Urban transport modes – Page 372
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NewsLondon's PPP unravels
IT TOOK five years to create the immensely complex Public-Private Partnership under which Tube Lines and Metronet Rail assumed full responsibility for maintaining and renewing infrastructure and trains on the London Underground for 30 years, starting in 2003. In return they were promised an Infrastructure Service Charge of around £1bn ...
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Metro goes light in Madrid
SPAIN: Madrid’s first ‘light metro’ route opened to traffic after two months of trials on May 24, when LRVs began operating over the 5·5 km line between Pinar de Chamartín and Las Tablas in the city’s northern suburbs. By June 20 the Madrid regional government was able to report that ...
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Hong Kong merger bill approved
THE PLANNED merger of Hong Kong’s metro operator MTR Corp and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp moved a step closer on June 8, when the Rail Merger Bill was approved by the region’s Legislative Council. The bill puts in place the legal framework needed to implement the merger of the state-owned ...
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NewsVariotrams chosen for Bergen
STADLER Pankow has been selected to supply 12 low-floor Variotrams for the 10 km Bybanen light rail line in Bergen, which is scheduled to open in 2010. The initial contract covers technical and cosmetic design of the vehicles, as well as the acceptance process with the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate. The ...
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NewsParis T3 forms a green corridor
Running along the boulevards from Pont du Garigliano to Porte d'Ivry, RATP's third light rail route is expected to bring about a 25% reduction in road traffic while doubling the capacity offered by existing bus services. An extensive tree planting programme aims to create a green corridor along busy streets
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NewsPhase 3 agreed in Bordeaux
WITH WORK now well underway on Phase 2 of the city's light rail programme (RG 4.07 p188), the greater Bordeaux authority has agreed to call tenders for consultancy contracts worth up to €28m covering studies and project supervision for Phase 3. Expected to cost a total of €342m, this would ...
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Regional tram-trains for SNCF
SNCF's long-standing plans for a sizeable fleet of tram-train cars have made further progress after the company placed an order for 31 Alstom Citadis Dualis dual-mode cars. The €100m order includes an option for a further 169 vehicles, which could ultimately take the value of the contract to €650m. Of ...
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NewsSingapore plans fifth line
THE GOVERNMENT of Singapore has approved plans to build a fifth metro line, Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced at a Land Transport Authority seminar on April 27. Mostly running underground, the 40 km line is to be built in three phases at a cost of S$12bn, and is due to ...
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NewsCharles-de-Gaulle VAL opens
APRIL 4 saw the opening of the 3·5 km automatic shuttle with five stations linking the three airport terminals, RER and TGV stations and remote car parks at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle Airport. End-to-end journey time is 8 min, with trains running every 4 min at peak times. Operated by a fleet ...
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NewsStagecoach wins in Manchester
GREATER Manchester PTE announced on April 3 that it had selected Stagecoach Group as preferred bidder for a contract to operate the 37?km Manchester Metrolink network. Including infrastructure and rolling stock maintenance, the 10-year contract will also cover management of upgrading projects as well as operation of several planned extensions. ...
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NewsToronto's light rail blueprint
CANADA: Toronto Transit Commission has approved plans for approximately 122 km of new light rail route costing C$6bn that, along with the current tram network, would cover much of the city. The seven proposed lines would be completed within 15 years and, in the words of TTC Chairman Adam ...
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NewsHamburger Hochbahn restructures
Hamburger Hochbahn AG is to bring its rail and bus operations together into a single holding company in a bid to accelerate its expansion programme. The firm, which operates a number of regional rail services in partnership across Germany in addition to its Hamburg bus and metro business, hopes ...
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Napoli metro Line 6 opens
ITALY: Prime Minister Romano Prodi attended an inauguration ceremony for Napoli metro Line 6 on January 11, in advance of the start of passenger services on February 4. A successor to various long-delayed tram and light metro schemes, the 1·9 km first phase of Line 6 runs from Mostra to ...
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MTS wins Tel-Aviv metro
IN A CEREMONY on December 31, Israeli Finance Minister Abraham Hirschson, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz and representatives from the project manager NTA announced that the MTS consortium had been selected as concessionaire to develop the Tel-Aviv light metro Red Line between Bat Yam and Petach Tikvah. Headed by local firm ...
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TTC car contract
TORONTO Transit Commission and Bombardier Transportation formally signed a C$548m sole-source contract on December 21 for the supply of 234 new subway cars for delivery in 2009-11. The 39 six-car sets are intended to replace around 200 cars used on the Yonge - University - Spadina Line, which are now ...
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Orbital metro in RATP development strategy
UNVEILING HIS strategic plan for 2008-12 on October 6, the new President of Paris transport operator RATP Pierre Mongin announced proposals to develop an orbital metro route, about 2 km to 3 km outside the Boulevard Périphérique and paralleling the largely-disused Petite Ceinture railway ring. Known as Métrophérique, the new ...
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Syntegra revives the gearless drive
OFFICIALLY unveiled at InnoTrans 2006, the Syntegra bogie from Siemens is the latest attempt to develop a gearless electric drive. The concept brings together running gear, traction equipment and braking in 'a single mechatronic unit', with fewer mechanical parts than existing bogies. A pair of metro car bogies incorporating Syntegra ...
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NewsThree years on, and the PPP presents a mixed picture
Assessing the performance of its contractors Metronet and Tube Lines during the third year of the Public-Private Partnership, London Underground has highlighted some notable achievements in the maintenance and upgrading of infrastructure and rolling stock. But as major modernisation projects gather pace, LU is concerned that its network is still ...
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More money for Recife
BRAZIL'S FEDERAL Ministry for Cities announced on August 10 that it was releasing a further tranche of funding worth R$30m for Recife's urban rail network. The ministry has agreed to provide a total of R$78m, of which R$38m was released last May. Operator Metrorec is hoping to open the South ...
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NewsTram-train proposed for Cádiz
A DRAFT agreement for construction of a 13·6 km tram-train route connecting the city of Cádiz with the neighbouring communities of San Fernando and Chiclana de la Frontera has been sent to the two municipalities by the Andalucía regional government. The project has been costed at €140·5m excluding electrification, ...