Main line rail industry news – Page 1149
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Contractors poised to hand over first section of HSL-Zuid
INTRO: This month Infraspeed should receive a Certificate of Availability following completion of the southern section of HSL-Zuid. Trials at the line speed of 300 km/h were due to be completed last month, while testing on the northern section will finish in the autumnSWEEPING across the flat Dutch landscape between ...
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Projects revived as concessionaires share expansion costs
Railways in Brazil are in the ascendant as investment projects bear fruit on the back of the iron ore boom. Construction work on the revised Transnordestina scheme is due to start in August
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Putting the world's longest trams into service in Budapest
Over the next year, BKV will take delivery of 40 low-floor trams from Siemens to operate the Grand Boulevard trunk routes in Budapest; at almost 54m in length, the six-section cars will be the longest trams in the world
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Holiday with Homaridae
BETWEEN May and October VIA Rail offers a Maritime Learning Experience on its Montréal to Halifax eastern trans-continental trains. Launched last summer, this aims to 'immerse travellers in the culture of the region and celebrate its historical richness'. On-board staff have been schooled in local history, the region's ...
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Rotem scoops Metrolink car order
THE SOUTHERN California Regional Rail Authority board voted on February 24 to order new double-deck push-pull rolling stock from Rotem for the Los Angeles Metrolink commuter rail network. The base order covers 33 driving cab cars and 54 intermediate trailers at a price of $176m. Some are needed for ...
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Milano to build automated metro
A €500m TURNKEY CONTRACT was awarded at the end of February for the first stage of Milano metro Line 5. The fully-automated line will be built by a consortium which includes existing operator ATM, with Alstom Ferroviaria, Astaldi, Ansaldo Trasporti Sistemi Ferroviari, AnsaldoBreda and Torno Internazionale. The initial section will ...
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Crew change at the front end
YOUR EDITOR’S last official engagement was to give the keynote presentation at JR East’s 12th Research & Development Symposium in Tokyo on March 28. It seemed a fitting culmination to 15 years ’at the controls’, during which this journal has constantly striven to give the best coverage in the world ...
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Peijs ignores MoU on Betuwe Route
CONFUSION has deepened over who will operate and maintain the new freight railway linking the port of Rotterdam to the German network at Emmerich. Contrary to our last report (RG 2.06 p68), no contract has been signed for maintenance and operation of the Betuwe Route.In a statement on February 14, ...
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Sarmiento goes underground
ON FEBRUARY 21 Argentina’s President Néstor Kirchner launched the tendering process for a US$300m project to build a 7·1 km four-track tunnel between Caballito and Villa Luro in Buenos Aires. Part of a level crossing elimination project on the 37 km Sarmiento commuter route between Once and Moreno, it is ...
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Trans-Karakum link completed
PRESIDENT Sparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan participated in ceremonies on February 8 to mark completion of the 540 km Trans-Karakum railway from Ashkabad to Dasoguz. Congratulating the 1500 staff who built the line across the Karakum desert over the past five years, the President expressed a hope that the 'golden link' ...
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Cut-off underway
WORK BEGAN on February 24 on the construction of the 975 km Taiyuan - Zhongwei line in northern China.Due for completion by 2010 at a cost of 30bn yuan, the line will shorten the route from Beijing to Zhongwei, the capital of the Ningxia region (RG 8.05 p479). It will ...
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World Bank funds MZ split
PLANS to separate the Macedonian rail network into infrastructure and operating companies are due to be authorised by the government this month, in line with legislation approved last year. On February 17 Makedonski Zeleznici signed a loan agreement with the World Bank which will provide US$15m to support the restructuring. ...
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Protos EMU order
AWARDED the concession to operate the Amersfoort - Ede-Wageningen line from December 2006 (RG 12.05 p756), Connexxion has ordered five two-car EMUs to operate the first electrified branch in the Netherlands to be tendered.Rather than opting for an established supplier of 1·5 kV DC rolling stock, the operator has awarded ...
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Indian freight corridor plans progress
APPROVED by the Lok Sabha on March 11, the Indian Railways budget for 2006-07 includes funding to plan a network of high-capacity freight corridors. Having completed a pre-feasibility study, Rites has been commissioned to draw up more detailed proposals by the end of this year for two routes costing Rs220bn ...
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Cross-border freight
CITING growing congestion on the busy Wien - Graz corridor, where there is little prospect of completing the proposed Semmering base tunnel before 2016, the Austrian government has called in the independent Gy
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Israeli expansion continues
TRANSPORT MINISTER Meir Shitrit announced on February 15 that Israel Railways had started work on building a 70 km double-track railway between Ashkelon and Be’er Sheva, which is due to be completed by 2010. Expected to cost US$300m, the line will serve the towns of Sederot, Netivot and Ofaqim. The ...
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Renfe restructures
THE BOARD of Spanish national operator Renfe has approved a new management structure that will see six business units replaced by four areas broken down into 26 smaller units. Responsible for commercial passenger services, the High-Speed/Long-Distance Area is divided into five geographical business units, whilst the Suburban & Medium-Distance Area ...
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OHL wins in Algeria
A CONSORTIUM of OHL of Spain and state-owned rail construction company Infrafer has been awarded a €248·3m contract to double-track SNTF’s 95 km Annaba - Ramdane Djamel route. Work to be completed within 39 months includes upgrading of the existing track for 160 km/h operation. OHL holds an 85% stake ...
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Double-deck concept offers see-through train
ON MARCH 29 the Syndicat des Transports d'Ile-de-France was due to vote on its 2006 budget, expected to be worth €3·6bn. STIF has responsibility for organising public transport in Ile-de-France, and a green light for the budget should clear the way for several major investment projects. One of these is ...
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ERTMS accord
PLANS to roll out ERTMS on the international rail freight corridor between Rotterdam and Genoa moved ahead on March 3 when the transport ministers of the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Italy signed a Letter of Intent during a meeting at Bregenz in Austria. The ministers confirmed their intention to complete ...