All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 801
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NewsBroad gauge for Pajares base tunnel
SPAIN: The new alignment between La Robla and Pola de Lena which includes the 25 km Pajares base tunnel is to open with track laid to 1 668 mm gauge, Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport & Housing Rafael Catalá announced during a site visit on May 17. Tenders are ...
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NewsMetro cars arrive in Jaipur
INDIA: The first trainset for the Jaipur metro arrived at the Mansarovar depot on May 20 having left BEML’s factory in Bangalore at the end of April. In 2011 BEML won a Rs3·18bn contract to supply 10 four-car trainsets for the Jaipur metro. The remaining trains are ...
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NewsLearning life-saving lessons
USA: A delegation of Indian Railways management visited the offices of Operation Lifesaver in Alexandria, Virginia, last month to learn about best practice in railway safety education. Operation Lifesaver is a not-for-profit organisation set up to help reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries caused on the US rail ...
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NewsShenyang tram on test
CHINA: The first tram for the Shenyang network started test running on May 10. China CNR is supplying 20 100% low-floor cars under a contract signed in December 2011. ‘With the acceleration of urbanisation in China, low-carbon, energy saving and convenient trams will be the future of urban transport,’ ...
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NewsUZ orders 300 electric locomotives
UKRAINE: National railway UZ and Luhanskteplovoz signed a memorandum of understanding on May 16 for the supply of 300 electric locomotives. The order is worth around 12bn hryvnia. Production is to begin this year, with deliveries scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016. Luhanskteplovoz’s plant should ...
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NewsSilver Line Phase 2 contractor selected
USA: On May 14 Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority awarded Capital Rail Constructors a design-build contract for Phase 2 of the Silver Line metro extension. Capital Rail Constructors is a consortium comprising Clark Construction Group, Kiewit Infrastructure Group, Parsons Transport Group and Dewberry. Its bid of $1·18bn was the lowest ...
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NewsStratford-upon-Avon Parkway station opens
UK: A station serving a park and ride site on the northern outskirts of Stratford-upon-Avon opened with the May 19 timetable change. Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway is served by London Midland services to Birmingham as well as Chiltern Railways trains to London Marylebone. Built at cost of £6·9m by Buckingham Group, the ...
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NewsChongqing metro reaches Yuelai
CHINA: A ceremony on May 15 marked the opening of the latest extension to the Chongqing metro. The northern branch Line 6 runs from Lijia to Yuelai, adding 12 km to the line. The extension is one of two planned branches running north from Lijia. A longer branch to ...
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NewsKunming metro Line 1 opens
CHINA: The first section of Line 1 of the Kunming metro opened for trial passenger services on May 20. The 22·1 km route has 12 stations. Ridership is forecast at 168 000 passengers/day. CSR Zhuzhou has supplied Type B trains, and an Alstom/Casco joint venture supplied Urbalis ...
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NewsReliability focus for Paris suburban network
FRANCE: The government and Ile-de-France transport authority STIF have announced a 10-point strategy to improve the reliability of the rail network serving Paris and its suburbs. A total of €7bn is to be invested by 2017, with €2bn allocated to the RER network alongside the metro projects confirmed on March ...
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NewsISR training centre now open
ISRAEL: Israel Railways opened a US$2·7m training centre at Lod station last month. The new facility is intended to fill a skills gap which has developed in recent years, and offers specially developed training programmes for railway employees including signallers, shunters and refuelling staff. It is equipped with advanced technological ...
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NewsProducts & Technology in Brief
IXYS Corp is supplying hermetic power semiconductor thyristors and fast recovery diode capsules for N700A high speed trainsets. ‘The qualification of more of our products into the Japanese rail system builds on our growing business platform in the Japanese market against strong domestic competition, and continues our penetration of the ...
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NewsFirst Panamá metro trains delivered
PANAMA: Alstom has delivered the first three of 19 three-car Metropolis trainsets for the Panamá City metro. The trains are being built at Alstom’s Santa Perpètua de Mogoda factory in Spain and have recently been undergoing tests on the FGC network in Barcelona. The trains will be used on ...
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NewsHannover light rail vehicle assembly underway
GERMANY: Assembly of the first TW3000 high-floor light rail vehicles ordered by Hannover transport operator Üstra has begun at the HeiterBlick factory in Leipzig. The first vehicles will be delivered to Hannover later this year for testing, with revenue services likely to commence in early 2014. In ...
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NewsArriva acquires Veolia Transport Central Europe
EUROPE: Transdev completed the sale of its Veolia Transport Central Europe subsidiary to DB Mobility on May 16. Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, said the sale of VTCE GmbH for an undisclosed price was the first step in a financial restructuring which aims to re-focus its international activities on 'promising markets ...
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NewsAll CFR Marfa privatisation bids rejected
ROMANIA: The Ministry of Transport announced on May 15 that it was to start afresh with its attempt to sell a 51% stake in national rail freight operator CFR Marfa. This follows its rejection of all three of the applications to prequalify which had been submitted by the May ...
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NewsCD orders more RegioPanter EMUs
CZECH REPUBLIC: National passenger operator CD announced a KC943m firm order for a further seven Škoda Vagónka RegioPanter electric multiple-units on May 15. The five three-car Class 640 units with 237 seats and two two-car Class 650 units with 145 seats will have aluminium bodyshells, first and second class seats, ...
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NewsTenders called for DLR operating concession
UK: Transport for London has issued the formal invitation to tender to four groups shortlisted to operate and maintain the Docklands Light Railway for 6½ years from September 2014. The ITT was issued on May 10, with final bids to be returned by September 9, TfL’s Acting Director, London ...
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NewsNews in Brief
Portuguese infrastructure manager Refer has estimated the cost of an electrified line to serve a proposed container terminal at Trafaria on the south bank of the Tagus at €150m. Moving container operations to Trafaria is part of a €1bn project to free up the north bank in Lisboa for a ...
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NewsPresident visits Arica - La Paz Railway
CHILE: President Sebastián Piñera visited the Chilean section of the Arica – La Paz Railway on May 13, travelling the 40 km from Arica to Poconchile accompanied by Transport & Telecommunications Minister Pedro Pablo Errázuriz and other dignitaries. ‘Today is a day of great historical significance’, said Piñera, ‘because 100 ...