Metro news – Page 123
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NewsThales awarded Danhai tram signalling contract
TAIWAN: Thales has been awarded a €17m contract to design and supply signalling, communications and a control centre for the light rail lines which China Steel Corp is building in the Danhai district of the New Taipei City region. The contract covers the 10 km Phase 1, which includes the ...
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NewsSofia airport metro link opens
BULGARIA: An extension of Sofia metro Line M1 to the airport opened on April 2. Following an official ceremony at 10.00 passenger services began at 13.00, with free travel for the rest of the day. The 5 km section extends the line east from Tsarigradsko Shosse with four stations and ...
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NewsTram transponder
RFID: Harting has developed an RFID system which enables trams to detect when to switch from overhead electric power to an off-wire operating mode. The transponders can be mounted on the track or platform or embedded in concrete, and provide positioning accuracy of better than 500 mm.
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NewsNanjing metro Line 3 opens
CHINA: On April 1 Nanjing opened metro Line 3, its fourth conventional metro line and sixth overall. The 44·1 km has 30 stations. Running southeast from Linchang, the line crosses the River Yangtse in tunnel between Liuzhoudonglu and Shangyuanmen. It then continues south to Mozhoudonglu, via Nanjing and Nanjing ...
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NewsBattery tram delivered to Seattle
USA: A prototype low-floor tram with off-wire capability has been delivered to Seattle by Czech firm Inekon. The bidirectional three-section Inekon 12 car is fitted with lithium-ion batteries produced by Saft that allow it to run for up to 16 km without overhead wires. Final assembly of the ...
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NewsFoster + Partners to develop Jeddah metro design vision
SAUDI ARABIA: Foster + Partners is to develop the architectural vision for Jeddah’s city-wide public transport master plan under a contract signed by Prince Khalid Al-Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Governor of Makkah Province, on March 30. The scope of the contract includes the design of the stations, trains and ...
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NewsLondon Underground takes over Croxley Rail Link project
UK: London Underground is to take over responsibility for the Croxley Rail Link project, under an agreement with the Department for Transport and Hertfordshire County Council which was formally announced on March 27. The project involves the diversion of the Metropolitan Line from its current Watford terminus to serve Watford ...
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NewsBrussels launches north-south metro project
BELGIUM: Detailed engineering design and development work is to get underway shortly for the construction of a third metro route through the centre of Brussels, following approval of the scheme by the Brussels Capital Region administration on March 26. The fully-automated Bordet – Albert Line is expected to open for ...
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NewsMadrid Metro extended to Paco de Lucía
SPAIN: A 1·53 km extension of Madrid Metro Line 9 from Mirasierra to Paco de Lucía opened to traffic on March 25, taking the total number of stations on the network to 301. The station has been named after an artist who lived in the Mirasierra district until his death ...
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NewsLondon Underground modernisation budget and timescale revised
UK: Transport for London confirmed a revised budget and timescale for the ongoing programme to modernise London Underground’s District, Circle Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines on March 24. LU and sole bidder Thales are now in the final stages of negotiating a major contract to resignal the four ...
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NewsDallas unveils off-wire light rail vehicle
USA: The first off-wire capable light rail vehicle ordered by Dallas Area Rapid Transit was unveiled on March 23. These will be used on the Union Station – Oak Cliff extension, which is due to open to passengers on April 13. A $9·4m contract with Brookville Equipment Corp for ...
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NewsJakarta scraps monorail in favour of light rail
INDONESIA: Work could start in the fourth quarter of this year on the first phase of a light rail network in Jakarta, the President of state-owned construction firm PT Adhi Karya, Kiswodarmawan, told the company’s annual meeting on March 20. Last year the Ministry of State Enterprises selected Adhi ...
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NewsEx-Bielefeld tram modernised in Łódź
POLAND: A modernised ex-Bielefeld type M8C tram is ready to enter service in Łódź. City transport operator MPK Łódz bought 14 ex-Bielefeld Type M8C trams from Stropex in 2013. The modernisation of the first of these was finished in November after about six months of work at MPK Łódź’s ...
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NewsCSR unveils hydrogen fuel cell tram
CHINA: A prototype tram powered by hydrogen fuel cells was unveiled at the CSR Sifang factory in Qingdao on March 19. According to CSR Qingdao Sifang Chief Engineer Liang Jianying, the tram is able to run for 100 km at speeds up to 70 km/h before the cells need to ...
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NewsMore efficient tram air-conditioning
GERMANY: Berlin city transport operator BVG has awarded Liebherr-Transportation Systems a contract to equip one its Bombardier Flexity trams with an experimental occupancy-dependent fresh air control system. Liebherr’s modelling has predicted that this could reduce the energy consumption of the tram’s air-conditioning system by up to 13%. CO2 sensors ...
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NewsFirst Urbos tram arrives in Freiburg
GERMANY: The first CAF Urbos 100 tram for Freiburg was delivered on the night of March 16-17. Freiburg public transport operator VAG signed a contract with CAF in March 2013 for 12 seven-section 100% low-floor trams for its metre-gauge network. The contract value does not exceed €40m, although the ...
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NewsDüsseldorf and Köln place joint light rail vehicle order
GERMANY: Düsseldorf light rail operator Rheinbahn and Köln transport operator KVB have placed a joint order for Bombardier Transportation light rail vehicles to replace their Stadtbahnwagen Type B cars. Düsseldorf has placed a firm order worth €127m for 42 vehicles, with an option for 16 more. These are scheduled ...
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NewsNew light rail vehicles enter service in Hannover
GERMANY: The first two TW3000 high-floor light rail vehicles entered passenger service on Route 7 in Hannover on March 15. The two-section bidirectional air-conditioned articulated vehicles are 25 m long and 2 650 mm wide. They will replace the TW6000 cars, which are 30 years old. They will initially ...
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NewsCross-Tokyo link inaugurated
JAPAN: Revenue services have started running on East Japan Railway’s Ueno – Tokyo Line, following an inauguration ceremony on March 14. Taking seven years to build at a cost of ¥40bn, the 3·8 km cross-city link provides an extra pair of tracks for suburban services on the busy north-south corridor ...
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NewsUrban rail news in brief - March 2015
Algeria's Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal has said that several tram and rail projects will be postponed as a result of economic difficulties caused by falling oil prices. Work is to begin this year on the first two lines of the Jinan metro: the 26·4 km north-south Line R1 ...