Main line rail industry news – Page 1299
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Arriva wins Jutland regional concessions
UK-based public transport operator Arriva has been awarded the first two concessions to operate regional passenger services in Denmark, totalling 582route-km. The concessions were announced by the Ministry of Transport on January 8. Private operations are due to start in January 2003 under the seven-year contracts, which are worth a ...
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Line 3 changes in Delhi
THE INDIAN government is considering changes to the Delhi Metro project that would see Line 3, originally planned as a 13 km surface route from Trinagar to Nangloi, run a total of 23·5 km from Connaught Place to Dwarka. With 1·5 km underground, 2·3 km at grade and the remainder ...
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Tranz Rail slims again
THE GOVERNMENT of New Zealand announced on December 24 that it had completed the purchase of the Auckland corridor from Tranz Rail, paying NZ$75m with the balance of NZ$6m to follow once negotiations had been completed over train control, track maintenance and ’other interim services’ which Tranz Rail is to ...
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Chinese metros keep growing
GUANGZHOU Metro Corp officially began construction of its third line on December 26, following approval of the project by the State Planning Committee on December 16 (RG 4.01 p211). The 32 km line linking Guangzhou Dong station and Panyu is expected to open in 2005.On December 14 the China National ...
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Siemens scoops Bangkok order
SIEMENS Transportation Systems has been awarded a €350m turnkey contract to supply electrical and mechanical equipment for the Blue line metro in Bangkok. The deal was signed on December 19, but not announced until January 3. Bangkok Metro Co Ltd had previously selected a consortium of Alstom and Mitsubishi as ...
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Bay Area plans ahead
SAN FRANCISCO's Metropolitan Transportation Commission launched a 25-year transport plan on December 19, encompassing investment projects totalling $87·4bn. Public transport will receive 68% of the anticipated federal, state and local funding, with the most expensive single project being the planned BART extension from Fremont to San Jose (RG ...
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Eskisehir starts
NEXT MONTH will see the start of construction work on the 14·5 km light rail network in Eskisehir. The line will be built under a US$121m turnkey contract awarded by the municipality to a consortium of local engineering group Yapi Merkezi and Bombardier. The project is being financed by 20-year ...
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Dubai metro closer
CONSTRUCTION work is expected to start next year on an urban rail network in Dubai. Director-General of the Municipality Qassim Sultan announced on December 22 that two routes had been selected for the first phase of a network which could be extended to the adjacent emirates of Sharjah and Abu ...
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PATH fights back
PORT AUTHORITY of New York and New Jersey has decided to build a temporary PATH station to replace its destroyed World Trade Center terminus. The board of commissioners voted on December 13 to spend $544m on the interim station in Church Street, which could be completed in about two years. ...
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Crossrail rides again
THE CROSSRAIL project to build a regional metro under central London was officially launched on January 17 by Sir Christopher Benson, Chairman of Cross London Rail Links Ltd. A joint venture of the Strategic Rail Authority and Transport for London, the company has been allocated £154m of government funding for ...
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Transnet backs away from fragmentation
WITHALMOST no warning, the number of Cape Town’s weekday commuter trains operated by Metrorail was cut by 13% from 641 to 557 from January 7. The company holds a concession from SA Rail Commuter Corporation to operate suburban services in major cites, and blamed a shortage of drivers after weekly ...
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Decision time in Switzerland
ON JANUARY 21 Swiss Federal Railways announced that a letter of intent for contracts worth SFr210m had been sent to an Alstom-led consortium to equip the 45·1 km Mattstetten - Rothrist line with ETCS Level 2. The decision follows tests with a pilot installation between Olten and Luzern (RG 12.01 ...
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Pointers
n A delegation of Iraqi Transport Ministry officials was due to join Foreign Secretary Naji Sabri on a visit to Iran at the end of January to discuss proposals for construction of a Baghdad - Tehran rail link.n Swedish infrastructure authority Banverket announced on January 7 that the first Ikea ...
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EC declares ’state of emergency’
HOT ON THE HEELS of last September’s White Paper on Transport from the European Commission (RG 10.01 p651) comes a further set of measures intended to inject entrepreneurial drive into the European railways. Published on January 23, the Second Railway Package bundles together five legislative proposals and a series of ...
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More maglev vehicles in Yamanashi trials
ASSESSMENT of the results from running tests carried out on Japan’s 18·4 km experimental maglev guideway near Otsuki in Yamanashi prefecture since April 1997 has prompted a further series of trials using two more vehicles due to be delivered later this year.JR Central, which is promoting the development of superconducting ...
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Freight initiatives still lacking
’IF LONG-DISTANCE freight on Europe’s motorways grinds to a halt, then the European economy is finished, at least in the transit land of Germany.’ Speaking at WCRR 2001, Germany’s Secretary of State for Research Dr-Ing Uwe Thomas threw down a challenge to the railway community to develop ’a new long-distance ...
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Robotic bogie washing
HONG Kong MTR Corp is using a robotic washing plant installed by McConnell Research Enterprises. The automated machine has removed the need for manual cleaning, a relatively skilled but unpopular task. Different racks can be installed to allow the cleaning of other vehicle components.The plant uses two robots in a ...
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Sinai link restored
ON NOVEMBER 14 Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak formally opened the 640m El-Ferdan swing bridge across the Suez Canal, 20 km north of Isamailia. The bridge reinstates the rail link into Sinai which has been broken since the third bridge was destroyed during the 1967 war with Israel. Built over five ...
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Tunnel freight still crippled
INTERNATIONAL rail freight between Britain and continental Europe is ebbing away as a result of severe restrictions on use of the Channel Tunnel (RG 12.01 p812). These became necessary because large numbers of illegal immigrants were boarding trains waiting to depart from Fréthun yard near the Tunnel portal. Combined Transport ...
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Barcelona spends
Catalunya regional government has allocated €361m to be spent on the Barcelona metro and FGC networks this year, with €100·9m going to the extension of metro Line 5 from Horta to Vall d’Hebron. Work is also due to start in 2002 on the extension of Line 3 from Canyelles to ...