Afghanistan: Kazakh company Integra Construction has won a contract to build 43 km of the Khaf – Herat railway. The Aktobe steelworks is to supply 350 000 tonnes of rail.
Egypt: Alstom has commissioned a Smartlock 400 computer-based interlocking at Maghagha, its second on the 240 km route from Beni Suef to Asyut.
Estonia: RB Rail has awarded IDOM two contracts each worth €7m+VAT for design and supervision services for the Pärnu – Rapla and Kaunas – Ramygala sections of the Rail Baltica 1?435 mm gauge line.
India: The government has approved construction of a third track to increase capacity on a 155 km section of the South Eastern Railway main line between Narayangarh in West Bengal and Bhadrak in Odisha. The Rs18·7bn project is to be completed by 2023-24.
Bangalore Metro Rail Corp has awarded Alstom a €71m contract to provide 750 V DC third-rail electrification and power supplies for the Phase 2 extensions of the two metro lines. As part of Reach 6, L&T Construction is to design and build a 2·8 km tunnel from Vellara Junction to Shivajinagar with three stations, and 2·9 km of tunnels from Shivajinagar to Tannery Road with two stations.
Ireland: IÉ has awarded GPX Rail a contract to provide welding services.
Philippines: A consortium led by Marubeni including local contractor DM Consunji has been awarded a US$62m contract for work on the 4 km eastern extension of Manila metro Line 2.
Saudi Arabia: Testing company TÜV Rheinland has handed over the Independent Competent Person certificate for Saudi Railway Co’s ETCS Level 2 deployment on the North – South Railway, completing acceptance by the Public Transport Authority.
Serbia: Infrastruktura Železnice Srbije has begun a €8·5m modernisation project on the 31 km Kragujevac – Lapovo line.
Spain: FGC has awarded British Steel a contract to supply R260 rail.
Switzerland: SBB has awarded Pöyry a reliability, availability and maintainability consulting services contract for its Smartrail 4.0 programme.
Thailand: Civil Engineering Co has been awarded a contract to build the 11 km Sikhiu – Kut Chick line in Bangkok, which will include a 4 km elevated section. Work is expcted to take 540 days within a budget of 3·1bn baht.
Turkey: TCDD has awarded a consortium of Ultra Teknoloji and Emeray Insaat Enerji a contract for electrification of 231 km of single track on the Nenek – Sefaatli route, along with a 76 track-km on a branch line serving the Tupras oil refinery at Kirikkale.
UK: On March 11 HS2 Ltd signed the contract appointing a Mace and Dragados JV as its London Euston station construction partner. This ‘marks the start of a close partnership that will last over a decade and transform one of the capital’s most important stations beyond recognition’, said Mace.
Edinburgh Council has approved an extension of the tramway to Newhaven by early 2023. A joint venture of Sacyr, Farrans and Neopul has been awarded the infrastructure, and Morrison Utility Services the swept path contract.
USA: New York City Transit has awarded Tutor Perini a $253m contract for the Culver Line CBTC project.
MBTA has awarded Alstom and Barletta Heavy Division an €80m contract to modernise signalling on Boston’s Red and Orange metro lines by 2020.