On June 3 Semaly announced that it had been awarded a €8m project management contract for the development of an initial 11 km light rail line in Toulouse, in consortium with Garcia-Diaz, Sud Ouest Infra, and Urbanismes et Acoustiques. Expected to open in 2009, the 11 km Line E with 20 stops will serve the future Andromède development area.
Taiwan’s Vice-Minister of Transport & Communications Chou Li-Liang and Wien’s Deputy Mayor Sepp Rieder participated in celebrations at the Siemens SGP plant on June 1 to unveil the first of 42 three-car EMUs for the Kaohsiung Metro; following tests at Wildenrath, it is due to be delivered in October. Chou said he hoped to see the first section of the R3 line linking Hsiaokang International Airport and Santuo Road running from October 2006, although the metro is not due to open until April 2007
Head of the Buenos Aires city government Aníbal Ibarra has announced that work on three more metro lines will start in 2007. Legislation has been passed authorising Lines F, G and I, which will total 27 km. The 7·6 km Line F will link Plaza Italia to Constitución with 13 stations, and Line G will run for the same distance between Retiro and Cid Campeador with 11 stations. Line I linking Parque Chacabuco with Plaza Italia will be 7·3 km. A bank is to be appointed shortly to draw up detailed proposals and tender documentation.
With a 300m light rail extension to the University of Alberta’s Health Sciences Center on course to enter revenue service on January 1 2006, Edmonton city council voted on May 31 to accelerate construction of the 8 km South Line by three years. The C$595m extension would open in two stages, reaching the University of Alberta’s south campus in 2008 and the former Heritage Mall in late 2009. Capital funding will include C$223m from a new federal infrastructure spending plan backed by fuel tax revenues.
The first of 59 extra cars being built by Alstom for London Underground’s Jubilee Line was unveiled on June 6. PPP contractor Tube Lines plans to lengthen the trains from six to seven cars in December. This month Alstom is expected to deliver the second of four additional trains, and the last of these will enter service in February, bringing the fleet to 63 seven-car sets. The £150m investment package will provide a 17% increase in capacity
