Urban rail – Page 388
-
NewsDLR three-car upgrade completed
UK: The launch of three-car services on the Docklands Light Railway between Tower Gateway and Beckton on May 9 marked the completion of a £325m project to upgrade the network for longer trains.‘With passenger numbers increasing on the DLR every year, having the ability to run a three-car service right ...
-
NewsUrban rail news in brief
A one-station extension of Shanghai metro Line 6 from South Ling Yan Road to an interchange with Line 8 at Ji Yang Road opened on April 12. MTA dedicated two 642-tonne tunnel boring machines for the East Side Access project in New York on March 21. The TBMs will dig ...
-
NewsAlger’s first tram line enters service
ALGERIA: Transport Minister Amar Tou and the President of Entreprise du Métro d’Alger, Aomar Hadbi, launched revenue services on a 7·2 km section of the city’s first tram route between Bab Ezzouar and Bordj El Kiffan on May 8. The tram line is being built as a turnkey project ...
-
NewsGoldlinQ selected to build Gold Coast light rail
AUSTRALIA: Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Transport Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on May 6 that the GoldlinQ consortium had been selected to build and operate the A$1bn Gold Coast rapid transit light rail line linking University Hospital to Broadbeach. The GoldlinQ consortium includes KDR Gold Coast Pty Ltd, a joint ...
-
NewsKøbenhavn metro to be upgraded
DENMARK: København metro authority Metroselskabet has signed a framework agreement with Ansaldo STS to upgrade equipment supplied when the city’s metro network was built.The €33m upgrade forms part of Metroselskabet’s Capital Asset Replacement Programme to ensure that levels of service availability are maintained. The work involves replacement of ageing and ...
-
NewsHeathrow PRT pod passenger trials underway
UK: The ULTra personal rapid transit system serving business car parking areas at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 has begun carrying air passengers on a limited trial basis, following a period of live testing with airport staff. 'Testing is going very well', a spokesman told Railway Gazette International on May ...
-
NewsWork progresses on Edmonton light rail extension
CANADA: May 2 marked the start of major construction work on the 3·3 km, three-station light rail extension in Edmonton, running from Churchill to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. The tracks will be at grade except for a 700 m long, 18 m deep tunnel between Churchill and MacEwan. ...
-
NewsWuhan metro continues to expand
CHINA: On April 21 the feasibility study for the second phase of Wuhan metro Line 4 was approved by a panel of experts in China. The Line 4 project involves construction of a 33·2 km east-west route with 28 stations connecting the districts of Hanyang and Wuchang. Total cost ...
-
NewsFTA signs agreement to fund Central Corridor
USA: Representatives of the Federal Transit Administration and the Metropolitan Council signed a full funding grant agreement worth $478m in St Paul on April 26. The federal government is now committed to provide half of the $957m needed to build the 18 km Central Corridor light rail project linking Minneapolis ...
-
NewsChennai metro trackwork ordered
INDIA: Chennai Metro Rail Ltd has signed a €73m contract with the consortium of Alstom and Larsen & Toubro to supply trackwork for the 45 km two-line double-track metro network now under construction in the city.The scope of the contract includes design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of 105 km ...
-
NewsLima metro operator chooses Alstom Metropolis trains
PERU: Alstom has been awarded a €130m contract to supply 19 five-car Metropolis trainsets to operating concessionaire Tren Lima – Línea 1 for the Tren Eléctrico metro project in Lima. Proinversión, an agency promoting private investment in Peru, awarded a 30-year concession for the operation and maintenance of Line ...
-
NewsMétéor to serve Saint-Ouen from 2017
FRANCE: Speaking at a round-table forum with local authority and transport representatives from Paris and Ile-de-France on April 26, RATP President Pierre Mongin confirmed that the capital’s fully-automated metro Line 14 would be extended from Saint-Lazare to the northwestern suburb of Saint-Ouen by 2017. Mongin said a new transport master ...
-
NewsZaragoza tram Line 1 enters service
SPAIN: The first phase of Zaragoza tram Line 1 entered service at 04.52 on April 19, following successful completion of trials which started in November last year.The initial 6·4 km section of the north-south route links Plaza Paraíso on Gran Vía with Valdespartera and has 13 stops. Work on ...
-
NewsMashhad metro starts running
IRAN: More than a decade after work began on the first light metro line in Mashhad, the country’s second city finally began running revenue services with the start of a limited pre-opening trial on March 12. A formal opening by President Ahmedinajad is expected to take place later this year, ...
-
NewsBielefeld Vamos light rail vehicle unveiled
GERMANY: The first of 16 high-floor light rail vehicles for Bielefeld city transport operator MoBiel was presented to a select audience at HeiterBlick’s Leipzig plant on April 14. MoBiel placed a €47m order for the cars with a consortium of Vossloh Kiepe and HeiterBlick on January 26 2009. Vossloh Kiepe ...
-
NewsPraha metro car modernisation complete
CZECH REPUBLIC: Skoda Transportation completed a long-term programme to modernise Praha metro’s original Soviet-built Type 81-71 rolling stock when the last of 93 five-car trainsets was handed over on February 12. The KC10bn programme was launched with a prototype in 1996. It encompassed overhaul of traction motors, underframes and gearboxes, ...
-
NewsColourful celebrations mark opening of Reims tram
FRANCE: Reims tram line 1 was inaugurated by Adeline Hazan, the city’s Mayor and president of Reims Métropole, on April 16 with other officials joining the ceremony which began a weekend of colourful celebrations to mark the opening. Commercial operation started two days later with trams running at headways of ...
-
NewsBombardier is preferred bidder for London Underground resignalling
UK: Bombardier Transportation was named preferred bidder for the major contract to resignal London Underground's large-profile Sub-Surface Lines on April 12. The contract will be signed following the regulatory standstill period during which the other shortlisted bidder, Invensys Rail, is able to raise any objections. The contract covers around ...
-
NewsNeVa cars start tests in St Petersburg
RUSSIA: Vagonmash transferred the first three of its NeVa series cars to the St Petersburg metro on March 25. A further three will be delivered in the next few months to complete a six-car trainset which will undergo compliance tests.The NeVa is the result of a collaboration agreement signed with ...
-
NewsAlstom and RATP announce metro automation joint venture
FRANCE: Paris transport operator RATP and Alstom Transport have agreed to establish a joint venture company to develop a new generation of automated metro technology for the 21st century. Unveiled at the UITP world congress in Dubai on April 12, Metrolab will have an initial staff of 15 experts drawn ...
