Main line rail industry news – Page 1312
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News
White Paper charts rail future
ON SEPTEMBER 12 the European Commission published a White Paper on Transport. European Transport Policy for 2010 - Time to Decide includes 60 measures in an Action Plan, with a mid-term review in 2005. Described as ’the first practical contribution to the sustainable development strategy adopted by the G
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Fast train shortlist
THE AUSTRALIAN state of Victoria shortlisted five consortia in mid-September for the A$550m Fast Rail Links project (RG 10.00 p660). This involves upgrading of 500 route-km on the lines from Melbourne to Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the LaTrobe Valley.The five consortia are: Thiess-Alstom Joint Venture, Fastrax Victoria (Leighton Contractors), BLM ...
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MBTA fleet renewal
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has awarded a $172m contract to Siemens Transportation Systems Inc to supply a new fleet of 94 metro cars for Boston’s heavy metro Blue line. Due for delivery from 2003, the new vehicles will replace 70 cars built by Hawker Siddeley of Canada in 1978-80, and ...
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SMRT wins Marina line
SINGAPORE’s Land Transport Authority announced on August 8 that it had selected existing metro operator Singapore MRT Ltd for a 10-year concession to run the city’s new medium-capacity Marina line. The agreement includes an option to extend the concession for up a further 30 years. The SMRT bid was selected ...
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Bangkok Blue line makes progress
TRACKLAYING is getting under way on the heavy metro Blue line in Bangkok. Mass Rapid Transit Authority’s construction department confirmed last month that the first section had been completed between Rama IX depot and the station at Tiem Ruam Mitr. Under the 3bn baht contract awarded by MRTA in October ...
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Yunusobod line opened
UZBEKISTAN President Islam Karimov formally inaugurated the third heavy metro line in Toshkent on August 28, as part of the country’s celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union.The initial 7·6 km section of the Yunusobod line links Shahriston in the north with Lokhutiy in the ...
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Chinese orders
KOWLOON-Canton Railway Corp has awarded two contracts worth a total of €44m to Siemens Transportation Systems. One covers the provision of signalling, control and electrification equipment for a 4 km 10-station extension of the Tuen Mun light rail network to connect with West Rail. Together with rehabilitation work on the ...
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Manila Line 2 work resumes
MANILA’s Light Rail Transit Administration confirmed on August 21 that construction had resumed on metro Line 2. Work had been delayed for several years by land acquisition problems, which were finally settled on July 31. The line is now expected to open for revenue service in the third quarter of ...
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Canberra trams
AUSTRALIA’s Capital Territory government has backed a proposed 7 km tramway connecting the War Memorial and the National Museum via the Canberra Centre. ACT will make available land set aside for light rail when the city was first laid out, mainly along grassed median strips. The federal government has been ...
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Doubling contract
SOUTHERN FLORIDA’s Tri-County Commuter Rail Authority has awarded a $231·6m contract for further double-tracking work on the Miami - Fort Lauderdale - West Palm Beach corridor. Segment 5 of the operator’s upgrading programme was awarded to Tri-County Rail Constructors on August 24. The group is a joint venture of Herzog ...
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INTELLIGENCE
Australia: Victoria Department of Infrastructure will shortlist three bidders for a A$300m redevelopment and operation of Melbourne’s Spencer Street station this month. A winner will be announced early next year.Austria: Graz-K
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PPP inches ahead
ON SEPTEMBER 19 Metronet was named preferred bidder for the Sub-Surface Lines Infraco contract, indicating that progress, albeit slow, continues to be made with the London Underground Public-Private Partnership project. The SSL contract covers the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and East London lines.LU Chairman Derek Smith said that ...
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Gauteng pulls investors
STRONG interest was shown in plans to develop a high speed railway in South Africa’s Gauteng province (RG 3.01 p146) at the delayed investor conference held in Johannesburg on September 7-8. Among companies present were Bombardier, Skoda, Alstom, Siemens, RATP of Paris, and Nisho Iwai, representing Mitsubishi and Hitachi; Gauteng ...
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Terror fall-out will be long-lasting
JUST WHAT long-term effects the appalling terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11 will have on the rail business is hard to foresee. Washington metro stations at the Pentagon and National Airport closed immediately, but reopened next day, with restricted access at the Pentagon.In New York all ...
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Safety regulation to be expanded
MAJOR changes to the way safety on Britain’s rail network is regulated and managed were proposed by Lord Cullen on September 20, in Part 2 of his report into the collision at Ladbroke Grove which killed 31 people on October 5 1999. All 74 recommendations were immediately accepted by Transport ...
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‘Zero tolerance’ could kill rail
THE INSTITUTE of Logistics & Transport has warned Britain’s Health & Safety Executive that ’the railways face the risk of long-term decline, leading to increased road traffic problems, if heavy safety regulation is imposed on the industry and a zero tolerance approach taken to the risk of an accident.’ ILT ...
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Sokol can't fly yet
FIVE MONTHS of trials have been completed with the prototype Sokol (Falcon) high speed train developed by the Russian High Speed Railway Shareholding Co (RAO VSM). The results have now been assessed by an inter-ministerial committee, which published its findings in August. The committee found that the six-car train's main ...
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World Speed Survey 2001
Speeds improve, but no change at the top HIGH-SPEED TRAINS have cut the fastest journey times on some inter-city routes by over 80% since 1914, according to the latest biennial World Rail Speed Survey, published in the October 2001 issue of Railway Gazette International. The opening of France's TGV-Méditerranée ...
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Dieter
CAPTION: Customs officials were surprised to find that a suitcase belonging to an American passenger travelling from France to Germany contained 49 pythons and lizards. A vet described the Indonesian reptiles, tied up in sacks inside the case, as being ’seriously stressed’. The creatures are protected species, and have been ...