Infrastructure news – Page 7
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NewsFurther upgrading of Portuguese narrow-gauge line approved
PORTUGAL: The government has approved a further package of work to rehabilitate a section of the last remaining narrow-gauge line on the national network.
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NewsPajares cut-off opens to plug Asturias into Spanish high speed network
SPAIN: Following almost 20 years of construction, public passenger services began using the Pajares Base Tunnel through the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain range in the north of the country on November 30.
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NewsCross-border passenger services resume after eight years
EUROPE: Passenger services have restarted on the 45 km line linking Subotica in Serbia with Szeged in Hungary after an eight-year hiatus. An inauguration ceremony was held at Palić station in Serbia on November 28 and was attended by Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport & Infrastructure ...
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NewsMexican government seeks to revive passenger services on seven routes
MEXICO: On November 20 the national government published legislation to introduce passenger rail services on seven corridors totalling 8 000 km.
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NewsInfrabel orders Alstom self-encoding Eurobalises
BELGIUM: Infrabel has ordered an initial batch of advanced Eurobalises from Alstom with a built-in encoding capability for use with ETCS Level 1 Limited Supervision as well as track worker protection. Eurobalises are used to transmit safety-critical data from track to train in ERTMS applications, typically ...
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Rail Business UKMoorgate branch ETCS goes live
UK: Revenue-earning suburban services have started to use ETCS Level 2 over London’s Northern City Line from Finsbury Park to Moorgate.
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NewsNew Generation Signals delay Dutch rail projects
NETHERLANDS: Infrastructure manager ProRail has announced delays to rail enhancement projects as a result of problems approving its New Generation Signals. The New Generation Signals are smaller than older designs, and safety testing has identified visibility problems in certain circumstances. This will prevent their use ...
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Rail Business UKNetwork Rail awards East Kilbride electrification contracts
UK: Network Rail has awarded the main works contracts for the East Kilbride Enhancement Project, which includes electrification of the line near Glasgow. The announcement on November 22 follows the confirmation of Scottish government funding in September, The contracts totalling £61·5m have been awarded to Story ...
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Rail Business UKEurostar depot equipped with moveable overhead electrification
UK: Electrification specialist Furrer+Frey has completed a project to install moveable conductor bar at Eurostar’s Temple Mills depot in east London. A total of 1·5 km of movable overhead has been installed on the eight depot tracks. It can be moved out of the ...
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News‘New York metro’ concept in updated Northeast Corridor modernisation plan
USA: Amtrak and its local and federal partners are proposing a major uplift in commuter and inter-city services between New York and New Jersey to create a ‘metro-style’ service offering at peak hours, subject to capacity enahncements in the Northeast Corridor being fully funded.
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NewsNorth Macedonia and Serbia plan Skopje – Niš route upgrade
EUROPE: A memorandum of understanding for the planned upgrading of the 206 km Skopje – Niš route has been signed by officials from North Macedonia and Serbia. This is likely to include modernisation of the existing single-track route and eventually the construction of sections of ...
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NewsTrack and signalling renewals completed at Buenos Aires hub
ARGENTINA: The complex rebuilding of the Mitre suburban railway’s Retiro terminus in Buenos Aires was completed on November 6. This was marked by the restoration of services on the Bartolomé Mitre branch from the station. The station has seen the platform tracks and approaches renovated ...
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NewsSet back as badgers undermine 11 km of railway
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn reports that burrowing badgers have undermined about 11 km of embankment on the Fröndenberg – Unna railway, and repairs are likely to be very expensive and take a long time as the damage is more extensive than expected. In some places the repairs ...
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NewsInfrastructure manager established ahead of South African rail network opening
SOUTH AFRICA: National railway and logistics group Transnet has established an interim rail infrastructure manager as part of plans to open the network to third party train operators in 2024. Vertical separation forms part of the government’s National Rail Policy which aims to facilitate private sector ...
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NewsTackling an ETCS retrofitting bottleneck
GERMANY: Stadler says it is now set up to help accelerate the roll-out of ETCS, after its AngelStar joint venture with MerMec completed the first retrofit of its Guardia equipment to another manufacturer’s locomotive without the involvement of the original supplier. Two of DB Cargo’s Bombardier ...
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In depthSafety: Railways must report, learn and improve
The EU Agency for Railways is continuing its campaign to develop a risk-based safety culture across Europe’s rail networks, as Executive Director Josef Doppelbauer explains to Chris Jackson.
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In depthSignalling: Visualising designs at an earlier stage
Most signalling schemes across the sector are designed using 2D schematic plans. But this approach can make it difficult to visualise what drivers in the train cab will see, and when and how they will react. To address this and other challenges, Arup has created a signalling visualisation tool that is being deployed as part of Network Rail’s Transpennine Route Upgrade.
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NewsNortheast Corridor enhancements allocated $16·4bn
USA: The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded $16·4bn for 25 passenger rail enhancement interventions along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington DC. The projects were selected through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail programme. ‘We are finally delivering the generational investments ...
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NewsEU recovery funds underwrite two more Italian route modernisation schemes
ITALY: As part of an intensive investment programme underpinned by EU funding, infrastructure manager RFI has awarded two route enhancement contracts totalling €633m. Under a €374·2m contract announced on October 31, a consortium of Eteria Consorzio Stabile Scarl and Salcef is to double-track the 9 km ...
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NewsRevised California high speed rail track and electrification design RFQ issued
USA: California High-Speed Rail Authority has released a new request for qualifications for a contract to provide design services for the track and overhead electrification systems. The contract has an estimated value of up to $131·2m, plus options. It would cover high-level designs for track and ...