Infrastructure news – Page 271
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NewsTrans-Korean reconstruction begins
NORTH KOREA: Ceremonies were held at the border station of Tumangan on October 4 to mark the start of reconstruction work on the first section of the Trans-Korean Main Line between the Russian border and the port of Rajin, where a new container terminal is to be built. Intended to ...
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NewsRZD signs funding accord
RUSSIA: On October 3 Russian Railways signed co-operation agreements with the Federal Agency for Rail Transport which will provide 45·6bn roubles of federal funding for two important infrastructure upgrading projects. Signed in Moscow by RZD President Vladimir Yakunin and the Head of Roszheldor Gennady Petrakov, the accord is the first ...
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NewsExpansion plans approved
CHINA: The National Development & Reform Commission has approved construction of the 261 km Tianjin - Qinhuangdao passenger-dedicated line, a 161 km extension from Lijiang to the Shangri La area of Yunnan province, a 487 km line from Kashi to Hetian in Xinjiang, and a direct link between Xi’an and ...
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Melbourne port project launched
AUSTRALIA: A A$50m project to improve the efficiency of rail services around the Port of Melbourne was formally launched last month. The state of Victoria is contributing A$23·5m to the project, the national government A$10m and ARTC the remainder. Work is expected to begin in early 2009 for completion in ...
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Sudan - Uganda link
AFRICA: The transport ministers of Uganda and Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding at the end of August establishing a Joint Ministerial Transport Commission to implement road upgrading and the construction of a 920 km rail link. The line will run from the Ugandan network at Gulu, via Nimule and ...
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NewsSwiss ETCS roll-out plan confirmed
SWITZERLAND: The Ministry of Transport has confirmed plans to roll out ETCS across the entire standard gauge rail network by 2017, at an estimated cost of SFr370m. The decision was announced on August 21, at an event attended by the European Commission’s special co-ordinator for ERTMS, Karel Vinck. With ...
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Base tunnel nears completion
SPAIN: Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero joined Development Minister Magadalena Álvarez on September 13 to witness the holing-through of the eastern bore of the Pajares base tunnel. Forming part of 49·7 km of new alignment being built at a cost of €2·39bn between La Robla and Pola de Lena, ...
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NewsPPP bids submitted
FRANCE: RFF confirmed on September 15 that it had received three bids for the PPP concession to build and maintain the 300 km Tours – Bordeaux high speed line, which is expected to reduce Paris – Bordeaux journeys to 2 h by 2016. This is one of four high ...
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NewsOpposition favours high speed line over third Heathrow runway
UK: Shadow Secretary of State for Transport Theresa Villiers announced on September 28 that Britain’s Conservative Party favoured construction of a high-speed north-south rail link instead of building a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport. Linking Heathrow with St Pancras, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, the ambitious scheme would see ...
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NewsRFF seeks Nîmes – Montpellier offers
FRANCE: RFF has released a request for expressions of interest in the construction and management, through a public-private partnership, of the Nîmes – Montpellier bypass. The 70 km bypass follows a new alignment to connect the existing TGV Méditerranée route with the high speed line currently being built from Barcelona ...
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NewsKashmir Valley line nears completion
INDIA: Building a railway deep into the heart of one of the world’s most inaccessible regions is a huge challenge for the surveying, design and construction teams.
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NewsWorld infrastructure market September 2008
Argentina: Tenders have been called for accessibility and other improvements at 22 Buenos Aires suburban stations, divided into two packages totalling 60m pesos. Also funded under a US$132m World Bank programme for 2008-10, an underpass is to be constructed within a budget of 42·5m pesos to replace a level crossing ...
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NewsInfrabel consults on Brussels bottleneck
BELGIUM: Infrastructure manager Infrabel has initiated a public debate on ways to expand the capacity of the busy Brussels Junction railway linking Nord and Midi stations through the heart of the capital. Director-General Luc Lallemand says the additional capacity will be needed by 2020 at the latest, and he puts ...
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Developing the delta
CHINA: 'When roads reach capacity, rail becomes the cheapest and fastest solution’, believes Ma Xiangming, Chief Engineer at the Guangdong Urban & Rural Planning & Design Institute, adding that the current lack of railway capacity risks holding back economic development in the Pearl River Delta. Chinese Railways has already quadrupled ...
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News£60m Airdrie - Bathgate contract placed
UK: Network Rail announced on September 23 that it had awarded Balfour Beatty Rail Projects a £60m contract for work on the £300m Airdrie - Bathgate project to reinstate an additional route between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The contract covers doubling the 2 km line between Airdrie and Drumgelloch, reinstating ...
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Rouen bypass completed
FRANCE: RFF has completed a €50m project to upgrade and electrify the 36 km route between Motteville and Montérolier-Buchy, enabling freight trains from the port of Le Havre to reach Amiens, northeastern France, the Benelux countries and Germany without negotiating the rail bottlenecks of Rouen and the Paris region. ...
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Auckland electrification contract
NEW ZEALAND: Infrastucture manager Ontrack has awarded Balfour Beatty, Maunsell and Evans & Peck a NZ$10m contract for 175 track-km of electrification around Auckland. The project forms part of a NZ$1bn investment programme announced in 2007. Work on the Britomart - Papakura and Newmarket - Swanson routes will ...
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NewsDesign your own railway
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: WSP International confirmed on August 12 that it had been appointed as technical adviser to the national infrastructure agency Nidco during the design and construction of planned Trinidad rail network. The consultant says it will 'provide technical advice to the government as project manager’ for the ...
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NewsERTMS contract in Croatia
CROATIA: The Central Finance & Contracting Agency has awarded a consortium of Bombardier and Italian firm Site SpA a €16m contract to install Interflo 250 ETCS Level 1 equipment between Vinkovci and Tovarnik. The 33·5 km line to the Serbian border forms part of Pan-European Corridor X between ...
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Punta Colonet tenders called
MEXICO: President Felipe Calderon announced the start of tendering for a 45-year build and operate concession covering the planned US$5bn Punta Colonet port and railway project on August 28. The centrepiece will be a container port for trans-Pacific cargo which is to be built on the lightly ...