Urban rail – Page 341
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NewsTriMet awards Portland smart card contract
USA: Transport agency TriMet has awarded INIT a contract to implement smart card ticketing for light rail, commuter and bus services in Portland, Oregon. The contract announced on April 1 covers an initial 1·3 million contactless smart cards, 1 100 onboard and platform validators, 100 retail terminals, 90 mobile inspection ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - April 2014
Tokyo Metro has signed a technical assistance memorandum of understanding with Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has announced R$3·8bn of public transport investment. The projects include tramways in the city of Natal and state of Paraíba. China Railway Group has been awarded a 20bn ...
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NewsBeijing orders catenary-free trams
CHINA: Beijing Rail Transit Construction & Management Co has awarded CNR Dalian a contract for 31 five-section trams to be delivered by the end of 2014. The 100% low-floor air-conditioned trams are to be used on the Xijiao line in the west of the city, due to open next ...
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NewsSolar power at Valley Metro depot
USA: Valley Metro has awarded Natural Power & Energy a $2·88m contract to install a 780 kW solar generating plant on land and car parking facilities at its light rail operations and maintenance facility in Phoenix, Arizona. The plant will be capable of producing 1·19 million kWh a year, meeting ...
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NewsLiège tram bidders shortlisted
BELGIUM: Société Régionale Wallonne du Transport announced on April 3 that two bidders have been shortlisted to build a tram line in Liège: The Legiaexpress consortium of Vinci Concessions, CFE, Bombardier Transportation and Meridiam Infrastructure Finance II; The MobiLiège consortium of Alstom Transport, BAM PPP PGGM Infrastructure Co-operative, DG Ingra ...
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NewsLanzhou metro construction begins
CHINA: Construction of the first metro line in Lanzhou started on March 28. The 34 km line with 20 stations would cross the Yellow River in twin tunnels. Elsewhere tunnels would be bored through a 200 m deep cobblestone layer. Completion is scheduled for December 2017. The capital of ...
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NewsPanamá City metro opens
PANAMA: Line 1 of the Panamá City metro was officially opened at 17.00 on April 5, with public service operating between 09.00 and 15.00 the following day. The opening comes 38 months after the start of construction. During the ‘adaptation period’ travel will be free, with passengers receiving guidance on ...
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Metro Report InternationalGroundbreaking ceremony launches construction of Riyadh metro
SAUDI ARABIA: Construction of the Riyadh metro was officially started on April 3 with a groundbreaking ceremony led by Riyadh Governor Prince Khaled bin Bandar. Work started at five sites simultaneously. These include King Khaled International Airport, Olaya at the intersection of line 1 and 2, and the site ...
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NewsGuadalajara Line 3 out to tender
MEXICO: Governor of Jalisco state Aristóteles Sandoval has signed off tendering documents for the project to build Line 3 of the Guadalajara light rail network. The 21·5 km route runs on a northwest-southeast alignment and is expected to cost nearly 17·7bn pesos. Around three-quarters of the alignment ...
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NewsUrumqi metro construction begins
CHINA: Construction of the first metro line in Urumqi was launched with a ceremony on March 20. Opening is scheduled for 2019. The line will run underground for 27·6 km from the international airport in the northwest to Santunbei in the south, serving 21 stations. Beijing Railway Construction & ...
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NewsLima metro Line 2 concession awarded
PERU: On behalf of the Ministry of Transport & Communications, on March 28 state investment agency ProInversión awarded the Nuevo Metro de Lima consortium the US$9bn Lima metro Line 2 concession. The consortium will design, finance, build, operate and maintain the 27 km Line 2 running east-west from Ate to ...
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NewsAutomated metro Line M4 opens in Budapest
HUNGARY: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Mayor István Tarlós opened Budapest's fourth metro line on March 28, starting a weekend of free travel from 12.00. The 7·4 km Line M4 runs in entirely in two 5·2 m diameter bored tunnels from Keleti railway station, under the Danube to Kelenföld station. ...
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NewsCrossrail trains to reach Reading
UK: Transport for London and the Department for Transport announced on March 27 that the western branch of the Crossrail route is to be extended from Maidenhead to Reading. Project sponsors TfL and DfT had previously envisaged that those Crossrail services continuing west from the deep-level platforms at London Paddington ...
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NewsSydney opens Inner West light rail extension
AUSTRALIA: The 5·6 km Inner West Extension of the Sydney Light Rail line from Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill was inaugurated by New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell and Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian on March 27. Adding nine stops, including an interchange with Sydney Trains’ Bankstown Line suburban services at Dulwich ...
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NewsMakkah metro railway systems contract pre-qualification begins
SAUDI ARABIA: The Development Commission of Makkah & Mashaaer has invited applications to prequalify for the railway systems contract for the 25·5bn riyal Phase 1 of the Makkah metro, which is expected to open in 2019. The scope of the design and build contract includes track, power supplies, 1·5 kV ...
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NewsDenver breaks ground on North Metro Line
USA: A groundbreaking ceremony for the North Metro commuter rail line in Denver was held on March 20 at the future site of 124th Avenue/Eastlake station in Thornton. Opening of the 20 km first phase is scheduled for 2018. The initial section would follow BNSF and former Union Pacific ...
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NewsConstruction of Minsk metro Line 3 begins
BELARUS: Construction of the third metro line in Minsk started on March 19. The 17·2 km north-south line would be built in two phases. The first is due to open in 2017 and will run from Yubileynaya Ploshchad to Kovalskaya Sloboda with four stations. Vokzalnaya station would be connected to ...
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NewsTabriz signs tram agreement
IRAN: Chinese company CITIC has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tabriz municipality for the construction of a tramway. This would run along the Azadi Boulveard and Azerbaijan Boulevard, to the south and west of the city centre. Among those present at the signing were Mayor Sadeq Najafi and ...
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NewsAddis Abeba tram supplier selected
ETHIOPIA: CNR Corp announced on March 17 that it had been selected to supply 41 trams to Addis Abeba. The three-section 70% low-floor vehicles would have a minimum floor height of 350 mm and a maximum speed of 70 km/h. The first trams are to be delivered at the ...
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NewsFreiburg tram network extends north
GERMANY: A northern extension of Freiburg’s metre-gauge tram route 5 from Reutebachgasse to Zähringen opened on March 15, six weeks ahead of schedule. ‘For the first time in the city’s history of over 100 years, light rail goes beyond the city limits — a sign of how highly integrated ...
