Main line rail industry news – Page 1261
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Privatisation takes a tumble in Victoria
FEARS THAT private-sector operations in the Australian state of Victoria may be at the point of collapse were confirmed at the end of last year. Issuing a pre-close trading update on December 16 for the 2002 financial year, UK-based rail and bus operator National Express Group confirmed that it was ...
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Lahti cut-off started
FINNISH rail infrastructure authority RHK has started construction of the long-planned direct line from Kerava to Lahti, which will shorten the routes to the northeast and east of the country. Scheduled for completion in 2006, the 74 km route includes 63route-km of new alignment. Total cost is estimated at €331m, ...
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Madrid suburban growth
THE MINISTRY of Development in Spain is to call tenders for the second section of the new tunnel for suburban services between Atocha and Chamartín stations in Madrid. Within a budget of €95·6m, work to bore a 3·4 km tunnel from new platforms at Nuevos Ministerios to Charmartín is expected ...
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BA rescue deal
SUBURBAN CONCESSIONAIRES in Buenos Aires have agreed to an emergency investment package that will see the Argentinian government provide 725m pesos in 2003-05. Track renewal will take priority and has been allocated 287m pesos; 197m pesos will be spent on traction and rolling stock, and 117·5m pesos on signalling. Station ...
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Playing it safe with ETCS
TO AVOID the risk of delaying the opening of the 45 km cut-off now being built between Mattstetten and Rothrist on the main line linking Bern and Zürich, Swiss Federal Railways will equip the double-track alignment with conventional lineside signalling and ZUB train protection as well as ETCS Level 2. ...
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IR private finance initiative
ON DECEMBER 26 Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee formally launched three major rail investment projects across the country via a satellite link. The schemes in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are the first to be funded through the Rashtriya Rail Vikas Yojana, (National Rail Development Board). This is a ...
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Transrapid takes off
RIGHT ON schedule, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and German Chancellor Gerhard Schr
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Connex wins in Boston
MASSACHUSETTS Bay Transportation Authority board of directors has approved the award of a five-year contract to Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail Corp for operation of the Boston suburban network at a cost of $1·1bn. MBCR is led by Connex North America Inc, with Bombardier Transportation and Boston consultancy Alternate Concepts Inc, ...
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Moscow metro grows
DECEMBER 31 saw completion of a 5 km extension of the Moscow metro, with the inauguration of Dmitry Donskoy Boulevard station at the southern end of the Serpukhovskaya line (RG 1.01 p35). This takes the network outside the orbital ring road for the first time. The terminus will form an ...
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S-Bahn tunnel accord
MEETING in München on December 19, German Railway Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn and Bayern Transport Minister Otto Wiesheu announced the go-ahead for a second cross-city S-Bahn tunnel. Construction is expected to begin in 2006 for completion by 2010. Running up to 40m below ground, the new tunnel is expected to cost ...
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Spain sets i4·4bn spend
INVESTMENT by the Spanish Ministry of Development and its agencies including GIF, Renfe and Feve is expected to total €4·4bn in 2003, with the high speed programme once again at the head of the list with a planned spend of over €3·6bn. Of this, €3·3bn will be spent by GIF, ...
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Upgrade to the border
RENFE President Miguel Corsini joined Spanish Secretary of State for Infrastructure Benigno Blanco and Castilla y León Development Minister José Manuel Fern
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Lugano accord sets up north-south freight corridor
MEETING in the Swiss town of Lugano on January 9, transport ministers from Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a rail freight corridor stretching from Rotterdam to northern Italy. The agreement covers a range of short, medium and long term measures lasting until 2015. ...
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Subway upgrade
RESIGNALLING of the busy 8th Avenue subway in New York is to be completed by 2007, following the award of a $162m contract to Granite Halmar by MTA New York City Transit. The modernisation covers the final 32 track-km on the Concourse line from 205th Street in the Bronx to ...
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AFE restructures
THE MINISTRY of Transport & Public Works in Uruguay has begun the task of splitting operating functions from infrastructure at the state railway company AFE. On the basis of the railway’s Southern, Eastern and Northern regions, the ministry is to assume responsibility for infrastructure management and maintenance as well as ...
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Testing time on the tightrope
A MOMENT of truth is arriving for the top management of French National Railways. President Louis Gallois has received fresh instructions from the Raffarin government, and these will translate into quite different policies from those followed in the recent past. Gallois’ contract expires at the end of this month, and ...
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Paris trams keep expanding
PARIS transport operator RATP has put the first of 13 Alstom Citadis 302 LRVs into service on Line T2 between La Défense and Issy-Val de Seine, and in December it ordered a second batch of 13 cars worth €21m for delivery in 2004. The route’s existing Alstom TSF cars will ...
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Tube Lines signs PPP contract
THE LONDON Underground Public-Private Partnership took a decisive step forward on December 31 when the Tube Lines consortium achieved financial close on a 30-year contract to maintain infrastructure and rolling stock on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. On that date, 2500 employees transferred to the private sector from LU ...
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Systra wins Delhi Line 3
IN THE run-up to opening of the first section of Line 1 at the end of last month, on December 9 Delhi Metro Rail Corp named Systra SA as design and project management contractor for Line 3. Design of the 23 km route has been split into two contracts, which ...
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Sidetrack
Dieter CAPTION: Wiener Linien has begun publishing a daily list showing which of its gateless metro stations will have revenue protection staff carrying out ticket checks. This has been criticised for enabling fare dodgers to avoid checks, but WL believes that 'if only one person buys a ticket because of ...