Canada: Toronto Transit Commission has asked the promoters of the AirCanada Centre to help fund expansion of the metro station at Union Station, to handle the anticipated traffic which will be attracted by the new sports arena.
China: Hong Kong MTR Corp signed a contract with Siemens on February 18 for installation of new public address equipment at all stations, including automatic digital voice announcements in both Cantonese and English.
Europe: The European Commission has appointed the Group for Urban Interchanges, Development & Evaluation to investigate the accessibility of public transport and quality of interchange across Europe. Led by consultants MVA, Guide has 12 members including academic institutions, passenger transport executives, and operators London Transport, Netherlands Railways and RATP.
Great Britain: Tramtrack Croydon has awarded a £18m contract to Jarvis for design and installation of trackwork on the Tramlink light rail network from this month until the end of January 1999.
Spain: The Basque regional government has awarded a Pts8bn contract for construction of a 3·2 km tunnel section of Bilbao metro line 2 between San Inazio and Barakaldo.
Generalitat de Valencia has approved a 2·2 km extension of light rail Line 4 from Ademuz to Burjasot costing Pts1·3bn.
USA: San Francisco commuter rail operator Caltrain has ordered three diesel locos of 3200hp from Motive Power Industries for delivery in August at a cost of $6·8m. GEC Alsthom Technotransport is to overhaul the existing 20-strong fleet in Montréal for US$12·2m, with provision for conversion to head-end power.
Bay Area Rapid Transit has awarded a $597m contract to Tutor-Saliba and Slattery Construction to build the 14 km BART extension to San Francisco Airport. The interchange at Milbrae is to be built by Sverdrup/Conco for $70m.
Metro-Dade County has invited bids for a 2·4 km extension of the Miami metro from Okeechobee to a multi-modal interchange at NW 74 St & Palmetto Expressway at a cost of $87m.
San Francisco’s Muni Metro has issued a request for proposals for an 8·7 km light rail extension from 4th & King St along Third Street to the Caltrain station at Bayshore. Costed at $405m including 25 new LRVs, the line is expected to open in 2003.
