Latest news – Page 1022
-
NewsValenciennes inaugurates second tram line
FRANCE: The second tram line in Valenciennes opened on December 13. The 15·5 km line with 22 stops links Valenciennes with Vieux Condé and will commence passenger service on February 24. Nine Alstom Citadis trams, ordered in 2010, will augment the existing fleet of 21 trams. Each 33 m ...
-
NewsEIB provides £500m loan for Crossrail trains
UK: The European Investment Bank signed a corporate loan facility on December 13 which will provide Transport for London with up to £500m to finance the rolling stock fleet and depot for Crossrail. This follows a £1bn EIB loan for the construction of the Crossrail tunnels which was agreed in ...
-
NewsMülheim orders Flexity Classic trams
GERMANY: Mülheim transport authority MVG has ordered 10 Bombardier Flexity Classic trams at a cost of €27m. The three-module bidirectional vehicles are identical to the 27 trams ordered by Essen transport authority EVAG in December 2011. They will be 30 m long and 2 300 mm wide, with a ...
-
NewsApp to speed paper ticket to smart card conversion
UK: Ecebs has developed an app for off-the-shelf Android tablet computers which enables ticket office staff to transfer existing paper season tickets to smart cards quickly. The app was developed for Tyne & Wear transport authority Nexus to support the roll-out of its Pop smart card. A passenger's season ticket ...
-
NewsFerrovia Circumetnea places Newag's first DMU export order
ITALY: Polish rolling stock manufacturer Newag has finalised its first diesel multiple-unit export order, a €14·8m contract to supply at least four 950 mm gauge DMUs for Ferrovia Circumetnea's 110 km line around the Mount Etna volcano in Sicily. Delivery is scheduled within 18 months, and Ferrovia Circumetnea has options ...
-
NewsDoncaster concrete sleeper factory opened
UK: On December 9 Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin officially opened the new concrete sleeper factory that Trackwork Moll has built in Doncaster to supply infrastructure manager Network Rail over the next 10 years. Employing around 45 staff, the plant will produce around 400 000 concrete sleepers each ...
-
NewsStrukton acquires Balfour Beatty's Scandinavian rail business
EUROPE: Strukton Rail announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Balfour Beatty Rail Scandinavia on December 10. The deal includes all current rail infrastructure maintenance, renewals and construction activities in Sweden and Denmark, which will now operate under the Strukton Rail brand. Financial close is expected at the beginning ...
-
NewsAfghan government commissions east - west rail study
AFGHANISTAN: The Ministry of Public Works has commissioned a feasibility study for a proposed 300 km east - west railway across northern Afghanistan. The C$3·7m contract announced on December 11 has been awarded to Systra's Canadian freight railway consultancy Canarail and its partner Appleton Consulting Inc, which specialises in programme ...
-
NewsChicago Blue Line to be upgraded
USA: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor of Illinois Pat Quinn announced an upgrade programme for the O’Hare Branch of the metro Blue Line on December 5. The $492m four-year plan, called Your New Blue, is due to begin in 2014. Funding is expected from local, state and federal ...
-
NewsGoiânia light rail concessionaire selected
BRAZIL: Goiás state selected the Anhanguera Mobility consortium of Odebrecht TransPort (90%) and city bus operators (10%) to develop the Goiânia – Anhanguera light rail line on December 9. The 35-year build-operate-maintain PPP concession includes 24 months for construction. The total budget is R$1·3bn, including R$805m from the state ...
-
NewsDellner and Hitachi sign IEP gangway order
UK: Hitachi Rail Europe has awarded Dellner a contract to provide gangways for the Class 800 and Class 801 trainsets it is to supply under the Department for Transport's Intercity Express Programme. The contract signed on December 9 is worth around £10m and covers 1 500 gangways, 1 732 couplers ...
-
NewsBrussels interregional tram lines approved
BELGIUM: The Flemish government has approved plans to build three tram lines linking Brussels with towns beyond the city boundaries. The project has a budget of €500m, although permission to start work has not yet been granted. The lines could open as soon as 2020, with De Lijn the most ...
-
NewsRail Industry Training & Recruitment in Brief
Transport for London and Crossrail Ltd have welcomed 140 recruits onto their graduate trainee scheme in a range of engineering and commercial disciplines. TfL expects to hire a similar number next year, and applications opened in late October for the 2014 entry. Running until October 2014, the EU-funded Actuate ...
-
NewsFehmarn Belt tunnel E&M systems tender
EUROPE: Project promoter Femern A/S has published an OJEU prior information notice for the contract to provide electrical and mechanical systems for the future 18 km Fehmarn Belt rail and motorway tunnel between Denmark and Germany. An industry day is to be held in København on January 21. The scope ...
-
NewsBrussels metro to install optic fibre network
BELGIUM: Brussels transport operator STIB announced on December 10 that it will install an Alcatel-Lucent optic fibre broadband communication network for the conversion of the metro to driverless operation. A wavelength division multiplexing network based on Alcatel-Lucent’s 1830 photonic service switch will be used as the basis for communications-based ...
-
NewsScheidt & Bachmann to buy Funkwerk signalling business
GERMANY: Funkwerk AG is to sell its signalling and control technology business and Swedish subsidiary Funkwerk Information Technologies Malmö to Scheidt & Bachmann. The transaction announced on December 4 is scheduled to come into effect from midnight on December 31, with the deal to be completed by the end of ...
-
NewsTraffic management innovation
UK: The Rail Safety & Standards Board is working with technology consultancy 100%Open to launch two ‘innovation challenges’ relating to the field of traffic management. The challenges form part of the FuTRO (Future Traffic Regulation Optimisation) programme which RSSB and the UK industry’s Technical Strategy Leadership Group launched earlier in ...
-
NewsKraków orders Pesa Twist trams
POLAND: City transport operator MPK Kraków has selected Pesa to supply 36 low-floor trams. The Polish manufacturer beat bids from Solaris, Newag and Stadler. The four-section Twist Step trams from Pesa’s Twist family would be 42·8 m long, making them the longest trams in Poland. Deliveries are planned to ...
-
NewsPKP Cargo terminates Chinese wagon joint venture
POLAND: Freight operator PKP Cargo and CNR subsidiary Jinan Railway Vehicles are to wind up the CNR Cargo Wagon joint venture which they established in 2010. The partners had planned to assemble kits of wagon parts supplied from China at a PKP Cargo site in Szczecin, estimating that using Chinese ...
-
NewsSalt Lake City welcomes S-Line
USA: Utah Transit Authority’s S-Line in Salt Lake City entered regular service on December 8, following a day of free travel. The route is also known as the Sugar House Streetcar, and has opened 14 years to the day since the first TRAX light rail line. The 3·2 km ...
