Metro news – Page 198
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - June 2011
Under a programme to ‘improve’ public transport in Toshkent 26 km of tram track is being removed from the city centre and trams will be restricted to the inner ring road. Four new sections of track totalling 16 km are being built and 20 trams will be ...
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NewsSão Paulo Line 4 growth
BRAZIL: São Paulo metro opened Pinheiros station between Faria Lima and Butantã on the driverless Line 4 on May 16. It is expected to increase daily ridership from 50000 to 80000. Operating hours on the Paulista – Butantã section of the Yellow Line were extended on May 2. The ...
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NewsDresden Messe tram extension opens
GERMANY: Music, dancing and vintage trams featured in opening celebrations for an extension of Dresden tram Line 10 to the exhibition centre on May 29. The 'Messelinie' extension runs for 1·3 km from the former terminus at Friedrichstadt, which has been renamed Vorwerkstraße, and has four stops. Studies for ...
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NewsFirst Stadler Variobahn arrives in Potsdam
GERMANY: The first Stadler Variobahn for the Potsdam tram network was officially presented to transport operator ViP on May 13. The vehicle will now be tested and certified prior to entering commercial service, which is provisionally set for September 17. ViP placed a €25m order for 10 Variobahn low-floor trams ...
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NewsAlstom enters 'second tier' Chinese metro signalling market
CHINA: A joint venture of Alstom and CASCO announced contracts totalling €85m for the supply of Urbalis CBTC signalling equipment for metro projects in Shanghai and Kunming on May 24. The contracts are 'important milestones', according to Ling Fang, Managing Director of Alstom Transport China, as they demonstrate that Alstom ...
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NewsTramino and Moderus Beta trams go into service in Poznan
POLAND: The first series-build Solaris Tramino for Poznan was handed over to city transport operator MPK on May 23, and is expected to enter service this week. 'Poznan's passengers will experience one of the most comfortable trams in Europe', said Krzysztof Olszewski, founder of bus manufacturer Solaris which has ...
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NewsOttawa O-Train extension proposed
CANADA: The Ottawa Transit Commission approved C$200 000 for a study into a southern O-Train extension to Leitrim Park & Ride and Riverside South at a meeting on May 18. The line would use the corridor designated for the proposed north-south LRT line that was scrapped by City of Ottawa ...
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NewsRabat - Salé tram network launched
MOROCCO: King Mohammed VI visited Rabat-Salé on May 18 to inaugurate the 19·5 km tram network with 31 stops and the 1·2 km Hassan II Bridge which carries the shared central section over the Bouregreg river. The ceremony was attended by local officials, including Lemghari Essaki, Chairman ...
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NewsEast London Line to Clapham Junction underway
UK: TfL announced on May 19 that its contractor Birse Metro had begun work to build the 1∙3 km of new track, using a disused alignment, that will enable East London Line services to reach Clapham Junction. The new corridor will run from south of Surrey Quays station to join ...
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NewsAtlanta orders Siemens Avanto streetcars
USA: Siemens Industry Inc has been awarded its first North American street-running tram order, a $17·2m contract from the city of Atlanta for four cars based on the S70 Avanto light rail vehicle platform. They will be used on a 4·3 km line with 12 stops linking the Martin Luther ...
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NewsSound Transit dedicates University Link TBMs
USA: Senator Patty Murray and Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff joined Sound Transit board members in Seattle on May 16 to launch the first of three tunnel boring machines that will excavate the twin tunnels for the 5·1 km light rail link to the University of Washington.The extension starts ...
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NewsWorld Bank loan supports Kunming urban rail project
CHINA: The World Bank has approved a US$300m loan towards the US$1·7bn construction of Kunming metro Line 3. The loan is intended to support ‘compact, transit-oriented urban development by providing high quality, integrated public transport on the East-West Line 3 corridor’. The 19·5 km underground line will ...
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NewsWomen-only metro inaugurated
SAUDI ARABIA: King Abdullah rode on the recently completed driverless metro during his inauguration of the Princess Nora Bint Abdul Rahman University campus in Riyadh on May 15. As well as being the largest women-only university in the world, PNU is said to be the largest single-site university. Transport within ...
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NewsDLR three-car upgrade completed
UK: The launch of three-car services on the Docklands Light Railway between Tower Gateway and Beckton on May 9 marked the completion of a £325m project to upgrade the network for longer trains.‘With passenger numbers increasing on the DLR every year, having the ability to run a three-car service right ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief
A one-station extension of Shanghai metro Line 6 from South Ling Yan Road to an interchange with Line 8 at Ji Yang Road opened on April 12. MTA dedicated two 642-tonne tunnel boring machines for the East Side Access project in New York on March 21. The TBMs will dig ...
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NewsAlger’s first tram line enters service
ALGERIA: Transport Minister Amar Tou and the President of Entreprise du Métro d’Alger, Aomar Hadbi, launched revenue services on a 7·2 km section of the city’s first tram route between Bab Ezzouar and Bordj El Kiffan on May 8. The tram line is being built as a turnkey project ...
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NewsGoldlinQ selected to build Gold Coast light rail
AUSTRALIA: Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Transport Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on May 6 that the GoldlinQ consortium had been selected to build and operate the A$1bn Gold Coast rapid transit light rail line linking University Hospital to Broadbeach. The GoldlinQ consortium includes KDR Gold Coast Pty Ltd, a joint ...
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NewsKøbenhavn metro to be upgraded
DENMARK: København metro authority Metroselskabet has signed a framework agreement with Ansaldo STS to upgrade equipment supplied when the city’s metro network was built.The €33m upgrade forms part of Metroselskabet’s Capital Asset Replacement Programme to ensure that levels of service availability are maintained. The work involves replacement of ageing and ...
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NewsHeathrow PRT pod passenger trials underway
UK: The ULTra personal rapid transit system serving business car parking areas at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 has begun carrying air passengers on a limited trial basis, following a period of live testing with airport staff. 'Testing is going very well', a spokesman told Railway Gazette International on May ...
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NewsWork progresses on Edmonton light rail extension
CANADA: May 2 marked the start of major construction work on the 3·3 km, three-station light rail extension in Edmonton, running from Churchill to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. The tracks will be at grade except for a 700 m long, 18 m deep tunnel between Churchill and MacEwan. ...