Köln transport operator KVB and Alstom are using a full scale mock-up of the front section of the future NF12/NF6 light rail vehicles to obtain feedback on the design from staff, disability groups and the public.
Production of 36 eight-car trainsets for ViaMobilidade’s Lines 8-Diamond and 9-Emerald in São Paulo has begun at Alstom’s Taubaté plant. The manufacturer said the modern design would be lighter than the current trains, with lower electricity consumption, large windows, wide gangways and a capacity of 2 500 passengers.
Ile-de-France-Mobilités has announced the results of a public vote for the names of four additional stations on extensions of Paris metro Line 14. They are Saint-Denis-Pleyel, Hopital Bicêtre (Kremlin-Bicêtre-Gentilly), Villejuif-Gustave Roussy and L’Haÿ-Les-Roses.
A light rail project has been approved by the local council in Ludwigsburg, north of Stuttgart. It will be undertaken in three stages, starting by taking over the disused railway line from Markgröningen to Ludwigsburg station, which is expected to be relatively simple, and then building new alignments to Pattonville, a former US military housing complex which is now used as a civilian residential area, and to the Oßweil district.
A group of local authorities in Baden-Württemberg has directly awarded AVG the 7a lot 1 contract to operate Stadtbahn Karlsruhe services totalling 10∙8 million train-km/year for a further 15 years from December 2022.
Staring on September 1 Nagasaki tram operator Nagaden is to reduce services on its 2·9 km Route 4 which links Sofokuji Temple with Hotarujaya from 44 to 12 per day, all in the morning and evening peaks. The whole of the route is shared with other services, and the operator said ridership had fallen because of the declining birth rate, urban residents moving to peripheral areas, and the pandemic.
The Sound Transit board has identified its preferred route for the 4·7 km West Seattle Link light rail extension from SODO in central Seattle to Alaska Junction. The selection of a preferred route for the 11·2 km Ballard Link Extension between Chinatown-International District and Market Street in Ballard, including a rail-only tunnel, has been deferred to early 2023 pending further studies and community engagement.
More than 5 km of concrete separation kerbing is being installed between the tram tracks and the closest traffic lane on key routes in Melbourne’s central business district. An initial tranche installed last year reduced vehicle-to-tram collisions by 30% on the newly separated roads. ‘There’s an average of three vehicle-to-tram collisions on Melbourne’s tram network each day and these new kerbs will reduce these on many of the CBD’s busiest streets, resulting in faster and safer journeys for cars, buses and trams’, said Yarra Trams Chief Executive Julien Dehornoy.
