Urban transport news from the Americas
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Metro Report InternationalToronto streetcars enter service
CANADA: The first of 60 Alstom streetcars ordered by Toronto Transit Commission in 2021 have entered service, with an inaugural run on the 504 King route on November 17. The 1 495 mm gauge low-floor trams and associated alternations to Hillcrest depot have been ...
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Metro Report InternationalQuébec City transport options to be reassessed as tram scheme falters
CANADA: The government of Québec has asked infrastructure investment specialist CPDQ Infra to investigate options to develop transport links for the city of Québec after procurement of a planned tram line collapsed in early November. The city had been developing plans for a 19·3 km ...
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Metro Report InternationalDallas Fort Worth airport peoplemover modernisation contract
USA: Alstom has been awarded a $72·2m contract to modernise the Skylink automated peoplemover at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. This will include the overhaul, retrofit or replacement of vehicle and lineside components to ensure reliability and mitigate against obsolescence. In 2022 Alstom ...
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Metro Report InternationalSundays-only streetcar route opens in Milwaukee
USA: A limited preview service on Line L of The Hop streetcar network in Milwaukee was launched on October 29. The partly catenary-free Line L operates in a figure of eight. This uses a newly constructed 1·2 km single-track loop with three stops, one of which ...
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Metro Report InternationalWashington metro office consolidation completed
USA: The official opening of the Metro Integrated Command & Communications Center at Alexandria in Virgina on October 27 marked the completion of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s programme to consolidate 10 office locations into three buildings. The 14-storey building near Eisenhower Ave station will support ...
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Metro Report InternationalInglewood Transit Connector peoplemover project makes progress
USA: The Federal Transit Administration has given a positive rating to the Inglewood Transit Connector peoplemover project, making it eligible for funding from the Capital Investment Grants programme. The proposed 2·6 km three-station elevated automated peoplemover would link Los Angeles MTA’s K Line with event and ...
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Metro Report InternationalEdmonton’s Valley Line Southeast opens
CANADA: Edmonton’s Valley Line Southeast light rail route opened on November 4, running 13·1 km from 102 Street in the city centre to Mill Woods. The project forms part of the city’s plan to develop accessible, convenient and sustainable travel options, with a target of 50% ...
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Metro Report InternationalHamilton light rail technical adviser appointed
CANADA: Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area transport agency Metrolinx has appointed AECOM as technical adviser for the Hamilton Light Rail Transit project. AECOM has subcontracted WSP to provide Technical Advisory Services including strategic guidance on delivery. The planned 14 km line with ...
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Metro Report InternationalBrakes and couplers ordered as part of New York Subway fleet renewal
USA: Wabtec is to provide braking systems and couplers for 640 R211 metro cars that Kawasaki Rail Car is to supply to New York City Transit. New York MTA ordered the 640 cars in October 2022 as an option on a January 2018 contract which included ...
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Metro Report InternationalINIT selected for Atlanta fare collection contract
USA: Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has selected INIT to supply a new automated fare collection system. The AFC 2.0 contract is expected to be signed in late 2023 or early 2024, with an expected value of over $100m for the initial design, installation and deployment, ...
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Metro Report InternationalPublic feedback incorporated into Boston Green Line LRV specifications
USA: Public feedback is being incorporated into the specifications for the Type 10 Supercar light rail vehicles which CAF is to supply for Boston’s Green Line. ‘It’s important for riders to know that we care about both their safety and also their experiences on the system’, ...
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Metro Report InternationalPromoter defends Montréal REM cost escalation
CANADA: Despite ‘extraordinary circumstances and exceptional technical challenges’, the construction costs for Montréal’s REM automated light metro have been kept ‘within a very competitive budget compared with other similar major transportation projects around the world’, according to project promoter CDPQ Infra. The first 17 km section ...
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Metro Report InternationalSantiago metro Line 3 reaches Plaza Quilicura
CHILE: A 3·8 km northwestern extension of Santiago metro Line 3 has opened from Los Libertadores to Plaza Quilicura. The ceremony on September 25 was attended by President Gabriel Boric, Minister of Transportation & Telecommunications Juan Carlos Muñoz, and other dignities. The extension serves two intermediate ...
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Metro Report InternationalAlstom to automate Belo Horizonte metro
BRAZIL: Belo Horizonte metro operating concessionaire Metrô BH has awarded Alstom a contract to automate the existing Line 1 and the future Line 2. Alstom is to supply new signalling to enable automatic train operation on the 28·1 km Line 1 between Eldorado and Vilarinho and ...
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Metro Report InternationalSacramento orders more low floor LRVs
USA: Sacramento Regional Transit District has ordered further eight Siemens Mobility S700 low floor light rail vehicles. The latest order announced on October 9 follows from an initial 20 which were ordered in 2020 and further eight ordered in 2021, taking the total order to 36. ...
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Metro Report InternationalLong Island Rail Road inspection vehicle ordered
USA: ENSCO Rail has been awarded a contract to design and supply a self-propelled track inspection vehicle for New York MTA’s Long Island Rail Road. The ‘state-of-the-art’ vehicle to be delivered in Q2 29026 will be equipped with multiple track conditioning monitoring systems from ENSCO and KLD ...
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Metro Report InternationalPhiladelphia launches contactless payment
USA: Philadelphia transport agency SEPTA has rolled out contactless payment on its metro, light rail and bus services, with commuter rail services to follow in early 2024. The technology was supplied by Conduent under an ongoing fare collection systems contract. Fares are the same as using ...
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Metro Report InternationalNew York Subway seeks cool ideas
USA: New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has invited proposals for innovative, cost-effective and low emission ways to cool its subway stations. MTA is concerned that the subway network is vulnerable to extreme weather events, warning that extreme heat conditions are expected to increase as a result ...
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Metro Report InternationalPolice robot to patrol New York Subway station
USA: A police security robot is being trialled at the New York Subway’s Times Square station. The K5 robot has been supplied by Knightscope, which develops autonomous security robots and emergency communication systems. The manufacturer said the K5 was designed to provided ‘force multiplying physical deterrence’, ...
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Metro Report InternationalNext-generation Baltimore metro car unveiled
USA: Maryland Transit Administration has unveiled the first of 78 metro cars being supplied by Hitachi Rail to replace the existing fleet on the Baltimore Metro Subway Link. MTA said on September 14 that the new vehicles would represent ‘a significant leap forward in our mission ...