Infrastructure news – Page 62
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NewsSouthern rail access to Barcelona port goes ahead
SPAIN: The Barcelona Port Authority board has given the go-ahead for the second phase of a project to provide a southern rail access to the port. Tenders are to be called for a 24-month construction contract budgeted at €31·2m. There are six elements to the project, ...
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NewsTabora – Isaka standard gauge railway contract signed
TANZANIA: Tanzania Railways Corp has awarded a contract to Turkish contractor Yapı Merkezi for the construction of Stage 4 of its expanding 1 435 mm gauge network.
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Rail Business UKFull electrification in scope as Transpennine Route Upgrade makes progress
UK: The Transpennine Route Upgrade is no longer the series of piecemeal interventions and partial electrification that regional stakeholders had feared, with the programme now including significant works to increase speeds and capacity as well as full electrification of the Transpennine North Railway between York and Manchester. ...
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NewsHudson Bay Railway permafrost study funded
CANADA: Current and future permafrost conditions along the Hudson Bay Railway corridor to Churchill in Manitoba are to be studied by the University of Calgary with C$4·4m of funding from the National Trade Corridors Fund. The results will be used to develop strategies to ensure the ...
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NewsSlow ERTMS roll-out is hindering French market opening, regulator warns
FRANCE: The limited roll-out of ERTMS is a major obstacle to the opening of the French domestic market to competition, according to rail regulator ART.
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NewsTranshipment facility opened at Laos-Thailand break-of-gauge
LAOS: The Vientiane South freight transhipment yard opened on July 1, at the break of gauge where the standard gauge railway from China which opened in December last year meets an extension of the metre-gauge line which enters Laos from Thailand. The first traffic was a ...
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NewsElectric railway opened to serve Cairo’s new cities
EGYPT: President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has inaugurated the first phase of the 103 km Capital Train ‘light rail transit’ electric suburban railway which is being built to connect Cairo with 10th Ramadan City and the New Administrative Capital. The ceremony was held on July 3, ...
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Rail Business UKDigitising signalling data saves time
UK: Alstom says it has achieved a 30% reduction in the time taken up by administrative tasks for the Cambridge resignalling scheme by using EviFile’s data collection and management software, and it expects to increase this to between 50% and 60% in the future. The deployment ...
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Rail Business UKLaing O’Rourke wins HS2 Interchange station contract
UK: High Speed 2 project promoter HS2 Ltd has selected Laing O’Rourke Delivery Ltd for a £370m contract to undertake detailed design and construction of the Interchange station in Solihull to the east of Birmingham. Skanska Construction UK and the Unity Joint Venture of Sir Robert ...
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NewsNext phase of Portuguese coastal railway upgrading underway
PORTUGAL: Work is set to start on rebuilding and electrifying the central section of the Linha do Oeste corridor between Torres Vedras and Caldas da Rainha following signature of a contract between Infraestruturas de Portugal and the construction consortium on June 28.
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NewsPadma rail and road bridge inaugurated
BANGLADESH: The 6 241 m long rail and road bridge over the River Padma was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on June 25. The bridge is intended to improve links between Dhaka and the southwest of the country, with one estimate being that it could ...
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NewsCalifornia high speed starter section set for completion as state funding finalised
USA: The state of California appears finally to be on course to complete the Initial Operating Section of its high speed rail network between Bakersfield and Merced after the programme was allocated $4·2bn in the annual state budget on June 30.
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NewsMadrid tunnel unites Spain’s standard gauge high speed networks
SPAIN: A cross-city tunnel between Madrid Atocha and Chamartín with two 1 435 mm gauge tracks opened on July 1, integrating the standard gauge lines to the north and south of the capital. Through trains no longer need to use gauge-changers at Atocha and Chamartín, reducing ...
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In depthSouth Africa: PRASA revival hangs by a thread
Infrastructure theft and vandalism brought South Africa’s passenger railways to their knees during the pandemic lockdown of spring 2020. Restoration of PRASA’s Western Cape suburban services is now offering hope for the future, but in populous Gauteng the outlook seems bleak, with many routes rendered inoperable. Benjámin Zelki visited in early 2022.
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NewsDigital track monitoring on test in Finland
FINLAND: VR Group’s rolling stock maintenance company VR FleetCare is testing technology it has developed for the digital monitoring of the condition of track equipment including track circuits. A pilot project with national infrastructure manager Väylävirasto was launched last year and has recorded more than a ...
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NewsWestern Balkan railways need better integration and more maintenance, conference hears
EUROPE: Planned major projects, available financing mechanisms, and the need for international integration of railways including the expansion of the Trans-European Transport Network were discussed at the Connecting the Western Balkans to the EU rail market through investment and reform conference. The online event was ...
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NewsAnkara – Sivas high speed line to open ‘this year’ despite tunnelling problems
TURKEY: Completion of the Ankara – Sivas high speed line is facing more potential delays because of an error in the excavation of emergency access tunnels. A member of parliament for the city of Sivas, Ulaş Karasu, has asked Transport Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu to explain why ...
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NewsPlasser and Dual Inventive sign track worker safety technology partnership
NETHERLANDS: Dutch technology specialist Dual Inventive and Plasser & Theurer have signed a co-operation agreement with a view to developing tools and processes aimed at improving track worker safety. The partners are aiming to increase the output of on-track plant, with a specific focus on minimising ...
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NewsTetra communications deployed on Gobi desert railway
MONGOLIA: Teltronic has deployed a Tetra communications network for the 240 route-km heavy haul railway which is under construction to link the Tavan Tolgoi coking coal mines with Gashuun Sukhait on the border with China. The Spanish company has installed a complete communications system based on ...
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NewsNew York Penn Station renewal design contract awarded
USA: A contract to produce preliminary design options for the railway infrastructure elements of the planned redevelopment of New York Penn Station has been awarded to a team led by Arup and including Grimshaw, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, Hatch LTK and Lendlease.