Urban transport modes – Page 329
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NewsEast London Line to Clapham Junction underway
UK: TfL announced on May 19 that its contractor Birse Metro had begun work to build the 1∙3 km of new track, using a disused alignment, that will enable East London Line services to reach Clapham Junction. The new corridor will run from south of Surrey Quays station to join ...
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NewsAtlanta orders Siemens Avanto streetcars
USA: Siemens Industry Inc has been awarded its first North American street-running tram order, a $17·2m contract from the city of Atlanta for four cars based on the S70 Avanto light rail vehicle platform. They will be used on a 4·3 km line with 12 stops linking the Martin Luther ...
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NewsSound Transit dedicates University Link TBMs
USA: Senator Patty Murray and Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff joined Sound Transit board members in Seattle on May 16 to launch the first of three tunnel boring machines that will excavate the twin tunnels for the 5·1 km light rail link to the University of Washington.The extension starts ...
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NewsWorld Bank loan supports Kunming urban rail project
CHINA: The World Bank has approved a US$300m loan towards the US$1·7bn construction of Kunming metro Line 3. The loan is intended to support ‘compact, transit-oriented urban development by providing high quality, integrated public transport on the East-West Line 3 corridor’. The 19·5 km underground line will ...
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NewsWomen-only metro inaugurated
SAUDI ARABIA: King Abdullah rode on the recently completed driverless metro during his inauguration of the Princess Nora Bint Abdul Rahman University campus in Riyadh on May 15. As well as being the largest women-only university in the world, PNU is said to be the largest single-site university. Transport within ...
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NewsJeddah airport peoplemover contract awarded
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Binladin Group has awarded Bombardier Transportation a US$96m contract to supply an automated peoplemover for the King Abdulaziz International Airport Development Project in Jeddah. Saudi Binladin Group recently won a contract to design and build a new terminal at the airport to handle rising ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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, ...