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.
Withdrawn Helsinki trams to be tested in Poland
POLAND: Two of the 40 Variotrams which have been withdrawn from service in Helsinki are to be tested in Łódź this summer, with the city’s transport operator potentially looking to acquire further vehicles if the trials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.
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.
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.
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.
Trento tramway approved
ITALY: The province of Trentino and Trento municipality have reached agreement for the construction of an 8 km tram line in the city.
Test running starts on Tel Aviv Red Line
ISRAEL: Tel Aviv light rail project promoter NTA has started test running with its Chinese-built LRVs on the first section of the Red Line, which is now under construction between Petakh-Tikva and Bat Yam.
First Lightline tram arrives
JAPAN: The first of 17 three-section low-floor light rail vehicles being built to operate the Haga – Utsunomiya LRT was unveiled at the line’s depot on May 31, having been delivered a few days earlier.
Interurban tramway PPP concession agreement signed
RUSSIA: A 10-year agreement to finance, build and operate an inter-municipality tramway connecting Yekaterinburg with the neighbouring town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma was signed by Sverdlovsk oblast and the Verkhnepyshminskiy Tramway subsidiary of Movista-Regions on May 20.
Taganrog tramway to be modernised in first concession agreement
RUSSIA: What the contractor says is the first concession agreement for the comprehensive modernisation of an entire Russian tramway has been signed by city of Taganrog and the Sinara-GTR Taganrog subsidiary of Sinara-City Transport Solutions.
Hamilton LRT back on with federal funding
CANADA: The federal government has announced C$1·7bn of funding for the Hamilton Light Rail Transit project, matching Ontario’s C$1·7bn contribution to ensure that the proposed line can go ahead and will be long enough to be viable.
Barcelona cross-city tramway gets final approval
Longer Erfurt tram unveiled ahead of garden festival
‘Drumbeat of progress’ as Sound Transit’s fleet and network to be tripled in size
Tvärbanan branch opens to Bromma airport
Catenary-free Wenshan State Tram opens
București finally signs order for 100 trams