Main line rail industry news – Page 1251
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Irish strategic review
A STRATEGIC review of Ireland's railway network was published on April 3. Prepared by Booz Allen Hamilton, it is said to be the first report since the founding of the Irish State in 1922 to recommend an extensive rebuilding and revitalisation of the national network. Transport Minister Seamus Brennan ...
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Megatren eases Manila crush
APRIL 5 saw the start of public service on Manila Light Rail Transit Authority Line 2, the city’s third rapid transit line. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo inaugurated the service and joined the first passengers on the initial 4·3 km section linking Santolan and Cubao. Dubbed Megatren on account of its ...
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Madrid - Lleida slips again
ACTING on the findings of a joint working group formed with Renfe to tackle the mounting delays to the opening of the Madrid - Lleida high speed line (RG 4.03 p179), on March 24 Spanish high speed construction authority GIF agreed a new commissioning programme with signalling contractors CSEE Transport ...
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Cross County ground broken
CONSTRUCTION of St Louis Metro’s Cross County light rail extension was inaugurated on April 9 with a ground-breaking ceremony at the site of Forsyth station, Missouri. The 13 km route links the existing Forest Park station, which will be rebuilt, with Clayton and Shrewsbury, running largely at grade but with ...
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Saudi passenger boost
SAUDI Railways’ Dammam-Riyadh services will benefit from refurbished rolling stock in a programme launched on April 10. The railway’s entire passenger fleet of 49 saloons and nine restaurant cars is being renovated to provide higher comfort and improved safety standards in advance of delivery of new stock. Local firms are ...
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Eco-procurement will Prosper
APRIL 8 marked a further step towards proper recognition of environmental considerations in European rail industry procurement policy. Delegates at a two-day meeting in Paris approved standard specifications for rolling stock developed in the UIC-funded Procedures for Rolling Stock Procurement with Environmental Requirements project. Prosper provides a set of harmonised ...
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Heads roll after bridge closes
AT PRECISELY 18.37 on March 27, Director-General of Transport in New South Wales Michael Deegan ordered the indefinite closure to all traffic of the Menangle bridge. Several trains approaching the bridge on the main line between Sydney and Melbourne were halted. Freight operations have been severely disrupted, not assisted by ...
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Eurotunnel looks at freight
’FRANCE is clearly a country where things have to change in the coming months’, Jean-Arnold Vinois told the Railway Forum in London on April 15. The man driving rail reform at DG TREN in Brussels was referring to the obligation to facilitate open access for freight on Terfn routes from ...
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GISA lets Line 9 civils
THE CATALUNYA regional government’s construction authority GISA has awarded 15 contracts for civil works on Line 9 of the Barcelona metro (RG 4.03 p184), worth a total of €1·16bn. Consortia including FCC have won work worth a total of €471m, while Dragados is a member of groupings that have netted ...
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Valencia opens Line 5
AT THE end of last month Valencia metro operator FGV was due to put into service the first section of Line 5, a 2·5 km branch running from Alameda on Line 3 to Parque Ayora in the east of the city (RG 6.02 p287). With intermediate stations at Aragón and ...
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UK spending must rise
UKRAIL infrastructure owner Network Rail published its 2003 Business Plan on March 31. It projects an average annual spend of £6·25bn on Operations, Maintenance & Renewals over the next three years - significantly higher than the amount projected by the Rail Regulator in his review which took effect on April ...
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Tunnelling under Valencia
THE SPANISH Ministry of Development has begun public consultation on a €804·5m package of works in Valencia that would enable high speed trains to serve the city centre without reversing at the Estació del Nord terminus, as is currently the case for inter-city services on the conventional network. The programme ...
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Ibarra seeks Line H funds
HEAD OF THE Buenos Aires city government Aníbal Ibarra was in Europe at the end of March, seeking to secure funding for the Argentinian capital’s ambitious programme to build four new metro lines and extend existing routes (RG 2.02 p89). As well as the European Investment Bank and UBS, ...
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Sitram orders Citadis
MULHOUSE transport authority Sitram has ordered 20 Citadis trams from Alstom at a cost of €48m, with an option for a further seven. On delivery in 2005, the all-low-floor cars will run on the initial 12 km urban section of the city’s Tram-Train network.The urban network will consist of an ...
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STC to upgrade
CONSULTANT SYSTRA is to design a modernisation of STC Mexico City Metro’s busiest lines-1, 2 and 3. The eight-month contract involves a technical assessment of the three lines and development of an action plan for their complete overhaul, starting in November. Systra will also produce a detailed programme of works ...
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Smart cards in Madrid
FUENLABRADA, a town of 200000 inhabitants 17 km south of Madrid, is the location for live trials started last month of the BIT city-wide smart card ticketing system, which has been under development since 1997. The multimodal card will eventually encompass all public transport-metro, EMT bus and Renfe suburban trains- ...
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PEOPLE
Bert Klerk has been appointed Chairman of the executive board of Netherlands infrastructure authority ProRail. Anita Arts has special responsibility for the Railned division. Henk van Dijk has been appointed Operations Director of Railned, L J M Bovee of Railinfrabeheer, and J G Los of Railverkeersleiding.As part of a restructuring ...
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Swedish spend
ON APRIL 15 Banverket presented a formal application to the Swedish government to invest SKr275m during 2004. The money would form the first stage of a 12-year package totalling SKr101·5bn which is due to be approved later this year. Banverket is currently undertaking public consultation on its long-term investment plan ...
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Showcase metro opened in Madrid
ANYONE SEEKING advice on how to cut the cost of tunnelling and build a metro at a politically attractive price should attend the 55th UITP Congress in the Spanish capital on May 4-8. The President of Madrid Metro Manuel J Melis will outline to delegates his successful policy of building ...
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Competition will reshape Europe’s railways
MARCH 28 saw the Council of Transport Ministers vote to accelerate proposals to introduce more competition on Europe’s rail network. The Council’s position on the Second Railway Package brings forward from 2008 to January 2006 full deregulation of international rail freight, not just on Terfn routes where competition became legal ...