Australia: Transport for New South Wales has awarded Laing O’Rourke a A$955m contract to build the Sydney Metro platforms and concourse at Central station. John McAslan + Partners and Woods Bagot are the architectural partners.
China: Pandrol is to supply Shanxi Jingshen Railway Co with almost 880 000 Fastclip FC-16 rail fastening sets for 232 track-km of heavy haul line under construction in central China.
France: RATP has awarded Siemens a contract to supply CBTC signalling for the southern extension of metro Line 14 as part of the Grand Paris Express project (p23).
Germany: DB has awarded British Steel a 21-month contract to supply 20 000 tonnes/year of 120 m long rails.
DB Netz has appointed Pöyry to plan electrification and associated upgrading of the Nürnberg ‒ Marktredwitz route.
India: Mumbai Metro Rail Corp has awarded Larsen & Toubro and Alstom contracts to electrify Line 3.
Italy: A consortium of Salini Impregilo, Astaldi, Sifel and CLF has been awarded a €186m contract to double and resignal the 38 km Catania Bicocca – Catenanuova line in Sicily.
Netherlands: ProRail has awarded VolkerRail and Van Hattum & Blankevoort a €170m contract to lay a second pair of tracks, build a dive-under and upgrade bridges between Zwolle and Herfte by 2021, enabling a reduction in journey times and the operation of additional trains.
Poland: PNiUIK has ordered an electrification contruction and maintenance train from ZPS.
PKP PLK has awarded PPMT, Schweerbau and SBM a 127m złoty contract to replace 142 turnouts, as part of a POIiŚ co-financed programme to clear maintenance backlogs.
PKP PLK has selected Track Tec Construction, Intop Warszawa and Infrakol for a 252m złoty contract to modernise Rzeszów Główny station and build a halt at Rzeszów Zachodni. PNiUIK is to modernise Nowa Sarzyna station for 28m złoty, while Grupa Fewaterm is to refurbish Legnica station for 26m złoty, with the additions to reflect the heritage style.
PKP Intercity has ordered six road-rail shunting vehicles from Wichary Technologies for 3·3m złoty.
Singapore: Siemens has won a €90m contract to supply CBTC and platform screen doors for the Downtown Line extension to Sungei Bedok.
Spain: Thales is to upgrade the control centre systems it supplied for the opening of the Bilbao metro in 1995, adding a new driver management module to expand current functionality. Under the two-year programme, a back-up facility is to be built at Ariz depot.
UK: Network Rail has begun the process of letting its ‘next generation’ of track renewal contracts, expected to be worth up to £5bn over the 10 years from 2019. It plans to form three geographical ‘alliances’ with consortia which will be required to include a minimum of one construction contractor and one designer.
NI Railways has awarded Linmag International a contract to provide a mobile rail milling machine for trials on the 1 600 mm gauge network.
Following Carillion’s entry into liquidation on January 15, Amey Rail acquired ‘a significant number’ of Network Rail infrastructure contracts previously held by Carillion Construction on February 22. These include Infrastructure Projects Central Panel work for the East Coast and Midland main lines, Crossrail (Old Oak – Paddington area), plain line track renewals and the North West Electrification Programme.
USA: Wabtec is to complete the installation of PTC on Caltrain’s San Francisco – San Jose commuter route, following the cancellation in February 2017 of a contract which had been awarded to Parsons Transportation Group in 2011. An evaluation by Caltrain found that using Wabtec’s I-ETMS technology was ‘the only technically and financially viable strategy’ to ensure the route would be equipped by the 31 2018 Congressional deadline.