Metro news – Page 116
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NewsFirst Kochi metro car unveiled
INDIA: Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu unveiled the first car for the Kochi metro at Alstom’s Sri City plant in Andhra Pradesh on January 2. Alstom is supplying an initial fleet of 25 three-car Metropolis trainsets to Kochi Metro Rail under an €85m contract awarded in October 2014. The order ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief
Tram services in the Russian city of Dzerzhinsk ceased on December 18 following a decision to close the lines because of deteriorating infrastructure. Two tram routes in Angarsk closed on November 15: a 2 km section between Upravleniye Neftekhimkombinata and Zavod Polimerov and a 3·5 km section between Peresecheniye and ...
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NewsChangsha maglev starts trial running
CHINA: Trial running has started on the 18·5 km ‘medium-speed’ maglev line linking Changsha Nan station with the city's Huanghua Airport. Operated by Hunan Maglev Transport Co, the line has been designed for a maximum speed of 120 km/h, although the normal running speed is limited to 100 km/h. Interchange ...
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NewsBeijing and Guangzhou metros expand
CHINA: Three more metro extensions have been opened for revenue service in two of China’s largest conurbations. Beijing commissioned two routes on December 26. The larger adds a further 16·6 km to Line 14, which is being built by the Beijing MTR Corp joint venture under a PPP concession agreed ...
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NewsChengdu opens Line 4
CHINA: The third metro line in the western city of Chengdu was opened for revenue service on December 26. Running entirely underground for 22·4 km and serving 16 stations, the first phase of the east-west Line 4 links Intangible Cultural Heritage Park to Wannianchang. Interchange is provided to the national ...
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NewsDowntown Line reaches Bukit Panjang
SINGAPORE: The second phase of the city’s Downtown Line was opened for revenue service on December 27, following a formal inauguration by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at Botanic Gardens station the previous day. Free travel is being provided until January 1. Running from northwest Bugis to Bukit Panjang, the ...
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NewsSapporo completes tram loop
JAPAN: Ceremonies were held in the northern city of Sapporo on December 19 to mark the completion of a 449 m city centre tramway link, which opened for revenue service the following day. The new line connects the northern terminus of the Yamahana Line at Susukino with the eastern terminus ...
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NewsExim Bank to fund Lahore metro project
PAKISTAN: A soft loan agreement which would see China Exim Bank provide Rs162bn to fund construction of the Orange Line metro in Lahore was signed by Punjab’s Economic Affairs Secretary Tariq Bajwa and Exim Bank Vice-President Sun Ping on December 21. An agreement with China for the construction of the ...
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NewsEmergency traction tram batteries
SWITZERLAND: Saft is to supply onboard batteries for the 61 Flexity trams that Bombardier is supplying to Basel transport authority BVB. Each tram is being equipped with two 24 V Saft MSX battery systems. These would provide emergency short-term back-up traction power to enable the tram to travel short ...
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NewsTfL chooses Bakerloo Line extension alignment
UK: Transport for London is to begin detailed technical work on a southern extension of London Underground’s Bakerloo Line next year, it announced on December 17. TfL opened a public consultation in September 2014 on two proposed routes to extend the line from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham. It ...
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NewsGrand Paris Express funded
FRANCE: Project promoter Société du Grand Paris announced last month that funding had been agreed for the three remaining lines of the Grand Paris Express metro network. These include the northern section of Line 17 from Le Bourget to aLe Mesnil-Amelot, expected to cost €18bn and comprising 19·5 km of ...
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NewsPanamá City orders more Line 1 trainsets
PANAMA: Metro de Panama has awarded a €145m contract to a consortium led by Alstom and including Thales, Sofratesa, CIM and TSO for the supply of additional rolling stock and associated work to lengthen trainsets on Panamá City metro Line 1. Alstom’s share of the contract is €130m, and ...
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NewsTfL granted powers to rebuild Bank
UK: The Department for Transport has granted a Transport & Works Act Order to Transport for London, giving it legal powers to start the remodelling of Bank station in central London.Bank is the third-busiest station on the London Underground network, handling more than 52 million passengers per year and serving ...
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NewsDB places Berlin S-Bahn rolling stock order
GERMANY: DB subsidiary S-Bahn Berlin GmbH has signed a framework contract for up to 1 380 electric multiple-unit cars with a consortium of Stadler Pankow and Siemens. The base order comprises 85 four-car and 21 two-car trainsets, to be used on the Ring and southeastern branches pf the 800 V ...
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NewsFirst metro Line M5 trainset arrives in București
ROMANIA: CAF has delivered the first of eight trainsets that it is supplying for metro Line M5 in București. The train was transported by Rail Cargo Group and arrived on December 18, one month earlier than stipulated in the contract with CAF. Metro operator Metrorex exercised an option in ...
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NewsWork begins on Auckland’s City Rail Link
NEW ZEALAND: Preliminary work for the City Rail Link in Auckland started on December 21 with a ceremony on the corner of Victoria Street and Albert Street. The 3·4 km route would run mostly through twin tunnels up to 42 m below the surface to connect the current Britomart ...
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NewsSound Transit approves 2016 budget
USA: Puget Sound transport authority Sound Transit approved a $1·2bn budget for 2016 on December 17. ‘Our region’s commuters will see historic progress in 2016’, said Chair Dow Constantine. ‘We will open light rail extensions to Capitol Hill, the University of Washington and Angle Lake and successfully complete our ...
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NewsMore Flexity Berlin trams ordered
GERMANY: Berlin transport operator BVG has exercised an option for a further 47 Flexity Berlin trams from Bombardier Transportation, valued at €176m. BVG signed a framework agreement with Bombardier for up to 206 trams in 2006. An initial order for four pre-series vehicles was followed by a contract for ...
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NewsToulouse plans third metro line
FRANCE: The outline route for a third metro line in Toulouse was unveiled on December 18. At €1⋅72bn it would be the largest public transport project in France outside Paris, according to transport authority SMTC, which hopes to complete construction in 2024. The core route for the project, known as ...
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NewsShanghai extends three metro lines
CHINA: December 18 saw the inauguration of three metro extensions in Shanghai, completing the metro development plan announced in 2005. Under the next phase of the city’s metro expansion programme, four new lines and extensions to five lines are due to open by the end of 2020. A 21·4 ...