Latest news – Page 1362
-
NewsSidetrack - Tax bill
CANADA: Candian Pacific Railway is seeking the repayment of taxes which it believes it has wrongly paid in the province of Saskatchewan for the past 128 years. CPR has found an agreement signed in 1880, the year before the company was incorporated. This specifies that the railway should remain ‘forever ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
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 ...
-
News
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, ...
-
NewsNews in Brief - October 2008
The planned merger of CD Cargo and ZSSK Cargo was endorsed by Czech and Slovak Prime Ministers Mirek Topolánek and Robert Fico on August 21. They agreed that both countries would have an equal stake in senior management after the merger, which has been under negotation since October 2007 (RG ...
-
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 ...
-
NewsGröna Tåget spawns ECO4
SWEDEN: In an ongoing research project, Bombardier has started testing permanent-magnet traction motors as part of its strategy to develop more environmentally-friendly trains. Dr Harry Hondius reports from a 245 km/h test run between Stockholm and Västerås.
-
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 ...
-
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 ...
-
NewsToronto transit plans
CANADA: Toronto Transit Commission launched a tender on September 15 for project management and consultancy services to support its ambitious Transit City light rail expansion programme. Estimated value of the contract, which will last about 10 years, is C$375m. On August 27 TTC re-opened the procurement process for 204 ...
-
News
Singapore to retrofit platform screen doors
SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority has awarded two contracts covering the installation of half-height platform screen doors at 36 elevated stations along the existing North-South and East-West MRT lines. This initiative forms part of the Land Transport Masterplan which was unveiled earlier this year (RG 3.08 p127). ST Electronics ...
-
NewsSBB to order double-deck EMUs
SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways is poised to call tenders for up to 200 high-capacity electric multiple-units for inter-city services. Confirming that bids will be issued before the end of the year, SBB said on August 18 that the trains would be built to a double-deck design. They are expected to ...
-
NewsFugger Express is ready to roll
GERMANY: A party last month marked the arrival of the first EMUs to operate quasi-S-Bahn services radiating from Augsburg.
-
NewsDB flotation planned for October 27
On September 26 Deutsche Bahn AG confirmed its plans for the partial flotation of the operating business DB Mobility Logistics AG. The first day of trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange will be October 27, when 24·9% of DB ML shares will go on offer to public and private investors. ...
-
News
Tri-city RER to serve airport
POLAND: A contract to undertake a feasibility study for a suburban rail network in the Tri-city region of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot was due to be awarded last month, following acceptance of the initial proposal by Poland's Ministry of Regional Development. The study should be completed by July 2009, ...
-
News
Urban rail news in brief - October 2008
On August 24 Shenyang Deputy Mayor Xing Kai confirmed that construction had started on the Shenyang section of the Shenyang – Fushun inter-urban light rail project. Operation of the 61·1 km route is expected to commence in April 2009. The line will reduce journey times between the two cities from ...
-
News
Air freight takes to the rails
EUROPE: The Eurocarex consortium has unveiled plans to order a fleet of dedicated trainsets in time to launch high speed freight trains in 2012. The prospect of high speed rail freight services linking some of Europe’s major airports is moving closer, after the partners in the Eurocarex project signed a ...
-
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.
-
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 ...