Urban rail – Page 393
-
NewsOslo orders more metro cars
NORWAY: On December 21, rolling stock leasing company Oslo Vognselskap AS signed a €180m contract with Siemens Mobility for the supply of a further 32 three-car metro trainsets. The MX3000 vehicles will be manufactured in Wien and delivered to Oslo in 2012. They will allow the operation of more frequent ...
-
NewsTramino runs for charity in Poznan
POLAND: A Solaris Tramino low-floor tram decked in festive Christmas designs has been running in Poznań to raise money for children suffering from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, an incurable hereditary condition. The 32 m long five-module articulated prototype vehicle currently in passenger service is 2 350 mm wide and has a narrow ...
-
NewsSonoma-Marin orders commuter DMU cars
USA: The board of Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit voted unanimously on December 15 to award a US$56·9m contract for nine two-car diesel multiple-units to Sumitomo Corp and Nippon Sharyo. The 18 vehicles will be assembled at Nippon Sharyo’s new factory in Rochelle, Illinois, in compliance with ‘Buy America’ rules, ...
-
NewsAlstom to overhaul PATCO fleet
USA: Meeting on December 15, the Delaware River Port Authority’s board of commissioners agreed to award a contract to Alstom Transportation Inc for the overhaul of the 120-car fleet of EMUs used on the PATCO cross-river express metro line linking Philadelphia and Lindenwold, New Jersey. The company’s competitive low bid ...
-
NewsTram Bern West opens
SWITZERLAND: Trams now serve the business and residential areas of Bümpliz and Brünnen in the western suburbs of Bern, replacing two former trolleybus routes. On December 12 public transport operator Bernmobil inaugurated its Tram Bern West project, a 6·8 km Y-shaped extension of the city’s light rail network from Kaufmännischer ...
-
NewsFalse start for tram line T1 in Toulouse
FRANCE: Industrial action by trade unions representing drivers at local transport operator Tisséo led to the cancellation of the opening celebrations for tram line T1 in Toulouse on November 27-28.Revenue services on the 10·9 km, 18-stop line finally got underway on December 11. The line links the Arènes stop on ...
-
NewsGlattfest celebrates Glattalbahn completion
SWITZERLAND: Project promoter Zürcher Verkehrsverbund and concessionaire Verkehrsbetriebe Glattal organised a day of festivities to celebrate the opening of the final Auzelg — Stettbach section of the Glattalbahn light rail project north of Zürich on December 11. The completed route runs from Stettbach to Zürich Airport via Wallisellen, Auzelg and ...
-
NewsLight rail contracts awarded in Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA: Public transport authority Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd has awarded the first construction contracts for the 7bn ringgit Kelana Jaya and Ampang light rail expansion project in Kuala Lumpur. Both routes will eventually meet at Putra Heights, creating a ring around the city.The Kelana Jaya Line extension from its current ...
-
NewsTangentielle Nord project launched in Paris
FRANCE: Jean-Paul Huchon, President of Ile de France region and STIF, officially launched work on the first phase of the Tangentielle Nord project between Epinay-sur-Seine and Le Bourget on December 13.Speaking at the ceremony at Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Jean-Paul Huchon described the project as ‘historic’. ‘It is the biggest railway achievement in ...
-
NewsToronto Transit City project in doubt
CANADA: Newly-elected Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford came into office on December 1 and declared that the ambitious C$8·15bn Transit City light rail expansion scheme was ‘over’ and that he would immediately begin pursuing his campaign promise to expand the metro network. Insisting that ‘the war on the car stops ...
-
NewsAlstom wins contracts in Panamá and Santo Domingo
LATIN AMERICA: Alstom announced on December 13 that it had won two contracts in Panamá and Santo Domingo worth €300m. The Línea Uno consortium of Odebrecht and FCC recently appointed to build Line 1 of the Panamá metro has selected Alstom to manage the engineering, integration and commissioning of the ...
-
NewsNTA to go ahead with Red Line
ISRAEL: Following the collapse of the concession agreement with the MTS consortium to build the long-planned Red Line in Tel Aviv, the government has decided to push ahead with the 22 km light metro using public funds as ‘a project of national significance’.In a joint statement issued on December 12, ...
-
NewsMulhouse tram-train enters service
FRANCE: Tram-train services were inaugurated on a 22 km interurban route between Mulhouse and Thann on December 11, worked by 12 Siemens Avanto vehicles. A third tram route linking Mulhouse and Lutterbach started operation at the same time. Free rides were available between the city centre and Lutterbach during the ...
-
NewsCrossrail awards tunnelling contracts
UK: On December 10 Crossrail Ltd awarded tunnelling contracts worth £1·25bn covering 18 km of the 21 km of twin bores required for the cross-London rail link. Contracts covering four sections of tunnel have been provisionally awarded, subject to the mandatory 10-day review period required under European contract law. The ...
-
NewsUrban rail network to underpin Qatar World Cup
QATAR: The successful bid to host the football World Cup in 2022 includes plans to invest US$24bn in transport infrastructure, including high speed rail lines to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and construction of a 340 km public transport network serving Doha and its environs. The proposals are based ...
-
NewsBuenos Aires Line H extended to Corrientes
ARGENTINA: A one-station extension of Buenos Aires metro Line H from Once to Corrientes entered service at 15.00 on December 6, following its inauguration by Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri. Construction took 4½ years. Corrientes is located 23 m below the surface and cost US$160m to build. Like the rest ...
-
NewsBTS to operate SkyTrain extension
THAILAND: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration subsidiary Krungthep Thanakom has awarded SkyTrain operator BTS a 674m baht contract to operate and maintain the 5·3 km Sukhumvit Line extension from On Nut to Bearing which is due to open on August 12 2011. The contract is initially valid for one year from the ...
-
NewsMetro projects approved in Hong Kong
CHINA: The Executive Council of Hong Kong approved two metro projects on November 30 that will extend the MTR network by almost 10 km when they open in 2015.The 7 km South Island Line (East) will run from Admiralty to South Horizons, in Aberdeen, with intermediate stations at Ocean Park, ...
-
NewsEIB supports Ho Chi Minh metro Line 2
VIETNAM: Magdalena Álvarez Arza, Vice President of the European Investment Bank, signed a finance contract worth €150m with Vietnamese Deputy Finance Minister Tran Xuan Ha on December 6. The loan is part of a funding package for the first phase of metro Line 2 in Ho Chi Minh City. The ...
-
NewsUrban rail news in brief
The consortium of Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Infocomm and Canada’s SNC Lavalin has achieved financial closure for the Rs115bn PPP project to build the 32 km Mumbai metro Line 2 from Charkop to Mankhurd (RG 9.09 p17). The consortium, which is investing Rs70bn, has set up the Mumbai Metro Two SPV ...
