Urban transport industry news round-up
This week’s round-up of news from the urban transport sector
Amazon backs transit-oriented development of affordable housing
USA: Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund has committed to provide below-market financing to support the transit-oriented development of affordable housing in Seattle and Washington DC, with the aim of ensuring that moderate to low-income families can afford to live in areas with easy access to employment, schools, healthcare and education.
London Underground mobile coverage concession awarded
UK: Transport for London has awarded telecoms infrastructure provider BAI Communications a 20-year concession to provide mobile coverage on the whole London Underground network, with all stations and tunnels to be covered by the end of 2024.
Odense light rail phase two options presented
DENMARK: Two options are put forward in a report into possible future expansion of the light rail line which is currently under construction in Odense.
GMV to supply Barcelona tram fleet management system
SPAIN: Alstom has awarded GMV a contract to supply a unified fleet operations management system for the Trambaix and Trambesòs light rail networks in Barcelona, covering their 41 Citadis 302 trams.
Gdańsk tram overhaul
POLAND: Gdańsk’s tram operator has awarded sole bidder 4iB a 12·7m złoty contract to overhaul 10 Düwag N8C-MF01 trams.
Ruhrbahn orders 51 light rail vehicles
GERMANY: Essen and Mülheim transport operator Ruhrbahn has awarded CAF a €150m contract to supply 51 light rail vehicles, which will enable the complete replacement of its Stadtbahn-B cars as well as the P86/P89 sets which were acquired second-hand from London’s Docklands Light Railway.
Street theatre to raise vaccine awareness at metro construction sites
INDIA: Delhi Metro Rail Corp has organised street theatre performances at construction sites to raise awareness of the benefits of Covid-19 vaccination.
Withdrawn Helsinki trams to be tested in Poland
POLAND: Two of the 40 Variotrams which have been withdrawn from service in Helsinki are to be tested in Łódź this summer, with the city’s transport operator potentially looking to acquire further vehicles if the trials prove successful.
Rack railcars ordered for the Dolderbahn
SWITZERLAND: Zürich public transport operator VBZ has awarded Stadler Bussnang a SFr10·6m + VAT contract to supply two rack railcars for the metre-gauge Dolderbahn, which starts at Römerhof in the city suburbs and climbs 162 m in 1 328 m.
Urban transport industry news round-up
This week’s round-up of news from the urban transport sector
Elastic project stretches tram technology
ITALY: Three trams and three tram stops in Firenze have been equipped with sensing, computation and communication capabilities as part of the Software Architecture for Extreme-ScaLe Big-Data AnalyticS in Fog CompuTIng ECosystems project to develop autonomous tram technology.
Gebze metro tunnelling begins
TURKEY: Tunnelling for the 14·6 km Gebze metro was officially launched by Minister of Transport & Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu on June 14. The first section of the line is scheduled to open by the end of 2023.
Light rail report cautions against ‘unproven’ trackless trams
AUSTRALIA: The Australasian Railway Association has published a report highlighting the social benefits of light rail and making recommendations to help support future development, and also cautioning against ‘gambling’ with what ARA describes as unproven and untested ‘trackless tram’ technology-guided bus systems.
ICM Mobility acquires mobile ticketing and payment specialist Unwire
DENMARK: ICM Mobility Group has acquired mobile ticketing and payment specialist Unwire, which offers a white label platform aggregating services ranging from traditional public transport to micromobility, paratransit, rideshare and other options. Features include multimodal trip planning and on-demand microtransit booking and scheduling.
Design of Moscow’s next tram unveiled
RUSSIA. Sinara has revealed the appearance of the 90 Type 71-628M fully low-floor, four-axle trams which it has designed for Moscow and which will be produced by subcontractor UKVZ.
Olsztyn tram extension contract finalised
POLAND: After more than year of appeals against the planned contract award, in early June the city of Olsztyn was finally cleared to award a consortium of Polimex and Trakcja a 403m złoty contract to build a 6 km extension of the tram network.
Urban transport industry news round-up
This week’s round-up of news from the urban transport sector
Brussels M7 metro trains launched
BELGIUM: Brussels metro operator STIB has officially launched its M7 series trainsets into operation, with CEO Brieuc Meeûs d’Argenteuil and the capital region’s Minister of Mobility Elke van den Brandt taking invited guests for a short ride on the first unit from Erasmus station on Line 1.
Dubai Red Line metro reaches Expo 2020
UAE: The 9 km extension of Dubai’s automated metro network from Al Furjan to the Expo 2020 fairground was opened for revenue service on June 1, in preparation for the delayed start of the world fair being hosted by the emirate.