Hong Kong’s MTR Corp, Fire Services Department and police held a major evacuation and rescue exercise in the early hours of March 14 as part of the pre-opening preparations for Phase 2 of the Tuen Ma Line, which is due to open later this year. The exercise simulated a scenario in which a smouldering mobile phone charger caused dense smoke to spread through a train running from East Tsim Sha Tsui to the new TML platform at Hung Hom. A loss of traction power was simulated with the train stopping in a tunnel.
Israel’s Ministry of Transport Experimental Centre in Ashdod has taken delivery of a Chinese-made battery-powered optically guided bus for trials. ‘When I took office, I promised to do everything possible to solve the traffic jam problem and bring in new means of public transport that will convince drivers to leave their private vehicles at home’, said Transport Minister Miri Regev. ‘I asked for creative and smart solutions. We have received an innovative mass transit vehicle that currently operates only in China, and which many countries around the world are interested in. Israel was chosen to be the first country in the world to receive the vehicle, which arrived in only three months.’
Russian Post has won an auction for a contract to install 90 parcel lockers at 69 Moscow Metro stations. The metro operator said this would contribute to the growth of non-ticket revenues, in a similar manner to the vending machines and cash machines that are already present, and a power bank rental service which is currently available at 50 stations.
Public consultation is to being shortly for a proposed 1·2 km extension of Augsburg tram Route 5 from the main station to Bürgermeister-Ackermann-Straße. This could then be further extended to the university hospital.
The city of Gdańsk has awarded a consortium of Biuro Projektów Budownictwa Komunalnej and Ingeo a 4·9m złoty contract to design the planned Gdańsk Południe – Wrzeszcz tram route, which will include six stops and a pedestrian underpass.
Moscow Metro has put into service four Moskva-2020 trains with a white and blue livery rather than the previous black.
The UK’s Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps has issued safeguarding directions to protect the alignment which would be required for a proposed southern extension of London Underground’s Bakerloo Line to Lewisham, should it go ahead
Singapore’s Land Transport Authority has awarded a joint venture of Taisei Corp and China State Construction Engineering Corp a S$356m contract to design and construct the 3∙2 km bored tunnel between Aviation Park and Loyang stations for the Cross Island Line Phase 1. For the first time, LTA will use a large-diameter tunnel boring machine to construct a single tunnel with two tracks in it. The 29 km CRL1 with 12 stations is scheduled to open in 2030.
On March 2 the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board approved two contract modifications pertaining to the Central Subway Project totalling $146·6m. Contractor Tutor Perini Corp said these ‘resolved all issues contained therein‘, and it was ‘pleased with the settlement and looks forward to a successful completion of the project in the near term’.
Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario have selected the preferred bidders for two Toronto tunnelling contracts. Strabag has been selected for the Scarborough Subway Extension Advance Tunnel Project, supported by a design team of Arup Canada and Brian Isherwood & Associates. The preferred bidder for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension Advance Tunnel Project is West End Connectors, which includes Aecon Infrastructure Management, Dragados Canada and Ghella Canada with a design team of TYPSA, EXP Services, Dr G.Sauer & Partners and Pedelta Canada. Financial advisers were ACS Infrastructure Canada, Aecon Concessions, Scotiabank Capital and Ghella Investments & Partnerships.
The UITP Global Public Transport Summit 2021, which was to have been held in Melbourne in December, has been cancelled because of the ongoing pandemic and international travel restrictions. ‘Conversations continue across the globe on what international travel will look like this year, leading us to recognise that we could not host the type of industry gathering the sector has come to know and love our summit to be’, the association said.