Urban transport news from Europe – Page 78
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Metro Report InternationalWork begins on second S-Bahn tunnel in München
GERMANY: Work began on the second S-Bahn tunnel in München on April 5. Main excavations are due to begin next year. The 11 km route through the city centre includes a 7 km tunnel parallel to the existing east-west tunnel, between Laim in the west and Leuchtenbergring in the ...
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Metro Report InternationalDriverless shuttle on test in London
UK: Passenger-carrying trials of a driverless electric shuttle prototype began on April 5 on a 2 km route on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. The focus is not the technology, but on how it functions alongside people in a natural environment. The initial trial will explore passengers’ attitude towards ...
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Metro Report InternationalLyon’s future metro design revealed
FRANCE: Announcing details of Sytral’s Avenir Metro programme at a press conference on April 3, President Annie Guillemot unveiled the design of the future metro trainsets ordered from Alstom for deployment on metro lines B and D. Insisting that ‘investment is a top priority’ for Sytral, she explained that the ...
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Metro Report InternationalHoek van Holland metro conversion begins
NETHERLANDS: Work to convert the 24 km railway between Schiedam Centrum and Hoek van Holland to metro operation began on April 1. Testing is due to begin in July, with passenger services set to return in September. The €312m project will modernise the six intermediate stations and build a ...
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Metro Report InternationalCrossrail electrification nears completion
UK: Work to electrify the western section of the future Elizabeth Line route on the Great Western Main Line to the west of London has been completed as far as Maidenhead. Infrastructure manager Network Rail led the three-year project which saw a workforce of 800 people to install 1 ...
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Metro Report InternationalRhein-Ruhr ticketing contract awarded
GERMANY: Following a European tender, Rhein-Ruhr transport authority VRR has awarded Transdev a contract to manage its ticket distribution systems for 11 years from December 1 2019, when the current contract held by Deutsche Bahn ends. The public transport services covered carry around 4 million passengers on ...
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Metro Report InternationalStadler awards Merseyrail depot construction contract
UK: Stadler Rail Services UK has awarded BAM Nuttall a contract worth around £20m to build the depot in Kirkdale where it will maintain the fleet of 52 electric multiple-units which Stadler Bussnang is to supply for Merseyrail services, and also to refurbish the existing Birkenhead North depot. ‘We have ...
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Metro Report InternationalFreiburg offers electric cargo bike hire
GERMANY: Freiburg public transport operator VAG and the Südbaden branch of motoring association ADAC have added two electric cargo bikes to the city’s existing cargo bike hire offering. The city’s free LastenVelo Freiburg cargo bike hire service already has three three-wheel and two two-wheel conventional cargo cycles. ...
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Metro Report InternationalTaking a regional approach to journey planning
FRANCE: The Syndicat Mixte Intermodal Régional de Transports grouping of transport authorities in northern France has become the first organisation to deploy Conduent’s Mobility Companion Platform. The journey planner aims to simplify and encourage the use of public transport across the region. The passpass.fr website enables door-to-door ...
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Metro Report InternationalSofia metro Line 3 TBM launched
BULGARIA: The tunnel boring machine for the first phase of Sofia metro Line 3 has been launched. The 9·4 m diameter TBM has been supplied by Herrenknecht. The 7·8 km, eight-station first phase of the east-west line is due to open in 2019. It includes 7 km of bored ...
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Metro Report InternationalAlstom and NTL launch Aptis electric bus prototype
FRANCE: Alstom and NTL presented a prototype of the Aptis electric bus at NTL’s factory in Duppigheim in eastern France on March 9. Alstom says that the vehicle is based on a tram design, with roof-mounted equipment and a mostly low floor. The vehicle is 12 m long, 2 ...
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Metro Report InternationalLondon creates its first low-emission bus zone
UK: The first of 12 low-emission bus zones planned for London’s most polluted streets started operating on March 9. The zone in the southwestern district of Putney will only permit buses achieving strict Euro-6 emissions standards to operate across the seven routes that pass through it. This ...
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Metro Report InternationalRhein-Ruhr-Express depot construction launched
GERMANY: The foundation stone for the Rhein-Ruhr-Express maintenance depot was laid in Dortmund-Eving on March 7. Siemens is building the 70 000 m2 facility on the site of a former marshalling yard on the Dortmund – Lünen main line. A 163 m long, 63 m wide and 12·4 m ...
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Metro Report InternationalIntegrating Crossrail’s asset management data
UK: Building information modelling cloud software company 3D Repo has developed a mobile platform which brings together disparate databases and information sources to support the management of maintainable assets on London’s Crossrail project. Data matrix identity labels and RFID tags can be scanned using a mobile device to provide real-time ...
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Metro Report InternationalSmart card testing simulator to be launched
SMART CARD: Later this year Austrian company Arsenal Testhouse is to launch a software-based simulator which will enable the functionality of smart cards and other payment systems to be tested to see whether a new product would be likely to pass formal validation against technical standards. While ...
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Metro Report InternationalSecond City Crossing opens in Manchester
UK: The final phase of Manchester Metrolink’s Second City Crossing opened on February 26. The new route runs from a rebuilt St Peter’s Square stop along Cross Street to Exchange Square and Victoria. Transport for Greater Manchester said that the opening of the Second City Crossing was the final ...
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Metro Report InternationalTransport for London renews contactless payment processing contract
UK: Transport for London has renewed Barclaycard’s contract to provide transaction processing services for contactless payment. The merchant acquirer contract runs for seven years, with an option for a further three years. Contactless payments was rolled out across TfL services in September 2014, and now accounts for ...
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Metro Report InternationalVinci awarded Paris Line 15 contract
FRANCE: A joint venture led by Vinci Construction Grands Projets has been awarded a €926m contract to undertake civil works on an 8 km section of Line 15 South of the Grand Paris Express network, running between Fort d’Issy Vanves Clamart and Villejuif Louis-Aragon. Two TBMs will be deployed to ...
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Metro Report InternationalPrototype snow-clearing tram on test in Moscow
RUSSIA: Moscow tram operator Mosgortrans began testing a prototype maintenance vehicle designed to clear snow from tram tracks on February 13. Testing is to continue for one year. The 10·5 m long bidirectional vehicle, branded Rost, has been supplied by Tikhoretsk-based TMZV. It is equipped with a rotating brush ...
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Metro Report InternationalNew tram and bus washing plant inaugurated in Kraków
POLAND: City transport authority MPK Kraków officially inaugurated a new tram and bus washing plant at its Nowa Huta depot on February 8. This replaces a washing plant commissioned in the 1980s, which was unheated and could therefore not operate all year round. The new plant is heated and ...