This week’s round-up of news from the urban transport sector.
On October 21, Pesa Bydgoszcz delivered the first of 16 Twist 146N low-floor tram vehicles it is supplying to Wrocław as an option of a December 2021 contract, when a firm order for 24 more trams was signed. The total value of the order for 40 trams is 337·5m złoty.
Transport for London has directly awarded intellectual property owner Hitachi a technical support and spares provision contract for the signalling system deployed on the Docklands Light Railway. The £3·6m+VAT contract runs for three years to October 1 2028, and there is an option to extend by up to one year if there is a delay to the ongoing development of a wider business strategy for a signalling framework which would include the services provided.
National operator MÁV Személyszállítási Zrt has called tenders for 18 electric multiple-units for Budapest HÉV suburban route H5 with an option of 36 more for routes H6, H7, H8 and H9. The 1·5 kV DC vehicles are to be at least 66% low-floor and have a capacity of at least 650 passengers.
The Incheon Airport maglev reopened with a limited service on October 17, more than three years after it was suspended because of low ridership during the Covid-19 pandemic. Serices have been cut from 103 to 24 round trips per day, with no service on Mondays. Speeds have been reduced from up to 80 km/h to the current 40 km/h. The 6·1 km line was built as a showcase for maglev technology, but ridership was much lower than had been planned.
Spain’s Extremadura regional has awarded GMV a contract to supply its ITS Suite for the digitalisation of public transport management, including planning, operations, ticketing, data analysis, and passenger information. This will include an account-based ticketing system enabling users to validate their journeys via dynamic QR codes and the TMEx contactless card, supporting plans to the rollout of an advanced fare model incorporating discounts, anti-fraud mechanisms and a compensation module for inter-operator settlement. The platform architecture is also prepared for future integration of bank card payments compliant with the EMV standard.
Transdev has agreed bespoke framework agreements for the onoging use of IVU Traffic Technologies software for planning train and bus deployment in Germany. The agreements enable Transdev and IVU to continually co-ordinate their operations as the basis for ongoing development of the systems. ‘This straightforward expansion of our system ensures planning reliability in a dynamically growing mobility market’, said Michael Claus, CIO at Transdev GmbH.
PK TS has delivered the first 10 of 22 three-section Nevsky 71-932 trams it is supplying for the under-construction Slavyanka tramway project in St Petersburg. The 21 km line is being delivered in a public-private partnership in the south of the city, linking the Kupchino terminus of metro Line 2 with Slavyanka.
London Underground is seeking to procure train gauging measurement systems, including video imaging to identify out-of-gauge elements on trains. These could include misaligned equipment cover panels, damaged collector shoes and damage to underframe equipment, as well as thermal imaging to identify overheating components.