Main line rail industry news – Page 1180
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ARTC studies train control
AUSTRALIAN Rail Track Corp has selected Lockheed Martin to assist with a A$20m technical and economic study of the potential for cab signalling based on satellite navigation and radio communications, allied to radio control of points. The contract award follows confirmation of federal funding earlier this year (RG 5.05 p246).Lockheed ...
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Philippine revivals take shape
TENDERS are to be called by the end of July for reconstruction of the Phividec rail network on the Philippine island of Panay.The Chairman of Philippine Investment & Development Corp Ofelia Bulalong announced on May 11 that work would start this year for completion in 2007, with the aim of ...
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Cross-desert cut-off planned
WORK IS to start this year on a 1390 km line across the Ulan Buh and Badain Jaran deserts in northern China, connecting Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Xinjiang.No timetable has been announced for completion of the line, which is being managed by Chinese Railways’ regional administration in Hohhot. It is ...
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NRC shortlist
NIGERIA’s Bureau of Public Enterprises has shortlisted nine consortia to tender for a contract to provide consultancy services for the planned privatisation of Nigerian Railways Corp.Around 20 companies had submitted expressions of interest before the deadline on April 20. Of these, four were disqualified for non-compliance. According to BPE, the ...
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PKP PLK awards signalling contracts
POLAND: Infrastructure manager PKP PLK SA has awarded two contracts for main line resignalling, which will be supported by the European Union's Cohesion Fund. A €30·5m contract has been awarded to Alcatel and Kommunikacyjne Zaklady Automatyki I Teletechniki for work in the Poznan area, including computerised interlockings at six ...
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Barcelona to lease more stock
BARCELONA TRANSPORT authority ATM has signed a contract worth €65m to lease 10 Series 6000 trainsets for metro Line 1. Due to be delivered between May and December 2007, the five-car trainsets each accommodating up to 1116 passengers are to be leased for an initial term of 18 years, with ...
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Depot contracts
MADRID regional government has awarded contracts worth a total of €181·3m for the construction of four new rolling stock depots and the expansion of an existing facility on Line 4 in the Hortaleza district. The depots are needed to service the 698 new metro cars and 70 light rail vehicles ...
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Low-cost in Poland
ON April 4 PKP Intercity Ltd launched low-cost promotional fares on its principal routes. Marketed as Tanie Linie Kolejowe (low-cost trains), tickets are quota-controlled and are valid in second class only on 13 day trains and 10 overnight services.A flat fare of 27 zloty is charged regardless of distance, and ...
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Faster in Galicia
THE SPANISH Ministry of Development has awarded a consortium of Copasa and Corsan-Corviam Construcción SA a €28·4m contract to build a new double-track alignment 4·3 km in length between Ordes and Queixas on the Santiago de Compostela - A Coruña route. Expected to take 22 months to complete, the new ...
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Ministers agree high speed timetable
MEETING in Lisboa on May 4, Spanish Development Minister Magdalena Álvarez and Portuguese Minister of Public Works, Transport & Communications Mario Lino confirmed the timetable for completing high speed links between the two countries. A Vigo - Porto route would open in 2009, followed by a Lisboa - Madrid route ...
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ASFA upgrade
RENFE Operadora and infrastructure authority ADIF have approved a joint programme to upgrade the ASFA intermittent automatic train protection system, including new in-cab displays of braking curves and target speeds. The first phase running until the end of 2006 should see a prototype developed with ASFA supplier Dimetronic Signals, which ...
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1000 cars in Bangkok package
FORMAL proposals for a package of new metro lines and extensions in Bangkok totalling 94 km were submitted to the Thai government by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority on May 12.In January MRTA was authorised to begin design for two new lines and two extensions, which are expected to be ...
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Nantes tries tram-train
PROPOSALS to reopen the 64 km railway between Nantes and Châteaubriant as a tram-train route were unveiled for public consultation by the Pays-de-la-Loire region last month. This paves the way for a detailed planning study costing €4m.To be completed by the end of 2009, the project will see the restoration ...
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Sydney backtracks on double-deckers
FOUR groups have been shortlisted to submit detailed proposals for a contract to supply replacements for the 498 cars in Sydney’s suburban fleet of 1514 double-deckers that are not air-conditioned.They are: Aurora Rail, formed of Siemens and Commonwealth Bank; Bombardier, working with Plenary Group and Deutsche Bank; Reliance Rail, formed ...
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Base tunnel holed through
AN EXPLOSION shook the ground at 10.52 on April 28 near the Swiss mountain resort of Kandersteg, marking the final breakthrough in construction of the 34·6 km L
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Driver training contracted out
SWISS Federal Railways is to transfer its driver training activities to the specialist company Login which already trains other staff involved in public transport.From January 2006 Login will take over training of all SBB drivers. While SBB will continue to recruit and employ drivers, Login’s driver training school will be ...
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Broad gauge ICE3 in sight
RUSSIAN Railways continues to prepare the ground for signing a detailed contract with Siemens for supply of high speed trains (RG 2.05 p61), with RZD President Gennady Fadeyev announcing on May 5 in Moscow that the German company will assemble the trains in Russia. Technology transfer looks set to be ...
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Open access sorted
WHEN THE state government of Victoria leased most of V/Line’s network outside the Melbourne commuter zone to Freight Australia in 1999, the issue of access by competing operators was ignored. As Minister for Transport Peter Batchelor pointed out last month when introducing his Rail Corporations (Amendment) Bill, ’no third-party operator ...
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Ban on the Bong line
LIBERIA: Revival of the fortunes of the iron ore market has triggered the reopening of the 78 km line between the mines at Bong and the port of Monrovia in Liberia. The move means the end of a practice that saw the 1435mm gauge line kept in unofficial use since ...
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Pre-series Avanto starts test running
Now undergoing trial running at the Siemens test centre in Wegberg-Wildenrath is the first of 15 dual-system Avanto low-floor light rail vehicles ordered by French National Railways in 2002. Harry Hondius reports