Rail Business UK – Page 193
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NewsCrossrail selects Bechtel as Project Delivery Partner
UK: Crossrail Ltd announced on April 1 that it intends to appoint a team of Bechtel, Halcrow and Systra as project delivery partner for the construction of the central section of the east-west route across London. Under the terms of the £400m contract they will be responsible for overseeing ...
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NewsTranscend selected as Crossrail Programme Partner
UK: Crossrail Ltd is expected to sign a contract worth £100m shortly appointing the Transcend joint venture to the critical role of Programme Partner. The members of Transcend are AECOM, CH2M Hill and Nichols Group. The choice of Transcend as preferred bidder was announced on March 11, when Crossrail’s Land ...
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NewsLondon’s cross-city line follows the RER model
CROSS-CITY: Many enhancements have been made to RER Line A since it was completed across the centre of Paris in 1977. Now carrying more than 60 000 passengers/h on each track, it offers similarities to London’s Crossrail project, making a comparison particularly instructive.
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NewsDocklands Light Railway opens to Woolwich Arsenal
UK: Mayor of London Boris Johnson inaugurated the 2·5 km extension of London’s Docklands Light Railway from King George V to Woolwich Arsenal on January 12, two days after the start of services. The infrastructure on the £180m light metro extension was built in 3½ years by ...
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NewsCrossrail agreements signed
UK: A series of core funding and governance agreements paving the way for construction of the long-planned Crossrail route under London were signed on December 4 by Transport Minister Andrew Adonis and Mayor of London Boris Johnson. A parallel deal was finalised with the City of London Corporation which will ...
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NewsCrossrail bill gets Royal Assent
UK: The £16bn Crossrail project to link London's Liverpool Street and Paddington stations via an east-west tunnel (RG 11.07 p679) gained parliamentary approval on July 22. The Crossrail Act grants powers for land acquisition to permit construction of the line, stations and associated maintenance facilities. Enabling works are ...
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NewsCross-city expansion gets underway
LONDON: Network Rail has begun work on the long-planned upgrade of the Thameslink cross-city route, where tendering is now in hand for major works due to commence in January. Under a two-stage programme costing a total of £5·5bn, platforms will be lengthened to accommodate 12-car trains operating at a frequency ...
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NewsScotland: ‘We are more hands-on’
Devolution of power from the UK to the Scottish Government has enabled Scotland to formulate its own transport strategy. Andrew Grantham asked Chief Executive of Transport Scotland Malcolm Reed about the future direction of Scotland’s railways
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NewsLegendary task of painting the Forth Bridge to end
UK: Painting the Forth Bridge has become a British proverb, a task so big that it can never be finished; by the time you have reached one end, it is time to start re-painting the other again. Never strictly true - painting has always been prioritised ...
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NewsLondon Crossrail gets the go-ahead
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown gave the go-ahead for London's long-awaited Crossrail project on October 5, with details of the funding package announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling four days later. The total cost was put at up to £16bn, allowing for inflation during construction and inclusive of land, ...
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Badger hunting by radar
UK: Ground-penetrating radar specialist Aperio has surveyed four sites in southern England where badger setts were threatening the stability of lineside embankments. Network Rail contracted Aperio to use radar equipment to analyse the effects of badger excavation at Pinhoe, Cowley Bridge, Cutnall Green and Munsley. As a result of the ...
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NewsCross-London projects languish on the back burner
WHILE the East London Line is finally being rebuilt to provide rapid and frequent services along a corridor linking London's northern and southern suburbs, two major projects to make it simple for rail passengers to travel across London have made spectacularly little progress over the last 15 years. The Thameslink ...
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Three replacement franchises start
UK: Low-key celebrations were held in London on April 3 to mark the start of three replacement train operating franchises. FirstGroup has retained the First Great Western branding for its expanded ’Greater Western’ franchise which combines the FGW Link suburban services and the Wessex Trains regional services formerly run by ...
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A rail vision for the capital
Forecasting that peak demand on the UK capital’s commuter railways is set to grow by 30% over the next 20 years, Transport for London’s Managing Director, London Rail, Ian Brown explained to Robert Preston how a package of major projects, upgrades and smaller schemes should deliver the extra capacity
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NewsCrossrail bill introduced
A BILL to authorise construction of the east-west Crossrail Line 1 under central London was introduced to Parliament on February 22. Unlike an earlier private bill that failed in May 1994, the new hybrid bill is backed by the government. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling told MPs 'the case for ...
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NewsClass 455 suburban EMU refurbished
UK: On November 23 South West Trains returned to service the first two of its 91 Class 455 inner-suburban EMUs which are being refurbished at Bombardier’s Ashford works. The mid-life refurbishment project will be completed in March 2008. The £67m cost is being funded by Porterbrook, and ...
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Team to review Crossrail again
THE CASE for building London's long-planned east-west Crossrail Line 1 is to be reviewed by a team of experts appointed by Transport Secretary Alistair Darling. The team, headed by Network Rail Deputy Chairman Adrian Montague, will report 'around the turn of the year', he said on September 9. They will ...
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NewsConnex loses second UK franchise
UK: For the first time since privatisation in the 1990s, a franchise to operate passenger services in Britain has been terminated through default. On June 27, Strategic Rail Authority Chairman Richard Bowker announced that ‘we have given notice to Connex South Eastern that their franchise will terminate ...
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Crossrail rides again
THE CROSSRAIL project to build a regional metro under central London was officially launched on January 17 by Sir Christopher Benson, Chairman of Cross London Rail Links Ltd. A joint venture of the Strategic Rail Authority and Transport for London, the company has been allocated £154m of government funding for ...
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Cross-London links back on the agenda
BRITAIN’s Strategic Rail Authority and Transport for London have signed an accord to develop two more cross-London rail links. Transport Minister Lord Macdonald said on May 3 that £150m from the government’s 10-year transport plan has been allocated for ’project definition and design development work’. Both arise from the London ...