes tracks to Münster
INFRASTRUCTURE: More than 150 companies representing all aspects of the permanent way industry will be present in Münster for the 25th International Exhibition of Track Technology taking place on April 21-23.
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NewsFull order book in Freilassing
ROBEL: Driven by a robust export market and sub-contracted work from its parent company Plasser & Theurer, German track equipment supplier Robel is increasing capacity at its base in the south of the country.
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NewsObama announces inter-city rail funding programme
USA: An ambitious strategic programme to spend $13bn on 10 'high speed' rail corridors over five years was unveiled by President Barack Obama on April 16, as part of an initiative to reduce fuel consumption, pollution, traffic congestion and airport overcrowding. The federal $787bn economic stimulus plan includes ...
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NewsSuppliers expect strong interest at Münster exhibition
IAF: Full order books are keeping track machinery suppliers busy, while economic regeneration programmes should lead to more contracts in the medium term. We look at some of the machines on show at iaf 2009 and talk to suppliers about the market.
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NewsNairobi commuter upgrade plan
KENYA: Kenya Railways signed a joint venture agreement with InfraCo on April 15 commissioning a two-year study into a major upgrading of commuter rail services in Nairobi. Implementation of the recommendations would take a further 18 months, for completion in 2012 when national rail concessionaire Rift Valley Railways loses the ...
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NewsPort of Melbourne link opens
AUSTRALIA: The upgraded Tottenham - Dynon rail link was officially opened on 8 April, five years after the start of the A$45m project to provide a 7 km double track standard gauge connection between the Tottenham yards and the Port of Melbourne's intermodal terminal. Opening the line, Minister for ...