Argentina: Trenes Argentinos Infraestructura has completed a 17m pesos refurbishment of San Nicolás and San Pedro stations on the Buenos Aires - Rosario route, building new platforms and improving accessibility.
Australia: The NSW government has awarded a A$2·81bn civil works contract for the construction of the Sydney Metro cross-harbour tunnel to a joint venture of John Holland (45%), CPB Contractors (45%) and Ghella (10%).
The Cross Yarra Partnership consortium of Lendlease Engineering, John Holland, Bouygues Construction and Capella Capital has been selected for the Tunnels & Stations package of the Melbourne Metro tunnel project. A 50: 50 joint venture of CPB Contractors and Bombardier Transportation has been selected for the rail systems.
Italy: RFI has awarded Ansaldo STS a two-year €100m framework agreement covering technical assistance, maintenance and upgrading of all Ansaldo STS systems on conventional and high speed lines, along with the reconfiguration and upgrading of radio block centres, traffic management systems, interlockings, train protection systems and centralised traffic control.
Malaysia: Jacobs Engineering has been appointed lead track design consultant for the Klang Valley SSP Line.
Poland: Torpol is to modernise the 113 km single track Szczytno - Ek line for 356m złoty, reinstating two passing loops and eliminating speed restrictions to reduce journey times from almost 3 h to 70 min. Torpol will also modernise the 25 km single-track Lewki - Hajnówka route for 95m złoty, and the 50 km Biaystok -Lewki line 77m złoty.
Infrakol and Track Tec's 95m złoty bid was the best offer modernise Wabrzych Szczawienko and wiebodzice stations and build a new Wabrzych ródmiecie (Centrum) stop.
PKP PLK has awarded Astaldi and Costruzioni Linee Ferroviarie a 355m złoty contract to modernise the final 35 km Rawicz - Leszno section of the Wrocław - Pozna corridor by 2020 to raise axleloads and grade separate crossings. This will enable speeds to be raised to 120 km/h for freight and 160 km/h for passenger trains.
ZUE is to undertake track, signalling and electrification renewals on the Warszawa Gobki - Oarów Mazowiecki section of the Warszawa - Pozna line for 98m złoty, and will modernise the 100 km Skarysko-Kamienna - Sandomierz line for 466m złoty.
Slovakia: Strabag is building an intermodal terminal at Nitra-Luzianky under a €51·8m contract awarded by ŽSR. It will have two 750 m and four 700 m tracks served by reachstackers as well as 56000 m2 of storage areas, and will primarily serve a new Jaguar Land Rover car factory which plans to send up to 80% of its output by rail. Completion is planned for early 2018.
Turkey: Thales has been awarded a subcontract to resignal the 36 km Bakentray route running east-west through Ankara from Kaya to Sincan which is being upgraded by a joint venture of Gülermak and Kolin. Thales will supply centralised traffic control, electronic interlockings, ETCS Level 1 and 2, bidirectional lineside signalling, level crossing equipment and the interfaces between the high speed and conventional routes.
UK: Transport for Greater Manchester announced on July 11 that it had signed the contract for its delivery parter WSP and the MPact Thales consortium of Laing O'Rourke, VolkerRail and Thales to design and build the £350m Trafford Park extension of the Metrolink light rail network.
Harsco Rail is to supply Network Rail with seven Stoneblower track maintenance machines over two years from late 2019 under a deal which includes a long-term spare parts and software support agreement. They will be equipped for computerised measurement and automatic stone metering.
Transport for London has selected Taylor Woodrow for a £17·8m contract to rebuild White Hart Lane station. Aims include providing step-free access and improving passenger flow.
USA: Valley Metro has appointed Kiewit as construction manager for the Phoenix light rail South Central extension.