King Abdullah Financial District monorail contract signed
SAUDI ARABIA: Contracts have been awarded for the construction of a monorail within Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District mixed-use development. This is intended to reduce the need for private vehicles as part of the vision for a walkable ‘10 min city’.
Robots and Hyper Tube among KRRI research projects on show at InnoTrans
INNOTRANS: Korea Railroad Research Institute is to highlight eight of its latest innovations and research programmes during the upcoming Berlin fair.
Alstom to modernise Las Vegas airport peoplemover
USA: Clark County Department of Aviation has awarded Alstom a $84m contract to upgrade the Green and Blue lines of the automated peoplemover at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, including the supply of new vehicles.
Elevated peoplemover opens in Xi’an
CHINA: Revenue services began on Xi’an’s Yunba Line on August 12. This 17·4 km elevated peoplemover runs from the southwest terminus of metro Line 3 at Yuhuazhai south to Hengye Dadao with 18 stops, including an interchange with metro Line 6.
São Paulo monorail trainset unveiled
BRAZIL: The first of the 19 seven-car monorail trainsets that CRRC Puzhen Alstom Transportation Systems is supplying for São Paulo’s Line 15-Silver has been unveiled at the manufacturer’s plant in Wuhu, China.
Innovia R peoplemover cars enter service on Bukit Panjang LRT
SINGAPORE: The first two of 19 Innovia 300R peoplemover cars which Alstom is supplying as part of an upgrade of the 7·8 km Bukit Panjang Light Rail Transit entered passenger service on August 1.
Inglewood Transit Connector peoplemover contractor selected
USA: The Californian city of Inglewood has selected the Elevate Inglewood Partners consortium as best value proposer for the Inglewood Transit Connector project to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a 2·6 km three-station automated peoplemover.
São Paulo Line 17 monorail delivery
BRAZIL: The first of 14 SkyRail monorail trainsets which Chinese manufacturer BYD is supplying for the future São Paulo metro Line 17 arrived at the port of Santos on June 29.
Denver airport peoplemover cars enter service
USA: Denver International Airport peoplemover operator Alstom has put into service the first six of 26 ‘top-of-the-line’ Innovia APM 300R peoplemover cars which it says will increase ‘capacity, efficiency and comfort’ at one of the world’s largest aviation hubs.
Detroit to acquire peoplemover cars from Toronto
USA: Municipal officials in Detroit have approved funding for Detroit Transportation Corp to replace its fleet of automated peoplemover cars with vehicles from Toronto.
Dortmund H-Bahn looks to the future
GERMANY: Planning is underway for an expansion of the H-Bahn suspended monorail in Dortmund, and the procurement of a new fleet of vehicles and control system.
Salvador seeks tram network to replace aborted monorail scheme
BRAZIL: The state government of Bahia has approved the call of tenders for the construction of a three-line light rail network in Salvador totalling 36 km at an estimated cost of R$3·6bn.
Dubai considers elevated pod platoons
UAE: Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority has signed a memorandum of understanding to work with Urban.MASS on an operational pilot of its Floc Duo Rail concept for platoons of driverless electric pods running on an elevated track.
Urbanloop personal rapid transit testing begins
FRANCE: Testing of Urbanloop personal rapid transit pods has begun on 2 km track in a park at St-Quentin-en-Yvelines in the suburbs of Paris.
Bangkok Pink Line monorail opens
THAILAND: Passenger carrying test operations have begun on the 34·5 km Pink Line straddle monorail in Bangkok.
Monterrey World Cup monorail cars unveiled
MEXICO: The first of 13 six-car automated monorail trainsets that CRRC Nanjing Puzhen is building for Monterrey lines 4 and 6 was unveiled on November 21.
Metro and monorail testing underway as Cairo network grows
EGYPT: Test running on Cairo’s East Nile Monorail and on two branches of metro Line 3 started on November 5.
Dallas 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.
Inglewood 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.
Suspended monorail with glass floor opens in China
CHINA: The Optics Valley Skyrail suspended monorail has opened in Wuhan, with glass-floored vehicles giving passengers a view downwards as well as sideways.