Urban rail – Page 334
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NewsOlsztyn selects new tramway contractors
POLAND: Skanska signed a 150m złoty contract with the city of Olsztyn on August 19 for the construction of 6 km of tram route by September 2015. Construction of the standard gauge network officially began in September 2012, but in 2013 the city terminated FCC Construcción’s contract, citing a ...
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NewsMetro station energy efficiency project
SPAIN: As part of the EU-backed Sustainable Energy Management for Underground Stations research project, Passeig de Gràcia station on Barcelona metro Line 3 has been fitted with 50 sensors to monitor the power consumption of subsystems including lighting, escalators, lifts and ventilation. The multinational Seam4us project partners envisage that ...
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NewsWashington Silver Line receives federal funding
USA: On August 20 Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced a $1·28bn Transportation Infrastructure Financial Innovation Act loan for the second phase of the Washington metro Silver Line extension. This is part of a $1·87bn combined commitment of TIFIA loans for the Silver Line Phase 2, which the Department of ...
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NewsWaterloo ION light rail breaks ground
CANADA: A groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 21 for Stage 1 of the ION Light Rail Transit project on Dutton Drive in Waterloo, the future site of the operations and maintenance facility. Stage 1 covers the 19 km of light rail from Conestoga Mall in Waterloo to Fairview ...
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NewsTokyo Monorail plans to extend
JAPAN: Tokyo Monorail Co has confirmed that it plans to extend the Tokyo Monorail line by 3 km from Hamamatsucho to Tokyo main line station. The project is expected to cost ¥109·5bn and be completed in 10 years. The monorail line currently runs from Haneda International Airport to Hamamatsucho, ...
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NewsNorthern Line extension contractor selected
UK: London Underground announced on August 21 that it had selected Ferrovial Agroman Laing O’Rourke to design and build the 3·3 km extension of the Northern Line from Kennington to Nine Elms and Battersea. The six-year contract covers the main construction works and is worth £500m. The £1bn project ...
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NewsTramRus tram running in Moscow
RUSSIA: The first tram produced by the TramRus joint venture of Alstom and Transmashholding for Moscow commenced ‘trial commercial operation’ on August 20. The 100% low-floor 1 524 mm gauge tram has been developed from Alstom’s Citadis family and adapted for local conditions, including very cold winters and hot ...
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NewsRio metro expansion study
BRAZIL: The Rio de Janeiro state government has called bids for a study into three new metro lines in Rio. The winner will have 12 months to submit land use, demand and feasibility studies. The three planned lines are: Uruguai – Engenhão: 8·9 km with six stations and forecast ridership ...
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NewsBuenos Aires Line B upgraded for ex-Madrid fleet
ARGENTINA: Metro authority SBASE is spending a total of 1∙01bn pesos on upgrading Line B of the Buenos Aires network, in preparation for the introduction of a fleet of 86 CAF Series 6000 cars purchased from Metro de Madrid for US$57∙6m. Due to enter service during the first quarter of ...
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NewsLight rail reaches Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
USA: Dallas Area Rapid Transit inaugurated an extension of the Orange Line to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on August 15, with revenue services starting three days later. The first stage of the Orange Line opened in July 2012, with a 6·5 km extension to Belt Line Road opening in ...
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NewsMitsubishi wins São Paulo metro turnkey contract
BRAZIL: PPP concessionaire Move São Paulo has awarded Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsui & Co a turnkey contract for construction of metro Line 6. In what MHI says is its first railway contract in Latin America, the Japanese company will design, supply and commission the signalling, communications, power supply, ...
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NewsTrams ordered for Bydgoszcz extension
POLAND: The Tramwaj Fordon subsidiary of Bydgoszcz city council has ordered 12 Swing 100% low-floor trams from Pesa for 109m złoty. The metre-gauge trams are to be used on the 9·5 km line to the Fordon district that is due to open next year. The five-section vehicles will ...
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NewsBeijing orders driverless metro trains
CHINA: CNR Changchun is to supply 60 trains for the first driverless metro line in mainland China. The first two are due to be delivered in May, and will enter service on the 10 km Yanfang Line in Beijing from December 2015. The stainless-steel-bodied Type B trainsets will ...
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NewsIzmir tram contract awarded
TURKEY: Hyundai Rotem has won an 83·7bn won contract to supply 38 low-floor trams to Izmir, the Korean company announced on August 8. The vehicles will be used to operate the 12·6 km Konak Line and the 9·7 km Karsiyaka Line. Gülermak is the construction contractor for both routes, ...
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NewsLight rail test fleet
UK: Light rail industry association UK Tram and rail research and development organisation FutureRailway have agreed to set up a Light Rail Vehicle Test Fleet to support research and product development. West Midlands transport authority Centro has loaned the project two of the Ansaldo T69 trams which have been displaced ...
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NewsChicago receives upgrade funds
USA: Mayor Rahm Emanuel and US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced $35m in Core Capacity Grant Program funds for the Chicago Transit Authority on August 7. The funds make up part of the $43·7m required for preliminary designs, engineering and environmental planning for the first phase of the $4·7bn ...
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NewsAlstom and Huawei announce metro LTE trial
FRANCE: Alstom and Huawei are to test LTE multi-service broadband radio networking technology for metros at the French company’s Valenciennes site. The pilot project follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding by the companies in April. Huawei is to provide the LTE network, while Alstom will provide a trainset ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - August 2014
The Indian government has allocated Rs177·4m for Bangalore metro Phase II and expansion of Phase I by 2015. The EIB is to provide Düsseldorf’s Rheinbahn with a €150m loan for modernisation including procurement of around 40 trams and refurbishment of 100 existing vehicles by 2019. The 3·2 ...
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NewsFind a tram stop with augmented reality
INIT: Making public transport more attractive for passengers and more efficient for operators is the aim of the software developed by INIT, which will be demonstrating its latest innovations at InnoTrans 2014. The DEPARTURESlive iPhone application displays the nearest light rail or bus stops and departure times, or users can ...
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NewsSupercap trams enter service in Rostock
GERMANY: The first of 13 Vossloh Tramlink 6N2 trams equipped with roof-mounted supercapacitor energy storage units entered regular service in Rostock on July 30. All 13 are expected to be in service by the end of the year, replacing older Tatra T6 vehicles. The five-section 100% low-floor trams are 32 ...
