Africa: Consta has subcontracted Mesfin Industrial Engineering to undertake a 40m birr modernisation of bridges on the Ethio-Djibouti Railway. Corrosion on will be treated on 65 steel bridges, while a further 25 will be replaced with concrete structures.
Australia: Rio Tinto has awarded Macmahon Holdings a A$65m contract to extend the Deepdale line by 47 km to serve the Mesa A iron ore mine in the Pilbara. Work will start in July for completion by May 2009.
Botswana: In May Ansaldo STS will complete a 165·5m pula contract to renew signalling and telecoms at 21 stations.
Bulgaria: The Ministry of Transport has awarded Pöyry a €1·3m contract covering preliminary surveys and technical design work for an upgrade of the 156 km Sofia - Plovdiv route under the TEN programme.
Germany: Hamburg Port Authority has awarded Thales a contract to provide its Aramis supervision and dispatching system for its 300 km rail network, which is used by around 200 trains a day.
DB and Nokia Siemens Networks have signed a 15-year framework agreement to expand GSM-R coverage along 7 000 km of passenger routes.
Greece: ISAP has awarded Hellenic Technodomiki subsidiary Aktor a €79m contract to upgrade infrastructure and tunnels on Athens metro Line 1.
India: Delhi Airport Metro Express PPP concessionaire Reliance Rail has awarded Hong Kong's MTR Corp a Rs660m contract to supervise electrical work on the 22 km line (RG 2.08 p69).
Netherlands: The Asset Rail joint-venture of Dura Vermeer, Imtech and Arcadis has won a six-year track maintenance contract worth €1·7m a year covering the Arnhem and Nijmegen areas. It is the first contract to be based on performance targets with bonuses and penalties.
Singapore: LTA has awarded Hock Lian Seng Infrastructure a S$348·4m contract covering civil works for Marina Bay station on the Circle Line.
Spain: Seitt has awarded a consortium of Tapusa and Cyes a €40·3m contract for civil works on the 13·9 km Pozal de Gallinas - Villaverde de Medina section of the high speed line between Madrid and Ourense in Galicia. Work is expected to take 14 months to complete.
With a bid of €15·2m, a consortium of BSK, Copcisa and Rover Alcisa has been awarded the contract to build the 3·1 km Doctor Domínguez - Asperones section of Line 1 of the Málaga light metro (RG 3.08 p130).
Alstom and Telvent have been awarded a €15m contract to upgrade signalling on the 51 km León - Astorga section of the main line between Madrid and A Coruña. Work to be completed within 20 months includes the installation of electronic interlockings at seven locations.
USA: On February 25 Charlotte city council approved a contract with HDR Engineering for preliminary engineering on the Purple Line, a planned $261m diesel commuter rail route running 50 km to Davidson.
Uruguay: AFE has awarded Autotrol a contract to upgrade 75 level crossings in the Montevideo area, of which 56 are on the route from the capital to Rivera and 19 on the line to Rocha. Work was due to start on April 1 for completion within 15 months.
Zambia: RSZ has installed a US$160 000 satellite signalling system which enables SMS messages to be sent to and from locomotives, reporting their position and speed every 10 min to assist dispatchers in planning train movements and issuing track warrants.
Zimbabwe: NRZ has acquired radio signalling equipment from South Africa at a cost of R200 000. General Manager Mike Karakadzai said the radios will alleviate delays resulting from the obsolete signal system. 'Before we had radios, we used to borrow from the Zimbabwe Republic Police', he added.
